DC3 Airway's Big Brother: The DC-4

By Sherman Kaplan

While the majority of DC3 Airways pilots fly the eponymous DC3, some will occasionally fly longer missions, or trips just for the pleasure of piloting the larger DC4, or as it was designated in military use, the C54.

Recently, I was assigned a fairly short route from Palm Springs KSPS, to the not very far away vacation hot spot, Las Vegas Nevada, KLAS.

As you can see from the above picture, take off from KSPS was smooth and routine. The aircraft handles easily with no real surprises. Its four Pratt and Whitney 1450 hp engines provide plenty of smooth lift. Some background about the plane and its history are summarized here.

My flight was civilian in our DCA colors:

Because the DC4 is not a pressurized aircraft, its civilian altitude is limited to no more than 11,000 feet, which was more than enough to make our way for the little more than 90 minute flight to KLAS.

As we neared out destination and made contact with KLAS approach one of the American west's great landmarks, the mighty Hoover Dam was clearly visible to our passengers seated on the starboard side of the aircraft.

The glamour of Las Vegas was now just a few flight minutes away. We were vectored in for arrival on 25L.

From our cockpit view, the approach looked like this on a clear winter afternoon.

For anyone who might have been outside and in the right position, the full flaps approach for landing looked like this:

After touchdown, ground guided us through the tarmac maze. We sat patiently for a few minutes along with a larger Frontier jetliner, waiting to cross 25R.

It wasn't too much longer until another SW 737 cleared the active to taxi to its gate, giving us an opening to cross toward the terminal.

Our DCA DC4 flight was a special charter for passengers who wanted something different from the tubeliner experience and could afford it. Imagine their pride, as they sat watching us moving into our arrival gate. And, imagine the surprise of those tubeliner pilots and passengers who saw our classic remnant of aviation history.

Finally, parked at the gate, we were up close and personal with KLAS when the glitter of Vegas was in an infancy compared to today.

Our passengers deplaned, my co-pilot and I shut down our engines and closed out the flight plan. We had a few hours layover before our next charter, and some time to hit the casinos...or maybe not...

If you would like to fly our DC4 look for this livery at FlightSIm.Com:

JBKDOUGLASDC-4-1009V3UP.ZIP

Scenery from: Orbx
Flight platform: P3D V4.5

If you want DCA colors and the pleasure of joining our pilot roster, feel free to visit us and apply for free membership.

Sherman Kaplan
Public Relations Director
DC3 Airways
www.dc3airways.net