Epic Journey in a DC-3

[Rupert]

Call up AIRFACTSJOURNAL.COM to read about a great RW trip taken last Easter, yes that's till pretty cold weather that far north, from Burlington Vermont to EFLP (I'm not even going to try and spell it correctly) in Finland. The plane was a DC-3 built in 1945 and going to Siberia for a billionaire's private GA museum.

 

Quite a story including an in-flight engine failure.

 

I just flew the first day's leg on my computer. I plan to fly each leg as it is described, including weather when they mention it. :cool::cool:

 

Michael

[mabe5454]

Great reading, Thanks.

 

Cheers,

[PhantomTweak]

Sounds like a great project, Mike! Looking forward to how it goes.

Can I ask what plane, and what Nav systems you'll use? Default, 1945 nav system? Going IFR (I Fly Roads)? Just curious :)

Don't forget the engine failure :D

Pat ☺

[Rupert]

Hey Pat,

 

Yes I'm into using the default airplanes as much as possible. They free up a ton of computer time for the heavy scenery packages I enjoy because, just like when I flew RW, I'm almost always Low and Slow!. Having said that, I do use the default Garmin GPS as an accessory which looks very similar to the first plug in GPS units I ever bought.

 

I love to Fly Roads but much of this trip is over water. (It crosses the far north Atlantic in winter!:eek::eek::eek:) So like the guys in last year's RW trip I am using the accessory GPS a lot more than I would if it were cross country rather than cross ocean.

 

An no, you can't sim a long DC-3 without allowing failures to occur. In fact RW they lost an engine during their first trip leg!!! So I did as well. I then ran out of time and had to shut down "pause" for the night. Now I'll have to restart where the failure occurred make the long hard turn on one engine and retrace my steps back and hope to stay up with only one burning and turning as they did RW!! Though I don't plan on waiting for a new engine. I'll just re-fire the one that "died." ;)

 

They also had to repair a magneto in the other engine later on in the flight so I'll have to figure out how to have mag issues as well.

 

Hey it's winter and only 65* outside here. A guy's got to have a project!!

 

Michael

[PhantomTweak]

They also had to repair a magneto in the other engine later on in the flight so I'll have to figure out how to have mag issues as well.

Easy enough. Just turn the "failed" mag off :) Even the default DC-3 you can switch to both or only 1 magneto functioning. Seems like, just like your engine "failure", a little creative switchology will simulate the failure you want...

 

Sounds like a great project! Keep us up to date. Maybe I'll give it a shot too :D

Pat☺

[Rupert]

Easy enough. Just turn the "failed" mag off :) Even the default DC-3 you can switch to both or only 1 magneto functioning. Seems like, just like your engine "failure", a little creative switchology will simulate the failure you want...

 

Sounds like a great project! Keep us up to date. Maybe I'll give it a shot too :D

Pat☺

 

That's easy for you to say! You're not flying along hoping your only functioning magneto doesn't fail as well as the other engine which already did! Having flown many hours in CH-34s which use only one of this same engine, I can relate to their concerns!!

 

And trying to sim their flight I will also try to re-create what they did and their issues. Which in IMHO at that time of the year flying over the empty North Atlantic in a 70 year old airplane is the only way to stay alive.

 

BTW: After dialing in a "total engine failure" for some time later in the flight and concentrating on other issues I was totally shocked when that total engine failure happened!!!! I did manage to make the horribly tough left turn with a dead right engine and return to the same base they flew back to, to have that right engine replaced.

 

Tomorrow or whenever I hope to continue this Epic trip with a new engine!

 

As I said, call up the link I already posted and see how this ferry trip turns out!

[Rupert]

OK, new engine running well and mag fixed on the other, pretty smooth flights into BIRK. No issues.

 

Then life got in the way for the weekend, so we stayed grounded. Today the plan was to fly from from BIRK to Bergen Norway. BAD CALL!!

 

The needed route made good according to my calculations from BIRK to Bergen should be 117*. According to Jeppsen prevailing winds were 15-20knts out of 180** :eek::eek: Everyone has heard what a pig a DC-3 is to taxi in a crosswind. I've news. It's a total pig to fly in a 15-20knt varying crosswind as well.

 

Although the sky was almost clear blue and the southerly winds brought the temp up to 5* C, the ever changing cross winds wore me out!! My arms are both aching from fighting the yoke trying to maintain my 117*!!

 

So, wimp that I am, I bailed out and landed at EKVG to await favorable weather. BTW: EKVG has only one runway. It's 13-31!! Talk about an exciting landing!! I selected 31 so I wouldn't blow right past the island. But it was still a bear to get onto the ground. I didn't hit anything on the ground, but I didn't keep it totally on the runway either. TBTG a DC-3 can happily land in a pasture!

 

After landing I discovered I was at the only airport in the Faroe Islands. They have an interesting independent government that is not under the E.C.M. or any of those other treaties.

 

The airport was built by the British during WWII because it was in a valley surrounded by knobs and mountains. So it was hard for German ships to see and shell from the water and also hard to bomb because of all the nearby mountains and knobs. Which of course also makes it hard to land at in a huge crosswind as well!!

 

Other Faroe Island trivia. They started their own airline which flew out of BIRK and used their one and only plane, a DC-3, to fly to and from. So I guess my DC-3 should have felt right at home there.

 

To Be Continued.