Originally Posted by
Airbubba
Actually, in the P-3 engines were normally shut down on station over the water, not in cruise. With one engine shut down minimum altitudes on station were normal, i.e. 300 feet AGL at night, 200 feet during the day. With two engines shut down the NATOPS minimum altitude was 1000 feet AGL. .
Pretty true, but I have a log that has 7 shutdowns in 6 days of the same engine for prop runaway. That probably makes it easy to guess what year that happened in for anyone who played with Detroit Diesels. There was a time that the hamilton standard blenders did have some issues.
The P3 was a delight to fly, much more enjoyable than the P8, but you can't buck progress. The engine out performance was pretty good, One of my last arrivals in one was a 2 engine pass over the flag pole at VNE, at idle, (a gentle dive was involved) at the behest of the base commander. Post landing there was a reception at the bottom of the stairs. Took a long time before I poked my head out, and found the chief was happy not fuming. OEI was routine to the extent that one arrival my copilot forgot to restart #1 and I was torn between reminding him and letting him do his first ever engine out landing without knowing it. The bad angel won the day, and the co pilot became aware of the config only when we suggested that he needed to start the engine to go through the bird bath. One manoeuvre which the NATOPS was quite correct on was prohibiting asymmetric ditching drills. Having full flaps, two out on one side, and being about 60kts below the VMCA2 was less fun than it sounds. When the clown does a GA, the ride is spectacular but may not be for long.
These old birds are the heritage of the last 100 years, and I for one don't want to see restrictions added to them. I have operated 2 pre moratorium warbirds of my own, and it is always a pleasure to have given a ride to vets, their children and to the public so that there is some appreciation of what those that went before went through. It will be a sad day when the smoke and sound of the 1820/1830s and 2800's is missing. These aircraft bring into contrast the privilege position that exists today when passengers complain about lousy pretzels and cold coffee. In 1942, the kids flying these machines may have those complaints as well, but were facing somewhat more significant issues than the cost of additional baggage.
Re LL fuel, my donks were 86-R's not -B's, I misstated... For that engine it was curious how sensitive they were to icing, given a supercharger was in the induction system.