Quote from chuks:
The DC-3 looks like everyone's favourite uncle, somehow. Slightly shabby but friendly in appearance, who would guess that Uncle has a real mean streak? You could even call him homicidal when treated badly. Lose one engine on takeoff and find, perhaps, that your 65 year-old prop feathering system has pooped out, well, your nostalgia passengers are going to get a lot more than they paid for and never mind whatever you think you can do about that!
[Unquote]
You seem to be a bit ambivolent about flying pax in Dax, while loving the beast? I've only 450 hrs P2 on them, and that was 40 years ago, but have enjoyed many of the contributions - yours included.
Guess this is thread-creep, but presume you still exercise the CSUs and check the feathering pumps before take-off ? Remember once having to shut an engine down because the feathering-pump relay stuck closed (ON) during the check. The prop continued to feather and unfeather until we shut the other engine down AND turned the battery master off... But the check did pick up the fault before we got airborne.
Can you imagine doing such a complex procedure on a current jet? The Dak - perhaps the most benign of its era - certainly can bite in various areas, and should always have at least one experienced vintage operator in the cockpit. As a rookie, my own learning curve was fairly steep. For example, I discovered that, if you pick the wrong time to use the deicing boots, it's possible to pick up so much ice that she will not maintain even 3000 ft (empty) at climb power.
But even the latest kit can spring surprises...