411A;
I could not concur with your opinion of Davies more strongly. rudder, eh? I wonder what he would have to say about the 737 design? And what has happened to airline managements today that they not only cannot discuss such aviation matters but I'm not even convinced they know they're in the aviation business and all it entails. I know some operations are the antithesis of that, but when it comes to flight safety, most managements, and that includes the President/CEO, all the executive level simply havent' got a clue when talking safety specifics. They all seem to think it's covered off by exhorting everyone to "be safe". They're all marketing specialists, MBAs and other desks and probably have never in their lives smelled kerosene (or castor oil) at the end of a runway.
DC-ATE;
Well, it's a damn poor day when ya don't learn something, thank you. I flew the first few 71's with the CFM56 installation and we couldn't use reverse on them but you know, that was a long time ago - 1980 to be exact - so thank you sir! I do remember the high idle of the CFM.
The -63 was the finest looking airplane ever, for it's vintage, (but then I love the PanAm Sikorsky S-42 as well...)