Early Boeing 747 Trivia
I remember the Sunday evening PIA 747's departing MAN on 06 and clawing their way across the rooftops in Stockport. That was about five miles out after which the terrain started to steepen, I'm sure the GPWS must have been blaring as they dragged themselves over the higher ground around the outer marker. Not sure which powerplants were fitted but they didn't seem up to it.
TWA once upon a time (late 80s?) had a daily 747 service to Honolulu from St. Louis (STL-HNL) departing mid-day. Several times on the way to or from lunch saw this flight use just about all the runway and look like it barely cleared the traffic lights at Lindbergh Boulevard and Missouri Bottom Road just off the west side of the field.
Back in the late 1990's/early 2000's, my office was across the street from Boeing Field in Seattle. It also directly under the flight path for SeaTac airport. Now, it was far enough from SeaTac that the aircraft were usually high enough as to not be too noisy or bothersome, but there were exceptions. The most notable exception was a Northwest 747 headed for Japan - when takeoff's were to the north, it would go over so low and so loud that it rattled the windows. I don't remember now if it was a daily or just several times per week - but I do remember it went over right about 2pm. Before long I just stopped looking out the window to see what was going on - if it suddenly got noisy and it was about 2pm, I knew it was Northwest...
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I remember the Sunday evening PIA 747's departing MAN on 06 and clawing their way across the rooftops in Stockport. That was about five miles out after which the terrain started to steepen, I'm sure the GPWS must have been blaring as they dragged themselves over the higher ground around the outer marker. Not sure which powerplants were fitted but they didn't seem up to it.
Turned up at Cardiff one fine day and as we taxied in to the terminal, a 747 (IIRC Wardair) was parked at a curious angle: Turning off or maybe on, to the stand ( on the runway side of the terminal down at the southern end) the wingtip had "entered" the terminal building. removing several panes of glass. The tough old bird was gone fairly soon after having I believe, made more work for the glaziers than the LAEs.
747 Wing-tip 1, Terminal 0.
747 Wing-tip 1, Terminal 0.
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12th January 1970, first day in new job in the cargo area at Heathrow...PAN AM 747 landed 10R. The world would never be the same.
Memories.....certainly remember the 5 engined Jumbos with underslung ferry engine....referred to by others
*Mate worked for TWA and said they had a long pole with rubber end to stop fan rotation on JT9Ds during start-up with strong tailwind.
*"ONTOS" the TWA Fairchild C-82A Packet used to ferry JT9Ds around Europe.
*The take-off noise...unique at the time...like pushing a length of wood through a rotating saw.
Memories.....certainly remember the 5 engined Jumbos with underslung ferry engine....referred to by others
*Mate worked for TWA and said they had a long pole with rubber end to stop fan rotation on JT9Ds during start-up with strong tailwind.
*"ONTOS" the TWA Fairchild C-82A Packet used to ferry JT9Ds around Europe.
*The take-off noise...unique at the time...like pushing a length of wood through a rotating saw.
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*Mate worked for TWA and said they had a long pole with rubber end to stop fan rotation on JT9Ds during start-up with strong tailwind.
*"ONTOS" the TWA Fairchild C-82A Packet used to ferry JT9Ds around Europe.
*"ONTOS" the TWA Fairchild C-82A Packet used to ferry JT9Ds around Europe.
I'd love to have seen TWA's Packet!
Watching them start at Brize, it seemed to be sop for all starts with the RAF; the groundcrewman just leaned against the blade presumably until he felt it trying to move, then stepped away and it turned instantly..
The most notable exception was a Northwest 747 headed for Japan - when takeoff's were to the north, it would go over so low and so loud that it rattled the windows. I don't remember now if it was a daily or just several times per week - but I do remember it went over right about 2pm.
Dave Reid. The reason for holding the prop on the Britannia was that, because it was in fine pitch for start, the prop could actually start turning in the wrong direction!
Yes, it's originally a nautical expression, applied to ships in port where the engines were running to power ancillary services but not to provide propulsion.
Thanks, I did wonder about the reason. My point was that it was only possible to do that because the Proteus was a free-turbine engine.
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The B747 freighters didn't carry the 5th pod - the 4 x 1/4 UNF thread inserts missing from the lower wing.
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I was a controller at Lyneham 1970-1972. We regularly got requests from London for 4000 ft over the top of Lyneham (Airway Green 1) due to slow climbing 747's! So 4000 at Woodley was pretty good!
I think that when start was selected the first thing to happen was the blade angle changed from fully fine to a slightly courser pitch which would then cause the prop to revolve backwards with a tail wind.
I've held a PT6 prop with the engine running when we were trying to locate an oil leak. Held it before start and leaning shoulder against it.