Engineers and pilots favourite and least favourite aeroplanes
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Some electrical components were not easy to get at!Engine fire bottles,and worse,changing the two generators ,eack about 60 lbs each and you had to pull them from the gearbox onto your chest!Engine changes easy,tailplane actuator ,careful not to drop nuts etc as they would disappear.Still have back scars from the various protrusions underneath!Oh and wire locking on the fire bottles always got your finger ends.
Had a sabrina door blown ofonto my shin,took a bone chip out,I can still feel the dent!
Had a sabrina door blown ofonto my shin,took a bone chip out,I can still feel the dent!
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
The 146 also suffered from throttle freeze, I believe caused by water running down the pylons and freezing. On starting descent, one engine would remain at cruise setting. When it was no longer sensible to control it with differential power or rudder trim, shut it down and land on three.
Thought police antagonist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Where I always have been...firmly in the real world
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The Gnat..a joy to take to pieces, you could say it was modular in fact...re-assembly, not so and rigging the tailplane usually "took some considerable time"...changing the monkey puzzle in the rear cockpit...fine if you were a masochistic contortionist...if not, sadly, the RAF didn't have many osteopaths available in the hangar.
The Jag...great for first line, wheel change apart , and the circlip holding the brake unit on...never felt comfortable rotating 800kgs ish of Adour on an engine change...and another special mention for the supplier of the titanium heat shields....cut nowhere near to size and without any pilot holes.
The Lightning..only on mod. / fire integrity / repairs..which was enough !...amazed to find the fasteners on the wing were countersunk externally with nuts on the inside to retain them.
Canberra...took the nose off / refitted on 7Sqns a a few times...just unbolt and off it came. Bucc majors....just one long nightmare removing the stub wings and replacing engine spar rings.
Civilian...I may have mentioned the
ATP before, closely followed by the 1.11 and the stub wing, basic replenishment, CSDU change...another piece of vintage junk. Boeing models 73 / 74 / 75 / 76....a delight and if you liked getting dirty, and hitting JT 3's with a piece of wood and a sledgehammer, the 707 / 720 fulfilled this admirably.
Chipmunk....anything to do with the trim from the left side of the cockpit rearwards.
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Ah yes
the Chipmunk trim cable change at the trim wheel. Simple job if you didnt mind hanging upside down with the cockpit rail hurting your guts. Option two, sit on the cockpit floor (seat would be out) and damage your arse on the stringers. Such joy
not!
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Memories Past
So - the VC10 - lovely to fly - still remember NBO LHR at night with no Autopliots. Flight Engineer got quite good towards the end!
Then the Tri-Star - best comfort - great visibility and you could grow tomatoes in the flight deck. Eventually managed to land it with reasonable certainty.
The BAC 1-11 after the 1011 - missed the nought in between the numbers. Nice to fly bit technically a nightmare - still remember the engineer at MUC who had a lump hammer to get the CSDS going.
Then the 757/767 with lots of mentions on the forum - different but both delightful in their own way. 757 simple and the 767 a thinking man's aeroplane.
Happy days and a great career.
Then the Tri-Star - best comfort - great visibility and you could grow tomatoes in the flight deck. Eventually managed to land it with reasonable certainty.
The BAC 1-11 after the 1011 - missed the nought in between the numbers. Nice to fly bit technically a nightmare - still remember the engineer at MUC who had a lump hammer to get the CSDS going.
Then the 757/767 with lots of mentions on the forum - different but both delightful in their own way. 757 simple and the 767 a thinking man's aeroplane.
Happy days and a great career.
When I was on the OCU one evening on late shift - our CGI kindly landed with the brakes 'on' (in a B2),of course he denied doing so - result BCV change and I missed a hot date with a young lady who had a penchant for wearing extremely short skirts/dresses
(early 1970's),it seemed a loooong wait for the next date 
.The Jag...great for first line, wheel change apart , and the circlip holding the brake unit on...never felt comfortable rotating 800kgs ish of Adour on an engine change...and another special mention for the supplier of the titanium heat shields....cut nowhere near to size and without any pilot holes..
Don't know about the crews, but the old Boeing 377 Stratocruiser in the 1950s was always a notable delight to the passengers, downstairs cocktail bar and everything.
However, it had R-4360 engines. These had 7-cylinder radial banks, with FOUR banks per engine, arranged in an offset spiral to try and get some cooling air to all cylinder heads. So 28 cylinders per engine, four engines, two spark plugs per engine. Done the arithmetic yet ? 228 spark plugs. There was apparently some defect that could arise (anyone know what) which required ALL the spark plugs to be changed before next flight, an event which had a regular habit of happening downroute on a weekend evening. I wonder how long it took. Overtime and night rate premiums were generous, and apparently station engineers made enough over a couple of expat years for BOAC or Pan Am to buy a house for cash when they finally returned.
However, it had R-4360 engines. These had 7-cylinder radial banks, with FOUR banks per engine, arranged in an offset spiral to try and get some cooling air to all cylinder heads. So 28 cylinders per engine, four engines, two spark plugs per engine. Done the arithmetic yet ? 228 spark plugs. There was apparently some defect that could arise (anyone know what) which required ALL the spark plugs to be changed before next flight, an event which had a regular habit of happening downroute on a weekend evening. I wonder how long it took. Overtime and night rate premiums were generous, and apparently station engineers made enough over a couple of expat years for BOAC or Pan Am to buy a house for cash when they finally returned.
oldpax,
I take your point about some aspects of the Hunter servicing but anyone who worked on both the Hunter and the Lightning would always IMHO looked back very fondly on the former !
I take your point about some aspects of the Hunter servicing but anyone who worked on both the Hunter and the Lightning would always IMHO looked back very fondly on the former !
The first where the pilot said that the 'trim' kept changing - he would trim and then (say) do a turn (ooer missus) and after rolling out straight and level the 'trim' would have changed (trim wheel in same posn).I had a quick look around - fitted an elevator lock in one side to check that both elevators were aligned,walked round the other side and found to my amusement/amazement that I could waggle the other elevator very easily.
Tail Cone removed and found that all the elevator flange bolts were loose (separate elevators with [4 or 6 bolt ?] flange at each inboard end of torque tube).No other damage found so 'snag' cured by retightening flange bolts with elev lock fitted both sides.
I always preferred a tight flange
The 2nd where the trim cable tension kept varying,this one caused by a crack/split on the tab operating bracket hole where the cable end attached to - took me a while to find that one LOL.
Last edited by longer ron; 4th Mar 2022 at 07:29.
However, it had R-4360 engines. These had 7-cylinder radial banks, with FOUR banks per engine, arranged in an offset spiral to try and get some cooling air to all cylinder heads.
You start to see the attraction of the jet engine..
An old colleague of mine,(RIP John), worked for PanAm at Heathrow in the days of Stratocruisers. He said it was almost every night that there was a set of plugs to change and there were 225. The extra one was in a small single cylinder generator used to keep the lights on and charge the batteries.
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Long retired pilot
Flew F-28, 737 classic, MD-88/83, A-320, 707 and 747 classic.. Best behaved, had bunks, easy to land, very easy to hand fly, stable and gentle: the 747 classic. No vices. Good fun aeroplane: the F28, but noisy cockpit, and soft landings were a rare miracle. . Spent more time on 737s than any other a/c, (11 yrs), and when I moved on, realized that I perhaps had begun to feel invulnerable. But it taught me tons, and the JT-8D never let me down. Didnšt fly the 707 long enough to fall in love, and during the long flights the side windows were always very cold. A-320 was a challenge after so many standard yoke years. No feedback, fixed throttle positions, long checklists, horrible manuals. It was my last plane, and as with the 707 didnšt get to enjoy it. The MD-88 cockpit was a shock after so many Boeings, Parts brought from the all the previous Douglas models, the nosewheel steering control must have come from a steam locomotive, the magnetic compass and its mirrors, and the stby airspeed which seemd to rotate the wrong way were all strange. Yet it flew beautifully, rode turbulence well, the cockpit was silent and the pilot seats (Ipeco I think) were excellent. Ended up loving the plane.
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Many comments about 146/RJ, mostly same opinions from tech side. Still my all time favorite hands on type, those beasts need work to go on, but hey thats why we are there. 
J41, not that bad from my sight. Little brother 31 was/is much worse. S2000, fine and robust a/c but lots of work.
737 CL/NG, boring workhorse. Always hated dirty-oily-wet MLG bay, only airliner i have worked which have rain in MLG bay... (water pouring in, and over you when doing something on turnaround) Very forgiving AMM/MEL, just GO.
A32x, bit boring and too much just resets. Most of the days easy for techs, most of the days...
Which is the best? It depends what you want, for lazy b*stards 737/A32x etc etc. Enthuasists,and easily bored individuals may find good points from less liked types... bring in your wrench.
J41, not that bad from my sight. Little brother 31 was/is much worse. S2000, fine and robust a/c but lots of work.
737 CL/NG, boring workhorse. Always hated dirty-oily-wet MLG bay, only airliner i have worked which have rain in MLG bay... (water pouring in, and over you when doing something on turnaround) Very forgiving AMM/MEL, just GO.
A32x, bit boring and too much just resets. Most of the days easy for techs, most of the days...
Which is the best? It depends what you want, for lazy b*stards 737/A32x etc etc. Enthuasists,and easily bored individuals may find good points from less liked types... bring in your wrench.
I remember a few guys who had a very low opinion of the MU-2 both from the aviating and maintaining viewpoints. I do remember one landing and taxiing onto our ramp during a dark and stormy night after a lightning strike with the port tip-tank nearly blown off ..very large, ragged hole blown out of the tank. We were suitably impressed. The comments from the crew and paramedics aboard when they exited and saw the damage were priceless. They said the “Bang” was very loud and startling. The patient was unconscious so missed the fun. The fire dept showed up expecting to clean up any spilled fuel…there wasn’t a drop in the remnants of the tank. We completed the patient transfer to the Trauma Centre hospital in the helicopter.