DC-7 AA NYC to LAX
 

This is a mid 50s promo showing old technology that has passed on. Interestingly the crew decided to change to VFR once at cruising altitude of 20,000. There was also a speed brake option where the MLG only could be dropped at higher than (including nose) gear lowering speed.

For IT folks, we see the "Reservator" (if I got it right) and buckets full of paper tape (still around in my early IT days.

I remember paxing in one aged 10 or so LAX Midway.

I enjoyed that, RatherBe, and didn’t know about the speedbrake either. Cancelling IFR mid-cruise seems rather adventurous, although the sky is bigger over there of course. Question for old gits who flew those big pistons: what’s the “2-4-6 switch” call during engine start?

Prop blades seen before turning on magnetos?

Yes, counting eight blades to ensure there is no hydraulic lock due to oil in a cylinder.

Best pulled through by hand first as starter with trolleyacc might cause damage. A job dreaded by the lads in Khormaksar (Aden) in 1950, it was some job pulling three full rotations of each of the mighty Centaurus in a Brigand. I suppose the Hercules in BOAC's HP Hermes were just as enervating, and I wonder how they pulled over prop blades on the Sunderland?

Thanks for the info, chaps (from an old git who has only started turbines in his career).

Read the Grand Canyon mid air report, Standard procedure USA at the time. Easy to find on google

I think he called it “Reservisor”

On the starter, as they do on a lot of large radials. There is a shear pin in a direct drive starter that will let go if a hydraulic lock is encountered. If you have an inertia starter, with a flywheel in it, it is best to pull the prop through by hand first.