Ansett and the Fokker Friendship
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That's a bit like another dreadful night I heard about ... pilote wakes up (DRW Travelodge - not terribly sober) stark bollocky, bed stripped, room stripped, bags gone .. not even a toothbrush left in the bath room.
Picture said bollocky knocking on crew doors at 0-dark-30 in the morning in an endeavour to find his kit. Eventually one of the girls admitted to knowing where the stuff was .. but didn't let on that his mate was engaged in late evening discussion with her at the time ... as his mate (not a member of the Mouse crew but a local GA pilot) related the tale to the assembled pilot group a couple of nights later, it was a case of "there we were, discussing the weather .. when some turkey knocks on the door. Being the brave chap I am, I pulled the sheet over my head and left XXX to repel boarders ..."
As I was told that track trip was one of the more robust in terms of entertainment .. it appears that the basics of the greater story beat the aircraft to Alice the next day and the marshallers couldn't contain their mirth as the crew taxied in to the stand.
Picture said bollocky knocking on crew doors at 0-dark-30 in the morning in an endeavour to find his kit. Eventually one of the girls admitted to knowing where the stuff was .. but didn't let on that his mate was engaged in late evening discussion with her at the time ... as his mate (not a member of the Mouse crew but a local GA pilot) related the tale to the assembled pilot group a couple of nights later, it was a case of "there we were, discussing the weather .. when some turkey knocks on the door. Being the brave chap I am, I pulled the sheet over my head and left XXX to repel boarders ..."
As I was told that track trip was one of the more robust in terms of entertainment .. it appears that the basics of the greater story beat the aircraft to Alice the next day and the marshallers couldn't contain their mirth as the crew taxied in to the stand.
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Not! the very same one who waited till he reckoned the captain was well into bombs away in the crapper and hit the alarm bell as a bit of a prank and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about when it was taken SO seriously, or earlier, on his initial clerance to the line check put his feet up and pulled out a flight magazine and started relaxing while the SEP2 took them along for the ride.
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sixtiesrlelic
Geez, that would have been one brave man (or hung over) to take a dump in that excuse of a W.C.
Dark, dangerous, and a long way from the pointy end.
Regards........
Geez, that would have been one brave man (or hung over) to take a dump in that excuse of a W.C.
Dark, dangerous, and a long way from the pointy end.
Regards........
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And another thing, hands up all those people who tried to relight the thing in flight, (duiring asymmetric sessions), with the prop synchronizer instead of the ignition switch.
Come on own up!!!!!
Regards
Come on own up!!!!!
Regards
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What was the runway performance like. I know that TAA operated the F27 up to East Timor, did Ansett? I understand that TAA used Bacau (2500m) rather than Dili, which in those days was about 1400m.
What was the runway performance like
Summer in....
...North QLD, Western QLD, NT, NSW, VIC, SA, WA!
Norfolfk to SYD.
Probably not a problem!
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The F27 with the gust locks was` Captain by Russ Strother. He put the tech log, in those day in an aluminum jacket behind the seat and inadvertently pushed in the gust lock around Parkes.
The sad part later was Russ's son also a captain with ANSW died of a brain anuism whilst playing sport - a terrible loss.
Russ was my first cousin, and I had flatted with him for some time in Brisbane when he moved there in the late 1970s for a B727 F/O slot. He earned the nick-name of "Vasco" - as in the famous explorer and navigator Vasco da Gama - for his VFR flight in a C182 from Sydney to Perth and return, in 1969, via Broken Hill, Oodnadatta, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Curtin Springs, Forrest and Kalgoorlie.
I'm not certain, but I believe he was the first to successfully complete the East-West crossing via this route in a VFR single; previous attempts having been unsuccessful in one way or another. This story featured in an article in Australian Flying, October 1969, p28.
Russ was only 36 when he passed away in 1986, and is still very much missed by his father, mother, brother and two sisters, as well as numerous other family and friends. He was a true gentleman.
Vale Captain Russell Strother;
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Single engine performance must have been reasonable, remember seeing some years ago a factory film with the camera mounted on the left nacelle. An engine was failed and the footage shows the prop feathering while the aircraft was firmly on the ground, then the rotation and gear retracting. I would imagine that the aircraft would have been at MTOW (if the film was a visual record for test flight purposes) or if a sales promtion film, probably not!
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If you flew the thing with just the right amount of rudder and 5 deg of roll, it flew away as advertised. (even in Adelaide on a hot hot day!!)
Regards.
Regards.
For initial acceptance C of A air test, at the factory they were loaded to max gross weight with sandbags and fuel. The engine-out climb capability was checked by departing at flap 16, selecting gear up at V2 and simultaneously feathering the critical engine. It was then climbed for 5 minutes at V2 with the flap remaining at 16 and had to meet the AFM numbers for the prevailing temperature. It was then cleaned up to flap zero, the critical engine relit and the other engine shut down for a 4th segment climb test which commenced from 400 ft and went for 10 minutes at max continuous. But that was only done on new airframes or those out of major overhaul. Annual C of A tests were done at less weight and the numbers crunched based on AFM predictions for the lesser weight. In the 2nd segment they could just make the numbers, some a bit better than others, and all exceeded it by a comfortable margin in the 4th segment. They were basically hand-built and did vary a bit.
Pilots who did all their training on the actual aircraft (not many simulators around back then) did so at light weights and were probably fooled into thinking it was better than it really was.
Pilots who did all their training on the actual aircraft (not many simulators around back then) did so at light weights and were probably fooled into thinking it was better than it really was.
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Yep, also to Broken Hill, Mt Gambier, Port Lincoln and Whyalla. They also had the Santos contract to Moomba - they folded very shortly after losing that moneyspinner.
Silly Old Git
Pilots who did all their training on the actual aircraft (not many simulators around back then) did so at light weights
Tinny, the risks of sitting back there in total trust while guys fooled around with engine failures would not be acceptable today. Makes a feller wonder how he survived it all.
Imagine if one had augered in with a dozen on board.
Imagine if one had augered in with a dozen on board.
