Ansett and the Fokker Friendship
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Brisbane
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Agree with you 100% Frigate. As an aviation artist I frequent aviation art websites,only to find scarce art work of airliners,GA & commuters....mainly military types.
Cac-sabre,I too find your models marvelous. Your attention to detail in 3 dimensions is outstanding. I'm sure many of us would like to see more.
Alan
Cac-sabre,I too find your models marvelous. Your attention to detail in 3 dimensions is outstanding. I'm sure many of us would like to see more.
Alan
Join Date: Aug 2000
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The F27 into Willy brings back a few memories... The circuit, shared by types with such different performance, could present both the F18 and F27 drivers with a challenge. The F18s rejoined through initial at 1500' (and 350+ knots?) and the F27s joined the circuit at 1000' and ~130 knots.
The system worked a treat... until one of the MEL F27 check captains came up to show the Sydney drivers how it should be done. (Because most of the SYD checkies didn't even rate a command in MEL... and as for the SYD line captains, most of them wouldn't even rate a block as an FO in Melbourne, so how could they possibly be up to Melbourne's high standards?)
The MEL checkie was horrified when a SYD pilot on is initial command check blithely joined the circuit at 1000' as an F18 thundered by 500' (and ****ing miles away!!) above him. Instant fail! Wouldn't even let him fly the aircraft back to Sydney.
The failed candidate has been flying in the left seat of a B747 for quite some years now.
The system worked a treat... until one of the MEL F27 check captains came up to show the Sydney drivers how it should be done. (Because most of the SYD checkies didn't even rate a command in MEL... and as for the SYD line captains, most of them wouldn't even rate a block as an FO in Melbourne, so how could they possibly be up to Melbourne's high standards?)
The MEL checkie was horrified when a SYD pilot on is initial command check blithely joined the circuit at 1000' as an F18 thundered by 500' (and ****ing miles away!!) above him. Instant fail! Wouldn't even let him fly the aircraft back to Sydney.
The failed candidate has been flying in the left seat of a B747 for quite some years now.
Thread Starter
The Melbourne "skygod's" on the F-27 must have been a delight to fly with!
Could they walk on water and did they wear their undies on the outside of their uniforms?
Could they walk on water and did they wear their undies on the outside of their uniforms?
The Melbourne "skygod's" on the F-27 must have been a delight to fly with!
They know who they were.............DON'T YOU!
The depths of bastardry some of them would go to on checks was something else again!
There were some really great guys who moved onto the F27 as their first command during that period! And they were a pleasure to fly with. But not many of the check captains were unfortunately.
Like i said, there were a few exceptions! And they were good guys too, who really taught you to understand WHY you'd 'goofed' something on a check whenever it happened (which for me was usually every time....my excuse is that no-one's perfect!
).I was really relieved to finally move on from the 'mouse' to (thank God) the B727, which was well away from where many of the said folks who thought they could walk on water and seemed as though they wore their undies on the outside of their uniforms moved to (the B737 fleet) at that time.
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Angry Ant, if it was the...ummm... individual... you not so cryptically mentioned who the Melbourne checkie had failed, the Melbourne checkie would never have made it back to Melbourne - because he would have been waylaid by just about every other Sydney pilot and plied with endless beers or the beverage of his choice for as long as he wanted to keep consuming it.
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Hello Delta_Foxtrot I was there on that day at Amberley
Hello mate, my name is Phil and on the day of the crash of the TAA F-27, I was the Corporal in charge of the Fuel Farms. Both myself and my offsider were hosing down the old No 1 Fuel Farm at the back of Fire Section, of cobwebs on the fuel tanks, when Dave Eli called out to me to come over and have a look at this aircraft!We were both standing there at the back fence of the compound as Dave said, isn't that Fokker too far over to the right, which I answered yes and he's decending way too fast. Within seconds it hit as you said just a smidgen before the crash barrier and dust and bits of aircraft were beginning to fly into the air. But just before the aircraft hit the ground, the Crash Alarm went off in our ears, and the Fire Tenders were just beginning to switch on, when the Fokker crashed.
It certainly did head for the 482 Test Cell and the 26,000ltr yellow tanker, parked outside the Test Cell compound. We waited for the impact as the F-27 slewed around on its left wing, seeing that the left undercarriage had been torn away, but part of the aircraft was still over hanging the runway by a small amount!
At that instant three F-111's flew overhead, returning from a mission and were short of fuel. ATC gave one aircraft the ok to land from the Southern end, and was told to keep over to the left of the runway, as there were three appliances in attendance to a plane crash. The first F-111 landed and it ended up running out of runway, while attempting to avoid the crash scene and ran off the strip and ended up in the scrub at the Northern end, causing one of the Fire Engines to run up to it.
In the meantime a second F-111 decided to land on the other airstrip from over the Ipswich end, but also burned out its brakes and ran off the airstrip just stopping prior to the fencing right out the back of the 3AD huge hangar.
The third F-111 decided to divert to Brisbane Airport and ran out of fuel on the main runway, and was towed from the runway and not holding many aircraft up at all.
I remember reading in the Amberley Strike Magazine about what had happened, at it was a record that still stands, for the number of plane crashes at the one time at Amberley ha-ha.
We were amazed to be in the right spot at the right time, plus to be able to listen to the Fire Section tower sending Fire Tenders to the different aircraft. The third aircraft had a small back-up water tanker rush to it's aid and I said to Dave, geez if the third F-111 comes in and crashes as well, I bet we get called out with bloody buckets of water and made to run the length of the runway ha-ha.
So when I just happened to see your article I thought I had to contact you to verify what happened that day my friend?
Take care,
littlescrubba
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EWP @ Fl310??
Sorry! not a snow flakes chance in hell of the F27-500 getting anywhere near that. Best I ever saw was one at F210 and that was on the ferry from Holland (between Bali and Darwin I think).
Join Date: Apr 2015
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G'day all,
I have a en Ansett F-27 Instrument panel at home and I'd like to get stuck into building it back up. Does anyone have some reference material I could borrow or use for the correct instruments?
And does anyone have any instruments they'd be prepared to part with?
Cheers
Dave
I have a en Ansett F-27 Instrument panel at home and I'd like to get stuck into building it back up. Does anyone have some reference material I could borrow or use for the correct instruments?
And does anyone have any instruments they'd be prepared to part with?
Cheers
Dave
Join Date: Jul 2011
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I can remember, as a young kid, flying into Grafton on an East West Fokker Friendship.
I can also remember descending to the runway at Grafton in fog and the pilot pulling back sharply on the elevator as he avoided the boundary fence! I think maybe a little low on final. He was definitely low as I can clearly remember the features of the typical farm fence as it whizzed by!
Watching those Fokkers start up, back when you could stand next to a waist high fence at the end of the apron, and those screaming little Dart engines is what hooked me on aviation.
I can also remember descending to the runway at Grafton in fog and the pilot pulling back sharply on the elevator as he avoided the boundary fence! I think maybe a little low on final. He was definitely low as I can clearly remember the features of the typical farm fence as it whizzed by!
Watching those Fokkers start up, back when you could stand next to a waist high fence at the end of the apron, and those screaming little Dart engines is what hooked me on aviation.
...those screaming little Dart engines...
No Fris B., the Dart. I don't recall anything that distinctive with the Allison, and just how many times did you hear a Merlin in your working day?
Who can recall the joys of "taxying by ear" in the Friendship? Power up to 11,000 rpm, release the brakes as you slowly advanced the levers until you just heard the props bite then, once you'd reached a reasonable taxi speed, slightly retard the levers until you heard the props go back into Ground Fine.
I was recently given a DVD made from a 1970's video of F.27's on the ramp at Tullamarine - the visuals were wonderful but it was the sounds that made me break out in goosebumps...
Who can recall the joys of "taxying by ear" in the Friendship? Power up to 11,000 rpm, release the brakes as you slowly advanced the levers until you just heard the props bite then, once you'd reached a reasonable taxi speed, slightly retard the levers until you heard the props go back into Ground Fine.
I was recently given a DVD made from a 1970's video of F.27's on the ramp at Tullamarine - the visuals were wonderful but it was the sounds that made me break out in goosebumps...
The DCA Flying Unit had a couple of F27 Mk1's in the 1960's. All the pilots were ex RAAF wartime or peacetime. One of them had been a Wing Commander at the RAAF VIP squadron at Canberra when I was there.
After I joined DCA I found out he was the check captain on the F27 and he did my F27 endorsement. He was one of the most relaxed pilots I had ever flown with and one of the few RAAF pilots with a double Air Force Cross.
One day he ferried the DCA F27 from Essendon to Tullamarine for servicing and I was the co-pilot. We took off on EN 34 and landed Tulla 27 and then via Tulla 16 all the way to the TAA hangar at the southern end of Tulla. The first thing I noticed was he was taxiing using 30 or 60PSI (I can't quite remember the exact amount) torque on the engines which is a fair amount of prop bite on the Darts. All the way down 16 to the TAA hangar and even around the corners, the prop bite was there accompanied by the hissing of the brakes being dragged.
Even though we were now both civilian pilots, I still felt a bit shy of telling him I thought he was dragging the brakes against power. As my former CO he was a Wing Commander and I had been a mere flight lieutenant and now we were flying together gain seven years later in an F27.
Arriving at the TAA maintenance hangar, he cut the donks and set the parking brake. I went back to open the door and saw an airman (sorry, a TAA LAME) vigorously pointing at the left main wheels and rushing back to get a fire extinguisher. I peered outside and saw smoke and vapour coming from the wheels. Obviously the brakes had over-heated.
I told the boss who had a looked through his left window and said quite unconcernedly, "I wonder how that happened?" I could have said it was bloody obvious how it happened - You were taxiing brakes against power all the way from the intersection of 27 and 16 to TAA. But I kept quiet until the next day I was grabbed by the chief pilot who asked what happened after he received a call from TAA about a complete brake and tyre changed on both main landing gears due over-heating.
I said that in my opinion the captain had been using excessive power while taxiing and dragged the brakes to reduce taxy speed. The chief pilot may have believed me but in true loyalty to mates, style, he said his mate would never taxy in that manner and opined there must have been something wrong with the brakes to cause such a serious overheat. I could have said "Bull****" and that I saw the whole thing. But that would have been a waste of breath in the DCA Flying Unit in those days.
It was a good experience I suppose, since I had never seen hot brakes before. That was until the following day I was sent to TAA to ferry the F27 back to Essendon and a technician showed me the remains of the brakes and tyres on the hangar floor. Not a pretty sight, I tell you. And expensive, too. But no problem; it was only tax-payer's money..
After I joined DCA I found out he was the check captain on the F27 and he did my F27 endorsement. He was one of the most relaxed pilots I had ever flown with and one of the few RAAF pilots with a double Air Force Cross.
One day he ferried the DCA F27 from Essendon to Tullamarine for servicing and I was the co-pilot. We took off on EN 34 and landed Tulla 27 and then via Tulla 16 all the way to the TAA hangar at the southern end of Tulla. The first thing I noticed was he was taxiing using 30 or 60PSI (I can't quite remember the exact amount) torque on the engines which is a fair amount of prop bite on the Darts. All the way down 16 to the TAA hangar and even around the corners, the prop bite was there accompanied by the hissing of the brakes being dragged.
Even though we were now both civilian pilots, I still felt a bit shy of telling him I thought he was dragging the brakes against power. As my former CO he was a Wing Commander and I had been a mere flight lieutenant and now we were flying together gain seven years later in an F27.
Arriving at the TAA maintenance hangar, he cut the donks and set the parking brake. I went back to open the door and saw an airman (sorry, a TAA LAME) vigorously pointing at the left main wheels and rushing back to get a fire extinguisher. I peered outside and saw smoke and vapour coming from the wheels. Obviously the brakes had over-heated.
I told the boss who had a looked through his left window and said quite unconcernedly, "I wonder how that happened?" I could have said it was bloody obvious how it happened - You were taxiing brakes against power all the way from the intersection of 27 and 16 to TAA. But I kept quiet until the next day I was grabbed by the chief pilot who asked what happened after he received a call from TAA about a complete brake and tyre changed on both main landing gears due over-heating.
I said that in my opinion the captain had been using excessive power while taxiing and dragged the brakes to reduce taxy speed. The chief pilot may have believed me but in true loyalty to mates, style, he said his mate would never taxy in that manner and opined there must have been something wrong with the brakes to cause such a serious overheat. I could have said "Bull****" and that I saw the whole thing. But that would have been a waste of breath in the DCA Flying Unit in those days.
It was a good experience I suppose, since I had never seen hot brakes before. That was until the following day I was sent to TAA to ferry the F27 back to Essendon and a technician showed me the remains of the brakes and tyres on the hangar floor. Not a pretty sight, I tell you. And expensive, too. But no problem; it was only tax-payer's money..
Last edited by Centaurus; 18th Sep 2015 at 01:22.