Mooncrest

Back in the days when airlines such as Monarch and Orion operated both the 200 and 300 series, did their pilots fly both types or were they restricted to one or the other ?

Thankyou.

Jn14:6

Can only speak for Orion, but both.

Mooncrest

Thankyou Jn. Not surprised to hear that really. I've seen cockpit pictures of the 732 and early 733 and I can't see many differences.

RAT 5

If I remember correctly. from another airline, there were B733 early versions that had needle & dials; and then later versions had EFIS. I believe SWA might have had something to do with that; for a while. i.e. the needle & dials steam driven 733 looked similar to 732.

Mooncrest

The company I work for has a number of old bangers with the clockwork engine instruments and newer machines with the EFIS gear. Our pilots fly both variants and the 800 series.

Cough

Used to fly both. Some things the similar, some things quite different (engines/hydraulics/instruments/nav)
To be honest, you just got used to using what was in front of you... The tour one day from an outstation consisted of inbound on a -300, -200 for the middle sectors and a -400 up the country to another night stop. Most complicated thing was finding where the transmit switch was!

RAT 5

Back in the day my type rating was B737 300-900. No mention of B732. Is it still a separate rating? If so then 2 x LPC is necessary. I'm not uptodate with all the new fangled EASA regs, but under JAR you could operate 2 different types. I had a friend who flew B733 & A320 in the same roster. He alternated LPC's every 6 months.

TopBunk

I used to fly the 732, 733 and 734 at the same time for BA, although ISTR that you ony flew one version in one day. The sim checks alternated between the 732 and 734 and the licence says B737-100/200 and B737-300/900 as separate entries.

HTH

Mooncrest

Thanks for the info RAT and Top.

I wonder if there are any instances of pilots flying both the 727 and 707 ? I'm not a pilot so I can't comment on handling characteristics but, as per the 737s, the cockpits are very similar, classic Boeing, you could say.

Groundloop

For their early EFIS equipped 737s Southwest had a digital display mimicking the round dial layout. Later they switched to the more normal "PFD" style.

Rick777

When I worked for United line pilots only flew 733 and 735 or 732. Training center pilots flew both. All our 300 and 500 had EFIS. 200s were all round dial.

flash8

Some late 732's Adv's were Glass equipped I believe... (likely around late 80's when production was stopped of the series)

Georgeablelovehowindia

In 1987 in Monarch, for a period, we had 737-200s, 737-300s non-EFIS, and 737-300s EFIS. An ordinary mortal like me could fly the 200 and 300 non-EFIS or you could fly both versions of the 300.

I think I'm right in saying that the first two 737-200s - G-BMON and G-DFUB - were the longest serving, finally going off to Air Portugal at the end of December that year. I flew G-DFUB for the last time on 13 December 1987. Two weeks later, I was cleared 300 both versions.

Mooncrest

Britannia Airways inherited the Orion -300s, although I don't remember them staying very long. Perhaps that gave existing Britannia jockeys a taste of the -300, although I think these particular aircraft were quite early units so probably not all that different to the -200 anyway.

ZeBedie

Yes, Orion were a lead customer for the 733. Remember those Smiths electronic engine instruments - what an absolute joke they were.

Mooncrest

What was wrong with the Smith's instruments ?

kenparry

In BAL the -200 and -300 fleets were operated by different crews. There was a detailed examination of whether to fly both, but the decision was no. One of the factors was that the Boeing manuals for the 2 variants had totally different layouts, and info was difficult to cross- reference. I think this was a legacy of BAL being a very early 737-200 customer.

Mooncrest

Thankyou kenparry. You learn some curious facts on here. You'd think a person with a pilot's supposed intelligence would be able to navigate more than one manual.

SFCC

Interesting post, on a supposed professional pilots website.

Are you spoiling for a fight?

Cough

Having flown both in the same day, it wasn't a breeze at all. You had to think a lot about what you were in... The decision not to operate both wouldn't have just been down to the manuals, but as Mooncrest notes, they were a factor. There would have been many more factors...

I feel like writing a low down comment in return, but I won't stoop to the same level...