DC-7: EAA’s Former Young Eagles Chairmen Take Dream Flight
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- čas přidán 9. 01. 2013
- We were honored to have Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Jeff Skiles of “Miracle on the Hudson” fame serve as our honorary Young Eagles Chairmen from 2009 through 2013. One of the great things about getting to know these two gentlemen was seeing how passionate they are about all aspects of aviation. We were thrilled when they had the opportunity to get checked out in a beautifully restored Douglas DC-7, a true classic from the golden age of airline travel. We were even more excited when we got to send one of our videographers along to tell the story.
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Jeff Skiles is an amazing airman! Never got the recognition he deserved except from Sully. Here's to you Capt Skiles!
Oh Sully! Run for President someday please.
I'd be a passenger under Sullys command any day of the year. A true veteran pilot!
This DC-7 is more sophisticated than the Airbus that Jeff & Sully normally fly!
When I was a boy in the 1950's my parents and I moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil in the early 1950's and we flew back and forth from Brazil to New York City a few times. It was a long flight down the east coast to Miami, then to San Juan, Puerto Rico, then to Trinidad, then to Lima, Peru and then a long leg over the Andes Mountains to Sao Paulo. It took 24 hours to complete the trips back in those days. It was very romantic and awesome to say the least. As a kid, I clearly remember sitting next to the window on those DC-7C's and watching the engines start up and see all that smoke from the burning oil billowing out from each engine as it started up. At night it was common to see a huge set of flames coming out from the exhaust on each engine and after a short while the flames would subside and be gone. I remember the loud roar of the engines on take-off. It was exciting and I loved it. Back in those days the pilot would tip the wings down and do a 360 around a volcano in the Andes Mountains and I still have the black and white photos to prove it. I am so glad I lived at a time in history when I was able to be a part of that romantic era before it left us. One time while flying over the Andes, my dad had arranged for us to go up to the cockpit on a DC-7 and when we got up there, the captain got up out of the left seat and let me sit there for about ten minutes or so. THAT, was a privilege that would NEVER happen today. It was THE highlight of my entire childhood. Many years later, while residing on the island of St. Croix, U.S.V.I. in 1972 I took up flying and got my private pilots license on April 30, of that year. In looking back, we flew on Pan Am and also on Braniff in those days. My favorite was Pan Am because I liked the livery design on the aircraft that Pan Am used. In those days they spelled out the entire name of the company on the sides of the fuselage... Pan American World Airways. And each airplane had a "Clipper" name on the side of the nose section near the front door and pilots windows. I remember every aspect of those old birds and I still love them today. When they taxied you'd always here the breaks squeaking and the sound of those four engines (sometimes only two, to save fuel) running, and they sounded like about 10 or more Harley Davidson's all running at the same time. How cool was that? I had a wonderful childhood and loved every minute of it. I remember that (as a kid) I was able to mimic the sound of those engines with my mouth, sounding just like the Dc-7 from take-off roll to being airborne. I believe I can still do it today. And, as the man stated in this video, yes... we all dressed up to go flying in those days. It was a very special event and everyone was always respectful of each other. Everything was top quality service and the food was always excellent. There was no formal first class section then, but some of the airplanes did have sleeping bunks that you could get for an extra fee. Other than that, even the post cards and brochures on the airplanes were on thick, high quality paper and vivid in colors. They gave out little cloth booties to keep your feet warm that had the Pan Am logo on them. Even the drinks came with blue, plastic stirrers that had embossed Pan Am logo's on them in chrome. Life in the 1950's was the BEST. Everything was much simpler and more homey and friendly back then.
Nice narration
N Russell your story is too good for a comment on a video. You should write a book or do a feature video.
MUITO INTERESSANTE E BONITA SUA HISTÓRIA, EU CONHEÇO SAO PAULO. EU MORO NO PARANÁ, BRASIL. PARABENS. A NOSSA INFANCIA TRAZ MUITAS LEMBRANÇAS LINDAS. EU TAMBEM LEMBRO COISAS BOAS DA INFANCIA. O DC-7 É UM LINDO AVIAO.
THank you for sharing those experiences .
I love these old birds, I get very meotional when I see them fly again. Bless the guys keeping her in the air, with such love and enthusiasm!
My first job as an flight engineer was theDC 6 to this dc8 etc up to the 747 45 years what a live 45 years 39000 hrs. Am now in my 85th year the golden age of aviation!,
Congratulations on a long and successful career. I'm sure you have some great stories from along the way.
I'll bet you could fill up a complete time life color encyclopedia about passenger aircraft !
Congrats sir! Did you fly for United?
I grew up in Detroit in the early 1950's. I cannot tell you how many times playing outside that my younger brother and I looked up to see a DC-7 coming into Metropolitan Airport on it's glide path (directly over our house) in those years. It was THE passenger aircraft of the era, until the jets took over in mid-late 1958. Fond memories! Thanks for posting!
Had a DC-7c toy when I was about 10 yrs old .... the propellers spun and there were lights on the tips!! Great memories!😎
Seeing Mr. Sullenberger and Mr. Skiles in persons alone was enough an honor of a lifetime for me, let alone flying with them!
I have a Type in the DC-7 and can fly it PIC. I have never been in a DC-7. I flew the DC-6 in the late 70's and early 80's as a FE for a year then FO for a few months and Captain for about 4 years. The DC-6/7 type is a dual rating like the 757/767. If you get either one you have both. So mine says DC-6 DC-7. The easy way to find out if someone has experience is just have them start an engine. If they can start an engine without a bang or fire they most likely have spent time flying these aircraft. In seven years flying the 6 I had over 50 engine shutdowns. If 28 years flying large jet airliners I never shut down a jet engine in flight or had a jet engine fail. I do not know the oil requirements for the R3350 but the R2800 required 1 gal of oil for every 30 gal of gas you planned on using. Modern 2 stroke engines use less oil at 50 to 1. The other amazing fact about the big round engines is they developed about 1 hp per cubic inch displacement. Modern opposed engines are about 1/2 hp per CI. I still remember we used 59.5 inches MAP and 2800 RPM at takeoff and Water Injection for about 2400 HP Dry power was 55 inches and 2700 RPM. I don't remember exactly but water gave us about 300 to 400 hp per engine at take off and you could really feel the difference. It is a very easy airplane to fly and the controls are heavy but not unlike the early DC-9. I later flew the 9 and it was funny to see some of the things Douglas took out of the 6 cockpit and used them in the 9 cockpit. Jets are fast but nothing sounds like 4 round engines at takeoff.
Why do you think there was so much more engine failures on the rotary engines than the jet engines ? I mean, is it because a jet engine is an engine that from nature is less prone to failure, or does this have something to do with that as time went by, everything got better. I mean, if the rotary engines in the DC 6 and 7 had been built up to now, with no jet engines available, would they have become better and better too, and as safe as a jet engine ?
@@billbrox8666 Turbine engines seem like incredibly simple machinery compared to these big turbo compound radials. Add technology like FADEC and you see why the modern high bypass turbofan is such a reliable engineering marvel.
A thing most don't know, and lots of us who saw them fly forget this too...these large airliners' power to weight was a fraction of today's airliners. I recall hot summer days (our house was about 2 miles from CMH) when 'at gross' departures had barely made it to 2,500 msl (1,400 agl) and came over the house rattling the windows and messing up the TV (picture would get spasms due to the RMI created by all that mechanical energy of 4 large radials at full song.
If you think about it a 2 engine airplane looses 50% of it's total power with an engine failure. A 4 engine airplane only looses 25% of it's power. For that reason a 2 engine aircraft has have a lot more power per engine and performance. Look at the performance of a 4 engine jet and you will see it is no where close to the performance of a twin engine jet. This a big reason the 4 eng propeller aircraft climb so slow even when all 4 are running. The other reason they are so loud is these engines and props do not have any sound damping of any kind.
I remember as a kid living in Springfield Gardens (Jamaica, Queens) going over to Idlewild Airport(this was the name before it became JFK International Airport), and we used to go to all the terminals on our quest to get stickers and postcards from all the airlines, and Eastern Air Lines was the most generous of them all. We are talking 1958 era, I sure ,miss those days.. Thank you for sharing your flight with us.
In 1961 we flew from Burbank(CA),no LAX yet, to Amsterdam, 36 hrs, with Flying Tigers Airlines, the group on board was the Dutch Club of the LA area, chartered by this club going on holiday in Holland. From Burbank we flew to Omaha, to Chicago, to Halifax, Canada, here comes the big one...Shannon, Ireland and as final destination Amsterdam. Most impressive was the view ,and yuo would actually go around the bad weather, I remember the clouds the ground, etc. It was beautiful!
Wicked awesome. Glad to see Sully staying busy.
Two class guys right there!
Just a blast to watch and such a good feeling I get every time I see this video. Love love love it. I do miss hearing and seeing them in the air.
My Father worked for American Airlines and we flew a lot for free when I was a kid. I remember the flames shooting from the exhaust and the stewardess having to convince me it was ok. My sister and I loved to sit right near or in front of the wing edge, it was a different time for sure
My Uncle was an American Airlines Captain, he taught me how to fly and had great stories about the DC-7. His favorite airplane though right up to his retirement in 1981 was the 707. Spent a lot of time in 727 and 707 cockpits after he landed in Newark during the 60's and 70's.
He flew a cargo DC-6 before joining American, and he told a story of trying to get a DC-6 to become airborne after a long runway roll at full power w/ no success. The airplane was gone over with a fine tooth and comb in the hanger, but apparently she was ship shape. It was later discovered that a previous cargo run left pieces of sheet metal on the deck that crews thought were the actual floor ! Thus during this takeoff run, the airplane was incredibly over weight !
Great old stories and boy do I miss those days flying with my Dad and Uncle. Yeah your right, a different time for sure.
You know, this was six years or so ago, but it's still a great video.
Jeff, if you ever read this, remember, there are TWO people in the cockpit for a reason, and that day on the Hudson, Sully wouldn't, couldn't, have done it without you.
My first flight, even before I could remember it, as a baby, was from Philly to Jaxsonville, FL. I DO know the flight was in a DC-7, though. I'd love to be able to fly in one again.
I was in the Navy reserve around '67, going on two week duty to NAS Los Alamedis from NAS Lakehurst, DC7, (forgot navy designated) taxing out we hit a light pole, back to the hangar, waited all day for R54/ DC6!
Flew all night to California, beautiful sunrise over Grand Canyon.
Just the start of a wild & crazy two weeks.
Dear EAA Staff,
This is a wonderful video. Thank you so much for providing this!
Absolutely great. Thanks for restauration this wonderful propliner............................amazing...................
What a great birthday gift. to see many more!
I was a child in the 50's and these airplanes have an emotional tie for me. I lived across the street from Wright Patterson AFB and can still recall the sight and sound of radial engined propellor powered military air transport aircraft as the flew in and out of the air base. What a wonderful time to grow up. Just near the end of the twilight years of piston powered aircraft and the infancy of jet power. The last of the DC6-7's and the Lockheed Constellations and the new Boeing 707's and the Convair 880's. It was a truly fascinating time.
I'm a lot older now and miss this part of my life terribly. Younger people just have no idea. And the guy is spot on about all the smoke and flames. There is a video out there showing panicked people flying out of that plane because of the smoke and flames. It's kind of hilarious.
What a hero in the left seat
Nice video. I'm from the piston engine era and a former Pratt & Whitney R-4360 mechanic. Thanks for posting!
Wasp Major!
Thanks so much for such an awesome video!!
I had the pleasure of flying in the DC-7 a couple of times. I love this video. I am reminded though , that the PRT,s gave an awful lot of trouble. I believe in the latter years of service some operators had the PRT,s were disconnected permanently..
The fight engineer had 26 engine failures in a single year! Some pilots consider the DC-7 to be the best 3-engined aircraft ever.
:-D
but it has 4 engins
That is said about every airliner with 4 piston engines....
I like that one...
@@keytube1012 Don't spoil the joke...
Great tour of the DC-7 & very Historic.
Felicitaciones por tan hermoso video de una gran tripulacion que hasta festejaron el Cumpleaños! Felicitaciones otra vez por la conservacion del GRAN PAJARO !
the era of great looking airplanes..
This was great to watch
Flew Eastern often back in the 50's. I flew also on one of the early passenger turboprops with Eastern. Memories!
I was a kid living in the shadow of 22R at MDW in the 1950's...I was always watching the planes and the string of lights as they lined up out over Lake Michigan on summer nights, and was lulled to sleep by the run-ups but I rarely saw a DC 6 or 7 coming in with a feathered engine - I'll bet not more than 6-9 in thousands of approaches. ...and only 1 twin with a feathered and that was some strange European plane not a DC3 or a Convair.
Happy birthday Jeff!!!! ✈️✈️✈️
I love these old airplanes and engines, I also like the dc where it is a third built in engine on the roof, looks so good!
I grew up with Pan Am, both parents worked for the firm.
at age 8,and 9 ,traveled from Miami to Seattle, alone! on a
DC 7, four times ...
that's when flying was really hands on! I miss those days 😪
I don't fly anymore, it's just a city bus in the air...
cheers 🍾🍾🛩🏳️🌈
I was fortunate to have hours on the DC-3, 4, 6, 6B and the Connie. Never on the 7 :(
When/Where did you fly Connies? I used to crew on "Camarillo Connie" (N73544).
I grew up in the NW suburbs of Chicago and went to college in Cincinnati OH. My first flight was going home for Thanksgiving in 1963 on a 707, my second flight was going back to school in a DC 7B at night. I still remember the flames coming out of the engines and how much longer it took to go the other direction. That was my last flight on a piston airliner.
My first airline flight was on a DC-7C from Spokane WA to Chicago IL, quite experience for a 19 yr old! 1959 !
Super videography!!!
Love this video. Thanks!!
What a pity, I've never had a chance, flying in such a wonderful aircraft. I've seen the last Super Connies leaving Düsseldorf in the mid sixties.
A few years ago, DC-4 from South Africa visited Düsseldorf International Airport. I bought tickets but flight was cancelled, engine Nummer 3 failed.......Perhaps Sully can pick me up with one old propliner. Would like making a sight seeing flight with him.
The Worlds best 3 Engine piston Engine Aircraft at the time it was flying for the major airlenes back then!
(One engine was often broken upon arr at the Airport)
Absolutely super video. Thank you for making this available to us propfans.
After the DC-8 took over the long hauls, United used these on shorter routes. I remember riding on them, along with the more common DC-6 up and down the West Coast in the 1960's. Great fun, especially the smoky engine starts.
what a beautiful machine
great video so good!
The absolute pinnacle of the large piston propliner generation, though not very reliable. Sometimes i wish the golden era of aviation ran for ever!
As A BOY I was on a DC 6 from Los Angeles to Seattle , returned on a DC 7. The ST Almo's light lite up up the wings it was awesome. My dad was an an exec. at Douglas at the time. He was far more worried at the time than I was.
I recognized both before reading the description
There was an airbus service in the early sixties from Detroit Metro to St. Petersberg, FL. on Eastern Airlines DC-7Bs. It wae a five hour flight at 12,000 feet. My head would throb for an hour after the flight.
Fascinating!
Almost 14,000 horsepower, I heard one of these fly over my house about 10 years ago -- the thunder of it's engines filled the sky -- bliss. :)
im a great fan of douglas aircraft , great video. the 7c was superb !
How about the engine reliability?
Well that was just gosh darn great, way to go Frank Moss and Greg Day you guys are the real deal!
It was quite a departure from the norm for Eastern, as it also had a fleet of Lockheed Super Constellations (both the DC-7 and the "Super Connie" were powered by the same engine). Eastern marketed both airliners as "Golden Falcons."
And when painted on both sides, had the best livery in my opinion. As a kid, got to fly in United DC-6s going to visit relatives. No magic there - just my mom got tired of chasing me around a New York Central train for 13 hours. My first flight and I was hooked. Always wanted to fly on a Connie as I thought they were beautiful - never got the chance.
Cockpit team of the century
Awesome!
Beautiful
Real American craftmanship to the core 🇺🇸
Douglas produced some of the best piston-driven passenger planes during their halcyon days. My family worked for them at the Santa Monica and Huntington Beach plants. Donald Douglas was slow to move ahead on pure jets - this put Douglas behind when the Dash 80 was flying in the mid 1950's initially developed as a tanker.
Beautiful very beautiful good ❤
I flew on a DC7c from Rome to Istanbul in about 1957
I got to see this aircraft today at the Carolinas Aviation Museum. I truly hope a group flies this point again and doesn't let it rot. What I was told today is that it's been there ever since they tried to leave and had to make an emergency return due to a number 3 engine failure and they never came back to fix it.
To become type rated on a classic; the epitome of cool! This is my first 'real' look at the cockpit, the other was "Fate is the Hunter", where they scrapped two DC-7B's, [barely seven years old], one for the 'beach and pier scene', the other, for the runway, and other scenes.
Yep outstanding bird along with the Super Connie
Indeed the "Golden Age" !! When passengers knew how to hold a knife and fork !!
What a spectacular old aircraft
A total “feel-good” video!
Just a wonderful video ! A question for someone ?? I worked in aviation, a colleague in freight airline told me they disconnected the PRTs on there 7Fs as they were very troublesome ??
For several years, I watched this bird, N836D, being slowly restored at Opa Locka in the Miami area of Florida. I got to know some of the guys involved and videoed its engine start and takeoff out to Oshkosh in 2011. When she visited the New York area a year later, my brother took a ride on it and I stayed on a cell phone with him during the takeoff run.
My Dad worked on them he worked for United Airlines.
H B Mine too. He started in 1950 with Capital which became part of united in 61. He retired in 86. That was quite a range of aircraft to work on.
My in-law started as a flight engineer and eventually flew the DC-7 for United Airlines before he eventually moved up to the DC-10's before retiring.
My grandfather used to work on these airplanes at Eastern. He used to talk in his sleep and say "hey clive hand me that wrench i wanna check the torque on those bolts". Funnily enough after working on them at Eastern he never flew again.
"You know there used to be a time when you took pride in just...getting there". J Stewart.
I want one!
when I was in the usaf, I flew a dc7c of panam to Istanbul in the late 1950's.
that was pretty cool.
I love these old aircraft, respect them and appreciate their design, but I have the same thought now that I had then, about the number of things, the pressure, the many mechanical functions, the oil and air flow, and the many parts that have to function correctly in order for the aircraft to stay aloft, to say nothing of the skill required to fly it. I love the nostalgia of it, but I do not like to fly, and haven't in years. Only one close call in my service days aboard an old C-47 that blew a port side engine out over open water. Trimmed it out and came in safely, but nervous flying. Guess I just don't have the right stuff. Prefer four wheels and staying on the ground. But still love the old planes.
Sometimes you have no choice. In south America unpressurised DC4/6's fly as local buses. Sitting on a bench like a paratrooper and between your feet Goats chickens pigs and local produce.
Flying of to a city to sell there goods on the market.
I'm not an airplane guy, but if I was a billionaire I would have the DC7 as the ideal vanity/service plane. Something simply magnificent in that big, well built piston driven glory.
Hermoso avión....!!!
Erickson has three flying DC-7 tankers working fires out of Madras, Oregon. Two are contracted to the state of Oregon, I understand the third may be hooked up with California.
Am I still drooling, or what!
I learn something new every day. I always thought the Lockheed Constellation was the fastest of the prop airliners. I was wrong.
+tomshiba51 I did too. Now I'm going to have to google the specs for this plane. The Boeing Stratocruiser was pretty fast too for its time.
The 7 was about 15 MPH faster than the Connie. This led to the Grand Canyon catastrophe when the United 7 caught up with TWA and collided from behind.
tecnically the fastest prop airliner would be the TU-114 (470K max speed) wich also in its time was the widest airliner in the world.. it was a turboprop obviously and came 2 years after the DC-7
I love pallets it's called the EGR and it's just like a turbocharger
Does anyone know if this bird is back flying again? I had read a report she was down due to repairs? Thanks
No, sadly it's airworthiness ended in 2013. But's it's on static display and fully up-kept.
Great. Does the AA DC-7 in the background fly?
i envy you guys sooooooooooo much... :)
--Mike
Bob, I live under that flight path in Daly City now. I'd switch from the obnoxious jets (especially 747's) to piston powered passenger airliners flying overhead any day. Where did you live in DC? I live on Oceanside Drive and this area never qualified for sound insulation unlike other areas of Daly City.
Seeing that Eastern Air Lines logo sure brought back some memories. My very first long distance flight was on an Eastern Air Lines 707. Not quite the trip a DC-7 would have been but the room in that plane was fantastic compared to the coffins they stuff people into today. Sadly, a moronic management coupled with a stupid and greedy union brought down one of the best airlines this country had. RIP, Eastern.
Wish we had the same enthusiasm in the UK we might still have a airworthy Vickers Viscount
Stephen Burgess You mean there isn’t one?
My Dad use to say a DC6 was a three propeller four engine plane and a DC7 was a four propeller three engine plane.
Because they would lose one engine a lot. By the way Eastern Air Lines is EAL not EAA.. It was a great airline that i worked for, for 16 years.
Is this airplane an early turboprop as this man describes it when showing these engines.?
There was a variant planned for turboprop power, but it was never built. A, jet liners took over the market. B, it was cheaper to buy other turboprop airliners such as the L-188 and Vickers Viscount, that were on the market.
Also those power recovery turbines sometimes had a life limit in minutes instead of hours. Everything they said about the DC-7 is true, unfortunately the DC-7 was never a very reliable aircraft compared to the P&W engined DC6.
Anyone else come here because of the television series "What's My Line?" ?? Advertised by the CBS broadcasting as the choice aircraft to move their contestants.
Are spare parts still available?
no they have to either take it off an old non flying one or make it themselves
The flight engineer appeared in the film "Men in Black" 1
Why did the Connie have three-bladed props as compared to the four on DC-7s?
Short story is it has to do with the size of the engine and diameter of the propeller. You can make a 4 blade smaller in diameter for the same HP. The DC-6 is just about the same airplane as the DC-7 and the 6 only had about 1 foot clearance from the tip of the inboard propellers to the ground. The bigger 3350 engine could use a smaller diameter 4 blade prop. The Connie had much longer landing gear and could handle a bigger diameter. The propeller on the connie was 15 ft in diameter and the propeller on the 6 was 13.5 feet in diameter. A 15 foot propeller on the DC-6/7
would be just about 3 inches from the pavement.