Agreed - but as you say, a four-engined anything is becoming less common these days unless you live near a KC-135 base (or perhaps in Russia, I suppose).
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Just out of curiosity - Airplane Guys
- Thread starter Downeaster
- Start date
We've been having a KC-10 flying around the Syracuse Hancock airport (home of the USAF's 174th Tactical Fighter Wing) this summer (sorry, no picture), practicing touch-and-go's. It's a pretty impressive bird to see in our skies...
Did an 18hr. ride in a KC-10 once... in full gear sittin' on them web seats. Glad I don't have to do that again.
I went TAD (TDY for you Zoomies) from Japan to Korea for a couple of weeks. Rode those web seats on a C-130 into Osan. Seats were...adequate. Noise abatement and climate control not so much.
Correction - Might've been a 141 now that I think about it. 1977 was a LONG time ago...
Correction - Might've been a 141 now that I think about it. 1977 was a LONG time ago...
I sometimes stayed on the airplane up to three days. “Hotel Boeing.” 2008-2013. I liked the 757 better than the 767 because I usually had three seats in the back corner instead of two. ‘57 just meant more fuel stops, but it will go just about anywhere on the planet.
Freighters Marty? I did the flt. mech. thing for Ryan International on 727's. 2 weeks out and 1 wk. home. Fly all night... fix all day. If you're lucky, 4 to 6 hrs back at a hotel. Rinse and repeat for 14 days, then 7 days home to sleep it off and go again. It was a grueling life... but I'd do it all over again.
I loved it! I flew passengers. 757/767. We did a lot of military charters. Also, celebrity stuff, like concert tours and movie crews. We did sub service too. That forced me to stay in places like Jamaica and Hawaii for weeks or a couple months. My schedule was loosely 20 on, 10 off. I often stayed out way long and home short. They helped me out. My wife stayed with me for almost two months in Kingston, Jamaica and after a week at home, we went to Maui for a month. Usually, it was places nobody wants to go, and for sure I went to places I didn’t want to be broken down. It’s a hard life, but I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything!Freighters Marty? I did the flt. mech. thing for Ryan International on 727's. 2 weeks out and 1 wk. home. Fly all night... fix all day. If you're lucky, 4 to 6 hrs back at a hotel. Rinse and repeat for 14 days, then 7 days home to sleep it off and go again. It was a grueling life... but I'd do it all over again.
About the noise abatement. I often wondered about the TV shows where they say have the Seal Team riding to or from a mission and they are sitting there having a nice quiet conversation with just a faint back ground noise from the engines.
I know my brother spent some time riding in B-52's and Cobra Ball RC-135's and his hearing is not all that great these days!
@kshansen Those TV shows add a tad much of 'Hollywood license I say when it comes to how loud these transport aircraft are. The C-130 is one where you have to yell to the guy next to or across from you in order to have any conversation. Some of the C-17 and C-5s out there have a little better (I can't call it quite) noise abatement.
I am beyond 60 years old. My hearing is very good. I was 19 when I started working on the flight line. I always protected my hearing. My wife is hearing impaired. NOT FUN.
As promised. The XC-99. Only one made. Served during the 50's. I've seen her R-4360's in the engine section of "the yard". I think the only recips there. She was cut up so to transport her here from Texas on flatbed trucks.
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This is very interesting Rudy! Nice find! I was not familiar with this plane so I looked for some photos of it. I thought I would post some photos of this unique aircraft from its operational days for context.
Notice the addition of the thimble radome on the nose and how the main landing gear changed from a huge single wheel and tire to a four wheeled bogie system.
The bomber version was the B-36. The later version also had the landing gear trucks and it also had two turbo jets on each wingtip. And, a fighter plane to drop out of the belly.
They have one of these on display at Wright Pat. AFB.
Hi Marty,
back when i was apprenticed nobody bothered with ear protection.
i got cotton wool from the company ambulance room to stuff in my ears when working on aero-engines.
My journeyman called me a sissy.
Hi Mailman,
Avro Ashton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Ashton
Amongst the first of the jet airliners.
We used one at BAC as a flying test bed, bolted flight test engines on it outboard of it's twin-podded Nenes.
We also had a 5-engined Vulcan. Had a Bristol Olympus under it's bomb bay
Check this out...quite amazing.
The bad guys only need to slip one through for a win, but the Israelis have to get every single incoming to be successful.
The bad guys only need to slip one through for a win, but the Israelis have to get every single incoming to be successful.
Wow that's crazy and your right the odds of one getting through are tough to keep up with
Still one hell of a gun platform
