DC4

RE: DC4

>Yeah that makes sense i guess he will be keeping at least
>one Dak though?

That would be my guess too!

Moggy

RE: DC4

Yeah that makes sense i guess he will be keeping at least one Dak though?

RE: DC4

The Atlantique situation, as I understand it, is that the tanker DC3’s were held at 30 minutes readiness for pollution control work, spraying dispersant on a £3 million contract from you and I (Via the DoE)

However there were a couple of spares, held partly for crew training, partly because Mike Collet the Chairman has a genuine love of old aircraft and wants to keep at least one flying in passenger configuration, partly as an instant source of spares, and partly as a bit of their ‘Go now’ charter fleet backing up the shiny jets of DHL and the other parcel operators. (Bigger than the Cessna 404 / 406s and smaller than the DC6 and Electra)

But, it is getting harder and harder to pick up 100ll (Piston engine fuel / Avgas) in sufficient quantities at the international airports that the consolidators operate from and to. Plenty available from little PA28 size pumps, but it takes a long time to fill a DC3 or DC6 from one of those since they deliver at about the same rate as the unleaded pumps in your local Esso station.

So the engineering wing of Atlantique devised a quick fit sprayer package for the DC6. These can now do the 30 mins readiness AND lift larger quantities of dispersant. They are gradually being retired from the ‘Go now’ charters, replaced by the turboprop (AVTUR fuelled) Electra.

Though Mr Collett loves old aircraft, he is nobody’s financial fool, and wouldn’t indulge his whims to the extent of keeping all the old DC3.

So you can possibly understand that there is no great interest on his part in the DC4. Where would it fit in the fleet whilst he still has lots of British types that are missing?

Moggy

RE: DC4

Following the conversation at the forum this evening, I was phoned and told that the DDA Skymaster PH-DDS will go to South Africa. It will be leased to them. maybe, I think that it will be back in Europe under South African registration. If so, the Dutch CAA might be “bypassed” by this “trick”. Let’s hope so. This means that the “hulk” will remain at AMS and, hopefully will find a place in a museum.

RE: DC4

We wish we had a CAA like you have at the other side of the Channel. Ours is the most difficult one in Europe. If you want to have your historic aircraft grounded, put a PH reg on it. Flying under eg G or N reg isn’t an option too. Look what went wrong with the A-26. It had no Dutch historical relevance 9another “must” for the Dutch CAA, so it was banned from flying and is now sold to the States.

RE: DC4

It sounds as if the Dutch CAA are even more moronic than ours.

RE: DC4

If you have a million Dollars to spare, it is most probably yours. I don’t know if Air Atl. wants to have it. Given the fact that they have (good) contacts with the DDA must mean that if they wanted it, they had the time from November 2000 till today, to react or pay. They didn’t. One problem is buying the machine, the other one to get it registrated as “commercial airliner” again. As it is now PH registrated, and not allowed to fly passengers, it will be difficult to get it registrated as so, somewhere abroad. Most irritating is that although the DDA is not allowed to fly passengers in their DC-4, the South Africans (DC-4), Lufthansa (JU-52) and Red Bull (DC-6) will not receive any problems if they want to fly passengers from Amsterdam. They have no Netherlands registration, so the Dutch CAA don’t give a s..t. The CAA is ruled by the politics. As politicians are opertunistic people (always first to get free flights in eg the DC-3’s or Dc-4, they were the first to cry havoc after the DC-3 crash). Aviation is a loaden subject in Holland. As it is economicly “not well done” to kill off the (money earning) big aviation, the politicians found an easy target in the Dutch historic aviation branche. According to them, every aircraft older than 40 years is a potentially safety hazard. I think that they are waiting for one more accident, to ground everything historic flying here in Holland.

I don’t know why Air Atl. is selling its Dc-3 fleet, they are getting too old I think. At least they give them to (flying) museums I understood.

RE: DC4

Well i’d like one for a start. Would Air atlantique like it?

Why are they getting rid of there Daks?

RE: DC4

Yes, the DC-4 is still up for sale, but who needs a fully restored DC-4 to fly passengers today. Nobody, especially not for the huge price that has to be paid for it. The other one was maybe once intended to be flying again. However, it soon started to donate its parts and engine(s) to the PH-DDS. When I last saw it, in August 2001, it was stored in the former Fokker factory, and it was nothing more than a hulk. Its only future is either the scrapyard/firebrigade or, on static display in a museum. Let’s hope for the last one.

RE: DC4

Hulk?

Was it allways meant to be a spares source?

Is the DC4 stil up for sale?

RE: DC4

PH-DDS is stored at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Last year, it made some flights (no passengers allowed(any more?)), and was seen in an formation with two DDA DC-3’s over and at the Leeuwarden Open House. The second DDA DC-4 is also at Schiphol, although many parts have been gone, and it is now more or less a hulk only.