Something A Little Different… Flying On The DC-3 Dakota! 20-4-08

Hi All,

Today myself and fellow forum members BT777 (Benny) and Northern_Git (Sam), had a slightly different flying experience, as we had a wee jaunt down to DSA to experience the aircaft I consider to be the most beautiful machine ever to fly… The DC-3 Dakota! We had planned on a day of photography at either NCL or MAN, but as the DC-3’s won’t be flying in the UK from the middle of July, we thought we’d better jump on one while we had the chance!

The aircraft was G-AMPY of Classic Flight/Air Atlantique and I have to say, having done something in the region of 180 flights on aircraft ranging from PA-28’s to 747’s this was completely different to anything I’ve ever experienced in pretty much every way. The first thing that strikes you when you enter the cabin is how basic everything is. In essence, you’re inside a tin can with wings and engines. It really does feel like that. No overhead lockers, no carpets, no interior trim, no nothing beyond seats. The windows are quite large but square, the frames that make up the fuselage are open and you can see where the external skin is riveted to them. Everything feels so… Old and basic, yet as soon as you step through the door there’s immediately an atmosphere quite unlike that generally experienced when flying the Dakota’s more modern cousins. This is flying as it used to be, complete with all the rattles, vibrations and other elements you’d expect.

The DC-3 being a tail dragger makes for an interesting experience when walking to your seat, as you’re walking up quite a steep incline. This I noticed while nosying around the C-47 at Elvington, although on this particular occasion there was a certain magic to walking through the cabin as I knew we were actualy going to leave the ground. Once boarded, we had a short safety demonstration and then, the first magical thing happened… The engines were started. I purposely sat in the very front seat on the right so I could be as near to one of the engines as possible, and when they were started I was so glad I did. The sound was like no other. I’ve heard a couple of DC-3’s flying and have always thought their very distinctive sound was one of the most pleasant it is possible to hear in aviation, but to actually be sat four feet away from one of those engines was incredible. During the taxi the engines throttled up momentarily, giving us a taste of what was to come. Turning onto the runway, the nice man in the pointy bit advanced the thrust levers and the full, awesome power of those old P&W engines was unleashed. The entire aircraft shook, and I mean shook. The thin wall of the fuselage next to my head felt like it was going to disintegrate, but there was still a very solid feel to this 65 year old aircraft as she accelerated us down the runway. The noise was incredible. Loud… Amazingly loud, but that loud noise had strangely musical qualities. At least it did to my ears.

As we reached rotation speed I expected to feel the tail rise quite noticeably, but being right over the landing gear this wasn’t the case. In fact there wasn’t any real sensation of flying until we were probably a few hundred feet above the ground. When the aircraft rotated we simply seemed to drift into the air. No pitch up, no distinct sensation of ascending; nothing but a view of the ground slowly getting further away. The combination of how basic the aircraft was and the completely different sensations experienced made me think just how far aviation has come. Today, we can hop on a 737 or an A319 and fly somewhere 200 miles away in under an hour. We can board a 747 or 777 and sit in comfort watching personal TV’s while the world gently passes by seven miles underneath us, largely oblivious to the goings on above. The DC-3’s roots are firmly in a time when that was very much not the case, and flying such a classic aircraft really makes you think of what it must have been like when such aircraft were in standard commercial service.

The flight itself was only 15 minutes long but that was certainly enough to get a feel for the aircraft. Coming back in to land was pretty much exactly the reverse of going up… No sensation of the nose pitching down as you can expect in a modern prop or jet passenger aircraft. We simply sank very gently down to the ground and contacted the runway with a very satisfying squeal of rubber on tarmac and we taxi’d to the stand at a nice, gentle pace.

Anyway, on with some photos! Unfortunately due to a rather unclear window I didn’t manage to get much from the actual flight, but the opportunities for other photos were quite good. All images taken with a Canon 30D and my new Sigma 10-20.

Shortly after boarding:

Airborne!

My view looking forwards. Note the rather basic seat belt sign!

The cockpit of this old beauty, with a couple of obvious, more modern modifications added since her construction in 1943.

The cabin. As you can see, there really isn’t much to it!

And some external shots of the aircraft. Isn’t she beautiful?

In general the DC-3 lived up to and surpassed my expectations in every way. I expected a flight that would give me a little more respect for those who were flying in the early years of commercial aviation, and that’s what I had. I expected the DC-3 in flight to be every bit as graceful as it appears to be when viewed from the ground, and it was. I expected the DC-3 to be the noisiest, most uncomfortable, most basic yet most mind-blowingly awesome thing I’ve ever flown on, and it was. It really, truely was.

If you get the chance to experience the Dakota in flight, I really can’t recommend it enough. They won’t be in our skies from July and I’m so glad I experienced an aircraft that played such an instrumental part in making commercial aviation what it is today. I was happy to experience B732’s before they were taken out of service with Ryanair, but that was nothing even remotely like the experience I had today. I’m flying to Dublin tomorrow to meet fellow member/photographer Adam Spalding then we’re flying up to Edinburgh, although 737-800’s will seem very mundane compared to the Dakota.

PMN is happy… Today PMN had the most amazing flight he’s ever done. 🙂

Thankyou for looking, all. I hope you enjoyed!

Paul