by Nick Anderson | Feb 1, 2024 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
Let me take you back to the dim distant past and Captain Jeff’s start with his legacy airline, ACME, I mean Delta, no ACME, Delta, Acta, Delme… oh whatever. His career started, not in the Captain’s seat but somewhere in the bowels of flight deck, sitting sideways with control panels in front of him instead of windows, that stretched to the ceiling! Jeff was an engineer on his favourite three holer, the Boeing 727. The loss rate for this iconic airliner was, unhappily, quite high. As of 2019 the aircraft had suffered 351 major incidents of which 119 resulted in a total loss. The loss of life resulting from these bare numbers has risen to over four thousand souls. One addition to those sad statistics came from Flight 600. This is the story.
The Boeing 727 Flight Deck
The 727 on its maiden flight
The famous S bend
With tail mounted engines the wings could be fitted with full span lift devices
The B727 was the first first airliner to have an APU
The 727 had rear mounted stairs that were used by the nefarious DB Cooper
Which resulted in the fitting of a Cooper Vane
The mechanics of a microburst
Our Captain Jeff
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Felix Goetting, Alex Beltyukov, Boeing, Tank67, Daderot, Juras14, Aero Icarus and NASA.
by Nick Anderson | Feb 1, 2024 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
Two of the Saratoga’s F14 Tomcats were tasked to defend the carrier against a simulated attack during Exercise Display Determination 87. The leader of this small formation included a senior pilot and skipper of a newly arrived Junior Grade Lieutenant Timothy Dorsey. Many years later, Dorsey would be nominated for promotion to a one-star Rear Admiral, an appointment that required Congressional approval. What stood in his way was an incident that occurred during that fateful day in 1987.
USS Saratoga
Timothy Dorsey
F14 Tomcats on deck
An F4 tanking
HUD film of the engagement
US Navy wings
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Navy, US Air Force and the US Gov.
by Nick Anderson | Feb 1, 2024 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
Part 2 of my interview with my mate Matt, steely eyed rocket man extraordinaire.
Goonhilly
Gyros and spacecraft in Telstar
The interior of Telstar
The magnitude of space junk around the world
The first live TV pictures transmitted via satellite
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to NASA, I Alison, Rama, NASA, US Gov, the BBC and Andrew Bulko
by Nick Anderson | Feb 1, 2024 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
At first glance he looks to be a rather scruffy and unkempt elderly chap but behind the heavy glasses there are two twinkling eyes that reveal more than you can imagine. Indeed, appearances can be deceiving as this retired RAF Technician could have well been a steely eyed missile man as he controlled military satellites around during the Cold War. Meet my mate Matt!
Sputnik
RAF Oakhanger
Inmarsat equipment on board a ship
Not every launch was a success
Telstar
Voyager
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Nigel Chadwick, NRAO/AUI, Saber1983, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dale Griffin USGS, then Science Museum and NSAS.
by Nick Anderson | Feb 1, 2024 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
In the tale, the Applegate Memorandum, I described the difficult birth that McDonnell Douglas had with the DC-10 when it’s safety record was permanently marred by a cargo door design flaw that plagued its introduction. Sadly, this wasn’t the only issue that was going to discredit the aircraft in the eye of its passengers and they would ultimately condemn the world’s first 3 engined wide body as a dangerous failure. Although the aircraft’s problems with its cargo doors could be firmly laid at the feet of McDonnell Douglas, the next disaster that the aircraft would have to cope with was not of the manufacture’s making, but of some operators who took it upon themselves to shorten engineering procedures.
Then incident aircraft N110AA
Cutaway showing the configuration of the wing mounted engines
The DC10 cockpit
The last moments of American Airlines Flight 191
The aftermath
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Dale Coleman, Jyra Sapphire, Jon Proctor, the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives, the NTSB, the US Gov and American Airlines.
