In many ways, my AirVenture experience at Oshkosh this year was one of my best. On the day before the official opening of the show, I won a Garmin 496. It was during Garmin's press conference where the new top-of-the-line GPSMAP was introduced. The contest was to guess closest to the number of handheld aviation GPS units Garmin has sold since it began selling them. The actual number is something more than 360,000. I was off by some 70,000 but closer than any of the other entries. Not a bad way to start an AirVenture.
And this year, I followed through on a promise and flew in to Oshkosh in my Cardinal and camped under its wing in the "North 40." The camping went much better than I (or those who know me) expected. Even with a number of storms, including one that blew tents over and sent one cart wheeling down the row of parked airplanes, I stayed relatively dry. Camping with a "gaggle of 16" airplanes connected with Women Fly and sharing meals and entertainment made for an I'd-definitely-do-it-again experience.
If the new GPS and copasetic camping comrades weren't enough, another high point of the week was that I got to fly left seat in a DC-3 painted to match a model made by Herpa Miniature Models.
Although decorated in Herpa's colors, the DC-3 is actually owned by Dan Gryder, who provides DC-3 flights and flight training from a base at Griffin Spalding Airport, just south of Atlanta. According to Dan, Herpa essentially leases the airplane's exterior surface. "The DC-3 is the company's all-time bestselling model airplane in the history of the company and they wanted an actual airplane in their paint scheme to promote the company. Initially, they just wanted pictures of it, but then agreed to put it on static display at Sun 'n Fun. That was so successful they decided to have me take it to Oshkosh. It was Herpa's idea, since we had plenty of staff at Oshkosh to operate the airplane, to donate flights to Women in Aviation."
As a result, Dan spent the week at Oshkosh fulfilling lifelong dreams for some 42 aviation fans and supporters of Women in Aviation who never thought they'd get to ride in a DC-3, let alone actually fly one.
Anyone familiar with aviation history knows the place the airplane has earned for itself. The DC-3 (the DC stands for Douglas Commercial), which along with the Jeep was credited by Dwight D. Eisenhower as being one of the most influential contributors to the Allies' victory in the Second World War, made its first flight on December 17, 1935, the 32nd anniversary to the day of the Wright brothers' first flight. During the war, the DC-3 soldiered in many guises: C-47, Dakota, Gooney Bird and the R4D. In all, some 10,655 DC-3s were built in Santa Monica and Long Beach, California. Another 2,000 or so were built in Russia under license as the Lizunov Li-2, and 485 were built in Japan as the L2D. Today a number of variants, including turboprop conversions, continue to ply the skies.
The Herpa DC-3, N143D, was built in 1938, which means it's even older than many of us who flew in it. It served as an airliner for Swiss Air, based in Switzerland. Eventually, it was flown back to the states where it flew for Ozark Airlines until 1967. Following its airline service, N143D performed executive and cargo missions. Today, christened Darla Dee (after owner Dan Gryder's wife), the DC-3 has logged more than 56,500 hours.
When Women in Aviation came up with an open slot I got the nod and shared my flight with Tom Horne, AOPA Pilot editor-at-large. Tom got the left seat first and with Dan coaching from the right and with me sitting on the fold down seat in the aisle behind them, they worked through the checklist and got the Pratt & Whitney radial engines thrumming.
The DC-3 is not a small airplane. The wingspan is close to 100 feet. When you enter the DC-3, you're reminded that this is a tailwheel airplane since the climb to the flight deck is steep and, for someone used to smaller airplanes, it seems a long way.
Taxiing the DC-3 takes some practice. The tailwheel casters. There's no linkage so, as Dan explained, "It's like riding on a ball of grease that slips and slides. The only things you have to steer with are differential power, rudder and brake. Hit the brakes and it'll nose over, lurch to the right or left." For takeoff, you lock the tailwheel so it's aligned with the fuselage. You can set the lock as you come around the corner onto the active runway. There's a spring with some four pounds of pressure that sets a pin in a hole when the tailwheel lines up with a channel.
As the throttles are advanced for takeoff the power is set at 48 inches of manifold pressure, for a total of 2,400 horsepower, and the six knobs are locked in position. At 30 to 40 knots, you ease forward on the wheel and the tail flies off. With the tail up the airplane accelerates quickly but you have to continue to hold forward pressure on the yoke. According to Dan, if you don't push the nose forward to raise the tail, the airplane will come off the ground in a three-point attitude at 65 or 70 knots. It's a recipe for disaster, he said, because the airplane stalls at 68 knots clean and 64 knots with flaps and it'll come off well below Vmc. If you lost an engine on takeoff you wouldn't be able to recover. So for takeoff, you hold the airplane in a wheel-landing stance until you reach 84 to 90 knots minimum for rotation. Once there's a positive rate of climb, the gear comes up.
Low speed cruise is at 25-inches manifold pressure and 2050 rpm, which earns you about 120 to125 knots true air speed. There's something very refreshing about cruising majestically along with the cockpit windows open.
Preparing for landing, you lower the first notch of flaps when the airspeed is below 135 knots (it usually is), lower the gear and run through the landing checklist. To be sure the gear is down and locked there are four steps. Lowering the latch handle mechanically pins the gear in place. The gear handle is put in the neutral position to seal off the gear and trap the hydraulic pressure. Gauges on the cockpit wall are checked to see that the trapped hydraulic pressure is 975 psi, and finally the green light confirms the gear is down and locked. "If you've done everything correctly you get a green light. But it's really just icing on the cake to see the green light. If there's no light and everything else checks, then it's a burned out bulb and I'll go ahead and land," Dan said.
You don't really rely on reducing power to slow down. In order to care for the radial engines, Dan uses 21 inches and 2050 rpm as the lowest operating limits. Once you've reduced the power, getting down is a matter of flying the pattern appropriately for the wind and adding drag in order for it all to come out the way you want. Of course, he said, you can close the throttles on a radial engine airplane if it's necessary, but it's an expensive maneuver to do if you do it over and over again. The over the fence speed is between 80 and 85 knots. Interestingly, both Tom and I initially started our turn from base to final too early and had to adjust our course before lining up on final.
