Taking Everts' Blue Canoe to Juneau.... lovely!

[cavaricooper]

This morning the phone rang early…. Robert (no, not THAT one, the Everts one….) had received an urgent call for a pick-up in Juneau. Apparently, one of the EMS’ emergency generators had gone u/s and needed to be transported to Fairbanks for repair. As we were in Bowerman, with a load of beer (11,000lbs) for Juneau, guess who got the run? Instead of a leisurely 11am local departure (after a big breakfast at Lana’s Café- great hotcakes btw) we had to push off at 8:30 with some coffee and paper wrapped sandwiches… still… we get to fly 451CE so we can’t really complain…..

Here we are just getting ready to taxi off the line…. (thanks Alex- brilliant repaint)…..

Pausing for a minute before taking the runway, we did our mag checks just a little more carefully than usual… Bowerman had a 5000’ runway and we were planning on 50” WET for departure…. Normally allowed up to 58.5” WET and 53 DRY, Everts had established a much more maintenance friendly 50” WET or DRY as max… so we would use that.

As we rolled onto the piano keys, we selected pumps on twice…..we would use fuel and water today….

Here we are with one last look… the controls were free and clear (locks removed once lined up to prevent those nasty knee knockers)… Power is set to 50” MAP, props were allowed to 2800 (don’t tell the Everts’ that I used those extra 100RPM). Cowls are at 4, water is flowing, and what you can’t see is the dancing panel and needles as this old girl tells me she wants to claw for the sky……

 

[cavaricooper]

Good thing we briefed and executed by the numbers…. She did well, but needed every bit of balanced field we could squeeze out…..

 

[cavaricooper]

Once comfortable I selected METO 46"/2600 and we pointed the nose skyward....

Once cleaned up the FE (me actually, I don't use the AFE, preferring the contortions of a one-man-band) cycled the Gear to OFF and the HYD to OFF as well....

Passing 10,000 it was important to look at the pressurization... we were topping out at 14,000 so there would be no high-blower today.....

 

[cavaricooper]

All too soon were were inbound Port Hardy, settled in to a 34"/2100 cruise with the Mixture Auto-Lean and locked.....

It was going to be a BEAUTIFUL DAY......

Best- C

 

[cavaricooper]

Some en-route glamour shots....

To quote my screen-shot Guru Yo-Yo, "What more could I want....?"

C

 

[cavaricooper]

For those who have gotten used to following a Magenta line on the ND, flying the DC-6 without any GPS is a step back in time, and a step forward for the grey matter between your ears. The only ND you have is the one you carry in your head, and "losing the picture" in IMC, or even VFR on top, is disastrous. Usually cruise segments are spent watching and monitoring, whilst tick marking the FP and showing + or - fuel/time. In the DC-6, one has to constantly tune and re-tune radios. Not only are you "homing" to a station (note- I said STATION, not just VORs), but you are constantly cross-checking position with radials. Fuel figures are still important to keep track of, and engine monitoring is a full time job in itself. I especially love how, in concert with AS14/ASCA, the enormous prop discs load and unload in Wx... you can see the effects of a mountain wave... not just by watching the view outside move, but by watching the RPMs load up and slow and unload and speed up.... brilliant stuff....

Here we are, crossing Annette Island, and making the slight course correction to home in on Level Island. Note the AP has gone back to GYROPILOT to avoid any spurious inputs.

As we do so, we will begin the LONG process of inching back the MAP from the cruise 34" to 30" for descent, at about 1" per minute. The props will move back to 2000 where they will stay for the remainder of the flight. Then we begin our 4-500fpm descent.... all the while shuttering the engines tighter and tighter to keep heat within the cowl.... Notice the cabin never got above 3500' NOT BAD AT ALL.....

No FLCH and board out descents here... Maintenance takes a very dim view of horsing her about.....

 

[cavaricooper]

Ok, here we are, 25 from Sisters Island.... set to 27" and 2000 RPM, speed nicely controlled at 7000 which is the minimum safe at the moment. The plan is to overfly, turn to 007 and descend to 6300 to intercept the LOC/DME into Juneau. As I am not currently participating in the Object Flow Beta, it will be a default Juneau, but with Pilots Mesh 2018 Ultimate, FTX Global and Vector it should do nicely....

Just fully establishing with the step down ahead....

I've been working HARD to keep IAS controlled, and you will too if you operate this beast with a modicum of care towards the radials..... here we are cowls opened a bit, lights confirmed on and looking ahead....

Runway in sight.... a welcome call out (despite the strange looks I get from the Trolly Dolly)....

The only way to get away with that VS is to plan on flaps ahead....

 

[cavaricooper]

The lead in REIL/Rabbit took us nicely towards the runway... and everything settled in nicely... at 15" I was happy with the "picture".... I would leave her there to the piano keys....

Can pi$$ing down rain and fog be lovely? If so... this sure is... here's the roll-out with just 27" of reverse.... a gentle slowdown with lots of asphalt this time.....

About the time the props stopped, the fork-lifts started... beer is never left lying around very long in Alaska (or most places I would hazard a guess....).

I hope you enjoyed this flight as much as I did. With Orbx working on Object Flow, it won't be long before all of Alaska is my playground. Going into Homer or Yakutat again is something I am very much looking forward to... Thanks for reading, and a special thanks to Alex Farmer for this great repaint of the PMDG DC-6A.

Best- Carl