(APU whine) - Hey, how you doing? - Good. - Goin' somewhere? - Yeah, I'm tryin' to get to England. - England... You know, we're goin' that way. We're takin' the long route, but you know, if you wanna come along. - In this thing? - Unless you can think of
somethin' better to do? - Okay, let's do it. - All right. (playful music) -[Speaker] And now the passengers... -[Matt] The 1920s and
30s saw massive growth in aviation. But nothing popularized air travel more than the Douglas DC-3. The first airliner to make
passenger service profitable, it's 8000 pounds of useful load, short soft field capability, and 1500 miles of range, made worldwide flights
of every sort possible. As war broke out, Douglas shifted production
to military variants of the DC-3, namely the C-47. Between 1941 and 1945, almost 16,000 DC-3 variants were produced for military use, ranging from troop and equipment transports to air ambulances to jump ships, and glider towplanes. Those serving in the European theater, used the Blue Spruce Routes
between newly created air bases in Canada, Greenland, and
Iceland to reach England. Post-war boom and
technological innovation drove aviation to what it is today. And no airline set the
bar so high as Pan Am. (upbeat music) (whirling of propellers) -[Matt] All right guys, so today we're takin' this 1945 DC-3 from Manassas, ultimately
to Duxford, England. Today we're goin' to Montreal. (chattering from plane's radio) But it's gonna be an awesome time, and we're bringing you guys along for it. - [Robert] Any loud bangs, vibrations,
controllability issues, indications of failure, anything else you see
that leads you to believe that there's somethin'
wrong with the airplane, just yell out, "Abort!" I'll bring it to a stop. (chattering from plane's radio) - After V1, we're gonna take whatever it is flyin' with us. If it's an engine failure, let's plan on goin' straight... Questions, concerns? - [Eric] No questions, concerns. - All right, let's do
the before taxi checklist. - Roger that. Just watch your elbows here real quick. - Flaps comin' up. (static from plane's radio) First pull. (upbeat music) -[Robert] Okay, we're locked. -[Eric] Before takeoff check complete. - All right. Back me up on the tops. - Roger that. - Here we go, 48 inches. - 48 inches... (engine whirs) -[Robert] 25. (buzzing from engine) - Got 46... 49... V1, rotate... positive rate. - Gear up. - Gear up. - Would you like 40? - Uh, climb power please. - Climb power, 3623 - Yes, sir. (engine whirs) - We're level here at 9000 feet. We got what, 65% power set. And now we're just gonna record basically, all of the parameters, so that we can monitor trends, see what's happening with the airplane. - Really what we're lookin
for is if anything changes. In engines like this, if all of a sudden, oil pressure changes or
oil temperature changes, it's usually an indication
of something unpleasant and we wanna be on top of it. At least, we wanna be able to explain it. - And that's something you wanna do in any airplane when you're
going across the ocean. - For sure. So, it's just like having
an actual engine monitor. - Yes, this is a 1945
engine monitor right here. - So yeah, as you guys
probably noticed by now, flying a DC-3 is a little bit different than flying something like the Bonanza. You know, it's a two person airplane. There's a lot more systems, a lot more... I mean, it's a lot harder to do things like even just set the power. So in a twin engine airplane like this, you know one thing and this doesn't have an automatic prop sync. It means you have to get the propeller settings just right on each engine. So that you don't get this annoying little (mimics beeping) - The beat or the thrum, as
people call it sometimes. - Yeah, other than that,
now we got the cruise power set, where we
switched to the aux tanks. And so now we kind of sit back, relax, keep an eye on everything,
you know monitor those trends every half hour. So the plan, basically is we're
heading to Montreal today. We're gonna go kinda hop over to the other side of Montreal tomorrow to go hang out with Mikey McBrian, see the DC-3 they are putting back together.
- Plane savers! - Yeah, which is just crazy how fast they've been putting
that thing back together. - Yeah. - Later tomorrow we're gonna
go up to Goosebay, Canada. And then the following
day we're gonna go from there to Narsarsuaq,
Greenland, probably spend the night there, depends a
little bit on the weather, cause the weather particularly
there can get pretty tricky. A couple approaches that
they have: don't take you down very low and you get low ceilings and it's very unpredictable, too, being down on the coast there. And with high terrain everywhere. So, we might spend the
night there or we'll go straight on to Reykjavik, Iceland, which otherwise, we'll
do that the next day. And then we'll go to Wick, Scotland, and Duxford, England. Yeah, so that's not bad, we're true now at about 172, 73, 74 knots. And we're just burning a little
over 100 gallons an hour. It's pretty impressive for how much space there is on this thing and how many people you can carry. - Yup, it's nice to be able to spread out. - It's nice to be able to walk around. Well I mean, one, it's nice
to be able to walk around. Two, its nice to be able to walk around and not have to
duck your head or anything. - (laughs) That's true. - And I guess, by the way, I should do some introductions. This is Eric. - How you doing tonight? - A 747 Captain by day, DC-3 pilot... - My real job, yeah. - By night. Or you know, this week. Stuff like that, but yeah, so he and Robert, who
you guys also saw here, are both PIC type rated in the airplane. And then we get a bunch of people who are SIC current or SIC typed, stuff like that. But it's gonna be a lot of hand-flying. I mean, on these long flights, over the ocean and stuff. So, switching out people and everybody's doing a little bit of
flying here and there. Or just relaxing in the back. - Yeah. - Left boost pump's on. Left main. And we'll go left boost pump off - Perfect - Now we're back on the mains. So I guess in this airplane
there's, basically... There are main tanks in the forward... Well, all the fuel tanks are in the in-board portion of the wing, the main ones are in the front, the aux ones are in the back. The mains hold, what 202 gallons each - Yep. - or something, and the auxs
are just an even 200? - I think so, yeah. - Basically, we have about 800 or maybe 804 gallons of fuel. Up to about eight hours of endurance before the engines quit. (plane whirs) -[Eric] We're 9000 feet, tracking to Watertown right now, correcting back a little
bit, we're just... a hair off. - K. - You got the aircraft. - My airplane. - It should be, you know, they fixed the right governor the other day. I should say replaced the
right side prop governor. So we shouldn't have to worry about like when you flew to Louisville the other day. They're having to resync the prop every time and everything like that, so... Imagine flying in all kinds of weather. Back in the 40's and 50's,
when these things were coming back around, setting
up the airline industry. -[Robert] Yes, sir? So, we actually switched
a half hour early. - Okay. - Because of this. So it'll be interesting to see what the tanks really are, indicating 5 gallons on the right aux... -[Robert] Okay. - [Eric] and the left one is indicating 18, 20-ish? So again, we switched a
half hour prior to our plan just cause it
looks like we're burning significantly more than
what we're planning on. But again, it'll be
interesting to see what the actual tanks are indicating, so... We're just letting you know. - Okay. - And we're coming up on an hour 15 out. - Make a head quick
call, I'll be right back. - Okay. -[Eric] All right, tell me when
the door's close back there. - Why? - So I can wigwag them a little bit. - Okay. Okay, it is shut. - Thank you, all right. (plane engine roars) Just a little bit. (plane noises) - So one thing that's
really nice about DC-3 is it has a lav and it's huge! (shuts door) And it even has a view! - [Robert] I think you might have scared Matt with the seatbelt sign You think he just plunked himself in his seat? -[Eric] (laughs) You're the one who said, "Hey, respect the seat belt sign." -[Robert] It's good, go gear down. - Gear down. (plane whirs) - Flaps full, landing
checklist from the line. - Flaps full. Landing checklist from
the line, prop's set. Flaps full and set. Landing checklist complete 90. - Give me about two inches, please? - You bet. Come up to 24. 85 knots. - Alright I'm out the window now. - Rog (radio static) - Speed slowing - [ATC] Rouge Air 152 (radio static) - [Eric] 80 (plane whirs) - 75. It stops with you. (upbeat music) - Okay guys, welcome to Canada. We're here in Montreal and gonna put the plane to bed, go to bed, get up tomorrow, fly
over to the other side of Montreal and then fly up to Goose Bay. (upbeat music) - So the hotel I stayed at last night had a Boeing conference going on. The hotel we're staying at tonight has an Airbus conference
and we're eating at a restaurant called Eclipse
in a room called Altitude. It really doesn't get any
more hardcore than this. And some awesome poutine here in Montreal, some mushroom ravioli; it's fantastic. (upbeat music) - So turns out, the left
engine was basically right on, burning about
58 gallons an hour, pretty much what we expected with the higher power settings. The right engine was burning about 71. So we think what happened
is that these engines... Basically the way the
mixture control works is that there's an idle cutoff, there's an auto lean and an auto rich. It's not like you just adjust
the mixture continuously. So we think that basically, it just sort of was stuck in auto rich, even though we moved it
to auto lean for cruise. So they took a look at it, kind of adjusted the mixture a little bit and hopefully that solves the problem. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (plane propellers turn) Okay, so we just fired up. Now we're gonna make the quick trip over to the other side of Montreal. (plane whirs) (upbeat music) What basically like found
it in a field so rt of thing? - Ebay! - Okay. Ebay, that's where I find everything. But yeah, once we found it we decided to you know, try to save it. This was December 28th
when we made the official go ahead and yeah, so what are we now? 137 days later and we're here and we're planning a flight for June 6th, which of course is the
75th anniversary of D-Day. And this thing was in D-Day, it's one of the last D-Day
birds that is kinda lost, not restored or, you know
flying over Normandy right now. So we'd love to go to Normandy, don't get me wrong but
that would mean a huge... We woulda had to put it on the 747 like a shuttle or something
and bring it over. - Maybe if you get it done a
few days early or something. - Yeah, if we had a
couple days, couple days. But we're gonna for the 100th. With the help from the school here, the École nationale d'aérotechnique... Literally I just showed up, I showed up with a c-can full of parts, my uncle, and my
girlfriend, and that was it. And then, so everybody that you see, all this hustle and bustle, is all people that you know, saw us and decided to come help. - That's awesome, very cool. (acoustic music) (engine roars) Getting some fuel here. The only problem is the fuel truck doesn't actually hold as much fuel as we need. So we're gonna fill it up, they're gonna go back and
refill the fuel truck, and then we'll get some more fuel, cause this thing holds
800 gallons and right now we need probably right around
700 maybe a little bit more. So when I looked at
the meter on that pump, I thought it was like fairly slow, especially when we're
trying to get 700 gallons. But I didn't realize that
the meter is also in liters. So it's actually really
really really slow. And we need 700 gallons of the stuff. Casey's being a champ
though, getting that fuel. (upbeat music) (engine whirs) So this A&P school that Mikey McBrian partnered with to do
this DC-3 is pretty cool. They've got a c-series, Bombardier c-seriestest vehicle to kinda play with, including the emergency use only toilet. But... Yeah. Kind of an awesome program they've got here for people to learn how to be a mechanic and
work on everything from a DC-3 to a brand new c-series. And then back over here at the DC-3. - When the airport closes. - Are we still on the first truck of fuel? - Yeah. - Still on the first truck. Okay, while we're waiting for more fuel, it's time to break out some snacks. Oh yeah, there we go. -[Paul] Basically what I'm calling you to tell you is that I have a concern about the new carburetor. Things are coming in
from the other operators that are suggesting that
these things are running 10 gallons an hour or
more richer than expected. - So about three hours
ago is when we first... (radio conversations ongoing) As you guys saw, the first
fuel truck wasn't enough. They still haven't come
back with a second one. So we're gonna end up
staying here for the night. Cause we're just kinda out of time. And we're getting a
couple of fuel flow issues that we wanna be able to troubleshoot in the daytime tomorrow, you know, make sure everything's good to go. So we're gonna stay here for the night. But even just taxing from one side of the airport to where we'd park for the night is quite the task in a DC-3. - This is why pilots get paid by the hour. -[Eric] That's right. - Cause we gotta spend so much time waiting on that oil temp... - It's a hard time line. - And our guest by the way, this is Robert Randazo, he owns the plane. (plane engine whirs) Flies this, a Citation... - Former jet stream pilot, I am rated in the 747 but I don't have the life experience with it that Eric here does. You know, imagine flying these things with no hearing protection. - Oh my god. - At all. - What's that? - So the fuel truck's here, right? (upbeat music) On the taxi over here, we noticed that the left aux tank, which is full, was indicating that it's
only about half full. So Casey's up there taking a look at... See what's going on there. So wait, what is this? -[Casey] So this is full. And then you could push this... - Oh okay, so as the float
moves, it moves back, it rotates left. - Amazingly. - Okay, that's cool. And so it's just kinda
hung up in the middle there? - I think maybe the slider was, quit contacting or something but... - Fuel gauge problem solved. (engine whirs) The fuel truck has arrived. (upbeat music) Are we fueled? - All fueled up, ready to go. - Finally fueled. - So, Kyle and I are here at this restaurant waiting for everyone else. And the waitress brought like a couple things and said a few things in French. But we didn't really
respond and now she brought us 10 menus that are all in French. So we feel like at this point we can't even tell her
we don't actually... - We're committed. - Yeah, we're committed, we're invested. (laughs) Can't make her bring
another 10 menus in English. (plane whirs) The jump seat, which is removable, is mounted to the floor right there. And it blocks access to the snacks. And it's jammed and we can't get it out. (plane noises) Problem sloved. - Thank you, Paul. (speaking French on the radio) - We nearly had to declare an emergency. - Uh oh. - The jump seat was stuck and they couldn't get access to the snacks. They were gonna take me hostage unless you agreed to go back. - Yeah, that'll do it. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) -[ATC] N33611, Montreal - Go ahead for 611 - 611 next frequency, 100 miles, hundred miles from Goose Bay airport, contact Gander Center on 120 decimal 4 And from this point now,
you have left controlled airspace. You will re-enter
about 100 miles from Goose Bay. So continue en route frequency, good day. - Enroute frequency, 100 miles from Goose, contact gander 120.4, Douglas, November 33 611, thanks good day. -[Matt] Are you back at the 28 and the 2050? -[Rob] Yeah, my conversation
with Paul Basely yesterday. - Right, was that the other ones were too high or he wanted to see that chart. - Yeah. (upbeat music) -[Matt] How's it going? -[Eric] Awesome. How about you? - Not too bad. - Excellent. - I see we're still getting some ice So we were getting some ice at seven and then we went up to nine. We're still kinda in and
out of it here and there, getting a nice little amount of ice. So finally here, we're on
top at 11,000 feet now. -[Eric] Yup, so we are in
uncontrolled airspace and I just clarified, we can go to 13,000. - Okay. - So give you some mixtures and props here. Props coming up. That's ice coming off the
props, it sounds like. We're gonna get about 32 out of it now. 12,000 for 13,000. - 12 for 13 - All right, power's coming back. to about 28. All right, 28. Max power right now and 2050. - Cool Back to auto lean. - Back to auto lean. And what's gonna be your route? To go... are you going... South Dakota...? How you getting to Russia? 080 at 14 to 24. - Nice little direct crosswind I don't know that in Goose Bay things ever really get much better. - Yeah. Probably get what you get. - That was one thing I
found flying around the world was doing trips like this, with no alternates and everything, you gotta be ready to... It doesn't really matter
what the weather's like. - That's right. You gotta get your game on. - Your gonna get what you get. You gotta be able to get
the plane on the ground. - Right. Center, good afternoon, Douglas November 33611. 100 south-east of Goose 13, thirteen thousand. -[ATC] November 33611, Gander Center, squawk ident And standby, one. -[Male On Radio] Number
33611, you are radar identified. 13 thousand, and you're cleared direct LOKRA -[Eric] Direct WOPPA Could I get that
phonetically, please for 611? - 611, that's Lima, Oscar, Kilo, Romeo, Alpha, initial fix for the runway 16. - Direct LOKRA, UPS... er correction Douglas N33611 Ha, gave it up there. LOKRA - I'm just gonna plug in the RNAV, cause that's what they're gonna give us after LOKRA - Okay, perfect. Excellent. (radio static) - LOKRA Direct to Lockra. - Direct to Lockra. - And I guess, the course 064 - Yup. Is that ice? - Yeah, probably, it's coming
off the props probably. Oh yeah, I see it every
now and then a piece... It's starting to fall
off the airplane now. - Yeah. - Let's do the decent approach check - Decent approach checklist. Exterior lights, pulse lights are on... hydraulic quantity. Is there even any there? - It's right at the bottom. - Right at the bottom, check. Hydraulic pressure, check. Nav radios set, passenger signs are on. Approach briefing, I have no questions. - Yeah, it's complete. - Complete. Descent and
approach checklist complete. - Gear down, please. - Gear down. (plane whirs) - Once that's done, you can go right to half flap. - Roger that. - Half flap. - Landing checklist to
the line, landing gear. - Down and latched, handle neutral, Pressure's up, green
light, the gear is down. - Down and latched, handle neutral pressure up, green light, gears down. Mixtures coming to auto rich. (radio chatter - Boost pumps on, we are to the line. - Roger - Airspeed, 85. 90 Plus or minus 5. 90 85 (acoustic music) Got the tops with you Rolling it in. Nice job. - Very nice. - It's not over yet. - I got the tops. (plane whirs) (acoustic music) - Okay, we made it to Goose Bay. This is kind of the first real leg, you know, just out over
some really remote terrain. Five hours and 18 minutes, I think. A lot of time in the air
making sure everything works and, you know, kinda
getting ready for the next leg to Greenland and then on to Iceland. Pretty nice here, they
actually have a fuel truck with two hoses so we can
fuel both sides at the same time and it's not nearly so slow. We're still getting it right away though so that as soon as we are ready to go we can do that. One small snag, it turns out that tomorrow
is a holiday in Greenland. So they want like, I think it was 3800
dollars to come in tomorrow. But we can come in on Saturday. But then if we leave on
Sunday, they're closed on Sunday, so that's like
1500 dollars or something. So we gotta figure out
what we're doing next and they might just get a whole
lot of money either way, cause it's Greenland and
it's in the middle of nowhere and they can kinda
charge whatever they want. And.... Yeah. Also it's just really beautiful here. Like it's kind crazy, we're just in the middle of nowhere. This used to be a pretty big military base starting in World War 2. That's what we're doing, we're going for the 75th
anniversary of D-Day. And this is the route that those DC-3's and C-47's took back in the 1940's. Yeah, I mean, we got a
Norwegian 787 that lost an engine on the way in with some passengers. So they're here getting that changed. But I mean it's just, you got mountains and snow and trees and
it's just awesome to be here. It's so cool to get to do this stuff. We stuck the fuel tanks. The fuel tanks match the... What we expected, what
the gauges were showing, what we planned on burning. We got some covers over
those so they don't get any water in over night. These things take like
constant maintenance. One of the intake manifolds
is leaking a little bit of fuel, so they're
replacing a gasket there. There's actually a
little bit of damage from some of the ice we got
today, a little piece flung off the propellor and
kinda chipped the paint. Not gonna worry about that for now. But, you know, always
something on these things. (acoustic music) We just checked into the
hotel north 2 here in Goose Bay, the original
hotel north was booked. So now we're gonna go
check out the jungle jim eatery, the place that... Another place that was recommended, what was it The Trap... Hunters? Apparently it used to be good. No one was there, so we're not gonna try. Okay guys, just woke up to find this. So I don't think we're gonna
be going anywhere today.
Really delightful to get a taste of how life would be flying a DC-3 regularly. Thank u!
Apparently that DC3 is for sale.
https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?category_level1=Multi+Engine+Piston&make=DOUGLAS&model=DC-3&listing_id=2293352&s-type=aircraft