Flying on a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor

thank you [Music] thank you [Music] good afternoon everybody so we are currently in my airplane with the gorgeous Denver downtown Skyline and our views here today was incredibly hot nearly 96 degrees and the density altitude was almost nine thousand it was considerably cooler up here which was nice but we are headed to go see one of my favorite airplanes and quite excited because this is the first time that I've ever seen this airplane in the beautiful state of Colorado so my buddy Kevin and I hopped in my plane and flew South and you're about to see in my opinion one of the more rare airplanes to be still flying in the public eye they might recognize this airplane and if you don't that's completely fine because there's only a handful left that are quote unquote air worthy but truly only two left in the hands of the EAA this is known as a Ford tri-mode this was America's first airliner and newly a hundred years ago was the main staple of Aviation this is what set the Benchmark for airline travel air mail and just about anything that they could put in this play safety record is quite impressive probably due to its build quality thanks to Ford and having three massive radial engines now this particular plane is owned by the EAA there's two of these in their ownership this one spends nearly 300 days out of the year on the road or I should say in the air showing the general public what the very first airliner was like if you ever get a chance you can actually book a flight on a Ford Tri motor and I cannot stress it enough it's probably one of the greatest things you could ever buy there is something truly special about a Ford Tri motor I don't know if it's the Symphony of radio engines fill in the entire cabin of the aircraft or just how they look you look at it and it's build quality and these massive radio engines are just it's mesmerizing now this one originally had 290 horsepower out of three radial engines and this one has been updated with three beautiful Pratt Whitney 985s producing 450 horsepower each refueling the Ford Tri motor is a challenge in itself you know he's not pulling up a pot of gold he's actually pulling up the fuel hose because the only way to refuel a Ford Tri motor is climbing at the very top of the airplane and filling up the wing tanks [Music] in total there is 199 tri-motors built this one flew as an airliner from 1929 till 1933 and it did a multitude of other tasks at hand and is still flying to this day and emits most of its originality EAA does quite amazing job of keeping this bird in pristine condition and what I mean pristine is if you see this plane in person you will see by pristine it's one of the cleaner airplanes I've seen in my life there's something truly special about the tri-motor how it looks and just to think that nearly a hundred years ago this was the main transportation in the air for the General Public I was lucky enough to give my father a chance to join me on the media Day ride and uh well you could tell by the smile on his face that he was more than excited to get his first ride on the Ford Tri motor [Music] you'll see from the interior of house sparse airline travel back in the day was as you can see by the seats but the window view is amazing so what speed do you rotate at um it's accelerating pretty quickly 70. okay okay so I wait for 70 because that's kind of my vmc 69 is but so so I wait for 70 and then I come it actually fly I just allow it to fly off you know and then I accelerate fairly quickly to 80 and then the rest of the time we'll spend between 75 and 85. and this obviously doesn't has no flaps no and what do you'll need them and what are you shooting for for landing speed 80 80. yeah so everything from that point on will be 75 to 80 and that's all the way through landing and your burn rate on per engine about a gallon a minute gallon for the total across across the board and theoretical range um well that depends a lot on when so so let's just say 80 you know so I'm I'm pretty I'm a pretty solid 250 to 300 miles okay you know so but it really at 80 miles an hour 39 30 knots of wind is a big deal and in comparison to other Tailwinds does this have its characteristics or is it pretty predictable it's very similar I mean it is very similar to heavier multi-engine tail Wheels like the beach 18 the DC3 okay you know the Electra okay you know so so that is a lot the same so you have a lot of Rudder Authority and a fair I mean what I I you know it the rudder is a little small I I have authority but I have to press it hard okay it's it's the the control Harmony is not so nice so it's hard to push it works but it's really hard to push that makes sense yeah that's wonderful thank you so much let's go for an airplane right now all right let's go he's doing a great job six is a little louder all right it's ground adjustable so yeah it's fixed but you can adjust it on the ground foreign foreign thanks for joining me on a flight in a 1929 Ford Tri motor if you ever get a chance check out eaa's website and find out if this plane's coming to your city because for 85 bucks if you're a member or 95 bucks if you're not a member you can go on a flight in one of these and it's tough to say how many years from now if this plane will still be flying it will obviously leave a lifetime of memories and that in itself makes us plain one of the more special aircraft to be still in the hands of the General Public taking off Tom yeah I think so guys good to see you maybe we'll see you tomorrow yeah

Channel: Sir Drifto

Views: 12,201

Keywords: ford tri motor, americas first airliner, first arline, ford airplane, tri, motor, radial, 100 year old plane, aviation, eaa, history, aircraft, tailwheel, pilot channel, flying channel, pilot blog

Id: OA8wvbu8E0Q

Length: 10min 54sec (654 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 02 2023