Originally Posted by
727C47
we once had the autopilot MEL'd on the 727 and hand flew from DTW -Vegas-MSP-MotorCity one fun summers day, back at a supplemental that shall remain nameless, flying by hand at non RVSM altitudes just like Daddy did, fortunately there was no mountain wave over the Rockies or we would have been requesting block altitudes, it ended up being a very good day with nary an ASAP report being required, the 727 being a total joy to fly in all regimes except takeoff out of hot,and slightly high LAS,where we routinely rotated way far down runway 25R , shouting fore as we sagged upward and accelerated over that golf course , and not relaxing till that wing morphed clean and we had 250 kts on the ticker, and 10k in the bank beneath us.
We had this on the C-9 in the Navy a few times (No autopilot) but one time stands out as particularly fun. I was flying as the aircraft Commander and knowing my limitations (a man has got to know his limitations) we asked for, and received, a block altitude for most of the time at cruise. We were flying transcon, San Diego to Norfolk, or perhaps Jacksonville so it was going to be quite tedious.
The other Pilot, also an aircraft commander but flying as a co-pilot that day, was your typical **** hot fighter pilot type, who was generally a better stick and rudder man than myself - so naturally I couldn't pass up this opportunity to humble him a few notches.
We decided to take turns to break up the monotony of hand flying. Unbeknownst to my fellow aviator, I called back to the crew and hatched a devious plan. When ever I was flying everyone would remain seated but when my partner was flying the crew would alternatively move all the way forward wait a few minutes and then move all the way back. We flew with the cockpit door open and our crew chief would pop up see who was flying and then take charge in the back.
It worked like a charm - I was able to trim the aircraft relatively stable, but my buddy was all over the sky. He actually started sweating and was worried he was losing "it." After over an hour of this we finally broke down and told him what was going on - the look on his face was priceless!
Scoop
