Originally Posted by
UAL T38 Phlyer
noob:
It humbled me. In a word: inertia.
I had 4000 hours of military time, mostly twin jet time when I went into the 747 sim the first time. I was used to fighters and trainers, where control response is very rapid, and when controls are neutralised, movement around any axis stops almost immediately.
In the 747, with lots of weight (engines and fuel) so far out from the fuselage, once you get the thing rolling, it doesn't want to stop. Pitch is similar, with such a long fuselage. I overcontrolled in bank and pitch for the first two sim sessions.
In other words, I was used to airplanes where the dynamic damping from the empennage/dihedral was greater than the inertial effect of the airframe.
The 747 (and most other heavy airliners) are exactly the opposite.
Once I learned to master the beast (and I flew the -100, 200, and -400), the word was "Majestic." It amazed me that something designed on paper in the 1960s, with slide rules (not even hand-held calculators back then), could be so big and so fast (redline is 0.92 Mach), have the ability to fly a third of the way around the world, and still turn a profit.
Pretty amazing machine.
Nice post.
I came into the classic from learjet 20's. My first takeoff on ioe was off 31L at Kennedy. 800,000lbs gtow in August! After rolling 11,000 feet all The bird would do in the Canarsie climb was around 1200 fpm! Once the wing got clean it bumbed up to 2000fpm. I thought we had lost an engine.
I didn't find taxing difficult. I like being able to see the whole airport.