This description is excellent but is not complete without talking about the leading edge flap agreement lights up front on the panel.

I had a checkride question I liked to ask that almost nobody ever answered correctly..... If you have lost A system hydraulics and need to extend the flaps you need to use the alt flap extension switches. The abnormal checklist will tell you to put the flap handle in the flap setting you want and then use the switches to extend the flaps/slats. You put the flap handle in flaps 2 position and extend the flaps/slats to 2 on the indicator but you get a LE flap amber disagreement light. What do you do.....

That is very interesting gents! Sounds like a lot of moving parts and things that can go wrong! I think about JP's icing story in the other thread.

Lou, were you the lead Boeing engineer that worked on the design?  

How the heck you guys remember all this is amazing. These are very interesting posts. Hope you continue them!

Bruce

It's nice to see that guys like Bruce and Mark have such interest the details.
When flaps are up or in the 2 degree position only the inboard ailerons move and when 5 degrees or more are selected the outboard ailerons also move. This increases roll sensitivity at lower airspeeds. Also when the ailerons are deflected more than 10 degrees on the yoke the flight spoilers will come up on the side which you are turning.
Notice on the top of the yoke there are numbers 0, 10, 20. It's very important to know that you don't have 10 or more degrees input [spoilers up] when you lose an engine on takeoff. Rudder is required to keep straight, not aileron. The spoilers will degrade eng out performance.
The sim is not correct as the outboard ailerons always move.
Hope this helps.
Tom

Bruce,
Thought you might like to see a landing in a 727-200 at STL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_ErZ1nakd0
Not as nice as your video, but you can see how much busy work there is in the cockpit.
Note the noise from the main stab trim wheel when he trims.
You will also hear some of the call outs during the approach.
Lou

That's an easy one Lou.... That would be the "Stby Rudder Switch" or the "Alternate Flap Master Switch" and it uses the fluid in the "Baby B" res. It powers the lower rudder and bypasses system A fluid and hydraulicly extends the Leading edge flaps/slats. Alternate Flap Master uses elecrric motors to extend the flaps.

If you lose A and B hydraulic systesm you lose the upper rudder but still have manual reversion on all the other flight surfaces. Spoilers will be inoperative. The engineer has to get out the gear extension handle Push his seat in get on his hands and knees and crank. 2 turns clockwise to unlock the door uplocks and then clockwise til you get a green light. If I remember correctly.

Remember guys. This is a 3 crew airplane and it takes everyone working as a team to fly this plane. The non flying pilot handles the radios and sets up the approach and some of the checklists. The engineer takes care of the systems, performance and some of the checklists as well and monitors the approach so the two guys up frotn don't kill him.

I started as FE on the DC8 with 300 hrs total time and was upgraded to FO with 230 hrs in the 8. The engineer seat really helped me get to the right seat.  Icouldn;t have gone directly into the right seat and been succesful. It would have been too much for me to handle.

I teach in the simulator and have seen guys with 3000 hours as a flight instructor fail the sim portion. You get 4 hours in the sim before your checkride. 1.5 hours into his training he broke down in the sim and just gave up. He couldn't get used to the pace of things and how much faster they happen in a 727 than a Piper Seminole. I tried to talk him back into the sim, but he said he couldn't and he went back to flight instructuing. Not everyone makes the cut.

There are guys who are  great pilots at 500 hours and some FO's with 4000hrs that will never be upgraded to captain becasue they don't have what it takes. Pilots talk to each other the yask around if they have never flown with you before. Everyone has their favorite crew pairings. Some people work better together than others.

It's not an easy job.

To put things in perspective it takes about 3 or 4 weeks of class to learn systems. It takes about 3 or 4 hours of studying each day after class is over. It takes many hours in a cockpit procedure trainer learning checklists and panel flows, then 4 hours in the sim to put it all together. 1-2 hour checkride in the sim with a 2-3 hour oral exam. 1 hour LOFT (Line Oriented Fligth Training) in the sim. 3 TO and landings in the aircraft with a checkairman. Then they release you for IOE (Initial Operating Experience) for 25 hours of flying the line with a checkairman. Then after all that is satisfactorly completed you can go fly the line as a biddding crewmember. And then it takes about 4mo of flying to really get comfortable with the plane. Then for captains every 6mo an FO's every year you go back to the sim for another checkride.

To miss all that training and expect to be able to fly the plane profficiently won't happen. My last company had a 2 week sched. We were on fro 2 weeks and off for 2 weeks and even after being off for two weeks it took one or two fligths to get back into the rythm.

I have a TOLD card and some performance charts I could send you that willmake the flying easier.

Hi Bruce.

It's interesting that you are struggling to climb. I would say you had your climb is far too steep! Using the A/P I usually start at around 15 degrees on initial climb the lower it to 10 degrees soon after, and I don't have any trouble climbing to FL290 @ 270 KIAS, but to continue on to FL320 I have to climb at around 27 KIAS and 500 FPM. I think the trick is too lower the nose and gain about 300 KIAS above 10,000 feet so the climb is less of a strain on the plane. Easier said than done in my case!

Don't worry too much though. I have a LOT to learn too.

Keep at it though. It sure is fun even though it can be frustrating if all hell breaks loose!

Mark