JayG,

I never had to do it with passengers, but we did it many times in training.
We used to kid about how we would go back into the cabin after cranking
down the gear and say to the isle passenger as you ripped up the carpet
between their legs..."excuse me Miss, I need to look at something."  

Lou

Here's a question for you, Lou: In your experience, is it more fun to fly older planes, or newer planes with digital gauges (especially glass cockpits and LCD screens), or is there not really a difference in that respect?

Thanks,
boeing247

Boeing 247, I like flying both the old and the new planes. I will say that the glass in the new planes is one of the greatest advancements in safety for the pilot's situational awareness. Also, the newer planes such as the 757 etc. are a lot more efficient than the old buggies.

As for just the pure fun of flying, I don't think anything was more fun to fly than the 727, since you just had to work a bit harder to fly it right and make a good landing. The 747 was fun since it was just a big Cub. Landing the 747 made you look good since all those wheels made just about every landing smooth. My Piper J-5A Cub is also a blast to fly.  

CoolP said: You may correct me, Lou, but that blocking wheel (with the too high brake pressure on) isn't lost in case of braking, it just brakes less than a rotating wheel would do.
Static friction (rotating wheel, getting brake force on it but remaining in rotation) is higher than sliding friction (stopping wheel, rubber sliding across the runway), so the techs try to achieve a rolling wheel in all cases, which also has the advantage of offering directional stability.

CoolP, the maximum friction of the tire happens just BEFORE the skid. When the wheel stops turning the coefficient of friction drops. To make matters worse, the heat build-up under the stopped tire causes a reverted rubber patch to form almost instantly. This melted rubber acts like a lubricant and the friction of the tire drops. Also, this reverted rubber patch could mark the end of that tire since the flat spot renders the tire useless.

The 380 is just too big for its good. Few airports can handle the beast properly. I think I like the 747-8 a lot more.

Lou

Lou, got a 737 question for you....

I always thought that the yaw damper should be off for takeoff and landing, but someone in another un-named forum says it should be on, what does the real expert say?

JayG asked: I always thought that the yaw damper should be off for takeoff and landing, but someone in another un-named forum says it should be on, what does the real expert say?

Jay, I never flew the 737, but all the other Boeing planes I flew had the damper on all the time except the 707 where it was a part-time yaw damper. In fact the 727 needed both dampers at altitude or it was a wild ride. If one of the dampers in the 727 failed, you slowed down and go down right now.

Lou

True! about the pilots and their planned taxi route, Lou.
Really hard to understand how such things can happen and I don't think that Airbus officials internally feel happy about this outcome while the outside of course stays on the "meh, such a small incident" line.
Since the pilots flying the airshow displays are from the small test pilot pool, this is even more amazing and exceeds that former incident at JFK (with the fast turning of the CRj) by far in my eyes.


I think the later Yaw Damper systems included more than a simple on/off logic, so this may partially explain why you let them stay at "on". "On" therefore means that the usage is allowed and the smartness in the electronic circuit then triggers the actual activation, depending on the sensed flight phases and circumstances the plane is in.
They had a "digital yaw damper system" installed on all later 737s.
"Off" therefore is the "not allowed" setting, rendering the autoflight and also detection systems on the modern birds to non operational.

The logics in that system allow you to "grab" a runway and also to maintain directional control with the rudder in crosswind landings and takeoffs with the system enabled.
Some other manufactures (e. g. Embraer) recommend the YD logics set to off just before landing though, so the system implementation seems to differ here and there. All I've read about the 737 (from -100 up to NG) says "on" (which means that the switch is set there and the logics in the system then decide about activation, so see it as a "soft on" while "off" is a "hard off").

I've read about the old 707 having at least two revisions of the Yaw damper system. One with the need to turn it on and off manually, depending on the flight phases and another one where you just check "on" at pre-flight and leave it there throughout the whole flight.
I think the CS rendition is one of the always on things, same on the 727.
For any autoflight (like e. g. tracking the LOC) the Yaw Damper is needed/assists the AP.



Regarding the gear "look spots" on the 707 I found this one.

Could be that the manual also included some hand written notes in the way of 'place the ladies here'.  

Who hit Embraer where?
At JFK, it was a CRJ I think, no Embraer.

Maybe the CRJ pilot said something nasty on the radio, setting up the AF pilots. 

Ah, I see, now. That's an Embraer building.
CRJ against Aribus: lost
Embraer against Airbus: won