- This aeroplane, the DC-9 Ferity, is 46 years old.
So it's older than me.
It was flying the air before I was born.
I'm so excited to have a last chance to fly on one of these
so rare classic aeroplanes .
Oh, lots of the lights coming on
- Oil gauges, temperatures that are hydraulic
and we have a weather radar, fuel cross feed.
This is for pressurisation.
- I going to close the cargo door now.
- [Sam] Oh, the switch is down here.
(Exciting Music)
(Pilot-Control Tower Chatter)
- [Sam] Mwanza's not answering.
- [Sam] The flies are everywhere now.
Wow. A huge swamp of flies coming in.
- Yeah
- [Sam] Wow! Suddenly they just came like that.
Lucky our doors are closed.
How long you think the DC-9 can remain to fly
actively in the fleet?
Aviation is a small world.
Eight years ago.
I flew in captain George on a DC-9 10 series in Kenya
and now I'm back today flying with captain George again
on a DC-9-30 cargo to Tanzania today.
(Hip Music)
- [George] Welcome on the DC-9-30 0 freighter to Mwanza
and it's beautiful weather today.
Excellent day for flying.
We check our temperature probe.
Outside air temperature probe,
so there's no obstructions.
The two landing taxi lights.
One is for dim and one is bright.
A static port that is clear.
It's not taped over.
Tyre conditions,
very good.
Check our brakes.
All the piping looks good.
Up in here to check out,
inside the wheel assembly where the landing gear retracts,
that there's nothing loose or anything missing.
And this compartment is interesting
'cause there's a time we had an incident,
where they found a stowaway.
A young man who had crept in here at night.
- [Sam] A stowaway inside?
- Yes, he was found here.
- [Sam] Oh, a young men went inside.
- yes
- [Sam] Oh they can hide inside.
- [George] You can just see here.
- [Sam] Right here.
Yeah. Very small.
- [George] It's a-- yes.
- [Sam] Very tiny hole.
- [George] Very tiny hole.
- [Sam] Wow.
- So luckily the security found him before departure.
The fuel panel is open.
Come and take a look at that.
So the engineer on duty will come and do the sealing.
Okay. So we walk all the way the leading edge.
Okay.
We check our static ports.
One, two, three, four, five, six, all intact.
And one thing I love about the DC-9 wing,
is you can actually reach them.
Control surfaces, like the ailerons.
- [Sam] Wow. Let me try. - Yeah.
- [Sam] Yeah
- You can reach - [Sam] It's like a Cessna.
- Yeah!
- [Sam] You can reach the ailerons.
- That's the sound of the APU. - [Sam] Oh, the APU started.
- Yeah. The Co-Pilot is on board.
He ran, he's starting the APU.
- [Sam] Okay.
- So he can start doing all the preparation
within the aircraft.
(Jet Engines noise)
All looks good.
All right.
And they're just about to start loading the cargo.
(Rhythmic Music)
- [Sam] So these are general cargos.
- Yeah. But, lots of bits and pieces
- [Sam] Oh, so lots of boxes or small pieces here.
How many pallets do you have on the DC-9?
- On DC-9, I have six pallets.
- [Sam] Right.
- Yes. - [Sam] So it's fully loaded,
I can see all the way to the end.
- Yes
- [Sam] I just went inside a DC-9 fuselage.
Quite dark at the back.
Now I'm just coming, walking out.
There's a narrow passage between all the pallets here.
(Rhythmic Music)
- [Sam] This is a very complicated cockpit looking,
look at this.
- It's not as complicated as it looks.
It's actually more advanced than the 727,
because we don't have a flight engineer.
- [Sam] Ah
- So it's just a two crew, two man crew aircraft.
And it was very advanced for its time,
with a very functional autopilot,
which is right here.
Okay.
- [Sam] Yeah. All the steam gauges,
and I'm so used to the, IFIS.
Wow! This is super complicated aeroplane, man,
and green as well the panel.
- The basic flight instruments.
Then we go to our engine instruments, fuel gauges
engine instruments right there.
We got oil gauges, temperatures, quantities.
And we've got our hydraulic system there on that side.
And then the instruments are located on the right side.
Okay. We have two GPSs one and this one.
Okay. And we have weather radar combined
with the TCAS screen which we'll see
once we are airborne. Okay.
Here, we have the four quadrants
The throttles, speed breaks and a few other nobs here.
One is for the fuel cross feed, flap lever.
This is for pressurisation.
These are fuel levers, on and off.
Autopilot.
Then the radio.
So it's not as complicated as it looks.
Then we have our generator switches there.
We are running on APU at the moment,
Auxiliary Power Unit.
We've got our start switches right there.
Ignition system.
Okay, seatbelt signs,
this is seatbelt signs.
(Sam laughs)
- [Co-Pilot] That's our warning question lights.
- [Sam] Ah, It's amazing.
I love this panel.
It's like, oh, love the lights coming up.
- [George] And it's quite useful,
because it tells you exactly where to go
in the emergency checklists.
Okay Sam, today's flight
from Mwanza will be approximately 40 minutes.
We'll be flying at 28,000 feet westbound.
And today my colleague first officer here, is Kakai.
- Good morning, Welcome.
- [George] Okay. He's very happy to meet Sam.
- [Kakai] Welcome.
- [Sam] My pleasure flying with you.
This is absolutely delightful to see how you guys
flying machines like this 46 years old
and going strong.
- All right.
- And today we'll be doing about Mach .76 in the cruise.
- [Sam] What's the fuel burn
- The fuel burn is approximately 7,000 pounds an hour.
- My name is Danka.
and I'm the engineer for the flight today to Mwanza.
I going to close the cargo door now.
- [Sam] Let's do it.
- Yeah.
- [Sam] Oh, the switch is down here.
- Yeah.
- [Sam] Very different to 727.
- [Kakai] V2 speed will be 150,
set on on my side
- [George] Set on the left.
Brakes up.
Starting number two.
- [Kakai] number two.
- Pressure values is open, pressure is checked.
Pressure is here.
Get the fuel.
Fuel on.
Light up.
- [Kakai] N1
- [George] Fuel flow.
(Pilot-ATC Communication)
(Rhythmic Music)
- [George] Take off thrusts.
- [Kakai] Take off thrusts checked.
V1, rotating.
(Engine Noise)
(Take Off Noise)
(ATC Communication)
- [George] Okay. Yeah, it was pretty long
because the temperatures are getting a bit warm,
as we are going towards afternoon.
So we prefer to do most of the departures
very early in the morning, or as early as possible.
We still on manual flight,
we'll be ready to engage the autopilot.
Climbing to 25,600 feet
and we just crossing the border
between Kenya and Tanzania.
The position called PARIN.
So are now trying to contact approach for further clearance.
So far the flight is excellent.
Beautiful weather today.
Clear all the way to Mwanza.
(Hip Music)
(Pilot-ATC Communication) - Let's get a bit closer.
We are still a hundred miles, hundred miles out.
- [Sam] Okay. Mwanza is not answering.
= Yeah, so we'll try give them a bit of time.
(ATC Communication)
- We called Es-Salaam we didn't manage to get them.
So we contacted Mwanza for clearance
and they cleared us down to level 080.
So we'll prepare for our descent.
We'll be coming in left base over the water for runway 02.
Weather is good.
Visibility is better than 10 kilometres.
- [George] So yeah,
- [Kakai] We'll start our descent now.
(Hip Musics)
(ATC Communication)
(Tyres screech)
- [Kakai] Two lights, four lights.
(ATC Communication)
- The right side here,
we have the military parking area
with the classic MIG-21s.
(Rhythmic Music)
- [Ground Staff] Yambo.
- [Sam] Yambo.
- Yambo Tanzania.
(Rhythmic Music)
- Such a beautiful livery.
I love the blue and the giraffe on the tail.
- [Sam] How long do you think the DC-9 can remain
to fly active in the fleet.
- These planes were built to last,
similar to you know like to the DC-3s.
- [Sam] Whoa!
- The only thing, that is regulations is
what stops them from flying.
- [Sam] Wow. Amazing to hear they were built to last.
- They were built to last. - [Sam] Strong, very strong.
Yeah. This looks super complicated.
- It looks so complicated.
(Sam laughs)
Like a Russian space shuttle illusion.
- [Sam] Oh no doubt.
It looks like a Russian cockpit here.
- Yes
- [Sam] Yeah, yeah But why you love DC-9? Why you love it?
- Oh, we love it.
It keeps you, it keeps you on what is on point.
You don't lose your flying skills.
When you fly this kind of aircraft
- [Sam] Starting the APU, we're leaving?
- [Kakai] Yes, going back to Nairobi.
- [Sam] Frequency is good? Battery is good?
- [Kakai] Battery is good. Frequency is good.
So I'm going to go to now,
so I'm going to connect it right on.
- [Sam] Ah, the door is closing.
(Door closing)
(ATC Communication)
- [Sam] This come from the lake these flies.
Wow. Suddenly they just came like that.
Lucky our doors are closed, windows closed.
Wow! Look at the flies.
- [George] Yeah crazy.
Request taxi.
- [Sam] The flies are everywhere now. Wow.
[Adventurous Music]
[ATC Communication]
- There's a huge swarm of flies coming in from the lake.
It's crazy.
(ATC Communication)
(Cockpit noises)
- The bugs as they go into the engines
through the bleed air system.
But that phenomena is normally happens at night.
When you take off over the lake
Now you can see the on the windscreen.
So luckily we're not a passenger aircraft.
Otherwise you'd be having queries from the cabin.
"What's that smell?"
So we engage the auto-throttle.
Your hand is the auto-throttle
(George laughs)
(ATC chatter)
Having fun today.
(Plane screeches)
(George laughs)
It touched nicely. Wow!
[Rhythmic Music]
- We had a great flight with you, captain George.
- Thank you, Sam.
- Very nice landing. You almost got it right?
- I almost got it.
(Sam laughs)
- Yeah. You'll see it on the video.
- [Sam] I love flying classic aeroplane,
but I think today the best thing was
the unexpected bug attack
and our windscreen is completely covered in bugs
but the captain's made it back.
We can still see the runway way at the end landing.
- Thank you.
- What an experience,
love it!
(Rhythmic Music)