Flying the DC-3

摘要

The DC-3 was popular with the flying public because it was safe, economical and comfortable. Pilots had other reasons for liking it. American Airlines captain turned best-selling author Ernest K. Gann ('The High and the Mighty', 'Fate is the Hunter'), flew both the DST and the DC-3 and remembered them as easy aircraft to fly, tolerant of even the most ham-handed pilots. "Their inherent stability", he said, "makes them an excellent instrument aircraft and their low stall speed combined with practically full control response at slow approach speeds allows the use of very short fields. They can be slipped with full flaps or held nose-high and allowed to descend in a near power stall. In the hands of a skilled pilot DC-3s can be successfully landed in just about any cabbage patch some optimist has dared to call an airfield."