Propeller magic

originally posted by: F4guy

originally posted by: Salander
a reply to: F4guy


The computers pour the kerosene, you just move levers.

The fuel control units are magic. They allow for full control of all 4 engines with 4 levers. Pre jet age, the DC-6/7 had something like 20 different levers. You had to constantly adjust throttle, propellor rpm, mixture, cowl flaps, carb heat. When you have that many moving parts, there is a much higher chance of something breaking. And the workload was exponentially higher. You had to monitor rpm, manifold pressure, exhaust gas temperature, outside air temperature, oil temperature, outside air temp, cylander head temps, oil quantity, engine synch. On the new jets you watch % of N1 or N2 (on a 2 shaft turbine engine), ehaust pressure ratio for takeoff only, exhaust gas temp for start only, and that's pretty much all. A modern jet is enormously simpler. You set lever A and you leave the lever be until you change something else. If you do something really stupid lights flash and a robotic voice yells at you or the stick might shake or push or pull on its own. You might even get a "whoop! whoop!" noise that tells you to pay attention. There are more lights than the White House Christmas tree, and each one has a checklist page.

And so we no longer need a flight engineer on modern rides. Bad for jobs, good for reliability.

a reply to: Salander
When they eliminated the FE position, we lost a lot of wisdom and experience. Many of the Flight Engineers were 30-35 year captains who had aged out of Captain positions under the Age 60 rule. You would have a new captain with 2000 hours in type, a newer hire FO (co-pilot) with 500 hours in type and a SO (Flight Engineer) sitting sideways with 20,000 hours in type. I learned a lot from those old guys.