Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Three-holer Legacy

I pranged a 757 onto 24 Right at LAX the other day. Thought I had it wired. Nice day. Little wind. Long runway with a turnoff down toward the end. No hurry to stop. Should have been a greaser.

PRANG!

I grimaced over it as we taxied in. I brooded over it on the van ride to the hotel. I analyzed it over dinner. Why does it bother me like this. No one can make perfect landings every time. But then, I remembered Warren Nelson. Now, there was a man who could do it.

Nelson was a master of the "3-holer," the Boeing 727, so dubbed because it had three engines clustered close together in and on the tail. It was a reliable and versatile aircraft that could fly fast and make up lost time to maintain schedule integrity. Unlike more modern planes, it required a third pilot acting as a flight engineer.

The 727 was highly responsive to control inputs and more of a challenge to fly than later generation passenger jets. Some called it the fighter of the airline world. It was especially difficult to make soft landings in. Many pilots loved the 3-Holer so much they stayed on it their entire careers and mastered it to perfection. Those who only passed through the 727 world on their way up the ladder to bigger and newer planes marveled at how the old heads tamed the cranky jet. As a 727 first officer I flew with many of them, but one that stands out is Captain Warren Nelson.

Nelson was a reserved, gentlemanly sort--pensive, intelligent and articulate. Those qualities drew him into leadership positions with ALPA but he rarely talked unionism. Affable and agreeable though he was, he simply didn’t say much, and when he did say something he commanded attention.

I had never seen Nelson make a bad landing in the 3-Holer. In fact they were all supremely wonderful greasers that I envied and tried in vain to emulate. I was able to do it sometimes, but not with his consistency. Finally, though, the day came when the 3-Holer turned on him.

It was the last landing of a four-day trip back at the mother base, O’Hare. The last landing of the trip is the most important one because it’s the one you’ve got to live with until you get back to work. It you’re going to prang, do it early in the trip while redemptive opportunities are still available. Nelson knew this.

All looked good to me. His airspeed was good, as was his sink rate, crab and power settings. The runway hurdled toward us; the 727’s approach speeds were high. Nelson retarded the throttles and flared, then relaxed back-pressure to allow the main wheels to catch the runway surface on the upswing as the nose lowered. That maneuver, referred to as "check and roll," is unique to long bodied aircraft that sit relatively low to the ground. It's also a hard one to master. 

But it was no problem for a master like Warren Nelson. I watched, expecting our trip to end with yet another of his smooth-as-a-baby’s-butt arrivals.
 

We hit, and we hit hard. The airframe shuddered as if every nut, bolt, rivet and fastener yelled in unison that they were mad as hell and weren’t going to take it anymore.

I sat shocked. The master was flawed. I saw him glance quickly aside at me, as if to say, "Keep your tongue." But I needed to say something in spite of my reverence for Nelson.

After turning off the runway I couldn’t stay quiet any longer. I had to show this man, whom I admired and wanted to be like, that I approved of him no matter that I had found him to be imperfect. "Warren, I thought you had it wired all the way down," as if my evaluation was worthy of mention. His only response to my deference was a grunt.

As the engines spooled down at the gate he stared straight ahead out the windshield. I had forgotten about the landing and was busy preparing to leave when he uttered to no one in particular, "I’ll go home, pour a Scotch, sit in a dark room and think about that one."

Whoever said airline pilots never take the job home with them never met a pro like Warren Nelson.


11 comments:

  1. You need to jar the teeth out of some passengers occasionally to remind them they are riding in a hurling piece of machinery and not playing some Flight Simulator Game.

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  2. The very first airplane I ever flew in was an AA 727. They were introducing jet service to a local airport and to kick off the service, you could take a local flight for $12. My old man parted with $36 and away we went. He doesn't remember it, but I will never forget it.

    Four years ago, The feds chartered a 727 for us to fly our team into the deep south for a hurricane response. We picked up another team on the way, but still had a half-full plane. It had been so long since I had flown on a three holer, I had forgotten how quiet it was up toward the front.

    I recently found a photo of us loading our gear on that ship, a Champion Air -225 I think. I printed it up as it was likely my last ride on a 727.

    As a kid, when I looked into the sky, it seemed that every other plane was a 72. Not any more.

    Thanks for the post.

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  3. I loved to ride in the TWA 727's. They were my favorite planes. It was such a treat when we'd get to enter by the back stairs when we'd leave Vegas to fly back home to LAX. We got hit by lightning in one going the other way once, that was scarier to me than any hard landing.
    I saw the QFA380 grease a landing the other day on 24-R. Just floated down.
    Thanks for the chuckle.
    amulbunny

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  4. I think the 727 in flight is one of the prettiest airplanes ever. An elegant classic that I am sorry to see move off the main stage.

    Great blog, sir!
    Thank you for your efforts.
    Bob

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  5. It seems that the harder I try to really get a smooth landing on the 757, the rougher they seem to be. Then again, sometimes when its windy and you just want to get it on the runway, you end up with a really smooth touchdown.

    I have flown the 757 for over 10 years now, and I learned that because of the landing gear trucks, you have to have that airplane perfectly aligned with the ground track at touchdown, otherwise any crab angle will make that airplane shudder and jump as it settles on to the main gear.

    Still the best airplane to fly, in my opinion.

    Brent
    MSP 757

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  6. Good to know the seasoned jet pilots still take the less than perfect landings to heart, lol. For some reason I always just assumed I would "grow out of" caring about the landings that I could have done better.

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  7. I've probably flown in a 727, but my most memorable landing was one where a co worker and I were returing from California in a full plane (707 I think) and it seemed to take forever for the pilot to get the plane slowed down. You could cut the tension in the cabin with a knife until the lead attendant got on the intercom and said "wh-o-o-o-a-a-a Nelly." Every one laughed and you could feel the tension dissipate. Kudos to the men and women of the Airline Endustry.

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  8. We still study the 727 as part of the ATPL flight planning theory exams here in Australia. You get a good appreciation for the jet. It's a shame I'll probably never even get to ride on one, let alone fly one.

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  9. I just found your blog, and I must say that was a good post. Great to hear about good ol' Warren Nelson giving a little back to the concrete once in a while.

    Cheers!
    Ryan

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  10. As an informed and aviation savvy frequent flyer, I recall many pleasant and sometimes less so experiences in the 727. Two stand out:

    A. PSA out of OAK bound for LAX. RWY 30 (10500'). Very light load. Rotated about 500' after throttle up (not quite) and AOA of 90 degrees (not quite but . . ). We turned SE about 12000' over the City of San Francisco - or as I tell it and kept up the climb out halfway to San Simeon (not exactly, but close). I loved that aircraft.

    B. PSA landing at BUR on the Four Stacks approach to 30. Crossing the fence we seemed a little high and past the TDZ I sensed we were floating. Crew slammed the aircraft down and with full brakes and reverse came to a full stop about 100 feet from the blast deflectors. Wow. I would have paid extra for that as a feature of the flight.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your contributions to the 727 legacy.

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