Crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a 1930s Airliner

The night is quite a task in a DC-3. - That's why pilots are paid by the hour. - That's how it is. - Because we have to spend a lot of time waiting for the oil temperature... - It's a difficult timeline. - And our guest by the way, this is Robert Randazo, he is the owner of the plane. (Plane engine hums) Fly this, a Citation... - Former jet stream pilot, I'm rated in the 747 but don't have the life experience with it that Eric has. You know, imagine flying these things without hearing protection. - Oh Lord. - Absolutely. - What's that? - So the fuel truck is here, right? (upbeat music) In the taxi here, we noticed that the left auxiliary tank, which is full, indicated that it was only half full.

So Casey's up there taking a look... See what's going on there. Wait, what is this? - So this is full. And then you could push this... - Oh, okay, when the float moves, it goes back and turns to the left. - Amazingly. - Okay that's cool. And then it's kind of hanging in the middle? - I think maybe the slider stopped making contact or something, but... - Fuel gauge problem solved. (Engine hums) The fuel truck has arrived. (upbeat music) Are we full of energy? - Everything full of fuel, ready to go. - Finally fed. - So, Kyle and I are here at this restaurant waiting for everyone else.

And the waitress brought a couple of things and said some things in French. But we didn't really respond and now she brought us 10 menus all in French. So we feel like at this point we can't even tell you that we don't really... - We're engaged. - Yes, we are committed, we are committed. (Laughs) I can't make her bring 10 more menus in English. (The plane hums) The folding seat, which is removable, is mounted on the floor right there. And it blocks access to snacks. And it's stuck and we can't get it out. (airplane noises) Problem solved. - Thank you pablo. (speaking in French on the radio) - We almost had to declare an emergency. - Uh oh. - The folding seat was stuck and they couldn't access the snacks.

They would take me hostage unless you agreed to return. - Yes, that will do. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - N33611, Montreal - Continue to 611 - 611 next frequency, 100 miles, one hundred miles from Goose Bay Airport, contact the Gander Center at 120 decimal 4 And from this point, you have abandoned controlled airspace. You will re-enter about 100 miles from Goose Bay. So continue on route frequency, good day. - Frequency en route, 100 miles from Goose, contact gander 120.4, Douglas, November 33, 611, thank you, good day. - Are you back in 28 and 2050? - Yes, my conversation yesterday with Paul Basely. - Correct, it was either that the others were too high or I wanted to see that graph. - Yes. (upbeat music) - How are you doing? - Awesome.

And you? - Not bad. - Excellent. - I see we're still getting some ice. So we were getting some ice at seven and then we went up at nine. We're still going in and out here and there, getting a small amount of ice. Finally here we are at the top at 11,000 feet. - Yes, so we are in uncontrolled airspace and I just clarified, we can reach 13,000. - Well. - Here I give you some mixes and accessories. Accessories are coming. It looks like it's ice coming out of the fixtures. Now we will take out about 32. 12,000 times 13,000. - 12 by 13 - Okay, the power is returning. to about 28.

Okay, 28. Maximum power now and in 2050. - Cool down Return to auto tilt. - Return to automatic tilt. And what will your route be? To go... are you going to... South Dakota...? How do you get to Russia? 080 at 14 to 24. - Nice little straight crosswind. I don't know if things really get much better in Goose Bay. - Yes. You probably get what you get. - That was something I found flying around the world, was taking trips like this, with no alternatives and everything, you have to be prepared for... It doesn't really matter what the weather is like. - That's how it is.

You have to start playing. - You will get what you get. You have to be able to get the plane to land. - Good. Center, good afternoon, Douglas 33611 November. 100 southeast of Goose 13, thirteen thousand. - November 33611, Gander Center, squawk and hold ID, one. - Number 33611, it is identified by radar. 13 thousand, and you are authorized LOKRA direct - WOPPA direct. Could I get it phonetically please for 611? - 611, that's Lima, Oscar, Kilo, Romeo, Alpha, initial arrangement for track 16. - Direct LOKRA, UPS... er correction Douglas N33611 Ha, he abandoned it there. LOKRA - I'm going to connect the RNAV, because that's what they'll give us later LOKRA - Okay, perfect.

Excellent. (static radio) - LOKRA Direct to Lockra. - Straight to Lockra. - And I guess, course 064 - Yes. Is that ice? - Yes, probably, it probably comes out of the accessories. Oh yeah, I see a bit of it from time to time... It's starting to fall off the plane now. - Yes. - Let's do the decent focus check - Decent focus checklist. Exterior lights, pulse lights are on...hydraulic quantity. Are there any there? - It's right at the end. - Just below, look. Hydraulic pressure, check. Navigation radios on, passenger signals on. Come to the briefing, I have no questions. - Yes, it is complete. - Complete.

Complete approach and descent checklist. - Get off the train, please. - Slow down. (Airplane whirs) - Once this is done, you can go straight to half flap. - Understood. - Half lapel. - Landing checklist to the line, landing gear. - Down and locked, lever in neutral, high pressure, green light, gear is down. - Down and locked, handle with neutral pressure up, green light, gears down. The mixtures become self-rich. (radio chatter - Boost pumps on, we're on the line. - Roger - Air speed, 85.90 About 5.90 85 (acoustic music) You've got the caps with you Rolling them up. Good job. - Very good. - It's not over yet.

I got the tops. (Airplane hums) (acoustic music) Well, we got to Goose Bay. This is the first real stretch, you know, over really remote terrain, I think. time in the air making sure everything works and, you know, preparing for the next leg to Greenland and then Iceland. It's quite nice here, they actually have a two-hose fuel truck so we can feed both sides at the same time. and it's not that slow. However, we are still getting it right away so as soon as we are ready to start we can do it. but we can come on Saturday, but then if we leave on Sunday, they will be closed on Sunday. 1500 dollars or something like that.

So we have to figure out what we're going to do next and they might get a lot of money either way because it's Greenland and it's in the middle of nowhere and they can charge whatever they want. And if. It's also really beautiful here. Like it's crazy, we're in the middle of nowhere. This used to be a fairly large military base from World War II. That's what we're doing, we're going to the 75th anniversary of D-Day. And this is the route those DC-3s and C-47s took in the 1940s. Yeah, I mean, we have a Norwegian 787 that lost an engine in the road with some passengers.

So they are here to change that. But I mean you have mountains, snow and trees, and it's amazing to be here. It's great to be able to do these things. We clogged the fuel tanks. The fuel tanks match...what we expected, what the gauges showed, what we planned to burn. We put some covers on them so that water doesn't get into them during the night. These things require constant maintenance. One of the intake manifolds is leaking fuel, so they are replacing a gasket there. In fact, there is a little bit of damage from the ice we have today, a little piece that came off the propeller and chipped off the paint a little.

I won't worry about that for now. But, you know, there's always something about these things. (acoustic music) We just checked into the north hotel 2 here in Goose Bay, the original north hotel was booked. So now we're going to go check out Jungle Jim's restaurant, the place that... Another place that was recommended to us, which was The Trap... Hunters? Apparently it used to be good. There was no one there, so we won't try it. Okay guys, I just woke up and found this. So I don't think we're going anywhere today.