Flight into terror with no-one at the gauges
Conspiracies are YouTube’s thing, so Zooming with the Zumas had at least landed in the right place
Back in the days when airliners had propellers and raucous, oil-spewing, avgas-guzzling radial engines, there was normally a third person on the flight deck.This was the flight engineer whose main job was to look after the engines — the very things that kept the aircraft airborne and moving forward — nursing them so they did not drink too much avgas (aviation gasoline), use too much oil or overheat and catch fire. In-flight fires are often catastrophic, especially when they occur in the proximity of a wing full of avgas.Flight engineers were the unsung heroes. Not for them the glory and adulation — or the pay, for that matter — heaped upon the Ray-Ban-wearing pilots, but instead frown lines and nervous tics, and a world view of quivering gauges. Temperature. RPM. Manifold pressure. Alarms. Fire warnings.About eight minutes into watching episode 2 of Zooming with the Zumas on YouTube, my attention drifted to the right hand side of the screen where the other videos are: Im cockpit de...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.