New DVD recommended:

Last night I watched JustPlanes' new DVD showing the Historical Flight Foundation's ex-Eastern DC-7B on its first international trip last May, from Miami Opa-Locka to Puerto Rico and St. Maarten.

I have enjoyed some of their other DVDs showing modern jets in action, but as someone who just missed out on the propliner era (my first flight in 1960 was on an Eastern DC-8, SJU-IDL), this program was very enjoyable.

There is not much ATC communications audible, in part because the flight deck is rather noisier than on modern jets, but the usual "tour" of the flight deck instruments and switches is quite illuminating. The aircraft has the original radios in it, but they are non-functional and new radio gear is installed on the side panels. The pilots also plug in their own GPS units for navigation. The weather radar displays are intact but also non-functional, and the aircraft is flown unpressurized, so all flights were at 6000 feet or less.

The flight attendants (ahem, stewardesses!) are former Eastern employees and are shown in action serving the Foundation members making the trip. The aircraft has modern seats to meet fire regulations (the originals are in storage) and the cabin looks a bit strange without the overhead racks.

The out-the-windows footage is interesting as well, especially the images at dusk of the exhaust flames flickering out the pipes of the R-3350s. As a former Sanjuanero, the images of the landing at SJU brought back memories, as did the images of the return-trip landing at BQN (the former Ramey AFB), where I had attended my first airshow back in '68.

The crew spent an entire day at St. Maarten, so there are lots of the fun images of aircraft landing over the beach and providing plenty of breeze for onlookers at takeoff. The DC-7 made one takeoff and landing during the day just for the camera, which looks rather different than, say, the KLM 747!

If you flew DC-7s during their heyday, or especially if, like me, you didn't, this is a very worthwhile program. See the details at http://www.worldairroutes.com/Eastern.html. And you can read about the HFF at http://www.historicalflightfoundation.com/.