Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - A Little Known 727 Fact

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations | A Little Known 727 Fact

AFV011
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Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 18:05 ET by Michael Carter

Many older B727 Captains would pull the inboard flap CB to enable extending the trailing edge flaps to two degrees for high-altitude long-range cruise.

For those not familiar with the B727, the leading edge devices are synched with the trailing edge flaps to deploy the three inboard leading edge Kruger flaps at two degrees of trailing edge flap, and at five degrees of trailing edge flap the outboard slats would deploy. This was part safety feature and part simplification of procedures that Boeing built in to the B727, unlike the Hawker Trident, in that the leading edge devices could be deployed and retracted independantly of trailing-edge flaps. This caused several crashes of the Trident in the '60's from inadvertant or purposeful retraction of the leading edge devices before flying speed was attained.

Old-time Captains of the B727 found that by pulling the CB for the leading edge Kruger flaps, that they could extend 2 degrees of trailing edge flap thereby increasing the wing area and lift surface of the wing without deploying the leading edge Kruger flaps. At two degrees of flap, it is not changing the camber of the wing, but only increasing the wing surface, and therefore the area of lift.

This in turn netted a 3% fuel savings and a 7 knot average increase in airspeed at flight levels above 330.

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Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 18:37 ET by Ariel Griotti

ha! very interesting Mike.. really, I love those "hidden" things behind the planes smile

Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 18:39 ET by Michael Carter

Pretty cool, huh? Wish it would work on the sim model.

Those ol'-timers knew their stuff.

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Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 18:44 ET by Matt Young

That's interesting. Keep in mind though, with all the digitized equipment now and lack of complete control over everything (if that makes sense), pilots just don't have the option to do things like that anymore. If there weren't so many computer controlled things, I'm sure there would still be lots of little tricks like that.

Matt Young

Senior Captain, B757-200

Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 18:49 ET by Michael Carter

You are absolutely correct. This was not an authorized procedure, nor was it in the POH. Just something an ol'timer past along to his FO's over time.

If you tried that now in a modern aircraft everyone from Boeing to Atlanta would know about it as soon as you pulled the CB. Providing there was a CB to pull. Ha!

Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 19:10 ET by Matt Young

How true. If you look at our PA-23's panel (http://68.54.210.88/510dpanel.jpg), on the lower right you can barely see the first row of circuit breakers. There aren't any pneumatics or other big plane things to deal with and we still get two rows of breakers. Now, if I could just talk my dad into taking the CFI, CFII, and MEI courses. smile

Matt Young

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Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 19:15 ET by Mike Sweeney

an even less known fact ...

the very procedure mentioned rang a bell and although I couldn't remember precisely why, a little Google helped me recall how this old timers trick could have less desirable consequences.

lo and behold, it appears one crew may have forgotten to pull out the leading edge slat circuit breakers ... http://fromtheflightdeck.com/Reviews/727/TWA727/

best,
- Mike

Mike Sweeney

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 19:29 ET by Mike Sweeney

and despite the mysterious erasing of the CVR tape on the TWA flight, the NTSB report was fairly conclusive about what happened ...
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=37981&key=0#

doh!

Mike Sweeney

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on October 05 2004 19:35 ET by Michael Carter

OH S$!+!.

That's not at all good. That goes to show what established procedures and checklists are good for.

Although I don't doubt the Old Timer's reasoning or actions, that could have deadly consequences without a written procedure.

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