This is not a ground use thing, but in my advanced systems class my professor was talking about T.R.s. On the C-17 they can actually deploy them in flight and get some ungodly rate of decent, he thought something like 15,000 feet a minute. They will fly extremely height over the landing area, slam dunk down and not have to make a long approach for landing. It is amazing to think that they use an aircraft that large for tatical operations.Take care,-C.J. Starr

Ed,As far as I am aware, the DC9 is the ONLY airliner that is capable of using reverse thrust at pushback. Either that, or it's the only one that is ALLOWED to do it.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

The BAE Advanced Turboprop (ATP) can do this and the procedure seems standard for British Airways. It is very odd to watch these machines going into reverse like a motor car!Betel

Sorry Minos, I don't see any evidence. I see a pic of a plane and that's it. Admittedly the clamshells suggest the pilot is using reverse thrust, but is the plane moving?! Anyway, I believe you - thousands wouldn't ;-), but I do.Cheers,Paul

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Hi Betel,>seems standard for British AirwaysI assure you that it is not!Cheers,Paul

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The DC-8 also used to deploy reversers in flight to slow down (I believe the DC-8 was not equipped with spoilers).... I was on a flight from JFK to Milan in '77, in a charter DC-8 (TransInternational) which used them, giving the uncanny sensation that we had almost stopped in midair. Sure created a racket in the cabin...and the pilot warned ahead of time what he was doing and why, so we wouldn't be alarmed.John

FYII've been on a 737NG's several times that have done pushbacks with reverse thrust in the US.Erichttp://www.flycpva.org/images/banner4.jpghttp://www.cpavirtual.org/images/sqbanner2.jpg

I agree Paul. I have watched airliners being pushed back numerous times at Manchester Airport and elsewhere, and I have NEVER seen one use reverse thrust for this purpose. Of course, it could be a touch difficult for the BA Embraer 145 to do this anyway (plus any Bae 146/Avro RJ), since it doesn't have thrust reversers.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

Well, it would be alot quieter anyway Chris! :7Cheers,Paul

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Chris,The first airplane that I did powerbacks on was the Convair 580 turboprop at North Central Airlines (later to become Republic and then merged with Northwest)in the early 1970's. I've done hundreds of powerbacks on the DC-9 and on the MD-80's. I've seen 757's (Eastern if I remember correctly and maybe Delta) have done powerbacks and also 727's.Ed Weber a.k.a tallpilotP.S. I can't powerback my Baron however, only feather it no reverse. :-)

Ed,Is this something that is (or was) common in the USA, because I have never seen this happen in Britain ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

The first time I had used reverse thrust in a non-landing mode was in a King Air E-90, on an icy runway in SW Mich where the brakes wouldn't hold to do the 180 degree turn to taxi to the ramp (we had no real taxi-way).The best story floating around Northwest was a redbook 747 Captain who overshot the marks at the gate and instead of waiting for a tug, pulled the engines into reverse thrust, and overtempted all four. He earned the nickname "The Six Millon Dollar Captain" right then and there.I really haven't paid all that much attention to it, but it seems that a/c's equipted with cascade type reversers don't power back where the clam-shell types can, but that is just my observation. Timothy(my BT-13 does not have reverse thrust either, but it has "reverse flow" on my bank account)

>>(my BT-13 does not have reverse thrust either, but it has >"reverse flow" on my bank account) First time I've seen a BT-13 mentioned on Avsim. A friend of my father's used to own a BT-13, and I was able to snag some back-seat time in it a couple years ago. Great fun! (Of course, I didn't have to pay the bills.)Dan

Yup, the old "Vibrator" isn't as glamorus as the T-6/SNJ's. There are a few in the library though....why? I donno.They do make great Japanese WW2 torpedo bombers look-alikes though.Timothy

"my BT-13 does not have reverse thrust either, but it has "reverse flow" on my bank account)":-lol :-lol :-lol :-lol