FSX-SE Flying the "Flying Tiger" "Over the Top"...!

[P_7878 6,720]

[Note: This post has been a WIP for me, for some time, but, I'd to scale down my ambitions here, life and the "crisis" got in the way. Anyway, for (some) interesting tidbits, if you wish, please read the text, or just jump to the Screenshots below...]

First of all, whenever, someone, brings up an image of a B707, here, it always catches my attention. B707 is not only the classic, quintessential quad-jet, but was also a phenomenal business-success, proven by numerous airlines, world-wide...So, it has rightly achieved a "legendary" status in the annals of (commercial) aviation. By no means, it was the first commercial jetliner in service (it was the De Havilland Comet), but 707 is credited with heralding the true Jet Age, as we've come to know of it...initiating and dominating (global) transcontinental (jet) transport for more than 2 decades...! The sleek design, swept wings, and the long slim engines (btw, purely aesthetically speaking, I cannot get rid of mental comparisons with those "ungainly" (and "big") ones on the 777/787,...🙂...price of progress...!), etc. made it one of the most beautiful aircraft, and, then, the noise (music to the ears, some, here, would tell me...!) of those JT3D engines...all this has made this an airplane not easy to ever forget...

With its Mach ~0.82 speeds, B707, in the early 1960s (actually, the 367-80, the 707 prototype, had first flown in 1954!), set the standard, to be followed, for (future) generations of jet age travel, that pretty much has remained the same to this day. The cruising speeds for commercial airliners today range e.g. between about 480 and 520 knots, compared to 525 knots for the Boeing 707. Of course, one of the primary reasons, the speeds have not gotten much faster (excluding supersonic travel, here, that, being not the norm) since the early days of B707, is due to the economies of fuel efficiency i.e. the Airlines have not (yet) found any specific need to go beyond this (established) mode of operation, even though the engine technology has advanced by leaps and bounds!

Now, one more (notable) thing from B707's past...If you've never seen the (easily found) video clips of Tex Johnston performing the "barrel roll" of the B707 prototype (367-80/Dash-80), in 1955, you may wish to search and view it...(imagine a 100 ton aircraft, at speed ~500 mph, being flipped upside down, barely 500 feet above the waters of Lake Washington (not once but twice!))..! The idea of the impressive stunt, Tex pulled, was to show that the plane would not fall apart! But, this action was (reportedly) "un-planned and un-authorized", except in the mind of Tex Johnston himself. And, this act will not be likely seen (or even allowed) ever again, in future, with such a big jetliner! In one of the videos, Tex says, "I knew there was one maneuver, in the prototype, that had no hazards, whatsoever...."..., oh well, only in the mind of someone, who knew what exactly he was doing! Surely, the test-pilots of those early Jet era (this applies to test-pilots from everywhere in the world), had to be a different breed! When summoned to the Boss's (William Allen's) office, Monday morning, and asked, "What I thought I was doing...", Tex had said, "I was selling Airplanes..."...and this is what the legends are made of...

Now, back to my Airline of choice, here, for this post, the Flying Tigers Line: Supposedly, it was the very first scheduled Cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator (the company was acquired by Federal Express in 1988). And, as for the name of the Airline, it was named after the (renowned and daring) Flying Tigers unit of World War II. The group's pilots were some of the first to attempt and scale the (the formidable) "Hump" (the Eastern Himalayas), hitherto considered impassable by air...(these pilots mostly flew Curtiss P-40 aircraft, and later, DC-3/C-47 etc.). In 1965, Flying Tigers Line began operating jet aircraft. On September 27, the first (Reg. N322F) of four Boeing 707s, was delivered. Here, in this post, I use, the B707 in the exact N322F registration/livery repaint (good to find it in the Avsim Library here, please look for the number on the lower tail, on a close-up shot, below, and also on the white-placards, in the flight-deck!) of Flying Tiger Line's very first B707! This plane (a 707-349C) would become famous with the nickname "Pole Cat"! The (N322F) set a World Record, on 15 November 1965, when it made the first ever aerial circumnavigation of the Earth via the poles.

Two retired TWA pilots, (you can take the flying job away from some, but, you cannot take, away, their flying...🙂...), Captains Fred Lester Austin, Jr. and Harrison Finch, took off from Honolulu on a 26,230-mile, 57 hour, 27 minute flight around the world—from Pole to Pole (with 27 passengers aboard)! John Larsen, TWA’s chief navigator, acted as the principal planner for the trip. The airliner was equipped with an experimental Litton Systems (INS) and the very latest Single Side Band (SSB) communications equipment from Collins Radio. The aircraft carried additional fuel in two additional tanks installed in the main cabin. The flight departed Honolulu and flew north to the North Pole, then south to London Heathrow, where they made the first stop, for fuel. Runway restrictions limited the 707’s takeoff weight, so they had to make the 2nd fuel stop at Lisbon, Portugal before flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After another fuel stop there, they continued south, circled the South Pole four times, then headed north to Christchurch, New Zealand. From there, they continued on back to their origin Honolulu. Total elapsed time for the flight was 62 hours, 27 minutes, 35 seconds with just under 5 hours on the ground!

Here, below, I've replicated their first leg from Honolulu to the North Pole, with the same exact livery, using Captain Sim's B707 model. In RW, several Airlines, now, fly over the North Pole (or "over the top", as it's sometimes, referred to, in the news articles, which might actually mean, the route, even though, does not exactly pass over the (Geographic/True) North Pole, it passes close enough to it (say, across the area north of (80-82) degrees North latitude; 90 degrees North, being the location of the North Pole). For this post/flight, we will get within (2-3) degrees of the North Pole, (~8730N).

My initial thoughts, for the post, were a bit too ambitious, for this (INS) Polar Route flight (still doable in the SIM, I think, if I ever get to grip with all the aspects involved, but, on-hold, for now...). Use of INS for (RW) routing (even non-Polar) is, to say the least, "tricky"....I understand (based on bits of first-hand useful (information) exchange, with a RW B747/B747-8 Pilot...🙂..., but, here, I take (full) responsibility for any mis-statements and errors...). Nowadays, there are continuous GPS updates to the INS (over e.g. the the oceanic regions) before it reverts to DME and then localizer, for final approach and landing. Otherwise, use of multiple INS units (up to 3) are typically required for tight and accurate coupling, along with use of position plots, where the "current" position from the INS (one unit dedicated to that use), is periodically compared with the plotted route, and waypoint verification and corrections are applied (all this was part of my initial (and ambitious) plan, oh well, travails of the non-pilot, maybe one day, in future...)

In these modern times, several Airlines and their Airliners (e.g. B777s/A350s), seemingly, zoom across the North Pole, aided by their modern Flight management Systems (FMSs)! They use Polar routes to take advantage of several efficiency factors. Two recent Polar Route examples, I found interesting:

1. The Air India flight, from New Delhi to San Francisco: Speaking of this unique experience, the Captain says, "When we crossed Russia, we left all the air traffic behind. For close to nine hours we saw no traffic, no aircraft, just endless expanse of snow and ice..." (Here, in lieu of the real thing, you may have to be content with a few (Polar overfly) screenshots, below, from yours truly...🙂...)
2. For Singapore Airline's Polar route (Newark to Changi) over North Pole, here, listed, below, are five of their (consecutive) waypoints across North Pole, bolded, below, (btw, the "8730N" waypoint, is one of the nearest, I've seen, in commonly available (RW) Flightaware Polar Routes, for proximity to North Pole).

[GREKI JUDDS CAM YMX MT HENDY J482 YFM 6000N/07300W 6500N/07100W 7000N/07000W DAPAK APSIN 8400N/06000W 8700N/04000W ABERI M153 RAVUL M153 BINTA M153 LUMIG B155 IKT A492 ADIDA R497 BABTA G917 LABOB A809 MEBEG A809 LETBI B480 FOSAT B480 MORIT B330 YBL B330 ZYG W24 HX G212 XFA A581 SAGAG B218 LPB B346 PCB W26 PSL W9 BKK M751 VPK B469 BIKTA PIBAP PASPU NYLON POSUB SANAT]

You can probably just copy/paste this Route into SimBrief, upload the FPLN into your FMS, and then try your own Polar adventure, if you're so inclined for it...(I've not tried it, though)...

For, my humble 707's (INS Navigation) route here, starting from PHNL, I've mimicked these (same) 5 Polar waypoints. Please see the screenshot, below, of the FPLN Map (the five waypoints are those shown above 80.0N).

[0] PHNL->
...
[3] APSIN (8100N/6500W)
[4] 8400N/06000W
[5] 8700N/04000W
[6] ABERI (8730N/03200E)
[7] RAVUL (8400N/08000E)
...

Please note, I've shown one instance of a combo of displays: 707's (Whiskey Compass, HSI, INS CDU), together, to (simultaneously) indicate Magnetic Heading and Distance to final WPT ([6]->[7]). (Side Note: The magnetic compass, does not point to the Geographic North Pole, but, to the Magnetic Pole, which are not the same! In many of our SIMs, past a certain latitude, e.g. 70N, the heading can be referenced to Magnetic North or True North.). There is, also, below, one INS (Lat/Long) position screenshot (evidenced by the custom CIVA plus inbuilt VC units), shown, while being nearest (~8724N, to be exact) to the North Pole, where, we have reached SIA Flight's (maximum) North latitude. I've not continued beyond this point, here, in this flight/post (Heathrow appeared too far, from there, as the evening grew longer, and my attempt to have my (overdue) dinner, delivered, to the flightdeck, was un-successful...🙂...). Therefore, the last few shots, shown, below, are, so to speak, "Over the Top"...of the Earth...(please see one image of a Top-Down view, where, the Aircraft position is marked, on white, by the Red cross-wire, in the center of the Globe)!

Finally, if not for technical accuracy and realism, hope, you, still, enjoy these screenshots, below, of the (nearly forgotten?) Flying Tiger Line B707, at least, for its visual and nostalgic appeal!

Comments and any additive notes, are always welcome! Thanks for reading and viewing!!

[CS (B707-300)/REX/Flyover (Orbx's Alaska)/Flying Tigers repaint (by Jan Kees Blom) - incredible painter, 1500+ hits, here, in Avsim website alone, so, thank you!]

[HighBypass 2,339]

Impressive flight in the old girl. I like the Flying Tigers livery, bold, simple with the stencil style paying homage to the military history IMO.

[Victoroos 205]

Awesome, nice planning and thank you for taking us on that trip 🙂

[Ted Striker 338]

I can only imagine that the flight engineers had their eyes glued to the systems instruments while over the ice. And they probably got the question "Is everything Ok?" every 10 minutes.

Thanks for the history and the pictures. The 707 is one of my favorite aircraft. I sure hope Captain Sim brings it back for P3Dv5.

Ted 

[John F 2,451]

Whew!! Very thorough and exhaustive writeup, but thankfully not exhausting for the reader...at least not for me anyway. Thanks for doing this. My only RW experience with the type: Not a 707, but a 720...Continental Airlines Chicago to Denver 1967 (the old black and gold livery).

John

Edited April 24, 2020 by John F

[P_7878 6,720]

Folks: Thanks for the comments and reactions!!

Mark: I know you're a keen "analyzer" of livery patterns...btw, the Tiger fleet also had many 747s, you may like to search for e.g. "flying tigers boeing 747 images"...to see if you like the livery of those big planes, with, two thick (red and blue) bands across the middle, and either "all text" or just "T" on the tail, it should look good flying in the sky, as Cargo,....🙂....

Victor: Thanks and welcome! Yes, it was a bit of planning, but, I've skimped a lot...to make it easy for me. Even, in the SIM, lot more planning could happen...if one wants to do it right...(but, this CS plane is nice to fly, that much I can say)..

Ted: Yes, we can surely imagine the RW experience of these pilots, to, see only ice and snow, underneath, for hours and hours, no planes, no radio-chatter etc...(as the Air India Captain had said)...and, especially for Pole Cat crew, with an early model Jet and an early INS system, it must have been quite an experience, and, btw, as for the Pole Cat Crew. "it consisted of a total of five pilots, all rated Captains. In addition to Austin and Finch, there were Captain Jack Martin, Chief Pilot of Flying Tigers Line; Captain Robert N. Buck, TWA; and Boeing Senior Engineering Test Pilot James R. Gannett. Three navigators and three flight engineers completed the flight crew". Note "three" flight engineers, probably glued to the FE panel, ready to respond to "Is everything OK?"....from the direction of Cockpit...🙂...all this, really amazing (and exciting) stuff, for its era...! [And, yes, as I noticed today, CS is moving some planes to V4, but, this one still remains legacy FSX, not sure why...]

John:

Glad you made it through through the text...I'd a feeling you would...🙂...

I've taken so many short-cuts, here, otherwise, even more text, to do the explanations...🙂...(to start off, I've installed only one unit CIVA INS, there should be 3 (the (FW) CIVA Tutorial shows how to add it, and this CS 707 version, I've, in fact, requires that, FW CIVA be also (separately) installed by the user, CS provides the (alternate) panel.cfg, though)..., and frankly, I was doing 3 INS units, in my early days of Simming...but I have been slacking off in recent years...and, then, since, its memory allows only 9 WPTs, at a time, I should be re-entering additional WPTs for such a route, and, also, use of position plots/charts are the way to go here...etc.

I'd read, in the early 747s/707s, e.g. from JFK-LHR, one could expect 1nm of error per hour of flight, so, in 7hrs of INS Navigation mode, it could add up to 7nms, which unless corrected, would (completely) miss the "mark"...🙂...

As they say, to mimic, what the "pros" do (or more correctly used to do)...compared to these days of Advanced Navigation (and GTN 750 etc....🙂...), requires work, but it can be a rewarding experience....and fun too, to some, at least,...I've indeed received (occasional) INS queries, off-line, but, of course, I'm no expert....!

[JAT 185]

Nice.

nebojsa

[Phantom88 3,288]

***Love The Bare Metal Look***

[PhotoReal Earth 97]

707 and 727 in those classical paintings are so beautiful 😍
Especially those bare metal finishings. Like ice in the sunshine

[P_7878 6,720]

Nebojsa, Patrick, Torsten: Appreciated the additional comments and notes!!

First of all, this post did generate some interest, so my effort was worth it...it feels like....🙂..., but, it was fun and exciting for me, too. And, trust me, when next time, I integrate (full) 3 INS units, use 18+ INS waypoints, and possibly understand enough to do position plots and (en-route) lat-long corrections, for the flight leg (e.g. how about "Over the Bottom" of the Earth, part,...sounds paradoxical, but, what else a flight over South Pole be called?), it will be for my own eyes only....🙂...

Wrap-up notes:

Below are a few amazing (and curious facts), about the flight:

1. The flight was the result of stubborn determination by the 2 Chief Pilots (Retired TWA Captains Austin and Finch), who had spent 2 years of prior investigation and preparation (and, obviously, they were not the only ones thinking of such a flight!), seeking sponsors (finally Rockwell) and equipment (finally Boeing/Flying Tiger) etc. They would both receive merit certificates from the prestigious Flight Safety Foundation.
2. The plane carried two (2000 gallons each), of collapsible (special tie-down and surge-arresting type) rubber/nylon fuel-cells in the main Cabin, aft of the cockpit and forward of the pax compartment. Recall that there were 27 passengers, too, in addition to the crew. The fuel cells, in the main cabin, would have been (surely) a bit un-nerving, itself, I/we would think...especially, on such a long flight...
3. The majority of the flight (including the first leg over the North Pole) was made in "darkness". So, there, goes my comfort of seeing (and showing you) the bright Sun, in my post above....The overpass over South pole, was, however, in broad-daylight, in a clear and cloudless sky (much of Antarctica, on the Pole Cat's route, had never been seen by mankind!).
4. The entire flight was "trouble-free" from start to finish - a testament to the knowledge, experience, and planning on the part of the crew and, of course, the dependability of their plane.
5. On a lighter note, the 707 Engine igniters were made by Champion, so, when I, next, go for an oil change, for my car, to the local Lube shop, and see a poster of "CHAMPION" spark-plug, on the wall behind the counter, I'll now have new respect for it...🙂...
6. Twelve years after this flight, Pan Am Flight 50 (with a B747) would complete a similar record (Pole-to-Pole) flight: (San Francisco -> North pole -> London -> Cape Town -> South Pole -> Auckland -> San Francisco). One has to only place these points on a FPLN Map, to visually appreciate the incredible challenge, scope, and logistics of such a flight!

Good rest of the weekend to all!!

Edited April 25, 2020 by P_7878

[Steve Dra 7,605]

Beautiful series!  Who can't love the 707....the one that started it all (well some can argue the Comet....but the square windows did her in sadly as the plane that would shrink the world).

I'm fortunate (and old) enough to have several 707 passenger flights under my belt, the most memorable was a PanAm flight from JFK to Spain when my Dad was getting stationed at Rota Naval Station.  The return trip a few years later was on an Arrow Air DC8.  Fond memories for sure. 🙂  

[HighBypass 2,339]

6 minutes ago, Steve Dra said:

..an Arrow Air DC8.  Fond memories for sure.

Me too as my first ever airliner flight was on one of those .

[P_7878 6,720]

Steve: Good to hear from you...!

Great to know you'd chances to travel in the 707...John F, above, has mentioned, he had travelled once in the 707 derivative (720), and Mark talks of DC-8, I guess that makes you guys, how do I say it politely...🙂...more "experienced" than some of us, here,...Also, If I recall correctly, when I'd contributed a post on the Comet, someone had mentioned, here, of one flight in it...all these must have been unique experiences, and more importantly, makes you all part of a "bygone" but hopefully not "forgotten" (nascent jet-age) history...

And, I wish to reminisce a bit:

Although I have not been able to partake of such experiences, as yours, my interest in Classic Airplanes has been always very high...I partly owe it to a long-ago visit to the "Airline History Museum, Kansas City, MO". It was a Sunday 9am, and I was the first, to be there when the doors opened (I was there to see the TWA L-1049)...another gentleman walked in with me, who, turned out to be the designated guide for that day, and a former Constellation Captain, for TWA, for many years. I, being the only one, there, he told me, "I'll be your personal guide to this plane...", it's just amazing, how much these folks love these (old) planes to gladly contribute so many volunteer hours...Nothing like hearing from an actual Connie Captain, while, touring this beauty. When he explained "celestial" navigation, and the Navigator's astrodome window...I was thinking, how far, we've advanced! Just to be able to get the exact Latitude/Longitude co-ordinates, via their (primitive) Litton INS, while over the Poles, I'm sure, the Pole Cat crew were extremely thankful...Here, in the SIM, when I look at my own (Polar) INS position screenshot, in the post above, I think I can feel part of their "feelings"...even though it may be just a minuscule part of it...

Anyway, all these are quite fascinating...compared to what we have nowadays...and, so on...

Thanks!!