One of the companies I flew for about a year and a half, was a "on demand charter outfit", flying out of ATL INTERNATIONAL...those were the days guys! Was nothing to see a Lockheed 1049G, with Eastern Airline logo's on it, a Delta "stretch" DC-8, Boeing 707's, Martin 404's, Convair 440's, DC-6B's and 7C's coming and going all day long at ATL! While I know the jet age improved travel for the public, I really miss all those "big Iron" birds. The Douglas DC-7C had the prettiest sound on takeoff of any of them, in my view, but everyone has there favorite I know. Here are some pic's to go with that comment about the 7C..
Picture of the "office" in the 7C
Now for the story!
This is actually a 421, which is the same aircraft, except the 411 was not pressurized as was the 421!
The "Company" had several aircraft which we used, but the Cessna 411 was the flag ship, so to speak! One of the companies which had us on a "retainer" was a civil rights group and yes, all the big names which you have read about over the years were very prominent in the origination, the president of which was killed in Memphis, Tenn by a lone gunman. The trip in question was a trip from Atlanta to Jackson, Miss and return.
Takeoff time was 3PM EST, with the return trip at 1030CST. The trip out, about 2 hours in duration was uneventful but it was IFR with tops about 7,000 all the way to Jackson. I had filed for 8,000, not being pressurized, but I always liked to keep passengers, which may or not be, afraid of heights, close to clouds and that way they are a little more comfortable and at ease. Base, as I recall, was about 3,000 above the ground at Jackson, so no real instrument approach was required. As usual, I stayed at the fixed base operator where we parked the aircraft, in case they wanted a unscheduled departure. I found the couch in the pilots lounge and took up position A, (full prone position), with instructions to desk clerk to wake me if those guys showed back up. I remember a disgusted look on his face, because I had brought some people to Jackson, which he did not agree with!
During the afternoon, of course, things had heated up, several thunderstorms in local area, but nothing dangerous that I could see with my naked eye. I had a good RCA AVQ-46 radar on the aircraft so should be no problem.
About 930 local time, this disgusted look guy came in and said, they are on the way and want an immediate takeoff. I had filed for 9,000IFR back to ATL and we took off, begin the slow climb to 9K, and I am having to deviate a considerable bit, working my way up through these boomers in the area. Jackson Departure was really good and he helped keep me out of most of the stuff, but every now and then, we would hit some turbulence and get kicked around a good bit. My passengers were not real happy, I could tell, by all the questions being asked by the one sitting closest to me.
I normally go to my aux tanks on the 411 right after takeoff and burn them down and then go back to the mains. I won't mention his name, but AJ was the guy closest to me, and asking all the questions. I am busy navigating and talking on the radio and answering his questions as best I could and as we passed through about 6,000, we finally found some smooth air and by the time we got to 9,000, we were in an out of the stuff, but with the help of center and my radar on board, we didn't bump into any thunderstorms.
We were about an hour into the flight when all of a sudden the right engine started surging and I realized then, I had run the right aux tank dry, so I reached down to switch back to main and the left one started surging also, so switched to main on both, hit the boost pumps to clear the lines and get them going again and after getting everything back like it was supposed to be, I turned to explain what had happened and in the glow of the instrument panel, as I looked back into the cabin area, all I saw was 8 eyeballs, white, about the size of a silver dollar. I am sorry, but it struck me as funny as all heck and I started laughing, I couldn't help it!
They requested of the company not to let me haul them anywhere again, as they didn't think my elevator stopped on all floors or something like that!
