A truly awesome experience flying one of the first passenger aircraft. Below is a link to the history of this aircraft. Thanks to EAA for a most memorable flight. www.eaa.org/en/eaa/flight-expe...
I can imagine ATC's notification to the Airbus on final. "Traffic ahead at 12'oclock Ford Tri-Motor @ 5000 ft." Not every day you hear that as an airline pilot.
+Sebastian Cowley I'm sure that made the pilot's day. And...was never thought that an Airbus / Tri-motor would ever cross paths in the sky. History in the making that day :)
So great someone kept a working example of such an iconic airplane. As a true gear head really appreciate the unadorned mechanics of everything. Everything is exposed including what appears to be the oil lines between cylinders complete with braided clamps. Today, everything would be covered in shrouds. Also impressive is how quickly this aircraft became airborne. And, love the seats. It's what should be used in today's passenger aircraft. :)
Memories are flooding over me....... I'm 11 years old back in 1948 at a small airport near Sandusky, Ohio, getting ready to board this plane for a flight to Kelley's Island for a weeks vacation at my neighbor's summer cottage. It was my first flight ever and I was so excited. I sat directly behind the pilot and watched everything, and I remember seeing 90 mph on the airspeed indicator, but I don't think we flew very high. There were seven of us and it was all over too quickly as we arrived on the island, but I do remember the landing was so very smooth, and as I got out I looked and saw these big, very smooth tires, so full of air. Yes, it was quite a plane........
That’s awesome! And you got to experience this aircraft in full passenger service. Ohio is my home state, but haven’t been to Kelley’s Island before. I bet there’s some nice scenery to see from the air in the at area. Curious what carrier name this aircraft was operating under at that time.
@@LoveJT8D ...... I wish I could remember a name, but that part is a blur. It all happened so quickly, we had driven up from Columbus and I'm guessing it was a complete surprise to me......... But the memory of the week on Kelly's Island I remember because there was an old bowling alley right in the center of town where we hung out and I learned to set pins because at they had no automatic pin setter.........
I was fortunate to get a ride in this plane several years ago, and I must say it was awesome. You just can’t put it into words loved every minute. I was amazed how we took off and 60 mile an hour flew at 60 mile an hour and landed at 60 mile an hour , Incredible do it if you get a chance. I smiled so hard during the flight it when we landed my cheeks hurt I was having so much fun.
I must agree. For an old bird, it really was a smooth and enjoyable flight. A good friend of mine and I went up together. He told me later that he was sort of apprehensive about going about the time we started rolling good for take off. So he looked at me to see how I was taking it. Only to find me filming and looking out of both sides of the plane, totally oblivious of anything but the flight itself. So he relaxed and enjoyed it also. The old trimotor is one hell of a good old bird yet. And it gave us such a wonderful flight that day to remember. I know I would definitely go up again if given a chance.
@@bambangsulistio4990 I will agree with you. It was a wonderful experience. Your senses can experience the flight so much better than the newer planes. Thank you for your reply.
Thank you! Agreed, seeing those bare cylinders just adds all the more character to this aircraft. Most radials seem to have the cowlings covering them.
Soo incredibly amazing to see this as a Dutchy. Where you have managed to save this relic, we in the Netherlands can only watch the replica in the Aviodrome museum, pics and movie shots of it's original, the Fokker F-VII. Great job you guys!!
Fokker F.VII has some external similarities but is technically a totally different aircraft. This Ford Tri-motor has a more modern all metal construction.
@@Franky46Boy No doubt about that. Credits to Ford. But having won the Ford reliability contest, the Fokker definitely must have formed the blue print for the design of the Ford Tri-Motor.
LoveJT8D even just being able to say "I fly the trimotor at Oshkosh" would be amazing. This airplane was a true piece of art and required true airmanship to fly.
My son and I flew in this great plane at Oshkosh in 1985. We took off and it was wonderful but we new it would be a short flight. There was a special guest plane at the show, the Supersonic Transport and they were also selling rides. It had taken off long before we did with a group and returned to land just before we were scheduled to land. Our pilot apologized and explained to us that we would need to stay up for at least another 20 minutes or so to let the turbulence calm down. We weren’t disappointed. It was a great flight and the old girl was so well maintained that you would think it had just been built. Great memories for me and the boy
The runway the Tri-Motor landed on (25L) is the same runway I soloed from back in 1961. I later became a Captain with the same airline Eastern Air Transport later to become Eastern Airlines. LGB has sure changed.
That Ford plane sounds awesome and it’s flying smoothly so awesome 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Wow !! This was rare; I really enjoyed this unusual experience around Long Beach, Ca. I wonder how many of these Trimotors are still flying. This is a very valuable airplane. I found it also unusual when he flew over the airliner on approach to the airport. Very, very well done, and I trust that you'll keep this airplane in immaculate condition as it seems to be. Thank you so much, Aarre Peltomaa
+Aarre Peltomaa I'm glad you liked the video! The Tri-Motor is indeed quite a rare aircraft these days. I do hope this plane will fly around for many years to come.
Great job of filming. I had a ride in this same aircraft at Concord regional airport, Concord, N.C. in 2007. These engines are designed to leak a little oil so there were quite a few oil drops on the windows I filmed through. Eastern Airlines used many of these in the early days for passenger and mail delivery.
Thank you for watching! That’s awesome you had a change to fly this aircraft too. The engines definitely have some character with the oil leakage and other little nuances to work out when starting them. It’s crazy how much these planes were built to last. Just to think as a passenger it was a real treat back in those days to fly something quite loud and rattly by today’s standards.
terrific video of this classic airplane! its great to see a plane this old still flying. this is a great opportunity to see what air travel was like back in its early days. thanks for sharing! rob
I flew out of Chicago in the 1920s. I was around 55-56 when I rode on my first tri-motor. Amazing progress is what I remember from the planes I experienced during the first world war.
Yes it was. Just over a decade prior to my first tri-motor flight I was nearly killed by shrapnel from a bomb dropped by a plane in France with the AEF. I swore that I hated the new invention of Airplanes at that time but the tri-motor made me realize they could be used for peace.
Had a chance to fly in this exact Tri Motor today down at Cape Fear Regional. I was smiling ear to ear the entire flight, from takeoff till final.(I didnt want to land yet). Very cool experience and the takeoff is just badass. Aviation is just amazing!
Gosh can’t imagine what it must have been like to be a pilot in those days, ear deafening sounds! What a joy to watch and hear those radial engines fly!!
Three old pilots walking across the ramp. One says, it's windy today ain't it? Second says, No, I think it's Thursday. Third says, Me too. Let's go get a beer.
It’s really cool to see. Having some of the gauges on the exterior like that really made you become “one” with the aircraft during in-flight operations.
That dome use to house the Hughes flying boat. Of Culver City California build. Those old radials amaze me that the exhaust valves could take that white hot heat and not melt.
Awesome! Yeah that radial engine exhaust heat is pretty intense. I have another video of a DC-3 engine test at night, and that's the first time I witnessed just how orange the radial exhaust manifolds can get on the ground.
Amazing to see all the freighters lined up because of the longshoremen's strike. And the submarine tucked in next to the bow of that classic ocean liner. Oh yeah, the plane is awesome, too. I love how form follows function.
I knew about the longshoremen's strike but, I had no clue just how many freighters were lined up waiting to deliver. It was definitely a sight to behold.
¡Fantásticas imágenes!. Una reliquia increíblemente bien conservada y funcionando. El encendido de los motores, su sonido, la escasez de instrumentos de vuelo, el diseño y equipamiento de la cabina de pasajeros, la velocidad de despegue, vuelo y aterrizaje, todos elementos que retrotraen a tiempos en los que el vuelo era un hecho artesanal. La frutilla del postre, el contraste con el jet en aproximación volando algunos metros por debajo. ¡Qué hermoso video!
In about 1987 there was a little blurb in the Manchester New Hampshire newspaper saying that a"barnstormer?" was coming through with a privately owned Ford trimotor.lf you wanted a ride be there at 7:00 in the morning on a Saturday. I got there, all pumped up and ready to go. 20 bucks to sit in the back, 30 bucks to be in the co-pilot seat - for a mere 10 bucks more I went for co-pilot! Was wonderful to get a ride on something so rare .My dad was always a fan of the early passenger planes but he never got to ride in a Ford tri motor. Naturally I couldn't wait to call him and say,hey Dad guess what I rode in - something you never rode in! The downer for me though was the owner/pilot of the plane was absolutely uncommunicative and acted like he was hating life, don't know what his personal issues were(maybe he was trying to figure out how he's going to make the next payment on the aircraft). It was fascinating to look over at the gauge showing about 80 mph that we were going and then look down at a landmark and then look at something else and then look down and see the same landmark in about the same place, kind of interesting how slow it was.
It really is. The wing seems to have lots of surface area considering the size of the plane and really seems to have lots of abundant lift at lower speeds.
@@LoveJT8D Yeah very common for planes of that era. Straight-wing aircraft will levitate right off the ground with no nose pitch up. They could also glide a long ways if necessary.
I volunteered for the maintenance (100 Hour Inspection) yesterday down in Fresno, CA Chandler Airport and got to go for a test flight. It was truly an amazing experience. If you guys want, I can post a video of the take off?
This thing is like a ghost out of another era. This is what air travel looked like way back in the day. It's so cool to see this old girl still up in the sky, doing what she was meant to do while so many others have faded to dust. If only she could talk. When I went to fantasy of flight in Florida, I went on the old pan-am airliner they had, looking at it made me appreciate what the pilots must have had to deal with back then.
From that wheel, it really makes it look like hes actually DRIVING it instead of Flying it...LOL and talk about Hauling the mail.......LOL and at around 5:55 how did we actually get THAT close to that airliner??????
Really crazy to think just how well built the machinery of that day was. They wanted planes to fly for a long time, not just trash in the desert after 20 years.
I HAVE had the good fortune to get to ride in the back of this as a pool passenger. It was an awesome and memorable experience. I highly reccomend a ride in this if you ever have the opportunity. PAY what ever the cost of the tickets are as it is a once in a lifetime experience 👍👍👍
As somebody commented below, it took off at 60 mph, cruised at 60, and landed at 60...LOL.. not difficult to figure out flight times and destination' ETA's...the freeway may be quicker...but this is flying! PS...the racket must be quite overwhelming to the senses, after modern aircraft. And, the all metal construction allowed the Public to have more faith in it...unlike the original ones that lost wooden wings in flight. It reminds me of the JU-52...handling the engine controls "like a Wurlitzer" organ. Thanks for a great video...PSS: subscribed.
I'm happy to say my butt has graced the pilots seat of a Ford Trimotor if only for about a minute. And a very narrow seat it was. It may have been this very aircraft. If only I knew the N number. A ride aboard this classic beauty would have been a thrill. Loafing along at highway speed is truly beautiful flight.
Great video! As someone who still plays Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 which have this plane as part of its "A Century of Flight" theme (Yes, at one point Microsoft cooperated with EAA in the past) , I'm genuinely impressed by how realistic the sound effects compared to the real life version in this video! Too bad the aircraft is really slow and its kinda hard to have it hands free flying for prolonged periods of time too. Still, great video!
I saw a Ford tri- motor just like this one, maybe this one fly, with an Amelia Earhart lookalike and airplane that landed in Fort Worth, Texas Meachem Field, September10th, 2001. The next morning they took off to the west. It was 9/11/2001.
Even his planes made sense back in the day - Utility, Function, Dependability, Form...well, beauty wasn't so much a concern and I can respect that. Like a Fordson tractor, the Tri-Motor worked and did the job. Henry Ford was a practical, no-nonsense, kinda' guy who I don't think would be happy with what they've done to his company or his product line..
If you ever hear this aircraft overhead, remember the sound, it is indeed unique. On a summers day near an upcoming airshow, I heard one of these inside our house, "Tri-motor!" I exclaimed, & running outside, sure enough....odd thing while a distinctive sound, you are likely to see one as they fly so very slow, just hanging in the air it seems.
+LoveJT8D Hi, great video. What sort of camera are you using and what settings to get that beautiful footage on youtube. RU-vid compresses the heck out of footage to the point of rendering greatl clear footage into dull results. your work looks great.
from what i have seen and read , henry ford designed this plane so that he could send engines and other parts to his various plants of his . correct me if im wrong , he also started algaheny airlines for this . great job on keeping this ol gal flying.
That’s awesome! Thanks for that piece of history. I don’t know all the details myself, but the Tri-motor had a really great life of both cargo and passenger work. These planes were truly built to last.
about 40 years ago my x wife wanted to fly back to fla. I don't remember where we were but she got on a Ford tri-motor to fly to a bigger airport . I think it was Indiana we were at. so 40 years ago they were still in use
