Friday, July 3, 2015
Totally spur of the moment. Saw in the paper that a Ford Tri-Motor was going to be in Bemidji AND would be giving rides. Hustled out to the airport first thing in the morning and got a ticket.
Then I saw a colleague from my working days who was on the ground crew for the plane. I asked how many passengers go at a time.
He said "Eight plus a co-pilot."
I replied "A co-pilot? Not THE co-pilot?"
He then said "Do you want to sit in the right seat? You'll need to pay a little more, but if it's not already taken, you can do it."
So, I did and it was a blast!
This is the airplane. A Ford Tri-Motor NC8407. It was built in 1929. This plane has been in movies and may have been flown by Harrison Ford.
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| The airplane |
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| Fueling up |
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| Pratt & Whitney 450 hp engine |
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| Fuselage detail |
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| Interior view. Every seat a window seat. |
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| Me ready to board |
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| That's where I'm going to sit!! |
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| In the co-pilot seat grinning from ear to ear! |
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| Looking back into the passenger cabin. |
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| This is a very basic instrument panel. |
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| There were 199 of these planes built. |
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| View of starboard engine from the cockpit. |
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| Detail of interior woodwork |
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