This Alaskan Cargo Plane is Old School in Every Possible Way | Ice Airport Alaska | Smithsonian

A 65-year old DC-6 Alaskan supply plane has been forced to return to the airport after one of its engines fails. With only nine such planes still in service, and parts selling at a premium, the technicians pray it’s not a serious problem.
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[@JW-gb6hq]

Many more than 9 left flying…cmon.

[@ellischernoff8603]

That's the #4 engine

[@Agislife1960]

First thing is, it was the number 4 engine that was feathered and the second thing is, the DC-6 will fly fully loaded on 3 engines

[@JW-gb6hq]

Yep he’s absolutely right. This is all for views. Good call👍🏻

[@acebubbles5023]

man i’d love to fly a DC-6

[@gm16v149]

I wonder if they do oil sampling. We do it on big diesels and I do it every oil change (250 hours) on my Caterpillar. It’ll pick up particles and wear metal long before they become a problem.

[@StudioDaVeed]

Many years ago when I was flying this same plane (IN MSFS!) I thought I was doing something wrong at landing. I was always nose down on approach but I was on the numbers. Then I found tons of DC-6 videos on-line and yup! She approaches nose down unlike many other planes.

[@JW-gb6hq]

Yep but don’t forget to flare. Landings are done on main gear. Have fun👍🏻

[@timengineman2nd714]

Sorry, but it was Engine #4 that was out!!!

[@publicmail2]

It all edited BS complete with false beeps over bad words that were never there.

[@philrulon]

Aircraft also landed on 20L, not 02R. Oh well.

[@IBU-tec]

love the attitude of the people there!

[@NickMirro]

This series is so great! I'm really excited to watch it since ice pilots was canceled. What's with the endless super loud suspense music? Do you think the material is not interesting enough to keep your viewers attention? I'm an aviation Maniac but can barely stand to watch it. You do not need to literally dictate every emotion your viewer feels. This is Smithsonian, not the Weather Channel. Enough with the schlocky suspense music!

[@NickMirro]

Oh crap this isn't about aviation. It's about an airport. Okay that explains it

[@tireballastserviceofflorid7771]

Fascinating. Engine 1 is down. Is this the plane that just crashed due to a catastrophic failure of engine 1?

[@GregoryZucco-z6m]

No, It's not the same plane, the plane that crashed was a DC4(C54). On the DC6 it is the number 4 engine, engines are number from Left to Right as are the wings from looking out from the cockpit, I know when you look from the front the #4 engines looks like it should be number 1

[@jamescayen]

Where can I watch these episodes?

[@Reginaldred907]

It's Alaska and it's the best we can do.

[@a-fl-man640]

think i went to japan on one of these as a kid in 64 or so. AF aircraft. came back in a 707.

[@aerohk]

1/4 engine out is fine. 2 engines are fine too.

[@WMAcadet]

I flew them for five years and over 3,000 hours. One engine shutdown is not usually too big a problem, but two is a big problem, especially if on the same side and you have a heavy load, and/or you are flying in mountainous terrain as Alaska is. Why you ask? Two shutdown puts a huge strain on the remaining two because you'll have to run them at high power, probably at METO or close to it, and with the high RPM they will probably use at least quadruple the oil, so you can't fly for long before oil consumption becomes a big issue if you are over water. Each engine has a 35 gallon oil tank and a DC-6A/B with a high fuel tankage for longer range will also have a 26 gallon aux oil tank in the left wing fillet and that oil can be used to top off any tank you want. Any way you look at it, declaring an emergency is prudent with an engine shutdown and definitely called for with two shutdown in a DC-6. And, one other thing... Most of the time they don't actually "Lose" an engine, rather they do a precautionary shutdown so as to minimize the damage to the engine. I have seen cases where an engine was consuming large quantities of oil per hour, say around 8 gallons, but all other parameters looked normal, so the crew shutdown the engine and then at top of descent unfeathered the prop and restarted the engine for the approach and landing. An engine throwing out that much oil needs to be looked at of course, but at least it is safer to have it running and available to miss an approach if necessary.

[@careyamos485]

You make the best videos

[@agnytevederyte1]

Ahhh yes finally a safe jank airlines emergency landing

[@gerberhilario8609]

Old school is fine ya use to it Exept when its a 49-100 year old cause they can keep growing older

[@ryanchristian3977]

Dramatic. its not that bad

[@bill2066]

And wearing masks OUTSIDE...OMG. What the HELL were we thinking??

[@aviationphd]

Take the mask off lady

[@ARMON180]

Forreal lol😂