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During the spring of 1977, I was a pilot for Skyway Airlines based at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Skyway was a small commuter airline that operated a fleet of seven airplanes, including one DC-3. I was the chief pilot at Skyways and a captain and company instructor/check airman on all our airplanes.

DC-3

I was the chief pilot at Skyways and a captain and company instructor/check airman on all our airplanes.

On May 27, 1977, I was scheduled to fly with my boss and company president, Audrey Glore. Audrey was an old school aviator, having flown both the C-46 and the C-47/DC-3 during World War II before I was even born.

Our itinerary called for us to ferry our DC-3 from our maintenance base near Vichy, Missouri to St. Louis where we would begin our day flying scheduled passenger flights. However, prior to our departure, there were two “red flags” that Audrey and I had missed. The first red flag was that our DC-3 had been parked outside for the entire week since it had last flown, and the second one was that it was bird nesting season.

DC-3 cockpit

A look at the DC-3 flight deck.

Oblivious of the red flags, we departed Vichy for St. Louis. Since we were empty, we used a reduced power setting of 43 inches of manifold pressure and 2600 RPM for takeoff. Maximum power for our R1830-94 14-cylinder radial engines would have been 52 inches and 2800 RPM time limited to two minutes.

Flying from the left seat with Audrey as my copilot, I taxied onto the runway and advanced the throttles to 43 inches and Audrey pulled the props back to 2600 RPM. During takeoff, all engine parameters were normal at this power setting.

The flight to St. Louis was uneventful. After landing, we taxied to the gate, boarded 28 passengers and our flight attendant and taxied out for takeoff. Since we were now at our maximum gross weight, a full power takeoff was mandatory. Still flying from the left seat, I taxied onto Runway 17 (no longer in use), advanced the throttles and asked Audrey to set the maximum takeoff power of 52 inches. At 60 knots, I glanced at the manifold pressure gauges and was shocked to see the right engine at 52, but the left one at only 43 inches!

The throttle levers were perfectly even, but there was a nine-inch difference in manifold pressure. I immediately shoved the left throttle all the way forward, but the manifold pressure stayed at 43 inches. The thought crossed my mind that if the engine producing full power failed, the one making only 43 inches would not sustain single engine flight. Because of this possibility, I quickly aborted the takeoff and taxied back to the terminal. Our 28 passengers deplaned and headed up the stairs and into the terminal where they lined the windows on the second floor. With faces pressed to the glass, they looked down on us with great interest.

I went into our operations office, called our maintenance chief, Jack Hill, and described our problem. Without hesitation, he said “You’ve got a bird’s nest in the left carburetor air scoop.” I was stunned at how damned certain he was, so I asked him how he knew this. He said “I’ll prove it. Climb up on the left wing, stick your arm down the carburetor air scoop and feel for a nest.”

In a huff, I accepted his challenge, climbed up on the wing and stuck my arm down the scoop. Bingo! A bird’s nest was sitting on the quarter inch mesh screen mounted over the carburetor inlet, complete with eggs. With my arm buried in the air scoop, I glanced up and caught sight of the 28 faces looking back at me, but now with terrified and disbelieving eyes!

That quickly cooled my urge to start yanking the nest out. Instead, I cornered Audrey and suggested we taxi the DC-3 to a remote spot before removing the nest. But Audrey disagreed, saying we were already 45 minutes behind schedule. He was my boss, so I didn’t argue. I climbed back up on the left wing and proceeded to yank out a half a ton of straw, feathers and of course eggs, and threw it all down onto the ramp. It was the only time in my career that I was able to legally commit an act of vandalism while on duty and in uniform, and I savored the moment.

With the nest removed, the left engine could now breathe freely, and the problem was solved. The gate agent then announced over the PA that we were ready to go

“All aboard for Rolla, and Fort Leonard Wood!”

However, of the original 28 passengers, only six brave souls answered the call.

Joel Turpin
Latest posts by Joel Turpin (see all)
9 replies
  1. joel a. turpin
    joel a. turpin says:

    Christopher, thanks for your kind words on my story Six Brave Souls. back in the late 1970s, I flew the DC-3 in scheduled passenger ops, off line passenger charters, rock groups on tour, and car parts in the 1,000 hours I flew that iconic airplane. Joel Turpin

    Reply
  2. Terry J Menees
    Terry J Menees says:

    Great story! I zoomed in on the picture of the DC-3 and noticed a Twin Otter off in the distance. Could that have been one of the Air Illinois aircraft?

    Reply
  3. David Yonker
    David Yonker says:

    Thanks for your well written story. My Mooney is always hangar when it is home where it spends most of it’s time. Spent a week flying around Florida both coast lines and the keys. Never gave a thought to look for bird nest during preflight as the plane was outside the entire time.Will add it to my list now. My story “How one pilots story saved my life” hard to prove that it did, never hurts to tell a story you never know how many lives it may touch. I betting the 6 brave souls told a story too. Not often you see an Airline Pilot working on the plane B4 you take off.

    Reply
  4. Russ
    Russ says:

    As a student pilot, on my first cross country, prior to leaving our lunch break airport, I looked in the intake of our Grumman AA-5 and a bird nest was tucked down in the intake, so hard to see unless you had the right angle.

    Reply
  5. Mike McGinn
    Mike McGinn says:

    Oh how things never change. I’m reminded of an event many years ago when I was flying (then brand new) F/A-18D’s at MCAS Beaufort back in 1994. Normally, the maintenance folks would put a cover over the two pitot-static tubes on either side of the nose when the planes were parked on the ramp. They would take them off when the jets were getting ready to be launched. For some reason, either they forgot to put the covers on one of the aircraft, or the covers got blown off. When the crew did their pre-flight inspection, they checked the pitot-static tubes for any damage but, like the intrepid pilots of the DC-3 in this story, they missed a very important thing. With the preflight completed, the crew hopped into the jet, cranked up the engines, did all their final checks, taxied out to the runway, ran the throttles up and took off into the wild blue yonder. Immediately after getting airborne, there was an “Air Data Computer” warning. The crew aborted the mission, climbed up to altitude to dump down to landing weight, and came back for an uneventful landing. Upon post-flight inspection it was found that a mud-dauber bee had made a nest in the pitot-static tube. When the Air Data Computer sensed the SIGNIFICANT differential in pressure between the two pitot-static tubes, it “threw a code”. It’s the little things that will bite you.

    Reply
  6. Steve Jordan
    Steve Jordan says:

    The photo of 595 was taken at Carbondale,Illinois. I do not know who took the picture. I flew that airplane for many years. It is the only C41 ever made. Manufactured in 1938. It was Hap Arnold’s airplane, as his name plaque is in the cockpit, behind the co-pilot’s seat. At the time of this photo, the airplane was owned by Southeast Missouri State University, and operated by Southern
    Illinois University. We carried primarily athletic teams all over the country. I believe that in the mid 80’s the airplane was sold to Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and was based in Oakland, California. I received a call from the chief pilot of Otis concerning some strange maintenance issues. I later found myself in Oakland, met with the chief pilot, got some cookies, and a tour of what they had done to that old airplane. They sold it years later and I lost track of that airplane. Had a number of engine failures in that old bird..

    Reply

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