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!
But transitioning from the airlines to a civilian pilot on long range flights in a turbine powered airplane was a shock! Now, instead of showing up in flight ops and finding my flight planning had all been done for me by my dispatcher, I was now the dispatcher. My learning curve was not steep, it was vertical!
One of Gene’s pet maneuvers was to demonstrate to the student pilot that his senses would lie to him while flying in the clouds on instruments, or at night. The ultimate lesson objective was to trust your flight instruments, and not your senses. He would have the student put the instrument flying hood on, then do a couple of routine flight maneuvers by reference to the flight instruments, then “the show” would begin.
Cruising along peacefully at 28,000 feet, and maybe 200 miles north of Los Angeles, I got a call on the interphone from the purser. She told me that some of the passengers on the right side of the first-class cabin were saying out loud that they thought the right engine was not running.
My plan was to maintain the glide slope until nearing the threshold, Iwould then duck under the glide slope and cross the threshold at about 20 feet above the ground instead of then normal 50 feet resulting in a touchdown prior to the 1,000 foot runway markers. Obeying SOP and staying precisely on the glide slope over the threshold would waste precious stopping distance which could put us into a dangerous situation.
Climbing through 1,000 feet on my assigned heading, without warning, the airplane pitched over violently into an uncommanded dive. The pitch over was so abrupt that my heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, I pulled back on the control wheel and wrestled the Beech 18 back into straight and level flight. With adrenalin fueling my heartbeat into a flutter, and my jaw agape, I steadied the pitch attitude and regained control.