Thread: Gooney Bird

Originally Posted by Disco44

Yes Brian,that was where I had my "baptism" in the DC3 on the milk run from Blackall to Brisbane.I think the flight originated in Mt Isa and stopped everywhere on the trip to pick up passengers etc and off load at the same time.The fokker friendship took over from the DC3 ,it flew higher and faster and was pressurised making the trip a lot more " user friendly". I remember getting air sick once in a DC3 in turbulence.They could not fly high enough to get over it.
The modern health & safety mob would have black fits if they saw what they carried and how they carried them but we all survived ,I cannot remember one coming down in all the years they did that 'milk Run.I could be wrong.
John.

A Viscount, I think, got dropped and broken near Winton. I can't recall a DC3 doing the same.

I can't recall how this one worked. At one stage, sixties, plane crews used to overnight in Longreach. Maybe this was a different flight to the Brisbane-Mt. Isa milk run.

The cockpit crew seemed to think they had a "droight de seigneur" with the hosties and after sufficient drink was taken at Ivy McNally's Welcome Home Hotel sometimes hoisted one over the shoulder and off to the boudoir.

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

I was with a group of younger people the other day and the topic switched to the Goony Bird Restaurant.

For those of you who are now wondering what I am talking about the Goony Bird is a DC3 airplane which has been converted to a restaurant which does a scenic flight around Melbourne.

I happened to mention that it had a crash landing a few years back.

I tried googling this but found nothing. Does any one here remember this and any details?

Dave.

This might be the accident you were thinking of:

03 Dec 1993

"The flight was planned as a night charter dinner flight over Melbourne. On board the De Havilland DH-104 were the pilot, a dinner hostess and eight passengers.

After carrying out engine runups and pre-takeoff checks, including selecting 20 of flap, the pilot initiated takeoff from Essendon Airport runway 17, some 23 minutes before last light. Wind conditions were light and variable. Just as take-off safety speed was attained, somewhere between liftoff and 50 ft, the right engine lost power and the aircraft yawed to the right. The pilot momentarily assessed the problem as a partial engine failure and selected the landing gear up, but the landing gear failed to retract. However, by recycling the gear selector he was then able to successfully retract the landing gear. By this time the airspeed had decayed to a point well below take-off safety speed, and continued decreasing to the minimum control speed (air). In order to maintain directional control the pilot reduced power on the left engine, but did not manage to raise the flaps or feather the right propeller before the aircraft crashed into a residential area adjoining the aerodrome. About one minute had elapsed from initiation of takeoff until the accident.

Investigation revealed that the vertical drive shaft, which drives the right engine fuel control unit, had failed in torsional overload when the geared fuel pump drive shaft in the fuel control unit had seized on its surrounding bush. Following the vertical drive shaft failure, the right engine failed due to fuel starvation.

Analysis of DH-104 performance indicated that, at the time of the right engine failure, it was possible for the aircraft to achieve a positive rate of climb, assuming that the engine failure drills were performed promptly and correctly, and proceeded without interruption. However, when the landing gear failed to retract on the first attempt, any possibility of the pilot being able to attain the required aircraft performance was lost. As a result, he was probably forced to abandon completing the emergency procedures in order to maintain control of the aircraft."

The full report is available from here