Douglas DC-7

Major Restoration

Restoration began in earnest in October 2004 and by February 2005 much of the interior had been removed and six sheet metal workers were laboring full time replacing corroded fuselage skin panels. Skin corrosion was worse than originally expected and eventually most of the upper fuselage was re-skinned. The #1 and #4 engines were removed for overhaul and the four props were returned to sister ship N381AA.
By June 2006 re-skinning of the left fuselage was complete and workers turned their attention to the right side of the aircraft. The outer wings were removed and replaced with ones salvaged from long time Chandler Memorial Airport (34AZ) resident DC-7C N6000V. The outer wings, along with a number of other valuable spares, had been donated by International Air Response in December 2005. IAR was moving their operations to Coolidge, Arizona and was in the process of scrapping much of their former fleet of vintage Douglas airliners at Chandler Memorial Airport near Phoenix. Work continued on the engines and props with six additional engines being purchased as spares.

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With the fuselage re-skinning effort completed, painting the aircraft in 1950’s era Eastern Air Lines colors began in August 2007. What a sight it was to see this aircraft return to her former glory. By February 2008 all four engines and overhauled props had been installed. The interior of the aircraft had been completely gutted and was finally ready for installation of wall panels, seats and carpeting. Lantal Textiles, a leading supplier of aircraft textiles and carpet, donated carpet and panel material for the project. Working with designers from Lantal, Carlos decided to replace the original green and cream interior colors with a gray and blue interior. The original seats could not be economically salvaged for flight use and more modern seats, donated by Quality Aircraft Interior, were refurbished and installed. The original seats have been placed in storage and will be available for reinstallation when the aircraft is retired to a museum at some time in the future. The two original lavatories were also beyond economic restoration and Carlos obtained two DC-9 lavatories from a local company scrapping out Northwest Airlines DC-9′s. They fit the DC-7B perfectly and period fixtures were salvaged from the original lavatories.
By November 2008, the exterior work was essentially complete, with Carlos and a small crew wrapping up work on the 60-seat interior. While classic airliner purists may be disappointed that the aircraft’s hat racks weren’t installed, the classic rear lounge was retained and included the original Plexiglas partition. Many of the original placards were restored by Atlantic Models who also refurbished the original fiberglass window frames. The cockpit was completely restored and will look as good as the day the aircraft rolled off the Douglas assembly line at Santa Monica!

Historical Flight Foundation (HFF) is Born

By September 2009 restoration of the aircraft was essentially complete with all four engines having been successfully test run in July. Roger Jarman, owner of Atlantic Models, had been a frequent visitor to the FAT ramp since the arrival of N836D. It was during these visits Roger came to appreciate the truly unique nature of the aircraft that frequented the ramp. In a discussion with Carlos one day, they brainstormed the concept of painting these aircraft in various classic airline color schemes. Their timing was perfect when, in October 2007, the FAA issued a ruling that allowed historically significant aircraft to carry passengers. The program was developed to allow owners of these aircraft to generate funds for the preservation of their aircraft by offering flights to the general public. There are a number of groups offering flights on WW II bomber aircraft but the DC-7B would be the largest aircraft in the program.
The ruling stipulated that the aircraft had to be owned by a 501(c)3 tax exempt entity and Historical Flight Foundation (HFF) was born with the goal of preserving and operating classic prop airliners. HFF applied for tax-exempt status in January 2008 and received final approval in May 2008. N836D was transferred from Legendary Airliners LLC to HFF in December 2009. The DC-7B will be operated by HFF with flight crews and maintenance support provided under contract to Florida Air Transport.

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The Original Plan

The original plan was to operate the aircraft under a FAR Part 91 exemption with maintenance and training performed in accordance with FAR Part 125. The Part 91 exemption would allow HFF to fly the general public on excursion flights departing and returning to the same airport.
The application for a Part 91 exemption was delivered to the FAA in April 2009 and, after a thorough and careful eleven month evaluation, an exemption allowing the flights was issued by the FAA on March 23, 2010. The exemption read, in part, as follows:

The FAA finds that a grant of exemption would be in the public interest and would provide an equivalent level of safety to that provided by current regulation.
The HFF is unique in that its Douglas Aircraft Co. DC-7B aircraft represents the only U.S. based, four engine, passenger prop-liner in operation today. With the advent of jet aircraft, most of the DC-7 aircraft disappeared from commercial airline service by the early 1970s. The majority of the DC-7’s were simply scrapped as they were seen as being un-economical to operate. In this unique case, the aircraft being operated by the HFF was still in its original passenger configuration as delivered to Eastern Air Lines in January 1958. Of the 112 DC-7 aircraft produced, this is the only surviving passenger configuration aircraft.
Signed: John W. McGraw, Acting Director, Flight Standards Service

A New Plan Evolves

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In addition to providing “flights to nowhere” to the general public, Roger and Carlos wanted to offer rides to HFF members on repositioning flights. After a number of discussions with the FAA, it was decided that the only way to do this would be to operate the aircraft in full compliance with FAR Part 125. Airshow flights would still be offered but by operating under Part 125, HFF would be able to offer city-to-city flights to members, very much like travel clubs have done in the past. While this was very good news, it also added many requirements that had to be satisfied prior to the first passenger carrying flight.
With high-speed taxi runs and additional engine tests completed in March, it was now time to tackle the additional Part 125 requirements. Working closely with the FAA’s South Florida Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), an accelerated plan of action was developed and work began to complete the items prior to the planned July 24th departure for Oshkosh. Roger obtained a Boeing 727 emergency slide, which was installed and successfully tested on May 28th. With the help of STG Aerospace, emergency floor lighting was installed. A traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) unit was “borrowed” from DC-7BF N381AA and installation was completed in June. Batteries for an emergency lighting system were bought and installed but neither flight data nor voice recorders will be required because the aircraft will fly un-pressurized at altitudes less than 23,000 feet. Atlantic Models is fabricating the multitude of required placards and Roger is developing the required seatback emergency information card.
Carlos and Roger have been working closely with the South Florida FSDO since the DC-7B arrived at Opa-locka Airport in 2004. Logbooks, manuals, maintenance and flight plans have been thoroughly reviewed by the FAA along with a 3-day final inspection of the aircraft during the week of June 14th. Final details, including the requirement for an evacuation drill were completed and the post restoration flight was made on July 4th with Captain George Riley, First Officer Eduardo Blanco and Flight Engineer Carlos Gomez. After the flight, Carlos proclaimed “She wanted to keep going faster, and I had to keep pulling power back to slow her down. She wants to fly and we aim to let that happen!” Additional maintenance flights will be completed prior to the planned departure for Oshkosh on Saturday July 24th.

2010 Airshow Season

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Julio Somarriba, Jr. of Wisetouch volunteered to polish the engine nacelles and wash/wax the airplane in preparation for her “coming out” party in Oshkosh. The 1,335 mile trip to Oshkosh will take about 5 hrs 40 minutes at a cruising speed of about 205 knots. En route altitude will vary from 3500-6500 feet and, depending on winds, a fuel stop may be required. Thirty seats are available to members for the flight to Oshkosh, where the airplane will be on display at AeroShell Square. On Wednesday July 28th at 2:30pm FAA Administrator Randy Babbit, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles of US Airways Flt 1549 fame will take a flight in N836D. Randy’s father was a pilot for Eastern Air Lines and actually logged time in N836D during his days with Eastern. In addition to the trip to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, N836D has been scheduled to appear at the Thunder of Michigan Airshow and at Teterboro Airport during the 2010 Airliners International Convention.
N836D was the first aircraft owned by the Nomads Flying Club of Detroit, Michigan. The club is still in business and currently offers members trips to worldwide destinations on a 92 seat Boeing 727-200. Roger has been in contact with the club and members have expressed an interest in flying from Oshkosh to Detroit after the airshow. It would be interesting to know if any of the original members of the club are planning on making the trip.