11/18/2023 0 Comments Klm boeing 747 cockpitShe was ready for her arrival in The Netherlands and we were ready too!! We started the engines and one by one they burst into life. During the previous few days she had been cleaned and polished and looked great, especially her beautiful nose. It was finally going to happen and those who knew this airplane well knew that she was anxious to go. It felt like the morning of my wedding day. On the morning of Saturday September 28, 2002, Lockheed L-749 Constellation N749NL, was parked at Manston airfield in the UK. In September the Connie began its epic North Atlantic crossing via Canada, Iceland to the UK. Finally in May 2002, the aircraft was ready to fly and I was able to make a couple of test and film flights. Tim Coons and JR Kerns, of the Constellation Group, taught me much about the technical aspects of the Connie. I got involved in the “Connie’s Comeback” project and went to the Constellation Group’s headquarters in Avra Valley, Arizona a number of times to work on the airplane. Finally my dream came true and I actually flew the fantastic Constellation!!ĭuring the same period, the Aviodome took over the restoration of Constellation N749VR (later registered N749NL) from Stichting Constellation Nederland. For about two weeks we toured the east coast and, in the mean time, I learned a lot about the MATS Connie from Frank Lang, Roger Mills and Pete Phillips. In April 2001 I went to the USA to join the people of the Constellation Group during their tour through the country. After some time, my wife convinced me to take the course and finally realize my dream to fly this beautiful machine. A boyhood dream was now possible but the $3,995 cost was an obstacle. A few years ago I read in Propliner Magazine that it was possible to get a co-pilots checkout on the MATS Connie at Avra Valley, AZ, near Tucson. After that I joined KLM but many years too late to fly Connies! At KLM, I flew the Fokker F.27, Fokker 50, Boeing 747, Boeing 737 and now the Boeing 767. Upon returning to The Netherlands, I flew the NF-5, F-104G Starfighter and F-16. Later on, I joined the Dutch Air force and went to Canada for pilot training on the CT134 Musketeer, CT114 Tutor and CF-5. During high school I started flying gliders. Unfortunately I was born too late to earn my money flying Connies. Some time later the aircraft left and it would be a long time before the next Connie would visit Schiphol……. I had to hand over my bike so he could be sure I would only go within walking distance. I finally managed to persuade him to let me on the apron and a few minutes later I was sitting in a Constellation in front of Hangar 9 at Schiphol Airport. I asked the guard if it would be possible to go to the aircraft but, of course, this was not allowed! I guess he was afraid that I would use my bicycle and travel all over the runways. So there I was on the wrong side of the fence close to a beautiful L749A and not able to get up close. By the 1970’s, times had changed and access to the apron area was restricted to airport and airline employees. It was N7777G, an old KLM L749A aircraft. Then and there a dream was born: To fly a Lockheed Constellation! About ten years later I was in high school and a Connie landed at Schiphol. Charter companies, like Capitol Airways, operated the only Connie flights into Schiphol at that time. Being born in 1956, I was a small boy during that time but can still remember walking with my father at Schiphol Airport and seeing the KLM Connies parked, waiting to be sold or scrapped. Connie’s Comeback From the Cockpit Connie’s Comeback From the Cockpit January 2003 by Henk de Waardīy the early 1960’s KLM was well into its plan of replacing piston-engined aircraft with jets.
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