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Douglas DC-8 Super 73F Version 1.1
North American Executive Airlines,
Atlanta Maintenance Center
First State Charter Maintenance Contracting
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This model is for FS98 or FS2000.

This is a pretty good model of the DC-8-73 series (F)!
There is a good description of the DC-8 series at Project Freewares website.
The -70 series DC-8's were all modifications of existing -60 series airframes, by replaceing the old P&W JT4 engines with newer CFM 56-2 engines. This airplane is Stage 3 compliant!

Credits:
Kim Simmelink: The original FSFS designer of this model.
Dee Waldron: AF99 upgrade, including the cargo door addition.
Paul Nichols: Flight Dynamics modeling.

This aircraft was specially prepared by North American Executive Airlines at their Atlanta Maintenance Center. Please visit our website at:
http://oasis.fortunecity.com/clubmed/286/index.html
This special package also includes the AF99 AFX source files. The animation MPI file is included in the aircraft model folder. If you know how to use AF99 and AA, great! If not, throw them away.

Installation
If everything goes right, this should be easy. I spend a lot of time working on these zip file structures to ensure easy installation.
After unzipping the DC873F.ZIP package, you should have:
1. DC873F.TXT this text file
2. a folder named DC873F
3. and a zip archive named DC8_AFX
Inside the DC873F folder are all the goodies to make this airplane work with FS98. The tree structure of DC873F should be preserved from unzipping when using WinZip (if you use PKUNZIP for DOS, be sure to use the -d switch), so all you need to do is copy the DC873F folder into your FS98\Aircraft folder. Now you're finished.
Installation into FS2000 is basically the same.

This model has fully working landing lights. Animation includes all of the primary and secondary control surfaces, and the landing gear. Landing gear includes all working door details.
Please note that the DC-8 has no spoilers or leading edge slats. The cargo door will close when 2 of the 4 engines are running (it will also close with just the number 1 engine running). It will reopen a few seconds after all the engines are shutdown.

We recommend Staffan Ahlberg's DC-8 panel which you can find at SurClaro.

Flying the DC-8
We are still learning to fly the DC-8 ourselves! Its a big airplane and the CFM engines produce a lot of power. Planning is everything with this airplane. You must stay ahead of it!
The landing gear has a very long wheel base and a narrow wheel track. Ground handling isn't to difficult though if you plan ahead. In tight areas, slow down!
At MTOW, set the flaps to 15 degrees and increase the power to 100% N1. Expect the airplane to roll about 6000 to 7000 ft before reaching Vr (about 145 kts). DO NOT PULL THE NOSE UP STEEPLY. You'll hit the tail! At V2 and positive rate of climb, gear up and look for a target speed of about 180 kts and climb 2200 ft/min. As you clean up the flaps during your climb, the airspeed will increase quickly. You will have to reduce power quite a lot to keep from breaking the 250 kt speed limit below 10,000 ft. Power managment is a full time job with the DC-8.
It hand flys quite nice, but autopilot operation is preferred above 10,000 ft and 250 kts.
Plan well ahead for your descent! Reduce power to flight-idle and start trimming the nose up to bleed the speed down to 250 kts indicated. Then start your descent. Monitor power and airspeed closely. Maintain 250 kts down to 10,000 ft. If you get into airspeed trouble, use the landing gear to slow down!
Approach (Vref) with full flaps and 155 kts max (153 best). This model will fly a coupled approach very nicely down to CAT 2 minimums, but you must monitor and adjust the power closely! The airplane should hold a nose down attitude during approach. Pull the power levers all the way back to the flight idle gate as you over fly the fence and start trimming the nose level. DO NOT HOLD A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE. You'll scrape the tail! Hold her level and let her settle in. After all 3 gear are firmly on the ground, reverse thrust and brakes. Expect the landing roll to be about 8000 to 9000 ft. This is not an airplane for small airports!

Numbers out of the book:
Max Taxi Weight: 358,000 lbs
Max Takeoff Weight: 355,000 lbs
Max Landing Weight: 275,000 lbs
Operating Empty Weight: 149,000 lbs
Max Zero Fuel Weight: 261,000 lbs
Max Payload: 111,800 lbs
Max Cargo Volume: 12,830 cubic ft
Usable Fuel: 24,275 gallons

Sharing experience
As you gain experience flying this airplane, please edit the pop-up checklist. And later when you've come up with good numbers and procedures, please send the checklist back and share it with us. We want to post updated checklists at our website for other VA operators. So please check back to the NEA DC-8 page often for updated checklists, AIR files, panel recomendations and such.
Flying this great airliner will be a lot more fun if all the VA operators share their experience.

Legal Stuff
This aircraft is Freeware. It is provided for your personal enjoyment.
Under no circumstances is this aircraft, textures, or derivatives made from this collection of files to be sold for profit in any way, shape or form. You are free to change the paint job, but credit for the aircraft and flight dynamics should be duly noted.
You may upload any aircraft you produce to any free site on the internet that does not charge to download it. But you may not include the AFX source files.

The copyright of the original FSFS model belongs to:
Kim Simmelink
ksimmel@execpc.com

The copyright of this AF99 model belongs to:
Dee Waldron
e-mail: 71124.3643@compuserve.com

The copyright of the FS98 Flight Dynamics belongs to:
Paul Nichols
e-mail: ps122597@bellatlantic.net