THE FLIGHT DECK of a trans-Atlantic airliner during the propeller age was no place for the faint-hearted. Only the most skilled and experienced pilots were considered good enough to be entrusted with the job of flying passengers on the most prestigious of all air routes. There was no shortage of hazards. Ice was an ever-present danger. It could form on engine intakes and wings. Leading edge de-icing boots provided only a partial answer. Mechanical failures weren't uncommon either. One British Overseas Airways Corporation pilot vividly recalls the time his Constellation suffered a runaway propeller. We managed to get it stopped and feathered', he told me. 'We were icing up at the time and we discovered that we had an 80kt tailwind so we had no option but to carry on to Gander which we did, for five-and-a-half hours on three engines, loaded up with ice. It took 9hr 55min to get from Prestwick to Gander.' He added: 'We had runaway propellers on Stratocruisers too'. And for good measure he pointed out that on the DC-7C, the ultimate piston-engined airliner, it was often a question of whether the oil would run out before the fuel.
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