Douglas DC-6 over ALASKA

Video from the channel PaddyPatrone about Douglas DC-6, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:06. Language: English. Video type: Onboard.

In the Alaskan summer, the video visits the maintenance base of a cargo operator that still flies the Douglas DC-6. It alternates shots of the aircraft on the ground and in flight with an interview with a company official, who explains that most flights depart from Anchorage while the technical base handles repairs.

The interviewee describes how the company bought entire warehouses of spare parts around the world and how, when a part is no longer manufactured, they build it themselves. He notes that loaded aircraft need a fair amount of runway, and that their service life depends on the hours accumulated by each airframe and on the continued availability of the fuel they use, whose phase-out is expected; he mentions 2030 as the horizon. He also mentions receiving offers to buy a DC-6 destined for museums.

The conversation touches on Red Bull's polished, restored DC-6, which flies at European airshows out of a hangar in Austria. Its pilots train with this operator, which houses at its base a DC-6 trainer owned by Red Bull; according to the interviewee, it is the only operating trainer of the type in the world.