Atlas Air Charter

[Tim Bowrey]

I saw her arrive but didnt get photos landing unfortunatly. Departing tomorrow morning in the dark so unless its 30mins+ late it will be hard to shoot unless you have 10,000 ISO. I was aloud to have a look onboard though which made it worth it and even the QF Freight guys weren't sure why it was here although it was full of freight.

[Shayne G]

I remember an Atlas Air 742 came through a few months ago and went to Auckland, with this one heading straight back to Hong Kong it must not be here for the same reason as the last

[phil.l]

A second B747-200F here tonight N758SA c/n 23138 ex JAL.

[Jayden Laing]

Make that 3x 747-200F's Phil. MASkargo had N761SA arrive about an hour before the Atlas Air one was due in.

[Shayne G]

They are all GE powered too i believe!

[Jayden Laing]

Posted by Shayne G
They are all GE powered too i believe!

I was able to watch N761SA pushback from Bay 5 today & it was interesting to see a ground engineer manually crank start the number 4 engine on the old girl. According to airfleets (http://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-b747-21832.htm) N761SA first flew in 1979.


Atlas Air 747-200F, N540MC


Atlas Air 747-200F, N540MC


Southern Air 747-200F, N761SA. Very very dirty & in need of some tender loving care!!!!

[Paul f.]

Originally Posted by Jayden Laing

I was able to watch N761SA pushback from Bay 5 today & it was interesting to see a ground engineer manually crank start the number 4 engine on the old girl.

Arrived in MEL about 1410,also Jayden how do you crank start a jet engine.

[Shayne G]

Nice shots Jayden!

Next time a Atlas Air 742 comes in, can someone post it on this thread, would especially love to catch N540MC.

[Jayden Laing]

Posted by Paul F
Also Jayden, how do you crank start a jet engine.

Paul, that I have no idea but yesterday I seemed to have been done. Once the anti collision beacons came on, the engineer climbed a flight of removable stairs situated about 3/4's rear on to the number 4 engine. He picked up a long steel rod (brace & bit drill type rod) & after receiving a thumbs up from another ground engineer who was talking to the flight deck, proceeded to twist the rod inside a rear panel of the engine. It then seemed to fire up & was some time after the spool up & the running of the engine before he removed the rod & towed the flight of stairs away. Now with the engine running, the 742F was pushed back & all the other engines started.
So when I saw this, I thought it seemed quite unusual & after seeing the long rod, I immediately thought of a crank start. I could be wrong & more than happy to be corrected but that's what I saw yesterday.


Thanks for the comments Shayne!

[Mark W]

What you saw is a manual operation on the engine because the start valve which allows HP air into the starter unit is u/s.

The manual operation is effected by sticking an extension standard drive into an access hatch on the side of the engine to operate the valve manually.
The valve is actuated by the air presure behind it but electronicly signalled. All it takes is a bit of a turn and then it largely opens itself.

It just takes a bit of co-ordination between the engineer on the intercom, the engineer at the engine, and the flight deck. The engineer at the engine is instructed at the right time to withdraw the extension drive.