In 1997, after ten years of loyal service our company's DC-3 freighter fleet (Airways, March 2004) was put into gentle retirement. The firm had decided, for good economic reasons, to go with an all-Convair fleet. Declining reliability of the DC-3, mainly associated with its aging Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engines, had been a financial concern for over a year. The lone Douglas DC-4 had been sold off to work the diamond mines in Africa the year before. So, it was believed that a fleet of Convair-Liners, both piston- and turbine-engine types, would help streamline maintenance costs. For us pilots it was time to learn a new airplane.
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