Did the -8 have the electrical heirarchy (?) like the -9 (gnd pwr, APU, eng gen). Did yours have an APU?
Yes, there was a two position switch on the FE panel. Ground Power, Battery and Off (3 position if you count Off). Ground power took the battery and Gens out of the equation by opening relays. You could hear these relays open as they were big mechanical "claws". It was a definite thunk when they would open and close.
Some DC8s had APUs and if they did there was actually two, the ones I flew did not have APUs.
An interesting side note. Since engine start was pneumatic the original design was to have the engines pressurize the left main landing gear strut. On the next start that pressurized air was used to start one engine then that engines bleed air was used to start the remaining three. Only one minor design flaw. The air wasn't dried so the left strut would succumb to severe corrosion very quickly.
And true that it handled like a truck? (The -135 used balance panels and you had to use rudder to move it around. BUT with a bit of judicious rudder, it was a nice (albeit heavy) handling machine. )
It did handle like a truck, not very nimble at all and took a fair amount of muscle to flare and roll. The rudder and ailerons were all hydraulic boost BUT the original test pilots thought the controls were too light so a load feel mechanism was installed to give the "heavy" feeling. Flying it with the aileron in manual was a bitch.
Also, hyd system.. pumps low or off in cruise and then back to HI for approach and landing?
Pumps had three positions, on, off and bypass. They were variable displacement pumps.
The -80 had the 4 position speedbrake which I didn't care much for but the extension speeds for flaps.. WOW. 280kts for leading edge.
No speed breaks per se. There were roll control spoilers and ground spoilers. IIRC 7 panels on each wing, the inboard 3 were roll spoilers only with flaps 25 (IIRC) and that took almost full yoke deflection to get. There was an accident where the spoilers were accidently deployed in flight, the airplane basically stopped flying, went backwards a few feet and dropped like a rock. Engines 2 and 3 could be reveresed in flight to help with speed contol and quick descents. If either or both of the #2 or #3 reversers were inop there was an altitude limitation for passenger ops due to time required for an emergency descent.
(I know the other guy had questions and hope I'm not jumping to the front of the line.. oh, and did the -8 have the variable flap selection?)
Flaps were, again pulling from the databanks here, 5 15, 25, 35, 50 degrees. There were slats but they were over each engine only, not full span, about three feet wide or so. You could select 30 degrees by putting the flap lever between the 25 and 35 degree slots, but never a need to.
Oh.. and the Fly-by-wire.. DC.. direct cable
