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Old 12-28-2012, 10:41 PM   #245
BruceK
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marin View Post
The only direct observation I can bring to this is I was on a Lauda Air 777 production test flight in the late 90s when Lauda was considered one of the world's best airlines. Niki himself was flying the plane as part of his 777 checkout, which is why we were on board.

One of the items on the the test checklist was the rat. The rat is a ram air turbine, aka "ptopeller-on-a-stick" which drops out of a compartment in the fuselage in the vicinity of a wheel well.
OT, but here goes. I flew many times with Lauda, Sydney-Vienna on 767 and 777. Great service. Lauda, never in uniform, was pilot several times; crew said the plane went faster with him on board. We were never troubled by a rat (topic now justified). Lauda were early long haul users of both planes, it was a our loss when Austrian took over and later dropped the route.
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