The use of the second transmitter and individual throttles was a great help in setting up each engine.

Flying the 36 without throttle control was no problem, as it responded fairly slow to power changes and could be easily anticipated.

The indivdual throttles and the flight engineer saved the airplane when we lost two engines on the right side on takeoff as he was able to reduce the power on the left engines to compensate. I had everything over to the left to try to compensate for the loss of power on the right (#'s 4 and 6 engines) and only his quick action kept the 36 from heading into the trees, as the thrust overpowered the flying surfaces at the low takeoff airspeed. Fortunately, with a pusher, you don't lose lift from the lack of prop airflow over the wings.

I also have to say that with the six 91's, the 36 was a bit overpowered. For a normal takeoff, he led the throttles with the four inboard engines, and by the time he got to advancing the two outboards, we we already airborne. This is when we lost #4 and 6 on the one scary flight.

One additional lesson we learned from the 36 - Brakes are a necessity, as without them, and with an 85 lb aircraft, the landing rollout goes on forever, and with six engines at idle you still have lots of thrust. It would have been nice to run the engines up to half power before starting the takeoff run to clear them out a bit too.

Stan