Originally Posted by
Ascend Charlie
We had an original L, with the C-20 and water methanol. It worked really well, we acknowledged its limits and got 12,000 hours out of it, before a new owner put a junior pilot into it and he flew the new owner into a low cloud and came out vertical. Splat.
The 206L flew faster than its shedmate the 206B, was far smoother with the Nodamatic suspension, and for the same operating costs, we got 2 more bums on the tourist seats.
We had one straight L in our fleet with no particle separator, no hook, no HF ant. Low skids with fairings only used for “executive stuff” around the city. ( felt very strange to have to wear black shoes, blue pants, white shirt with bars and a decent haircut instead of bush boots, jeans, wool shirt, Jet B Parka and a hair cut that resembled a sheep badly in need of shearing ).
Always hangared, beautiful paint job, washed, waxed, track and balanced to death. She was very fast and fun to fly instead of the particle separator, high skid gear with skis, cargo hook, sling mirror, FM ant, sand eroded blades, Hard working bush beasts we were used to driving up north.
Our bush machines were very well maintained but operating in a harsh environment. Working trucks VS the boss’s gleaming leather interior wunder wagon that had never seen a dirt road.
As to the C-28 on the L-1 after initial teething problems ( mostly with bleed valves and that silly overspeed system ) it was a great engine. Especially when compared to the LTS 101 on the early Astars. We had a lot of big problems up to and including multiple eng failures with those for a myriad of reasons. Ask an old USCG pilot or engineer about early daze with the early LTS 101 equipped “Dolphin”.
“Tis best to remain alert, for you could be hurt, when the engine doth explode!”