Originally Posted by pyote
and so where are you going to fly with 1.5 hours fuel. If you want an hours reserve??? Please we all fly them with 4 hours of fuel and more...
Oh Please Pyote, get over yourself. We do not
all fly them with 4 hours fuel at all. That is sheer nonsense. At 4 hours fuel, you would be operating
at or very near to full-tanks all the time... I don't think so. The Islander was
never designed with that length of leg in mind -nor was my bladder!. It's strength lies in its ability to haul a good load of pax or freight
short distances.
An example or two of some of the places I have worked them:
RPT operation, crossing 32NM to an island. Usual load, 9 pax & 15Kg luggage allowance each. Total return flight time 0.7 hrs. Usual fuel load 1.5 hrs.
Unscheduled scenic flight operation. Usual load 9 pax, minimal (hand) luggage. Leg 1: 0.7 hrs, Leg 2: 0.5 hrs. Usual fuel load 2.2 hrs.
Ambulance flights. Usual load: 2 crew (if IFR), 2 attendants (Dr. & nurse) patient on stretcher, necessary medical equipment and aircraft stretcher kit. 2 destinations, flight time 0.9 hrs or 2.2 hrs, Usual fuel load: Full fuel.
As you will see from those fuel figures, I'm partial to carrying a bit of 'Mum & the Kids' fuel too!
The only place off the top of my head that I can thing of a full-fuel load being
usual for a BN-2 would be something like a CoastWatch operation. In virtually every other operation the fuel load is appropriate to the operation being conducted, optimising pax/freight payload,
as it is for every other GA operation and airframe I can think of!
Your suggestion of everyone carrying full fuel all the time is peurile.