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Old 6th Jun 2007, 16:04
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Maude Charlee
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: UK
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Q400 driver at Europe's 'largest' regional airline.

Normal ops would be reduced power T/O on all flights except first of the day, where we use NTOP, with power 'flexed' to 81% on most runways except for the most limiting.

Cruise is usually at MCR settings, and SOP is to fly at Vmo - 10kts, though in practice most crews fly it closer to the speed tape red line. However, there are guys who will use long range cruise settings if timings mean an early arrival, and this brings fuel burn in the cruise down to around 850kgs per hour.

Tanking is encouraged where fuel is significantly cheaper (a differential of just 2% in the price is seen as significant), and a 'normal' excess above minimum fuel required is around 400-500kgs, depending on the crew and the expected wx situation.

Company SOP is a flap 35 landing, but again there is a mixture of flap 15 and flap 35 approaches in practice, depending upon pilot preference and runway length. I believe the SOP for flap 35 only came about as a result of a tail strike with a new pilot landing at flap 15 some years ago, but I may be wrong.
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