Flog that dead horse.
Flew the TV star with a couple of hundred hours on it. On the whole, not a bad airframe for short field performance, but Allison B17's are shocking engines for a fixed wing in australian high temps. And the tail's, tell that to the family's of the deceased. It was always trying to be a twin otter, and never came close. PT6, and a normal tail, it might compete as a heavy and gutless -100 Twin Otter. There is just so much more out there. As the Nad performs like fat kids hang gliding on one engine, the converted single turbine Otter has more payload than the -300 series twin. So apple and oranges with twins and singles are not applicable here, single turbines are in the market for comparison. The Chinese walter powered Twin Otter copy, the caravan, the Otter, god even the old porter.
So the article says they will re-introduce the N24, which is the stretched verson with marginal performance to the marginal performing short body with the same engines. BUT it is getting the Pro Line Pack for the cockpit. Dammit, the cockpit was the only thing that was good on the thing.
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This industry will be intollerant to this form of stupidity. Sad, because the air van is such a great seller. Can't imagine why Boeing flicked ownership so fast.
IMHO stepping off the soap box
