PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Britten Norman Islanders [Love em or Hate em?]
Old 8th May 2011, 12:59
  #30 (permalink)  
Torres
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Queensland
Posts: 2,422
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Rabbit. That was a fairly normal attitude for a Trislander - especially if the crew alighted first! At one time the Islander and Trislander were a common type endorsement in Australia.

Jaba. Cost and reliability wise, the Lycoming 540 series engines were the best and certainly superior to comparable Continental engines. Lycoming 540s installed in Islanders were rigidly mounted, ensuring all vibration is successfully transferred to the airframe, thus keeping thousands of rivets vibrating in unison! Unfortunately, that also leads to engine mount fatigue cracks....

I believe the Lycoming IO720 (11.8 liters, 400 HP) series are also great engines (there is no O720 engine) - perhaps the Trislander should have two 720s, total 800 HP, rather than 3 x O540s for 780 HP? Two Allison B250s would also be better than three 540s.

There was one long nose Islander in Australia which was unique. Also, the last new Trislander airframes were also shipped to Australia with a view to installing two light weight V8s, but that was some years ago and I don't know where they ended up, maybe converted to pots, pans and beer cans?

I think we operated 23 or 24 Islanders in PNG, 260 and 300 HP models, at one time the world's largest operator of the type. They had a hard life but well maintained and most would have been rather second hand by the time Chuck got to fly them!

They did the job well but were maintenance intensive and no one ever knew who buckled the wings... SB190 did not exist in the Talair days, but subsequently incresed the type operating costs; for some reason the aluminium used in Islanders appears more prone to corrosion than US aircraft aluminium, particularly in the lower wing skin laminates. There is over 300 Service Bulletins on Islanders, far more than comparable US built aircraft.

The Islander was built (or assembled) in the UK, Romania and the Philippines.

Last edited by Torres; 8th May 2011 at 13:17.
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