You mentioned mods cannot be too expensive. Right at the beginning of your assignment it will be necessary to define the chosen F27 model and the limitations of your studies, as it does not sound like this has been done for you. If all those working on the project could agree on a common philosophy, it would be a tiny bit more like the real world where there would be an overall project manager for such considerations.
You might just need to show innovative thought, not just a rehash of what some VIP operator did to one aircraft 20 years ago.
F27 had water injection available for take-off. This provided a respectable amount of extra power for more difficult conditions or for high weight take-off. If these conditions did not exist, water injection is not needed, meaning there was less power and quite a bit less wear on the engine. Reduced wear is a DOC advantage. That is an existing procedure, but could be further refined by "reduced thrust take-off", common on modern jets.
Using a Dry Take-off with further reduction in power would further reduce engine wear. A laptop (avionics) program for each planned airfield could provide the further refined take-off power settings. You would need to co-operate with those who are responsible for engines. Maybe such co-operation is an intended feature of your studies?
Improved navigation would be relatively inexpensive. Even the type of GPS fitted to light aircraft would be usefull. One navigation advantage is more direct tracking can be authorised by ATC with this equipment. A less obvious advantage is that fast and accurate recording of head and tailwinds can help in selection of efficient flight levels. Lower cruising levels are less efficient, but if there is a tailwind at 10000 ft and a 50 knot headwind at 20000 ft, a lower level should be considered to save time and therefore fuel. Again, co-operation with those responsible for operating procedure DOC would be essential.
Some older electronics might be expensive to maintain. Over a few years, a modern full or partial suite of communication and navigation gear might reduce DOC.
I cannot think of any practical thing that could be done with flight controls. Closest would be a modern autopilot. Expensive to fit, but might also be less expensive to maintain. There would be obvious certification problems that might be very costly. Rather than just not mention controls, there would be scope in your studies to list modifications that were considered but rejected.
Last edited by autoflight; 5th Feb 2013 at 02:51.