Originally Posted by
Step Turn
That Twin Otter will be rebuilt. If too many "parts" are needed for the repair, it could be that Viking is asked to produce a cockpit subassembly to splice in. Viking has made subassemblies to enable such repairs before. I would expect that it will return by ship to one of several North American facilities for repair.
Or, as long as the weight of the aircraft is not firmly on three wheels, assure that you are still using the flight controls to maintain control. Even with weight on the nosewheel, at "speed", the rudder is effective enough to scrub the tire, which is as it should be - the flight controls maintain control. However, reverse can be a factor too...
Though I have no idea if it a factor in this event, applying reverse too aggressively or unevenly can cause rapid loss of directional control. Reverse interrupts the effective airflow over the tail, so it works much less well to keep the plane straight, and if applied too rapidly, may be unsymmetrical in effect due to spool up times. This has been the cause of a number of Twin Otter and Buffalo accidents.
A Twin Otter is not equipped with anti skid, so on a wet runway, too much application of brakes can get you in trouble, locking wheels, which can then slide sideways.
A 3600 foot runway is ample for a nice unbraked, non reverse, landing in a Twin Otter. "STOL" technique is not required for that runway, and I doubt operationally approved anyway.
Right now there is a japanese twotter in yyj getting rebuilt due to the same finger problem. Basically a new assy from the wings forward.