Reims F406 Operators

[George Tower]

Hi All

I'm doing some research into the Reims F406. Does any one have first hand knowledge of operating this aircraft?

I know Air Namibia have at least one....what routes do they fly with it?

I would be interested to know about the length of sectors they are ideal for, take off performance in hot'n'high conditions, and what they are like for carrying pax (I know they're not pressurised).

Thanks inadvance for your replies.

GT

[cpt]

Hi G.Tower,

I have seen 2 or 3 flying in Angola (Luanda) operated by a domestic airline called "SAAL" and another one in Gabon flown by " Avirex" (not sure of operator name)
Don't know much about performances but pilots seem to like it.

[406pilot]

hi

www.tanzanair.com has 2 examples one of them is equipped with a cargo pod and the other is the speedster..

air excel has one f406 aswell..

i have personally been around the tanzanian bush with this plane nice hot n high performance,very easy to overload aswell,i have heard a few operater in namibia use this plane aswell they even have an approved simulator for it..i think its based out of eros


keep it up there fellows,

no more 406pilot

[ShenziRubani]

Air Excel in Tanzania has one too. Great plane.

[Skaz]

Westair and Comav in Windhoek have both got a few. Westair has two, last I was there and Comav has about 4....

want more info, pm me

[406pilot]

hello there again,

great plane to fly 9-10 pax for 4 hours (with reserves) doing 210kts..but ours had 13 seats and the pax had to be packed like sardines with virtually no legroom...also the only fault i saw with the plane was the fact that in remote airstrips i had to load 13 people in the plane,close the door and find my way to the front with my back bent and rubbing shoulders with the pax...still fun though if there was a blonde sitting in the aisle....he he he

keep it up there fellows,

no more 406pilot

[krobar]

Out the blue safaris at lanseria has one.
Ideal plane for africa. A C404 that takes Jet-A1, and it got even better performance.

[policepilot]

Try www.reims-aviation-industries.com/payloadb.htm
Enjoyed flying it. I see you're UK and SA in your profile. If up north, look at Direct Flight. They have a fleet for fisheries patrol. Highland Air in Inverness have and Air Atlantique in Coventry.

Used to fly one in the 9 seat config on a scheduled pax service and it flew like an ace.

[helldog]

Flying one of those puppies now. Great machine, can outdo most. Just a quick calciguess two hours out with pilot plus 850kg and back without refueling. Many consideratonds could up that a bit. Lets say no pax, you can go higher go on oxy if you have it. Most do. Also some have incresed TOW from 9360lbs to 9850lbs. Lovely to fly from a pilots point of view. Operators seem to love it too.

[Treetopflyer]

Avirex out of Libreville operates one with the 9850 lbs TOW. However it is currently grounded due to a gear collapse in last March.:hmm:

We fitted ours with up to 2 crew + 12 pax seats, which was okay for half-hour legs. But there was little room left for luggage (nose compartment is big, but so are the luggage of 12 Africans).

We also flew it to bush strips on 1 to 2 hour flights, but the F406 wasn't quite ideal for the real short runways -- we left these to the C404. The F406 actually has the 'high' speed' wing of the C441, and its Vr and Vref speed are quite a bit higher the the ones on the C404.

Finally, I remember cruising at around 225 KTAS on two engines. But if you did cut an engine at fairly light weights, the plane could maintain FL80 and 180 KTAS with normal cruise power on the remaining engine... :ok: that's C404 performance, right there...:E :E :E

A great airplane overall. Avirex was making good money with it and the customers liked it.

[George Tower]

Thanks guys

Your replies have been very helpful. Guess I can calculate my own performance answers from the Reims data.

406 pilot,

You say you flew trips of about 4 hours with 9-10 pax - was there a bog on board in this configuration? Or must the pax hold their bladders and pray for smooth conditions.

Cheers

GT

[406pilot]

ok gt sorry my bad i was quoting the max flight time with reserves that we flew...
we used to have a unhcr contract and were usually flying 3:45 mins legs with sick bags and a strict "go before u go" policy never seen a 406 with a bog but then again i havent seen much in this world anyways...

all the planes i flew were cercified to 9850lbs mtow...we usually operated to the bush with 900m airstrips no problemo..only problem was carrying 13 pax with no luggage in the nose conpartment or very little then it would keep nudging the nose down constantly...

keep it up there fellows,

no more 406pilot

[Tonka Toy]

Ask any Atlantiaue / Highland pilots who are on prune. - Gorgeous bit of kit - espcially the spec role types!

[flyhardmo]

also the only fault i saw with the plane was the fact that in remote airstrips i had to load 13 people in the plane,close the door and find my way to the front with my back bent and rubbing shoulders with the pax...

You know your gonna get nailed for that one. Most other 404/406 pilots climb in and out of the pilots door when the cabin is full, i know the big panda would have had some difficulty with that:}

[samueldethierry]

AIR NAMIBIA JUGLE THEIR PROPELLAR AIRCRAFT AROUND MEANING THE REIMS 206 WOULD BE USED ON ROUTES

EROS-WALVIS BAII
EROS-SWAKMOUND
WINDHOEK-MAUN- VICTORIA FALLS
WINDHOEK-WALVISBAII-LUDERITZ-ORANJAMOUND-CAPETOWN
EROS-MPACHA**MOST LIKELY

HOPE THIS HELPS....