Britten Norman Islander Turns Fifty

[Stationair8]

The good old BN-2 celebrated its fifty anniversary of its first flight in June.
Aeroplane Monthly has a great write up on the beast.
Must be a few photos and stories out in pprune land to help celebrate this milestone.

[Acrosport II]

Aye!!!!, What?!!!!, I cant hear you, speak up!!!!


They had a couple of 300HP (or 260HP) Noise Converters.
They somehow magically converted noise to thrust.
And guess where the Pilot sat?

And don't get me started on the BN3 Tri Islander! ;)

[chimbu warrior]

Yes it is a bit noisy, and in recent years SB190 has made them expensive to maintain, but nothing else comes close to doing the job that an Islander can.

The fact that they are still around (and still in demand) after 50 years says something. :ok:

[Aye Ess]

My second twin endorsement was the Islander..... oh, boy, I was like a dog with two tails. What a fun performer. Many years later, I got a job with a company flying Trislanders..... Well, thought I, half as big again, must be half more betterer..... NOPE, NUH....I'm with Acrosport... don't get me started on BN3. I believe even Tailwheel hated those monsters from hell.

[tail wheel]

And don't get me started on the BN3 Tri Islander!

It is a Britten Norman BN2A Mk III Trislander. Thank God there is no BN3.

Wonderful aircraft Aye Ess! Here is a really, really good Trislander. Wish they were all this good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Woomera/PPRuNe/AirMelTrislander.jpg

[fencehopper]

Did a heap of jumps out of Islanders at Wilton back in the eighties and did a far bit of work on them at Camden. ISI went in after the pilot turned back on take off after losing the left engine and another went off the end of the strip when the park brake was left on. Pretty good jump ship fun to fly and better than the Nomad to work on.

[Pinky the pilot]

Have all of three hours ICUS in a Trislander!:eek: And I have Luk V to thank for that.:=

To be perfectly honest, I wish that I had been able to finish the endorsement on them and gone on to flown them more. But then again I have been accused, on more than one occasion, of being a 'sick man.':E

Lik Lik Rik was the last accuser.:D What you up to these days Mate?:confused:

Taily; That Tri appears to be in Talair colours but it aint PNG reggo. Did DB operate them in the Solomons when he had an operation there?

Wound up with around 800 hours in Islanders. And Mrs Pinky accuses me of having selective hearing!!:E

[Acrosport II]

BN2A MkIII Tri Islander


I flew the long nose version.


We just couldn't take them seriously.


Naturally by the time we got them, the prop Syncs had been removed.
It took us all of the cruise (25-30 min sector) to sync them, then as soon as you reduced the throttles for descent,..... Whaaooo Whaaooo Whaaooo Whaaooo Whaaooo, well you get the idea.


Happy Days.

[Pinky the pilot]

It took us all of the cruise (25-30 min sector) to sync them,

Something wrong then there Mate, as even with old beat up P2-DNN, which was actually the prototype Trislander,:ooh: Luk V demonstrated to me how to synch all three donks in about 20 seconds!

And after about the third attempt I found it just as easy as he demonstrated.:=

[Acrosport II]

None of us had any experience on them when they arrived.


It was the blind leading the blind.

[Flying Mechanic]

Go the bongo van! Enjoyed my time in the Torres Straits plying the skies in the BN2. I am sure it will make the its 75 birthday! Just like the B52, bullet proof.

[tail wheel]

Taily; That Tri appears to be in Talair colours but it aint PNG reggo. Did DB operate them in the Solomons when he had an operation there?

That excellent Britten Norman BN2A Mk III Trislander was owned and operated by Air Melanesiae in Vanuatu well before Talair became involved.

[the_flying_cop]

I think that in the 4000 hours I sat in one, the props were only balanced for about 3 of them. At least ours was a turbine one. I had a ride in a piston version once and goodness me, I have now words to describe that racket even with a bone dome and ANR.

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

Tailwheel....
Aye Ess is using the ICAO designation for the Tri...BN3....distinguishing it from the twin

[Aye Ess]

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/BPABN3PLM-1.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/alan_spears/media/BPABN3PLM-1.jpg.html)

This is a painting I did of the Trislander. My therapist said it would help me get over my hatred of them..... It didn't.

[Aye Ess]

Yes, it can be called a Britten Norman BN2A Mk III Trislander, or a BN3 or the Tri..... but it also goes by the name 'The Sled'.... anyway you say it, it is still awful.

[illusion]

I think this article sums up our feelings quite nicely

https://www.facebook.com/paravionft/posts/313631895413897

:p

[Acrosport II]

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/BPABN3PLM-1.jpg

Quote:
This is a painting I did of the Trislander. My therapist said it would help me get over my hatred of them..... It didn't.


Ha Ha.
Nice painting of the long nose version.
Have to say they were an interesting looking Aircraft. Especially the longer nosed version.


I cant seem to get the Quote wraparound to work.


I think that fixed your image. For some reason Photobucket automatically adds a URL to the IMG address?

Tail Wheel

[Acrosport II]

Quote:
I think this article sums up our feelings quite nicely

https://www.facebook.com/paravionft/...13631895413897 (https://www.facebook.com/paravionft/posts/313631895413897)

:p


I haven't seen that before. Quite true though.


And now I have conformation of the 'Noise Converters' theory.

[Fris B. Fairing]

Here's another long forgotten Trislander operator:

http://www.adastron.com/squawkid/gallery/vhbsp.jpg

[prospector]

At least the Tri Lander got the driver further forward away from the prop noise. And for the operation we were using them for a few years, across Cook Strait, they were very suitable, handled extreme turbulence going into Wellington without much trouble.

[601]

Britten Norman Islander Turns Fifty
Now I am starting to feel old.
AIA
RUT
EER
EQK
BSH

[Acrosport II]

At least the Tri Lander got the driver further forward away from the prop noise. And for the operation we were using them for a few years, across Cook Strait, they were very suitable, handled extreme turbulence going into Wellington without much trouble.


Very true. It was quieter than the Islander, At least for the pilot.


Thunderbird Control, This is T-Bird 1.

[Capt Claret]

I flew in a Trislander as a passenger years ago from Townsville to Dunk, pre learning to fly. I don't recall the aeroplane being quite so fugly. :}

[MyNameIsIs]

Did a fair few flights in the Bongo. Loved it! Little bit deaf but eh it happens. Quite a tough, capable machine. I'd go pole one around again in a heartbeat!
Keen to have a go at an Trislander one day just for ****s and giggles.

Yes I am a little bit crazy.

[Aye Ess]

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/2xBN32.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/alan_spears/media/2xBN32.jpg.html)

Hey, Capt Claret.... here is the line up of likely suspects of your Dunk trip.

[Aye Ess]

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/VH-AIA.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/alan_spears/media/VH-AIA.jpg.html)

Here is the very first Islander to operate in Australia. Of course by the time I flew it for Tangalooma, it had been owned by a bazillion other companies (*please note 'bazillion' is a generic term for 'stacks of'*)

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/VH-SQS2.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/alan_spears/media/VH-SQS2.jpg.html)

Tangalooma traded old VH-AIA on a brand spanking new VH-SQS, so on that one day in October 1978, I flew Australia's oldest and newest Islanders.

[Metro man]

The BN2A was my first twin and I got around 1900 hours on them. An interesting part of my career when I was single with no responsibilities. Fond memories but I don't think I would like to go back on them.:E

[RadioSaigon]

I have 6-7 of the BN-2A in my book, from years ago. Oldest was ZK-FWZ from memory. Fantastic 'ol girl to fly ;-) Unfortunately, I never did record her serial number, but if memory serves, was sub-200. Reputed at one time to be the operational Islander with the highest recorded number of cycles on her.

There's bound to be someone who will stumble on this page that could trundle down the tarmac (NZNV) and have a look at that serial ;-)

[Pinky the pilot]

Reputed at one time to be the operational Islander with the highest recorded number of cycles on her.


Wouldn't surprise me RadioSaigon. About 6 or so weeks before it had a major **** of the RH engine which put it out of the air for a period of time, P2-SAB which was formerly P2-DNV (and I flew it under both reggos) was reputed to be one of the highest time BN2's in PNG still operational at that time

At the time it had in excess of 16,000 hrs and well over 30,000 cycles on the airframe.:} Exact figures unknown to me.

And I was flying it back from Kamulai when the R/H engine shat itself!:ugh:

Bikpela taim!:eek:

[RadioSaigon]

Likewise, details long forgotten... fun days in the Islanders though Pinky. I miss that now. For all their faults, I'd still strap another one to my arse tomorrow, given the chance!

[tail wheel]

Pinky, I'm sure P2-SAB was a Cessna 402B ex Sepik Air Charter acquired by Talair when it took over that charter company. Last seen P2-SAB disappeared into the Ramu River (I forget the strip it ran off the end of whilst overweight) maybe in the mid 1970s, never to be found. Nine POB from memory, all got wet except the pilot........... :E

I thought Biscuit Ears (Douglas) had the oldest Bongo Van in this part of the world? I think it may have been VH-AIA (or similar rego??) that won it's class in the 1968 London to Sydney Air Race?

[troppo]

P2-SAB was a 402 and later an islander.
'Highest time islander' stories are a dime a dozen, at one point I heard it was P2-DWA when it was at NCA but the simple fact is that all the islanders in PNG got the ar$e$ thrashed out of them

There were 3 on the fiji register with MSN<100 including number 9

[bekolblockage]

Fond memories of EQT and FCP around Tassie and Bass Strait islands in the early 80's.
Sh1t that seems a long time ago. oh...... it was.
Sound familiar Metro Man?
FLI, LDB, CBN, SWI, THM, Chappell (snakes!!!), WTH, KCK.
LandRover with wings.

The amount of crap we used to carry in them. Remember moving the lighthouse keeper out of SWI with a goat in the back.

P.S. EQT was Build No. 124. No idea how many hours. But she was an old girl even when I flew her in the early 80's.

[Pinky the pilot]

Sorry about the quality. Was taken in 1990.

I know who it was but I 'aint sayin'!:E

And also a good indication of just how close that port engine and prop was!:eek:


http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i319/Pinkythepilot/5f7ff2ce.jpg (http://s75.photobucket.com/user/Pinkythepilot/media/5f7ff2ce.jpg.html)

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i319/Pinkythepilot/5f7ff2ce.jpg

I know who it was but I 'aint sayin'!
http://www.fototime.com/639986071195AD7/standard.jpg

Same, same?? :E

[Pinky the pilot]

Same, same??

Naughty Boy Forky!:=:D:E

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Not me Pinky! :E

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

Whatever happened to VH-EQT?

Some of LT controllers and FSO's used to fly the Islander part-time for Munro Aviation, and one used to tell the story of the quick turnaround(engines running)on one of the Bass Strait Islands, the pax was told to get out of the rear door, shut it and walk away and give the aileron a wiggle to let him know he was clear of the aircraft. The passenger instead shuffled between the spinning prop and tapped on the cockpit window!

[Pinky the pilot]

Not me Pinky

Good Heavens!:eek: It wasn't .......CC?:confused::eek::E;)

[Capt Fathom]

Good Heavens! It wasn't .......CC?

Must have been CC. He's not here defending himself! :E

[Stationair8]

Didn't the last Trislander airframe kits finish up in Australia, with some plans to modify them to use a different engine?

[dhavillandpilot]

Last Trilander was going to have 2 V8 engines similar to the Oerna conversion planned for the larger Aero Commanders

[Acrosport II]

Last Trilander was going to have 2 V8 engines similar to the Oerna conversion planned for the larger Aero Commanders

That would take all the "Fun" out of the Trislander.

[Acrosport II]

This one brought tears to my eyes.....


I think it was from sore ears!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvCC4YA4BA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJyR6YKXWV0


BN2A request push and start.....
Cleared push and start,..Face west.....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW_IoE4sBdM


Classic!

[Car RAMROD]

Awesome pushback! Whitey tourist taking the video was probably flying out in it!

I miss the island/Islander life!

[Pinky the pilot]

I miss the island/Islander life!

Me too!! Taking out the moments of sheer terror:eek: (which in retrospect were character forming) I wouldn't have missed it for the world!:ok:

[tail wheel]

I think BSP went to Douglas in PNG then back to Cairns and may have ended up in West Australia with a change of registration?

[LeadSled]

Didn't the last Trislander airframe kits finish up in Australia, with some plans to modify them to use a different engine?

Folks,
It was an Australian company that bought the remaining incomplete Trilanders,( something like 11, if my memory is correct) but I do not know if they were ever shipped to Australia.

The proposal by this group was to convert the aircraft to a single PT-6 in the tail.

I went to several presentations on the engineering proposed, and my advice to the principles was to take the project to the US, ( based in what CASA did to Gippsland Aeronautics, even post 1998 rules) you would go broke in Australia trying to certify it. The estimated operating costs were interesting, the estimates for speed/payload/range beat the Cessna 208 by a respectable and not unreasonable margin.

As far as I know, the company ran out of financial resources before the prototype was ever assembled.

Tootle pip!!

[601]

The amount of crap we used to carry in them
Notable loads;
One bolt together Southern Cross water tank.
Unknown Kgs of turf.
Cattle buyers after they had spent the afternoon on the local pub.

[Ixixly]

Next time you see an Islander Minger, ask'em if you can hop up top and have a look, when you eyeball the wing from on top you'll understand!

Nothing fancy aerodynamically speaking, just a giant whopping wing!!

[wanabee777]

Darn things are the noisiest piston twins we have operating out of FLL.:\:\

I'll be glad to see them gone if it ever happens in my life time!:}

[Acrosport II]

The world's shortest.... why would you choose any other type??


World?s Shortest Commercial Flight is Just 47 Seconds Long | Amusing Planet (http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/08/worlds-shortest-commercial-flight-is.html)

Damn Tight @rse Low cost airlines. No meal service on that flight!!!

Appalling!!!

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

Slight Drift....

Went to see 'Spectre' yesterday arvo.....talk about the 'Bongo Van' being built like a brick $#!^ house....(?)

And.... it still 'flew' / slid / and, when it eventually came 'to rest', (Finished with engines no 1..), the pilot (J.B.) calmly 'stepped out' and carried on......

If ya gunna have a crash, have it in a Bongo, is the message.....

(Yeah, I know...'tis only a movie, and a J.B. one at that....amusing all the same)

Cheers:ok:

[Pinky the pilot]

As for the shortest Commercial Flight; Guari to Kamulai in the Goilala area of PNG would be fairly close as well.:hmm:

Take off from Guari put you on base for Kamulai.:ooh:

[Stationair8]

The bloke from Ord Air, that did the beat up of the fishing boat in the BN-2 and then flew it into the water enroute to Koolan Island

[fencehopper]

Gonna crash a bongo? just make sure your feet are up out of the way so when the nose gear comes back and it won't wrap the rudder bar around your feet.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

G'day Pinky,

I used to do one RPT / Mail run in the Pilbara, the final section of which was from Yarri to Muccan.

Report 'dep' Yarri, get acknowledgment, then call 'Circuit area' Muccan, get ack., then 'landed Muccan CNL SAR'.....

I know, 'twas further than yours, but 7 nm and flat between them, as was Aitape to Tadji, which was only 6nm....

All good fun to see if the FSO was 'up to par'.....in dem good ole days....

Cheers:ok::ok:

[Capt Fathom]

Kabwum Valley.
Konge to Indagen was about 2/3nm if my grey matter is correct? (My logbook from that time is somewhere in storage).
You didn't retract the takeoff flaps and full noise setting the whole way!

[601]

Vmca 39kts
Vs 41 kts

How is this possible? I've asked a few islander pilots before and they don't know.

When you have the engines in the cockpit with you and a long fuselage with a relative large fin and rudder, it is possible.

The aircraft with extreme difference between Vmca and Vs would be the C337.

[kimwestt]

Yeah - the bloke from Koolan Island - what a dead beat. I timed him one morning, from arriving at the a/c, to take off run, less than a minute, 47 seconds from memory.
That d be a bloody good temp rise, mag check, etc, etc, you get the drift.
If it wasn't for a quick thinking boat driver with a sharp knife, who manages to dive down to the a/c, disentangle said pilot from control wires, and then cut off one hand to get him out, with King Sound tides raging around, he'd still be there. Apparently he's flying in the UK. That's almost far enough away .
:mad:

[Pinky the pilot]

Griffo; Departing Guari, after giving taxi calls and runups; Full Power for T/O which at 6,100'AMSL was (I forget) MAP.:O (Probably around 21" with the 260hp BN2)

You started a descent as soon as you dropped off the end of the Guari strip as base and final turn for Kamulai was flown at 5,800'. Kamulai strip was 5,300' AMSL.

The radio calls generally went;

''Moresby, SAB departed Guari (time) circuit area Kamulai, call after landing" and the landing was about 30 seconds later.

From memory, I once timed such a flight and it was less than two minutes!:eek:

One of the local Nationals once told me that to walk the trip was most of a day.:ooh:

[Maisk Rotum]

Anyone remember "Mother" from PNG?. He was rousing some locals away from the prop when he gesticulated just a little bit too far. Yep that prop was close. Took his finger off. Shortest flight would have to be Kagi-Efogi. Did it in under 35 seconds regularly. Damn near killed myself in those machine twice in PNG.

[rog747]

Trislanders were just retired this year operating to Jersey and guernsey with Southampton and Bournemouth
affectionately known as Joey

and still between Lands End airport and St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly the Islander flies everyday scheduled flights of skybus with a shuttle service in the summer busy season - not sure is they do NQY flights as well as their twotters

https://www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk/

[Pinky the pilot]

Shortest flight would have to be Kagi-Efogi. Did it in under 35 seconds regularly.

Struth!!:eek: I forgot about that route!! Sem bilong mi!:=

Did it myself many times when working for the late Richard Rowe, God rest his Soul.:sad:

Maisk Rotum; When were you cruising around that part of PNG? And do I know you?