Trislander retirement
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"I flew on Islanders in Philippines, as SLF - there are a lot there."
Engine start cycles is a spurious arguement against the Twin Otter - the cost of PT6A-27/34 cycle limited components is around $2 - $3 per start cycle, per engine. Battery recycling and hot starts is a far higher risk on very short haul cycles. Ground power, if available, is the solution.
I don't recall a prop brake ever being an option on the Twin Otter.
Excluding capital costs, the DHC6 demonstrates far lower seat/mile costs than a Trislander.
There was rumoured to be a number (12?) of new Trislander airframes in Australia, reputedly the intention was to install V8 engines but it never happened. I also saw a "long nose" Islander in Australia, no idea what happened to it.
From my experiences with the BN2A Mk III Trislander, they were Britain's revenge on the Empire. May they rust in peace!
70 year old DC3/C47 belong in museums, not in commercial flying operations.
Didn't the last six Trislanders come to Australia in kit form, and were going to be assembled at Port Macquarie sometime in the early 1990's?
Thay had a display at the 1992 Avalon airshow, and marketed it as an ideal airframe to enter the deregulated airline industry in Australia.
Weren't the Islanders and Trislanders built in Romania under licence at one stage?
Thay had a display at the 1992 Avalon airshow, and marketed it as an ideal airframe to enter the deregulated airline industry in Australia.
Weren't the Islanders and Trislanders built in Romania under licence at one stage?
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Didn't the last six Trislanders come to Australia in kit form, and were going to be assembled at Port Macquarie sometime in the early 1990's?
Weren't the Islanders and Trislanders built in Romania under licence at one stage?
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Tailwheel - thanks for the small info ..
BTW, I flew some twotters in Malaysia, and they didn't shut down one engine - one engine was running while the other was off for passenger embarkation/disembarkation
Granted, these were small strips of less than 200 meter in length, and no facilities ...
PS: I like the comparison of a million rivets vibrating in unison ...
BTW, I flew some twotters in Malaysia, and they didn't shut down one engine - one engine was running while the other was off for passenger embarkation/disembarkation
Granted, these were small strips of less than 200 meter in length, and no facilities ...
PS: I like the comparison of a million rivets vibrating in unison ...
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Granted, these were small strips of less than 200 meter in length, and no facilities ...
When two crew operations were imposed in PNG, the right engine remained running at remote stops, with the FO guarding the prop. There was only one case I recall when a drunk local walked through a feathered prop, knocking him down and shedding some blood. He was helped up - then ran away! Bent one prop blade and cost a new prop!
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You may care to revise the "less than 200 meter in length". The Twotter is good but I don't think it is that good...... 
I am not a Flyer, but the runway was not that long, and anyway, I remember we were weight restricted to only 10 pax ...
When two crew operations were imposed in PNG, the right engine remained running at remote stops, with the FO guarding the prop. There was only one case I recall when a drunk local walked through a feathered prop, knocking him down and shedding some blood. He was helped up - then ran away! Bent one prop blade and cost a new prop!
PS: Apologies for the thread drift
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Weren't the Islanders and Trislanders built in Romania under licence at one stage?
The meeting started off with some routine stuff and then we came to the Islander. It was due for delivery to Thailand on the Wednesday. ‘Who’s paying for the aircraft?’ I asked. ‘What’s it matter’ was the reply, this being a tech meeting. ‘It think it matters’, I said ‘because the aircraft was built in Romania and I imagine, because the aircraft is obviously going on anti-drugs, that payment is coming from the US State Department’. Then came a very long silence.
As luck would have it we had a new Bembridge Islander in the paddock. By Wednesday morning it had been painted and the radios shifted across.
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I was a visiting avionics engineer working in Bucharest with TAROM in November 1969. I have a vivid recollection of being asked to assist in the airworthiness certification of their first assembled Islander for it's flight to Bembridge. Being fully ARB licenced a task I could have undertaken. The request taking place at a British Embassy social evening.
On further enquiries, I was told that it had been part of some deal whereby TAROM were to acquire BAC 111's. Apparently they didn't have any money to pay for the one elevens, so they had agreed to build x number of Islanders and make up the rest of the costs with shipments of walnuts !!
I was there to assist TAROM in the installation of AVQ 20's in their Ilyushins 14's and 18's. But by time I arrived all of the test equipment had been shipped off to Russia for cloning, so I spent three weeks swanning around Bucharest and drinking copious quantities of Mastica - plum brandy and playing the tourist.
After the initial enquiry, never heard anything more about the Islander airworthiness certification. Which was okay by me as it wasn't somewhere that I really wanted to go. Certifying aircraft with no prior knowledge I felt wasn't in my best interests.
The funny bit is that less than twelve months later I was with Malarial Tours in PNG, whose main aircraft was the Islander. So got to learn a great deal about them.
On further enquiries, I was told that it had been part of some deal whereby TAROM were to acquire BAC 111's. Apparently they didn't have any money to pay for the one elevens, so they had agreed to build x number of Islanders and make up the rest of the costs with shipments of walnuts !!
I was there to assist TAROM in the installation of AVQ 20's in their Ilyushins 14's and 18's. But by time I arrived all of the test equipment had been shipped off to Russia for cloning, so I spent three weeks swanning around Bucharest and drinking copious quantities of Mastica - plum brandy and playing the tourist.
After the initial enquiry, never heard anything more about the Islander airworthiness certification. Which was okay by me as it wasn't somewhere that I really wanted to go. Certifying aircraft with no prior knowledge I felt wasn't in my best interests.
The funny bit is that less than twelve months later I was with Malarial Tours in PNG, whose main aircraft was the Islander. So got to learn a great deal about them.
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Capetonian,
As a yachtie I know the Channel Isles quite well, and as a result my flying ( BAe photographer ) experience says 'fly every time poss! '.
The tides, rocks and fog make it just a matter of time for a ferry to come to grief, I for one wouldn't fancy being on a high speed surface vessel in a big wind over tide, and a few ferry happenings seem to bear this out.
I once made the mistake of taking a Condor hydrofoil from Jersey to St Malo, as it was too foggy for my boat ( pre GPS & radar, but I wouldn't set off even with them, relying on single systems - and dubious chart surveys - in such an area is a route to disaster ).
The hydrofoil went full pelt ( it has to, for it to work - a major snag ) in thick fog, relying on nothing more than a standard small craft radar to weave in among fishing boats and the occasional foolhardy yacht as we flashed past, playing 'Space Invaders' with lives.
The Channel Isles have plenty of money, but transport of SLF & small urgent freight is life-blood; if required, funding ought to be forthcoming for a suitable aircraft, maybe Trislanders with uprated engines and avionics by the sound of it.
Any airline operator who finds himself confronted by the cost of suitable aircraft would seem not to be doing his homework before taking the job on...
As a yachtie I know the Channel Isles quite well, and as a result my flying ( BAe photographer ) experience says 'fly every time poss! '.
The tides, rocks and fog make it just a matter of time for a ferry to come to grief, I for one wouldn't fancy being on a high speed surface vessel in a big wind over tide, and a few ferry happenings seem to bear this out.
I once made the mistake of taking a Condor hydrofoil from Jersey to St Malo, as it was too foggy for my boat ( pre GPS & radar, but I wouldn't set off even with them, relying on single systems - and dubious chart surveys - in such an area is a route to disaster ).
The hydrofoil went full pelt ( it has to, for it to work - a major snag ) in thick fog, relying on nothing more than a standard small craft radar to weave in among fishing boats and the occasional foolhardy yacht as we flashed past, playing 'Space Invaders' with lives.
The Channel Isles have plenty of money, but transport of SLF & small urgent freight is life-blood; if required, funding ought to be forthcoming for a suitable aircraft, maybe Trislanders with uprated engines and avionics by the sound of it.
Any airline operator who finds himself confronted by the cost of suitable aircraft would seem not to be doing his homework before taking the job on...
In PNG Talair used to have a local "guard" the right prop of the Twotter during the turnaround at some of their stations so no one walked into it. Remember taxing past in a Douglas Islander only to see the "guard" lose his ear. He was back on duty the next day (thankfully) looking like a Sikh due to his turban style bandage!
Trislander was perhaps the worst aeroplane I ever flew (circa 550 hours), an absolute pain to keep loaded properly on multi-sectors in the West Indies, the Islander one of the best (2800 hours+). The Trislander was, however, quieter
The new DHC6-400 sounds great, but at what cost?
Trislander was perhaps the worst aeroplane I ever flew (circa 550 hours), an absolute pain to keep loaded properly on multi-sectors in the West Indies, the Islander one of the best (2800 hours+). The Trislander was, however, quieter
The new DHC6-400 sounds great, but at what cost?
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New Twotters and... quiet Trislanders?!
The new Twotter comes at $4m all fitted and kitted, I believe. This is why Derek Coates (at the helm of Blue Islands) isn't so keen on the idea.
Could a Trislander really be quieter than anything
?!
Could a Trislander really be quieter than anything
?!
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It will be quieter in ACI when the two Blue Island Trislanders leave for Central America - which is where, I understand, that they have been sold to.
Leaving 1 Islander and if it is to be believed, 1 more Islander to come.
So that is down from 40 seats (16 + 16 + 8) to either 8 or 16 if they do get another Islander.
My maths says thats either an 80% or 60% cut in capacity!
Not quite sure how this follows Mr Coates' meeting in the Island Hall confirming his commitment to ACI and that he intends to bring more people into the Island.
Leaving 1 Islander and if it is to be believed, 1 more Islander to come.
So that is down from 40 seats (16 + 16 + 8) to either 8 or 16 if they do get another Islander.
My maths says thats either an 80% or 60% cut in capacity!
Not quite sure how this follows Mr Coates' meeting in the Island Hall confirming his commitment to ACI and that he intends to bring more people into the Island.
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
The way to get a quiet Trislander is to shut down the two wing engines. It can be done if the aircraft is light, and I believe several of my colleagues in a previous incarnation did just that, since we had frequent empty sectors. I never had the courage myself; there is no generator on the rear engine, and my luck would ensure the battery wouldn't be up to a restart. 
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Herod: and here I was believing the Philippines Islander pilots veiled comment that in case of one engine failure, the other engine will assist you to glide a little further before you reach terra firma ..
Can a trilander fly in one engine ??
Can a trilander fly in one engine ??
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Likewise, never had the courage or inclination to do it myself but yes it will, after all the empty weight of a Trislander is about the same as an Islander at MAUW.
Last edited by tin canary; 1st Sep 2010 at 15:17.
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Confirmed in the Guernsey Press today that Blue Islands are selling their 2 Trislanders - yet a week ago they were quoted in the Alderney Press that they were not.
A lot can happen in a week i suppose!
A lot can happen in a week i suppose!