Britten Norman Islanders [Love em or Hate em?]
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Thanks RS, I was firing from the hip and knew I was going to get mixed up with the Piper production. Or perhaps even VW..
I have flown a Philipines one, and I am guessing most of the newer ones were made in Romania and then flown to Bembridge for the remainder of the finishing work.
I have flown a Philipines one, and I am guessing most of the newer ones were made in Romania and then flown to Bembridge for the remainder of the finishing work.
Moderator
Four actually - one rocket assisted....... 
BN-2A Mk III-1
First production version, with short nose.
BN-2A Mk III-2
Lengthened nose and higher operating weight.
BN-2A Mk III-3
Variant certified for operation in the United States. Fitted with 3 blade propellers on the front two engines.
BN-2A Mk III-4
III-2 fitted with 350lb rocket-assisted takeoff equipment.
Trislander M
Proposed military version, not built.
BN-2A Mk III-1
First production version, with short nose.
BN-2A Mk III-2
Lengthened nose and higher operating weight.
BN-2A Mk III-3
Variant certified for operation in the United States. Fitted with 3 blade propellers on the front two engines.
BN-2A Mk III-4
III-2 fitted with 350lb rocket-assisted takeoff equipment.
Trislander M
Proposed military version, not built.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Originally Posted by Baron Beeza
I am guessing most of the newer ones were made in Romania and then flown to Bembridge for the remainder of the finishing work...
...and I'm thinking we have probably both flown the tip-tank airframe you refer to also... FLU, if memory serves
She climbed like a homesick angel -for an Islander!Although my favourite was always FWZ... the oldest; MCN in the 200's from memory (269 is the number ringing in my mind?) and reputed to have the highest recorded number of landings of any Islander ever built at that time, c.1996.
EDIT: and now that you mention VW's, was yours the old 1500, blue if memory serves? Mine was the white 1302S, CX 321.
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Thanks for that.. hmmm. - has anyone actually seen a -3 Trislander with 3 bladed props ?
I have never come across one.
I believe most here that have flown the BN2 will recall the tacho, and it's issues. It derrives it's signal from the reduntant points in the magnetos..... that same signal is used via the 2500rpm speed sensor box to initiate the autofeather on the FAA certified machines. (the -3).
I have never flown one but it sounds scary...... you may have dirty points and all of a sudden the prop is going on you.
I had to fix one Islander that had the prop go into feather during slow cruise. Luckily I remembered that the governors were different on wide deck engines, - sure enough that was the problem.
I only learned that from doing the Trislander course with Aurigny in the Channel Islands. One of those occasions when a little knowledge helped the fault finding immensely.
Going back to the Military variant, I can recall a proposal to have a bigger version with 3 Darts powering it.
I kid you not.
Mainlander
I have never come across one.
I believe most here that have flown the BN2 will recall the tacho, and it's issues. It derrives it's signal from the reduntant points in the magnetos..... that same signal is used via the 2500rpm speed sensor box to initiate the autofeather on the FAA certified machines. (the -3).
I have never flown one but it sounds scary...... you may have dirty points and all of a sudden the prop is going on you.
I had to fix one Islander that had the prop go into feather during slow cruise. Luckily I remembered that the governors were different on wide deck engines, - sure enough that was the problem.
I only learned that from doing the Trislander course with Aurigny in the Channel Islands. One of those occasions when a little knowledge helped the fault finding immensely.
Going back to the Military variant, I can recall a proposal to have a bigger version with 3 Darts powering it.
I kid you not.
Mainlander
Last edited by baron_beeza; 15th May 2011 at 02:45.
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Wilton Ops
Grahem Hill owned 4 or 5 Islanders during the early '80s. Fixed & Rotary out of camden did a lot of work on them.
I jumped all of them. Thankfully i just missed a slot on ISI when it lost the right engine at about 100' after take off. was climbing and doing OK until the pilot turned back. Written off and only minor injuries to jumpers.
Pilot was ejected thru the door about 20 meters and a statlic line student followed and went between the collasping gear leg and fuse as canopy was deploying. Made for an exciting afternoon. At a later date one failed to become airborne and sailed off the end of the strip and over a dirt road and taking the nose gear off. I later found the parking break still on.
Another sad incident was when the DZ caretaker walked into the prop.
For the day they where a great jumpship. just don't stall them at height with everyone packed up in the door. They will do three or four turns and lose a couple thousand feet before they start to recover. had a chance to do a little flying in them. Liked the 65kts for everything bit. Filled a couple of pages for my SOE.
FH
I jumped all of them. Thankfully i just missed a slot on ISI when it lost the right engine at about 100' after take off. was climbing and doing OK until the pilot turned back. Written off and only minor injuries to jumpers.
Pilot was ejected thru the door about 20 meters and a statlic line student followed and went between the collasping gear leg and fuse as canopy was deploying. Made for an exciting afternoon. At a later date one failed to become airborne and sailed off the end of the strip and over a dirt road and taking the nose gear off. I later found the parking break still on.
Another sad incident was when the DZ caretaker walked into the prop.
For the day they where a great jumpship. just don't stall them at height with everyone packed up in the door. They will do three or four turns and lose a couple thousand feet before they start to recover. had a chance to do a little flying in them. Liked the 65kts for everything bit. Filled a couple of pages for my SOE.
FH
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Originally Posted by fencehopper
Another sad incident was when the DZ caretaker walked into the prop...
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Originally Posted by baron_beeza
Thanks for that.. hmmm. - has anyone actually seen a -3 Trislander with 3 bladed props
I got it from Jetphoto.net so I don't think I can post it here due to copyrite. Will need to find the link or you can PM me for more info.
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Was anyone else " King Of The Jungles " ??
Back in '73/74 I was working for Aerial Tours ( Malarial Spewers ) out of POM
in the loved/hated Broom Broom. We had about 12 of the species at the time.
Fate dictated that I was route endorsed by " Captain Trembles " on five ****ty wee strips on the southern side of the Owen Stanleys, known with no affection as " The Jungles " Kagi, Efogi, Manumu, Menari, Naoro.
Trade-store goods in - Mandarins, Natives, and all associated paraphenalia out.
Pilot turn-over was soooo high at the time I got stuck doing these places, mostly every Saturday, for eight months without relief. ( Well that's a lie ... a slab of Carlton Draught for $6 every Friday night after the Dero, set me up quite nicely thanks nurse ).
Taught me a hell of a lot about everything really. Flying, W/X, strips, surviving, fear ( and how to deal with it ), drinking ( yeah man ... still doing that.)
Anyway, at the heart of it all, the ( 260 HP ) Bongo. We did things with that sucker that would have made messrs Britten and Norman send for more drycleaning.
Love it or hate it, The Broom Broom was at least a safe twin to fly in some extremely ****ty situations. VMCA below the stall speed. Very good ( loaded) STOL. Very forgiving for a 400 hour CPL.
Noisy, uncomfortable, heavy on the controls ... yeah, all those things.
Would I still be alive in another type of machine ? Yeah well maybe a Tin Otter.
Thanks Biscuit Ears ( No thanks Trevor )
Regards Tpad
This post was chardonnay assisted .... I'll deny everything.
Back in '73/74 I was working for Aerial Tours ( Malarial Spewers ) out of POM
in the loved/hated Broom Broom. We had about 12 of the species at the time.
Fate dictated that I was route endorsed by " Captain Trembles " on five ****ty wee strips on the southern side of the Owen Stanleys, known with no affection as " The Jungles " Kagi, Efogi, Manumu, Menari, Naoro.
Trade-store goods in - Mandarins, Natives, and all associated paraphenalia out.
Pilot turn-over was soooo high at the time I got stuck doing these places, mostly every Saturday, for eight months without relief. ( Well that's a lie ... a slab of Carlton Draught for $6 every Friday night after the Dero, set me up quite nicely thanks nurse ).
Taught me a hell of a lot about everything really. Flying, W/X, strips, surviving, fear ( and how to deal with it ), drinking ( yeah man ... still doing that.)
Anyway, at the heart of it all, the ( 260 HP ) Bongo. We did things with that sucker that would have made messrs Britten and Norman send for more drycleaning.
Love it or hate it, The Broom Broom was at least a safe twin to fly in some extremely ****ty situations. VMCA below the stall speed. Very good ( loaded) STOL. Very forgiving for a 400 hour CPL.
Noisy, uncomfortable, heavy on the controls ... yeah, all those things.
Would I still be alive in another type of machine ? Yeah well maybe a Tin Otter.
Thanks Biscuit Ears ( No thanks Trevor )
Regards Tpad
This post was chardonnay assisted .... I'll deny everything.
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Got an image of one that has 3 blade on the mains but a 2 blade on the spare. Has the words: aurigny.com and rego G-JOEY on the side
I am sure the Wikipedia entry is incorrect, - the FAA certified -3 variant had auto-feather, but the props back then were all two bladed I am pretty sure.
I saw a Wikaya Air Islander in Fiji in the mid 90's with factory fitted 3 bladed props. I think that is about the time the mod or STC would have gained a little popularity.
I think only about 78 Trislanders were produced and for a while there it seemed like every country I went to had them, up through the Pacific, about Africa and even the couple in Aussie.. Aurigny would have been the biggest fleet though.. They must have had close to 10 aircraft there at one point.
I think an outfit down in Florida had a sizeable fleet at one stage, again I am not sure how many would have been -3 models though. I am thinking very few BN2-A Mk III-3 were certified.
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Anyone know what happened to the three Trilander airframes that turned up at Camden. They were partially built and came from Florida. There was also some tooling as well. I believe the factory shut down and the remaining parts and airframes went to a new owner in The USA but they never got off the docks in Florida. They sat there for a few years then ended up at Camden. One was being assembled then i think Fixed and Rotary went bust.
FH
FH
Love the Islander, great machine. It was my first commercial job, with Aer Arann to Mor Meain or Oirr.
Flew them from Grenada West Indies for a year and abit for a great fun carrier there. Longest sector was 50 minutes, shortest about 5 min 12 i got it down too!
Was on one recently on the lash on Aran. Great memories. Much better fun than a B763.
Flew them from Grenada West Indies for a year and abit for a great fun carrier there. Longest sector was 50 minutes, shortest about 5 min 12 i got it down too!
Was on one recently on the lash on Aran. Great memories. Much better fun than a B763.
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hmmmmm, now you have me thinking....
I have done a very fast sector in an Islander,- one airport to another. I know they are not the fastest of machines but this transit had to be less than 2 minutes.
I am not sure we even raised the flaps... it is literally a pop-up and pop back down.
2.6 miles, even in an Islander, is not far at all.
Fun machines..
I have done a very fast sector in an Islander,- one airport to another. I know they are not the fastest of machines but this transit had to be less than 2 minutes.
I am not sure we even raised the flaps... it is literally a pop-up and pop back down.
2.6 miles, even in an Islander, is not far at all.
Fun machines..
Westray-Papa Westray in Orkney is scheduled for 4 mins. I've done it in that time or a bit less when I was doing my line training with Loganair. Out Skerries-Whalsay in Shetland is 6 mins usually. I've done it in 4 with a decent wind.
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Anyone recall the 90 second flight sector in PNG? Think is was in the Kabwum area?
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There are certainly some very short sectors about for the Islanders then. I remember the Nadi - Musket Cove trip was only a few minutes... I think it was the region of 5 minutes.. depending.
My one was nothing special, I was doing circuits off 30 at Omaka when I got a message that I was required at Woodbourne, pre cell-phone days... the message was relayed to me via the Tower. A clearance to land Runway 28 was included in the exchange..
By the time I had reached 500 ft on climbout and acquired Runway 28 visually I was in a finals postion. It literally just seemed like seconds.
I can see we will be starting a new thread soon on fastest circuits....
My one was nothing special, I was doing circuits off 30 at Omaka when I got a message that I was required at Woodbourne, pre cell-phone days... the message was relayed to me via the Tower. A clearance to land Runway 28 was included in the exchange..
By the time I had reached 500 ft on climbout and acquired Runway 28 visually I was in a finals postion. It literally just seemed like seconds.
I can see we will be starting a new thread soon on fastest circuits....
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Woodbourne RW 10 departure for Omaka RW 12 arrival. about 1 minute airbourne.
Not in a bongo, but a single engine type of similar size and capacity.
plenty of BN2's rotting away a bit further south but.
HD
Not in a bongo, but a single engine type of similar size and capacity.
plenty of BN2's rotting away a bit further south but.
HD