Convair 340 (C-131D) ZS-BRV crash Pretoria, South Africa
Why each side you have two black-knobbed "T" control levers - a long one and a short one?
Optical illusion: they look the same length to me.
I noticed that the instrument panel appears to be missing the captain and co-pilot's artificial horizons.
i really don’t know these old birds, but from what I’ve gleaned from those wiser than me:
P = propellor pitch
T = throttle/ thrust
M = mixture, it’s a piston donk, yes?
Happy to be corrected by those,who know what they’re talking about, I’m really sorry I missed the era of these flying machines being commonplace,
P = propellor pitch
T = throttle/ thrust
M = mixture, it’s a piston donk, yes?
Happy to be corrected by those,who know what they’re talking about, I’m really sorry I missed the era of these flying machines being commonplace,
It is worth being precise on function of these controls. The P is for propellor speed/rpm (and directly, engine rpm). The propellor control lever does influence propellor blade pitch but, as a function of engine speed control via the CSU, Constant Speed Unit. Although some might feel this is picky, it is important in the safe operation of these aircraft because the function of the propellor in coarser or finer pitch angle can be mis-understood. Whereas, the function of propellor speed lever, generally forward for high propellor/engine speed, is intuitive and similar to the Throttle control action, especially in the low airspeed case where maximum power is often required. The Mixture control action is usually similarly arranged for Rich forwards, as this corresponds to the requirements for full power and so, gives the simple solution for high power in a tight situation of "all the levers forward".Again, this is a generalisation for this system of engine control and individual installation function and operation must be studied before operating.
OAP
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Yes You single lever thrust control generation This is what Yr forefathers had to deal with constantly (and not always with a Flight Engineer) . A wood full of levers and knobs, and indicators/dials all over the place. An artificial horizon that cannot even be recognized as one by modern standards (OK, I have seldom seen such a badly designed one also). No GPS but dead reckoning. 4-engined planes that finished Atlantic crossings at N-1 more standard as exceptionally, or even less...... we came a long way...and thousands of pilots paid the ultimate toll to flatten this road...
This is what Yr forefathers had to deal with constantly (and not always with a Flight Engineer) . A wood full of levers and knobs, and indicators/dials all over the place. An artificial horizon that cannot even be recognized as one by modern standards (OK, I have seldom seen such a badly designed one also). No GPS but dead reckoning. 4-engined planes that finished Atlantic crossings at N-1 more standard as exceptionally, or even less...... we came a long way...and thousands of pilots paid the ultimate toll to flatten this road...
thousands of pilots paid the ultimate toll to flatten this road
Last edited by Fantome; 21st Jul 2018 at 09:23.
Although the official definition of the problem that led to this unfortunate incident will come in time, it is worth noting that piston engine failure in service is statistically much more common than with modern gas turbines. For example, the Wartime Rolls-Royce Merlin engine service life was based on only 33% of engines reaching nominal life and the average engine life at failure being 60% nominal life. Better figures than this for a Merlin sub-type would lead to probable engine service life extension! The engine life we are talking for the Merlin in Transport aircraft at the end of WW2 was around 500 hours. I do not know the Service life of the 2800 in the Convair but, I would guess it is a lot longer than the RR Merlin?
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As I recall 30 some years back we had a 2400 hour TBO. Maintenance could check the screens and do a valve lash and get a hundred hour extension. We could do that one more time and the engine finally had to come off at 2600 hours. We had several that made to the second extension.
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As I recall 30 some years back we had a 2400 hour TBO. Maintenance could check the screens and do a valve lash and get a hundred hour extension. We could do that one more time and the engine finally had to come off at 2600 hours. We had several that made to the second extension.
As I recall 30 some years back we had a 2400 hour TBO. Maintenance could check the screens and do a valve lash and get a hundred hour extension. We could do that one more time and the engine finally had to come off at 2600 hours. We had several that made to the second extension.
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Nowadays, on modern airplanes (twin engine) a climb gradient of 2.4% must be achievable when flying on one engine. What were the certification requirements at the time this airplane was designed?
are the current modern requirements more stringent than they used to be for Convair/DC3 generation airplanes?
are the current modern requirements more stringent than they used to be for Convair/DC3 generation airplanes?
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The DC-3 was designed to maintain on one engine. This means that whatever height the engine fails at is your circuit altitude if an engine fails on take-off.
Trying to climb engine-out will quickly put you below Vmc unless you are empty. There are several accidents where this happened.
Older aircraft are not certified to current standards.
Trying to climb engine-out will quickly put you below Vmc unless you are empty. There are several accidents where this happened.
Older aircraft are not certified to current standards.
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The Convair 240/340/440/C-131 is not the same generation as the DC-3. The DC-3 was a pre-WWII design and the Convair was a post WWII design. There was significant amount of advancement in the intervening years.