Let L-410 crash in Honduras

(Photo: Wikipedia.)

On the 14th of February 2011 a Let-410 of Central American Airways crashed en route to Tegucigalpa in Honduras. All 14 occupants were killed in the accident. 




Writing this on the 15th of February, of course no cause of the crash has been established. Little wind, showers and a few clouds were reported in the area.

The Let L-410 made its first flight in 1969 and it became the most popular 19-seat plane in history. Over 1,100 were produced of this twin engined aircraft, well suited for short range passenger transportation and cargo. Manufacturer was Czech LET.



Today, approximately 500 of the more than 1,100 are still flying. Most of them were delivered to the Soviet Union, but were later sold on to airlines in South America, Africa and Asia. There are a few Let L-410s flying in Europe, commercially and in skydiving operations. The undercarriage is rugged, and suited for unpaved rundways. In the video above you can check out the instrument panel in flight!

Post updated February 16th: On the same date as the crash in Honduras, a cargo Let L-410 operated by African Air Services Commuter, crashed in Congo. The two crew were killed.

Source: Wikipedia

Fairchild SA227-BC Metro III

(Photo: Eric Bronder.)

Writing this, it's only a couple of days since the tragic accident at Cork airport in Ireland. The cause of the crash will of course take some time for the authoroties to investigate. 




Speculations has been linked to the weather (the plane made to unsucsessful attempts at landing, crashing on the third), and pictures of the wreckage shows one of the planes propellers possibly in the feathered position (indicating that one of the engines might had been shut down or had failed prior to the crash). Of course, we will not know for sure for some time.


The Fairchild SA227-BC Metro III is a plane with a characteristic look, it has been nicknamed "the flying pencil". It has a long an thin airframe, and stands on long, thin undercarriage. The pressurized cabin is quite narrow and has a low ceiling height, and the aircraft has seating up to 19 passengers.


The video below is from a Metro flight from Reykjavik in Iceland, to Kusuluk in Greenland, showing the pilots at work in this special airplane.

The Piaggio P180 Avanti cockpit explained

(Photo: Tibboh.)

The conventional propeller airplanes has propellers that "pull" the aircraft through the air. Not so with the Italian made Piaggio P180 Avanti. This up to nine passenger plane has engines at the back of the airplane, with propellers that push.

It has a pressurized cabin, enabeling it to operate at 41,000 feet. It is the fastest turboprop in the world, with a speed of 395 knots (about 730 km/h). In addition to the unusual engine arrangement, it has the main wings at the aft of the aircraft, and "canard" wings on the nose.

Check out this video, where you get the P180s cocpit explained!

 

About the design (from Wikipedia): The Avanti's turboprop engines are placed on a mid-fuselage, high aspect ratio wing, located behind the cabin. The design utilizes both a T-tail and a pair of small, fixed anhedral forward wings that lack control surfaces.

The arrangement of the wing surfaces allows all three to provide lift, as opposed to a conventional configuration, where the horizontal stabilizer creates a downward force to counteract the nose-down moment generated by the center of gravity being forward of the center of lift. This is patented as "Three-Lifting-Surface Configuration" (3LSC).

The Avanti II's forward wing has flaps that move in concert with main wing flaps. The forward wing pitch angle is set so it stalls before the main wing, producing an automatic nose-down effect; its five degree negative dihedral keeps the stream wash interference clear of the engine inlets, the main wing and the horizontal stabilizer

Source: Wikipedia

Mountains and fjords - flying in Western Norway

In Norway we have lots of tiny airports, that are trafficked by the leading regional airline in Scandinavia, Wideroe, and by air ambulances (Norsk Lufttransport) comprising of Beech King Air 200's. Most of the airports have runways that are about 2,500 to 3,000 feet long, and Wideroe's Dash 8-100's and the King Airs are just about the only larger airplanes capable of landing there. As you can see from the video below, the scenery can be quite spectaculare, with lots of mountains and fjords. Click on the video, and enjoy the approach and landing into Orsta/Volda airport in the western part of Norway!