totter

There are other issues when you are operating turboprops. Turboprops operate at lower temps, mid 600s to mid 800s C. So the issue is not the silica melting and adhering to the components. The issue has to do with the fact that volcanic ash is super fine particals. The ash will actually get into the oil of the engine, through the air seals, and damage the engine from the inside out. When I was at Seaborne, in St. Croix, and Montserrat would decide to spew some ash it meant a whole lot of extra work for the mechanics. We would have to change the oil, and filter, in each engine each day that the aircraft flew in ash conditions. Plus do Comp washes. Now Seaborne is a small company with, at that time, 4 Twin Otters. That was 8 engines total, 12 quarts of oil per engine; 96 qts/oil @ $12/qrt. That doesn't include the 2 hours per engine that it would take a mechanic to complete the job. This could go on for 4-5 days and this is a small airline.

I've installed a few lexan doors. Sorry, I don't have any personal pictures of the installs, but if you Google N1954L, you can see some pictures from the outside. The aircraft is now located at Xtreme Divers in Puerto Rico. The door that you refer to was mounted that way because with the standard rectangle lexan panels the door can not make the tight turns or the complex bend because of the tpaer of the fuselage. You can install the door so that it fits tight against the ceiling. The hardest part is cutting the lexan panels. The panels need to taper to one end and then the panels are installed with the tapers opposite each other. This allows the door to make the bend at such a tight radius. If anyone has some pictures of the Beech 18, at Richmond, that would also help. The 18 has a small fuselage radius at the lexan door was installed tight against the fuselage. Same concept, just a different bird.

Skydive Delmarva

Being that the standard, no bells & whistles, -400 starts at 2.5 million I doubt that there will be any DZ operators buying one in the near future. Other than the G. Knights. Of course it will burn more fuel than the PAC, simple math. 1 < 2. But, it does come standard with -34s and I believe that you are able to pull 60 psi of torque on take-off and 65 psi once the props are pulled back. It will climb like a raped ape and with 5 more jumpers sitting much more comfortably

Paul is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT English.

For the door mod the year or narrow/wide body should not make a difference. Nothing is being altered structurally.

You need to see a picture of the rig that Norman Kent used to jump, mostly the one with the IMAX camera.

They only flag it if the Cert. of Airworthiness is revoked, suspended or surrendered. I can tell you first hand that the airframe cycled out. As far as the FAA in Ok City knows, the aircraft is still sitting in the grass in New Jersey. As I said, it was a shame. That airframe had many good years left in it.

They should have bought N1846 as a static display. That was one good Skyvan. It's a shame that that AD put it out of service. It still had the dent where GW hit his head.

I am not going to be there, but that airfield looks mighty tight to be running this type of event. According to the historical website the runway was 4000' long. By looking at the Google Earth picture, all those obstructions give about 2000' useable. And by the picture that useable has trees growing in the middle of it. 3 otters w/ 23 per load. That's alot of traffic for that little area.

Kudos to you TK. As an A&P/IA it was great, to me, that you wanted to go that extra step to make sure that the jump mods were installed correctly.

You may want to check into that further. A US STC still needs to go to Transport Canada to be standarized. Real life example: We sold a DHC-3 to a Canadian operator. It has an STC installed for the Chelton Flight Logic Synthetic Vision and Garmin ADSB. This is an STC that was designed and produced BY the FAA for operators in Alaska. Aeroflight Industries, in Vancover, is having a hell of a time getting approved by Transport. Transport is asking them to submit ALL the data for the system and install so that they can standardize it in Canada.

TK Are you in need of a picture to see if this mod will suit your needs or to see how everything is installed? If you need the info for installation have you contacted USPA to get duplicate info? If you are the purchaser of the STC, then the holder is required to support it as long as they hold that STC or stay in business.

I stopped into the shop today and one of my mechanics mentioned that someone from Hawaii? had called asking dimensions on the single otter door. Not sure if the state is correct, but if the interested party would like more info, please feel free to contact me.

The only issue with this is that even after FAA approval it would still need to be submitted to Transport Canada and go through their approval process. The 2 other posters gave other operators that use that aircraft. Would not Transport allow their prior approvals as Approved Data for you?

Sorry about that. Brain moving faster than fingers.

If there are then it probably would be a military conversion. I've never heard of any. deHavilland never offered Single Point re-fuelling, (not even as an S.O.O.), on any of the variants. This includes the -100, 200, 210, 300, 310 & 320. Viking is not offering it, even as an option, on the -400. There are no STCs either.

Chris, You need to refresh yourself on the Wing Tank System of the Twin Otter by reading Supplement 8 to the AFM. There are two ways to fuel the wings. The first is Over The Wing using the filler neck on each tank. The second way is to "Pressure Fuel" the wing tanks using the Boost Pumps in each collector cell. This is not Single Point re-fuelling. You actually fill either the Forward or Aft fuselage tank. Fwd supplies the RH Wing, Aft supplies the LH Wing. With boost pumps on you select Re-fuel on the appropriate 3-position wing tank switch. This OPENS the re-fuelling valve, at the wing tank, allowing fuel to flow INTO the wing tank from the collector cell. You watch the qnty gauge to know when its full. No need to use a ladder to fuel the wing. I missed stating "No Fuel Fillers on the wing" in my original post. Should have read "No need to use the fuel fillers on the wing"

The Twin Otter wing tanks are pressure refuelled. There are no Fuel Fillers on the wings. Yes. The Beaver can also be equipped with wing tip tanks that have to be filled on the wing and then are gravity drained to the forward fuselage tank. The Single Otter never was equipped with wing tanks. The DHC-6-400 still maintains the fuselage tanks and this aircraft is certified under the current provisions of Part 23.

Come on Spence. Tell us how you REALLY feel.

You can do the lexan door so that it fits very tight to the contour of the fuselage. The rails are actually the easy part. With the narrow fuselage that tapers even more as it goes aft the extremely difficult part is cutting the lexan panels just right so that the door does not bind up. I have never been able to figure out how to do it with one sold piece. I've done it with a King Air and Otter, but the 206 is just to tight of a radius. I don't know if Fayard ever did a 206. I know his big thing was the 182 lexan door. Skydive Long Island had a 207 with a lexan door, but I don't think Fayard did that.

There are no STCs out there for a jump door, canvas or lexan, on the 206 or 207. Fayard never had an STC either. He just did so many jump door mods that Greensboro FSDO just gave him prior approval to do the work. He still had to go through the 337 process, but being that he had prior approvals the FSDO basically just stamped the 337 when the work was done. If you have access to a rigger with their own loft they will probably be able to build a canvas door for you. You would still have to get a 337 Field Approval for it, but that is actually not that difficult. Contact Van. If he would be willing to send you a copy of one of his appoved 337s, that is your Approved Data for the install. A good IA can figure out how to do the rest. Lexan doors are more difficult to fabricate and install. It involves doing some modifications to the fuselage frames to hold the rails. The hardest part of a lexan door is getting it to fit tight against the fuselage, but still have it move freely. I've never installed a canvas door, but I have done a few lexan ones. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

I loved riding that Red, White & Blue '58 Pan Head after we got it due an unpaid aircraft lease.

Sounds interesting, but complicated.

When the batteries are wired in parallel you still only have 24 volts, but you benefit from the increase in amperage. We can do upwards of 10-12 starts in a day and never use external power. Like you stated, though, it all depends on weight and balance. I should see if I can copy some drawing for you from the Single Turbine Otter. The way the Otter is wired you can start the aircraft with External Power plugged in and the Battery ON. External Power uses the small Pin A to close the relay. The generator comes on line, by its self, after start, but remains isolated from the BUS until external power is pulled. This gives you the additional boost from external power, for start, but also acts like a Fail Safe if external should fail during start. And unlike the King Air and Twin Otters you don't blow out the electrical system by bringing the generators ON LINE with extrernal plugged in.