CABIN-CLASS PISTON twins used to be the planes of choice. Cessna was the leading producer of big twins, with more than a dozen models on the sales floors. Arguably the best of Cessna's big twins was the 414A Chancellor.
These big 400 series twins have it all: pressurisation, wide comfortable cabins – and twin engine redundancy.
Critics snidely comment that in a piston twin, if you lose an engine, the remaining engine is only there to take you to the scene of the crash. But in the hands of a well-trained pilot, a piston twin will happily fly on one in all flight regimes – except perhaps that brief minute or two after takeoff with a max all up weight when the gear and flaps are still hanging out. For 99.9% of a flight a piston twin’s second engine will get you home - whereas lose the engine of a single engine turboprop at any time in a flight and you're going down.
And then there's the price - a good used Pilatus PC-12 or TBM 700 will set you back R50 million and up. For that price you could have ten really great piston twins. Sure the performance may be 180 knots and not 260 knots but the lower fuel burn and maintenance more than y fly on make up for the slower cruise engine speed. And the difference in block time on a typical 200 nm sector is surprisingly small.
The Cessna piston twins peaked with the 421 Golden Eagle - which demanded so much of its engines it needed geared Continental turbos to get 375 horses. In response to criticism about the Golden Eagle’s geared engines, Cessna gave the 414 the fuselage, empennage, pressurisation and fuel system of the 421, but with 310 hp Continental TSIO-520 ungeared engines.
Iris - her early years: IRIS FLIES ACROSS SUDAN
Laura McDermid continues her stories about Iris McCallum's early years in East Africa and the Sudan. In part 1 of this story she recounts how she had to fly a bunch of Belgian Missionaries to Aweil, a city in northwestern South Sudan, from Wilson in Nairobi in her old mate 'ARN', the Piper Aztec 5Y-ARN.
UGLY IS PRETTY: LEAR 25 VS PILATUS PC-6
When you go to a party where you don't know anybody, you should always go for the 'Ugly' girl, because she will be happy that you chose to spend time with her.
CIRRUS G7 LAUNCHED IN AFRICA
What makes one aircraft better than another? Range, Speed, or carrying capacity, short field performance, operating costs, high wing, low wing, side stick, traditional control yoke?
PRESIDENT'S TROPHY AIR RACE 2024
The annual Presidents Trophy Air Race (PTAR) is the highlight of the year for many competitive general aviation pilots.
THE ABSA LOWVELD AIRSHOW 2024
This year marked the thirtieth edition of the Lowveld airshow – and it was widely acclaimed as the best ever.
PREVIEW: AFRICAN AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE EXPO(AAD)
Guy Leitch finds out from AAD Exhibition Director, Ms Nakedi Phasha, how the buildup to this year's biennial expo is going, and what visitors and exhibitors can expect.
APRIL 2023
April has been a very quiet month on the local aviation marketplace with only nine new registration allocations and three deletions, according to the officially-supplied register review.
PIPISTREL PANTHERA FINALLY HERE
One of the world's most eagerly awaited piston single engine aircraft designs has finally arrived in South Africa. ZU-KTR is a long awaited Panthera, proudly owned by Bertus Kritzinger, a Free State trucker, and based at New Tempe in Bloemfontein, where the well-known Ferriera Aviation has assembled it.
STAGGERWING - ALREADY OLD WHEN NEW
The Staggerwing was the climax, and the end, of an era.
The Aim of Bombing
In modern warfare it's not the soldiers who die - it's the civilians. One of the best examples of this is carpet bombing.
