Great window shots

You must be talking about Duncan! What a lovely guy he is. I used to know him when we were both at Virgin and then we met up again at Aurigny. He was far too good for Aurigny and I’m glad he got out quick. Last thing I heard he was back at bmi regional (presumably) as fleet manager on the ERJ fleet. If you see him, tell him I’m going back to Virgin (probably A340).

yeah, both Wys (currently f/o 757 with TCX) and skycruiser (currently 744 flight crew with Cathay) used to fly Saab340’s for Aurigny.

DarrenBe – you are right in the fact that the SAAB 340 had pitch and fuel control on the Condition lever but the statement ‘…they do not allow you to select fine pitch this is done by the power levers’ is not correct. At about 1000′ on the approach we would push the condition levers fully forward to fine off the propeller blades in anticipation of a go around. The power levers only control pitch when in Beta mode.

Originally posted by DarrenBe
Wysiwyg,

If I recall correctly, condition levers control prop rpm, within a range as dictated by the prop governer…

Condition levers control fuel, Propellor levers control prop pitch. Usually there are 3 settings with the condition lever; Off, low idle and high idle. Off obviously shuts off the fuel. Low idle is used turn 99% of aircraft operations. High Idle is used for engine starts and some ground operations that require a faster turbine speed. But it would be no different than running the throttles up a bit as it only adjusts the minimum idle speed so it is rarely used. Moving them to High Idle in flight would have minimal, if no effect on airspeed with the throttles to idle.

The propellor levers control pitch of the props. Full forward gives you min. pitch while bringing the levers back increases the pitch until they go into full feather. In flight pushing the props forward greatly increases your drag and allows for some very steep decents.

Some new aircraft models do away with the condition levers and use other means to which introduce fuel and shut it off. Another feature is the elimination of the propellor levers and incorporate them into the throttle and have them automatically adjust according to their position. I believe that the Do328 also has this type of system.

That’s about all I can remember of the turboprops. 🙂

Originally posted by skycruiser
In a turbo prop the best airbrake would be closing the thrust levers and put the props into fine pitch…much better than the gear….I never used the gear to get down quickly, only to reduce speed.

That was my thought at first. Then I remembered the Saab 2000 doesn’t have separate condition levers so I don’t know if it is possible to manually select fine pitch. Presumably fine pitch is only available when the aircraft is in some sort of take off mode or go around. Any thoughts/ideas?

a plug for one of mine 😉

Originally posted by Archer
All very true. And because of the drag the gear is sometimes used as an airbrake when one needs to get down fairly quickly. That might be the reason in this case.

In a turbo prop the best airbrake would be closing the thrust levers and put the props into fine pitch…much better than the gear….I never used the gear to get down quickly, only to reduce speed.

[/B][/QUOTE] Throttles idle, flaps and gear down and then fly the max. gear extended speed, sometimes comes in handy when ATC wants a bit of help. [/B][/QUOTE]

Flying at max gear extended speed with the flaps down would cause the flap load relief to kick in and the flaps will retract to their blowback speed due to high air flow loads.

Originally posted by Archer
All very true. And because of the drag the gear is sometimes used as an airbrake when one needs to get down fairly quickly. That might be the reason in this case.

Throttles idle, flaps and gear down and then fly the max. gear extended speed, sometimes comes in handy when ATC wants a bit of help.

That would be my guess

Originally posted by Bmused55
When the gear is down, the plane is general more sliggish due to the drag. The Pilots would feel this, also there are lights on the instrument panel and the Gear lever would be in the down position.

All very true. And because of the drag the gear is sometimes used as an airbrake when one needs to get down fairly quickly. That might be the reason in this case.

Throttles idle, flaps and gear down and then fly the max. gear extended speed, sometimes comes in handy when ATC wants a bit of help.

Another pic from Sidney, courtesy of me 🙂

Originally posted by Airline owner
No but good choice……..probably didnt realise that he had them down

I somewhat doubt that.

When the gear is down, the plane is general more sliggish due to the drag. The Pilots would feel this, also there are lights on the instrument panel and the Gear lever would be in the down position.

You’d have to be a complete fool not to notice.

No but good choice……..probably didnt realise that he had them down

Originally posted by skycruiser
A bit early for the landing gear to be down…..

I was thinking the same thing.

Any Pilots care to guess why?

A bit early for the landing gear to be down…..

Swiss International Air Lines
Saab 2000
Lugano (- Agno) (LUG / LSZA)
Switzerland, February 2004
HB-IYF (cn 2000-061) Overflying Lugano’s airport at Agno from the south before landing in the opposite direction on runway 19.