If there's an aircraft that would really fascinate me while I was still young and growing in curiosity for aircraft and flying, it would have to be the Caravan, or the 'Van' as it is fondly referred to in aviation circles.
I would see them fly over our house almost every evening, as our estate is situated somewhere along the final approach path to Runway 14 at Wilson airport.
Sometimes, there would be several of them on queue to land and others would have to make missed approaches and circle back, presumably because the active runway was still occupied by the aircraft that landed before, and so you can imagine the noise - which was somewhat tolerable as opposed to if it were the larger Fokker 50 doing the same approach.
Other times, if the aircraft used an approach that was slightly offset to the previous path it followed for landing, you would be lucky enough to see the distinct silhouette of the pilot manning the plane.
In the morning and sometimes in the afternoon, the unmistakable whine of the Pratt and Whitney PT6A Turbine would alert you to yet another Caravan that had just taken off from Wilson and on the climb phase of flight as I could see them approaching from our house.
I would watch one after the other climb veeeeeeery slowly until they disappeared out of my field of view. In fact, I would really pity the pilots because it seemed to me that the aircraft struggled a lot in gaining altitude and it moved so slow that one would think they would never get to their destination in time.
But as we Kenyans are fond of saying, "kwa ground vitu ni different"
Despite its seemingly sloth-like performance, once you get up-close to the Van, it has this striking aura of a powerful and sturdy aircraft.
I suppose that's why almost every charter company or humanitarian organization in Wilson and in other parts of Africa have this iconic aircraft in their hangar.
Anyways... let's get the tea from a fellow aviator and a good friend of mine, Captain Joe who handles this aircraft on a day to day basis.
How was your experience transitioning from the smaller training aircraft to this larger and more complex machine?
My experience transitioning from the smaller piston aircraft to the larger, more complex aircraft was one of realizing how much I needed to learn.
In the smaller pistons, we did run up checks with the magnetos, mixture, idle at 500RPM and above, but on the larger more complex aircraft, there was no need for a run up.
We simply just started the aircraft and within 5-10 minutes, we were up in the air. Another different thing is that I did my training on the Steam Gauge Cockpit and the Glass Cockpit Next Generation Displays.
This took a toll on me as I was also going to University in Florida, at the Florida Institute of Technology. I also worked part time in the afternoons and evenings.
With the Glass Cockpit, which comes standard on most aircraft larger than 5,700kg, there are many components that replace the Pitot Static System like the AHRS (Attitude Heading and Reference System). The Glass cockpits like the G1000, G1000Nxi and Avydine Entegra Glass usually have a SD Card that is usually updated from the internet every 28 days or by a Certified Aircraft Computer Technician. This SD card usually contains Terrain data, Airspaces, Frequencies etc.
There are 3 variants of the Caravan, namely the C208 Cessna Caravan, C208B Cessna Grand Caravan which is larger and the C208B EX which has a more powerful engine with about 867SHP and comes with either a G1000 or G1000Nxi for the latest models.
When I was transitioning from a PA34 Seneca Multi Engine Piston to a Caravan, I found the landing on the Caravan at first to be bizarre because the Caravan flight deck is much higher than the regular C172, PA28 or 152 cockpit.
As the aircraft gets bigger and the flight deck height increases, the flaring height increases. This usually sounds strange at first until the mind gets used to flaring from a higher height than on smaller piston aircraft.
One of my other experiences transitioning from a Piston to Turboprops like the Caravan and others is that how a flight is conducted in the airline industry is a little bit different from how it's done in the Flight Schools, and I will give an example.
In flight school, students are advised to climb at a recommended FPM( Foot Per Minute) of 500. In some airlines, depending on their manual, they will have something called Cruise Climb. On the Caravan, it's usually about 300FPM and it's usually a very comfortable climb rate for passengers in the Cessna Caravan.
Another difference between the Airlines and some Flight Schools is how Fuel is calculated for trip, commonly referred to as Fuel Policy. In Fuel Policy, we have Taxi fuel, Trip Fuel, Alternate Fuel and Final reserve (usually 30 minutes or 1 hour depending on the airline).
The most obvious difference would be that in Flight School, your flight deck conversations are to yourself, but in the Caravan and many other turboprop aircraft, there is usually a Flight Data Recorder and sometimes a Cockpit Voice Recorder.
Some few airlines will breathalyzer you before going to the aircraft especially if the lessee or contractor of the aircraft demands so. ALS/Fly ALS and a few other companies do that worldwide, so you should know that there is absolutely 0% probability that your pilot and Co-pilot in the aircraft are intoxicated by alcohol. I kind of like that in terms of the aspect of safety for the passengers.
And how does it handle during the various phases of flight (taxi, take-off, climb etc)
For taxi, it usually feels like it is much higher than the C172, PA28 or PA34 Seneca. During sharp turns, it does feel much more smoother than any piston aircraft because there are no pistons knocking each other and causing slight vibration.
On the Caravan, the nose wheel can castor up to 90 degrees, allowing tight turns to be made much more easily. Also, the caravan has a power lever that is put in BETA Mode during taxi (BETA stands for Below Effective Thrust Angle).
This mode is kind of like a neutral gear for the Turboprop.
During Take-Off, the aircraft handles just like a C172 with the only exception being that it has a much more powerful PT6A Engine. If the power lever is usually in BETA mode, it is usually moved to idle thrust just before take off.
For the climb phase, most caravan pilots usually do a cruise climb of 300 FPM if they have passengers and maybe 500 FPM without any passengers.
Passenger comfort is usually a priority unlike in the smaller piston aircraft used for training flights.
During the climb phase, the aircraft just feels more smoother than the regular piston aircraft that make a lot of engine noise and vibrations.
What do you like/dislike about the Van?
I do like the fact that the Caravan has a backup alternator, has a really short takeoff and landing distance, has a low operating cost compared to its competition and a decent range of over 1000NM.
I also like the fact that the Caravan is equipped with reverse thrust which aids in slowing down the aircraft in short airfields. Another thing I like about the Caravan is that it has an electric version that has been manufactured by MagniX, although the range is still not practicable because it can only go about 150 Kilometers or roughly over 70NM on a full charge.
This development is good for the future of the Caravan which seems to have a bright future in Eco-friendliness.
One thing I disliked about the Caravan is that it doesn't have a retractable landing gear, hence the aircraft does encounter drag during cruise and this is not good in terms of fuel consumption.
The Fixed landing gear on the Caravan brings about a lot of drag during flight
Another thing I noticed with the Caravan is that the battery still drains even when the engine is off. To prevent this, the battery is usually disconnected after flight and reconnected after flight. If left connected, it won't be possible to start the engine on the next flight. Another thing with the Caravan is that it doesn't have a cross feed so when there is a fuel imbalance on one wing, the plane has to be flown on the opposite fuel tank on the opposite wing so as to balance the weight with time as the flight progresses.
The maximum fuel imbalance on the Caravan is 200 pounds and because there is no cross feed, pilots who are used to multi-engine aircraft might find that it takes time to get the hang of the aircraft.
Any memorable moments you have had on this aircraft?
One day, we were supposed to take off with about 11 passengers on a Friday at 3PM. After an hour of waiting for the passengers, I asked the Captain if the passengers decided to cancel their trip but apparently they were just busy wasting time.
The Captain was really nice and decided to wait for the passengers for 2hours!!! But I was against it for safety reasons.
We took off close to 5PM and when we were reaching our destination, it was around 7PM and pitch dark. We couldn't locate the airstrip. The Captain was visibly upset with the passengers and even regretted not listening to me a few hours earlier.
The Captain wanted to divert to a nearby airport but I knew that the passengers would become rowdy and impatient.
So, I looked at the passengers and told them that the reason we were in that situation was because of their lateness. I also told them that we would circle around the airstrip twice and if we didn't see the dirt airstrip, we would make the 30 minute flight to our alternate. The passengers on hearing this decided to help with locating the airstrip. It was getting dark really quick. After about a minute, one of the passengers who frequents the airstrip located it and then we landed.
It was also the first time I learnt that, if not assertive during and before a flight, passengers can make a flight unsafe.
We stayed at the destination for around 2days and on our trip back on a Sunday the Captain and I were surprised that the passengers arrived 2 hours earlier than usual to avoid what happened on the initial flight. It was also a flight I learnt not to trust the GPS blindly unless it had RAIM (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) when we struggled to locate the airstrip as dark was approaching.
The previous pilot had put the GPS location in the centre of the town rather than the airstrip located in the same town.
It was my first flight in the Caravan to carry disorganized passengers who were noise makers the whole flight.!
In closing, why do you think that the Caravan is a favorite for so many companies around Wilson and other parts of Africa?
The Cessna Caravan has really low operating costs and is ideal for rugged terrain. It is the most popular aircraft in the Utility Turboprop Category with 3,000+ caravans flying globally.
It is also a flexible aircraft that can be converted to a cargo Aircraft.
The cargo version of the Caravan is called the Cargo Master and it doesn't have any passenger windows. The same Caravan can also be converted to a Sea Plane. The Sea plane version of the Caravan is called the Cessna Caravan Amphibian.
Because of this versatility, many operators prefer it to other aircraft types.
Another thing with the Caravan is that it has a rare combination of high performance, low operating and maintenance costs and it can adapt to various terrains and missions, be it cargo, landing on water, carrying passengers, surveillance by Police and Air force etc.
In the second part of this interview Captain Joe and I discuss the ratings, hours and overall costs involved in flying the Caravan. Stay tuned for this and more!!!
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