For an old "Aggie" and an old "Twotter-jockey" ( as the brits calls the venerable and dear old lady the Twin Otter ), the transfer to the Embraer E-120 Brasilia was quite a technological change ( note how I avoid using the phrase "step up". Trust me, it isn't ).
A change from hands on,
mechanical and manual flying every inch of the way, to high
performance, automated, by-the-numbers, flying. For me a major
step, and I did have some second thoughts, thinking being 44 might be
holding me back somewhat. But, no worries mate, as it turned out
I grasped the Brasilien intricasies as good or bad as anyone
else, and after an excellent type rating ground school and
simulator at Flight Safety in Fort Lauderdale, I was allowed
loose on the unsupecting public back home, after some hours in
the aircraft.I do remember clearly my first takeoff in the 120. It was at
Bergen / Flesland Airport on the west coast of Norway.
It was a
lovely day, a slight breeze from the north, almost CAVOK and
about +15c.
Having just popped over to BGO from TRF on the east coast, we
hadn't fuelled yet, so we were light. Michael, my instructor,
urged me to start the take off, and I slowly advanced the power levers,
carefull not to overtorque those great Pratt & Whitney Canada PW118 driving those big
Hamilton blades out there on each wing. Next thing I new we passed 3000 feet, heading
straight for 5000! Michael and the aircraft arrived there way ahead of me, I was
still somewhere down the back there, trying to rotate the beast! Gee, this was fast!
Over three thousand a minute on the VSI ( Vertical Speed Indicator ),
i'd never seen that before.
I had read and heard about the
aircrafts sprightly performance especially when lightly loaded, but it still took me
by surprise. Michael and I did some airwork, which was as expected both in the
single-engine regime and with and without flap, and we then went back down towards
Flesland (FLE), for som touch and goes. I remember the major change from my previous
experience was getting used to the speed and the amount of further ahead one must
plan when the speed in the approach phase is around 200 knots, instead of between 100 to
150.
Anyone familiar with Western Norway and Bergen, will also be aware of that icing is
a major factor when flying in this region. For those not familiar, the reason are because the
weathers prime direction is from the southwest and west, and since the coast runs
north/south with a reasonably sized mountain range along that axis, advection
occurs, the airmass is lifted, cooled and looses its load of water which more often
than not produces ice when it comes in contact with a cooled object like an
aircraft.
I do not think I'll say that the Brazilia didn't like ice, but it did have a very
clean wing in order to be so fast, meaning that you should be aware of any ice
accretion and be ready to run the boots at regular intervals either manually or by
the automatic system. But, as most people used to ice on aircraft knows, sometimes
it's better to let it accrete for awhile, thus getting a better "break" when you
"blow the pipes". And so it is with the Brazilia, after all she does come from
Copacabana right? Not much ice on that beach!
( more to come )