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#Post#: 3909--------------------------------------------------
Premier Aircraft Design DHC8-Q200
DIR By: piedmont2010
Date: May 14, 2012, 10:09 pm
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PAD DHC8-Q200
PAD DHC8-Q200 in Continental Express colors for our test
HTML http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/reed0427/CNDHC8.jpg
We're reviewing the Premier Aircraft Design Bombardier DHC8-Q200
for our Canadian North operation. At the gate the plane looks
right, with all dimensions appearing to be accurate. It has a
well detailed main door and cargo door, including a cargo net
that hangs over the side. Starting was easy, but the default
KingAir sounds need replacing. The panel has good gauges though
the flight gauges are default B737 gauges. I can't wait to get
my hands on improving this! The 3D flight deck was good too.
Like many aircraft, you need to move your seat up in both 2D and
virtual flight decks to see outside properly.
Taxi was great, she'll make very tight turns out of the gate.
Taxiing was smooth, not jerky, easy to keep on the centerline.
Stopped and tried F2 reverse thrust- sure enough, it started
backing up. Some planes don't have it and selecting F2 on
landing just accelerates them quickly to the far end!
Takeoff was realistic enough. Pitch wasn't overly sensitive,
quite nice in fact. Once in the air though it took huge amounts
of up trim to get her climbing. It seemed determined to do a
high speed pass down the runway. Handling was smooth, one of the
better handling planes around I'd say.
HTML http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/reed0427/CNDHC8A.jpg
Climb was sprightly to say the least. At 1500 fpm I was getting
over 230 KIAS, and that was with torque set to 90%. I know for a
fact the DHC-8 is kinda anemic in climb. I would have expected
more like 1500 fpm at 160 KIAS.
Level in cruise at 16,000' the autopilot did a great job
handling the airplane. The props are not adjustable, so Np is
fixed at about 1150 rpm. With torque set to 92% the plane was
indicating 243 KIAS at a fuel flow of 2800 pph. The digital
readout showed 850, so I'm not sure what was right here. In
reality those engines should have been burning around 700 pph
each. I departed with full fuel so we'll see what it shows on
landing. The true airspeed calculated to be 307 kts. Bombardier
says the Q200 should have a high speed cruise of 289 kts.
Obviously the aircraft.cfg file will need some work.
HTML http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/reed0427/CNDHC8B.jpg
Looking around I found the fuel panel a bit perplexing. Not sure
what the switches did, but they didn't shut anything down.
Turning on the single anti-ice switch activates all of the
anti-ice: Engine intakes, props, wings and tail. The Anti-Ice
did cut torque by 10%, which is what it does in real life, so
that was a neat touch. It also cuts the speed by 10 kts in
cruise, just like real life.
Fuel capacity was accurate at 840 gallons. MTOW is also accurate
at 36,300 lbs, as was the basic operating weight of 23,004 lbs.
Load options are three: One for pilot, one for co-pilot, and one
for everything else. A bit simplistic for my liking. We'll fix
that later too.
As usual I was too busy writing notes and didn't notice I was
rapidly approaching the airport until I was passing overhead. At
flight idle I could get 5000 fpm in the descent with only 230
KIAS showing. I don't know how realistic that is, but I wasn't
complaining.
Landings were not hard at all, control at slow speeds was
excellent. You just have to be careful of where the power is.
It's easy to create a big descent rate in a hurry and the
engines are bit slow to respond. Stabilize early! Again, you
need to jack up your seat if you want to see the runway ahead of
you.
We had logged 48 minutes enroute, block to block with 1500 lbs
of fuel burned, giving an average hourly fuel burn of 1875
pounds. The Q200 has PW123 engines rated at 2150 SHP each.
According to data published on the web, the Q200 should be able
to go 3+15 with 45 minutes reserve, for a range of 925 nm. This
works out to 1406 PPH total, or 703 per engine. I'll need to
reduce the fuel scalar from 0.5 to 0.38 It was designed for 37
passengers, but Canadian North operate theirs with 21 seats and
3000 lbs of cargo space. When loading up to max for a short hop,
keep an eye on your landing weight. Dash-8's are notorious for
being load-limited on short flights.
HTML http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/reed0427/CNDHC8C.jpg
#Post#: 3912--------------------------------------------------
Re: Premier Aircraft Design DHC8-Q200
DIR By: piedmont2010
Date: May 14, 2012, 11:19 pm
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I made numerous changes to the aircraft.cfg file. Fully loaded
at 90% torque it now climbs at 193 KIAS at 1500 fpm vs the old
230 KIAS. The fuel flow (digital) shows 730 pph at sea level.
Much better! In cruise at 90% torque still I get 236 KIAS with
658 pph at 16,000'. That's a true airspeed of 289 kts, exactly
what the factory says she'll do. :)
#Post#: 3913--------------------------------------------------
Re: Premier Aircraft Design DHC8-Q200
DIR By: BEA0106
Date: May 15, 2012, 6:54 am
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Canadian North repaint for the PAD DHC-8-202 can be found here
HTML http://www.premaircraft.com/paintshed23/index.html
HTML http://www.premaircraft.com/paintshed23/index.html
The repaint was added only yesterday.
BTW can't find any trace of Canadian North flying Dash-8-200
(just -100).
When you search the reg of the above repaint at JetPhotos.Net,
it turns out to be a Dash-8-106 as well.
HTML http://jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?regsearch=C-GECN
HTML http://jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?regsearch=C-GECN
Confusing...
Wim
#Post#: 3914--------------------------------------------------
Re: Premier Aircraft Design DHC8-Q200
DIR By: piedmont2010
Date: May 15, 2012, 8:15 am
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Ah, noted! I checked and sure enough, all of Canadian North's
DHC8's are -106 models. But, at PAD they don't have a -100
series for FS9, only the -200 series. Essentially the same
airplane though. Same airframe, but the -200 had more powerful
engines and cruises about 20 kts faster. The -100 and -200 are
identical in dimensions and weights.
#Post#: 3915--------------------------------------------------
Re: Premier Aircraft Design DHC8-Q200
DIR By: ralphc
Date: May 15, 2012, 9:01 am
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Thanks for the additions to the ever growing HAG fleet. Just
done the downloads and installs. They look good. :) Also
appreciate the info on the 'Test Flights' very useful to know.
Dave, your amendments look interesting. Are you going to make
them 'available' or is that going to break some copyright rules?
:-\ :-[
Was considering some Convair flights later in the US....Looks
like it's back up to Canada for me then ;)
Thanks
Ralphc
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