NZFF

Another sunny day in Wellington, windy as anything but nothing better than standing down the south end of the runway and get belted by the wind trying to control a camera.

It just wouldn't be a Sunday afternoon without WAC flying about.


Nice to see this Dash out and about.




Big brother looking at the lil's before blasting out of here




Didn't stay for too long as I was pretty well battered by the time I arrived. We know winter's coming when the wind is like a 737-200 on full power on a glorious day B)

-James

Beautiful Tomahawk shots, think WAC just edges it.
Was VAC taxiing?
I saw it taxi on one engine the other day, didn't know you could (or should?).

Looking forward to some of those famous Wellie crosswind landing Rumbas, one of these fine days

I saw VAC scoot from Vincents hanger over to the Link departure terminal with engines running, then after about 10 minutes, make a fast taxi to the runway for take off. Shortage of Link aircraft about? Or just time trails

I've seen ATR pilots come off the main taxiway and shutdown the left hand engine and continue taxiing on the right hand one. Is the one engine taxi just to save a bit of gas?

James

I'm told it is to save fuel.
See Richard Branson is lobbying to have Virgin towed out to the runway hold short, no engines 'til takeoff clearance!

Some times they'd land the ATR on one engine only

They often shut down the left engine late taxi/parking so the prop has time to slow down to expedite the pax out the door (without being decapitated)

I've seen ATRs taxiing on one engine many times before, but never a dash. But landing em on one engine only? I can't see it saving much fuel, and it'd scare the passengers for sure!

Shot #1 is superb- that clear white tomahawk body against the deep blue sky is amazing contrast!

Great shots James, that new camera seems to be working well for you.

On the one engine taxi business, caught this ATR at Dunedin last week, good example of taxi to the holdshort on one engine ...

nice shots, both of you!

Ahhh WAC, my solo machine

yep those ATRs have braked propellers or something my dad was telling me. it enables them to keep the engine running as an apu without decapitating anyone... i think... and yes the dash will've been flying for either air nelson or mount cook because of a breakdown.

Nice photos, good to see some Tomahawks.

Charl wrote: I'm told it is to save fuel.
See Richard Branson is lobbying to have Virgin towed out to the runway hold short, no engines 'til takeoff clearance!

how exactly does that save fuel? still has to run the APU and the tug still uses fossil fuel...

victor_alpha_charlie wrote:yep those ATRs have braked propellers or something my dad was telling me. it enables them to keep the engine running as an apu without decapitating anyone... i think...

Yeah, I read about that on wikipedia, it's a pretty useful system

good quility shots there James I love the 733 one best..of course, great angle.

btw iv read quite alot of thigns about engins not being started untill holdshort, such as some of the ERJ and CRJ and all those business jets have way to much pwer even with idle so its normal to start late. I also notice on most 763 checklists that theres a "delayed engine start" afer the taxi checklist.

I would wounder thow, how can they keep centerd with one engine especialy with the 76s with the engins being quite far out, sort of the same with the ATR. Do they use ruder trim?

Business jets woudl be fine with there such closly spaced engins.. Anyway why woudl they use such a procedure in new zealand? Especialy at smaller airports, woudl make sense at YSSY or somewere were delays could be expected during taxi.

Thanks guys, cleared it all up nicely

James

I would wounder thow, how can they keep centerd with one engine especialy with the 76s with the engins being quite far out, sort of the same with the ATR. Do they use ruder trim?

You'll notice that the ATR's engines are quite close the the fuselage, compared to a 767, which would help it's asymmetric taxiing tendencies. Also, remember that the Rudder may not be very effective at 15-20kts, so it would be the nosewheel that yaws the aeroplane on the ground, I would think. Holding one pedal/holding the tiller would be sufficient, I'm sure.

Zöltuger wrote:

Charl wrote: I'm told it is to save fuel. See Richard Branson is lobbying to have Virgin towed out to the runway hold short, no engines 'til takeoff clearance!

how exactly does that save fuel? still has to run the APU and the tug still uses fossil fuel...

APU = 500 gallons per hour
Tug = 10 mpg
One RB211 = 5 gazillion gallons per hour standing on the taxiway. In 10 minutes that's 1/60th of a gazillion gallons.
No contest

You do have to be quite careful when driving around the apron, the ATRs will just pull out on you with one engine running. Really have to listen to the radio and watch to see if the GPU is hooked up and the like. In contrast, the B1900s take an age to complete their starts.

Charl wrote:

Zöltuger wrote:

Charl wrote: I'm told it is to save fuel. See Richard Branson is lobbying to have Virgin towed out to the runway hold short, no engines 'til takeoff clearance!

how exactly does that save fuel? still has to run the APU and the tug still uses fossil fuel...

APU = 500 gallons per hour
Tug = 10 mpg
One RB211 = 5 gazillion gallons per hour standing on the taxiway. In 10 minutes that's 1/60th of a gazillion gallons.
No contest

haha, nice try (more like Tug = 10 gpm )
anyway, the idea of being towed to the runway is stupid.