Dash 7 Pilot Training at Courchevel
Article written by Captain Bernt Stolle
The whine of a PT-6A starting disturbs the otherwise quiet Sunday morning air.
Slowly the prop of the #3 engine starts to turn. After the starting sequence 3-4-2-1 is complete, the Dash 7 starts to turn into the direction of runway 26. During the turn, the morning sun glint reflects off its fuselage and wings. Milton’s Dash 7 not only captures the exact shape of the real Dash 7, but also its personality. The superb textures are just fitting the crown to this absolute beauty.
Flaps are extended to 15 degrees and the big tail majestically swings around as she lines up on the runway. The copilot tries to set exactly the same take-off torque on all four engines (most of the time in vain) before 60kts is reached and the Dash 7 rapidly gathers speed.
At VR a fairly large backward movement of the joke is needed to start the rotation and the Dash 7 leaps into the air.
After attaining a positive rate of climb, the gear is selected up, and like on the real dash 7, Milton’s Dash 7 mirrors its real world counterpart exactly. The main struts slowly retract forward into the nacelles while the nose gear vanishes quickly in the fuselage, as does the tailbumper.
Pitch attitude is maintained at 7.5 degrees and at 1000 feet AGL the flaps are retracted.
Now the torque and RPM are reduced for climb, and flanked by the mountains, our Dash 7 lazily climbs along the Inn Valley.
Shortly after reaching the cruising altitude of 14000 feet, we pass over Lake Constance and we set course to Chambery, the ultimate destination being Courchevel. It’s the annual training for the few pilots that are allowed to fly this 20-ton turboprop into this altiport. We shoot an ILS at Chambery in clean configuration at 200kts, level off at 1500 feet and continue VFR at low level.
In case of a bad weather situation this is the only way to find Courchevel.
Courchevel Approach
As you turn into the valley where Courchevel is located the tension starts to rise. Finally you spot this tiny runway. Of course we have to make a high speed low pass overhead the airfield first before throwing the Dash 7 into a steep turn for the downwind leg. Due to the combination of roll spoilers and ailerons the roll rate is much higher than one would expect from a four-engine turboprop, a feature Milton’s Dash 7 models correctly.
Figure 1: Courchevel Altiport
In the downwind the flaps are extended to 15 degrees and the props go to high RPM. The comforting low hum turns into an aggressive higher pitched powerful sound. You are turning directly into the final approach ‘cause there is not really enough space for a base leg. Rolling out on final you look straight into a seemingly vertical runway. You have to fight the temptation to go below a 2-3 degree glideslope.
The gear is extended, than flaps 25 and 45. Lots of nose down trimming with the mechanical trim wheel is required during flap extension. If you are too fast you sometimes even run out of trim.
At least the rudder and aileron trim are electric, God knows why.
Figure 2: Courchevel on Approach
Very soon the missed approach point is passed and you are now committed to land. If you have an engine failure now, or the runway is blocked, that’s bad luck. Tower gives you the last very important wind information. Under some crosswind conditions you can experience a rather strong downdraft on final that not only destabilizes the approach but also exposes the aircraft to the danger of undershooting the runway. Unfortunately you can’t afford that in Courchevel because ahead of the runway there is nothing but vertically dropping terrain. The consequences would be the same like a ramp strike at an aircraft carrier. The fuselage would brake apart.
Flaring too far on the other hand isn’t a good idea either because the runway isn’t really that long and landing in the steep part of the runway can damage and has damaged the landing gear seriously. So you better to get it perfectly right the first time! With that knowledge in your mind, tensions gets really high now as you approach the runway.
The copilot now calls out every knot difference from Vref. Suddenly the threshold rushes below the runway, the power levers are slammed back into idle and with a fair amount of backpressure on the yoke the descent rate is being broken.
Despite the long stroke landing gear, the touchdown is most of the time a teeth rattling experience.
Milton’s Dash 7 looks exactly the same way during touchdown. It’s incredible how realistic this sequence looks! Now the power levers are brought back into slight reverse and you don’t need any brakes.
After slowing down to taxi speed you need quite a bit of power to keep the plane moving up the grade.
As this is a training session, once you are on the flat part of the runway, you turn around and taxi with reverse on all four engines backwards until the snow banks begin.
Courchevel Departure
Flaps are set to 25 degrees and the power is increased to 50% torque. Once this has been done the inboard engines go to 100%. Due to the high uneven power setting, you can see the whole plane rocking up and down on the main struts and the propeller wakes hit the large tail so that the whole fuselage shudders and vibrates.
Figure 3: Dash 7 Readies for Departure
Noise level in the cabin, sitting between the props is really high now. Brakes are released now and at the same moment V1 is being passed. If you want to abort the take-off one second after brake release, it would be too late to stop. You would enter the steep part of the runway and that would mean the end of your possibility to abort the take off.
As you enter the steep part now during the take off run, the copilot increases the power on the outboard engines rapidly to100% torque. If this would be done earlier and an outboard engine running at full power would fail before the ‘kink’, you would simply loose the directional control of the plane.
The rudder isn’t effective at this low speed and the nose wheel would loose its traction upon entering the steep decline.
The copilot now calls out speeds at every 5 knots and upon passing through the shallower part of the runway all three struts compress considerably and after that point rotation is initiated regardless of the speed. If the rotation rate is too slow you get airborne simply because there is no runway left and the main struts drop with a loud thump to their fully extended position.
During a ‘normal’ take-off, you still fly away with about 1000-1500 fpm rate of descent! The left turn into the downwind is immediately begun for the next circuit.
After all the pilots have finished their training, we park our Dash-7 for a short while to relax a bit. As the sun begins to settle we are getting ready for our sunset flight into Innsbruck.