VLJ Birddog?

cedar tree · Post by **cedar tree** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:20 am

What would you choose? Little birddoggy says some forestry budgets could enable the VLJ age. What airplane will suit? Eclipse and Mustang look like winners...

Driving Rain · Post by **Driving Rain** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:01 am

A PC 7 would be a better fit and the cost is much more realistic. Hell our Premier can't even get a jet, so how'd you think the public would react if the lowly forest service had some.

http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/N976DM% ... 20Spec.htm

Aircraft Performance: Max. speed: 435 km/hr

Max. rate of climb: 10.5 m/s

Max. operational ceiling: 9500 m/asl

Endurance: 3 hours 40 minutes .....

Could use more endurance for forestry ops I wonder if it was throttled back over the fire that that time could be improved on.????

Range: 1100 km

Design: Cantilever, low-wing, all metal fuselage

Dimensions: Length: 9.7 m

Height: 3.2 m

Wing-span: 10.4 m

Weights: Max. take-off weight: 2000 kg

Power plant: Model Pratt & Whitney PT 6A (550 PS)

Propeller: 3-bladed variable pitch propeller

Equipment: Dual flight controls, radio and navigation equipment, retractable gear

Water off · Post by **Water off** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:01 am

PC7's are just as much money as the new VLJ's and with no potential to lease them out in the off season. The observer seat is also right over the wing. Not to mention that they are not in production anymore, tough to find and brutal for the cost of parts. I think VLJ's are coming for the birddog role. The Diamond jet is an interesting option as well especially if they put in the BRS chute system since it is a single engine bird.

Flying Low · Post by **Flying Low** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:57 am

Just how fuel efficient are the VLJ's going to be down low? Even throttled back...will they have any useful endurance?

cedar tree · Post by **cedar tree** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:14 am

Endurance at 3000' to maintain 120-140 kts is the big question. But I still think we'll see VLJ's. Even with the higher fuel burn, the VLJ will be more cost effective than the new AC690's used in BC, AB, and SK. The 690 requires a lot of maintenance, and eats up a lot of revenue.

This link shows all the new VLJ's with the numbers...
http://www.verylightjetmagazine.com/

Driving Rain · Post by **Driving Rain** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:26 am

cedar tree wrote:Endurance at 3000' to maintain 120-140 kts is the big question. But I still think we'll see VLJ's. Even with the higher fuel burn, the VLJ will be more cost effective than the new AC690's used in BC, AB, and SK. The 690 requires a lot of maintenance, and eats up a lot of revenue.

This link shows all the new VLJ's with the numbers...
http://www.verylightjetmagazine.com/

The new Diamond Jet with a single engine Williams FJ 33 powering it should be the most fuel efficent. With some of it's manufacturing done in Canada that should be a plus also. Maybe they could Bird Dog two or three fires at a time.

cedar tree · Post by **cedar tree** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:55 am

Driving Rain,

The D-Jet looks like a good choice, but only if the endurance is a leap ahead of the others. I can't find any data about size of the fuel tanks. I would like to assume the tanks are comparable to the other VLJ's, as all the aircraft are similar in weight, meaning the DJet could have almost twice the endurance, thinking logically of course?

oldtimer · Post by **oldtimer** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 7:18 pm

Why not drop tanks like the military or better yet, inflight refueling, Can you imagine some 500 hr wonder trying to hook up to a drogue pulled by a Twotter.

buck82 · Post by **buck82** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:44 am

Just how many hours to the fighter jocks down south have before they do their first inflight refueling??? carrier landings??? Talked one pilot who was doing carrier landings with a 120million dollar turboprop before 1000hrs.

Are we that inferior up here???

scubasteve · Post by **scubasteve** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:15 pm

i think the D-Jet is being built to be able to run on diesel as well..at least some variation of the jet will.

Big Pistons Forever · Post by **Big Pistons Forever** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:47 pm

Not sure I would want to fly through the smoke with an airplane powered by those tiny little jet engines