It will be nice to see the Grand Caravan on floats out of Alaska next summer yes the big one !!!!
C-208 Caravan
Moderators: Sulako, North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, Rudder Bug
Re: C-208 Caravan
I asked a guy once how he got his handle .He told me cos he was always flying his beaver in the black of night off campbell spit .Of course he could have just been kidding as Blackie was known to tell some good stories .Especially after a few cesears
It will be nice to see the Grand Caravan on floats out of Alaska next summer yes the big one !!!!
It will be nice to see the Grand Caravan on floats out of Alaska next summer yes the big one !!!!
Re: C-208 Caravan
If a 208B is the big one, this would be the supersize!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soloy_Pathfinder_21
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soloy_Pathfinder_21
"Hell, I'll fly up your ass if the money's right!"
Orlando Jones - Say It Isn't So
Orlando Jones - Say It Isn't So
Re: C-208 Caravan
Here we go again...
I've got a significant amount of time in DHC-3T, DHC-2T and the C-208 on amphibs and straight floats. I've done all the flying on the West Coast of BC. I have around 6k hours PIC floats on over twenty types. I would take a Caravan any day.
Very few of the people bashing the 'Van have actually flown it. Comment like the only thing the Otter doesn't beat it on is speed; It also beats it on systems reliability, Passenger and crew comfort, IFR capability, ease of loading (try lifting a fuel drum to an Otter back door when it's on floats), fuel burn, and with bush seats they fold just as easy as the Otter ones. Fueling it sucks unless you have single point and then it rocks. It's not perfect, but no airplane is.
The otter is probably the best rough water single engine airplane I've ever flown but it's also a bear to dock in the wind. The difference in the takeoff distance in marginal. Put a good pilot in one and a mediocre one in the other sway the results this way or that.
I still fly a Turbo Beaver part time just for S&G. Before I flew anything but DHC stuff I never realized how they totally lack any ergonomics for the crew. Fill the tanks on a T-Beaver or Otter and fly it all day and your back will kill you, you will smell like turbine exhaust and you will be hot/cold the whole time. Fly the Caravan all day and you will sit back in a nice seat in a well designed, quiet, well ventilated cockpit and eat a nice lodge lunch while the autopilot flys you where you're going at 150 knots or better.
It never fails to amaze me how the bush flying community will propagate rumors not based in fact. Nostalgia is great and I'll never get tired of hitting a pre oiler switch or locking a tailwheel; when I'm working in a plane I want to move asses and boxes safely, fast and in comfort.
Let the sh!tstorm begin...
I've got a significant amount of time in DHC-3T, DHC-2T and the C-208 on amphibs and straight floats. I've done all the flying on the West Coast of BC. I have around 6k hours PIC floats on over twenty types. I would take a Caravan any day.
Very few of the people bashing the 'Van have actually flown it. Comment like the only thing the Otter doesn't beat it on is speed; It also beats it on systems reliability, Passenger and crew comfort, IFR capability, ease of loading (try lifting a fuel drum to an Otter back door when it's on floats), fuel burn, and with bush seats they fold just as easy as the Otter ones. Fueling it sucks unless you have single point and then it rocks. It's not perfect, but no airplane is.
The otter is probably the best rough water single engine airplane I've ever flown but it's also a bear to dock in the wind. The difference in the takeoff distance in marginal. Put a good pilot in one and a mediocre one in the other sway the results this way or that.
I still fly a Turbo Beaver part time just for S&G. Before I flew anything but DHC stuff I never realized how they totally lack any ergonomics for the crew. Fill the tanks on a T-Beaver or Otter and fly it all day and your back will kill you, you will smell like turbine exhaust and you will be hot/cold the whole time. Fly the Caravan all day and you will sit back in a nice seat in a well designed, quiet, well ventilated cockpit and eat a nice lodge lunch while the autopilot flys you where you're going at 150 knots or better.
It never fails to amaze me how the bush flying community will propagate rumors not based in fact. Nostalgia is great and I'll never get tired of hitting a pre oiler switch or locking a tailwheel; when I'm working in a plane I want to move asses and boxes safely, fast and in comfort.
Let the sh!tstorm begin...
Re: C-208 Caravan
Gotta agree with "Dog" on pretty much everything. Coming back @ 9,500 feet from a 500 NM trip into the tundra a couple of years ago (after standing in freezing cold water babysitting the airplane for over an hour waiting for the smucks to get their s__t together) I had the autopilot on, my socks hanging on the dash drying in the heat, toasting my toes in the flow, listening to Jimmy Buffet playing in the on-board CD player... Ah, what a job.... 
Drinking lots of coffee lately, at a nice safe jungle desk, wishing I were flying......
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shimmydampner
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- Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:59 pm
Re: C-208 Caravan
Sea level every day must be nice.Dog wrote:Here we go again...
I've got a significant amount of time in DHC-3T, DHC-2T and the C-208 on amphibs and straight floats. I've done all the flying on the West Coast of BC. I have around 6k hours PIC floats on over twenty types. I would take a Caravan any day.
Would you still take the Caravan on a 25 degree summer day with a full load out of a small lake at 3500' elevation nestled between 8000' rocks or would the de Havilland wing look pretty good under those conditions?
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Cat Driver
- Top Poster
- Posts: 18921
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2004 8:31 pm
Re: C-208 Caravan
I thought that only Sask. , Man. , and Ont. had high elevation lakes and rivers you could fly float planes off?You should look at a map of the west coast dude.
Is it possible to find places to fly floats above sea level on the west coast, if you fly a few miles from the actual coast?
The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no
After over a half a century of flying no one ever died because of my decision not to fly.
After over a half a century of flying no one ever died because of my decision not to fly.
Re: C-208 Caravan
I think I remember that day 1000hp.
I believe I was behind you grounding 75kts freezing my ass off in the Beaver. It was pretty funny watching you standing out in the pouring rain and howling wind holding that rope for an hour and a half. I saw Transport only allows 4 pax with external loads now. No more 9 pax and canoes out of the Barren lands in the Caravan. So now those damn canoe'rs can ride in the the back of the Beaver for 5 hours pissin and shittin in sick bags on the way home. Haha we laugh last.
I believe I was behind you grounding 75kts freezing my ass off in the Beaver. It was pretty funny watching you standing out in the pouring rain and howling wind holding that rope for an hour and a half. I saw Transport only allows 4 pax with external loads now. No more 9 pax and canoes out of the Barren lands in the Caravan. So now those damn canoe'rs can ride in the the back of the Beaver for 5 hours pissin and shittin in sick bags on the way home. Haha we laugh last.
Re: C-208 Caravan
(edited for relevance 
)
)Some people are like slinkies: Not much good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Re: C-208 Caravan
Last thing you need is a fish-munching beer-chugging american dropping a three coil steamer in your plane 2 hours away from landing 
Drinking lots of coffee lately, at a nice safe jungle desk, wishing I were flying......
Re: C-208 Caravan
Some 208 's have the factory toilet .For everyone else just be careful emptying the seatback pockets .You would be shocked at what you can find in the seatbacks after a thirty minute flight .And this one time at band camp the gross guy just shat on the wooden floor after twenty minutes of flight .Diapers left in the seat pockets ,dirty needles ,empty micky's ,sick bags full of piss.
Re: C-208 Caravan
No not me .But one of the guys used to collect the empties,for his xmas fund.
Oh yeah and on that Halifax run a lot of used condoms !!!!
>120 <120
120 is a magic number
Oh yeah and on that Halifax run a lot of used condoms !!!!
>120
<120 120 is a magic number
Re: C-208 Caravan
tell me 2R, I have never flown the 208 equipped with the GPS, but the old one with the 5(?) colors cathode radar screen and a very basic autopilot.
my question is: where is the radar screen when the plane is fitted with 2 GPS garmin (something like garmin 700?). is it in one of the GPS?or some caravans have no radar at all?
my second question: when fitted with GPS, can the autopilot track the "green line" on your GPS, does the plane turn by it self like a big airplane.Does it calculate his rate of descent, TOD,speed,TOC(top of climb)
I have seen there is a configuration of 15 pax. can you really put 15 pax+baggages+fuel???knwing your paylod is around 4000lbs
about the autopilot on the "new models", how is the rate of climb, can you set the altitude you want???.
on my Caravan I had to press on a button (up or down), so one press was for around 100ft/min, and no system for altitude reached or whatever.
I have seen on some video on youtube, the GPS warns at 500ft ground by a voice. I guess this is based from the GPS map, or the RADALT?
ah, one good here: on the passenger configuration, do you have "no smoking sign"," exit sign",..., if yes, where are these switches, and any "dong" for the sign belt?
my question is: where is the radar screen when the plane is fitted with 2 GPS garmin (something like garmin 700?). is it in one of the GPS?or some caravans have no radar at all?
my second question: when fitted with GPS, can the autopilot track the "green line" on your GPS, does the plane turn by it self like a big airplane.Does it calculate his rate of descent, TOD,speed,TOC(top of climb)
I have seen there is a configuration of 15 pax. can you really put 15 pax+baggages+fuel???knwing your paylod is around 4000lbs
about the autopilot on the "new models", how is the rate of climb, can you set the altitude you want???.
on my Caravan I had to press on a button (up or down), so one press was for around 100ft/min, and no system for altitude reached or whatever.
I have seen on some video on youtube, the GPS warns at 500ft ground by a voice. I guess this is based from the GPS map, or the RADALT?
ah, one good here: on the passenger configuration, do you have "no smoking sign"," exit sign",..., if yes, where are these switches, and any "dong" for the sign belt?
Re: C-208 Caravan
http://www.aeroacoustics.com/index_files/Page805.htm
This kit will let you carry more weight .Although the max ice weight does not change !!!
The basic auto -pilots have improved the kfc 150 's were de-tuned as the factory had made them too good so they adjusted the gyro bearings to spin down faster .To allow for faster turn arounds .The limit in the poh says to let the gyro's spin down for ten minutes But they had put really great gyro's in that took twenty minutes to spin down and if you try and start them before they spun down it would ruin the auto pilot . Most of my turn-arounds were under eight minutes eighteen if i was getting fuel according to the Bendix-King guy .We went through nine auto -pilots until they sent their expert up to fine tune the systems and he got it sorted out in two days .Keeping the prop balanced helps with as well .If the prop is not balanced that will destroy the auto-pilot as well .The props can get unbalanced when guys use full reverse below 60 on gravel .Water erosion i assume would have the same effect of imbalancing the prop.
The Garmin has some neat pre-selects on it and you can do some accurate approaches using this system .The set -up had altitude preselect and it would go up at a preselected rate of climb to a preselected altitude.And it will sequence on the approach for track and course but not altitude you had to manually select those .It will follow the magenta line very accurately.And adjust sensitivity from enroute to approach modes .Very accurate system .You can plug in the lat and long anywhere and the plane will take you there with extreme accuracy .Or you can use the airports from the data base .I have not flown the one with the new LCD screens but the information from Garmin is available from there web site .One really neat thing about the Garmin GPS is it gives you the names of all the rivers and little lakes that are not on the aeronautical charts. http://www.garmin.com
The ground proximity warning system is not required in Canada yet .Although some operators down south have them as well as tcas.
Transport Canada restricts most operators the Caravan in Canada to nine pax which is just as well as some northern pax have never missed a meal in their life .
If you are new to the Van go to the the Flight Safety course .What they teach you will save you a lot of grief .
This kit will let you carry more weight .Although the max ice weight does not change !!!
The basic auto -pilots have improved the kfc 150 's were de-tuned as the factory had made them too good so they adjusted the gyro bearings to spin down faster .To allow for faster turn arounds .The limit in the poh says to let the gyro's spin down for ten minutes But they had put really great gyro's in that took twenty minutes to spin down and if you try and start them before they spun down it would ruin the auto pilot . Most of my turn-arounds were under eight minutes eighteen if i was getting fuel according to the Bendix-King guy .We went through nine auto -pilots until they sent their expert up to fine tune the systems and he got it sorted out in two days .Keeping the prop balanced helps with as well .If the prop is not balanced that will destroy the auto-pilot as well .The props can get unbalanced when guys use full reverse below 60 on gravel .Water erosion i assume would have the same effect of imbalancing the prop.
The Garmin has some neat pre-selects on it and you can do some accurate approaches using this system .The set -up had altitude preselect and it would go up at a preselected rate of climb to a preselected altitude.And it will sequence on the approach for track and course but not altitude you had to manually select those .It will follow the magenta line very accurately.And adjust sensitivity from enroute to approach modes .Very accurate system .You can plug in the lat and long anywhere and the plane will take you there with extreme accuracy .Or you can use the airports from the data base .I have not flown the one with the new LCD screens but the information from Garmin is available from there web site .One really neat thing about the Garmin GPS is it gives you the names of all the rivers and little lakes that are not on the aeronautical charts. http://www.garmin.com
The ground proximity warning system is not required in Canada yet .Although some operators down south have them as well as tcas.
Transport Canada restricts most operators the Caravan in Canada to nine pax which is just as well as some northern pax have never missed a meal in their life .
If you are new to the Van go to the the Flight Safety course .What they teach you will save you a lot of grief .
Re: C-208 Caravan
thanks man.
I am not totally new to the caravan, but I flew only the old models long t time ago, the one from fedex.
no gps, a basic, very basic autopilot.
what about the radar weather?
is yours certified for CATII?
I am not totally new to the caravan, but I flew only the old models long t time ago, the one from fedex.
no gps, a basic, very basic autopilot.
what about the radar weather?
is yours certified for CATII?
Re: C-208 Caravan
The radar was a bendix -king type RDS-81 color.Excellent radar works really well
It will spoil you as it is better than the old green screen junk in some other planes .
The plane was not Cat 2 .But we used to get into Halifax when the Cat 2 guys were going missed as the decision time at the slower approach speeds gave more "time" to look for the required runway visual references for landing compared to the speeds that the big planes were approaching at .
It will spoil you as it is better than the old green screen junk in some other planes .
The plane was not Cat 2 .But we used to get into Halifax when the Cat 2 guys were going missed as the decision time at the slower approach speeds gave more "time" to look for the required runway visual references for landing compared to the speeds that the big planes were approaching at .
