HP7 by Toby Dixon

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Flying the Brittan Norman Trislander Climb on board by the front starboard door and settle into the left seat, the cockpit is an ergonomic nightmare, identical switches randomly placed all over the place. You would expect the flight instruments to be behind the control column and in front of the pilot, no this is the Trislander, the basic six instruments are three inches offset to the left, you get used to it but it takes some time. Engine starting was neat, and if sitting behind the pilot you had to pay attention, as it seemed just a blur of the left hand over a row of identical switches. After pushing in the green mixture levers at the top of the flight panel, unusual as they are nowhere near the other engine controls, and priming all three engines together by the throttle levers, no priming pumps, and after a thumbs up to the ground crew outside it start all three in about 15 seconds, no starting each in turn followed by checks just all three as quickly as possible....
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A Fishy Tail from Intra

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It was April 1975 and I had just left the club and joined Intra, a change from instructing on the Cessna 150 to the DC-3, quite a change, but the 3 was quite an aircraft as I soon found out. It seemed huge to me, and those massive throttles and pitch levers. The smell was just intoxicating and the noise of squealing brakes on taxi, not to mention that cacophony of   P&W 1830 engine noise during start and take off, just sublime.   This trip was my first on G-ALWC a DC-3 that Intra was leasing from Clyde Surveys and had only recently been ferried up from Tamanrasset to Jersey by the boss Bernard and Richard chief pilot. The aircraft was freight-only as she (funny how good aircraft are always referred to as she) had been used for freight and survey work by Clyde. This trip was to ferry WC to Shannon pick up a load of freshwater eels, Elvers, apparently a delicacy in Holland, and deliver them to Amsterdam Schiphol. Take off Jersey late afternoon, overnight flight to Sc...
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Anchorage the Last Frontier Every aviation enthusiast has a must-do bucket list, Oshkosh, Duxford etc if you haven’t yet gone to Anchorage, PANC, its one to add to the list. Anchorage is not the easiest place to get to from Jersey unless you’re a long haul 747 freight pilot but start by taking a few days exploring Vancouver and the Islands with Harbour Air, then fly from Vancouver taking the daily Air Canada Airbus northwest to PANC. The jewel in Anchorage Ted Stevens International is the lake at its centre and the Lake Hood Seaplane Base and airfield PALH. Before heading for the lake and leaving the international terminal to take some time to look around to get the feel for Alaska aviation, stroll over to the Ravn Alaska desk, it used to be Era Aviation made famous by the TV series Flying Wild Alaska and run by Jim Tweto. They have a huge network serving remote Alaska towns, you will see the locals checking in with all sorts of hold and hand luggage. Before leaving ther...
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