Aircraft loses propeller in flight

[David Ramsay]

Judging by the surroundings, it's not exactly a metropolis

Great Barrier Island is only 20 minutes by air from Auckland but you literally step back 25 years when you arrive there. There is no reticulated power on the island, everyone has their own generator or solar panels. Even the navaids at NZGB are solar powered. The upside is that it is a quiet, remote, very beautiful place.

[Adam P.]

And remember you already step back a couple of decades when you get off the aeroplane from SYD in Auckland. So Great Barrier Island must be stuck somewhere in the mid 1950s...

[David Ramsay]

I wondered who would be the first to make that comment!

[Nigel C]

Was the list of candidates short?

[David Ramsay]

Yep and you were number one on the list ... pipped at the post by Mr P.

[Hugh Jarse]

Great Barrier Island is only 20 minutes by air from Auckland but you literally step back 25 years when you arrive there.

Kind of like going to Queensland from anywhere else in Oz, ay?

[James Smith]

I love the terminal building!

[David Ramsay]

This from today's NZ Herald Sideswipe column

The story about the lost propeller on the Great Barrier Island Trislander reminds Hugh Ragg of a similar event in Fiji. "Some years ago, a pilot friend of mine was flying a Trislander from Savusavu to Suva when the propeller on the tail engine sheared off. There were two passengers on board, an elderly Rabi Islander and a Fijian woman. As he was over the sea, he headed back to Savusavu and told the passengers to put on their life jackets. A few minutes later, he felt a tap on his shoulder and the elderly gentleman asked, 'Shall I jump now?' The pilot managed to convince him it wasn't a parachute he was wearing, and the aircraft landed safely at Savusavu on two engines a few minutes later."

[Mike W]

Originally Posted by Bob C

Sydney's 34L/16R is 3,962 metres X 45 metres.

Thanks Bob. I meant, how wide is the u/c of a Trislander against 9 metres of Great Barrier Island runway relative to the 3fatty on Sydney's 45 metre runway?

[Nigel C]

A380 is about 14.3m for its outer main gear span on a 45m wide YSSY runway.

Trislander is about 4m on a 9m runway.

So, although the Trislander has relatively slightly less margin, it's also going a damn sight slower on the runway so hopefulluy there's more time to correct any deviations.