Dornier 328TP/JET - What's it like?

[Lumber Yak]

One of my good friends is in the process of interviewing to fly one of these great airplanes - the jet version.

Just wanted to know from Dornier 328 turboprop and jet pilots (current or those with experience on it) what they thought of the airplane. Specific questions for the 328 TP and Jet:

1. In general, how do you like it? Positives and negatives...

2. How does it compare to your last (or current) aircraft?

3. The glass cockpit - was it hard to understand or get used to at first - how long did it take for you to be comfortable with the EFIS?

4. Is it fun to fly?

I recently flew on a PSA D328TP into Portland, Maine and it was a great ride - it seemed very fast from the back. And the cockpit resembled something out of Star Trek... Looked very impressive to me.


Thanks for the info!

 

[Flex]

I feel very fortunate to have flown the DO328 turboprop. It was my first turboprop, first glass airline, first 121 job. I was coming out of a C310 and had less than 500 hours ME. I missed every call till gear up on the first sim as NFP...I just didn't know what I was supposed to look at and what it was saying. Our instructor quicly remedied that problem. By sim 3 we were doing V1 cuts, and it was making sense. It's an "overengineered" airplane by some people's standards, especially for a 32 seater, but I just felt luckyi to be in it. She was a great plane, forgiving, easy to land with the high wing in crosswinds, nice touchdowns with the trailing link gear, made you look good. The APU kept us cool in the summer and warm in the winters. The single engine performance was great, gobs of power, autofeather, etc. We actually corked one once and diverted with a full boat, thing flew like a dream. The glass was tough the first couple of sims, but quickly became second nature. I have to admit, I'm spoiled now. I went to an RJ later, and didn't find the Collins glass as user friendly as the Honeywell. The FMS in the Dork is great, and it has VNAV, which the RJ doesn't have. The RJ has a "snowflake" and gives you "vertical guidance", but the Doorknob will actually fly the vertical profile you enter in the FMS. When I started flying the RJ sim, I kept finding myself saying to myself:.."Hmm...that's funny, the Dornier could do that, why can't this thing?" From what I hear, there are only minor differences in the cockpit of the DOjet, however, the gear is beefed up (due to no TRs?) and some other mods, I believe, but don't quote me. I left the Dornier to go to a supplemental cargo company (no closed), and when I returned to the regionals, I was hoping to get back on the DornierJet, but things worked out differently, and I was in the Canadair. Maybe one day I can fly it again.

 

[lionflyer]

I've been fortunate enough to fly both the prop and jet version. The 328 prop is the best turboprop out there. You have one of the most advanced glass cockpits out there and you can hold 250kt until the marker... you can do anything with it. The 328 Jet is baddest a$$ airplane out there. There is nothing like accelerating to V1 within 2-3000ft and then climbing at 4-5000ft/min. The best I had it was 7500ft/min (empty). It's basically the same airplane as the prop except the jet has beefier brakes and a little more advanced avionics. The only problem with the 328 Jet was that it's slow in cruise (straight wing) and it's a bittcchh to slow down (no speed brakes). The 328 Jet doesn't have reversers either. I currently fly the CRJ and I would take the Dorkjet any day of the week.

 

[Patriot328]

DorkJet

Yeah it's nice to LOWER the nose to 4500fpm so you can accelerate to 250kts...


Highest ROC I've seen was about 9500fpm (empty on a cold day). It's an absolute blast to fly. I couldn't give a daym about going fast in cruise. At the end of the day 8hrs of block is still 8hrs of block. It's a blast on the takeoff and climbout, though. Landings are usually smooth (smoother than the J41, that's for sure), but xwnds can be a little tricky (it's more sensitive with xwnds than say, a J41 or other wide tracked landing gear airplane). Our's don't seem to be as reliable as we were expecting. I don't know if this a jet problem or if the props are the same...

The avionics aren't that difficult to learn (coming from the J41, both are Honeywell, so the FRJ is just a (VERY) updated version of the J-41 avionics.


When we climb out hot and heavy and are doing only 3000fpm, it seems so freakin slow


Regards

 

[SkywayFO]

I second every thing they say. This is a sad week for me to some extent. Last 4 days in the mighty DoJet, Going to ACA on the 16th and will be flying the CRJ. Maybe I will upgrade back to the 328 but who knows. It has a few little things that could be fixed, like GEN's and Bleed problems but it was a fun ride. Nothing like 3000lbs of gas 2 pilots and a flight attendent in the Jump seat on a ferry flight. with an unrestricted climb to 15000. Lets just say at full power and 25 degrees up it is still speeding up and pegging the VSI. The seats are a touch hard though, but you get over it. Too bad they never build the 428 would have been a hell of a ride.

 

[cheezpilot]

pro pilot mag

A few months back they had a pro pilot regional turboprop survey and the DO328 was best over all. We fly them in and out of high altitude strips on hot days and only take marginal hits. Example: on a hot summer day in Durango, CO we would take out 29 pax and the brazilia might take out 15 both going to Denver. It does have some maintenance issues and they are only expected to get worse with the Dornier financial situation. I think the turboprop came out too late otherwise if it had come out in the 80's then they might have sold a few hundred of them more. Originally they wanted the prop and jet to be a common type but could not make it work. That is why so many things are similar. I have jumpseated on the jet and it seems like they are so similar that a few sim rides would be enough training to transition any pilot.