Flying Turboprops

[Sundowner]

Can anyone suggest some reference sources to learn more about flying turboprops? Specifically, how a pilot uses/manages all the levers and instruments, when to do what, etc. My experience is jets and pistons. Turboprops seem a lot more complex and I can't find anything on the how-to's, techniques, etc.

Thanks!

 

[ifly4food]

There's an excellent book called "The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual" (or something to that effect). I forget who wrote it. It has a blue cover.
Anyhow, I've seen it several times and it's excellent. I wish I had heard about it when I first transitioned to turbines. You can probably find it at Sportys or one of those type places.


There isn't that much difference between jets and turboprops when it comes to controls and instruments. You just add the condition levers (similar to fuel control lever on a jet) and a prop control lever. On most larger T-props, the condition lever and prop control are combined. For instruments, instead of EPR you have Torque and prop speed. Instrad of N1, N2 you have NH (high spool) and NL (low spool).

If you have any specific questions, put them up and we'll try to answer them for you.
G'luck

 

[luvtofly]

The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual

The second edition is out, come's with aircraft system CD-ROM .

Book by Gregory N. Brown and Mark J. Holt
Iowa State University Press

Good Book...
Barnes & Noble has it.

 

[MetroSheriff]

The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual, written by Greg Brown and Mark Holt.

The ISBN # is 0-8138-2900-3 you can find it on Amazon.com.

Great book...

 

[sabreliner]

IMHO,

The with the exception of the prop, the turbo-props are not any more complex than a transport category jet. The difference comes in the operation of the aircraft. With those big speed brakes out there on the wings, the aircraft requires a lot more attention to flying and basic handling. Every power or configuration change on the big turboprops almost always results in the need to trim at least two axis. Certainly no flying with your feet on the floor in turbo-props.

Having flown both turbo-props and jets, I'd definitly say the turbo-props are harder to fly. It is tough to appreciate until you actually get to fly it. Be ready to use your feet, and practice using your feet in conjunction with every power change, before reaching for trim. Be ready for that first V1 cut where the auto-feather doesn't work. It'll be a hand full.

All that being said, I love flying the turbo-props. You can horse them around the sky a lot more, and generally have fun.

 

[skydiverdriver]

If you have allready flown turbine equipment, then the turbine pilots flight manual will be useless for you, in my opinion. HOnestly, if you have flown jets, and piston props, then you have flown turboprops because they are a combination of both of those. It's kinda like a jet with a prop in the front, nothing new there. It starts and runs like a jet, but has a reduction gear and a prop with it's separate controls. Honestly, you don't need another textbook, except for the one they will give you in class.

Good luck to you.

 

[bobbysamd]

Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual

I found the book on www.amazon.com. It's about $5 cheaper than bn.com and $12 cheaper than retail.

I remember my V1 cut in the Citation. Strange, after flying light twins when you stop if you lose one on the takeoff roll.

 

[Braniff]

TPFM is the best book and recommended reading!

It'll help you make sense out of the systems BEFORE you hit ground school where your understanding of those systems are contingient on keeping your job!

Braniff

 

[Sundowner]

Thanks to all for the responses. I checked out TPFM at Barnes and Noble today. I notice that it has a lot more good info than just turboprop. But it was only the first edition. I'm ordering the second edition through Amazon.

But here's a question I'm puzzled about with turboprops since I haven't flown them. I've always had good success flying (particularly instrument approaches) by having some ballpark power gouges (FF in jets; RPM or MP in pistons depending on the prop). Then fine tune changes from there. But what would you use in a turboprop? At first I thought FF, then I read about torque settings. And what about the prop? This is the part I'm hoping I can get some technique help with, especially from those of you who do it for a living.

Thanks again!

 

[mar]

Torque and RPM

I don't know what type of turboprop you'll be flying, but I've only flown the PT6 and TPE331. Generally speaking, you'll just set different combinations of Torque and RPM. It's easy.

With the TPE331 you set a "target torque" on takeoff, set EGT for climb (torque will continue to decrease as you climb due to density...), then in cruise you set the RPM and EGT. On the descent you set Torque as you will during the approach and landing.

I guess every engine is different, your IOE check-airman should give you some real good tips.

Fly safe.

 

[DoinTime]

You are going to set torque for all of your power needs. Different phases of flight will require changes in prop RPM but this is no different than a piston prop aircraft. Sometimes people use ITT to set a cruise or climb power setting but this is generally frowned upon. T/props are a ton of fun to fly and you will never use the word "unable" again.

 

[DoinTime]

The above post was for using the General Electric CT-7. I should have clarified.

 

[ifly4food]

On a Brasilia, with P&W 118 engines you use T6 (EGT) in the climb, keeping the temps below 720 and torque below 84%. In other phases of flight, cruise is set by torque with props at 85%. In the approach phase, a good rule of thumb is to take the speed you want, subtract 100 and divide by 2.

Example: assigned 210Kt... 110/2= 55% torque.
Works like a charm.

I like to tell people the Brasilia only has two power settings: full power and flight idle!

 

[pilotyip]

Allison T-56/D-501

If you flew the Allison T-Prop you only has one lever per engine like a jet. Prop had no speed control in flight and always run at 1028 RPM and the go lever just changed the torque. You flew Shaft Horse Power as your primary power setting. Power setting when you lost an engine, just double what you neeeded on two engine and put it on one. Airplane flew the same. The CV-580 had more power on one D-501 than it did on two PW-2800's awesome flying mochine.

 

[Cornelius]

Some TPs have their torque gages in lb-ft instead of percent torque. There is no difference in setting power, just that you may be using numbers in the thousands. Once you set a torque and rpm, usually you don't have to worry about changing anything until you reach another segment in your flight. Usually the biggest limitations to the TP are Temp and Torque. At low altitudes and moderate temps, you are limited by max torque. At high altitude airports and high temps, you are limited by Max Engine Temp. Torque does decrease as you climb and your engine temp also goes down. The 1900d after takeoff, you decrease your torque about 300 lbs and then bring the props from full forward Max rpm back to 1550 rpm. Like in a piston aircraft, when you bring your prop lever back, you will see a rise in torque. You don't move the prop lever until you land at least in the 1900D. Pretty easy. Some TPs have a ram rise during takeoff that you need to consider and the PNF may have to readjust torque around 80 KIAS or so.

Hope this helps.

 

[Freight Dog]

In Dash 8 and we have PW121 engines, we also use takeoff torque predicated on airport analysis charts and go with reduced torque settings for takeoff. However, during climbout, we set the torques and PRPM settings at 90% and 900rpm and fly the desired airspeed which is usually 160kts in climb.

Having come from flying a turbocharged twin to a turboprop, I found turboprops to be way easier simply because you dont worry about stage-cooling. It's nice to be able to keep 200+ kts till 4 miles out and be able to fully configure and make a normal stabilized approach and landing at 100 kts.

 

[bobbysamd]

Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual book review

I got mine today and have leafed through it briefly. Excellent book with good diagrams. Well written. The first couple of chapters on general preparations discuss such things as hiring, unions, CRM and preparing for class, and is valuable information. The book discusses systems, weather and the like, and has some great rules-of-thumb.

Excellent book with some great tips.

 

[Timebuilder]

Hey, sounds like I need to purchase the newest edition. Thanks.