MarkJones 0 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 This is my B60 Duke. A fantastic aeroplane with twin 380hp turbocharged engines. Cruise speeds of up to 240kts TAS at up to 30,000 feet are easily achieved. With its cabin pressurisation system and excellent avionics she is a fantastic IFR tourer with a range of about 1100 miles. You've got to admit she is one of the best looking twins flying... There is a downside to all this performance and style... She drinks about 55 gallons an hour and the time between overhaul is only 1400hours. Ouch! :icon_yikes: Most Dukes don't even manage that before they give up. She is VERY expensive to run. There is a solution though. A company called Rocket Engineering will swap out those complex & unreliable Lycoming TSIO-541 engines and replace them with a set of gas turbines! A set of PW PT6A-35's to be exact. Flat rated to 550shp, with a TBO of 3600 hours. That's more like it! The result of this is a cruise speed of over 300kts TAS! Takeoff and landing distances have been slashed dramatically and the time to climb to 25,000 feet now only takes 9 minutes instead of 25! Fuel burn has gone up slightly to 66 gph but with an increase in tankage the range remains the same. Avtur is a hell of a lot cheaper then Avgas and is more widely available. Hell, you could probably run it on Diesel in emergencies... or single-malt Scotch whisky! :wootmesalia: The cockpit has some nice shiny new instrumentation. The operation of the engines is quite different from it's piston counterpart. You don't have to worry about shock cooling or mixture settings any more but now you have a whole host of things to worry about like turbine temperature, torque, gas generator speeds ect. Even starting the thing can be tricky if you add fuel before the compressor has spooled up enough causing a hot start and the cost of a new engine. Good job I'm used to Aeroworx's B200 King air! Anyway, after this test flight I've booked my tired old Duke in for a conversion and a new lease of life... :icon_thumbup: Now the Duke really does go like it looks! And leaves others like the PA-31 Cheyenne miles behind! Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,497 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Hey Mark, I am just reviewing the Turbine Duke now, clocking up the hours nicely, I really like the realism in this model. I love the starting sequence and it is very satisfying watching and listening to those blades spinning upto speed. Thanks for posting those great shots. :icon_thumbup: Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,013 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Great shots Mark. You had me going there for a while. I thought it was your 'real world' Duke. Derrr! Great pictures though thanks for posting. regards Needles Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Great shots Mark! Link to post Share on other sites
MarkJones 0 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 I'm currently blasting overhead the Wallasey VOR heading towards London City. Took off from Islay with the hold full of my favourite Bruichladdich :001_th_smiles89: I didn't even know RealAir was working on a Royal Turbine, I just randomly clicked on their website bookmark to see if there was any updates today and then bought it on the spot! :biggrin: Link to post Share on other sites
Tim_A 997 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 My piston Duke is parked somewhere in the Bering Sea (must post that flight... 4 hours at FL200 cost me a fortune in virtual fuel, even at American prices!) As soon as it gets back to Blighty, it's going on Trade-A-Plane, and then G-DUKE goes Royal... :biggrin: Link to post Share on other sites
MarkJones 0 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 What do you reckon lads? I know what one I'd go for :biggrin: Link to post Share on other sites
Tim_A 997 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 She drinks about 55 gallons an hour and the time between overhaul is only 1400hours. Ouch! :icon_yikes: Most Dukes don't even manage that before they give up. She is VERY expensive to run. Interesting; I'm currently averaging 46 usg/hr (23 a side. Actually slightly under - that's rounded up). But I don't generally go much above FL160, 200 at a push, & I trim for about 65% power... Link to post Share on other sites
MarkJones 0 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 A few more Duke shots. I love this aeroplane! *Edit* I've just noticed that imageshack has been resizing my images to 800 pixels wide lol How did I not notice? :th_smiles73: Link to post Share on other sites
MarkJones 0 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 A few air to air shots with both. Piston Duke was going at maximum continuous with Turbine Duke not even breaking a sweat... :wootmesalia: Link to post Share on other sites
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