rosariomanzo 545 Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 This must be some kind of a record. I just got offered the shortest job I have ever seen in Air Hauler! Oh, I have gained tons of coins *taxiing* between YSTW and YSTZ, same airport, different runways! Link to post Share on other sites
Sabre 28 Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 Very nice fleet you have there Menno. Looks quite special with them all in corporate colours, I wish my painting skills were a bit better A very steady expansion, good job, keep up the good work. Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2012 20 June 2012 Back in Hawaii I am finally back in Hawaii after an exhausting weekend up north visiting both Milwaukee and attending an epic party Still suffering a bit from a hangover but I am (hopefully) able to explain my visit a bit. It all started after a talk I had with both consultant John and mechanic Dave about the future of Air Cargo Hawaii. We came to the conclusion that the only way to grow is to add bigger airplanes to the fleet in order to be able to afford more and better hubs at different airports around the islands of Hawaii. More hubs means more work (again, hopefully) and also very importantly, being closer to our customers which remains the core of our reputation and business! At the moment we only have a hub and staff at Dillingham, but after several meetings with Dillingham owners (U.S. Army) and representatives from the local community and Oahu, we have come to realize that expansion of Dillingham is not an option, because of multiple causes, most importantly; lack of space and noise concerns. Because of this, we as a company are forced to open a second hub (or move entirely), and are therefore no longer constrained in our choice of aircraft size (within certain practical limits off course). I have to say, we haven't made a decision about moving or opening a second hub, but we have started looking at bigger airplanes. So, coming back to the reason for the visit to Milwaukee. I did some research for good airplanes and I came across an aircraft company named Short. Short is a very old company originally from London and has made many airplanes (float and regular), airships and missiles in its history. They were purchased by Bombardier in '89 and haven't made any new airplane types since. However in the 70's they came up with the Short 330. This was a derivative of the earlier Short Skyvan. It was intended as a STOL passenger carrier for up to 30 people. Unpressurized with twin Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines and only limited range. The original 330-100 was a reasonable success and a 330-200 with more powerful engines followed. total production of both versions up until 1992 was about 125 units. Besides the passenger versions, several cargo variants have been made and many passenger 330's have been rebuild to cargo configuration. The Short 330 seemed to me to be an excellent choice for an airplane. I don't need the range and altitude and because of it's age, they will probably be cheap. The big square interior is also perfect for big volume cargo. I was originally going to look for a 200 model because of the better engines and lower age. After calling around Europe, where many of them ended up, I found almost none at all. Many companies who operated them in the past sold them or mothballed them because of changing demand and many haven't survived storage in good enough condition... After that I tried my luck in the U.S. where most of the still operating 330's are based. After several calls I ended up with an air freight company called Air Cargo Carriers (no affiliation to Air Cargo Hawaii ), based at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. They are the largest operator in the world of Short 330 and its successor, the Short 360. They have about 30 total of all variants combined. They are probably the foremost experts in the world on these aircraft, because they convert them to cargo configuration and make modifications in-house. They also came up with their own specs for ATA compatible cargo containers that fit both the square 330/360 and narrow tube airplanes. They also developed the matching quick loading/unloading equipment. Pretty impressive! So it seemed a good idea to go talk to these guys, so that's why I ended up in Milwaukee with John and Dave. And look what I saw the minute we arrived there! A Short 330 ready to go on a cargo haul Look at the Air Cargo logo! Remind you of anything. Kind of creepy actually, almost the same name, same logo. It really is a coincidence! Air Cargo Carriers are currently updating their paint jobs, but they just fitted a new sticker on this one for the time being. Painting is expensive... The 330 is really nothing more that a flying shipping container. It has a completely square hull if you look from the front. It had been affectionately called 'The Shed' by one of its former operators This particular 330 is a reconfigured passenger version, because very few original cargo only versions have been made in the factory. We had several good meetings with key departments to discuss the acquisition of a 330-200 for my company. Long story short, they told me, don't do it! The 330 is a good airplane, but there are only about 15 left operating in the world, they are old and spare parts are difficult to come by. They are actually phasing out their own 330's very slowly. After some more talking they actually recommended we search for a Short Sherpa. The Sherpa is basically a 330-200 produced specifically for the U.S. Military, and has several differences from the civilian model. Most noticeably a full width rear hydraulic cargo ramp, a reinforced floor with rollers and a big inward opening side door for parachuting. Air Cargo Carriers people argued that the Sherpa is several years younger that the 330, most have been produced around 1990, the reinforced floor is needed anyway for cargo configuration and the availability is much better because all branches of the military still using them are phasing them out. They managed to procure three recently and are flying them as we spoke. One even retained its camouflage colors . That should be an interesting sighting at civilian airports After they convinced us of the wisdom of acquiring a Sherpa, they even offered to do the rebuild to civilian cargo configuration and any large maintenance to be done on the aircraft for a good price. They can also provide me with the neccesary loading/unloading gear depending on which configuration I choose. I couldn't refuse such an offer, because it is really not good business to set up a large maintenance line for one airplane So there we are, back in Hawaii, made new friends and business contacts and got good advice. Much to think about and many calls to make to possibly get a hold of a Sherpa. I think I am going to let my helicopter pilot Bradley make some calls to some of his old friends in the military. He used to fly OH-58 Kiowa's over Iraq and he still knows many people connected to the Air Force and Army who might make getting a Sherpa a whole lot easier For the moment. We keep flying and keep the money rolling in. We need a lot of it to possibly relocate and acquire a bigger aircraft. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Sounds like you have been busy, good luck on your search for the ultimate air hauler. It's a good idea not to jump into anything and bide your time, good things come to he who waits. Link to post Share on other sites
Sabre 28 Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Really nice update Menno and good luck with your search for a new aircraft Good advice from Brett about taking your time. Think hard about what type of aircraft you want to fly before going for too large an aircraft. Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I think you have to commission George Lucas at Industrial Light & Magic for an airplane with those specs Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted June 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 26 june 2012 Acting on some good advice! It has been another mad week here at Air Cargo Hawaii. Being away from the office meant I had some catching up to do, so a status update had to wait a bit. First off, some short company news: - As you know the second Cessna 208B has been delivered. It has been put to immediate good use, because the first Super Cargomaster is now being upgraded to be able to carry ATA containers/pallets. Hopefully it will be ready at the end of the week. - I hired yet another pilot to cope with increasing demand and flight hours. William Perkins has joined us on a full time basis. He is Jenna Perkins husband and came highly recommended to me by people I trust. - The search for a Sherpa is progressing slowly but steadily. I made some contacts through my helicopter pilot Bradley and I am waiting for them to get back to me with any information. - I have promoted office manager Melissa to CFO of the company. She has shown a remarkable ability to control the company on the admin/financial side, so it is no more than logical to make her unofficial position official. Saves me to do all the boring paperwork for good and gives me time to concentrate on the operations side of things - Good news. After hitting the books and taking a final check ride, I have been certified for twin engine turboprops! This gives me the opportunity to look for a whole new class of aircraft to fly. Now for some bigger news. I took some of my esteemed colleagues' advice they gave me a couple of pages back and looked into the Britten-Norman Islander. Turned out it seemed like a perfect fit for my company. We have the capability to carry anything from about 550 up to 1050 lbs and after that there is a big gap all the way up to the Super Cargomasters at a little under 2000 lbs. The Islander fits in perfectly with a capacity of about 1450 lbs. Still the slow speed and the fact I know practically nothing about airplanes other than Cessna's worried me a little, so I contacted several companies that use Islanders to find out how it is to operate. I ended up getting nothing but glowing references to its abilities. I finally arrived at a call to Great Barrier Airlines in Auckland NZ, who told me they could hook me up with a BN-2B model Islander on short term lease. They apparently didn't need it for at least a month or two, so I could try it out. Seemed like a win-win for both of us so I agreed. They send it over this weekend, hopping multiple islands in the pacific to get here Got to try it out yesterday with one of Great Barrier's pilots backing me up and showing me the workings. Made a quick run from Dillingham west towards Port Allen on the island of Kaua'i. Took a picture at Port Allen just before we flew back. The Great Barrier livery look a bit out of place on Hawaii, but I like it Suffice to say the flight was great. The twin piston engines are very responsive and it really flies like a small Cessna. Very easy airplane to handle and land. My worries about the cruise speed were unfounded, because with the right power settings you can get it up to 140 knots IAS within specs. After the successful test flight I handed the airplane over to my new pilot William who will be flying it for me for the duration of the lease. I will keep flying the 208B for the moment (at least when it gets back from upgrades at the end of the week ) Let's wait and see how it is in the long term... Enough talk... Back to business! Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 Thats a nice looking ride and will look nice with the ACIG paint, if you decide to keep her of course. Congrats on your being certified to fly the twins. :clapping:to Melissa, her daddy(John) must be proud. Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted June 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 Thats a nice looking ride and will look nice with the ACIG paint, if you decide to keep her of course. The art department (read: me) is already working on it John can be whatever he wants, as long a he doesn't steal her for his own business Well, to be honest. I am proud too Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted October 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 15 october 2012 Its alive, ALIVE, mwoehoehahahaha! First of all, my apologies for the long delay in the updates... It has been a though couple of months for us here in Hawaii. The usually good business in the summer months really suffered from the bad economy. I have to admit that we nearly went broke, but we survived through the sacrifices we all made. Some of our staff have been on long term leave during the summer and by tapping in to our reserves we made it......just... Everybody has agreed to come back however, and because the economy is slowly picking up again we have started to get back to business as usual. We still have to be careful not to over extend. I really think our business model of great customers relations and never turning down the small contracts saved us in the end. Many of our competitors and colleagues did went broke during the summer. Because of the slow season our plans to acquire a Shorts Sherpa have been shelved indefinitely. Also because of this the plan to move the whole company to another airfield has been postponed until better times come along. The whole reason to move was the lack of space, but this is not a big problem anymore for the moment. However, we still do plan to open a small second hub somewhere on the centrally located islands, but this has little priority at the moment. The borrowed Britten-Norman Islander is still with us. It has actually been one of the few moneymakers for us the last couple of months because of its good fuel economy and big capacity. All there is left to say, that I hope all my colleagues here made it through the summer and good luck to you all in your business adventures! Hang Loose! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted October 15, 2012 Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 I've just read through most of this thread, Menno. You're doing a great job with the flying, running the business and documenting it for all of us. If you haven't updated yet, you should do so soon. Here's the backup process, which you should be doing from time to time anyway... BACKING UP AIRHAULER (Updated - 01/27/11) You need to copy 2 items 1) The ah9.mdb and/or ahX.mdb file in the AirHauler folder, depending upon whether you are using FS9, FSX or both, and the user_details.mdb file from the same locaton.. 2) Your company file(s) in the Company folder which will be a .mdb file with the name you originally set the company up as. There will be one file for each company. If AH is open, you will also see ldb files there. Those do not need to be backed up - AH deletes them on closing and will re-create them on start-up. - - - - New Information, added in 01-11 - - - - Before copying the company file(s) from the AH/Company folder, ensure all jobs are completed or not started/in-progress (i.e. AI are idle). Note that when you reinstall, scenery references may have changed if you've modified or added scenery to FS. Proceed as follows: - Install AH but DON'T run it - Install the most recent AH Service Pack (SP4 at this writing) - Run AH, create a new test company - Import scenery - Quit AH - Copy back your Company - Run AH - Go to Options -> Integrity Check If the integrigy check does not indicate any problems you may safely resume company operations. John Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted October 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 Hi John, Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated As far as I now, I am running the latest version of Air Hauler already for some time. I am at 1.54 (SP 4.1) at the moment. And backup I do. I am quite paranoid about my computer screwing me over. (A wise man called Steve Wozniak once said: "Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window". I tend to agree, leaving the window part out). So I like to make a backup every week or so Link to post Share on other sites
Kasper 14 Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 Nice to see you back Menno, good luck with the company! Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted May 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2013 21 may 2013Greetings from sunny Hawaii  It has been a long while since I posted an update. Some of you might have feared the worst but no worries, we are still alive and kicking!! Winter season was killer, but we survived once more. It seems there are finally signs that the economy is recovering and with the busy tourist season approaching things are looking up again!  First of all some updates for the people who have followed this thread all the way. For the rest of you, you can read from beneath the dotted line   Many thing have happened since last year. We went from 500 completed jobs to 1000 completed without failure just yesterday. All employees from last year are still working for me and I even have convinced mechanic Dave to finally come work for me full time.  Aircraft wise all is well. The Islander is still around. Got to keep it a while longer, but I have to send it back soon. I am still unsure as to whether to get one permanently. We are making some changes in the aircraft roster. More on that later. The Short 330/360/Sherpa project has been put on hold last year. With the economy the way it was, we couldn't afford the investment and I was increasingly becoming unsure whether such an old air frame and engines were a wise investment. I don't rule out we will ever get one. There is demand for bulky items transport between the islands, but at the moment I put the project in the fridge... The second C208 is back also, after being converted for pallet size and ATA air containers. This really saves a lot in turn around time, which in part made us come through the winter financially in one piece where others did not...  I acquired a DeHavilland DHC-6 300 Twin Otter about 3 months ago. A great airplane with a slightly higher cargo capacity than the Cargomasters. Can land and take of on a dime and is cheap to run. Got it second hand from a surplus dealer on the continent. Ex-BA. Still haven't had the time to paint it so it is a little odd to see a BA livery on the small airports of Hawaii  The Twin Otter has been my personal airplane up until now and it is a real moneymaker. I can highly recommend it for rough environments!  With business increasing again our age old problem with parking and storage space at Dillingham is resurfacing... I am getting fed up with stacking crates to the roof and waiting time sorting the mess out. A permanent solution is in the works. More on that later  ---------------------  Our current aircraft roster is as follows:  Cessna 172S Cessna 206 Stationair II Cessna 210M Centurion II 2x Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster Bell 206B-3 Jetranger Britten-Norman BN-2B Islander DeHavilland DHC-6 300 Twin Otter  I am thinking of getting rid of the smaller Cessna's and maybe the Islander. I their place I am thinking of getting a third Cargomaster and something bigger in the 20000 lbs MTOW range. Still unsure what that will be, but it will certainly not be a Short 330/360/Sherpa. I like all our airplanes a lot, but all those different models present difficulties in maintenance and interchangeability of the pilots. To accommodate the bigger airplanes we are looking to open a new base somewhere on the islands and maybe even move the headquarters there if there is sufficient space to operate and to grow  More on this later...  I am glad to be back  Hang loose   Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted May 21, 2013 Report Share Posted May 21, 2013 Good to see your smiling face. Â John Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted May 21, 2013 Report Share Posted May 21, 2013 Hi Menno, good to hear your still hang'in loose.  Another base will extend your range and the costs are minimal if you stay away from the larger airports. I have three bases set up in a triangle around 75-100 nm apart which makes for shorter return trips when flying empty. I must admit that a drinking problem and lack of oversight has hurt my company, really need to get back in the saddle again. Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted May 21, 2013 Report Share Posted May 21, 2013 Welcome to the AH group.  My company, QuikAire, flies the PNW out of CYCD and sticks to the small loads/distances, mostly because the weather can be abysmal. Low and slow is the order of the day near the coast and high and slow over the mountains. We, five AI pilots and myself, fly Beavers, DC-3's and a C208 with a C182RG in semi-retirement. I started with the 172 and switched to the 182 as soon as I could afford it - made a bunch of money with that baby (leased for $13,000/mo). I really should return it because we don't fly it much anymore, but I have a soft spot for the little rascal and it can make it's monthly costs back in a day.  Beavers are great - remove all the seats from a wheelie version and you can haul 1230 Lbs on 25 GPH. Not fast airplanes, but you can practically land it on a helipad  All five AI pilots have been with the company for quite a while now and all are 100%ers. The "new hire" is an fATPL and worked her way up to rating of 100% just the other day. I start all the newbies on the C182 and graduate them to the "big iron" (Beavers) at 100%.  IMHO the DC-3 is the best bang for your buck. They carry over 6000 lbs on 65 GPH and you can lease one for $160,000/mo. Again, one days work. They need 1000M of runway though, so don't get involved with them if you have a lot of short strips.  Link to post Share on other sites
Bobby 0 Posted May 22, 2013 Report Share Posted May 22, 2013 Very interesting read and excellent pictures. I have a fondness for the Hawaiian Islands and enjoy reading all your adventures. Â Mahalo, Bobby Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 24 may 2013 Welcome to Lanai!  Well, I am hardly back and I have some big news. We are moving......today!!  As most of you now, the problems we have been having with limited aircraft parking and storage at Dillingham have been ongoing for almost a year now. So a couple of months ago I started scouting the islands for a suitable new base to expand and possibly relocate our headquarters to. And some time ago I found it! Lanai Airport! It is perfect in every way. It is located exactly in the center of the Hawaiian islands, it has a 5000 ft runway with ILS and lights for extended operating hours and it recently underwent mayor construction to increase apron space and got a new terminal and cargo facilities. This means there is plenty of room to expand and do maintenance.  I included a picture below for the people who don't know Hawaii very well to give you an idea of where Lanai is in relation to the other islands. Our old base is also indicated as well as a measure of distance. The distance between Dillingham and Lanai is 86 nm.   The islands of Lanai is also very quiet and barren. It has only one settlement, Lanai City and a couple of resorts and golf courses. The single 5000 ft runway is headed roughly in the north-east south-west direction which is also the direction of the prevailing winds.  Last week I headed to Lanai to sign the necessary agreement with the airport and also other operators to share apron space and maintenance facilities. I got a local to fly me around in his ultra-light aircraft so I could scout out the neighborhood and take some pictures for you guys  Lanai Airport looking north. The concrete apron in front is new and will also store our airplanes and vehicles. Lanai City can barely be seen in the background.  Another angle looking at the parking spaces and new PAX terminal with the orange roofs.  Looking south-west towards the water. There is a massive cliff down to the sea when approaching the runway from the south-east.  Close up of the PAX apron. The four yellow lines are the four gates of the terminal, but there are only two airplanes using it at most. There are only a few flights per day scheduled. Flights from United, Mesa, Mokulele and Island Air frequent the islands, but in practise only Mokulele and Island Air airplanes can be seen because Island Air operates the United flights and Mokulele operates the Mesa flights. The slightly lighter apron section in the rear accommodates general aviation. The buildings from right to left are: PAX terminal, offices, fire station and lastly cargo facilities. We will share these for the moments, but in the future we will probably build our own building.  Detailed figure about the terminal and buildings for your information Courtesy of the state of Hawaii.  For the moment our administration will stay at Dillingham. Maintenance and operations will move to Lanai. Me and some of the pilots who's airplanes will be stationed at Lanai will stay there also during the week. In the weekends we will be at home near Dillingham. For starters I am moving the Twin Otter, both of the Cargomasters and the Islander to Lanai. The rest will remain at Dillingham.  The new base at Lanai also provides us with the opportunity to serve the eastern islands of Hawaii including the big island where we haven't been a lot. All in all, I think the investment of opening a second base is well worth it considering the advantages  I have some more good news very soon. For now goodby from Lanai Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Best wishes and good luck with the new base Menno. Â May it take away your headaches and bring you riches beyond belief. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Best of luck in the new digs. Looks like a great airport. I like my diagrams better than the state's, however. John Link to post Share on other sites
Bobby 0 Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Very nice picture of Lanai. If you don't mind me asking....where did you get your photoreal scenery and airport scenery?  I know what you mean about Dillingham. Not much for gates, usually enough for the tow planes for all the gliders. I posted a picture in real life and we had to park in the grass. I use  Bill Womack's Dillingham airport but the problem is that AH sees it as a zero length runway so I have Kaneohe Marine Corp on the other side of the rock as my home base.  I enjoy reading your progress. Thanks for the updates Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted May 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Hi Bobby, Â For Lanai and Lanai Airport I use photo photorealistic scenery v0.9 from AveMetal666. If you Google it you will find some direct download links and torrents. Its freeware. For the airport itself I use a combination. I redid the runway and apron myself because the FSX version is rubbish. Unfortunately I am not experienced enough to do the surrounding scenery. However I recently found a French guy who did Lanai Airport for FSX. http://manucali55.wix.com/fazaz#!lanai-project/cvu5 His buildings and scenery is spot on, but the apron is not really accurate. So I combined the two. I use it only for myself so I imagine its alright. Maybe I will email him and offer him my apron layout to make it better. He also has a Lanai autogen file for the avemetal photoscenery. Together everything looks great. Â For the rest of Hawaii I use all kinds of combinations of payware and freeware addons. It really is too much to mention. For Dillingham I also use Dillingham X, but I have no problem using it as my old home base. It shows 0 ft runway, but I tricked Airhauler by unchecking Dillingham X in FSX before importing the scenery in Air Hauler so it does not give me any problems. When doing some checking around Hawaii last week in Google maps I found out they updated the satellite images and found changes to Dillingham in real life. Some extra taxiways were build somewhere last year apparently. Lanai has also changed. A new cargo? building has been completed and some markings have been added to the taxiways. Â I also use Ultimate Traffic 2 and have added the actual airplanes that frequent Lanai, so you will encounter Bombardier Dash 8 Q200's in Island Air livery (although they are upgrading to ATR 72-500 in real life, which I personally think is a great choice) and Cessna 208 Caravans in Mokulele Airlines livery. Also Alpine Air Beechcraft 350 freighter can be seen, but I think they stopped flying to Lanai in real life, because I can't find any mention about it on their website. (I like to do a lot of research about my airplanes and locations as you might have figured out already ) Â Best regards, Menno Link to post Share on other sites
Bobby 0 Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Thanks Menno, Â I appreciate the info. My buddy and I worked out of HNL ramp on Lagoon Drive. I have sinced retired and fly a computer; he still works there so I get a lot of pictures. Thanks again for the info on the scenery. Â Bobby Link to post Share on other sites
Menno 0 Posted May 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 27 May 2013Trading up  Hi everybody. Just wanted to let you know we have settled in at our new home Lanai Airport. The first flights have been carried out successfully and we are getting used to the new digs  I told you last time I had some good news. Well there is some bad news first... well not really bad, but sad... For some time I have been thinking about making changes to the airplane roster and in the last few day that finally happened. I decided to get rid of the three smaller Cessna's; the 172, 206 and 210. They have served us well, but it is just not very efficient anymore to operate them. Our 208's can reach the same tiny airfields and carry a lot more freight. Rest assured I could not bare to lose the 172 because it is the airplane that started it all, so I kept it for myself It will get a nice new paint job and serve as a runabout.  I sold the 206 and 210 and together with money saved up and a hefty bank loan I purchased two replacements. To begin with a third 208B Super Cargomaster in exactly the same configuration as the other two. This airplane will be stationed at Dillingham with pilot Jenna Perkins and replace the smaller Cessna's that used to travel towards the west. By starting a sort of milkman run around the smaller airports we can operate much more efficiently and still serve the small cargo pickups and deliveries. The new 208 got the appropriate tail number N208BX and as tradition dicates the name 'Spirit of Ni'ihau'.  Secondly we purchased a much bigger airplane. After the search for a Short Sherpa stopped last year I still did research for a potential airplane in the same weight category. I finally came up with the perfect airplane for us, the Beechcraft 1900C. The Beechcraft 1900C was manufactured by Raytheon Aircraft up until 2002, so I had to get a good second hand one which turned out not to be a problem. There also exists a 1900D which has a higher cabin, so you can stand upright in it. Not really necessary for a freighter and the added drag and fuel comsumption it would have can be missed like a sore tooth. The 1900C I bought has the optional Raytheon Kit 114-0002-1 which adds cargo pods to the fuselage and some other changes that are necessary to accommodate those pods. The Kit transforms the 1900C into an all freighter model. It also increases the MTOW from the standard 16600 lbs to 17600 lbs. With a maximum fuel capacity of 4469 lbs it has a range of about 527 nm at max weight which is more than enough for our purposes. The freight capacity at max fuel is about 4200 lbs which can increase to about 7000 lbs when balancing fuel vs. freight. Cruising speed is about 240 KTAS at 15000 ft, which is way faster than anything we owned up to now. The airplanes does need about 1400m of runway at MTOW, so it can only land at the bigger airport around Hawaii, but those a still plenty and they are usually the bigger airports that serve the bigger freights anyway. It can land on rough gravel and grass fields which is a nice bonus. All in all it seems like the perfect airplane for Hawaii!  Well you want to see some pictures of course The aircraft got painted in the usual Air Cargo Hawaii livery with some minor changes to the tail section (I at least like it ). I also omitted our company motto because I couldn't find a good spot to put it. Suggestions welcome! It got the tail number N190CF and appropriate name 'Spirit of Lana'i'. The aircraft got delivered to us on a very rainy day, so I promise to take some new pictures when it is sunny...      I will be flying the 1900C myself, (the 1900 is certified to be flown by a single pilot), which means I will give the Twin Otter to Elliot. I payed for all the former Cessna pilots to be certified on our new airplanes, so I could keep them all at the company. I will report in when I get to do my first flight and tell of the experience!  EDIT: Snapped a quick picture this morning on the tarmac (sort of) at Lanai so you can compare the paint jobs of the 208 and the 1900C You can see the Twin Otter and Islander in the background still in their original liveries...   Link to post Share on other sites
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