Hey guys! I wanted to let you know I just launched an "Insiders" Newsletter where once a week I'm sharing an important lesson I've learned in aviation, links to my latest content so you don't miss out, and links to any other interesting or helpful content I've found. I'm also working on a HUGE project I can't announce yet but I'm going to be sharing more behind the scenes info with Insiders first - Subscribe (it's free) at: airplaneacademy.com/insiders
Retired controller here……it is in our manual that we assume ALL turbine aircraft are ready for takeoff when they reach the runway (unless the pilot states otherwise).
I fly a 737 and it’s really annoying when controllers *dont* call us to line up and wait or depart. Because I assume if they don’t call me , there is some issue ATC/traffic etc that I don’t know about.
@@Micg51 I agree. I now fly a Sovereign. Many times (especially at smaller airports) you have to call the controller and tell him you’re ready. It’s a new and younger crowd now and the training is not the same when I got hired after the Patco strike in ‘81.
I agree 100% with this. The only exception in my experience is where I'm currently stationed. The company ramp is literally right next to the taxiway and runway so we're still running our taxi/before takeoff checklists by the time we reach the hold short line. If we use the opposite runway we're ready way before we get there and we'll call up tower while we're still rolling towards the line so we don't have to stop.
they truly do sound amazing, especially the few military turboprops from the 1950s, if you wanna hear it there's a youtube video "Westland Wyvern on deck HMS Illustrious" with a flyby like 50 seconds in, it's 1950s audio quality but still really cool
Fun fact: earlier in the career of the Fairchild A10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”), they discovered firing that massive 30mm tended to cause engine flame outs, just from all the gunpowder residue getting sucked in to the engines. Nowadays, the gun trigger is wired into the igniter circuitry, so when the pilot fires the gun, the igniters come on, thus avoiding flame outs.
Well… this is the most informative video on how to fly a turbo prop I have ever seen! I feel like I could take off in one after seeing this video. Good job and great work. And yeah, I’m a videographer, so I know the work that goes into this stuff. It’s mind blowing most people can’t relate to
this was the best explanation of turboprop operation than anything I ever saw...other well known creators go through the procedures but never explained what ITT etc has anything to do with anything
ITT is the "please don't melt the turbine blades" meter. Turbines are a dynamic system that require air flow in order to work. So the turbine needs to be turning with continual flowing air in order to operate at all. The starter gets the engine turning enough to sustain a flowing combustion-- fresh air is being drawn through the intake stage blades faster than a combustion front would travel. At this point you can start burning fuel, and the combusted hot gases are pushed out the exhaust via inertia. This initially produces a relatively small amount of torque as the expanding gas flow pushes against the turbine blades... and a LARGE amount of heat. A cold turbine will absorb some of this heat, but the only thing removing the heat is the air continuously flowing through the engine. The initial torque makes the turbine's inlet blades start to spin faster, which in turn reinforces the continuous air flow and increases its volume. More air volume means more oxygen and cooling. More oxygen and a safe temperature allows the controller to increase fuel flow, which reinforces the loop. At this point a little bit of extra fuel increases air flow a lot. If everything goes well eventually the controller stops increasing fuel flow, and the engine reaches an equilibrium at low idle. The ITT at idle will generally be pretty close to the operating minimum. At this point the ratio of cooling air to heat produced is very high, and we can relax a bit. If anything disrupts this feedback loop during startup, often the first indication is a rising ITT. Maybe damaged intake blades aren't pulling in air as efficiently as expected, or there's resistance in the turbine bearings, or the fuel injection system isn't spraying a nice mist that burns quickly. This needs to be managed immediately. At best the turbine blades get a bit too hot and need early inspection for cracks or warping. In the worst case a disrupted airflow can result in an uncontrolled fire. Before and during startup, ITT helps you understand whether you'll be able to safely start the engine without setting it on fire or otherwise damaging it. After shutting down on the ground, the engine often needs to cool down a bit before restarting it. A higher initial ITT (heat soaked turbine) means less margin for error on startup. If it's close enough to limits you can play tricks with running the starter a bit to push cooling air through before introducing fuel, but sometimes you just need to wait. In normal flight regimes, ITT is similar to CHT on a piston engine. Higher airflow volume (airspeed) and cooler ambient air will generally make ITT go down. Requesting more thrust via the power lever generally makes ITT go up. So if your ITT is too high in level flight or a climb, you're pushing the engine beyond its design limits and should reduce power. If it's abnormally high in a normal descent, this may indicate an engine fire and you should probably cut fuel.
I only fly in flight simulator, but I just started flying the Cessna 208 after upgrading from the 172 and this video really helped me understand the power settings. Great video! Thanks
Thanks for the explanation of the beta sound. I've heard it but never knew exactly what it was. Again, your videos are awesome, and have helped me out so much on my aviation journey.
8 місяців тому+1
Yeah, love watching the Dash-8's landing and going into reverse or beta.
This is by far the best video I’ve ever seen when it comes to explain turboprops! I’m currently an student pilot flying the PA28 but also doing Caravan simulation and this video is just like a tutorial! Don’t stop doing these! Greetings from Costa Rica
That's a perfect video! Everything thoroughly explained, using simple examples, with memory hints, examples and real-world flying. This is the first vid I've seen of yours, and I'm impressed! Thanks for the time and effort in putting this together- much appreciated! Engine sounds... yes, we've all done it! Grown men make engine sounds - it's what we do and who we are!
Nice video overall, pretty detailed. I just have a couple things to add from a turbine pilot (PC12 and King Airs): 1. it's not really a throttle, it's a power lever. You're controlling fuel flow into the engine, not the throttle butterfly valve/air flow. It's also a prop lever - in the beta range, the fuel flow is not being changed by the lever, it's just changing the prop blade angle. In reverse, the power lever becomes a prop and fuel controller combined, which is limited by the setting of the condition lever. So if you want max reverse power, high idle is required. 2. power lever and prop lever management is actually the same flow as a piston aircraft. When increasing prop RPM, set props first then power. If decreasing prop RPM, trim power first then props. Torque will rise as NP decreases just like in a piston engine. 3. starting is more complicated than you let on for the majority of PT6 aircraft, and there are many different ways they start. In the King Air, everything is manual. We must disengage the starter after 50% NG and we have to set high idle on the single running engine to start the sister engine. The generators have to also manually be engaged and checked using the bus voltage selector and manually opening and closing the gen ties and bus safety ties. In the Pilatus NG/NGX, we just push a button and introduce fuel. In the NGX the fuel is automatic. But we still have to monitor the starters, igniters, generators, ITT, and fuel pumps. Also, beginning ITT is a huge component of starting a hot engine after dropping off pax or what have you. The starter motor must be "dry motored" until the ITT falls to within safe limits. If you introduce fuel and the ITT is 300 C, you're gonna over-temp the engine when the secondary igniters pop off. Also, if you do hot start or hung start, you should dry motor the engine for a few seconds to reduce ITT and purge fuel, otherwise you could have a fire. In any of these instances, starter limits become a real concern on every start. 4. many PT6/turbine aircraft have an extensive runup check. The King Air runup checklist is over 60 items long. We have to check autofeather, prop governors (overspeed and normal), rudder boost, pressurization, exercise the prop governors, auto crossfeed, etc, etc, etc. The runup checklist even has 4-5 sub-checklists for specific items like the autofeather check.
For the PT6A engines with the hydro-mechanical fuel controls, as in the Kodiak, The power lever (PLA) requests (sets) an NG. The FCU is really an NG governor, providing fuel to get to the NG requested by the power lever position. The power achieved at a particular NG is a function of OAT (or more correctly, T1 - temperature at the inlet screen), altitude, bypass door position and engine accessory loading (and engine wear). The maximum power in reverse is limited by either the maximum reverse NG set on the Fuel Control, or maximum reverse Prop speed - whichever is reached first. The condition lever position does not affect the maximum reverse NG which can be reached - but this CAN BE limited by the maximum reverse prop speed setting (nominally 96% max NP). If maximum reverse NP is reached, Py bleed occurs at the prop governor, to limit the fuel flow from the FCU (and hence keep NP from increasing further). Note that the Fuel Control and Prop Governor are not isochronous (constant speed) governors - they are droop governors, which can be noted (especially for NG) as loads are applied to the engine (cabin air conditioning and accessories etc.). All good stuff, really. Great engines, too!
Interesting. For Twin Otter, even the -400, after start checks are pretty quick, similar to this video. Starter switch is spring-loaded, so you have to hold it, and just release when you get to 50-ish or stabilized Ng. No high or low idle, fuel is either off or on. ITT (T5) limit for fuel intro is 150C, which is only an issue after a short shutdown. Boost pumps on before start, off after shutdown below 5% Ng. At our company, overspeed is daily but autofeather is once a week, so we'll need a minute at the hold point before the first takeoff, otherwise we're ready upon reaching. That's about it. Twin Otter is about as simple as it gets.
Awesome video. Very helpful. Starting my commercial pilot career in Nicaragua and this helped a lot understabding the PT6A turbo prop engine. Many thanks!
I've been curious about turbo prop engines and their different startup/operation procedures. Your video was very clearly explained and illustrated to show exactly how it is done. I'm certain this video will continue getting views for years to come. Thanks!
I’ve tried watching lots of videos about turboprops, i still don’t quite get it, until this video. Thank you for explaining it in such practical manner
Hey I am a corporate pilot flying the Embraer Praetor 500 as well as a flight instructor in Canada. Your contents are just great. I used to fly the PC12-NG and it reminds me its greatness as well. Thanks a lot for your great contents.
You know what, I WILL subscribe. I'm a paramedic and i've been bouncing the idea of eventually getting my pilot's license around and a couple of my paramedic friends are also doing the same thing so videos like these are extremely valuable. I mean TRULY TRULY invaluable. Planes have always been a fleeting goal of mine ever since I was in elementary school. I would rather spend my time in the school library reading about f16s and other cool planes, thinking how inaccessible it would be so I always just wrote it off as impossible but now that I'm a paramedic(also something i wrote off as impossible), I'm starting to see that I CAN get where I want to be in life and youtube channels like these massively help me
First off, THANK YOU for your service as a paramedic! You guys are heroes. Secondly, I'm glad it was so encouraging to you. It's a lot of work becoming a pilot but as you know from becoming a paramedic, with hard work and consistency it's definitely doable!
Great video, it's amazing the resources kids have these days lol.. I think of torque as how hard the engine is pushing against the prop. At a given Ng, prop set to high RPM/low pitch will be easier to push so torque is lower. Slow down the prop by increasing the pitch and bite, it's harder to push so torque goes up. One way I have my students picture it is riding a bicycle... low gear is like prop set to max rpm, easier to spin. You use this to get the max power, like going up a hill on your bike. Higher gear you obviously have to push harder, and you use this when you're not trying to push your max power. It's not a perfect translation to what's happening in a turboprop, but gives them a picture of what the engine is feeling with different setting and why. Again, very nice job, I wish we had this kind of thing when I was going through training.
Excellent video and explanation! I have about 20 hours of turbo prop time and thousand of piston and still never really understood the purpose of the condition levers. This video and your explanation cleared that up. Thanks!
That was an outstanding summary. I'm just an amateur sim flyer, but I like small turboprops, and this is the best instructional video I've seen. Sure, there will be differences in other planes, but this is still a great foundation of the controls and instruments. Thanks a million.
I flew the T-6 for 5 months, which has the same PT6 engine. There are a handful of differences from controls (probably because it's a military trainer). Our torque is represented as a percentage as well. We did have a Np display which was percentage as well, but we only monitored that when we were doing our engine checks. We didn't have a prop lever or fuel condition lever, only a power control lever (PCL), as there were systems onboard that allowed full throttle movement at any rate without engine damage. We also didn't have an emer fuel lever, but we did have a switch that turned our PCL into a straight throttle. Another difference- on takeoff, we did firewall the PCL, and we weren't concerned about overtorque. We also don't have beta, but when you're at idle you're basically beta.
I used to fly an EMB-120 that had the big Pratt & Whitney PW118s - 1800hp per engine - and there are some notable differences that I think are worth pointing out. 1. Everything but temperature was listed as a percentage 2. We only had a power lever and a condition lever. Low idle, high idle, and cutoff were actually on the condition levers. 3. Torque/temp limiting. After takeoff, we were torque limited to about 10,000ft. Between 10,000ft and FL180 we were temperature limited. After FL180 we could start bringing the power back in because the temps were coming down with the colder air and higher TAS at altitude. Always thought that was interesting. I’ve never flown anything with a PT6
This is a great video! I have some flight time in a conquest 2 that does have the torque limiters, but our SOPs are to act like they don’t exist in case they fail. Also helps when switching to a plane without them
Just got started but the pacing and visuals are absolutely on point. Piston driver here with a tiny amount or turbine knowledge, really excited to watch this. Great job!
I fly both a caravan and twin otter for my operator. They're both PT6 powered turboprops but we fly them a bit differently. We'll set the prop lever on the caravan for different phases of flight based on RPM. On the otter we have our prop RPM in percentages. We set them to 80% on climbout with the prop levers and they basically go all the way back to the gate right before feathering in cruise. The drag felt when the prop levers go full forward for landing is INSANE. You slow down so much. Caravan has low and high idle for the condition levers however the otter doesn't. It's thrown full forward during startup and stays there. I've had WAY more issues with starting up a piston engine than a turboprop. For me, piston engines are a thing of the past I probably won't go back to.
This is excellent content! I have a SEL PPL and probably will never fly a turboprop, but I was curious about it and your plain (pun intended) language explanation was great. Thank you.
I spent years flying PC12's, TBM's and Caravan's. When transitioning, I remember thinking, this is stupid simple compared to managing piston engines! It either starts or call the mechanic and go drink coffee while they look into it. Caravan is a great airplane, but always suffered from a need for more power at gross weight. Never flew a Kodiak, but looks similar! PC12 and TBM both have a torque limiter, but in reality it's so easy to manage torque/temp it's rare to bump against it, Great vid, thanks!
Which did you prefer, the PC12 or TBM? The PC12 is a bit slower than the TBM but other than that, it seems to beat it in every other category - it can land in some awesome spots and has amazing interior space. Both those planes look so awesome, that's badass you had the opportunity to fly both of them. Curious to hear which one you like more, if you happen to see my message here.
I appreciate what you say about production time...yesterday I used the voice over feature in Adobe Premiere to explain each slide separately...takes a good amount of time to do it right
Ive never flown a plane but dream about it someday. Played alot of microsoft flight simulator this video was incredibly helpful to learn about turboprops
Love the simplified explanations !!! You're pretty easy to understand and I appreciate that 😁 Been flying a 421 and might go to a turbo prop sometime so I like the content, hence I just subscribed 😉
Powa lever! Treat the PT6 nice, keep it cool on all startups (especially on a restart soon after shutdown, ITT should be 140 or below before introducing fuel). Don't exceed the limits, and keep for out of it. That's all you need to know, flying them is an absolute joy
Good comment only to say watch out for temperature inversion after take off as ITT can shoot up as you climb into warmer air temp ,so watch out for this .
I only have more than 8000 hours of PT6A time flying different variants of that engine. You’ve done a great job of explaining the basics to the masses. But there’s much much more to this than just scratching the surface. Some of what you said can be misleading. Great Video though!
The Fuel Condition and Emergency Power levers are engine specific. The biggest changes, ignoring the engine gauges, is how you fly them. Firstly, they are really easy to fly. Secondly, especially if pressurised, you fly them flat out. Set the power, climb until it won’t, cruise as fast as it will and descend close to Vmo. Job done. I’ve never worried about fuel tables as no matter what I did It burnt 300 kg per hour per engine (even the maths is easy).
What a great video! It amazes me that these things aren't more automated. Simple things like the throttle. The engines ECU should limit actual output based on torque and/or ITTs.
Many turbine aircraft do! For example in the PC12, the older models have a mechanical torque limiter (which works most of the time), and the newest NGX has a full FADEC auto fueling and torque control. Even the start is automated.
@@topgunm it's probably just certification and manufacturers not willing to go through the process to add those features. There are some benefits to simplicity too.
Torque limiters are great! When they work! They essentially bleed off air from the fuel air ratio making the airplane feel like its at a higher altitude and limit the power that way. Also another note is the king air gauges are a bit different. Torque goes to percentage, NG goes to N1 and props are never really referred to as Np. Great video! Loved the bridge
Not knowing anything about C.S. prop.. just that Torque explanation gauge made me understand the concept better than using the pressure thing... I am sure I can Fly one of those now..
Just remember to turn on the inertial separator when close to the ground to prevent FOD. Then at altitude you can turn it off and ITT should drop. Everything I know about the P&W PT6 I learned from watching @steveo1kinevo
Great video Charlie. The Kodiak looks like a blast. Thank you for the breakdown of the starting sequence. Bonus points for the blooper at the end. 😂 Great stuff. Keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friend 🇺🇸🛩️
I know at the big airports and large jets the fuel is ordered, filled, and billed by pounds as it accounts for the significant thermal expansion from cold and hot weather. However, I think the fuel truck is may actually be using a meter on the plane rather than the truck. (There are duplicates of the cockpit fuel guages next to the single-point underwing fueling port so they know which tanks are full.) Although using the customer's guage is a little strange from a business/trust perspective.
Really interesting and clear video. I have one question, why do you start the engine with the prop feathered? It has always seemed strange to me as I would have thought that starting with the prop in beta would put less torque onto the starter motor and turbine, but I'm sure there must be a good reason for it
The props on a turboprop will go to feather when the oil pressure disappears and the spring in the prop hub will set the feather condition. When starting a PT6, even with the prop levers full forward, it takes a while for the oil to develop enough pressure to unfeather the prop. And actually, many PT6 aircraft will fully feather the props when sitting stationary while running - King Airs do this all the time. It's completely fine for a turbine to have the props completely feather while idling indefinitely, as long as ITT stays within limits.
Maybe i missed it in the video, but one thing I'd include is the fact that there are many different types of gas turbines. Turboprops and helicopters pretty much always utilize the "gas producer" type of turbine which has two separate shafts, one high speed shaft for the "gas producer" section which runs the compressor section and produces the high pressure gasses that power the lower speed "power" turbine. The prop is connected to the lower speed, "power" turbine which turns at a much more resonable speed speed for a prop (though there still has to be a reducing transmission between the power turbine and the prop to reduce the speed further). 38,000 RPM is a ridiculously high speed. Only the gas producer section can run at speeds that high, but since that section is not connected to the prop in any way, its not an issue.
Yes it does. I debated including that in this video as it felt like it started to get into the weeds and I didn't want the video to be completely overwhelming haha, but I will probably cover it in another video.
Hey guys! I wanted to let you know I just launched an "Insiders" Newsletter where once a week I'm sharing an important lesson I've learned in aviation, links to my latest content so you don't miss out, and links to any other interesting or helpful content I've found. I'm also working on a HUGE project I can't announce yet but I'm going to be sharing more behind the scenes info with Insiders first - Subscribe (it's free) at: airplaneacademy.com/insiders
Retired controller here……it is in our manual that we assume ALL turbine aircraft are ready for takeoff when they reach the runway (unless the pilot states otherwise).
I fly a 737 and it’s really annoying when controllers *dont* call us to line up and wait or depart. Because I assume if they don’t call me , there is some issue ATC/traffic etc that I don’t know about.
@@Micg51 I agree. I now fly a Sovereign. Many times (especially at smaller airports) you have to call the controller and tell him you’re ready. It’s a new and younger crowd now and the training is not the same when I got hired after the Patco strike in ‘81.
I agree 100% with this. The only exception in my experience is where I'm currently stationed. The company ramp is literally right next to the taxiway and runway so we're still running our taxi/before takeoff checklists by the time we reach the hold short line. If we use the opposite runway we're ready way before we get there and we'll call up tower while we're still rolling towards the line so we don't have to stop.
You can really recognize enthusiasm when a grown man makes engine sounds when describing how cool it sounds😂 I love it and can 100% relate!
they truly do sound amazing, especially the few military turboprops from the 1950s, if you wanna hear it there's a youtube video "Westland Wyvern on deck HMS Illustrious" with a flyby like 50 seconds in, it's 1950s audio quality but still really cool
😂😂🤣😅 yes. Genuine enthusiasm is an awesome thing, truly. Plus the information was well presented and explained.
Yeah, it's so many peoples desire to find a job or task or hobby that even the work you put in learning or doing it feels like play.
Fun fact: earlier in the career of the Fairchild A10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”), they discovered firing that massive 30mm tended to cause engine flame outs, just from all the gunpowder residue getting sucked in to the engines. Nowadays, the gun trigger is wired into the igniter circuitry, so when the pilot fires the gun, the igniters come on, thus avoiding flame outs.
Ex Navy AC here. The warthog is my favorite plane. I never knew about flameout issues but it makes sense.
Thank you for your service.
@@jimclemmer1223 Thank you for your comment.
This is THE goldilocks video - precise explanations, clear structure, enthusiastic delivery. Awesome work.
Thank you! Really nice of you to say. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
ikr!! everything's done in a methodical manner in detail but also in a way that layman can understand! Already subbed and heading to another video.
An hour filming and another hour in studio/edit for every minute of final content is about right. You're doing things professionally.
Well… this is the most informative video on how to fly a turbo prop I have ever seen! I feel like I could take off in one after seeing this video. Good job and great work. And yeah, I’m a videographer, so I know the work that goes into this stuff. It’s mind blowing most people can’t relate to
Awesome! Thanks so much. I appreciate that.
this was the best explanation of turboprop operation than anything I ever saw...other well known creators go through the procedures but never explained what ITT etc has anything to do with anything
I agree with @gveduccio
I have flown a Caravan for nearly twenty years and am keeping this video flagged to share widely.
ITT is the "please don't melt the turbine blades" meter.
Turbines are a dynamic system that require air flow in order to work. So the turbine needs to be turning with continual flowing air in order to operate at all. The starter gets the engine turning enough to sustain a flowing combustion-- fresh air is being drawn through the intake stage blades faster than a combustion front would travel. At this point you can start burning fuel, and the combusted hot gases are pushed out the exhaust via inertia. This initially produces a relatively small amount of torque as the expanding gas flow pushes against the turbine blades... and a LARGE amount of heat. A cold turbine will absorb some of this heat, but the only thing removing the heat is the air continuously flowing through the engine. The initial torque makes the turbine's inlet blades start to spin faster, which in turn reinforces the continuous air flow and increases its volume. More air volume means more oxygen and cooling. More oxygen and a safe temperature allows the controller to increase fuel flow, which reinforces the loop. At this point a little bit of extra fuel increases air flow a lot. If everything goes well eventually the controller stops increasing fuel flow, and the engine reaches an equilibrium at low idle. The ITT at idle will generally be pretty close to the operating minimum. At this point the ratio of cooling air to heat produced is very high, and we can relax a bit.
If anything disrupts this feedback loop during startup, often the first indication is a rising ITT. Maybe damaged intake blades aren't pulling in air as efficiently as expected, or there's resistance in the turbine bearings, or the fuel injection system isn't spraying a nice mist that burns quickly. This needs to be managed immediately. At best the turbine blades get a bit too hot and need early inspection for cracks or warping. In the worst case a disrupted airflow can result in an uncontrolled fire.
Before and during startup, ITT helps you understand whether you'll be able to safely start the engine without setting it on fire or otherwise damaging it. After shutting down on the ground, the engine often needs to cool down a bit before restarting it. A higher initial ITT (heat soaked turbine) means less margin for error on startup. If it's close enough to limits you can play tricks with running the starter a bit to push cooling air through before introducing fuel, but sometimes you just need to wait.
In normal flight regimes, ITT is similar to CHT on a piston engine. Higher airflow volume (airspeed) and cooler ambient air will generally make ITT go down. Requesting more thrust via the power lever generally makes ITT go up. So if your ITT is too high in level flight or a climb, you're pushing the engine beyond its design limits and should reduce power. If it's abnormally high in a normal descent, this may indicate an engine fire and you should probably cut fuel.
Fantastic description. Thanks for adding to the discussion here.
Thanks for the video from a CFI, and former airline pilot.
Good fun, and helpful for my students transitioning to a Regional.
Thanks, as a piston pilot this clears up the mystery of starting and running a turbo-prop.
I only fly in flight simulator, but I just started flying the Cessna 208 after upgrading from the 172 and this video really helped me understand the power settings. Great video! Thanks
I started in a sim and just got my license 2 weeks ago. Hope you take an intro flight sometime, may change your life!!!
This is also why I find this video very informative!
“I only play call of duty but watching this Iraq war footage really helped my K/D… Thanks!”
As a GA pilot of 4 seaters, I have often thought about how turbos work. Thanks for this very informative video
Thanks for the explanation of the beta sound. I've heard it but never knew exactly what it was. Again, your videos are awesome, and have helped me out so much on my aviation journey.
Yeah, love watching the Dash-8's landing and going into reverse or beta.
15:17 You did good man! This is a really good format and delivery. To the chase yet layman and no bloat. Subbed!
This is by far the best video I’ve ever seen when it comes to explain turboprops! I’m currently an student pilot flying the PA28 but also doing Caravan simulation and this video is just like a tutorial! Don’t stop doing these! Greetings from Costa Rica
Awesome, thank you! Glad it is helpful.
That's a perfect video! Everything thoroughly explained, using simple examples, with memory hints, examples and real-world flying. This is the first vid I've seen of yours, and I'm impressed! Thanks for the time and effort in putting this together- much appreciated!
Engine sounds... yes, we've all done it! Grown men make engine sounds - it's what we do and who we are!
Thanks for your kind words and I'm glad you found it so helpful! A lot of work went into this video so I'm glad you like how it turned out!
Nice video overall, pretty detailed. I just have a couple things to add from a turbine pilot (PC12 and King Airs):
1. it's not really a throttle, it's a power lever. You're controlling fuel flow into the engine, not the throttle butterfly valve/air flow. It's also a prop lever - in the beta range, the fuel flow is not being changed by the lever, it's just changing the prop blade angle. In reverse, the power lever becomes a prop and fuel controller combined, which is limited by the setting of the condition lever. So if you want max reverse power, high idle is required.
2. power lever and prop lever management is actually the same flow as a piston aircraft. When increasing prop RPM, set props first then power. If decreasing prop RPM, trim power first then props. Torque will rise as NP decreases just like in a piston engine.
3. starting is more complicated than you let on for the majority of PT6 aircraft, and there are many different ways they start. In the King Air, everything is manual. We must disengage the starter after 50% NG and we have to set high idle on the single running engine to start the sister engine. The generators have to also manually be engaged and checked using the bus voltage selector and manually opening and closing the gen ties and bus safety ties. In the Pilatus NG/NGX, we just push a button and introduce fuel. In the NGX the fuel is automatic. But we still have to monitor the starters, igniters, generators, ITT, and fuel pumps. Also, beginning ITT is a huge component of starting a hot engine after dropping off pax or what have you. The starter motor must be "dry motored" until the ITT falls to within safe limits. If you introduce fuel and the ITT is 300 C, you're gonna over-temp the engine when the secondary igniters pop off. Also, if you do hot start or hung start, you should dry motor the engine for a few seconds to reduce ITT and purge fuel, otherwise you could have a fire. In any of these instances, starter limits become a real concern on every start.
4. many PT6/turbine aircraft have an extensive runup check. The King Air runup checklist is over 60 items long. We have to check autofeather, prop governors (overspeed and normal), rudder boost, pressurization, exercise the prop governors, auto crossfeed, etc, etc, etc. The runup checklist even has 4-5 sub-checklists for specific items like the autofeather check.
For the PT6A engines with the hydro-mechanical fuel controls, as in the Kodiak, The power lever (PLA) requests (sets) an NG. The FCU is really an NG governor, providing fuel to get to the NG requested by the power lever position. The power achieved at a particular NG is a function of OAT (or more correctly, T1 - temperature at the inlet screen), altitude, bypass door position and engine accessory loading (and engine wear).
The maximum power in reverse is limited by either the maximum reverse NG set on the Fuel Control, or maximum reverse Prop speed - whichever is reached first. The condition lever position does not affect the maximum reverse NG which can be reached - but this CAN BE limited by the maximum reverse prop speed setting (nominally 96% max NP). If maximum reverse NP is reached, Py bleed occurs at the prop governor, to limit the fuel flow from the FCU (and hence keep NP from increasing further).
Note that the Fuel Control and Prop Governor are not isochronous (constant speed) governors - they are droop governors, which can be noted (especially for NG) as loads are applied to the engine (cabin air conditioning and accessories etc.).
All good stuff, really. Great engines, too!
By the way - the original post was really good - I've just added details of the FCU and CSU (prop governor) operation).
Interesting. For Twin Otter, even the -400, after start checks are pretty quick, similar to this video. Starter switch is spring-loaded, so you have to hold it, and just release when you get to 50-ish or stabilized Ng. No high or low idle, fuel is either off or on. ITT (T5) limit for fuel intro is 150C, which is only an issue after a short shutdown. Boost pumps on before start, off after shutdown below 5% Ng. At our company, overspeed is daily but autofeather is once a week, so we'll need a minute at the hold point before the first takeoff, otherwise we're ready upon reaching. That's about it. Twin Otter is about as simple as it gets.
@@janhawranke8064 great detail!
@@jemez_mtn I'm definitely learning that PT6s have a very wide array of automation and simplicity/complexity. Thanks for the info on the Twin Otter!
Awesome video. Very helpful. Starting my commercial pilot career in Nicaragua and this helped a lot understabding the PT6A turbo prop engine. Many thanks!
I've been curious about turbo prop engines and their different startup/operation procedures. Your video was very clearly explained and illustrated to show exactly how it is done. I'm certain this video will continue getting views for years to come. Thanks!
I’ve tried watching lots of videos about turboprops, i still don’t quite get it, until this video.
Thank you for explaining it in such practical manner
Hey I am a corporate pilot flying the Embraer Praetor 500 as well as a flight instructor in Canada. Your contents are just great.
I used to fly the PC12-NG and it reminds me its greatness as well. Thanks a lot for your great contents.
Thank you I appreciate that!!
11:28 Thanks for explaining the Beta sound.
I've heard that quite a few times on a Twin Otter.
You know what, I WILL subscribe. I'm a paramedic and i've been bouncing the idea of eventually getting my pilot's license around and a couple of my paramedic friends are also doing the same thing so videos like these are extremely valuable. I mean TRULY TRULY invaluable. Planes have always been a fleeting goal of mine ever since I was in elementary school. I would rather spend my time in the school library reading about f16s and other cool planes, thinking how inaccessible it would be so I always just wrote it off as impossible but now that I'm a paramedic(also something i wrote off as impossible), I'm starting to see that I CAN get where I want to be in life and youtube channels like these massively help me
You might also consider becoming a flight paramedic. The you can be around airplanes and get paid.
First off, THANK YOU for your service as a paramedic! You guys are heroes. Secondly, I'm glad it was so encouraging to you. It's a lot of work becoming a pilot but as you know from becoming a paramedic, with hard work and consistency it's definitely doable!
Great video! The visual aids you put on the screen made this very easy to understand!
Kodiak is an awesome aircraft! It refuses to fully stall and can land on a football field! So much fun
18:08 auto relight kit , on MD5ooD with allison 250c20 🦋
Great video, it's amazing the resources kids have these days lol.. I think of torque as how hard the engine is pushing against the prop. At a given Ng, prop set to high RPM/low pitch will be easier to push so torque is lower. Slow down the prop by increasing the pitch and bite, it's harder to push so torque goes up. One way I have my students picture it is riding a bicycle... low gear is like prop set to max rpm, easier to spin. You use this to get the max power, like going up a hill on your bike. Higher gear you obviously have to push harder, and you use this when you're not trying to push your max power. It's not a perfect translation to what's happening in a turboprop, but gives them a picture of what the engine is feeling with different setting and why. Again, very nice job, I wish we had this kind of thing when I was going through training.
Excellent video and explanation! I have about 20 hours of turbo prop time and thousand of piston and still never really understood the purpose of the condition levers. This video and your explanation cleared that up. Thanks!
Awesome! Thank you!
Hi, not only because i love Kodiak Airplanes, but i love this video full of passion and share of enjoyement !!!
I really liked your startup explaination. Watching other UA-camr's start a turbine engine seemed mysterious and risky,. You made it simple.
Awesome! I'm glad it helped!
That was an outstanding summary. I'm just an amateur sim flyer, but I like small turboprops, and this is the best instructional video I've seen. Sure, there will be differences in other planes, but this is still a great foundation of the controls and instruments. Thanks a million.
Awesome, I'm glad you found it so helpful! Thanks for sharing
Great video. I like how the most replayed part is the OoOWOOowOOOrrrr sounds
Living my dream. Enjoy it! Looking forward to the next one.
I flew the T-6 for 5 months, which has the same PT6 engine. There are a handful of differences from controls (probably because it's a military trainer). Our torque is represented as a percentage as well. We did have a Np display which was percentage as well, but we only monitored that when we were doing our engine checks.
We didn't have a prop lever or fuel condition lever, only a power control lever (PCL), as there were systems onboard that allowed full throttle movement at any rate without engine damage. We also didn't have an emer fuel lever, but we did have a switch that turned our PCL into a straight throttle.
Another difference- on takeoff, we did firewall the PCL, and we weren't concerned about overtorque.
We also don't have beta, but when you're at idle you're basically beta.
I used to fly an EMB-120 that had the big Pratt & Whitney PW118s - 1800hp per engine - and there are some notable differences that I think are worth pointing out.
1. Everything but temperature was listed as a percentage
2. We only had a power lever and a condition lever. Low idle, high idle, and cutoff were actually on the condition levers.
3. Torque/temp limiting. After takeoff, we were torque limited to about 10,000ft. Between 10,000ft and FL180 we were temperature limited. After FL180 we could start bringing the power back in because the temps were coming down with the colder air and higher TAS at altitude.
Always thought that was interesting. I’ve never flown anything with a PT6
Excellent video. I am only a student pilot in the c172. I love to fly that plane in MSFS!
Woah great video. I see why missionary bush pilot only ever uses beta range now visiting those random bush strips.
This is a great video! I have some flight time in a conquest 2 that does have the torque limiters, but our SOPs are to act like they don’t exist in case they fail. Also helps when switching to a plane without them
Great video! And ya, the sound a turbine makes at startup is sublime! I want it as my ringtone.
Excellent video. I follow Missionary Bush Pilot flying his Kodiak 100 in PNG and he details all the steps he is taking.
Great video brother. I’m enjoying watching your journey. I loved my time flying turboprops. For me it was Dash-8s. Very fun capable airplanes.
Just got started but the pacing and visuals are absolutely on point. Piston driver here with a tiny amount or turbine knowledge, really excited to watch this. Great job!
Thank you! A lot of work went into this so I appreciate you mentioning it and I'm glad it was helpful!
Great video and superb explanation with detailed graphics. Keep up the great content. Happy landings from Germany
Thank you! Glad you enjoy the channel and content!
I fly both a caravan and twin otter for my operator. They're both PT6 powered turboprops but we fly them a bit differently. We'll set the prop lever on the caravan for different phases of flight based on RPM. On the otter we have our prop RPM in percentages. We set them to 80% on climbout with the prop levers and they basically go all the way back to the gate right before feathering in cruise. The drag felt when the prop levers go full forward for landing is INSANE. You slow down so much. Caravan has low and high idle for the condition levers however the otter doesn't. It's thrown full forward during startup and stays there.
I've had WAY more issues with starting up a piston engine than a turboprop. For me, piston engines are a thing of the past I probably won't go back to.
Fantastic video, man. Thank you so much for making it.
Thank you!
Great presentation! Thank you
Thank you, glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for all you rhard work making videos!
This is excellent content! I have a SEL PPL and probably will never fly a turboprop, but I was curious about it and your plain (pun intended) language explanation was great. Thank you.
Thank you! It took a long time to make this video so I'm glad you enjoyed it!
You're a good teacher. You have earned a subscriber.
Thanks so much, welcome to the channel!
Thanks!
Thank you! Nice of you
I spent years flying PC12's, TBM's and Caravan's. When transitioning, I remember thinking, this is stupid simple compared to managing piston engines! It either starts or call the mechanic and go drink coffee while they look into it. Caravan is a great airplane, but always suffered from a need for more power at gross weight. Never flew a Kodiak, but looks similar!
PC12 and TBM both have a torque limiter, but in reality it's so easy to manage torque/temp it's rare to bump against it, Great vid, thanks!
Which did you prefer, the PC12 or TBM? The PC12 is a bit slower than the TBM but other than that, it seems to beat it in every other category - it can land in some awesome spots and has amazing interior space. Both those planes look so awesome, that's badass you had the opportunity to fly both of them. Curious to hear which one you like more, if you happen to see my message here.
13:43min were you just departed Love Field runaway 13R and you are looking west over Trinity River green belt? I fly a lot from there seems familiar.
I appreciate what you say about production time...yesterday I used the voice over feature in Adobe Premiere to explain each slide separately...takes a good amount of time to do it right
This was a great video, thanks for the explanations on each gauge.
Awesome - glad it helped!
Ive never flown a plane but dream about it someday. Played alot of microsoft flight simulator this video was incredibly helpful to learn about turboprops
One of the better videos I have seen
thank you!
Great video! I just finished my instrument rating and want to start my CPL soon, I hope I can fly a turboprop one day 😂
Love the simplified explanations !!! You're pretty easy to understand and I appreciate that 😁
Been flying a 421 and might go to a turbo prop sometime so I like the content, hence I just subscribed 😉
Thank you! I spend a lot of time behind the scenes trying to work and rework the way I say things to make it as simple as I can, so I appreciate that.
Powa lever! Treat the PT6 nice, keep it cool on all startups (especially on a restart soon after shutdown, ITT should be 140 or below before introducing fuel). Don't exceed the limits, and keep for out of it. That's all you need to know, flying them is an absolute joy
Awsome video, can’t wait for the caravan
Such a great explanation. Subscribed.
Welcome to the channel! Thank you for subscribing!
Good information, and that red beard is FIRE.
Haha, thanks so much!
Good comment only to say watch out for temperature inversion after take off as ITT can shoot up as you climb into warmer air temp ,so watch out for this .
I only have more than 8000 hours of PT6A time flying different variants of that engine. You’ve done a great job of explaining the basics to the masses. But there’s much much more to this than just scratching the surface. Some of what you said can be misleading. Great Video though!
Your videos are always well produced, great job!
Thanks so much, glad you enjoy them!
Color me jealous here. Congrats on flying a great plane.
What an amazing video! So instructive, thanks mate!
thank you!
Thanks for explaining that sound that Beta makes!! Subbed!
Awesome, welcome to the channel! Glad to have you!
Nice Video! YUP! Love the sound of Beta!
One advantage of high idle is the reduced spool up time when increasing thrust.
Great content. Easy to watch, easy to listen to. Well done 👏🏻. Fist bumped 👊🏻🙂
Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video!
The Fuel Condition and Emergency Power levers are engine specific. The biggest changes, ignoring the engine gauges, is how you fly them. Firstly, they are really easy to fly. Secondly, especially if pressurised, you fly them flat out. Set the power, climb until it won’t, cruise as fast as it will and descend close to Vmo. Job done. I’ve never worried about fuel tables as no matter what I did It burnt 300 kg per hour per engine (even the maths is easy).
What a great video! It amazes me that these things aren't more automated. Simple things like the throttle. The engines ECU should limit actual output based on torque and/or ITTs.
Many turbine aircraft do! For example in the PC12, the older models have a mechanical torque limiter (which works most of the time), and the newest NGX has a full FADEC auto fueling and torque control. Even the start is automated.
@@GregoryEvansRacing yeah I know some have it, but this is a pretty new airplane, so weird it's not the norm.
@@topgunm it's probably just certification and manufacturers not willing to go through the process to add those features. There are some benefits to simplicity too.
thank's a lot for this good explanation ! very informative and clear !
Thank you, glad you found it helpful!
Great vid man! Too bad I didn't get to see you more when I was at Galaxy, got a new job as a CFI. See you around the Bravo!
Thank you! Congrats on your CFI role, that's awesome.
Torque limiters are great! When they work! They essentially bleed off air from the fuel air ratio making the airplane feel like its at a higher altitude and limit the power that way.
Also another note is the king air gauges are a bit different. Torque goes to percentage, NG goes to N1 and props are never really referred to as Np.
Great video! Loved the bridge
Thanks a lot, thats all i need, now i go back practising in Flight Simulator 😂
You got one more subscription to your channel today. Thank you for the explanation
Awesome, welcome to the channel! Excited you are here!
Wow can’t wait to hear time spent on learning to fly please do tell.
Great job. Thanks 🎸
Fantastic presentation, and graphics.
Thank you!
Not knowing anything about C.S. prop.. just that Torque explanation gauge made me understand the concept better than using the pressure thing... I am sure I can Fly one of those now..
Really enjoyed this video. Just looked at the cost to do a turbine rating. 😅 I’ll have to keep flying bug smashers for now
Just remember to turn on the inertial separator when close to the ground to prevent FOD. Then at altitude you can turn it off and ITT should drop. Everything I know about the P&W PT6 I learned from watching @steveo1kinevo
Extremely well done. Thank you
Thank you!
fantastic video, thanks
Great video Charlie. The Kodiak looks like a blast. Thank you for the breakdown of the starting sequence. Bonus points for the blooper at the end. 😂 Great stuff. Keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friend 🇺🇸🛩️
Thanks so much! Haha yeah I liked that blooper... my wife was giving me the most confused face. Glad you found it helpful!
@@AirplaneAcademy I get a lot of those looks from my wife too.
This is cool info.
I know at the big airports and large jets the fuel is ordered, filled, and billed by pounds as it accounts for the significant thermal expansion from cold and hot weather.
However, I think the fuel truck is may actually be using a meter on the plane rather than the truck. (There are duplicates of the cockpit fuel guages next to the single-point underwing fueling port so they know which tanks are full.) Although using the customer's guage is a little strange from a business/trust perspective.
Thank you Charlie. Great video.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed!
Well done. Thank you.
Love your video's. Keep up the great work.
Thank you, glad you enjoy!
Thank you.
It also realized that I am pretty effective doing 1 minute of flying material in about one hour, so… feel free to see mine.
I love yours!
Really interesting and clear video. I have one question, why do you start the engine with the prop feathered? It has always seemed strange to me as I would have thought that starting with the prop in beta would put less torque onto the starter motor and turbine, but I'm sure there must be a good reason for it
The props on a turboprop will go to feather when the oil pressure disappears and the spring in the prop hub will set the feather condition. When starting a PT6, even with the prop levers full forward, it takes a while for the oil to develop enough pressure to unfeather the prop. And actually, many PT6 aircraft will fully feather the props when sitting stationary while running - King Airs do this all the time. It's completely fine for a turbine to have the props completely feather while idling indefinitely, as long as ITT stays within limits.
@@GregoryEvansRacing Thanks, that makes perfect sense now
Awesome video. Learnt a lot.
Love your videos. Keep it up!
Thank you, glad you enjoy them!
Very good
Maybe i missed it in the video, but one thing I'd include is the fact that there are many different types of gas turbines.
Turboprops and helicopters pretty much always utilize the "gas producer" type of turbine which has two separate shafts, one high speed shaft for the "gas producer" section which runs the compressor section and produces the high pressure gasses that power the lower speed "power" turbine. The prop is connected to the lower speed, "power" turbine which turns at a much more resonable speed speed for a prop (though there still has to be a reducing transmission between the power turbine and the prop to reduce the speed further).
38,000 RPM is a ridiculously high speed. Only the gas producer section can run at speeds that high, but since that section is not connected to the prop in any way, its not an issue.
Does the Kodiak have an inertial separator?
Yes it does. I debated including that in this video as it felt like it started to get into the weeds and I didn't want the video to be completely overwhelming haha, but I will probably cover it in another video.
Awesome bird, my favorite ✈️👍🏻