GREAT VIDEO!! I Worked for Allegheny Airlines in 1971 and this was the first plane I worked as a ramp agent in Albany NY....I loved them they were so fast and climbed out quick! Also worked DC-9-30 and BAC1-11's!! Retired 34 years later!! I Was truly BLESSED!
Interesting I was the crew chief on their first Beech 99 way back in late ‘91 early ‘92 when I worked in Peterborough, Canada. Talked a couple of times with Craig about going to work there as a pilot/engineer. Alas, it didn’t happen.
GREAT video as seen from my office seat. I loved that airplane, I almost forgot how loud the 28 volt DC hyd pump was located in the nose wheel well. She had a mechanical hyd pump driven by the port engine and a AC 208 volt mounted high in the starboard wheel well. TO power was 976 turb inlet temp I think and climb was about 900 and cruise was 856. loved that old bird, beautiful in flight. 15 degree was normal TO flap setting and 17/28 for approach and landing. I haven't been in that seat since 1982.
Can't find any reference to an accident near Kapiti involving a CV580. There was a non fatal crash near Pitt Island involving an Air Chathams Cessna around about then.
Love this plane. A bit noisy but what a flyer. Like the cockpit layout, very convenient. I'm pretty sure that GPS is mandatory in all aircraft now. Yep, that was a hot startup. Those engines were humming right along, very smooth.
The run to the Chathams is often referred to as Air Chatams International run and as for Wellington airport it is often said you need to be carrier qualified just land there most days especially when the Southern is blowing.
Thank you for posting this. I like to research anything about the Convair. I find it so cool that this bird is still flying and hopefully making someone some $$. I'm still unsure how one finds the parts to keep it flying since they are so old, plus how/were do pilots train for the cv-580's? Be safe and bless you for sharing this video.
Air Chathams have what I think is the only CV580 simulator in the world. Pilots come to them for training. They also have a good stock of spares. Perhaps any rare parts are custom made - costly though?
Johnny Rocco - All of us who have cared for historic aircraft share your parts concern. Fortunately, for the CV-580, the 501-D engine is still in wide military use. Also the US military used variants of this airframe (with piston engines) and the military ordered large parts stockpiles as a matter of course. These parts are auctioned off to civilians when the airplane is taken out of service. My general observation is that what seems like a small army of people devote themselves to the preservation, overhaul or even production of parts for historic aircraft so that popular aircraft like the CV-580 are quite likely to be adequately supplied for awhile. I know all this is a generalization but I can personally say that parts have been fairly forthcoming even when I needed them for an aircraft was almost 60 years old!
Kelowna Flightcraft owns the type certificate and they have or can make a lot of the parts since they bought the tooling, jigs, and drawings from Canadair who bought it from General Dynamics. They have a simulator as well.
Sure aren't going very fast. From another video of these, it looked like the first officer had a hell of a time bringing it in. Are these actually hard to land depending on the windspeed on the runway ? I guess any plane can be for that fact.
Thanks for a great video. Any idea how much airframe time and how many pressurization cycles? I recall riding as a passenger several times on the P & W R2800 powered DAL CV440 between KJAN and KSHV back in the mid-late ‘50’s. Child’s fare back in those days was a princely $14 US or so. Thanks again.
No idea about Airframe time or cycles. There is some history here: www.aussieairliners.org/convair/zk-cib/zkcib.html They have retired this aircraft type now, replaced by ATR72-500s. If you message Air Chathams via their Facebook page, I'm sure they will be happy to share more info about the Aircraft. They were pretty good when I asked for info regarding painting schemes, etc for a Model I'm making.
vole ese tipo de avion mas de 1000 horas desde panama a sur america, las antillas, centro america y mas q nada colombia y san antonio del tachira en venezuela .
What's the all the noise inside other than the engines ? He turned something on right before he fired the first one up. I guess it was after, the shielded toggle switch on the lower left. Something to do with cabin pressurizing possibly ?
Chas S There is a start arm switch on the copilot's right hand panel. cabin pressure is over there also. The guarded switch is the ground turbo compressor GTC for starting air. The switch to the left the was on and off again was the right fuel boost pump. I have not been in a 580 cockpit in 25 years. but I can probably start it blindfolded.
I saw 765 degrees C on that number two engine start up, I'd call that a Hot start. A cleaning of the P2 line on the paralleling valve would give you a cooler start.
Does seem that they are the same. I am an Electra fan and seeing the props on the Convair enticed me to watch this video. On decent, it looked like the 1st officer keep pointing to an engine gauge for #1. It was reading lower than the one for #2. Unfortunately, the picture was too unsteady to see what it was. Do you know?
Detroit Diesel has nothing to do with these engines. They were Allison.. now owned by Rolls Royce. The current Allison transmissions is no longer related.
Any idea of what the pilot does at 6:54 and at 36:01??, changes the engine sound and the pitch, is it caused by the red selector in the bottom that the pilot pulls??
