Weight is critical on the Vikings as far as I can remember otherwise runway 27L at Heathrow is required! :roll: Fly with real weather on and the huge tail feels similar in size to a row of houses so staying on the runway becomes an issue which is odd as the Varsity doesn't seem so open to outside influences. Put it this way.. the DC3 feels more like an Extra300 when pitted against the Viking.
I'm currently stuck between a rock and a hard place in a place I could do without being (Kirkwall) and running out of maint hours/percentage due to a 30ft-wide runway at Tingwall (don't go there guys!!) with too many places left to visit but not enough percentage to do it.. if all that makes sense. The plain language version is that when I can sort my life out and agree a plan of action to get back to Glasgow and my beloved Dove and a suitably low percentage left on the Rapide to put her into maint.. I'll throw a little more time at the Viking.
For sure.. the Viking is going to have a shortish operating life between maint periods as it doesn't take too kindly to being flown with kid gloves as is required by FlyNET. I'm well out of practice mind you so I'm hopeful that as with most things.. practice will make perfect
I tried her out of Pompey this afternoon with the default pax load (2.54t) and 256kg of fuel (94gallons) and got her in and out without difficulty.. quite the little kitten in fact She'd be no good out of Pompey on max range flights (2.4t max fuel) but that wouldn't be the case anyway.
