Why doesn Island Air Charters use the new Cessna Caravan Turboprop single-engine airplane on its routes?
The “new” Cessna Caravan (C-208) Turboprop aircraft only has one engine. The benefits of turboprop reliability are lost on an aircraft having only one engine, because the one prop installed on that one engine can fail too! While it is perfectly legal to – as a private individual – purchase an aircraft such as the single-engine Cessna Caravan, load up you friends, your family and all their worldly possessions, and then fly them all across the open spans of the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, Federal Aviation Regulation 135.183 prohibits charter companies such as Island Air Charters, from operating any single engine aircraft (be it turboprop, turbojet or piston powered) beyond the power-off glide ratio distance from any land mass. What this regulation means in lay terms is, when [not “if”] that single engine (or single prop) fails, the pilot must be able to glide the aircraft – without the engine running – to a [crash] landing on a dry piece of land. Crashing into the water, mere feet from t
The Cessna Caravan (C-208) Turboprop aircraft is arguably the best “back country” aircraft ever made, but it has one fatal flaw that makes it one of the worst choices for flying over water – it only has one engine. The benefits of turboprop reliability are lost on an aircraft that only has one engine, because there is absolutely no back-up for it when it fails. In a single engine aircraft, when any part of the engine; or any part of the propeller; or any part of the propeller drive mechanism; or any part of the numerous items that are driven by the engine and require the engine to “run” – fails – the aircraft becomes a glider, and contact with the earth is eminent. What makes matters worse is, the main internal components of the engine are extremely susceptible to salt-air corrosion – termed sulphidation – the inevitable product of flying it in South Florida and the Bahamas! To combat this problem, Pratt & Whitney Canada, the engine manufacturer, and Cessna, the aircraft manufacturer,
