As the Blackhawk –powered Cessna C208B, operated by Flitecare Air Charters, started its takeoff roll, everyone on the ground was waiting in anticipation to see how quickly this Caravan would lift off the runway at Wonder boom Airport, Pretoria.

This was the first test flight after the Blackhawk conversion was completed by Ben Esterhuizen at 208 Aviation.

“Does the Blackhawk conversion really make a difference to the Caravans flight performance?” was probably the one question on everyone’s mind. Emile Dellieu,ATP pilot with approximately 2500 hours just on Caravans and a Test pilot Rating, was sitting in the left seat and Jim Allmon ,president and CEO of Blackhawk ,was in the right seat.

As the caravan lifted off the runway with one of the shortest takeoff rolls ever seen performed by a Caravan at the airport, and entered into a steep, steady climb, all you heard from those watching, was “Wow!”

But a test flight like this does not start without its problems. There was a hold up when a fault was discovered in the new avionics system and this caused a rather long delay in the test flight which had to be rescheduled a number of times during the day.

This delay gave onlookers a chance to look inside the cowling and inspect Ben Esterhuizens impeccable workmanship and see what Blackhawk has packed inside the cowling of the Caravan.

Allmon also used this opportunity to educate many of the onlookers by giving them a more detailed explanation as to why and what the Blackhawk did. This session was very informative and gave spectators a good insight to what a conversion like this entails.

Eventually the avionics problem was resolved and the Caravan was pre-flighted for its maiden flight with the Blackhawk conversion, followed by an eventful start up and taxi to the threshold.

Then the Caravan took off and climbed effortlessly to 11000 ft where various power tests were performed and evaluated. The climb looked impressive from the ground and on return from the test flight, Dellieu was asked what his rate of climb was. All he said, with this huge smile on his face, was that, at one point, they were climbing at around 2000 ft/minute.

The flight test was a huge success and there were smiles and congratulations all round. Almost immediately the cowling was opened and the PT6-42A was inspected for oil leaks and any unwanted signs of damage.

In celebration of this successful Blackhawk conversion, which is the first in the world outside the USA, Flitecare Air Charters arranged a weekend away for some invited guests and the media at a private game lodge in Timbavati area. This meant that I was able to experience flying in the Caravan with new Blackhawk conversion.

With two crew and six passengers, we took off from Wonder boom Airport on the Saturday morning early and headed east at a cruise altitude of 11000 ft .We cruised with a maximum ground speed of 200knots towards the game lodge.

On arrival and shortly after breaking cloud, we landed effortlessly on the game farms grass strip and then waited for everyone else to arrive. After a wet, but relaxing weekend, Sunday was home time and so arrived the end of a very historical moment in the history of the C208 Caravan in South Africa.

The official launch was held a few days later at 208 Aviation, which is still the only AMO in Africa qualified to perform the Blackhawk conversion on the C208 .During the event, owner Francios Naude treated all the guests to a short but impressive display with the Caravan.

This display again demonstrated the absolute brute power the Blackhawk conversion packs. He demonstrated the short takeoff ability of the Caravan and the impressive rate of climb as well as performing a very short landing.

Small wonder that Blackhawk claims it has brought a new dimension to flying Caravans in Africa.

Honeywell Joins The Party

If you want to see action in the turboprop engine field in Africa these days, then the place to be is Wonder boom Airport,Pretoria,where,in the past few months, a number of new hangars have been erected with more planned and in which a lot of the action is taking place.

It may be the only capital city in the world without an international airport, but Pretoria’s mainly general aviation airport has many development plans in store for it, some of which have already reached fruition.

But the big news at the moment is the upsurge in turboprop engine conversions and overhaul facilities at the airport. Elsewhere in this edition are stories about the first Cessna Caravan in South Africa completing its Blackhawk engine conversion and undergoing its test flight programme, and the opening of a major Pratt& Whitney Canada PT6 overhaul and maintenance facility.

However, the latest development is the arrival from the United States of the first Texas Turbine Honeywell TPE331-12RJ turboprop engine in Africa.

The initial conversion is being undertaken of a Cessna 208 Caravan operated by Tanzanian scheduled airline, Flight link, which is based at Dar es Salaam International Airport. The work is being handled at Wonder boom Airport by Aerotech Maintenance ,a company jointly owned by Andre Pretorius and Paul Oelofsen with Marius Crause as chief engineer.

Jeff Evans, of Texas Turbines, who visited South Africa recently, said that his company was “very excited” to have Flight link be its first customer on the continent of Africa.

In terms of numbers only, turboprop conversion is still very much in its infancy in Africa at present with most of the action being in the United States, Europe and Canada.However, that is not to say that the skills and expertise involved in the conversions are lacking- far from it.

Whereas elsewhere twin-engine aircraft are currently at the top of the conversion list, in Africa it will be the Cessna Caravan which is most likely to be the aircraft type to undergo most of these conversions, given the large number of these airborne workhorse s used by airlines-both large and small –and charter operators as people –and cargo-movers in areas where road and rail networks are few and far between, or leave much to be desired.

Honeywell TPE331-12JR is being offered to Caravan owners as a replacement for their aircrafts existing Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114A engines. Having sold over 30 such conversions throughout the world, Texan Turbines which builds the TPE331-12JR, claims that its conversion gives a 225 shp advantages (900 as against 675 shp flat-rated) over the existing engine which results in a gross weight 1500 ft/min rate of climb compared with the original aircrafts 925 ft/min.

The maximum cruising speed jumps to 198 knots as against the original 175 knots (both at 10000 feet).

The downside is that this higher cruising speed has a fuel flow of 430 lbs/hr as against 396, but the efficiency of the TPE331-12JR shows itself with a 30 lbs/hour fuel burn saving when cruising at the same speed as the stock aircraft.

The Honeywell engines TBO (time before overhaul) of between 5000 and 7000 hours compared with the 3600 hours of the original engine and an increase in useful load of 202 pounds (91,6kg) ,are among the additional advantages of the engine conversion.

The Super van 900, which is the name being given to the Honeywell engine-powered Caravan ,has a takeoff distance listed as 825 feet (251 metres) as against the standard Caravan requires 2500 feet ( 762 m ) to do the same job.

Landing distances are much the same, the Super van 900s being 925 feet (282m) as against the 950 feet (290m) of the unconverted aircraft.

Clearly, these figures give the converted Caravan an advantage when operating in any environment, especially a bush one with the habitual short, rough strips.

In addition, with its rate of climb advantage, the Honeywell engine is claimed to enable the Super van 900 to reach a cruising level of 12000 feet in 11 minutes against the originals 25, burning 87 pounds of fuel against 160 and be only 22 nautical miles from takeoff, while the original Caravan needs 59 nautical miles to get there.

Stall speeds are identical at 61 knots and the PT6A-114A has a slight endurance edge of 5,6 hours at maximum cruise speed and standard tanks as against the 5,3 hours of its TPE331-12JT counterpart, or only an 18-minute difference.However,the maximum range increases with the Honeywell engine due to the higher speed.

When cruising at more conservative speeds, the Honeywell can stretch the range by as much as 200nm at 15000 feet over that of the stock Caravan.

Both aircraft have a maximum gross weight of 3062 kg, but Texas Turbines offers an optional kit which pushes the gross weight up to 41110 kg on the Super van 900. The kit includes strengthened undercarriage and bigger tyres.

With the modifications of aircraft to be able to be efficient, reliable, effective and cost effective this gives the operators an advantage of cost savings in operational costs thus also enabling the hourly and per mile cost affordable. With the new technology the manufacturers are able to provide assist the aircraft operators to be able to make profit through savings in fuel, low maintenance costs. The Caravan C208B has proved to be the most economical and reliable aircraft which operates in remote areas and in unpaved airfields thus being the most reliable aircraft for operations in these areas.

Anthony Juma is the Editor and Senior Aviation Director at Wings Over Africa Aviation Limited. <br><a href='http://www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com’> This is an Air Charter Company that specializes on Private Charter Flights| Aircraft Charters| Aircraft Leasing | Aircraft Hire & Flight Air News Kenya,Uganda,Tanzania,Rwanda,Burundi,South Sudan,Somalia,DR Congo, Eastern & Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa ,West Africa ,Africa & Globally. </a> The website has guided thousands of travelers to achieve their dream holiday. For more information and guidance, visit the site at http://www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/our-fleet.html</a>