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107-409: The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller -driven, short take-off and landing ( STOL ) aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada . It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver , including as a bush plane , but is overall a larger aircraft. The rugged single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven DHC-3 Otter

214-652: A PT6A , Walter 601 (manufactured in the Czech Republic ), or Garrett/Honeywell TPE331 -10, by Texas Turbine Conversions . The Walter M601 E-11 Turbine Engine conversion is manufactured and installed by Stolairus Aviation. A Polish PZL radial engine has also been fitted. Re-engined aircraft have been offered since the 1980s by Airtech Canada as the DHC-3/1000 using current-production 1,000 hp (745 kW) PZL ASz-62 IR radials. As of June 2019, there have been 119 incidents and accidents involving

321-464: A bent aluminium sheet for blades, thus creating an airfoil shape. They were heavily undercambered , and this plus the absence of lengthwise twist made them less efficient than the Wright propellers. Even so, this was perhaps the first use of aluminium in the construction of an airscrew. Originally, a rotating airfoil behind the aircraft, which pushes it, was called a propeller, while one which pulled from

428-473: A childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top, developed a model of feathers, similar to that of Launoy and Bienvenu, but powered by rubber bands. By the end of the century, he had progressed to using sheets of tin for rotor blades and springs for power. His writings on his experiments and models would become influential on future aviation pioneers. William Bland sent designs for his "Atmotic Airship" to

535-461: A craft that weighed 3.5 long tons (3.6 t), with a 110 ft (34 m) wingspan that was powered by two 360 hp (270 kW) steam engines driving two propellers. In 1894, his machine was tested with overhead rails to prevent it from rising. The test showed that it had enough lift to take off. One of Pénaud's toys, given as a gift by their father , inspired the Wright brothers to pursue

642-415: A few years later. At that point, the entire airline was officially renamed "Qantas Airways Limited" continuing the name and livery of the parent company with the only change being the change of by-line from "The Spirit of Australia" to "The Australian Airline" under the window line with the existing "Qantas" title appearing above. During its period as TAA, the company played a major part in the development of

749-416: A fixed-pitch prop once airborne. The spring-loaded "two-speed" VP prop is set to fine for takeoff, and then triggered to coarse once in cruise, the propeller remaining coarse for the remainder of the flight. After World War I , automatic propellers were developed to maintain an optimum angle of attack. This was done by balancing the centripetal twisting moment on the blades and a set of counterweights against

856-661: A form of socialisation by stealth. With the bill suitably amended to remove the monopoly provisions, the Australian National Airways Commission came into existence in February 1946. The commissioners themselves were prominent high-achievers, including the director-general of civil aviation, the deputy director, a Labor party luminary and former member of the Commonwealth Bank board, the director-general of posts and telegraphs, and

963-436: A full load of VIPs and just one paying passenger. The subsequent few years led to massive growth for the new airline. As post-war austerity gave way to a more affluent era, Australians were able to travel by air in ever-increasing numbers. Much of the growth in domestic aviation in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was dominated by the rivalry between the privately owned Ansett-ANA and the government-supported TAA. A major factor in

1070-520: A government-owned body, but was interested in setting up a "composite company", the details of which proposal remained unclear. Eventually, the ANAC proceeded with the original plan, to build an airline from scratch. One of the first people hired was Lester Brain , then the operations manager at Qantas . Brain had 22 years of pioneering aviation experience behind him and was regarded as the man behind Qantas' reputation for technical excellence. He applied for

1177-418: A job. Any suggestions? After some discussion, it was agreed that the airline was not ready. It had a name, some excellent pilots, and some aircraft, but no ground facilities, no sales staff, no documentation, not even tickets. With a great deal of effort, it should be possible to make the planned start date of 7 October. With the discussion complete, Coles said: I have news for you. We start next Monday. After

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1284-467: A large number of blades. A fan therefore produces a lot of thrust for a given diameter but the closeness of the blades means that each strongly affects the flow around the others. If the flow is supersonic, this interference can be beneficial if the flow can be compressed through a series of shock waves rather than one. By placing the fan within a shaped duct , specific flow patterns can be created depending on flight speed and engine performance. As air enters

1391-528: A low- drag wing and as such are poor in operation when at other than their optimum angle of attack . Therefore, most propellers use a variable pitch mechanism to alter the blades' pitch angle as engine speed and aircraft velocity are changed. A further consideration is the number and the shape of the blades used. Increasing the aspect ratio of the blades reduces drag but the amount of thrust produced depends on blade area, so using high-aspect blades can result in an excessive propeller diameter. A further balance

1498-555: A matter of national importance (as did the governments of other geographically large nations, such as the Soviet Union and the United States). In the words of Director General of Civil Aviation AB Corbett: A nation which refuses to use flying in its national life must necessarily today be a backward and defenceless nation. Air transport was encouraged both with direct subsidies and with mail contracts. Immediately before

1605-415: A propeller efficiency of about 73.5% at cruise for a Cessna 172 . This is derived from his "Bootstrap approach" for analyzing the performance of light general aviation aircraft using fixed pitch or constant speed propellers. The efficiency of the propeller is influenced by the angle of attack (α). This is defined as α = Φ - θ, where θ is the helix angle (the angle between the resultant relative velocity and

1712-453: A propeller suffers when transonic flow first appears on the tips of the blades. As the relative air speed at any section of a propeller is a vector sum of the aircraft speed and the tangential speed due to rotation, the flow over the blade tip will reach transonic speed well before the aircraft does. When the airflow over the tip of the blade reaches its critical speed , drag and torque resistance increase rapidly and shock waves form creating

1819-454: A sharp increase in noise. Aircraft with conventional propellers, therefore, do not usually fly faster than Mach 0.6. There have been propeller aircraft which attained up to the Mach 0.8 range, but the low propeller efficiency at this speed makes such applications rare. The tip of a propeller blade travels faster than the hub. Therefore, it is necessary for the blade to be twisted so as to decrease

1926-417: A spring and the aerodynamic forces on the blade. Automatic props had the advantage of being simple, lightweight, and requiring no external control, but a particular propeller's performance was difficult to match with that of the aircraft's power plant. The most common variable pitch propeller is the constant-speed propeller . This is controlled by a hydraulic constant speed unit (CSU). It automatically adjusts

2033-460: A true 'trans Australian' airline with services to Perth on the west coast of the continent, using Douglas DC-4 aircraft. Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft were introduced in the 1950s and again proved immensely popular as a result of their smooth, vibration-free ride. Although government-owned, the Liberal conservative government of the 1950s had a philosophical leaning towards the needs of

2140-410: A virtual monopoly on the major trunk routes and received 85% of all government air transport subsidies. The Chifley government's view was summed up by Minister for Air, Arthur Drakeford : Where are the great pioneers of aviation? … We discover that one by one the small pioneer enterprises are disappearing from the register. It is the inevitable process of absorption by a monopoly. Air transport,

2247-523: A week of frantic effort hiring staff, borrowing a tin shed at the RAAF base at Laverton because Essendon Airport had been turned into mud by heavy rain, creating operations manuals, passenger manifests, tickets, and load sheets — even making passenger steps and baggage carts because there was no time to buy them in the ordinary way — Captains Hepburn and Nickels took off from Laverton at 5:45 am bound for Sydney. TAA's first scheduled flight carried

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2354-520: A wound-up spring device and demonstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences . It was powered by a spring, and was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments. In 1783, Christian de Launoy , and his mechanic , Bienvenu, used a coaxial version of the Chinese top in a model consisting of contrarotating turkey flight feathers as rotor blades, and in 1784, demonstrated it to

2461-645: Is also popular in the skydiving community and can be found in many drop zones throughout the world. Otters were used by Qantas from 1958 to 1960 in Papua New Guinea . The Qantas aircraft were then transferred to Trans Australian Airlines (TAA), a major Australian domestic airline, which operated the Otters in Papua New Guinea until 1966 when they were withdrawn from use. TAA was merged with Qantas in 1990. The most extensively modified Otter

2568-455: Is hydraulic, with engine oil serving as the hydraulic fluid. However, electrically controlled propellers were developed during World War II and saw extensive use on military aircraft, and have recently seen a revival in use on home-built aircraft. Another design is the V-Prop , which is self-powering and self-governing. On most variable-pitch propellers, the blades can be rotated parallel to

2675-479: Is suitable for airliners, but the noise generated is tremendous (see the Antonov An-70 and Tupolev Tu-95 for examples of such a design). Forces acting on the blades of an aircraft propeller include the following. Some of these forces can be arranged to counteract each other, reducing the overall mechanical stresses imposed. The purpose of varying pitch angle is to maintain an optimal angle of attack for

2782-409: Is that using a smaller number of blades reduces interference effects between the blades, but to have sufficient blade area to transmit the available power within a set diameter means a compromise is needed. Increasing the number of blades also decreases the amount of work each blade is required to perform, limiting the local Mach number – a significant performance limit on propellers. The performance of

2889-489: Is used to help slow the aircraft after landing and is particularly advantageous when landing on a wet runway as wheel braking suffers reduced effectiveness. In some cases reverse pitch allows the aircraft to taxi in reverse – this is particularly useful for getting floatplanes out of confined docks. Counter-rotating propellers are sometimes used on twin-engine and multi-engine aircraft with wing-mounted engines. These propellers turn in opposite directions from their counterpart on

2996-586: The Boeing 767-200 , receiving the type approximately a year later. Ironically, although the A300s were initially painted in full Qantas livery, they were phased out within a few years being replaced by previously international operated Qantas 767-238ERs, 767-338ERs and later supplemented by seven ex- British Airways 767-336ERs. Qantas revived the Australian Airlines brand between 2002 and 2006 to serve

3103-545: The French Academy of Sciences . A dirigible airship was described by Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier presented in 1783. The drawings depict a 260-foot-long (79 m) streamlined envelope with internal ballonets that could be used for regulating lift. The airship was designed to be driven by three propellers. In 1784 Jean-Pierre Blanchard fitted a hand-powered propeller to a balloon, the first recorded means of propulsion carried aloft. Sir George Cayley , influenced by

3210-589: The Liberal opposition and business interests generally, was successful and in December 1945, the High Court ruled that the Commonwealth did not have the power to prevent the issue of airline licenses to private companies. The government could set up an airline if it wished, but it could not legislate a monopoly. Much of the press objected strongly to the setting up of a public airline network, seeing it as

3317-465: The Tupolev Tu-95 propel it at a speed exceeding the maximum once considered possible for a propeller-driven aircraft using an exceptionally coarse pitch. Early pitch control settings were pilot operated, either with a small number of preset positions or continuously variable. The simplest mechanism is the ground-adjustable propeller , which may be adjusted on the ground, but is effectively

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3424-488: The Tupolev Tu-95 , which can reach 575 mph (925 km/h). The earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys . This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor between one's hands. The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released. The 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong (抱朴子 "Master who Embraces Simplicity") reportedly describes some of

3531-690: The flaps with fully retractable flaps suitable for cruising flight and high drag was obtained with reverse thrust from a J85 turbojet installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit. The third configuration looked a lot like the future Twin Otter and was the first twin-PT6 fixed-wing installation to fly in May 1963 (A twin PT6-engined helicopter, the Kaman K-1125 , had flown in April 1963). The piston engine in

3638-741: The "CSR" denotes Canadian Search (and) Rescue (type 123) and as a light utility transport, "CC" denoting Canadian Cargo. During the Suez Crisis , the Canadian government decided to provide assistance to the United Nations Emergency Force and the Royal Canadian Navy carrier HMCS  Magnificent carried 4 Otters from Halifax to Port Said in Egypt early in 1957, with all four flying off unassisted while

3745-456: The Ansett terminal when it went broke in 2002. Any third airline operating there had to make do with the regional airline facilities. At other airports the two airlines had leased mostly empty terminals and installed all operational furnishings themselves. The airport authorities eagerly accepted lease money from Compass while providing almost no space in their terminals. The ambitious new airline

3852-668: The Australian Government under lend-lease . In July, the Treasury released £350,000 to allow TAA to order four larger, more modern Douglas DC-4s in the United States, and Brain appointed Aubrey Koch (from Qantas) as Senior Pilot DC4 Skymaster and John Watkins as Chief Technical Officer. Watkins would become one of the key figures in TAA's success. His first task was to travel to the United States to accept delivery of

3959-630: The Australian domestic air transport industry. The establishment of TAA broke the domestic air transport monopoly of Australian National Airways (ANA) in the late 1940s, and taking over the Queensland air network from Qantas. It was also at the time TAA supported the Flying Doctor Services of Australia by providing aircraft, pilots and engineers to ensure every emergency was answered quickly. Qantas had also been instrumental in

4066-734: The Beaver, the Otter can be fitted with skis or floats. The Otter served as the basis for the very successful Twin Otter , which features two wing-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprops. A total of 466 Otters were manufactured. The DHC-3/CC-123/CSR-123 Otter was used until 1980 by the Royal Canadian Air Force and its successor, the Air Command of the Canadian Forces . It was used in Search and Rescue, as

4173-416: The Beaver, the new, much heavier design incorporated a longer fuselage, greater-span wing, and cruciform tail . Seating in the main cabin expanded from six to 10 or 11. Power was supplied by a 450-kW (600 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 geared radial . The version used in the Otter was geared for lower propeller revolutions and consequently lower airspeed. The electrical system was 28 volts D.C. Like

4280-610: The Century between late 1987 and 1994. Between 1980 and the merger with Qantas, selected teams participating in the Australian Touring Car Championship bore both Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) and Australian Airlines insignia, and from 1985 to 1990 the Seven Network commentary team used the airline to travel between the states to attend the various racing venues. By the end of the 1980s,

4387-534: The Commission decided, was optimistic, and Ansett declined a more modest counter offer. There was considerable correspondence between the Commission and Ivan Holyman, the Chairman of ANA, with a view to recruiting Holyman as General Manager of TAA at the princely salary of £10,000 pa, and, when that offer was declined, of buying the near-monopoly airline outright. Holyman was not willing to sell, nor to work for

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4494-540: The DC-4s. He later wrote: To my utter astonishment Arthur Coles, after the expected pep-talk about the DC-4 assignment, said he was relying on me to find out what new equipment was being developed that would enable us to offer our passengers a better product than our established rival, at a competitive price. It was typical of Coles, who knew nothing about aircraft, to reason that quality equipment would be vital, and then select

4601-509: The DHC-3 resulting in 242 deaths. Listed below are a select few of the most notable ones. Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958–59, Jane's Civil and Military Aircraft Upgrades 1994–95 General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Propeller (aircraft) The propeller attaches to

4708-521: The Federal Government level to offer both government-owned carriers, Qantas and Australian, for sale. Australian Airlines was offered first but was quickly snapped up by Qantas, which offered $ 400m to purchase the domestic carrier. Qantas then decided to merge the airline into its network. Subsequently the government offered the entire merged operation in a public float, after selling a cornerstone 25% stake to British Airways, returning Qantas to

4815-535: The Great Exhibition held in London in 1851, where a model was displayed. This was an elongated balloon with a steam engine driving twin propellers suspended underneath. Alphonse Pénaud developed coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870, also powered by rubber bands. In 1872 Dupuy de Lome launched a large navigable balloon, which was driven by a large propeller turned by eight men. Hiram Maxim built

4922-704: The Otter found ready acceptance in bush airlines, as in a similar scenario to the DHC-2 Beaver, the United States Army soon became the largest operator of the aircraft (184 delivered as the U-1A Otter ). Other military users included Australia , Canada, and India , but the primary role of the aircraft as a rugged bush plane continues to this day. An Otter crossed the South Pole in 1957 (see Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition ). The Otter

5029-419: The advertised position of TAA Operations Manager, but to his surprise and delight, was instead offered an appointment as General Manager — though at £3,000 pa, not the £10,000 that had been offered to Holyman. TAA acquired its first two aircraft in mid-June 1946, both Douglas DC-3s . A dozen more DC-3s would be added over the next few months, all ex- Royal Australian Air Force aircraft originally bought by

5136-399: The air in the propeller slipstream. Contra-rotation also increases the ability of a propeller to absorb power from a given engine, without increasing propeller diameter. However the added cost, complexity, weight and noise of the system rarely make it worthwhile and it is only used on high-performance types where ultimate performance is more important than efficiency. A fan is a propeller with

5243-428: The aircraft maintain speed and altitude with the operative engines. Feathering also prevents windmilling , the turning of engine components by the propeller rotation forced by the slipstream; windmilling can damage the engine, start a fire, or cause structural damage to the aircraft. Most feathering systems for reciprocating engines sense a drop in oil pressure and move the blades toward the feather position, and require

5350-405: The airflow to stop rotation of the propeller and reduce drag when the engine fails or is deliberately shut down. This is called feathering , a term borrowed from rowing . On single-engined aircraft, whether a powered glider or turbine-powered aircraft, the effect is to increase the gliding distance. On a multi-engine aircraft, feathering the propeller on an inoperative engine reduces drag, and helps

5457-485: The airline companies to employ overseas "strike breakers" but went even further, opting to pay the newly employed pilots from the public purse. The early 1990s changed the face of Australian domestic air travel. The Federal Government, although technically having deregulated the domestic aviation sector, made it effectively impossible for new entrant Compass Airlines to succeed. In 1987, the Hawke government announced that

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5564-410: The angle of attack of the blade gradually and therefore produce uniform lift from the hub to the tip. The greatest angle of incidence, or the highest pitch, is at the hub while the smallest angle of incidence or smallest pitch is at the tip. A propeller blade designed with the same angle of incidence throughout its entire length would be inefficient because as airspeed increases in flight, the portion near

5671-568: The assistant secretary of the Treasury. The commission was to be chaired by Arthur Coles . Coles was one of the richest men in Australia and the co-founder of the Coles Group . By this time, Coles had withdrawn from the active management of the family business. He was 'a great believer in competition for business' and would not have accepted the post of Chairman of the ANAC had the monopoly provision been retained. The Commission decided on

5778-417: The best man for the job of finding it and be prepared to back his judgement. At this point, political considerations came to the fore again. TAA planned to start regular services on 7 October, but there was a federal election set for 28 September. Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been enormously popular during the darkest hours but was voted out at the first post-war opportunity. There

5885-407: The blade pitch in order to maintain a constant engine speed for any given power control setting. Constant-speed propellers allow the pilot to set a rotational speed according to the need for maximum engine power or maximum efficiency, and a propeller governor acts as a closed-loop controller to vary propeller pitch angle as required to maintain the selected engine speed. In most aircraft this system

5992-440: The blade rotation direction) and Φ is the blade pitch angle. Very small pitch and helix angles give a good performance against resistance but provide little thrust, while larger angles have the opposite effect. The best helix angle is when the blade is acting as a wing producing much more lift than drag. However, 'lift-and-drag' is only one way to express the aerodynamic force on the blades. To explain aircraft and engine performance

6099-403: The blade tips approach the speed of sound. The maximum relative velocity is kept as low as possible by careful control of pitch to allow the blades to have large helix angles. A large number of blades are used to reduce work per blade and so circulation strength. Contra-rotating propellers are used. The propellers designed are more efficient than turbo-fans and their cruising speed (Mach 0.7–0.85)

6206-412: The carrier's new theme songs. In 1986, after a change of airline management, the name Trans-Australia Airlines was controversially dropped, in favour of Australian Airlines . Associated with this image change was a new livery for the airlines' aircraft, which wore the title "Australian". Australian Airlines was the travel sponsor for the television shows Neighbours , Wheel of Fortune and Sale of

6313-445: The domestic airline industry, in that it was a wide-body (twin-aisle) aircraft. It provided significant extra capacity on the trunk east coast network and to Perth . In 1986, Trans-Australia Airlines was rebranded as 'Australian Airlines' and the kangaroo returned to its livery. Its new image coincided with a very successful and popular television campaign: "You Should See Us Now", "Face To Face" and "The Way We Do The Things We Do" became

6420-467: The dream of flight. The twisted airfoil (aerofoil) shape of an aircraft propeller was pioneered by the Wright brothers. While some earlier engineers had attempted to model air propellers on marine propellers , the Wright Brothers realized that a propeller is essentially the same as a wing , and were able to use data from their earlier wind tunnel experiments on wings, introducing a twist along

6527-502: The duct needs to be shaped in a different manner than one for higher speed flight. More air is taken in and the fan therefore operates at an efficiency equivalent to a larger un-ducted propeller. Noise is also reduced by the ducting and should a blade become detached the duct would help contain the damage. However the duct adds weight, cost, complexity and (to a certain degree) drag. Trans Australian Airlines Trans Australia Airlines ( TAA ), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986,

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6634-575: The duct, its speed is reduced while its pressure and temperature increase. If the aircraft is at a high subsonic speed this creates two advantages: the air enters the fan at a lower Mach speed; and the higher temperature increases the local speed of sound. While there is a loss in efficiency as the fan is drawing on a smaller area of the free stream and so using less air, this is balanced by the ducted fan retaining efficiency at higher speeds where conventional propeller efficiency would be poor. A ducted fan or propeller also has certain benefits at lower speeds but

6741-660: The end it was operated by the Primary Air Reserve in Montreal , Toronto , Edmonton and Winnipeg , with approximately 10 aircraft at each base, as well as by the RSU (Regular (Forces) Support Units) at those bases. It was usually flown with a single pilot (Commissioned Officer) in the left seat and a Technical Air Crewman (NCO) in the right seat. The Kiowa helicopter replaced it in Air Reserve squadrons. Although

6848-431: The feathering process or the feathering process may be automatic. Accidental feathering is dangerous and can result in an aerodynamic stall ; as seen for example with Yeti Airlines Flight 691 which crashed during approach due to accidental feathering. The propellers on some aircraft can operate with a negative blade pitch angle, and thus reverse the thrust from the propeller. This is known as Beta Pitch. Reverse thrust

6955-679: The formation of the Flying Doctor Service. The airline's headquarters were located in Melbourne . In 1954 TAA became the first airline outside Europe to introduce the Vickers Viscount , and in 1981 it introduced the Airbus A300 , the first wide-body aircraft to be purchased by an Australian domestic airline providing TAA with a clear edge over a major competitor at the time, Ansett which had purchased instead,

7062-766: The friendly friendly way", whose lyrics and music were a variation on the 1967 song " Up, Up and Away ", written by Jimmy Webb and also used by the US airline Trans World Airlines . Further expansion occurred in the 1970s and larger 727-276s (simultaneously with Ansett) were acquired. Once again the terms of the introduction were restricted by the Two Airlines Policy. In 1974, TAA acquired a majority shareholding in Great Keppel Island . In July 1975 in partnership with Mayne Nickless it formed coach operator AAT Kings . In 1978, car rental company Kay-Hertz

7169-463: The front was a tractor . Later the term 'pusher' became adopted for the rear-mounted device in contrast to the tractor configuration and both became referred to as 'propellers' or 'airscrews'. The understanding of low speed propeller aerodynamics was fairly complete by the 1920s, but later requirements to handle more power in a smaller diameter have made the problem more complex. Propeller research for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

7276-574: The fuselage – clockwise on the left engine and counterclockwise on the right – however, there are exceptions (especially during World War II ) such as the P-38 Lightning which turned "outwards" (counterclockwise on the left engine and clockwise on the right) away from the fuselage from the WW II years, and the Airbus A400 whose inboard and outboard engines turn in opposite directions even on

7383-476: The government began to move towards deregulation of domestic aviation. Deregulation took effect in October 1990. A by-product of this impending change was the 1989 Australian pilots' dispute . As the result of prolonged wage suppression, this dispute saw the resignation of the majority of Australian Airlines' aircrew and the basic structure of the airline was changed forever. The Hawke cabinet not only encouraged

7490-586: The government believed, was primarily a public service , like hospitals, the railways, or the post office. If there was to be a monopoly at all, then it should be one owned by the public and working in the public interest. In August 1945, two days after the end of World War II , the Australian parliament passed the Australian National Airways Bill, which set up the Australian National Airways Commission (ANAC) and charged it with

7597-414: The hub would have a negative AOA while the blade tip would be stalled. There have been efforts to develop propellers and propfans for aircraft at high subsonic speeds. The 'fix' is similar to that of transonic wing design. Thin blade sections are used and the blades are swept back in a scimitar shape ( scimitar propeller ) in a manner similar to wing sweepback, so as to delay the onset of shockwaves as

7704-519: The ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft. Designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in Renaissance paintings and other works. It was not until the early 1480s, when Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a machine that could be described as an "aerial screw" , that any recorded advancement was made towards vertical flight. His notes suggested that he built small flying models, but there were no indications for any provision to stop

7811-475: The late 1960s it had a massive network crisscrossing the continent, as well as an internal network within Papua New Guinea and flights from Darwin to Baucau in Portuguese Timor . At this time the airline's livery was the famous white "T" on a blue tail, referred to as "The Look of the '70s". One of the more memorable television advertisements of the period was the jingle "Up, up and away, with TAA,

7918-400: The length of the blades. This was necessary to maintain a more uniform angle of attack of the blade along its length. Their original propeller blades had an efficiency of about 82%, compared to 90% for a modern (2010) small general aviation propeller, the 3-blade McCauley used on a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft. Roper quotes 90% for a propeller for a human-powered aircraft. Mahogany was

8025-447: The low-cost leisure market of visitors to and from Australia but using a full-service model, operating selected Qantas 767-338ERs – although the livery used was not the same as that used by the previous domestic operation. Up until World War II , Australia had been one of the world's leading centres of aviation. With its tiny population of about seven million, Australia ranked sixth in the world for scheduled air mileage, had 16 airlines,

8132-405: The merger with Qantas was seen as inevitable to give the latter a domestic network — and revive its bottom line — many former staff of Australian Airlines (TAA) and the general public mourned the loss of this iconic Australian brand. Although Compass was controversially and perhaps inevitably forced out of business, Australian's days, and those of Ansett, were numbered: the decision had been made at

8239-504: The name "Trans-Australia Airlines", applied to the Treasury for a preliminary advance of £10,000 and set about making plans, recruiting staff, and purchasing equipment. Reg Ansett , proprietor of the small Victorian company Ansett Airways was quick to offer to get the new airline off to a flying start by selling his entire operation to the ANAC as a going concern, including, if desired, his own services as managing agent. The asking price,

8346-509: The nose was replaced with wing-mounted engines to blow over the flaps. Stolairus Aviation of Kelowna , BC , has developed several modifications for the DHC-3 including a STOL Kit, which modifies the wing with a contoured leading edge and drooped wingtips for increased performance. Stolairus has also developed a 180 kilograms (400 lb) "upgross" kit which increases the gross weight of the DHC-3 to 3,795 kilograms (8,367 lb) on floats. Some aircraft were converted to turbine power using

8453-432: The other wing to balance out the torque and p-factor effects. They are sometimes referred to as "handed" propellers since there are left hand and right hand versions of each prop. Generally, the propellers on both engines of most conventional twin-engined aircraft spin clockwise (as viewed from the rear of the aircraft). To eliminate the critical engine problem, counter-rotating propellers usually turn "inwards" towards

8560-417: The pilot to pull the propeller control back to disengage the high-pitch stop pins before the engine reaches idle RPM . Turboprop control systems usually use a negative torque sensor in the reduction gearbox, which moves the blades toward feather when the engine is no longer providing power to the propeller. Depending on design, the pilot may have to push a button to override the high-pitch stops and complete

8667-484: The power source's driveshaft either directly or through reduction gearing . Propellers can be made from wood, metal or composite materials . Propellers are most suitable for use at subsonic airspeeds generally below about 480 mph (770 km/h), although supersonic speeds were achieved in the McDonnell XF-88B experimental propeller-equipped aircraft. Supersonic tip-speeds are used in some aircraft like

8774-404: The privately owned Ansett and the requirements of TAA suffered as a result. The controversial Two Airlines Policy was introduced and effectively seriously limited growth and expansion opportunities for the airlines without government approval. Flight numbers and schedules were strictly controlled, and TAA and Ansett-ANA invariably had flights departing airports for the same destination at exactly

8881-561: The propeller blades, giving maximum efficiency throughout the flight regime. This reduces fuel usage. Only by maximising propeller efficiency at high speeds can the highest possible speed be achieved. Effective angle of attack decreases as airspeed increases, so a coarser pitch is required at high airspeeds. The requirement for pitch variation is shown by the propeller performance during the Schneider Trophy competition in 1931. The Fairey Aviation Company fixed-pitch propeller used

8988-520: The revolutionary Sud Aviation Caravelle pure-jet but as Ansett felt this was too advanced at that stage for their own needs, both airlines were required to purchase the Ansett preference: the less advanced turbo-prop Lockheed L-188 Electra . The Electra proved a reliable aircraft and TAA continuously grew and prospered. In the 1960s it introduced Boeing 727-100 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 Whispering T-Jets on primary routes as well as Fokker F27 Friendship Jetliner turboprops on regional routes. By

9095-424: The rotor from making the craft rotate. As scientific knowledge increased and became more accepted, man continued to pursue the idea of vertical flight. Many of these later models and machines would more closely resemble the ancient bamboo flying top with spinning wings, rather than Leonardo's screw. In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed a small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by

9202-411: The same force is expressed slightly differently in terms of thrust and torque since the required output of the propeller is thrust. Thrust and torque are the basis of the definition for the efficiency of the propeller as shown below. The advance ratio of a propeller is similar to the angle of attack of a wing. A propeller's efficiency is determined by Propellers are similar in aerofoil section to

9309-546: The same time with exactly the same equipment. The policy was so strict that even newly purchased identical aircraft (one from each airline) were required on their delivery flights to enter Australian airspace at exactly the same time. The conservative government's benevolent attitude towards Ansett was epitomised in the 1950s when it forced TAA to swap a number of its popular turbo-prop Viscount aircraft with Ansett-ANA in return for slower and older, piston-engined Douglas DC-6Bs . In another instance, TAA had planned to re-equip with

9416-410: The same wing. A contra-rotating propeller or contra-prop places two counter-rotating propellers on concentric drive shafts so that one sits immediately 'downstream' of the other propeller. This provides the benefits of counter-rotating propellers for a single powerplant. The forward propeller provides the majority of the thrust, while the rear propeller also recovers energy lost in the swirling motion of

9523-492: The ship was at anchor. This was the only occasion when RCAF fixed wing aircraft operated from a Canadian warship. It was also operated on EDO floats on water and skis for winter operations on snow. The EDO floats also had wheels for use on runways (amphibious). It was used as army support dropping supplies by parachute, and also non-parachute low-speed, low-altitude air drops, to support the Canadian Army on manoeuvres. In

9630-719: The shutting down of Compass on 20 December 1991, 5 days before what would have been the immensely profitable Christmas travel period. A seemingly well-orchestrated plan saw the Compass aircraft quickly flown out of the country and, with them, potentially the demise of a truly deregulated domestic aviation sector. Ansett and TAA/Australian were the sole remaining players, in effect a de facto two-airline policy yet again. Throughout this period of transformation and deregulation, Australian Airlines continued its successful run by posting healthy profits, increasing passenger loads and gained much favour from its catchy television commercials. Although

9737-467: The start of the war, more than half of all airline passenger and freight miles were subsidised. However, after 1939 and especially after Japan's invasion of the islands to the north in 1941, civil aviation was sacrificed to military needs. By the end of the war, there were only nine domestic airlines remaining, eight smaller regional concerns, and Australian National Airways (ANA), a conglomerate owned by British and Australian shipping interests which had

9844-602: The stock market after being absent from listing since 1947. Qantas acquired Australian Airlines on 14 September 1992, in preparation for its closure on 30 April 1994. Subsequent to the merger, TAA/Australian's Boeing customer code '76' was replaced by the Qantas's customer code '38' for all subsequent Boeing aircraft deliveries, beginning with the Boeing 737-838. The majority of the Australian Airlines branding

9951-500: The success of the government airline was the wise choice of aircraft. After initially utilising the venerable and readily available Douglas DC-3 , TAA was able to acquire the revolutionary pressurised Convair 240 . Popular with the travelling public because of its ability to fly above much of the weather, it was really this aircraft that established the airline's reputation for excellence and service reliability. East-coast services were continually expanded and TAA soon earned its title as

10058-452: The task of reconstructing the nation's air transport industry. In keeping with the Labor government's socialist leanings, the bill declared that the licenses of private operators would lapse for those routes that were adequately serviced by the national carrier. From this time on, it seemed, that air transport in Australia would be a government monopoly. However, a legal challenge , backed by

10165-458: The then government-owned domestic air terminals would be effectively privatised and leased to the two domestic airlines. Compass, a threat to the TAA/Ansett duopoly, was granted severely limited access to terminal facilities. At Sydney Airport both major airlines had effectively been given freehold ownership of their two separate terminals. The Federal Airports Corporation later purchased

10272-445: The wood preferred for propellers through World War I , but wartime shortages encouraged use of walnut , oak , cherry and ash . Alberto Santos Dumont was another early pioneer, having designed propellers before the Wright Brothers for his airships . He applied the knowledge he gained from experiences with airships to make a propeller with a steel shaft and aluminium blades for his 14 bis biplane in 1906. Some of his designs used

10379-493: Was RCAF Otter 3682 . After initial service as a standard Search and Rescue aircraft it was used to explore the aerodynamic aspects of STOL. In 1958, it was fitted with flaps so outsized that, with their 45 degree droop, it became known as the Batwing Otter. In addition, its tail-wheel undercarriage was replaced with a high energy-absorption 4-wheel arrangement and a very high vertical tail. The next modification replaced

10486-414: Was allocated by the government what were clearly the worst gates, in the least desirable sections of domestic terminals across the country (in some cases, Atco huts were used) and had to operate from the international terminal at Perth Airport . As the result of liens placed over the Compass aircraft (due to alleged non-payment of airways expenses), the government's Civil Aviation Authority effectively caused

10593-521: Was conceived in January 1951 by de Havilland Canada as a larger, more powerful version of its highly successful DHC2 Beaver STOL utility transport. Dubbed the "King Beaver" during design, it would be the veritable "one-ton truck" to the Beaver's "half-ton" role. The Otter received Canadian certification in November 1952 and entered production shortly thereafter. Using the same overall configuration as

10700-616: Was directed by William F. Durand from 1916. Parameters measured included propeller efficiency, thrust developed, and power absorbed. While a propeller may be tested in a wind tunnel , its performance in free-flight might differ. At the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory , E. P. Leslie used Vought VE-7s with Wright E-4 engines for data on free-flight, while Durand used reduced size, with similar shape, for wind tunnel data. Their results were published in 1926 as NACA report #220. Lowry quotes

10807-519: Was disbanded in 2006 and its assets were absorbed back into the Qantas group. Qantas currently allocates space at its Airport West Training Facility (formerly the TAA/Australian Airlines Flight Training Centre) for The TAA Museum. The museum displays artefacts from the life of TAA/Australian including service ware, uniforms, advertisements, and photographs and is open to the public during the week. Over

10914-523: Was growing at twice the world average and had produced a number of prominent aviation pioneers, including Lawrence Hargrave , Harry Hawker , Bert Hinkler , Lawrence Wackett , the Reverend John Flynn , Sidney Cotton , Keith Virtue and Charles Kingsford Smith . Governments on both sides of politics, well aware of the immense stretches of uninhabitable desert that separated the small productive regions of Australia, regarded air transport as

11021-551: Was no certainty that the Chifley government would not be treated likewise, and the opposition was opposed to government ownership. Coles addressed the Commission at a meeting on 2 September 1946. Gentlemen, the Government wants us to start services as soon as possible. There is a Federal election on 28 September. If we don't have an airline up and running by then and Labor loses the election there'll be no airline. We'll be out of

11128-463: Was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Branding) project, the entire airline was rebranded Qantas about a year later with tickets stating in small print "Australian Airlines Limited trading as Qantas Airways Limited" until the adoption of a single Air Operator Certificate

11235-447: Was partially stalled on take-off and up to 160 mph (260 km/h) on its way up to a top speed of 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h). The very wide speed range was achieved because some of the usual requirements for aircraft performance did not apply. There was no compromise on top-speed efficiency, the take-off distance was not restricted to available runway length and there was no climb requirement. The variable pitch blades used on

11342-526: Was purchased in partnership with Mayne Nickless. In December 1980, TAA commenced operating a service from Hobart to Wellington in New Zealand under a Qantas flight number. The Two Airlines Policy was marginally relaxed in the early 1980s when TAA was able to introduce the Airbus A300B4 , whilst Ansett chose to purchase the Boeing 767 . The A300 was a revolutionary aircraft at the time for

11449-470: Was removed during the merger and replaced with Qantas branding; for instance, Australian's Flight Deck Lounge became The Qantas Club. The sole remaining Australian Airlines brand identity – The Australian Way (inflight) magazine – was rebranded as The Qantas Magazine in 2016. In October 2002, Qantas revived the Australian Airlines brand as a full-service carrier, targeting the low-cost leisure market and flying primarily out of Cairns and Bali . This airline

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