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Turboprops and Steam Engines — The Past and Future of Small Passenger Aircraft
My first flight was on a helicopter. I’m the only person I know who can say that.
My second flight was on a BN-2A Mk III Trislander.
The World’s Smallest Three-Engine Airliner
The flight was to the Channel Islands, where the Trislander was in significant use.
I was fairly young and only have some memories of it, but the Trislander was an extremely distinctive aircraft…a 17-seater with no pressurized cabin and three engines, one mounted high on the tail. The rear emergency exit is under the tail engine. It was a modification of the Islander, and usually the third engine is put in the nose…but this would have required far more airframe modification. (The Islander sat 8 to 10 people). Oh, and one lucky person on a Trislander gets the best seat in the house…the one next to the pilot.
It was an interesting experience. These planes are no longer in production, but quite a few are still around. You can charter one. There was an attempt to resurrect them in 2008, because it turns out the Trislander and its smaller original the Islander are pretty useful in some use cases. Specifically, they are fantastic when you don’t have a good runway…when your runway is too short or unpaved.