Soloy Pathfinder 21: cancelled twin-engine, single-prop Caravan conversion. 1995-ish.

Posted by i_hate_clankers@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 16 comments

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Muschina@reddit

At the time single-engine IFR ops in pt 135 (charter) was not allowed in the US. This was a way to get around that and fill the need for a 10-seat, short-haul, all-weather charter aircraft.

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Echo017@reddit

Caravans are such little tanks and we have been on some crazy adventures with ours, their de-icing could be improved for all weather (hey…there is ice starting to form on the wheels cap)

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Losing an engine on a typical twin prop aircraft on takeoff has resulted in many a fatal accident due to asymmetric thrust and drag. A great deal of piloting skill is necessary to avoid crashing. This plane's design would eliminate such problems.

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NF-104@reddit

Assuming the combining gearbox has an overriding clutch, so that the good engine isn’t back driving the dead engine.

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Some1-Somewhere@reddit

Free power turbines make this much less of an issue.

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syzygybeaver@reddit

Probably an epicyclic gearbox like a helicopter.

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Huffy_too@reddit

If the gearbox didn't have that feature, it would be a pretty shitty design.

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mrlego45@reddit

So would the remaining engine in this frame continue to drive the prop, just at 50% of the plane's max power?

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Uniturner@reddit

You can over torque gas turbine engines a fair bit, allowing them to produce more power but at increasingly higher maintenance burdens. So this twin pack could well produce 70% or more of its full rated power, on one engine, for long enough to get you home. The idea being that rebuilding the twin pack is still cheaper than losing the whole airframe.

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