	de Havilland Dash 7-150 STOL turboprop airliner

The Dash 7 was the biggest in a long and successful line of de Havilland Canada STOL civil and military transports.  Although presently out of production, it is still unrivalled in its STOL and low noise performance.  The Dash 7 (DHC-7) was built for a specific nitch: A 50-seat STOL airliner capable of operating from landing strips as short as 3,000 feet.  To fulfill this purpose, an advanced wing configuration and four Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprops were used.  Double-slotted trailing edge flaps run the entere span of the high mounted wing to increase the lifting surface during takeoff.  Extra lift is also gained by passing the air from the relatively slow-moving propellers over the wings.  The Dash7-100 was first flown in 1977, but was later replaced by the 150 series which included a greater takeoff weight and more fuel to boost range.

Specifications:
Wingspan: 93 feet
Length: 80 feet 8 inches
Height: 26 feet 2 inches
Wingarea: 860 sq ft
Powerplants: Four 1,220 shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-50 turboprops driving four-bladed constant speed Hamilton Standard propellers
Weight: 27,480 pounds empty, 47,000 max takeoff
Max cruising speed: 230 knots
Long range cruising speed: 215 knots
Service ceiling: 21,000 feet
STOL takeoff distance @ 41,000 lb: 2,260 feet
Range with 50 passengers at max cruising speed: 1,140 nm
Capacity: Crew of 2, seating for 50 passengers (optional for 54)

The simulation is painted in de Havilland Canada colors, complete with the maple leaf motif on the vertical stabilizer.  I have to acknowledge and express my gratitude to my son, David, for his able assistance in the production of this simulation which uses practically all of Flight Shop's capacity (100% on parts and 9 textures out of 10 available).  Because of this shortage of capacity, I had to cheat in a few areas, and chose those areas carefully: 
1. The wheels are hexagons and double-fat instead of dual 8-sided wheels which would look better.  This configuration saved me 36 parts to be put to better use elsewhere (after all, you only see the wheels when you're on the ground!).  To give the illusion of dual tires, I extended the front-back portions of the landing gear through the length of the tire, dividing it in half and making it appear (vaguely) as a dual.
2. Spinners are hexagons also.  I prefer octagon, but again had to save parts for other things.
3. The flaps are much more simplified than I would have liked.  It would have been impressive to show the double-slotted flaps in the simulation, but then other things would have to be cut back even more, and I refused to make the engines or the fuselage hexagons too!
4. I had to leave the spoilers off of the plane altogether.
My apologies made, I will tell you that the paint job is very close to the photo I have of the Dash 7, it flies very well (even slightly better than specified), and includes working flaps, gear, lights and strobes.  I wish I could have made a 3-dimensional vertical stabilizer and more details on the landing gear as well as the above-listed cutbacks, but until Flight Shop (or, I suspect, Flight Simulator) allows more parts, this will have to do.
Put the .AIR file in your PILOTS subdirectory and the other files in your TEXTURE subdirectory.  Flight Shop, as always, is required.  Enjoy!

March, 1996
Dennis Wasnich
1003 Cherry Street
Montpelier, OH 43543
Internet: dwasnich@bright.net
(feedback is always welcome)
