Dornier Do 228

The Dornier Do 228 is a small, German, twin turboprop STOL-utility aircraft manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981, to 1998. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics bought a production licence and manufactures the 228 till this day. Approximately 270 Do 228 were built at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and Kanpur, India. About 195 are still in service worldwide.
In 2009, RUAG started building a Dornier 228 New Generation in Germany with the fuselage, wings and tail unit manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kanpur (India) and transported to Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, where RUAG Aviation carries out aircraft final assembly, customized equipment installation, product conformity inspection and aircraft delivery. It is basically the same aircraft with improved technologies and performances, such as a new five blade propeller, glass cockpit and longer range.The first delivery was in September 2010.

Contents  
1 Design and development
1.1 Do 228NG
2 Operators
2.1 Civilian operators
2.2 Police, Law Enforcement, Para-Military operators
2.3 Military operators
2.4 Former Military operators
3 Incidents
4 Accident summary
5 Specifications (Do 228-212)

Design and development
In the late 1970s, Dornier GmbH developed a new kind of wing, the TNT (Tragflügel neuer Technologie), subsidized by the German Government. Dornier tested it on a modified Do 28D-2 Skyservant and with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-110 turboprop engines. Finally, Dornier changed the engine and tested the new aircraft, which  was named Do 128 with two Garrett AiResearch TPE-331-5 engines. The company developed a new fuselage for the TNT and TPE 331–5 in two variants (15- and 19-passenger) and named both project-aircraft E-1 (later Do 228-100) and E-2 (later Do 228-200). At ILA '80, Dornier presented the new aircraft in public. Both the prototypes were flown on 28 March 1981 and 9 May 1981 for the first time.
After German certification was granted on 18 December 1981, the first Do 228 entered service in the fleet of Norving in July 1982. British and United States certification followed on 17 April and 11 May 1984 respectively. Over the years Dornier offered the 228 in upgraded variants and with special equipment for special missions. In 1998 the production line was stopped for better development of the successor Fairchild-Dornier 328.

Do 228NG
The Dornier 228NG was produced by RUAG Aviation and certified by EASA on 18 August 2010. First delivery, to a Japanese customer, took place in September 2010. The main changes from the previous Dornier 228-212 model are a new 5-blade propeller made of composite material, more powerful engines and an advanced glass cockpit featuring electronic instrument displays. In 2011, the Bangladesh Navy ordered 2 Do 228NG for the surveillance and search and rescue (SAR) mission. The aircraft are expected to be delivered in early 2013.

Operators

Civilian operators
The major operators of the 127 Do 228 aircraft remaining in service in August 2006 include:
A Soriano Aviation (3)
Olympic Airlines (9)
Aerocardal (3)
Aero VIP (Portugal) (2)
Agni Air (3)
African Air Services Leasing (2)
Air Caraïbes (2)
Airlines of Tasmania (1)
Air Marshall Islands (1)
CorpFlite (2)
Bighorn Airways (4)
Daily Air (4)
Divi Divi Air (1)
Dolphin Air (6)
Dornier Aviation Nigeria (15)
GAM Air (Australia) (3)
Gorkha Airlines ()
Jagson Airlines (2)
Indian Airlines (2)
Inter Island Airways (2)
Iran Aseman Airlines (5)
National Cartographic Center of Iran (3)
KaSas Limited (Kenya) (4)
LASSA (Chile)(1)
Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (6)
Lufttransport (2)
Mandarin Airlines (5)
Manx2 (2)
New Central Airlines (3)
Sita Air (2)
Solar Air (2)
Summit Air (7)
Vision Airlines (8)
Yeti Airlines (2)
Flight Link Tanzania (2)
                       Some 35 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the aircraft. Lufttransport (Norway) operates 2 Dornier 228's and AeroVip (Portugal) operates 2 Do 228, also SATA (Portugal) operated these aircraft.

Police, Law Enforcement, Para-Military operators
India
    Indian Coast Guard
Netherlands
    Netherlands Coastguard
Oman
    Royal Oman Police Air Wing
United Kingdom
    Marine Fisheries Agency

Military operators
Angola
    National Air Force of Angola
Bangladesh
    Bangladesh Navy - Two Do 228NG on order
Bhutan
    Royal Bhutan Army (Bhutan Army Air Wing)
Cape Verde
    Coast Guard of Cape Verde
Finland
    Finnish Border Guard
Germany
    German Navy - Operates two Do 228s with one Do 228NG on order
India
    Indian Air Force - Operates 28 Do 228s with a further 14 on order.
    Indian Navy - Operates 22 Do 228s with a further 12 on order..
Italy
    Italian Army - Operates 3 Do 228s.
Malawi
    Military of Malawi - Operates 1 Do 228.
Netherlands
    Royal Netherlands Air Force
Oman
    Royal Air Force of Oman
Thailand
    Royal Thai Navy - Operates 7 Do 228s.

Former Military operators
Germany
    Luftwaffe
Iran
    Iranian Air Force

Incidents

On 24 February 1985, the Polar 3, a Dornier 228 of the Alfred Wegener Institute, was shot down by guerrillas of the Polisario Front over West Sahara. All three crew members died. Polar 3, together with unharmed Polar 2, was on its way back from Antarctica and had taken-off from Dakar, Senegal, to reach Arrecife, Canary Islands.

On 31 July 1993, an Everest Air Dornier Do 228 crashed in the Himalayas, killing all 19 people on board.

September 6, 1997, Royal Brunei Airlines Flight 238 crashed at Lambir Hills National Park on approach to Miri Airport. The crash killed all ten passengers and crew on board..

Jul 30, 1998: A Dornier aircraft crashed while taking off at Cochin airport in Kerala killing all six persons on board and three others who were working inside a naval workshop building onto which it nose-dived and burst into flames

August 7, 1999, TACV Flight 5002 crashed into a side of a mountain on Santo Antão Island, Cape Verde in rain and fog. The accident killed all 18 passengers and crew on the Dornier Do 228.

On 4 December 2003, a Dornier 228 of Kato Air operating Flight 603 was struck by lightning, causing a fracture to the control rod that operated the elevator. The aircraft subsequently landed heavily just short of the runway at Bodø. Both crewmembers sustained serious injuries while both passengers sustained slight injuries. The aircraft, registered LN-HTA, was written off.

August 31, 2004, a Dornier 228 of Landsflug belly-landed at Siglufjordur Airport. The aircraft was then written off and stored at Reykjavik Airport before being moved to the Flugsafn (Air Museum) in Akureyri in 2010.
'.'Polar 4 was severely damaged in January 2005 during a rough landing at the British over-wintering station Rothera on the Antarctic Peninsula. As it was impossible to repair the plane, the aircraft had to be decommissioned. Since then, scientific and logistical tasks of polar flights have been performed by Polar 2.

On September. 17 2006, an 18-seater Dornier 228 Air Force transport plane, carrying 15 senior army officers and three crew members crashed into a hillside, leaving only three surviving passengers and two crew members that sustained serious injuries. The plane with registration number NAF 033 crashed near a remote village in Benue State at about 10:30 a.m. The military officers were members of a committee setup by the government to reposition the Nigerian Army. The plane departed Abuja in the early morning hours of September 17, on its way to Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State where the officers were to hold a retreat and crashed about 18 nautical miles from its destination.

Agni Air Flight 101 crashed outside of Kathmandu in heavy rain on 24 August 2010, killing all 14 people on board.

On 23 June 2011, Tara Air Do 228 9N-AGQ was substantially damaged in a heavy landing and runway excursion at Simikot Airport, Nepal. The aircraft was operating a cargo flight from Nepalgunj Airport.

On 14 May 2012, an Agni Air Dornier 228 crashed while attempting to land at Jomsom Airport, killing 15 of 21 people on board.

On 28 Sept 2012, a Sita Air Flight 601 crashed just one minute after it took off for Lukla Airport from Kathmandu, killing all 19(16 passengers and 3 crew members) on board. Although the plane successfully crash landed near the Manohara river, 50 meters away from the runway of Tribhuvan International Airport, it was destroyed by fire on the ground. Some witnesses stated that the aircraft had been on fire before landing . Later in a press release by TIA, it was confirmed that a bird struck the aircraft, leading to an unusual maneuver which was informed right away to ATC by the captain of the aircraft.

On Dec. 13, 2008, a Dornier 228 C-FYEV with 14 people on board operated by Summit Air Charters, was on approach at Cambridge Bay (YCB) after a flight from Resolute Bay (YRB) when the aircraft collided with terrain about 2,5 km short of the runway. One flight crew member and one passenger received minor injuries.


Accident summary

Hull-loss accidents: 23 with 123 fatalities
Other occurrences: 1 with 3 fatalities
Unfiled occurrences: 1 with 0 fatalities

Specifications (Do 228-212)

Cabin view.
Data from Brassey's World Aircraft & Systems Directory 1999/2000
General characteristics
Crew: 2 pilots
Capacity: 19 passengers
Payload: 2,340 kg freight (5,158 lb)
Length: 16.56 m (54 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 16.97 m (55 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.86 m (15 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 sq ft)
Airfoil: A-5
Empty weight: 3,739 kg (8,243 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 6,600 kg (14,550 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Garrett AiResearch TPE-331-5-252D or -10 variation turboprop, 578 kW (776 shp/715 shp flat rated for -10 powerplants) each

Performance
Never exceed speed: 472 km/h  (255 knots, 293 mph)
Maximum speed: 433 km/h (234 knots, 269 mph) at 3,050 m (10,000 ft) (max cruise)
Cruise speed: 315 km/h (170 knots, 196 mph) at 610 m (2,000 ft) (long-range cruise)
Stall speed: 148 km/h (78 knots, 89.7 mph) with flaps
Range: 1,111 km (715 nmi, 823 mi) with full payload
Service ceiling: 8,535 m (28,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 7.5 m/s (1,870 ft/min)

Hijackings: 1 with 0 fatalities
Selection of incidents: 3 with 0 fatalities

Shreejana Rawat (CPL)

                                         

Shreejana Rawat [ CPL ]
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