pobierz - Katowice Airport

fot. Piotr Adamczyk
ATR 72-200f –
–Propellered cargo
In 1982, a joint venture between
the French Aerospatiale, now
EADS – which is, amongst
others, the owner of the passenger
giant of the skies, Airbus
A380, and Italian Aeritalia (now
Alenia Aeronautica), resulted
in the formation of one of the
largest producers of turboprop
aircraft, ATR. The three-letter abbreviation
stands for Avions de
Transport Régional in French, and
Aerei da Trasporto Regionale in
Italian. In English, the abbreviation
also stays unchanged. Based
in Toulouse, the consortium’s
flagship products are the ATR 42
and 72.
Each of these type of aircraft is
fitted with turboprop engines
and a low undercarriage. Both
the passenger and cargo versions
of this aircraft are often guests at
Katowice Airport. In fact, the ATR
cargo aircraft is a frequent visitor
to the airport in Pyrzowice. The
ATR 72-200F (cargo) is used by
two courier companies operating
contracted services from Katowice
Airport – the Hungarian-Swiss
airline, Farnair, and Air Contractors
(Ireland). In UPS livery, Farnair
operates flights to Leipzig,
whe-reas Air Contractors is used
by FedEx on the Pyrzowice–Paris–Frankfurt–Pyrzowice
route.
The fact that the ATR 72-200F
model aircraft has been chosen
to operate flights on these routes
is not coincidental. This aircraft
can carry a large load at relatively
low costs per flight hour and
the range it offers is more than
enough for European freight
connections. The ATR 72-200F’s
merits are reflected in its technical
parameters – its wingspan
and overall length is 27m and it is
7.5m high. One of its chief assets
is the narrow gauge of its main
landing gear. At only 4.1m, this
allows the aircraft to operate on
very narrow runways. Another
advantage is without a doubt the
fact that the aircraft needs only a
short run to take off. Depending
on the runway’s location above
sea level and the prevailing air
temperature, this aircraft, at a
maximum take-off weight of
22 tons, needs only a 1600m to
1900m take off run – where run-
way conditions (wet or dry sur-
face) and the weight of the machine
play a deciding role in the
precise length required. These
construction specifications allow
the ATR 72 to fly to and from air-
ports with relatively short runways.
Another significant issue in the
choice of cargo aircraft is the
maximum payload in terms of
range. The ATR 72 can carry up
to 8.5 tons of cargo and 5 tons of
fuel – and with this loading, the
aircraft has a range of about
1400km at a speed of up to
513km/h. The machine is powered
by two 2400 horse-power
Pratt & Whitney Canada PW124
Turboprop engines. The aircraft’s
cargo version utilises 4-blade
Hamilton Standard propellers.
For air carriers, another factor
which is particularly significant,
is the available surface area on
board the aircraft. In terms of the
ATR 72-200F, this is 18m in length,
2.17m in width along the floor
and 2.74m in the widest part of
the body, and 1.85m in height.
According to the manufacturer,
one square metre of area cannot
hold more than 400kg. The
aircraft only requires a crew of
two pilots. Until now, about 30
aircraft have been produced by
the Italian-French joint venture.
You can see this aircraft at Katowice
Airport mostly in the early
mornings or late in the evening.
Farnair performs its operations
from Monday to Friday, whereas
Air Contractors from Tuesday till
the end of the working week.
Piotr adamczyk
silesia airport 25