Convair 340/580 startup and takeoff

[@coptertim]

You're looking at a machine, designed in the '50s, still safe, rugged, dependable and making money for the owner today. So many great planes came out of that era.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Yeah, it's awesome to see these old planes still working in perfectly good condition!

[@coptertim]

​@@sebsaviationyyc I grew up near the airport in Long Beach CA and my friends and I used to walk through old aircraft being scrapped. It was a long time ago but I fell in love with aviation from that experience. Too bad kids don't feel that same magic today.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

@@coptertim Wow, that sounds amazing! You're right, most people these days take aviation for granted, which is a shame. I'm always glad to meet others who are passionate about aviation, even if we are few and far between in modern society.

[@chazndave]

One of the reasons for their ruggedness and longevity, was that in the fifties, there was little or no computational ability / availability during the design phase. So they were overbuilt as a matter of safety, leading to a very under-stressed aircraft.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

@@chazndave Makes sense!

[@jasonthomas9364]

I recall the 580 in Frontier, and Aspen Airlines livery

[@davidm8717]

Flew in one as a kid in the 50's, mom's first time flying, watching, hearing engines start up from window seat. Mom survived, thought I was going to the moon, as much fun as an amusement park to me!

[@davewinter2688]

The first commercial airline flight I ever took was on a Convair 580B on Frontier Airlines flight out of Manhattan Kansas in the late 1970''s. It was noisy with a lot of vibration but it got safely to Kansas City International where I transferred to a Delta Boeing 727 for the one hour flight to Memphis Tennessee. While on a three hour layover the late Danny Thomas along with his entourage and media came in on his way to Saint Jude's hospital The Convair service was discontinued in 1980 when the Manhattan airport runways were strengthened to handle Boeing 737's. As part of my job I flew on a private Beechcraft V35 Bonanza and a Baron. In those days there were older aircraft from Steerman's to DC-3's operating out of that airport.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Wow, you sure have seen and flown on some super cool aircraft!

[@finleyfendt3750]

When they hung the Allison engines on this airframe, it out preformed the old piston products with one engine shut down. Cruise speed increased 100 knots. Amazing airplane. 👍👍👍. 4-16-2023

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Sure goes to show how powerful turboprops are!

[@RuiPlaneSpotter]

Nice video my friend ✈️

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Thanks a lot for the support!

[@RuiPlaneSpotter]

@@sebsaviationyyc you are welcome ✈️

[@georgespettigue1544]

Frontier Airlines flew these airplanes for many years on its Rocky Mountain route structure and marketed it as the "Mountain Master". The original CV-340/440 had 2000 HP reciprocating engines while the CV-580 conversion was equipped with 4000 HP turboprop engines, essentially the same engines used on the C-130 Hercules. Additionally, Frontier's CV-580s were equipped with water/methanol injection to be used during high/hot takeoffs where the conditions compromised the power. This was so effective that many pilots would warn the passengers prior to deactivating it on these takeoffs as the loss of power was so dramatic. I have many hours flying the CV-580 and it is one great airplane!!

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Wow, you sure know a lot about it! It is indeed a great aircraft!

[@captainsalty9022]

Back in the late 70’s, American Eagle was flying beautifully restored Convair 440’s, P&W 2800 radial engines, in and out of Saint Thomas, USVI. Awsome to see. They looked like they just came out of the factory in and out. They were then about 30 years old.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Wow! These planes are sure built to last indeed! Always fun to see them still in action; seems like they will be for several years to come!

[@DragerPilot]

I have ridden thousands of miles in one of these. Still a great airplane. One pilot referred to them as a ‘38 Ford with hot rod engines. I can smell it right now.

[@MachTuck]

Cool to see the blade`s pitch at T/O power @ 5:54

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Yeah, you can really see it with the rectangular blades!

[@robertfencl4401]

Fond memories of North Central Airlines. Duluth-Hibbing- Intl. Falls!

[@Ykaspotter]

Awesome video! Love the Convair 580, easily my favourite planes.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Thanks, these Convairs are always fun to see in action!

[@delten-eleven1910]

The Convair and the Lockheed L-188 Electra, the best turbo prop liners ever produced, still earnin' somewhere in the world.

[@cwf1701]

I flew on the 580 when Republic operated the Atlanta-Gadsden-Anniston route in the late 1970s/ early 1980

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Cool! Such a great plane!

[@chuckswinden1635]

Fond memories of late night loading at Skycharter back in a day, we hand loaded these babies and did it quick under all kinds of weather 6 days a week, most dependable aircraft ever.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

They sure are such great workhorses!

[@danhuttinger5040]

Good video I like the older aircraft especially the older prop jobs a lot of them still in service.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Yeah, these workhorses sure last a long time, they're so well built!

[@joebs22]

En los años 70 viaje muchas veces en el Convair 580 en Venezuela , fue una experiencia muy agradable , uno sentía el verdadero placer de volar.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Es un avión increíble.

[@muffs55mercury61]

I love the 240/340s as they were piston engined. The 580 was turbo props so not as good of sound.

[@flyer5769]

When I flew in Alaska back in 1984. I met a captain who used to fly Convair 580's for Mark Air Express. He told me when empty, they would take off out of Bethel Alaska asking for unlimited climb. Bethel has a 6000 foot runway. He take off headed south making close turns to the airport turning down wind and by the time he passed the starting point for takeoff. He was passing through 10,000 feet!

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Wow! That's some incredible performance right there!

[@JMOUC265]

I remember flying as a passenger in these on Piedmont and Mohawk. , IIRC. Must have been in the late 60s. To be truthful, was glad when 727s came along. But, it’s a handsome airplane and I enjoy seeing it in operation. I was hoping that it was the piston version. As a child in the 50s, I saw a TWA Constellation starting up. Love that sound, cough, cough, ching, ching …. Roar.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Quite a fun aircraft! Unfortunately you don't see many of the piston versions around anymore.

[@JMOUC265]

​@@sebsaviationyyc I definitely rode on the Convair, maybe even the piston variety once, but I am not sure of that. However, another aircraft of the same style at the time was the Japanese YS-11, sporting Rolls Royce engines. I also rode on that one several times in the late 60s. The intervening years fog which airline was running which aircraft. I couldn't remember the model number of the Japanese a/c so I looked it up to be sure. Sitting beside the nacelles, I could see the famous RR symbol of Rolls Royce.

[@respighi3]

Took my first airplane ride on one of those---a 580 w/ Allegheny Airlines from ILG to PHL.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Nice! I don't even remember my first flight; I was only a few months old.

[@respighi3]

@@sebsaviationyyc I wasn't quite that young. It was 1968, and I was 18...

[@Conn653]

LOVE the 580 🙂

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Yeah, one of my favourites too!

[@johnmajane3731]

Very cool plane, I used to see them in Piedmont Livery when I was a kid flying into and out of National (Reagan) Airport back in the 60s and 70s. Glad to see some are still flying.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Yeah, these aircraft sure are lasting a while! This one is one of the last up here in Canada, but I don't think KF Aero is planning on retiring it anytime soon!

[@johnfarmer9697]

Piedmont Airlines never flew Convairs. They operated Martin 404.

[@johnmajane3731]

@@johnfarmer9697 you are right they were YS-11s. My mistake. It was Allehgany Airlines that were running them out of National. They also ran BAC-111s which were very noisy.

[@gtpyyz]

Nice video. Thumbs up 👍

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Thanks a lot!

[@gordon-n6s]

Only the Dart RR could be used on the 91ft wing span CV-240 conversion while the Alison 501D was used on most of the other Convair conversions which perhaps were more powerful. Apparently the Darts didn't give enough take-off power at high elevation density altitude airports like Denver and others in the Rockies.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Makes sense, thanks for the info! Love the sound of those Allisons!

[@tomsamuelson8512]

Well....this might have been a Convair 340 60 years ago......

[@Eolafan1008]

I used to fly on Convair 580 planes out of Wausau, Wisconsin operated by North Central Airlines back in the 1970s.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Cool! They're old but reliable!

[@paulchsney5994]

Work on 580’s in theNavy. We had 3 of them.

[@AviationLoverIndonesia]

Amazing 😍👍

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Glad you liked it, thanks for watching!

[@johngood8048]

What does that plane have for wing anti-ice, I don’t see boots?

[@sebsaviationyyc]

You're right, there are no de-icing boots. I think they instead just have surface heat.

[@georgespettigue1544]

The CV-580 had hot leading edges using hot air from the compressor section of the engines. There is no deicing on the tail section.

[@jorgeperez7048]

Excelente 👍👍

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Thank you!

[@davidharris2519]

a 340 is a piston powered a/c a 580 is a turboprop powered this is a 580

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Was originally a 340, but was at some point converted to a 580.

[@ivandarioplataduran5937]

Disculpen este es un convair 580, no es 340.

[@starliner1649A]

Sad thing DC-6 and DC-7 not upgraded to turbine power.

[@sebsaviationyyc]

Hmm, I never thought about that. It's an interesting concept though!

[@johngood8048]

707s came along quickly and the airlines had to buy them or be left in the dust. DC-6s & 7s were left to hauling fish in Alaska

[@docpalazola491]

Powered by Allison turboprop engines.

[@tootired76]

Isn't this the type of plane that Lynyrd Skynyrd went down in?? Dumb bass pilots ran it out of fuel...

[@vixen0347]

I believe they were in a Martin 404?

[@sebsaviationyyc]

It was a CV-240.