c/n 1243, N712TH

[Doug Johnson 1]

picture of c/n 1243 as U-10D s/n 66-14341 opened as  #1 in the queue at top of page 1

[Kevin Dunn]

Personally I have always liked the round windows for their distinctiveness. However, IMO the square ones make for better lines on the airplane. I wonder how many have been converted? 514 has them too, so it isn't always a 295.

Kevin

[Jason Stephens]

My -395 project at some point was converted to the square windows as well.  I too prefer the round windows, but the trapezoidal windows are sufficiently funky that I like them.

[Doug Johnson 1]

Since Kevin asked the question, I decided to look both in my FAA files and my picture collection and see what I could figure out.

Here is more information than you probably care about.

It appears that a total of 23 Helios have been converted from round windows to the square windows or more accurately trapezoidal windows, and 5 have had the rear round window completely removed with 5^th and six^th seats removed.

19 have paperwork showing the change and 4 don't have FAA paperwork, possibly logbook entry but no way to know.

No H-391's have been converted to round windows, not sure but I don't believe there is any difference in the cage that would keep it from being done.

Only 3 H-395s and have been converted and on 1 H-395 the trapezoidal window was later removed and converted to an enlarged baggage area. 3 H-395s have no rear windows 1 an H-395A was ordered from the factory with no rear windows.

17 H-295s have been converted to the trapezoidal windows and 2 have had the rear windows and seats removed for a larger baggage area.

Only 3 H-250s have been converted to the trapezoidal windows.

[Doug Johnson 1]

Lance, interesting picture of c/n 1243 as C-GXFA getting an engine swap in the field and it also shows that the Jaars baggage pod has been removed to gain back a little high altitude performance. How noticeable was the difference without the pod?

Was this an incident with an engine failure? Which engine? Did you guys put a turbocharged GO-480-G1A6 engine with the gear on the accessory pad for the an alternator when you made the swap, so it would have the same performance as C-GXFB?

opene photo in the queue above

[Doug Johnson]

Denis, you  beat me to posting this article but I just had the article without a good link to CBC news so i copied your link

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/icefield-discovery-plane-stuck-1.5764418?fbclid=IwAR1pf-5R7dLA3tFd46Bp1fDMtG4ob_NicMJKoIk32nHSeNOAe0ZgbqvUW7w

I copied the pictures and put them at the bottom of the queue above.

Interesting this is the 2^nd time it has spent an overnight out in the ice field.