Short 330

United Kingdom

Regional airliner and utility freighter

The Short 330, or the `Shed' as at least one regional airline affectionately dubbed it, is an inexpensive and reliable 30 seat airliner, if somewhat slower than most of its pressurised competition. The Short 330 is a stretched development of the SC.7 Skyvan. Beginning life designated the SD330, the 330 retained the Skyvan's overall configuration, including the slab sided fuselage cross section, supercritical, braced, above fuselage mounted wing design (lengthened by 2.97m/9ft 9in) and twin tails. Compared with the Skyvan though the fuselage is stretched by 3.78m (12ft 5in), allowing seating for over 10 more passengers. Improved performance over the fairly slow Skyvan results from two Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprops driving five blade props, pointed nose and retractable undercarriage. More than 60% greater fuel capacity boosts range significantly over the Skyvan. An engineering prototype of the 330 flew for the first time on August 22 1974, while a production prototype flew on July 8 1975. The first true production aircraft followed that December. The 330 entered airline service with Time Air of Canada in August 1976. Initial Short 330s were powered by PT6A45As and 45Bs and are known as 330100s, while definitive 330-200s feature more powerful PT6A45Rs. The 200s also feature a number of detail improvements, while items previously available as options were made standard equipment. Various freighter versions of the 330 have been developed, including the Sherpa with a rear loading ramp (in service with the US Air Force and Army as the C23), and the military 330UT.

330100 - Two 875kW (1173shp) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A45 turboprops driving five blade constant speed Hartzell propellers. 330200 - Two 893kW (1198shp) PT6A45Rs.

330100 - Max cruising speed 356km/h (192kt), long range cruising speed 296km/h (160kt). Initial rate of climb 1200ft/min. Range with 30 passengers and reserves 590km (320nm). 330200 - Max cruising speed 352km/h (190kt), long range cruising speed 294km/h (159kt). Range with max payload 660km (473nm), range with max fuel and no reserves 1695km (915nm).

330100 - Empty equipped in airliner configuration 6577kg (14,500lb), max takeoff 10,160kg (22,400lb). 330200 - Operating empty 6697kg (14,764lb), max takeoff 10,387kg (22,900lb).

Wing span 22.76m (74ft 8in), length 17.69m (58ft 1in), height 4.95m (16ft 3in). Wing area 42.1m2 (453.0sq ft).

Flightcrew of two. Typical passenger accommodation for 30 at three abreast and 76cm (30in) pitch in 10 rows of seats. In combi freight/passenger configuration the 330 houses freight in the front of the cabin and 18 passengers in the rear.

330 production wound up in September 1992 after 136 had been built, including military C23 Sherpas and 330UTs. Approximately 35 were in airline service at late 1998.

Short 330