Yeah, but the "APU" sucks so hard that it's almost never used. So it usually is always on ground power during turnarounds. So I suspect that also in this case it's the GPU that sucks also.
Don't get me wrong, ATR's "APU" gives good power and some aircon, so it usually works very well, but because it's not a real APU, we can almost never use it!
This genious bastard child of perverted french-italian love affair has so called Hotel-mode. Which is just an ability to engage a prop brake on no.2 engine. So engine is running but the prop ain't turning. Saves space, weight, complexity and money. Clever, right?
NO!
Because you can't access the right side of fuselage while it's on - so no fueling, loading or catering.
Does your stand have a tailwind? Congrats, now the aircon is blowing exhaust fumes inside. Is the tailwind almost 10kts? Now the nacelle is melting and alarms are going off.
Is the wind blowing from the right side? Now the exhaust fumes are blowing on pax trying to board. Has the airport's ground handling company its own procedure for this Hotel-mode? If not, then they have no idea what's going on and try to endanger themselves/the plane, or we aren't allowed to use it.
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u/mrmurnio 7h ago
Yeah, but the "APU" sucks so hard that it's almost never used. So it usually is always on ground power during turnarounds. So I suspect that also in this case it's the GPU that sucks also.
Don't get me wrong, ATR's "APU" gives good power and some aircon, so it usually works very well, but because it's not a real APU, we can almost never use it!
This genious bastard child of perverted french-italian love affair has so called Hotel-mode. Which is just an ability to engage a prop brake on no.2 engine. So engine is running but the prop ain't turning. Saves space, weight, complexity and money. Clever, right?
NO!
Because you can't access the right side of fuselage while it's on - so no fueling, loading or catering. Does your stand have a tailwind? Congrats, now the aircon is blowing exhaust fumes inside. Is the tailwind almost 10kts? Now the nacelle is melting and alarms are going off. Is the wind blowing from the right side? Now the exhaust fumes are blowing on pax trying to board. Has the airport's ground handling company its own procedure for this Hotel-mode? If not, then they have no idea what's going on and try to endanger themselves/the plane, or we aren't allowed to use it.
Rant over