I've read some mixed information on how this is done. Some folks claim they actually change pitch to reverse, others say they just completely "unfeather" the prop to increase drag. The word BETA, is thrown around quite a bit but I'm not sure what exactly it means. I'm sure there will be some insight given here!

Imagine doing that 30 or 40 times in a day hauling skydivers. What was all that racket after he touched down?

I fly skydivers out of a PAC 750 XL up at Skydive Twin Cities in Wisconsin. The PAC is a low wing single with a PT-6 that descends and lands much like the Porter in the video. Flying that plane is a BLAST! It just falls out of the sky at up to 6000 feet per minute. On landing I push the prop into BETA range, which is flat pitch, or if I really need the breaking power, a short blast of reverse pitch. BTW we hold the record for PAC loads flown in one day at 38.

38??!!

Are these LALO jumps? You take 'em up to 1500 feet and kick 'em out?

The PAC is a cool plane. Jump school at Byron, CA uses one when they don't want to fire up the King Air. One PT6 runs cheaper than two. Simple economics.

YB

No, those are full altitude jumps from 13,000 feet. Later this spring I will be flying for a skydiver who will be making 200 jumps in one day. I will fly most of those in the PAC and only use our 206 when we refuel the PAC. I flew for the same guy two years ago when he did 100 jumps in one day using 2 206's. 200 take offs and landings in one day sure is exhausting. We do this event to raise money for Parkinsins disease and it is a blast. We only go up to 2000 feet and averaged a jump every 4 minutes with the Cessnas and hope to cut that time down to around two minutes with the PAC.

I have no time in a Porter but why does he land on the pavement? Save those tires. The noise has to be a rusty section on a brake disk because I think a tail wheel shimmy would have shaken the camera. Beta range is determined by the manufacture. The Flat pitch angle setting is an "easy" adjustment and we are discussing this blade angle for my PT6, 206. A flatter pitch will alow the pilot to decend from skydiving quicker or for a bush pilot to drop in over the trees easier with out having to pull past the gate to Beta. This would reduce the glide ratio unless feather is selected. PAC driver-- does your POH emergency proceedures have you feather in he event of engine failure? and is feather used for glide ratio? I used to drive 208s but dont remember now. a Porter on my ranch would be Cool.

Back in the good ole' days I was a 135 instructor on the Twin Otter. Used to teach high speed emergency descents-VMO 165 kts 4000 fpm down and the slow speed emergency descent-70 kts, full flaps, idle beta 3000 fpm down and you were going to land were the nosae was pointed. Too much fun!! These were factory rigged of course, and there was a DHC factory advisory letter against "inflight use of reverse thrust" which, of course, we never did...

Wow--my ears are popping just watching that!!

Come in over the trees, a little Beta, plate drag and the Twin Otter drops, you now realize you are in a fairly large plane falling, up comes the ground and push the power levers fwd and hear the click of the gate, it seems like forever but you can feel the airflow over the wings and the decent slows, gratitude is the first emotion and now flare.

Most fun Pro flying I ever did. A very capable aircraft.

Those Garretts are amazing engines.
I used to fly Metroliners and our emergency descent profile was to pull the power to idle, push the props up to 100%, 1/2 flaps, gear down, and 175 knots. No beta.
It would peg the VSI past 6,000 fpm. I really have no idea how fast it was coming down, but the altimeter was unwinding VERY quickly.
If you could see it, you could land on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD3zjG6U ... re=related

Here's some great bush flying with a Pilatus in PNG apparently.

The best racing sailplane I once had, called a Ventus B, had "terminal velocity dive brakes" that would not allow the glider to exceed Vne in any dive. We'd make near vertical approaches like that, at about 80-90 mph with full control and no speed buildup. What a blast - But doing that in a powerplane like these skydiver haulers and New Guinea bushwhackers is even more awesome looking. The final approach speeds seem faster than needed, because they can slow it down so easily with the propeller. Looks like about as much fun as you can have on 20 or 30 gallons an hour...