An Island Hopping Dash 8-100 Flight in the Heart of the Aegean Sea… What an Eye-catching Adventure!

Kastellorizo airport
                                                           The Kastellorizo airport

Here’s the video of a Dash 8-100 flight from the Rhodes airport to Kastellorizo, a remote Greek island, very close to the Turkish coast.

The flight time will be 25 minutes. Here’s a Greek saying reported in the video:

Once you drink from the water of
Kastellorizo, you always come back.
To know if it’s true you have just to fly there!

The Most Difficult Landing in Greece

This is an Olympic airway commercial flight on a plane of the original Dash 8-100 series, with 37 seats. However, this aircraft can be chartered as a private jet.

The Kastellorizo airport is the most difficult airport in Greece. It’s a “Captains Only” landing and takeoff.

And, probably, this is also one of the most difficult airports in the world, but this Dash8-100 is the only plane that’s able to land and take off there.

The flight you see in the video lands from the west side of Kastellorizo with a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) approach, downwind. A left downwind from (incoherent)

Finally, the aircraft turns lands on the 800 meters long (very short!) runway with flaps 35 that’s, on the Dash 100, is the maximum flap setting, needed for Kastellorizo.

The speed is about 100 knots. 95 knots, let’s say in the end, which is a good speed to do slow down when landing in Kastellorizo.

This is again a very special airport. There’s a lot of restrictions like wind limitations,

The wind cannot be more than 20 knots to land or take off. This is a flight that’s been canceled a lot of times due to weather.

The Dash 8-100 is a STOL (i.e. Short Take-Off and Landing) airplane.

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The Dash 8-100 Static Takeoff

Dash 8-100 Flight KastellorizoTo fly back to Rhodes the aircraft takes off on runway 3-1, makes a right turn, and then proceeds to Rhodes. 

On the left and below you can see the maps showing the positions of Kastellorizo and Rhodes.

The Dehavilland Dash 8-100 lines up on the runway, stop, apply full power and then release the brake to take off. This is what’s called “static take-off”.

Here’s the comment by Sam Chui:

“You know I felt the power so strong on taking off. You’re riding on the brakes, and before you release the brakes on full power”

The pilot applies power until at least 60%, and then release the brakes to have a short as possible time to reach the take-off speed.

Dash 8-100 Flight Kastellorizo to Rhodes

Dash 8-100 specs

dash 8-100
                          Dash8-100, Bombardier Dehavilland Dash 8-100, DHC-8-100

This medium turbo-prop has seats for up to 50 passengers in the flight shown in the video, but as a private jet, it can be designed to host a maximum of 17 people.

Its reduced runway requirements are probably the most important feature of the Dash 8-100

The DHC-8-100 interior is gorgeous and very spacious. Other specs of this twin turboprop regional airliner:

  • Cruise speed: 310 mph
    Length: 73ft
    Range: 1,174 Nm (2174 KM)
    Engines: Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100

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