Saab 340B

The Saab 340 began as a programme shared with Fairchild: the first SF340 flew on 25 January 1983, and when Fairchild left aircraft manufacturing after completing the first 40 units, Saab dropped its partner's name in 1985 and carried on building the type as the Saab 340A, of which 159 were made. With some years of airline service behind it, Saab's next step was a version aimed at what regional carriers missed most: performance at high-elevation airports and on hot days. The result was the 340B, described by its sources as the hot-and-high version of the 340A, with improved operating weight and longer range at maximum payload.

Saab applied to the Swedish authority (LFV) for certification of the new version on 14 September 1987, the date that also fixes the applicable basis: European JAR 25 Change 7, with some paragraphs from later changes. The 340B type certificate was granted on 3 July 1989 under Swedish certificate LFV A 1/84, later replaced by European certificate EASA.A.068, which also covers the SF340A. The aircraft first flew in that same year, 1989. The EASA data sheet defines it as a low-wing twin turboprop with a pressurised cabin, able to carry up to 37 passengers and cargo on short- to medium-haul routes. Its special certification conditions include gravel runway operation, high-altitude take-off, take-off and landing with tailwinds above 10 knots and steep approach landing.

The main change is the powerplant: two General Electric CT7-9B free-turbine turboprops, with a 15.9:1 power turbine to propeller reduction. Each engine delivers 1750 shp (1305 kW) for take-off and maximum continuous, and 1870 shp (1395 kW) for take-off with automatic power reserve (APR). They drive four-bladed 3.35 m Dowty Rotol or Hamilton Sundstrand propellers, reversible and auto-feathering. The second visible change is the wider-span horizontal stabiliser. The airframe keeps the type's dimensions: 19.73 m long, 21.44 m span, 7.00 m high and 41.8 m² of wing area. Modification 2571, the extended wingtip, takes the span to 22.75 m; according to the English Wikipedia it was fitted to about 30 aircraft of this version before becoming standard on the 340B Plus.

The EASA data sheet records how the 340B's maximum weights grew through modifications. Maximum take-off weight was originally 12930 kg (28500 lb), rose to 13155 kg (29000 lb) with modification 2438 and to 13605 kg (30000 lb) with modification 3655, which Saab released through service bulletin 340-51-033. Maximum landing weight went from 12700 kg to 12930 kg and zero-fuel weight from 11790 kg to 12020 kg. The Saab Aircraft Leasing data sheet gives an average operational empty weight of 8620 kg, a maximum payload of 3400 kg, 2580 kg of fuel, a maximum cruise speed of 283 knots (524 km/h) and a 7620 m operating ceiling; at sea level in standard conditions it needs 1285 m of take-off distance at maximum weight. With 34 passengers and baggage, the English Wikipedia credits it with a 1350 km range at long-range cruise.

The cabin can be laid out for 35 or 37 passengers three abreast, as a corporate or VIP aircraft, as a passenger-cargo combi or as a pure freighter; 34 seats was the type's most common layout. The flight deck seats two pilots plus an extra seat for an observer or training crew. Avionics include Rockwell Collins EFD-86 electronic displays, a Rockwell Collins APS-85 autopilot, integrated VOR/ILS and a Hamilton Sundstrand ground proximity warning system. The tricycle landing gear is hydraulically operated, with carbon disc brakes and an anti-skid system. Later-production 340Bs added active cabin noise control, which became standard on all 340Bs in 1994 and could be retrofitted to aircraft already delivered.

In 1989 US carrier American Eagle placed a large order: 50 340Bs plus options for another 50. A total of 200 340Bs were built, serials 340B-160 to 340B-359; from serial 360 onwards production continued as the 340B Plus. The changing market of the 1990s led AMR Eagle to announce in October 1999 that it would phase out its 340 fleet, and Saab closed production that same year. The aircraft kept flying: Saab and Calgary-based Field Aviation developed an all-cargo conversion that gained Class E certification in September 2002, able to carry 3856 kg over 556 km, and in November 2007 the Argentine Air Force ordered four 340Bs for transport, operated by LADE in Patagonia. In Sweden the Tp 100 VIP transport derives from the 340B and B Plus, and the Royal Thai Armed Forces designate their 340Bs B.L.17. In late 2010 Saab was studying extending the 340's certified life, normally limited to 60000 hours, to 75000.

The 340B's record includes serious accidents: on 19 March 1998 Formosa Airlines Flight 7623 crashed into the sea 11 km off Hsinchu, Taiwan, after an electrical fault and crew disorientation, killing 13; and on 10 January 2000 a Crossair 340B operating Flight 498 entered a spiral dive after taking off from Zürich and crashed at Niederhasli, killing all ten on board. Without fatalities, a Regional Líneas Aéreas 340B ploughed into a construction trench at Porto on 14 May 1997, an American Eagle aircraft overran the runway at Killeen on 21 March 2000 and an Aerolitoral 340B made a fuel-exhaustion belly landing in Mexico on 6 September 2001.