Britten-Norman Trislander

what is it?

The Britten-Norman Trislander (more formally designated the BN-2A Mk III Trislander) is a three-engined piston-powered utility aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Britten-Norman. The Trislander was designed in the late 1960s as an expanded derivative of the company's Islander, a twin-engined commercial aircraft that had proved to be a commercial success. In comparison to its predecessor, it had a larger carrying capacity, being capable of seating up to 18 passengers, and could also perform STOL operations when required.

🔎How to recognise it: 3 piston engines with propellers · 16.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 290 km/htop speed
• seats 17passengers
• size 4,536 kgmax take-off weight
• built 72made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 56 years ago, in 1970.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 16.2 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1970-09-11

introduced

1971

status

still flying

number built

72

role

airliner

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Britten-Norman

engines

3× Lycoming O-540-E4C5

crew

1

passengers

17

length

15 m

wingspan

16.2 m

height

4.3 m

max take-off weight

4,536 kg

top speed

290 km/h

cruise speed

249 km/h

range

—

ceiling

4,010 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family