SAAB 340 (OH-FAA - OH-FAF)


"14 vuotta olit ratsuni mun
nyt sitten joudun jättämään sun
You were good and easy to fly
today we are saying eachothers goodbye
Saabissa polje en enää jalkaa
ATR:n tyyppikurssi maanantaina alkaa
Sua kiitän ja kaiholla muistelen
Happy and smooth handling to you"

OH-FAD last logbook entry 1/29/1999
Capt. A.Maanselkä, C/P T Koponen, C/A K Ollaranta - Lappeenranta-Helsinki

The Saab 340 training begun in January 1986. Three Finnaviation captains; me, Esko Siimes and Toivo Huovinen went to Sweden for flight training. After completing the training, we were to train the rest of the Finnaviation pilots for the Saab 340. The theoretical part of the training was in Bromma, near Stockholm and the simulator training was at the SAS training center.
In June 1986 there was a "refresh" class and the actual flight training and the checkflights were performed in Linköping during the summer of 1986.
The checkflights were first greeted by a Swedish checkpilot and then a Finnish checkpilot (
to get the proper acceptance with the Finnish authorities).
The temperature during the checkflights was 29 centigrades. Because of the simulations of engine failures, the airconditioning was turned off and the cockpit was very hot. For example, I was doing a "go around" and Esko was simultaneuously wiping the sweat off my forehead, allowing me to concentrate in the flying part.
We passed with excellent grades. In the simulator syllabus, everyone of us had a grading of "very good" in nearly every part of the assesment.
The first plane arrived in Finland September, 1986. The reception formalities were held in Linköping, it was a big event, there was a folk dance play, the press was flown for introduction flights... As chief pilot, I was one of the invited guests, the first Saab 340 was flown to Finland by Esko Siimes and the late Erkki Ruosteinen. In Helsinki we were greeted by Finnair's president Gunnar Korhonen.
Saab 340 was a great new aircraft, technologically one of the most advanced airliners of it's time. It was a very dependable aircraft. In the beginning there were slight "teething problems", for example the engine air intake de-icing system was sometimes malfunctioning.
Saab factory took excellent care of it's customers. Every year there was a big symposium in Linköping, for companies operating Saab 340.
At the beginning of Saab operations, I was often sitting on the jumpseats of Crossair and Swedair flights. We had a lot of international co-operation. Me and the chief Pilot of Crossair; Paul Kurrus, became friends along with the Saab project. The Switzerlanders were especially interested in the checklists and emergencycheklists of Finnaviation. We had made the lists to be as easy to use and as logical as possible, based on "natural flow". (
The Saab panel was divided into vertical strips, each presenting a certain function). Our checklists followed the vertical strips of the panel and "overhead panel" in a sine formation.
During the first 2 years, I didn't have a single normal flight, all the flights during 1986 to 1988 were FAM flights. Fall of 1986 was packed with heavy weather, for example the winds were often 30-35 knots. This made the FAM flights heavy. We operated the Saab to all domestic airports and to Scandinavia ; Stockholm, Tromssa, Göteborg, Umeå, Malmö, Copenhagen, Trollhätan. Out of Rovaniemi we operated to Murmansk, Tallin route was opened in 1988 and in the beginning of the 90's we begun a new route to Petrosavodsk.
During daytime we transported passengers and during nighttime we transported mail. The Finnaviation Saabs (
OH-FAF exluded) had a special version change system. The seats could be removed and replaced by container rails in just 30 minutes.
The Saabs were also used for charter and corporate flights (
OH-FAF could be fitted with a luxury interior) around Scandinavia, Europe and to Russia.
As passengers were for example: the king of Sweden, the Finnish president, high ranking Russian officials and high ranking corporate boards.
Many times the charter flights were just "ordinary" charters, for example in 1990 we took a soccer team to play soccer in Katowice, Poland.

During 14 years I accumulated almost 9000 flight hours in the Saab 340.