page_title: Dornier 328
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Dornier 328 / Design
caption_attribution_description: THE 328
context_page_description: The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, conducted sales from San Antonio, Texas, United States, and supported the product line from both locations. A jet-powered version of the aircraft, the Fairchild Dornier 328JET, was also produced.
context_section_description: The Dornier 328 is a twin-turboprop engined, regional aircraft, principally designed for short-haul passenger operators; Deutsche Aerospace often promoted the type as being a "third-generation airliner". The fuselage of the 328 employs an unusual streamlined shape, having been optimised for high cruising speeds; the aircraft is capable of higher cruise and approach speeds than most turboprop-powered aircraft, which allows it to be more readily slotted around jetliners during landing approaches. According to Deutsche Aerospace, the 328 offered the "lowest noise level, widest cabin, highest standing room, widest cabin floor, and widest seats in the three-abreast class". The 328 is capable of operations from semiprepared airstrips and rough runways, incorporating features such as its retractable landing gear being equipped with high-floatation tyres and steerable nose gear and a gravel guard.
  It is equipped with a pair of Pratt and Whitney PW119C turboprop engines, which drive fully reversible Hartzell HD-E6C-3B propellers. The propeller blades generate notably less noise in comparison to their contemporary counterparts due to features such as their lower rotation speed, propeller synchrophasing, and the use of a six-blade configuration. The propeller system is dual-acting, being capable of adjusting pitch to maintain a constant engine speed. During the early 1990s, the manufacturer claimed that the use of various noise-reduction measures across the aircraft kept the internal cabin noise "below that of even some modern jet aircraft".
  The fuselage of 328 allows for a comfortable three-abreast, airline-style seating arrangement to be used, as well as a dense, four-abreast configuration to accommodate greater passenger numbers, of which it is able to carry a maximum of 27. A total of six cabin configurations is available for passenger and cargo operations; these include a flexible combi aircraft layout with a movable wall separating passengers and cargo, and a medical evacuation arrangement equipped with biofloors and positions for four litters and medical attendees. The 328 is pressurized, a first for Dornier-built aircraft, which was implemented to achieve a higher level of passenger comfort; the passenger cabin is designed to be more akin to those of much larger passenger aircraft. A full-sized galley, toilet, and washbasin can also be installed.
  The 328 is furnished with the same supercritical wing design that had been originally developed for Dornier's earlier Do 228; this wing provides the aircraft with both excellent cruise and climb capabilities. The straightforward construction techniques of the Do 228 were also reproduced for the 328, despite making increased use of composite materials in areas such as the rear fuselage and empennage. The 328 reportedly made greater use of composites than any of its direct competitors at launch, the use of the Kevlar-carbon fiber composites is claimed to have reduced its weight by 20%. Various materials are used across the airframe; amongst these, an aluminium alloy is used for the pressure fuselage and much of the wingbox, a titanium alloy for the tail cone, and glass fibre-reinforced plastic for the radome and leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. Noise-absorbent material is located across the fuselage, while the cabin wall is hung from isolator brackets to reduce vibration and noise transference.
  The two-man glass cockpit of the 328 is equipped with a Honeywell Primus 2000 avionics suite, and the cockpit is outfitted with an electronic flight instrument system comprising five 20 x 17.5 cm cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors. The central CRT serves as the engine-indicating and crew-alerting system, while the two inner CRTs are used as multifunctional displays and the outermost two CRTs perform as the primary flight displays. Addition avionics include a dual integrated avionics computer, a digital databus (a commercial derivative of the MIL-STD-1553 databus), dual Primus II integrated radio system, automatic flight control system, dual digital air data reference units, Primus 650 wea
caption: Forward section of a 328
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:03:12 14:42:38", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "215", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "160", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "120", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "Uncompressed", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Thumbnail StripOffsets": "2458", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail RowsPerStrip": "120", "Thumbnail StripByteCounts": "57600", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:03:11 07:34:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:03:11 07:34:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "443/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2239", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}