Ever fly the Fairchild 300?

Was it better?

All of the 226's and 227's had 648 gallons (4342lbs @ standard conditions) useable available when they left San Antonio. However, some of them went to Europe. European rules football (and a few other countries) required "limiting" the useable fuel as not to be able to exceed GW @ BOW plus Full Fuel. Many of the 226's and "non-16K" 227's had the fuel caps moved inboard one wing/rib bay thereby limiting useable fuel to approximately 550 gallons/3685lbs. Some of these aircraft found their way back to the US and had the filler caps moved back to the 648 gallon position. Either way, the Metro/Merlin series is one of the few airplanes that I have ever flown/own/and operate that has "enough" fuel; after all, the only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire..................

Funny enough, there have been at least two Merlins that had the "dry bay" areas sealed and used for additional useable fuel to aid in the long-distance pursuit of "international" under-the-radar commerce.

By the way, the "Merlin 300" is just a IIIC with winglets (either one is an SA227TT) with the option of factory Freon. Also, most were 13,230 GW, but not all. A 12.5K Merlin 300 with freon will have a useful load of 3,500lbs-it can hold 4342 lbs of fuel. I have owned the last "short" airplane built (sn TT541A) and it was a straight IIIC. Of the 10 227TT's that were delivered as Merlin 300's, all were a product of marketing after final production.

The 226/227 Series were all designed with an original intended GW of 14K. Arbitrary government regulation created the published limitations.

Was the tiller the joystick style? If so, fun fact, the AFMS required two pilots for that airplane!