Flying the Airbus A318 (Baby Bus): Cold Bay, AK to Dutch Habor, AK...maybe

Today we'll be flying the Airbus A318-111 from Cold Bay, AK to Dutch Harbor. made famous by the television show "Deadliest Catch", Dutch harbor is a very difficult airport to get into with bad weather usually the norm, No ILS system, and somewhat hilly terrain, so it will be a purely visual landing without the use of autopilot. The Airbus A318 is the smallest of the A320 family and is known as "The Baby Bus" as it is a very short aircraft. Used mostly for commuter flights between smaller rural and regional airports, the A318 is popular in locations where small airports are being used. Below are the specifications of the A318-111:

length - 103 ft 2 in
Wingspan - 111 ft 11 in
Tail Height - 41 ft 2 in
Cabin Width - 12 ft 2 in
Operating empty weight - 87,100 lb
Maximum Takeoff Weight - 150,000 lb
Cruise Speed - Mach 0.78
Maximum Speed - Mach 0.82
Range - 3100 nm
Fuel Capacity - 6400 US Gals, 24,210 liters
Engines - CFM56-5B
Thrust - 21,600 lbf

The A318 is a very easy aircraft to fly and is very forgiving. It is easy to taxi on small taxiways as it is very short so you don't have to worry about the main landing gear cutting off the turn on top the grass. The aircraft has an excellent thrust to weight ratio making it a good climber and it's fairly fast for it's size with a typical cruise speed of mach 0.78 to 0.80 depending on altitude and weather conditions.