The Short 360 is an unpressurised commuter airliner designed and built by Short Brothers in Belfast. Powered by two Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-65AR turboprops, it was designed to fly short routes up to 1,595 kilometres (991 miles) in length.
Designed as a larger version of the Short 330, it first flew on 1 June 1981 and entered service in November 1982 with Suburban Airlines in the USA. With seating for up to 36 passengers, it proved a popular niche aircraft for many airlines.
Short 360 Video
Following on from the last video about the Antonov An-225 Mriya, this week we head over to Northern Ireland for a look at the Short 360. The video below runs for under three minutes and shows a take-off at St. Kitts in the Caribbean.
Its short take off and landing characteristics are quite evident. There is also another video here, running for about two minutes, created in the 1980s. It is a brief look at the cabin of the aircraft, plus the interesting cockpit door layout. I have never seen that style anywhere else.
The unusual square fuselage has resulted in some disparaging nicknames for the Short 360 over the years. The flying box or the flying shoebox are ones you will commonly see bandied around. You can kind of see why!
Overall Thoughts
There were 165 Short 360s produced during its 10 year production run from 1981 to 1991. It saw service around the world, with airlines such as Sunstate in Australia (operating for Australian Airlines then Qantas), Aer Lingus, British Midland, Manx, Olympic Airways, TACA, Philippine Airlines, Thai Airways, Allegheny Commuter, US Airways Express, United Express and American Eagle among others.
Today the Short 360 is in service with mainly cargo airlines. Air Cargo Carriers out of Milwaukee operate “the world’s largest fleet of Short Brothers aircraft”, with something like 15 in service. Transair Cargo in Hawaii operate five and there are a smattering of others around the world.
Have you ever flown on board a Short 360 before? What was it like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
Enjoying the series? Check out the index to all the “Does Anyone Remember…” articles.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Featured image by Andrew Hutchings on Airliners.net
I flew the SD 360 many times between ALB and JFK on Command Airways and on DL (Business Express) from LGA to ALB. The ride was comfortable and lots of legroom. Ungainly looking maybe, but fine for a short hop.
Nice to hear some good feedback on the aircraft’s passenger experience. I imagine I would have found it all quite fine as well. Thanks for that – and another airline I wasn’t aware of. Commuter airlines are not my forte, so it’s great to hear about all of these. Thanks for that!
sorry for the caps, but it converted just as I was about to send.There was a Conference Center/Hotel in Wick, Scotland in the late nineties. We arranged a meeting for about 40 people in the Ackergill Castle in Wick. The only flights were via Aberdeen. I think the flight was 35 minutes, but it was freezing in the plane (late June) and of course you could see through the large windshield (no curtains). Our guests from various countries were amused. Other than the experience with the plane and the accommodation, the highlights included John O’Groats (most northerly tip of the… Read more »
Wick is certainly pretty out of the way! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip, even if the flight over on the Shorts 360 was cold and a bit unusual. You certainly appear to have had a good trip around that area. It’s a beautiful part of the world, Scotland. I’ve seen a good bit of the country myself, though I can’t say I’ve played Golf there. Thanks for sharing that, I enjoyed the read!
Flew on the SH6 from ARN to HUV on Air Hudik. Noisy airplane which thanks to my cold and lack of pressurization burst my eardrum. In all fairness it was a much more pleasant ride than its predecessor the SH3 which was dubbed the vomit comet for obvious reasons. Most memorable feature of flight was the enroute stop at SOO where I saw a pair of Swedish Air Force Viggens perform a full afterburner takeoff. Question to Shorts salesmen: why did you deliver us the box the airplane was in and keep the airplane in Belfast?
Yikes, that sounds really painful all round. Not a good memory to have of the aircraft, that’s for sure. I haven’t written about its predecessor yet, but it sure looks a bit scarier. Seeing those Viggens would have been something though! Very nice 🙂
I flew for CCAir, a USAir Express carrier in the late 90s. We had Dash 8s, BAE Jetstreams, and the Shorts 360. We said the Shorts was the box the Jestream came in. I was a Jestream and Dash 8 pilot, but never flew the Shorts. Spent quite a few hours riding in the back though. It was…an experience.
Hahaha – the Shorts was the box the Jetstream came in – that’s funny! I can imagine the Shorts would be extremely different to both the Jetstream and Dash 8 on a variety of levels. Two different friends of mine were Dash 8 pilots and in fact, I did four sectors in the cockpit of a Dash 8-100 with one of them back when I was a teenager. An experience I’ll never forget! Thanks for the comment, I enjoyed reading that.
Flew a Mississippi Valley Airlines 360 from Peoria to Chicago (ORD) once on my way to LHR on BA. I remember a fellow passenger commenting on this “Flying Shed” we were about to board. The flight itself was about 45 minutes or so and the plane did seem roomy until we got to ORD, taxiing around the 747s/DC-10’s and L1011’s made The Shed seem tiny all of a sudden. A perfectly adequate machine, if a bit ungainly in appearance. Loved deplaning onto the ramp at ORD.
Hahahaha! Flying shed is pretty apt for the Shorts 360. It’s good to see so many people having flown on this aircraft with a bunch of random commuter airlines. I can imagine it seemed pretty small once you got to the big boys airport! Nice one.
I flew on the 360 multiple times between Cleveland and Detroit. It was Republic Express then Northwest Airlink operated by Simmons. I also flew the the 360 a number of times between San Juan and St Thomas on American Eagle operated by Executive Air. It was a noisy, uncomfortable airplane. But the fights were short, and one can tolerate the tight seats for 30 minutes. The Simmons fights were replaced by ATRs; the Airlink flights were mostly replaced by Saab 340s. I found the 360 to be smoother and roomier than the Brasilia but not as comfortable as a Dash… Read more »
Good to hear your experience that it was noisy and uncomfortable. I think you make a good point on it being roomier, it certainly seems that way judging from that cabin tour video, so nice to hear it is in reality. Also I would expect the Dash 8 and ATR to be more comfortable as they’re more modern. It would have been eye opening had it been the opposite! Thanks for sharing that.
I flew as a passenger in the early 1990’s on Simmons Airlines, which is not listed in the article. Simmons livery resembled American Eagle and changed its name to that eventually.
Even though the plane wasn’t old, I felt like I was riding in a. Ery old plane just because of the exterior appearance.
The flight was probably LaGuardia to definitely Albany, NY. The terminal in Albany was reddish brown brick and, I believe, 8t has been demolished.
That’s pretty cool that you got to fly on board one of these and with an airline I had no idea about. You are right, it doesn’t look particularly modern, but I guess it was the right shape for the job. Thanks for sharing that, always happy to learn new information!