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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0840.PDF
BGVO= 842 FLIGHT HANDLING THE M.S. 760 PARIS An "Executive Jet" with Excellent Air Manners g 7 VERY now and then one finds a real peach of an aircraft—•H one which performs and behaves in relation to its intended » J role exactly as it ought to. My most recent delight was theMorane Saulnier M.S. 760 Paris, which I flew in France soon after it had returned from its North American sales tour for Beechcraft.The aircraft still carried its splendid white, blue and red trim, and on its nose was a map of die U.S.A., showing die route it hadfollowed on its tour. From outside die Paris looks well, but inside it looks better still.The predominant cabin colour is pale grey, with occasional red piping. Panels and consoles are all grey and instruments are blackwith white lettering. Everything stands out clearly and is easily recognized by distinctive shaping and marking. The four seats naturally take up almost all the available spacein die cabin and getting in without dirtying them with the feet would be tricky if it were not for the fact that the central arm-rest in die front bench can be swung up and forward to expose a long, flat, metal-faced footstep. A short ladder can be attached toeither flank of die fuselage to take the passenger up two or three feet to cabin sill level. Once installed, die view is excellent in alldirections, particularly over the nose, and the seats are very comfortable. The sliding plastic canopy is large and can make the cabin veryhot in bright sunshine, so adjustable purple plastic visors are fitted in die windscreen bridge for the front seats, together with fourfully adjustable ckrth concertina blinds in the roof. So shade is not hard to come by; and the addition of a full-scale air-conditioning system makes life very pleasant. The Paris is, of course, also fully pressurized. The canopy is opened or closed byan electric motor and die pressurization seal is separately inflated by moving a manual control on die right windscreen sill. The con- By C. M. LAMBERT ditioned air, derived from compressor bleeds on die two Turbo-meca Mar bore II engines, is passed through expansion turbine and heat-exchanger, and cabin temperature can be fully adjusted. All the flying controls are now of die plain mechanical type,since the spring tabs on the ailerons have been locked. But it is possible that these tabs will again be brought into use, even thoughlateral manoeuvrability is of a very high order without them. The wheel-brakes are hydraulic, operated by tilting the harmonium-type rudder pedals forward, but all other services are electric. Flaps and undercarriage are controlled by switches widi headsshaped like a flap or a wheel; indicators are needle and dtree-light respectively. The air-brakes, which emerge from the upper andlower surfaces of the inner wing, are operated through a switch sliding fore-and-aft inside die head of each right engine powerlever. In similarly modern manner, the elevator and aileron trim are adjusted by moving a button on top of die control column indie direction of die required trim alteration. The power levers (one set for each pilot) are paired, like those of die R.A.F.'s Meteor,to form a single continuous grip that can be comfortably held in one hand. The instrument panel is excellent in its simplicity. The sixblind-flying instruments are arranged to port in the standard R.A.F. layout and include a G.4 gyro-magnetic compass, needle-and-ball turn indicator, V.S.I, in hectometres/minute, and altimeter in metres, with a needle indicating hundreds and aveeder-type window showing thousands. A.D.F. dial, clock, Mach- and g-meters, flap- and trim-position gauge and miniatur-ized undercarriage warning lights complete die main instruments in front of die first pilot. Engine instruments are on a small panel above die central con-trol pedestal and include twin r.p.m., jet-pipe temperature and The instrument array, with radio and circuit-breaker panels on the right. The central arm-rest hinges forward to reveal a toot-plate that assists access to the front seats. (Right) The sliding canopy, and the small ladder provided to facilitate getting in and out.
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