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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0327.PDF
FLIGHT International, I March 1962 329 measured as only a few pints in each wing. Refuelling is by pressure or gravity, and gauging by flow-meter, "gallons-gone" counter and capacitance gauges. Air conditioning is by blower on each engine and appropriate valves, with cold-air unit and ground cooling fan as optional extras. Cabin differential is 4.21b/sq in, giving 8,000ft cabin altitude at 20,000ft. Rate of change of cabin altitude and temperature can be controlled from the co-pilot's seat with a few simple controls. Simplicity is indeed a strong feature of the 748 flight deck, despite the completeness of the systems. Pale grey background colouring and an uncrowded layout, with white lines to outline groups of related controls, make everything easy to understand and to reach. This Skyways aircraft had a quite basic Smiths SEP.2-type flight stabilizer, but the full autopilot can be fitted. Marconi AD. 172 ADF, duplicated Bendix VHF com and single nav, an HF radio and ILS were all in the central part of the roof panel with the electrical and de-icing controls and engine starters. Throttles, fine-pitch stop lever, h.p. cocks, three trim-wheels, water/methanol, fuel trimmer, fuel pump, fuel heater and relight switches, parking brake, undercarriage and flap levers were all on the central consoles. Both seats had excellent levers for adjusting height, and fore-and- aft movement and the rudder pedals were adjustable too. The windscreen did not at first look very big, but gave excellent visibility under all conditions, even when making visual circuits in dark haze and one-mile visibility on a runway with poor lighting. 1 flew from the right seat and found the take-off absolutely straightforward, taking rudder control at 40kt and lifting off into a l.OOOft/min climb with full fuel load at about 34,0001b gross weight. A second nosewheel steering tiller on the right is optional, but is not fitted in the Skyways aircraft. The sprung-down elevator centred at about 40kt and I could fly off smoothly as soon as the aircraft felt ready to go, without watching speeds. The Darts will give 14,500 r.p.m., but for economy purposes an airline would normally climb and cruise at 13,800 r.p.m., controlling j.p.t. to 500°C with the fuel trimmers. I therefore settled into a cruise at 13,800 r.p.m. at 10,000ft, speed 170kl i.a.s. Control immediately felt very smooth and the 748 flew itself without any tendency to wander. What I regard as a good rate of roll for this size of aircraft was available with firm pressure on the aileron wheel. When pushed and released, both rudder and elevator centred with a jerk, leaving the aircraft to follow up with one or two oscillations. Good turns could be initiated with either rudder or aileron. The first few minutes immediately gave me confidence and the controls encouraged smooth manoeuvring. Yet the 748 was obviously prepared to bore on with minimum supervision. Elevator trim changes distinctly indicated any change in airspeed. I next flew the 748 in its various configurations. Each successive degree of "dirtiness" produced a smooth deceleration which made descent and landing very easy. Take-off flap can be lowered at 180kt, undercarriage at 160kt, approach flap at 140kt and landing flap at 120kt. In level flight, approach flap pushed the nose up, but the resultant loss of speed virtually re-established trim with only a very small adjustment. Undercarriage gave only a transient shift and dragged 20kt more off the speed. Approach flap dragged off yet another 20kt so that I had hardly any trim adjustment to make, and full flap could be immediately applied. With approach flap, aileron became distinctly lighter—an incidental bonus not designed into the aircraft—so that 1 could apply full aileron easily with one hand and achieve a very good rate of roll. With this flap, 95kt i.a.s., and 80 to lOOlb/sq in torque from the engines, we settled nicely on a 3° glide-path with lots of manceuvreability in hand, but full hands-off stability. I then opened up to full power with hands off the wheel and the 748 rotated nose-up at constant airspeed. I checked it at a steep climb angle, raised gear and flap and climbed away after only two divisions of trim adjustment. The overshoot is thus extremely simple and could be initiated on instruments without any panic moves at all. Next I settled at a moderate speed, 150kt and 12,800 r.p.m. at 9,500ft, and asked Harrison to stop whichever engine he liked. He feathered the starboard, being the more difficult one, but I noticed only a slow slew to the right. Some 4° of rudder trim and a touch of elevator trim saw me settled hands-off again at about 135kt in level flight. I applied the full 14,500 r.p.m. to port, set The 748 flight deck for two-crew operation. Electrical, radio, de-icing and starting controls are in the roof, air-conditioning controls outboard of the co-pilot, engine, flaps and gear controls in the centre and nosewheel steering tiller on the left. Sack- ground colour is pale grey
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