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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1004.PDF
1002 AIR COMMERCE TWO YEARS OF CONWAY EXPERIENCE WITH the Dart turboprop in TCA service now cleared for an unprecedented inter-overhaul life of 4,000 hours, the Conway has already reached a life of 2,500 hours and Rolls-Royce have released some details of airline experience with this by-pass jet since it entered commercial service in April 1960 in TCA's DC-8s. The 17,5001b s.t. Conway RCo.12 now powers a total of 58 Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s and has accumulated over 900,000 hours of civil operating experience. The basic unscheduled removal rate has steadily fallen and now stands at only one premature removal per 10,000 engine hours. Airline experience has confirmed that fuel consumption has been about 2| per cent lower than for a compar able straight jet, with consequent range benefits. Airlines ordered the engine at a rating of 16,5001b s.t., but were able to take advantage of an extra 1,0001b of thrust without modifications or any additional cost before deliveries began. The Conway RCo.42 for the VC10 (and perhaps for the 707 as well) is rated at 20,3701b, while the Super VC10 will have an even more powerful variant, the 21,8251b s.t. RCo.43. These ratings make the Conway the most powerful civil jet engine now available in the western world. In developing the RCo.42 from the RCo.12 a higher by-pass ratio of 0.6 : 1 has been adopted and component efficiencies improved, resulting in a lower s.f.c. The high-pressure systems of both engines are the same, including the combustion system and all its accessories. The RCo. 12 low-pressure compressor has been replaced by a larger-capacity unit with five low-pressure and three intermediate-pressure stages. The low-pressure turbine has been redesigned and engine casings have been enlarged to take the increased mass flow. Turbine entry temperatures are lower than those of the RCo.12. The RCo.43 is identical to the RCo.42 as regards installation; its higher thrust is achieved by slight alterations to internal components and by raising operating temperatures. THE SUPPLEMENTALS GO JET WITHIN a few weeks of World Airways' order for two Boeing 707-320C cargo-passenger jets another US supplemental carrier, Trans-International Airlines Inc, has ordered one DC-8 Series 50 and one DC-8F Jet Trader, with an option on a second Jet Trader. TIA is based at Los Angeles and will use its DC-8s for contract passenger and cargo operations. The first DC-8 will be delivered at the end of June and the Jet Trader next spring; cost of the two, with spares, is $12.5m. Mr Kirk Kerkorian, president of TIA, said he had ordered jets to increase and modernize the airlift capacity of his present fleet of six aircraft (four L.1049H and two L.1049G Super Constellations), and the DC-8s would be used over routes linking Travis Air Force Base in California with Hawaii, Guam, Bangkok and Tokyo. TIA has just been awarded a $6,248,265 MATS contract to carry military passengers and cargo across the Pacific. A total of 179 DC-8s have now been sold. FLIGHT International, 28 June 1962 These two jet orders from World and TIA mark the beginning of an interesting and significant new trend, and one which is likely to become increasingly worrying to Canadair CL-44 and Short Belfast salesmen. Quality competition in the shape of jet re- equipment is now beginning to appear on contract charter routes as well as scheduled routes, but whereas jet re-equipment on the latter has been dictated by the need to offer the best in passenger appeal, on the former it is dictated far more by the need to offer the lowest possible specific costs rather than the finest cabin service. Until now the US non-scheduled carriers have never been able to contemplate turbine re-equipment, and have relied mainly on second-hand or factory-new Super Constellations and DC-6A/Bs. Zantop Air Transport was negotiating for five Lockheed Super Hercules to fill a $5m Logair contract in 1960, but a firm order was never placed, while the only other "non-sked" with turbine equip ment, Slick, plans to restart regular freight services and already fulfils MATS trans-Pacific contracts, as does Flying Tiger. Mr Delos W. Rentzel, a director of Slick, has claimed that jets are more suitable for both civil and military use than is the CL-44, and have lower direct operating costs. Both the DC-8F and 707-320C have been approved by MATS, and carriers have been given to understand that acquisition of these aircraft could increase their chances of winning the lucrative MATS contracts which, unlike the British independents' trooping contracts, are on a sufficiently long-term basis to make jet re-equipment a feasible proposition economically. Although the World and TIA orders amount to only four aircraft, they mark an important stage in the big jet's economic maturity: this category of aircraft can now no longer be dismissed as justifiable only on the "plum" passenger routes like New York - Miami or the North Atlantic. SUPER BROUSSARD PROGRESS PORTUGAL may well be the first export customer for the Super Broussard; TAP is believed to be very close to ordering a small number for introduction on its domestic routes next summer, and SATA (Sociedade Acoriana de Transportes Aereos) plans to order two for its inter-island services in the Azores. Both DETA of Mozambique and DTA of Angola are interested in the pressurized MH-262; and the Portuguese Air Force, which already operates 12 Noratlases, is another prospective customer. The first of a pre-production batch of ten MH-260s made its first flight on January 29 this year, and the MH-262's first flight is scheduled for the end of 1962. A production rate of one MH-262 per month is now scheduled and MH-262 deliveries are due to begin in the second quarter of next year. By the end of 1963 a production rate of four per month of both variants is the target. Production is under way in the Nord factories at Bourges, Meaulte and les Mureaux and at the Rheims factory of Rheims Aviation (until recently known as Societe Nouvelle des Avions Max Holste). First commercial experience of the Super Broussard will be gained on the routes of Air Inter, which is due to start operating a pair of MH-260s this summer. The type should obtain its Certificate of Airworthiness this month. Seen here at Rome's Fiumicino airport is Thai Airways International's Convair 990 HS-TGE, named "Srisuriyothai." A second Convair 990, SE-DAZ "Ring Viking," is leased from SAS and both aircraft bear the legend "Thai Airways International in co-operation with Scandinavian Airlines System" on the fuselage
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