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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0744.PDF
FLIGHT International, 19 March 1964 EXECUTIVE POWER . . . "I think the answer to this is the use of air-space. About two years ago I saw a report written for General Eisenhower when he was President, and this showed that even then the Americans were getting very worried about the use of air-space. All these small business executive aircraft fly 'airline,' and they get the same treatment coming into an airport as a scheduled transport. "I have been stacked up at Chicago Midway in a twin-engined Cessna 310 for over 30 minutes, and we were getting very worried about our fuel reserve. Imagine what will happen when they let loose small business planes fitted with turbine engines with twice the fuel consumption. The Americans plan to keep these small jets away from the major airports, but intend to build landing strips alongside the main roads into cities. Aircraft can then be left for servicing, while a car picks up the passengers and takes them into town to do their business. "Another interesting thing I picked up two years ago was a considered American estimate that in five years from now there will be fewer than 600 business executive aircraft in the States flying with turbine engines. If that is going to be the market for America I cannot see many civil sales being made in other parts of the world. Don't forget the Americans had their fingers burnt once. During World War 2 so many Americans learned to fly that the small-plane makers saw visions of a United States on wings, flying for the sheer sport of it or touring the country in planes instead of a family car. In one year alone the industry made over 34,000 light aircraft. This was nearly seven years' production, and the market collapsed. Many companies went broke, while others diversified in order to survive." What do you think of the future for private flying in this country ? "Not much, unless the Government does something about it. Private flying starts with the flying clubs, and they have had a very raw deal. Of the Government subsidies which were granted before the war, all have been withdrawn except a rebate on the petrol tax, and this was nearly taken away. Compare the position in this country with that in France, where, in addition to all the private flying clubs, there are around 450 Government-owned clubs. Assistance is given to buy new aircraft, subsidies are given for each licence obtained and for the number of hours flown per year, special bonuses are given for cross-country flights and club members are encouraged to visit other clubs. "In Britain a young man has to scrape together enough money 431 to take sufficient lessons to get his licence. After this the most he can generally afford is to hire an aircraft for the odd hour, and in this time he can"t go very far away from his home base. We once asked a French Government official why France did so much to encourage private flying. We were told that one reason was that it produced, from school age, through model aircraft, gliding, para- chuting, flying, and on to advanced pilotage, the type of man the French public accepts as its ideal. There must be a moral some- where." Is general aviation, in your opinion, really big business ? "In America this is certainly so. You will recall that when we carried out market research on the subject in 1958, we found that the ratio there of light aircraft to scheduled airliners was roughly 97 : 3. We also got some figures regarding the value of both the general-aviation fleet and the scheduled-airline fleet, and the sur- prising figures came out that both fleets had a value in the neigh- bourhood of one billion dollars. Today, with 100,000 more advanced light aircraft flying, the total is very much greater. "What people often fail to understand is that it is not just the value of the aircraft, but the business generated which is so valuable—the business of keeping the aircraft flying, the fuel, the oil, the main- tenance, the hangarage and all the other things that go to make up the general-aviation fleet. This is what governments have got to think about and look ahead, and not try to prevent the young people in a country taking to the air." It is a remarkable fact that 99.5 per cent of Rolls-Royce Continental engines are exported. Each powerplant is given a 90-day inhibiting treatment before despatch; the engine being protected here is an 0-200A R-R CONTINENTAL ENGINES O-200 Number of cylinders Bore (in) Stroke (in) Capacity (cu in) Compression ratio Overall length (in) width (in) height (in) Dry weight (Ib) Take-off power (b.h.p.) r.p.m. Max. cont. power (b.h.p.) r.p.m. Recommended cruise r.p.m. Recommended fuel (oct) Overhaul life (hr) Chief applications 4 4.0625 3.875 201 7 30.5 31.6 23.25 190 100* 2,750 100 2,750 2,475 80/87 1,100 Rallye, Jodel DR. 1050, Jodel D.I 50, Bolkow and Malmo Junior, Super Emeraude, Victa Air- tourer 100 O-300 6 4.0625 3.875 301 7 38.4 31.5 27.4 269 145 2,700 145 2,700 2,450 80/87 1,000 Super Rallye, Rheims Cessna F. 172, Beagle 218 IO-346 4 5.25 4 346 7.5 30.00 33.38 22.48 296.5 165 2,600 165 2,600 2,450 91/96 800 Musketeer A3, plus new projects. IO-360 6 4.438 3.875 360 8.5 34.6 31.4 24.33 294 210 2,800 195 2,800 2,500 100/130 800 Skymaster, plus new projects. GIO-470 6 5 4 470 8.6 44.9 33.6 21.8 461 310 3,200 310 3,200 2,800 100/130 600 Beagle 206. Fletcher FU-24 Note: O, horizontally opposed cylinders; I, fuel-injection; G, propeller reduction sear; • the C.90 is similar to the O-203 but is rated at 95 b.h.p. at 2,625 r.p.m. Bearing in mind your licence with Continental, you obviously must feel that the piston engine still has a good future ahead of it in the light- aircraft field ? "Yes, I certainly do. As I said previously, with the introduction of fuel-injection and turbo-supercharging it has at least a further 15 years; and don't forget that the most important single factor in trying to sell light aircraft is price. You will always be able to sell a 'plane costing a quarter of a million pounds to a few of the big industrialists, but it is the bread-and-butter business that we have got to get down to. It is obvious that you have got to sell business flying outside America, and you will succeed in this only if you can produce an economic aircraft at an economic price. The high-speed aircraft with small jets or turboprops will follow, but the market outside America isn't ready yet. When it is we must be ready to move in." The table on the left includes the engines currently in production at Crewe 0-200 (and similar C.90) and 0-300—plus the GIO-470 which will be put into production as soon as orders from Beagle become sufficiently large. The 10-346 and 10-360 are candidates for future manufacture in Britain
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