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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0331.PDF
' temationai, 2 March^1967 on the Beechcraft, Grumman and Hawker Siddeley ranges,the company is factory-approved to overhaul the Lockheed JetStar. American maintenance bases are generally neater and cleaner (ban those found in other parts of the world, but someone 8t Wilmington has an extra special fetish about tidiness,because the place is absolutely spotless. Aircraft undergoing work are segregated according to class; small types of up to King Air (i-e., pressurised turboprop) complexity are handled by one team of mechanics while the bigger turboprops and jets are in the care of specialised teams. The completion of the basic DH 125 is much as described for the AiResearch process. Particularly strong in its electri- cal installation work, Atlantic recently collaborated with Col- lins in the clearance of the DH 125 for Category 2 approaches. It also maintains a forward-thinking styling department that has come up with some notably bright ways of making even more use of the DH 125 interior. By locating the water closet on the centreline in the aft compartment, and by arranging a swing-aside washbasin unit, additional baggage space has been made available. A third-man flight-deck jump seat has also been engineered and approved. Factory Services Both Hawker Siddeley and Bristol Siddeley field service representatives are permanently stationed with all three North American DH 125 distributors to provide on-the-spot engineer- ing advice and to feed back operating experience to the factory. All the distributors' key engineers have undergone training at HSI's La Guardia school or at the factory school in England; and yearly refresher courses are held by the HSI school staff at each base. Backing for the Bristol Siddeley Viper engine is by a comprehensive service support programme known as "Power by the Hour." The programme offers DH 125 operators guaranteed overhaul cost protection with a comprehensively planned back-up service. For a flat charge of $25 (£9) an hour for a Viper 521 or $28 (£10) an hour for a Viper 522 the operator is covered for the cost of exchange for the time- expired unit, and the cost of any modification or inspection directives that may be issued. Routine servicing and repair to damage in operation, and the installation expenses of the engine exchange, are not normally covered by the "Power by the Hour" agreement. Each month the operator pays an amount determined by the number of engine hours for the period. As already remarked, Airwork is the principal service agency and distributor for Bristol Siddeley in North America, perform- ing overhauls and repair of the Viper and administrating the "Power by the Hour" programme. Spare Vipers are positioned at Airwork's Chicago and New York (Long Island) bases. Each distributor also maintains a pool of accessories, and at least one spare engine. Operating the DH1125 Someone once said that if a company was nervous about having its name painted on its business aircraft it perhaps shouldn't be operating one at all. Sometimes, of course, such anonymity is intended to minimise chance speculation when executives are on the move, or to avoid alerting their opposi- tion. But there are still companies whose directors would be hard pressed to justify their aircraft because they have not fully explored the operating potential of the machine. A company may achieve its own aircraft mobility for any one or a combination of four mam reasons: because the basic conduct of the business would otherwise be impossible; because a business aircraft offers economic advantages over °mer forms of transport; because it has prestige value; and because it provides the key to commercial expansion. In the first two categories the pre-purchase analysis and subsequent monitoring of the operation is a comparatively straightforward j^anagement function; the third is obviously less easy; but it is w the last, and increasingly important case (particularly so fer as the jet is concerned), that an elaborate approach is necessary. Here the inspiration muswbe tempered by a realistic understanding of the particular business and its potential. It isa ™, for instance, to taking a computer into partnership. 327 A typical eight-seat DH 125 interior by Atlantic Aviation, viewed from the vestibule-cum-galley area Most DH 125 operators are quite open about their acquisi- tion. For the purpose of a check on user experience, Mr Charlie Morris, New York-based chief pilot of the Mobil Oil Company's aircraft fleet, agreed to supply some facts. He oversees some 30 aircraft of all types, based in many parts of the world. Like most other oil companies, Mobil was among the first of the big-time private aircraft owners and can justify its fleet on practically every score. Starting with the smallest aircraft in the Mobil fleet, there are six Luscombs based in Dallas for pipeline patrol in the area of the company's Texas oil wells and refineries. More economical than a helicopter, these trusty old two-seat light aircraft have microwave FM transceivers for communicating reports to pumping stations located about 50 miles apart Offshore rig support in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Californian coast is by two Bell 47s and a Cessna 180 on floats (the company recently chartered Bell Jet Rangers from Bristow Helicopters for rig support in Venezuela). Land site support transport is varied: a Beaver, a Do28, a Twin Bonanza and a Baron in Canada; a Beaver, a Queen Air and two DC-3s in Libya; three DC-3s in Latin America; an Aztec in the Congo; a Cessna 170, a Baron, two Beech 18s and four Grand Commanders in Texas, California and Wyoming. The New York headquarters staff machines—a JetStar and the DH 125— are based at Westchester County Airport, where Mobil rents a hangar with 27 mechanics able to do maintenance work on many of the types in the fleet For over 20 years Mobil headquarters staff has had its own aircraft for getting around the United States. First of all there was a DC-3 (140kt and 900 miles); speed and range were subsequently doubled with the acquisition of a Super Ventura (280kt and 1,400 miles); then in 1962 the company once again kept pace with the airlines by buying a JetStar (450kt and 2,000 miles). The DH (435kt and 1,400 miles) was brought into service on April 1 last year to perform economical DH 125 OWNERS Air Affairs, Anglo-American, Aluminium of Canada, American Gypsum, American Management, Anthes Imperial, Bank of Canada, Bank of Mexico, Blount Construction, B-Neva, Bowater, BSR, Champion Papers, Chartag, Chicago & North Western Railway, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Cliffs Iron Works, Consolidation Coal, Cooper Tire, Corporate Air Transport, Crothers Ltd, Crown Cork & Seal. Daniels Construction (two aircraft), Dept of Civil Aviation-Australia, Dominion Tar & Chemical, duPont, Federated Department Stores, Grover Hermann (two aircraft), Grundig, H. K. Porter (two aircraft), Hilton Hotels, Hollinger Mines, Hooker Chemical, Hoover Ball & Bearing, InterProvincial Pipeline, Kaiser Jeep, Kellogg Co, Koppers Co, Krupp (three aircraft), Marathon Oil, Massey Ferguson, Mrs C. S. May, Metrocan, Mine Safety Appliances, Mobil Oil, Morrison-Knudsen. Ontario Paper, Owens Corning Fiberglas, Pacific Petroleum, Penn Salt Chemical, Pitts Industries, President of Ghana, Qantas (two aircraft), Quebec Government, Robert Simpson, Seagram's-Canada, Selection Trust, Sheikh Bin L»dln, Signal Oil ft Gas, Frank Sinatra, Standard Oil of Ohio, Star-Kist Caribe, Stauffer Chemical, Transair, Union Bag-Camp Paper, US Rubber (three aircraft), Wheelabrator Corp.
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