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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 0483.PDF
FLIGHT International, 2 March 1972 317 1,500 Mercure-type aircraft in the period 1973-80. Time was working for the Mercure, he claimed, because the first one could not be delivered before 1974, and by then the air transport recession would have given way to a better economic climate. "The Boeing Advanced 727 is a solid competitor," he acknowledged, "but we think we have certain advantages. We have a better seat-mile figure and a better price. We hope to be certificated for Category 3 operations. Maybe the Boeing will be certificated to Category 2." M R DANIEL HAUGHTON, chairman of Lockheed, made a presentation of the TriStar to the British Airways Board, including chairman Mr Nicolson, on February 17. "I think it would suit BEA and BOAC very well. It is a great aeroplane for them but I would like that to come from them." The greatest immediate market potential for the TriStar, Mr Haughton said, was probably in Britain. He could see a UK market for perhaps 75 aircraft over this decade. Lockheed was, he said, also in serious negotiation with Britannia Airways, and was discussing the aircraft with British Caledonian, to whom a presentation had also been made. Lockheed's chairman later gave the British Press an off-the-cuff up-dating on TriStar progress, and answered numerous questions in the same impromptu way. The TriStar was doing everything Lockheed had predicted. "It is a clean aircraft, a lean aircraft and the quietest of the wide-bodies, principally due to the great Rolls-Royce engine." It would be the quietest inside for passengers too. Lockheed had, he said, just completed the emergency tests, which required 345 passengers and a crew of ten to get clear of the aircraft with only four of the eight doors open in 90sec. During the hangar tests the stewardesses did not know which four of the doors would open. The evacuation was accomplished in 82sec (despite a delay caused by "a right good-sized lady"). Take-off rejection tests without thrust reversers and using brakes only had shown that the ship's system alone could extinguish a rubber fire. Icing tests north of Seattle had shown the aircraft/engine combination to be outstand ing. The crew had found more ice than was needed. The aircraft had been soaked for 24hr on the ground in Canada in a temperature of 30° below with the door open all night. The APU had started up straight away and in ten minutes there were shirt-sleeves conditions in the cabin. Structural testing had now simulated 12,500 fatigue flights, equivalent to ten years' service, and the programme was scheduled to go on to 36,000 flights. The TriStar had passed its flutter flight-tests. Static structural testing with critical members cut had also been done. Mr Haughton reckoned that the aircraft was within 350 flying hours of certification, including 150hr of airline city-pair flying after installation of the certificated engines. RB.211 programme Three production engines were, said Mr Haughton, being shipped that day to Palmdale by Hercules. This was on the date scheduled in the revised RB.211 agreement last May between Lockheed and Rolls-Royce (1971). More than 140 RB.211s were scheduled for delivery this year. Asked about reports that the RB.211 was not meeting specifications agreed under the revised contracts, Mr Haughton replied "I think it will meet its specifications and if it doesn't the amount by which it doesn't will be very small and there won't be deficiencies for very long." Certification was, he said, "very close." Passenger services were scheduled by Eastern at the end of April and by TWA a little later. These were the dates set up when the engine contract was restructured. Lockheed would deliver training aircraft in March to Eastern and TWA. Lockheed's training facility at Palmdale, he said, was the finest he had ever seen. The RB.211 contract had called for certificated delivery this month [February]. Lockheed was now taking uncertificated engines. Asked about penalties, He noted that provision had been made for stretching the Mercure by the insertion of new fuselage sections fore and aft and by re-equipping with more powerful engines, such as the ten-ton Snecma/GE CFM56. The problem of noise was "severe." Honeycomb noise- absorbent intake linings were to be tested on the aircraft, but work was now concentrated on the rear part of the engine where the two exhaust flows mix. A glass/plastic laminated windscreen is being introduced as a replacement for two-layer plastic units. Mr Haughton replied: "I don't want to collect any penalties—I just want the engines." He did not think that any large changes would be required. Was it not unusual to accept uncertificated production engines? "No, if there are any changes we will put them in." Engine behaviour in the test-flying programme had been very good, and "we have not only had compliments from our own pilots but from customers and FAA pilots." The engine had really been put through its paces, "stopping, starting and slamming around by crews who have flown a lot of aircraft and a lot of engines." It was correct, Mr Haughton said in reply to a question, that the offer to BEA expired on February 29, but no-one had asked him to extend it. He confirmed that a price increase of about 5 per cent would probably be put to the United States Price Board soon. Extended-range TriStar Go-ahead on the extended-range L.1011-2 TriStar, said Mr Haughton, depended on customer support and Lockheed's financial situation. "I would like three major customers like Air Canada, who want this aircraft very badly. TWA and BOAC could use it, though we emphasise that none of these companies has given Lockheed any orders. We think it would be good for Pan American and Braniff. If we have three major customers with orders of ten to 15 each, it would be a viable programme." The Lockheed financial situation was that it had drawn down only $100 million of the $250 million guaranteed and this was less than had been forecast for this time. He reckoned that the non-recurring launching cost, depending on down payments from customers, would be roughly $50 million. In addition there would be some recurring costs—"some changes to the aircraft, such as larger rolling stock." It would not cost as much as the previous long-range TriStar project, which would have grossed 590,0001b. Lockheed did not intend to increase wing area or fuselage length, but there would be a general beefing up of about 5,0001b. The increase in price would be about $1 million [current price of the standard TriStar is just over $15-1 million basic]. Lockheed had been doing preliminary work with Rolls-Royce to produce a Paris-New York aeroplane with what Mr Haughton said was a 4,000 n.m. still-air range. This was not as long a range as the DC-10-30 or the 747, but he believed there was a market. An increase in hot-day thrust from 42,0001b to 45,0001b would be needed with proportionate increases in climb and cruise thrust. Gross weight would go up from 430,0001b to 466,0001b gross.— though this might vary a little. They were thinking of launching the aircraft in the summer, "maybe later." Asked whether a twin-engined development of the TriStar would make more sense than a longer-range variant later than the DC-10, Mr Haughton said "I don't think a lo4 of people in our country are ready to launch a new aircraft today and our' competitors think the same. The main reason for the extended-range aircraft is that our present customers want it. Anyway, I would rather go the family route on the trijet first and the twin jet perhaps next." Mr Haughton said that the $250 million would see Lockheed through the basic TriStar programme but not the extended-range model, launching of which would be subject to the approval of their bankers and the US Federal Guarantee Board. TriStar up-dating from Haughton in London
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