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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 2935.PDF
COMMERCIAL & BUSINESS Fuel shortage hits business flying AT THE END OF a week which has been emotionally over charged on the subject of fuel, British business and light commercial operators report that flying is continuing but that the pace is slowing to match the availability of fuel supplies. It is generally agreed that the criteria which have been adopted for reducing fuel usage are a great deal more stringent than might at first have been thought. This is because present fuel uplifts are being related to those obtained by an operator, or issued from an airfield installation, during November and December 1972. As it happens the choice of late 1972 as a datum is an unhappy one since, with a few exceptions, utilisations were well below average in those months; the Air Taxi Operators Association in particular observes that the bad weather of those two months meant that activity by the association's 41 member companies was less than half of what would have been expected. Because of the low figure the fuel allocation for Stapleford Tawney is ll,500gal for the current six-week period; immediately before the cut's started the weekly uplift from the airfield averaged 5,800gal. More than 50 per cent of British air-taxi operations have a direct relationship with the export market and it is flights to continental Europe which are experiencing some difficulty finding fuel rather than those within the United Kingdom. Belgium and Italy are quoted as being two countries where supplies are especially restricted. Falcon 30 tests start again The prototype Dassault Falcon 30, which was withdrawn from its flight-test programme at the end of July after completing 63hr flying, has flown again after modification. It is now completely representative of a production Falcon 30/40 apart from the fuselage diameter which will be enlarged from 2-36m to 2-44m. After one flight at Bordeaux on November 21 the aircraft was moved over to Istres to continue flight development. BE AS wins United Nations contract British Executive Air Services has won a contract to fly a geophysical survey in north-west Africa on behalf of the United Nations and the Government of Morocco. The work will call for approximately 250hr flying by the company's Lama, part of the operation being conducted from terrain 2,550m above sea level. A two man team will be carried as well as a Scintrex AEM radiation detection system. China orders from UACL An initial order for 16 engines has been placed by China with United Aircraft of Canada Two of the company's most popular general-aviation power- plants are involved, the JT15D 2,2001b-thrust fan engine used in the Citation and Corvette and the PT6T-3 Twin Pac installed in the Bell 212 and the Sikorsky S-58T. It is thought that the engines are required for prototype aircraft in similar business jet and helicopter categories. The initial contract is valued at $2 million. FLIGHT International, 6 December 1973 Within the United Kingdom there is a natural tendency for airfields to give priority to home-based aircraft. Business aircraft users have been advised to notify destina tion airfields within 24hr of departure quoting the type of aircraft and quantity of fuel required. This system appears to be working well and Flight has received few reports of aircraft being held up. Business jets have been subject to adverse and ill informed daily press criticism. In practice all the com panies which own business jets have issued strict orders (frequently direct from the chairman) that only essential journeys can be made and there has been a noticeable trend for more passengers to be loaded for a series of nearby destinations rather than for one man to take the aircraft on only one sector. The 24hr-warning rule has, however, put transport managers on their mettle because it is no longer practical to change schedules at the last minute. While the industry does not at the moment foresee a marked cut-back in the use of business and air-taxi aircraft the rates charged for the latter will suffer not just from the increasing price of fuel but also because costs are calculated on the basis of a certain utilisation which may no longer be achieved. The professional flying training schools anticipate that they may not be able to complete their planned pro grammes during 1974; indeed Mr Bex Smith told Flight that it was at the moment doubtful whether the Oxford Air Training School would be able to meet its contractual obligations. He felt that the school's fuel allocation would have been more representative had it been based oh an average taken over a full year rather than for just the last two months of 1972. Oxford will in future supply visiting aircraft with only sufficient fuel for them to continue safely on their next sector and private flying from the airfield will be limited to that consistent with the maintenance of competence by club pilots. The present system of rationing at source appears to be an adequate stop-gap while the fuel situation remains so unsettled. If, however, the shortage is to be prolonged there must in Flight's view be a case for rationing by means of an allocation either to aircraft or to operators. This would ensure a more even supply of fuel around the country and would allow fair priority to be given where it is due. It is unthinkable that the application of a policy of "come and get it" should result in the vital needs of business users and air-taxi operators not being met. The Bolkow 66/06 prototype seen, right, flying alongside a standard B6I05. The first flight of the B6I06 was made on September 25 by chief test pilot Siegfried Hoffman. The fuselage width has been increased in order to provide seven seats instead of the five of the earlier model
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