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Aviation History
1974
1974 - 1045.PDF
FLIGHT International, 18 July 1974 New Lears certificated The US Federal Aviation Adminis tration granted type certification to the Learjet 35 and 36 on July 9. Maximum gross weight of both models is 17,0001b and the maximum landing weight is 14,3001b, 1,0001b more than originally specified. All Learjets now have the option of standard-width or wide "utility" doors. Concorde noise The American Federal Aviation Administration recently released de tails of the noise levels recorded by Concorde when it visited Boston Logan last month. According to the FAA, the readings from hand-held meters showed that Concorde was "comparable" with the DC-8 or 707. The measurements were, on approach, at 13,000ft from touchdown, 95 dBA; take-off, 3-5 n.m. from start of roll, 93-8 dBA and take-off sideline, 0-8 n.m. to the side of the centre line, 92-2 dBA. Approximate EPNdB readings can be obtained by adding 13 to the dBA figures. • According to The Guardian, figures given by BAC to the British Govern ment show that it would cost £171 million up to the end of 1976 to de liver the British Airways and Air France Concordes on time and then cut back production to a low rate of between one and two aircraft a year. Production would then be speeded up as new orders materialised. This compares with £161 million for com pleting the 16 aircraft now authorised and £195 million, up till the end of 1976, to keep production running on an open-ended basis at four aircraft a year. The advantage of the "fixed variable rate" plan, as BAC calls the flexible production programme, is that it costs £10 million more than finishing 16 aircraft but avoids prob lems of redundancy and leaves the options for future production open. Garrett JetStar flies The re-engined Lockheed JetStar, with Garrett AiResearch TFE731 fan engines installed by AiResearch Avia tion, made its first flight at San Antonio, Texas, on July 10. The first flight, which lasted 47min, checked low-speed handling and was im mediately followed by further flights to extend the performance envelope. After certification of the conversion, customers' aircraft will be modified at the Los Angeles plant of AiResearch. P.M.S. Blackett The aviation world, as well as the scientific community, owes a debt of gratitude to Lord Blackett, who died on July 13 at the age of 76. Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett was one of the greatest scientists of his age and won every major honour open to a British scientist; it is a measure of the importance of his contributions to nuclear physics that he is remem bered for this rather than for his notable services to the war effort. South African atomic developments "Our technology and science have advanced sufficiently for us to pro duce a nuclear weapon if we have to," said Dr Louw Alberts, vice-presi dent of the South African Atomic Energy Board, on July 11. He added that his country's nuclear programme was far more advanced than that of India but emphasised that the work was intended for peaceful applications. South Africa is, however, reported to be well advanced with develop ment of a surface-to-surface missile being built with French help. Dr Alberts pointed out that his country possesses about one-quarter of the world's known uranium reserves and therefore has "a bargaining position equal to that of any Arab country with a lot of oil." • The Indian Atomic Energy Com mission intends to explode a nuclear device in the Gujarat oilfields to stimulate the production of crude oil, according to Dr H. N. Sethna, the commission's chairman. Rolls-Royce Motors' new division Rolls-Royce Motors has established a Specialist and Light Aircraft Engine Division at the company's Crewe factory to co-ordinate the engineering and marketing of Rolls-Royce petrol, gas and light aircraft engines. The division will also assume responsi bility for Rolls-Royce Motors' specialist machining activities at Crewe and product support for Rolls-Royce multi- fuel engines and transmission equip ment in military service. Mr John Craig, marketing director of the Rolls-Royce Motors Car Divi sion, has been appointed chairman of the new division. The managing director is Mr Graham Williams. Public transport accidents A Boeing 727, G-BAEF, of Dan-Air struck the ILS localiser on take-off from Luton on June 21. The aircraft was slightly damaged and diverted to London Gatwick. At the time of going to press it is hoped that the Luton ILS will be recommissioned in approximately three weeks' time. • A Tu-154 of Egyptair, SU-AXO, crashed during a training flight on July 10 after take-off from Cairo International. The six crew members were killed. • A core cowling detached from No 1 engine of National Airlines' DC-10/N60NA on July 8. Parts were ingested by No 2 engine, which was seriously damaged. The aircraft, which had taken off from Miami, made an emergency landing at Tampa, Florida. McDonnell Douglas has advised DC-10 operators that the incident was due to a maintenance error. Next week's issue In Flight for July 25 we look at quiet aero-engine technology. We regret that this issue is again restricted in size as a result of a printing dispute. 51 SENSOR Roll-out of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk is tentatively' planned for the first two weeks in August. Appearance at Farnborough may be limited to a fly-past without a full demonstration, depending on the number of hours' flying achieved by show time. Boeing is convinced that the long-awaited air-cargo breakthrough is about to happen. In the summer of 1972 one 747F was in service (with Lufthansa); today, only two years later, nineteen 747s with main-deck cargo-carrying capability have been ordered by ten airlines. The reason is thought to be that these are the first civil cargo aircraft (apart from the L.100) able to ship 8ft X 8ft containers which in lengths of 10ft, 20ft, 30ft and 40ft are common road and rail sizes, thus achieving the wholesale "intermodality" which has so far eluded the 88in X 108in and 125in pallets carried in the "narrow" jets. An international standard Pilots' Operating Handbook for general- aviation aircraft is expected to emerge from work now nearly com pleted by a US team of senior pilot-engineers drawn from all the leading US •manufacturers. The specification is to cover all types, from business jets to two-seat trainers, enabling pilots to convert more easily, without having to "learn" different assumptions and presentation of data. All speeds will be in knots and temperatures in °C; there will be no derived terms, only figures which can be directly read by the pilot. It is hoped to get the approval of the FAA and CAA and other airworthi ness authorities, whose reactions are generally very favourable, within two months. The first Hand book to the new standard may be published within two years. Initia tive for the standardisation has come from Gama, the US General Aviation Manufacturers' Associa tion, Suite 1215, 1025 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20036. Senior opinion in the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is that the non-US world's best handlers of defect and inci dent information are British Air ways and KLM; that the best legal system of incident and defect re porting is Australia's; and that some of the most effective air-safety management systems have been developed by the US military services. Boeing believes that Concorde will work, and will overcome the fuel-price problem. The company is actively working on its own SST technology, but there are also serious discussions—initiated by European industry—on future joint projects including Concorde.
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