FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1975
1975 - 0060.PDF
FLIGHT International, 9 January 1975 WOULD NEWS Transatlantic balloon mishap Malcolm Forbes was due to depart from California on a flight to Europe early this week, but as we went to press it was reported that several of the helium-filled balloons escaped on take-off. The rest of the string of 13 balloons had to be released to pre vent damage to the gondola. Mr Forbes was quoted as saying that the flight would have to be postponed for at least a month. Indian A300s? Indian Airlines has chosen the A300B4 as the aircraft to complement its fleet of Boeing 737-200s and has asked the Indian Government for per mission to acquire ten. If the sale is confirmed it will represent a major breakthrough for Airbus Industrie; not only will it have secured an order from a major third- world carrier that has been becoming increasingly oriented towards American transport aircraft but it will give it a much stronger negotiating position with Iberia. It seems possible that aircraft originally allocated to Iberia will now be diverted to India and that the Spanish carrier will have no favoured price or delivery positions if land when it returns to the order book. During the last year increasing fuel costs have hit Indian Airlines hard and the only aircraft that it can now operate at a profit is the 737. The A300B4 can offer lower seat-mile costs, but much depends on the pur chase or lease terms offered. EEC moves on aerospace A first tentative move towards an effective Europe-wide policy on its aircraft industries: was taken recently when an EEC resolution was passed to ensure prior consultation between members on new airframe and engine projects. In addition, the resolution called for harmonisation of the different national methods of financ ing international projects. LEAD LINES FAA: severe criticism 27 A300B4: first flight 28 British Airways' shuttle: take-off 29 Airline economics: a new ice age? 30 B-1: first flight 37 Landing aids: difficult decision for UK 39 In next week's "Flight" Mr Allen Greenwood of BAC and Aecma writes on the future of European aerospace policy; and we look at the growing UK balloon industry FAA refines RB.211 directive The: US Federal Aviation Adminis tration has amended and, reissued an airworthiness directive relating to the cracking of the intermediate casing of the RB.211. The AD was first issued on September 8, 1974, after All Nippon Airways had experienced two in-flight shutdowns: of RB.211s in its TriStars as a result of oil loss. On October 4 the FAA added to the AD a: require^ merit to perform dye penetrant inspections in the vicinity of the internal wheelcase oil scavenge boss. The additional requirement was notified to operators by telegram and the procedure has been consolidated in the reissued AD. Inspection for cracks is called for on wing-mounted engines at intervals of 400hr or 280 flight cycles. Skylab rocket down tonight? The earliest time for the re-entry of the Saturn V second stage rocket which was used to orbit Skylab was estimated last Monday as 2200hr GMT today. A Nasa spokesman told Flight that uncertainties in the density of the upper atmosphere, and therefore its retarding effect on the rocket com ponents, could result in a spread of about 18hr, so that the most probable re-entry time would be about 0700hr GMT tomorrow, January 10. The S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket which launched the American space-station into Earth orbit on May 14, 1973, afterwards entered a 201X139-5 n.m. orbit inclined at 50-05°. It is the first S-II stage to attain orbit. Similar launch vehicles were used earlier to boost the Apollo Moon-landing spacecraft on their journeys, but the greater weight of ass^amnan these craft prevented the second stages from attaining orbital velocities before burning out. They therefore fell into the Atlantic about 2,000 miles down-range. The Saturn V second stage which launched Skylab failed to jettison the interstage fairing which joined it to the ST first stage, and the combined weight of the S-II vehicle and its fairing is 105,0001b. The craft is essen tially a tube measuring 100ft long X33ft diameter containing empty liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks and with a considerable amount of the weight concentrated at one end in the five J-5 engines. The very high ratio of surface area to mass has caused the 201 n.m. initial apogee to decrease gradually and re-entry is ex pected to begin at 80 n.m. altitude. Re-entry will take place with the heavy engines facing forward, and the rest of the vehicle weather-cocking along the flight path. It is unlikely that the propulsion system will be completely burnt up in the atmos phere and so the remaining wreckage will come down somewhere on the Earth's surface between latitudes ±50°; this includes a few miles of the extreme south-west coast of Cornwall. If the most northerly point of the orbit coincides approximately with the longitude of Britain, the spacecraft will be conspicuous for some time before re-entry, and the shock waves during re-entry itself are likely to be audible over several thousand square miles. Below, Cessna concluded a successful 1974 by handing over the 200th Citation. The aircraft was bought by Burlington Industries of Greensboro, North Carolina, which already has two of the type in service ^h^m^ZM
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
