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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 0430.PDF
HELICOPTERS highly likely to need a 40-seater in the next few years. The British CAA is close to reaching an understanding with Sikorsky and the FAA whereby the military CH-53, the main candidate for such work, could be specially certifi cated for oil flying at reasonable cost. Bell, in determined mood with its latest offering, expects to sell 2,000 222s. Investment during the past two years has been $25 million, and another $100 million will go into development and tooling before sales start, with 2,000hr flying in hand, in 1979. The very competitive price is $750,000 at 1976 values, plus $75,000 for an IFR kit. Bell started really selling the 222 five weeks ago and was only prevented by the blizzard in the north-east USA from capturing 100 "line position options" at $10,000 each, re fundable and to be confirmed by the end of this year. Each deposit earns seven per cent interest. 5 Three 222s are now flying and the second and third, J with respectively 25hr and 35hr flying time, were at Anaheim, one of them with a full executive interior. After i appearing at Paris in June they will tour Europe. But Bell is currently reassessing the market to deter- 9 mine price elasticity and decide how development costs can be amortised. The production design of the 222 will be committed to manufacture in July, and first deliveries are scheduled for January 1979. Initial flight trials have allowed Bell to raise gross weight to 7,2001b, with a hook overload allowance of 7,7001b. Bell also claims the best single-engined performance of any helicopter in the 5,000-10,0001b class, with a single-engined service ceiling at gross weight of 9,000ft and the ability to hover on one engine in ground effect at 600ft using the 212min 650 h.p. of the LTS101. By providing measurement of the torque actually going into the rotor mast, as distinct from the gross torque entering the transmission and diverted in varying proportion to the tail rotor, Bell allows the pilot to fly safely closer to the rotor torque limit. A mass torque sensor detects the wrap-up tendency between base and top of the rotor shaft. The new collective-pitch control, a pull-handle rather than the conventional lever, aligns the 402 FLIGHT International, 19 February 1977 Left, the final production Starflex head of the Aerospatiale AStar 350 is slightly changed and carries a big vibration damper. Be/ow left, double doors expose most of the cabin and an upward-opening panel covers the baggage compartment throttle twist grips with the two vertical columns of engine instruments and clears precious between-seat floor space for a flight bag or the safe egress of a left-hand-seat passenger. There is strangely no forward door on the left side. All pilots so far have approved of the pulling rather than lifting action of the collective control. Bell has built 2001b of safety provisions into the 222, including honeycomb seat pads to absorb 20g impacts, tear-proof fuel tanks and break-away fuel lines. On the product-improvement front, the JetRanger Mk 3 with the 420 h.p. 250-C20B engine offers a 2,000ft higher o.g.e. hover ceiling and the best useful load in its class. The higher engine-bleed capacity also allows for air-con ditioning. Existing JetRangers can be retrofitted. Bell has teamed with Collins to give both short and long Rangers single-pilot IFR capability and hopes, rather optimistically, to get away with the machine's inherent stability to allow manual instrument flight should the autopilot fail. The autopilot has conventional modes including front-course and back-course ILS with glideslope capture. Any hard- over autopilot command is sensed by a monitor, which sounds a horn, lights a red lamp and slows down the over-enthusiastic input. The pilot then has to disengage the autopilot and revert to manual flying, with or without a standby autostabiliser. Bell has installed a standby stability augmentation system in case the FAA insists on it. Other changes include three-bus electrical system and a bleed-air turbine-driven standby generator. The question of inherent stability is receiving much more attention now. The IFR Bell 212 sports a large tri angular fin ahead of the rotor mast to improve what the trade is calling dihedral stability—to damp adverse yaw and directional oscillations. End-plate fins on the tailplane and shortened skid fairings have the same effect on the IFR LongRanger and are also being fitted as standard on the JetRanger Mk 3. S-76 aimed at oil market Sikorsky openly admits that it has aimed the S-76 straight at the oil market and given it maximum capacity over a 400-mile range at sea level and up to 90°F. The company claims single-engined capability sufficient only for continuing safely in the cruise. The S-76 weighs 2,5001b more than the Bell 222 and has very similar continuous horsepower, but a 700 h.p. 212min contingency instead of the 222's 650 h.p. Nevertheless, Sikorsky reckons that, even when badly affected by altitude and temperature, the S-76 will carry as good a payload as its competitors. S-76 technology is strongly stressed. The new rotor head, while still articulated, has few and simple parts and no lubricated joints. The whole machine comprises 3,452 parts, compared with an average 14,500, and will offer a direct operating cost 30 to 35 per cent below the current average. Rotor and transmission will have a l,000hr initial overhaul life. The first prototype will be used for functional, reliability and climatic testing; No 2, structures; No 3, handling; and No 4, avionics and sub-systems. Certification is due in July 1978 and the price is $875,000 at 1976 values. Commercial Uttas (UH-60A) presents Sikorsky with a cost problem, because a commercial version ought to carry 27 to 29 passengers with baggage, rather than 16 troops. Incidentally, no one yet knows whether a flight attendant will be demanded for offshore oil flying. But Sikorsky has to decide whether the money is better spent on reworking the Uttas or on making the S-61 Mk 3 with more power and new blades or, indeed, whether all efforts should be concentrated on S-76. Blade technology continues to develop. Aerospatiale, Boeing and MBB have all- gone plastic and Enstrom is on the way, but Bell is sticking to steel spars, adding two glass-fibre straps, moulded onto the spar structure and wrapped round the blade-root pins, to provide a redundant
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