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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 1783.PDF
FLIGHT International, II June 1977 1689 Bristow dispute to go to arbitration ? AS we close for press, arbitration is being explored by both sides as a solution to the strike by Bristow Heli copters pilots at Aberdeen. Airport firemen have been striking in sym pathy with British Air Line Pilots Association members in Bristow (these columns last week) and the field has been closed since May 26. Bristow has however been able to operate with its own fire service, and other companies have moved temporarily to other bases. The strike has resulted in better scheduling and much-reduced traffic to the offshore rigs. The lower level of operation may well continue after the strike is settled. Bristow is thought to favour a full legal inquiry rather than industrial arbitration as a way of solving the dispute. Union status for HS staff association IN a successful appeal to the Certifi cation Officer, the 800-member Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Staff Association has been granted official union status. The association is the second group to appeal against an initial refusal, and the first to succeed. Explaining his decision, the Certification Officer said that the association's negotiating per formance had improved since its initial application was turned down on the grounds of vulnerability to employer interference. Though the judge at the hearing decided in favour of the HSD associa tion, he said that "the overwhelming opinion throughout the industry as a whole—unions and management—is that a proliferation of splinter unions should be discouraged." All unions have had to apply for a certificate of independence under the new Trade Union and Labour Relations Act. Of the 17 turned down last year, almost all were staff associations. The Rhein Flugzeugbau XI14 ram-wing vehicle has now completed initial German Navy stability and handling trials in the Baltic. RFB sees military possibilities for this six-seat craft, which can fly at 90 m.p.h. in ground effect for 20hr on the power of a 200 h.p. Lycoming Stretch for production Fox jet A SIX-INCH fuselage stretch and an engine mounting 18in further aft will allow the rear pressure bulkhead of the production TTI Foxjet (see Flight, May 21) to be moved 2ft farther aft, greatly increasing cabin capacity. The windows are now oval and fin leading- edge sweep is increased to 67°, im proving tail moment arm. Fuel capacity is being increased by the addition of tip tanks. A, possible follow-on to the basic Foxjet, announced even before the type's first public appearance at the Reading Show in the USA next week, has two P&W JT15D turbofans verti cally staggered in the rear fuselage behind flush intakes. This version would be 40in longer, have 10 per cent more wingspan and carry six occupants. Airline accidents AN AEROFLOT 11-62 crashed on the approach to Havana on May 27, killing the nine crew members and 59 pas sengers. It is reported that the air craft struck a power line while attempting an emergency landing in fog. • Two maintenance workers were killed when the wing of a Trans Inter national Airlines Hercules exploded at Oaklands Airport, California, on May 25. • A TAP 707 was damaged on landing at Luanda Airport on May 15. There were no injuries among the crew but the port wing and engines were damaged. • Avioligure Yak40 I-JAKE veered off the runway on landing at Genoa on May 28. There were no injuries among the four crew members. Beechcraft shifts away from subcontracting DURING the past ten years the balance between prime contracts and subcontracts held by Beechcraft has changed from 30/70 per cent to 80/20 per cent. The majority of the com pany's business previously came from producing sub-assemblies for other aircraft manufacturers, but the im provement in business and private aircraft sales has more than reversed Z" m JHHF- -it.*---" the balance'. Military orders for ver sions of civil aircraft, notably King Airs, produce better profit margins, says Beechcraft, than normal military contracts. The company has taken military orders worth $150 million in the past few years, more than half of them during the first five months of this year. Beechcraft has tripled its share of the single-engined market and con tinues to dominate turboprop business- aircraft sales. Yet no single pro gramme accounts for more than 6 per cent of total yearly sales and the company is working at 60 to 65 per cent capacity. R&D investment during 1977 will be $17 million. Citroen denies Wankel- engined helicopter project FRENCH car manufacturer Citroen denies reports in a Belgian newspaper that it is developing a small helicopter powered by a Wankel rotary-piston engine. Through its Comotor sub sidiary, Citroen developed a Wankel engine for the GS Birotor car, but the project was discontinued and engine development is dormant. A variety of non-aviation applications were con sidered, but none was pursued by Citroen. John Grierson LONG-DISTANCE flier, test pilot and writer John Grierson died in Washing ton on May 21 at the age of 68. He was addressing a symposium at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum to mark the 50th anniversary of Lindbergh's transatlantic flight when he was taken ill; he died a few hours later in hospital. As an RAF pilot officer Grierson began a series of notable long-distance flights in 1931 with a ^-day journey by Moth from Karachi, where he was stationed, to Lympne. An admirer of Lindbergh, he made a successful west bound Atlantic flight via Iceland in 1934 in his de Havilland Fox Moth Robert Bruce. Following a short spell with the Air Ministry's Civil Operations Directorate, Grierson transferred to Hawker Aircraft as a test pilot. At Gloster he was one of four pilots to fly Britain's first jet aircraft, the Gloster/ Whittle E.28/39 Pioneer, and its Power Jets W.l engine. His experience with this aeroplane and with the follow-on F.9/40 (the Meteor, Britain's first operational jet fighter) were the basis of a fascinating book, Jet Flight. As a wing commander after the war he was deputy director of civil aviation in the British Zone of Germany. Much later he indulged his continuing love of exploration as a member of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society and as Britain's representative on the Antarctic Operation Deep Freeze in 1966. A memorial service will be held at midday on June 21 in St Columba's Church, London.
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