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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 3222.PDF
FLIGHT International. 29 October 1977 BR Capt Jiirgen Schumann, the captain of the Lufthansa 737 hijacked on October 13, was murdered by the terrorists at Aden on October 17. The death of Capt Schumann, 37, has shocked airline pilots throughout the world and has brought renewed calls for improved security. Lufthansa board member Werner Utter said when the hostages returned to Germany that Capt Schumann "gave his life to save the lives of others" in a second Lufthansa aircraft. The plan was to storm the 737 at Dubai, but the hijackers left before arrange ments could be made with UAR officials. The commandos finally landed at Mogadishu in radio silence, without landing lights and in such a way as to minimise noise. The aircraft stopped on the runway to allow the commandos to disembark. While one group approached the hijacked aircraft from the rear, another approached the nose to make a co ordinated attack. The hijackers had been led to believe that the German Government was about to comply with their demands. The Lufthansa hijacking, which fol lowed incidents involving an Air Inter Caravelle, a JAL DC-8, an Air Djibouti Twin Otter and, at the end of last week, a Frontier Airlines 737, again raises questions of how armed ter rorists manage to board aircraft. There has recently been at least one hijacking attempt in Eastern Europe. It appears that Lufthansa had lately asked for a tightening of security at Majorca, but there is no doubt that some airlines and some airport authorities have been complacent. The fact that two members of the British SAS flew to Mogadishu with GSG9 and British incapacitation grenades were used confirms that the UK has its own anti-terrorist expertise. The Department of Trade has overall res ponsibility for security at British airports. Airliner market London—New York for £95 A SPECIAL ABC fare as low as £95 return on London-New York was announced by Jetsave chairman Reg Pycroft last week. He says the new Latesave fare is the "lowest on a seat- mile basis in the world anywhere." The fare is heavily qualified and applies to passengers who book a low-season flight in the last 48hr before bookings close. Under current rules, ABCs bought in the UK have to be booked 45 days in advance; the CAA is how ever considering a reduction in the minimum booking period to 30 days. Full Jetsave fares range from £142 to £195 compared with £139 return on Skytrain and £146 return on lata Standby. The reduction in fare for late booking ranges from 20 per cent in the peak to 33 per cent in the off season. Jetsave plans to offer 200,000 seats between the UK and the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Pycroft tells Flight he is confident that the 1977 load factor of 96 per cent can be maintained despite the competition from the low fares. Some 22 per cent more capacity is being offered in 1978, He said preliminary talks had been held with Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas about the possible purchase of aircraft, but that it had been de cided that Jetsave's expertise lay in promoting and organising rather than operating. In 1977 Jetsave made a profit of £1 • 3 million on a turnover of £18 million. • The American Civil Aeronautics Board has issued an interim Notice of Proposed Rule Making which would reduce the advanced-booking require ment for US ABC passengers to 15 days. The minimum number of pas sengers in an ABC or one-stop tour charter (OTC) would be reduced from 40 to 20 and the percentage of "fill- up" passengers increased to 15 per cent. The CAB sees the new rule, if it is accepted as a regulation, as a way of allowing US supplemental carriers to compete with Super Apex. HS.748 conference the biggest ever HAWKER Siddeley held the fourth HS.748 operators' conference earlier this month. Some 38 operators sent 96 delegates while 25 HS.748 vendors sent 36 delegates. The lead aircraft has completed 52,000 landings, and the fleet as a whole has accumulated 2 • 5 million hr and 2 • 5 million landings. Air Malta has purchased a pair of Boeing 720Bs from Western Airlines. They will be delivered in March 1978 and March 1979 • British Airways has ordered a seventh Boeing 747- 200B. The order was in fact signed this summer, but no announcement was made because of industrial action then affecting the airline's Rolls- Royce-powered 747s. The airline denies that it has immediate plans to purchase a batch of second-hand Boeing 727s to relieve its shortage of capacity, and says that the refurbish ing of the Trident 3B fleet is proceeding according to schedule • Delta Air Transport has taken delivery of a fourth ex-Ozark Fairchild FH-227B • Mexicana has ordered a pair of Boeing 727s for delivery in June and Novem ber next year. It is negotiating the purchase of two more, which would be dehvered late next year or early in 1979 • Pelican Air Transport, now sold to Hill & Delamain, is negotiat ing with Pan American for a Boeing 707-320C • Philippine Airlines is tipped as a possible buyer for the five ex-Lufthansa Boeing 747s which are due to be replaced by GE-powered air craft • Swissair has ordered a pair of McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51S to tide it over until the Super 80s enter service. Flutter design is a key area in Boeing work on the 707-CFM56. This l/ISth-scale model has been tested in General Dynamics' low-speed tunnel at San Diego. The model is here shown suspended by cable in the laboratory where its resonant frequencies are being determined. The dark ventral fin is not a feature of the 707-CFM56 design Hip
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