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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 0466.PDF
836 FLIGHT International, 25 March 1978 Germans reorder Shorts 330 FRANKFURT-based local-service car rier DLT has ordered three more Shorts 330s for delivery in March and April. Options taken out on two more aircraft, if confirmed, will call for delivery at the end of the year. DLT, the first European 330 operator, is to expand its route net work to include services from Frank furt to Hanover, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the last two on behalf of Lufthansa. During the first year of 330 services 38,000 passengers were carried and DLT's president, Baron von Kaltenborn, says that passenger acceptance, has been "outstanding." Seventeen 330s are covered by firm orders, with a further six on option. The type has flown 19,000hr in airline service since its introduction in Canada in mid-1976. Shorts says that despatch reliability has been 98 per cent. Missing locator prolonged exposure time SURVIVORS of a Swedish Cessna 402 crash had to wait 13 hours for rescue parties to find them because the emergency-locator transmitter (ELT) had been removed from the aircraft. The Cessna, which belonged to Vaxjo- based Aero Centre, crashed during the evening of February 13 at the end of an air-taxi flight, as it was making an ADF approach to Sandviken/Gavle Airport. Both pilots were killed in the crash but the three passengers sur vived the impact. Only one was still alive when the aircraft was found in the morning, night-time temperatures having dropped to — 15°C. The ELT originally installed in the aircraft was removed in December 1977 because it was of the lithium- battery type, which had given a number of false alarms. Also, the design was prone to emit poisonous gases if it leaked. Sweden's Civil Avia tion Authority allowed operators until July 31, 1978, to fit a different and approved type of ELT but the work was not done on the crashed aircraft. Wreckage examination has shown no obvious technical reason for the accident. The engines were under power at impact, flaps and under carriage were up, altimeter set to the correct QNH, and ADF apparently correctly tuned. According to the sole survivor the descent was made in heavy snow. Safety Board suggests Cessna check THE LOSS of a Cessna Conquest demonstrator last November has resulted in recommendations A78 -13 and -14 from the US National Trans portation Safety Board to the Federal Aviation Administration. They ask the FAA to issue an airworthiness direc tive to enforce a tailplane-trim inspec tion on all Cessna multi-engined air craft, as laid down in Cessna service letter ME-77-34 of December 23, 1977. The check should be made every 25hr on the 404 Titan, the board feels. The FAA is also asked to assess whether the 404 tab actuator needs modifying to provide redundancy. The NTSB notes that the 404 Titan has dual elevator tabs and actuator mountings identical with those of the Conquest. The NTSB says of the Conquest accident that wreckage examination suggests that "thet trim tab was freed when either the clevis rod or the actuator jackscrew failed, or that the actuator became loose in its mount ing bracket because the retaining clamps had become loose and the retaining ring had been omitted. A free tab could have caused divergent tail flutter and subsequent structural break-up of the aircraft." Expansion year for Asahi ASAHI Helicopters expects to com plete its financial year on March 31 with a record Yen4,600 million ($19-2 million) turnover. Delivery of two new Bell JetRanger Ills will bring the Asahi fleet to 63, in addition to which there are three Ecureuils on order. Asahi says that its turnover—22 per cent up on 1976—accounts for one quarter of the entire Japanese heli copter industry, which numbers some 17 operators. About 40 per cent of the revenue comes from heavy lifting for the construction industry; 20 per cent from agricultural and forestry work; and 15 per cent from offshore oil support. The company employs 80 aircrew and 135 engineering staff. Still fully operational, this Lockheed Lodestar is used, as its registration implies, for aerial surveys and mapping. It stopped at Gatwick en route from Finland to Nigeria Aerospatiale considers US assembly of Ecureuil EASE of certification will probably determine whether Aerospatiale assembles AS .350 AStar (Ecureuil) helicopters in the USA. The procedure is simpler if the helicopter is imported complete rather than being shipped in component form and assembled in the USA, even though the Lycoming LTS101 engine, instruments, radios floats and other items would be manu factured in the USA. The work would be done by Aerospatiale Helicopters at Dallas. Orders for 200 AStars have now been received.
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