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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 1114.PDF
66 FLIGHT International, 8 July 1978 VtMd news passes 100 mark AN Iberia order for four A300B4s dis closed last week takes the announced total of A300s sold to 101. The airline has also placed options on several A300-10S. Excluding 25 tentative A300- 10 options from Eastern, options on the A300B2/B4 have reached 41. The purchase by Iberia and its options, if exercised, should assure Spanish manufacturer Casa of an A300-10 share when it is launched. French President Giscard d'Estaing and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt are expected to discuss the A300-10 at their July 6 summit. The two leaders may agree to launch the aircraft in advance of any discussion with British Prime Minister Callaghan. The first of 33 Alpha jets for the Belgian Air Force has been assembled at the Toulouse-Colomiers plant of Dassault-Breguet and is now flying. Production of the remaining 32 will be carried out by Sabca at Cosselies, Belgium BAA reports traffic upswing SOME 11-4 per cent more passengers used the seven British Airports Authority airports in May this year than in the same month last year. The moving annual total to the end of May was however up only 4-4 per cent. The upward trend of the last few months can be attributed to a measure of recovery in the world economy and to the impact of low fares on passen ger numbers. The BAA figures also reveal the effect of larger aircraft—movements in May were up only 7-6 per cent on last year—and the pressure on car riers to use airports other than Heath row. The results for May give growth at Gatwick as 26 per cent, 13-9 per cent for Stansted, and 7 • 2 per cent at Heathrow. While it is unwise to speculate on the long-term significance of one month's figures, there are unmistake- able signs that the attitude of the British Government toward the pro vision of more airport capacity for London will have to be changed be fore long if unprecedented congestion is not to result in the second half of the next decade. Successful Comstar launch COMSAT General's spin-stabilised Comstar D3 domestic communications satellite was launched from the Ken nedy Space Centre at 6.25 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 29 after a 34min delay caused by minor problems with the launcher first stage. The 39th operational Atlas Centaur, the launcher performed better than expected and the first stage was shut down 5sec earlier than scheduled. Comstar D3 is the third of three domestic communications satellites (Comstar 1 was launched on May 13, 1976, followed by Comstar 2 on July 22, 1976) and will handle up to 18,000 two-way telephone circuits. The Hughes-built satellite weighed 1,500kg at separation and 795kg at apogee motor shutdown. Comstar D3 is about 6m tall and 2-4m in diameter with antennas deployed, and its solar cells provide 570W of continuous power. Comstar capacity is leased by Comsat General to US domestic telecommuni cations corporations. Polish cosmonaut boards Salyut 6 SOYUZ 30, the 28th manned mission in the series, was launched at 6.27 p.m. Moscow time on June 27, carry ing Polish-born cosmonaut-researcher Major Miroslaw Giermaszewski, the second non-Russian crew member to fly on a Soviet space mission, and pilot-cosmonaut Colonel Piotr Klirnuk. Colonel Klimuk, 35, graduated from an air force school in 1964, served in the Soviet Air Force, joined the cos monaut team in 1965 and flew on Soyuz 13 in 1973 and Soyuz 18 in 1975. Giermaszewski, 37, entered the Deblin Air School in 1961 and after graduation served as a fighter pilot. From 1969 to 1971 he studied at the Polish General Staff Academy and then resumed pilot duties, beginning studies at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in 1976 for Soyuz flights under the Intercosmos pro gramme. The first international flight was Soyuz 28 last March, carrying Czech-born Vladimir Remek. At 8.08 p.m. Moscow time on June 27 Soyuz 30 docked at the rear port of the Salyut 6 space station, launched on September 29, 1977, and subse quently visited by three two-man Soyuz crews between December 1977 and March 1978. Soyuz 29, ere wed by cosmonauts Kovalyonok and Ivan- chenkov, linked up with Salyut 6 at 00.58 a.m. Moscow time on June 17. So far six Soyuz flights and one Pro gress unmanned tanker have been directed to Salyut 6. A second Progress is expected to participate in the current Salyut 6 activities. This will require Soyuz 30 to return to Earth, vacating the aft port, which is fitted with transfer lines for the fluids and gases carried by the tanker. A Soyuz flight carrying an East German cosmonaut is expected later this year. MTU and Turbomeca have formed a joint company to develop this new 1000 h.p. engine aimed initially at the HAF/PAH-2 Franco- German battlefield helicopter. Overall pressure S ratio is 13:1, length is 990mm and basic weight without gearbox is 2101b (145kg.). MTU will be responsible for hot-end components
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