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Aviation History
1980
1980 - 0864.PDF
826 FLIGHT International, IS March I960 Belfast receives civil type certificate The Belfast has now achieved civil type certification and Stansted-based TAC HeavyLift is on the verge of starting revenue-earning flights. The CAA requirement for stick pushers should be met by the end of this year THE Shorts Belfast, originally de signed and built as a military trans port, has received its civil type certificate from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. TAC HeavyLift*, the Stansted-based cargo airline, plans to operate the three remaining air worthy Belfasts (ten were originally built for the RAF) on ad hoc charter flights and long-term contracts, carry ing outsize loads. The Belfasts were originally planned to be operated by British Cargo Airlines, formed last year from the merger of Transmeridian Air Cargo and IAS Air Cargo, on behalf of TAC HeavyLift and Eurolatin Aviation. This arrangement has now lapsed (see British Cargo story on page 827) and TAC HeavyLift is set ting up as an operator on its own. Revenue earning flights will be start ing at about the time this issue of Flight appears. The company is two- thirds owned by Cunard, previous owners of Transmeridian, and one- third is owned by Eurolatin Aviation. An application for an Air Operators Certificate has been made to the CAA. Belfast civil certification was started last year (Flight, September 22) and has so far cost £4 million. One certification requirement which is still outstanding is the need to fit stickpushers, which have been de manded by the CAA because aero dynamic stall warning is considered to be insufficient for a civil type. Short hauls ... G FAA Administrator Langhorne Bond has told Congress that the FAA needs $1,000 million to improve safety and cater for traffic growth under the Airport Development Aid Programme. The FAA has requested $2,100 mil lion for the 1981-85 period to cover new air traffic control facilities and equipment. But Bond says that traffic will exceed ATC system capacity by the mid-1980s and an extra $1,000 million is needed to increase capacity and maintain safety. He says that the current request will not even keep pace with expected inflation over the next five years. • Merrimac Airlines/New Jersey Air ways, a US commuter which is under investigation by the FAA for alleged safety violations, has suspended operations and surrendered its air carrier operations certificate to the FAA. The airline gives "economic reasons" for the service suspension. • The US National Aviation Facilities Experimental Centre (Nafec) is de veloping a system to detect windshear at medium altitudes (up to 1,600ft). Ground-based systems currently in use can detect shear occurring 60ft or less above ground but cannot de tect the phenomenon above that level. Medium-level windshear can affect Installation of stickpushers is ex pected to be complete by the end of this year, which will allow the Bel fasts to carry 19 passengers in the "minstrels gallery" at the front of the cargo hold. Until then, the airworthi ness certificate is strictly for cargo only and each flight will have to be individually cleared with the coun tries flown over. By the time stick pushers have been installed, certifica tion work and modification carried out by Marshall of Cambridge, will have cost £5 million. TAC HeavyLift's managing director, Capt P. J. McGoldrick, says that the airline "owes much to Marshalls— probably the only company in Europe which could have completed this Short hauls ... aircraft on approach and several manufacturers are developing flight- deck systems to warn the pilot of its occurrence. Nafec's ground-based sys tem is based on current low-level windshear technology and utilises pulsed Doppler radar. The develop ment programme is expected to be complete early next year. • US Air, the renamed Allegheny Airlines, has applied to the US Civil Aeronautics Board to operate services between Pittsburgh and London. The airline wants the US city opened up as a new gateway under the US-UK Bermuda 2 bilateral agreement. Air line president Edwin Colodny says that if US Air is awarded the route, widebodies will be acquired to operate it. US Air currently operates an ex clusively short/medium-haul jet fleet composed of DC-9s, 727s and One- Elevens. G A £100 London-Glasgow return fare is "inevitable" before the end of this year, says British Caledonian Airways chairman Adam Thomson. He says that B.CAL's costs on the route are currently increasing by more than £1 million a year. London- Glasgow costs for the 12 months end ing March 1 are estimated at just over £6 million. B.CAL expects the & exercise in such a short time. All three Belfasts will be in opera tion by the end of this year, and the first is already booked up for two months. Another two aircraft are owned by Rolls-Royce and TAC HeavyLift has access to these for air frame spares. The R-R-owned Belfasts could be made airworthy again and it is possible that TAC HeavyLift will buy these, increasing its fleet to five. HeavyLift already has a contract from Marconi for carriage of large items of defence equipment and other loads booked up include three Sea King helicopters for India. *TAC HeavyLift, Stansted Airport, Stansted, Essex. Telephone Bishop's Storttord (0279) 5761. Short hauls ... figure to go up to £722 million by March 1981. The airline has applied for a £98 London-Glasgow return fare effective from April 1. G Air Ecosse is planning to apply for a licence for a two-times-a-week schedule between Wick on the Scot tish mainland and Vagar Airport in the Faroe Islands. G Linjeflyg, the Swedish domestic airline, reports a net profit of SKr2-3 million (£240,000) for the 1978-79 financial year, compared with a loss of nearly SKrl5 million in 1977-78. Linjeflyg president Jan Carlzon says that the improved result has been brought about by the introduction of low fares on the airline's routes. G A new Israeli charter airline, Nesher International, has been formed to operate to the US. Nesher starts operations on April 13, using DC-8s supplied by US charter carrier Evergreen International. It is offering a Tel Aviv-New York round-trip fare of $669, compared with $907, the cheapest scheduled fare. G Jordan and the US have signed a bilateral agreement giving Alia, the Jordanian flag carrier, rights into New York, Houston and Chicago. Rights to Los Angeles come into force in 1983.
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