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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 0081.PDF
EDITORIAL INTERNATIONAL Weekending 15 January, 1983 Number 3845, Volume 123 ISSN 0015-3710 IN THIS ISSUE World News Air Transport Defence General Aviation Propulsion Avionics Spaceflight Industry Agruculture Aviation 110 111 115 119 122 125 126 131 138 MILITARY PROPULSION TECHONOLOGY 141 We look at the new developments In propulsion technology that are necessary for up-and-coming supersonic V/Stol and super- agile Stol fighters. Letters 149 Straight and Level 150 Published m association with Aeroplane Monthly and Airports international by IPC Transport Prc»ss Ltd. Quad'ram House, The Quadrant. Sutton. Surrey SM2 5AS. England W\Jor\d's first ;tnd only complete iioronaulic.il weekly E Copyrsght IPC Business Press 1982 Founded 1909 Second-class postage p<nd at New York, NY and additional entries Editor David Mason Associate Editor Peter Middle; Assistant Editor Tom HarniH Air Transport Editor David Learmount Air Transport editorial Alison Chambers, Chris Kjelyaar Defence Editor Graham Warwick BSc Defence editorial Mike Gaines, Richard Whitaker, BSc Technical Editor David Velupillai BSc Technical editorial Julian Moxon BSc General Aviation Editor Cliff Barnett General Aviation editorial Ian Gooid Ian Parker BSc Production Editor Philip Jarrett Sub-editor Graham Cowell Art Editor Colin Paine Layout Rita Molineux Photography Stephen Piercey Technical Artists Frank Munger, John Marsden Publishing Director John Crookshank Editor-in-Chief J M Ramsden Advertisement Manager Trevor Barratt Assistant Advertisement Manager Colin Kilkelly Advertisement Sales Executives Sarah Beck. Robert Hancock Advertisement Production Howard Mason Advertisement Sales—France Pierre Mussard, 18,20 Place de la Madeleine. Pans 75008. France Telephone Paris 2655014 Advertisement Sales—Italy Romano Ferrano. Etas Kompass SpA. Via Mantegna 6, 20154 Milano. Italy Telephone; (2) 347051. Telex: 37342 Kompass Advertisement Sales—USA (East Coast) Dean Kelly. Classified Advertisement Sales—USA Joe Connors. IPC Business Press, 205 East 42nd Street. New York, Ny 10017 Telephone: (212) 867 2080. Telex: 238327 Advertisement Sales —USA (West Coast) John Tidy, IPC Business Press. 2656 Vista del Oro, Newport Beach, CA 92660 Telephone: (714) 760 9438 Telex: 238327 Subscriptions Manager A Walden Telephone England (p444) 459188 (UK and rates and agents can be found in this issue) verseas subscription Telephone 01-661 3315 (Display Advertisement Sales) 01-661 3809 (Classified Advertisement Sales) 01-661 3267 (Advertisement Production) 01-661 3321 (Editorial) Telegram/Telex 892084 BISPRS G Facsimile (Group lll/tl on request. Telephone 01-661 3321 (ABC) Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations Front cover: Pratt & Whitney's vectorable 'two-dimensional nozzle was tested recently in •Florida. The nozzle promises to cut runway requirements dramatically. It will also be used in flight to improueimprove manoeuvrability. FLIGHT International, 15 January 1983 Two way street- One way traffic T he Congress of the United States, in a move which it may yet live to regret, has passed a scarcely believ able law designed to exclude a British- built ejection seat from two of its Navy aircraft. First to dispose of the legal jargon: the Bill, covering appropriations for the Department of Defence for fiscal 1983, expressly states a condition . . . "That none of the funds pursuant to this para graph for the F/A-18 aircraft programme may be obligated or expended until the Secretary of the Navy submits to the Committee on Appropriations ... a certi fied plan to incorporate a United States- manufactured ejection seat system in F/A-18 aircraft purchased with fiscal year 1983 and future funds." And further . . . "That none of the funds . . . for the development of the Under graduate Flight Training System (VTX- TS) may be obligated or expended until the Secretary of the Navy submits ... a plan to incorporate a United States- manufactured ejection seat system in the new Undergraduate Flight Trainer Aircraft." The two aircraft concerned, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and the British Aerospace/McDonnell Douglas T-45 Hawk, both incorporate British Martin-Baker ejection seats. The US Navy traditionally uses and prefers Martin-Baker seats, and has accepted them for its F-18 after open competitive bidding. The Hawk, of course, was designed with the Martin-Baker seat as standard. The Congressman who promoted the offending bill, Mr Joseph Addabbo, Chair man of the Defence Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, has lately attacked the Martin-Baker seat on the grounds of technical deficiency and cost, and because its offshore procurement would cause "erosion of the United States industrial base". Martin-Baker seats are currently approaching their 5,000th life saved, 3,000 of them US air crew, and have proved themselves reliable and successful. In the most recent highly publicised ejection which led to pilot injury, when the pilot of an F-18 departed his aircraft at Point Mugu in January, the seat has been exonerated. The ejection was successful, and from zero feet the pilot was deposited, as intended, in a developed parachute at 300ft. The US Navy had specified a steer- able parachute for the Hornet. Unfortunately, the pilot steered down wind and arrived with a thump and a dislocated hip. Had he turned into wind he would have had a lOkt component remain ing from the 30kt wind. At the US Navy's request, however, Martin-Baker changed GQ's Aeroconical parachute (which also acted as specified) for a selectable-drive Irvin parachute. Perhaps, instead, the US Navy should have changed its training procedures to explain how to fly a steerable parachute for a soft landing. Following their proven successes, the performance of Martin-Baker seats is no longer under attack by Mr Addabbo. Nor is their cost, because they are less expensive than their competitors. That leaves the offshore argument. There exists, between the United States and the United Kingdom, a Memorandum of Understanding designed to foster free and open trading between the two countries—the so-called "two way street". In passing Mr Addabbo's bill, Congress has reneged on that agreement. To be charitable, the Bill went through during the Christmas period, and at a time when Congress was much occupied with the MX issue. The implications were no doubt little studied by members of the House of Representatives. To be further charitable, it should be noted that the President, like the Prime Minister, is an advocate of open competition, and a declared enemy of United States protectionism. It is Mr Addabbo who is out of step, and he should fall back into line. The cost of redesigning the seat instal lation for these two excellent aircraft, and of retrofitting operational F-18s, would be enormous. The alternative, forcing Martin-Baker to establish either a US license facility or a US subsidiary, is inef ficient for a component of this size and scale. Neither the Navy nor the airframe manufacturer is interested in either of these routes. In fact the entire issue springs not from any considerations of pilot safety or production efficiency, but from the murky machinations of Ameri can politics. If this move succeeds, others could follow on a growing scale. Congress should enact an amendment to the Act forthwith. Should it fail to do so, the British Government should respond with a sharp gesture of support for its own industry. A ban from British airspace of all US military aircraft not fitted with Martin-Baker seats would be salutary. 109
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