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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 2151.PDF
Lucas beats the birdstrike LUTON Lucas Aerospace has pro duced and tested a new, curved polycarbonate/acrylic laminated military wind screen, which is claimed to have higher impact resistance than any comparable product currently in service in Europe. The reason is simple: "Birds are better fed and heavier than ever before," according to Gerry Stubbs, the com pany's sales manager for air craft transparencies. Com bined with much more high speed, low-level training over sparsely populated (and therefore bird-intensive) areas than envisaged when today's combat aircraft and advanced trainers were designed, this points to the need for greater bird-strike resistance. Couple this with the trend away from heavily-framed flat screens towards wide-vision bubble canopies, and the need for new plastic materials is fur ther emphasised. Lucas, which supplies trans parencies for many significant European-built combat air craft and military trainers, is looking for retrofit work as well as contracts on new types such as ACA. The strength of the new windscreen comes from its Above High-speed cine film catches the impact between chicken and windscreen at nearly l.OOOkm/hr. Below The screen survives intact as the pulverised remains of the bird fly in all directions polycarbonate core. Although used already on the F-16 and some F-llls, polycarbonate suffers from chemical attack and surface abrasion, necessi tating the use of protective lacquers. The new Lucas screen, which draws upon recent development and test ing in the United States, sandwiches the polycarbonate between two thin protective sheets of "as-cast" acrylic, while retaining high optical performance. Bird-gun trials, conducted on a representative cockpit at Hatfield, in the presence of RAE and BAe engineers, have proved that the new wind screen will tolerate a 1kg chicken impact at 977km/hr. This compares with the design limit of 0-91kg at 833km/hr for the stretched acrylic screen which is in operational service on the same type of aircraft. Design changes to increase the tor sional strength of the frame would further enhance per formance. With impact energies of this magnitude, the instanta neous elastic deformation of the polycarbonate is substan tial (up to 5in), leading to crazing of the acrylic lami nates, but the windscreen remains intact, the pilot is unhurt, and enough visibility remains for a safe landing. Lucas says that, for a given weight, the new laminated polycarbonate/acrylic screen will have better resistance than either glass or acrylic to impacts not only from birds, but also from bullets, shrap nel, and debris thrown up in ground-attack missions, although only birds have been tested so far. Conversely, for a given level of protection, thin ner material can be used. Because it "cold forms" the polycarbonate does not crack, craze or "shale" under severe stress, such as a bullet impact. (It is possible to hammer a nail through thin sheets of the material cleanly.) The new screens could be in production within a few months. They cost between 50 per cent and 100 per cent more than conventional stretched acrylic units, but Lucas maintains that this is a small price to pay for saving pilots' lives. Lucas Aerospace Engineer ing and Heating Systems is at The Airport, Luton, Beds LU2 9NQ, England; tel Luton [0582] 31441, telex 82129. INDUSTRY Hong Kong joins China HONG KONG ~ Hong Kong Engineering Company Haeco has formed a joint aerospace marketing company with the China National Aero Technology Import-Export Corporation of Beijing (formerly Peking). The new company will be known as South China Aero Technology (Scat). The mainland corporation, usually known as Catic, makes a wide range of aero space products; Haeco is one of Asia's leading aeronautical engineering companies. The combination of the two in Scat will bring Hong Kong into China's economic adjust ment programme, which is part of the "Four Modernisa tions". This places high prior ity on advanced technology activities such as aerospace. « The Chinese airline CAAC has invited the British Aero space 146 to tour its routes, including airports hitherto inaccessible to jets. WHAT'S NEW Dunlop Aviation Division is to supply the prototype rotor- brake for the Westland W30 series 200/300, with visual indication to the pilot that contact between pad and disc is broken on brake release. This new system is considered by Dunlop to be superior to the conventional hydraulic pressure switch system, which detects pressure-off only (Dunlop Aviation Division, Coventry. England; tel 0203 88733). WHO'S NEWS New marketing appointments follow the posting of L. A. Sanson as corporate market ing director of British Aero space: J. S. Thomas becomes group executive director marketing, Dynamics Group. Reporting directly to Aircraft Group marketing director C. Chandler are B. A. H. Botting, who becomes head of marketing, Americas and Africa (excluding North Africa); J. D. Hastie, who is now head of marketing Middle East and North Africa; and D. McClen, head of marketing Europe includ ing UK. FLIGHT International, 26 November 1983 1435
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