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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0133.PDF
INDUSTRY Westland fights back YEOVIL Westland's profit in the year ending September 30, 1984, was just under £17 million before special provisions, mainly in respect of civil Westland 30 opera tions. An "exceptional provision" of £14 million is made to cover lower than expected sales, including losses on sales-financing packages. Termination of the original Airspur agreement has called for an "extraordinary provision" which, with other items, appears in the accounts as £5 • 73 million. The dominant factor in the helicopter business, reports chairman Lord Aldington (who retires next month, handing over to Sir Basil Blackwell) is the continuing low world demand for heli copters. Since the end of the year (September 1984) Westland has received firm orders for only two Lynx and a letter of intent for three Sea Kings. The company is expecting an order for nine Sea Kings from the UK MoD and is "close to finalising" an India oil and gas commission order for 21 Westland 30s (an aircraft which is proving to be "abso lutely sound in concept and as a basic machine"). Contracts for 250 Lynx, cancelled with the termi nation of the Arab Organisation for Industri alisation five years ago, continue to be the subject of arbitration in Geneva and of "amicable discussions" with Saudi Arabia and others. MDC employs 12,000 more ST LOUIS McDonnell Douglas employ ment on September 30 was 86,477, compared with 74,821 a year earlier. The corpora tion's results for the first nine months of this year show a profit of nearly $234 million on sales of more than $7,000 million. Respective figures for the previous period were $192 million and $6,000 million. The firm backlog on September 30 was nearly $14,431 million, a jump of $4,000 million. McDonnell Douglas has now sold or taken options on 480 MD-80s, including 180 delivered. A320 arrives (in wood) MBB Hamburg has made this A320 design mockup for its Airbus engineers to check centre-section and main gear and flap interfaces. i@MSHMsi f »&• - Boeing rolls out Comet Boeing, hitherto undistinguished for sentimentality towards competitors, has restored, free of charge, this 1959 ex- Mexicana Comet 4C in original BOAC colours. The aircraft had been mouldering for years at Everett. It has been donated to the local Community College for the training of aviation students. SBAC director on engineer shortage LONDON ~ Air Marshal Sir John Curtiss, who takes over from SBAC director Sir John Pringle, retired, tells Flight that nis biggest worry is Britain's shortage of young engineers. "British Aerospace needs 2,000 engineers pretty well right away," says Curtiss, who was commander air forces in the Falklands war. As a school governor himself, he worries that head master and teachers know so little about the real world and its need for people with a tech nical education. "Headmas ters and teachers, with notable exceptions, leave school and then go back to school, producing a sort of self- regenerating education sys tem which is quite unsuited to national needs. One of my jobs will be to encourage industry to get into the schools and educate the educators, and show young men and women what a marvellous career awaits them in aviation." Bell Textron fancies Avco FORT WORTH Textron, parent of Bell Helicopter, is negotiating to buy Avco in a deal approach ing £1,000 million in value. The combined company would have sales of more than £6,000 million. Product lines would be complementary rather than competitive. In the first nine months of 1984 Textron sales totalled $2,330 million, of which $448 million comprised heli copters. WHAT'S NEW A new fire-fighting foam, Halofoan, has been developed by Harrier Marketing. When mixed with salt or fresh water the special foam and halon combination is said to behave as a normal water jet. No special nozzles are needed, and it can be projected as far as any water jet (M. A. Pysden, Harrier Marketing, PO Box 1, Crofton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 1UZ, England; tel 0924 862639). FLIGHT International, 12 January 1985 61
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