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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0254.PDF
BUSINESS AVIATION Cessna tops GA league WASHINGTON D.C. December was the best month of 1985 for three US general- aviation manufacturers, including market leader Cessna, which delivered aircraft worth more than $100 million. Gates-Learjet and Fairchild, the other two companies which finished the year strongly, recorded bill ings valued at around $40 million and $30 million, respectively. Among other manu facturers, the best months in terms of shipment value were July (Beech—$49-9 million), and March (Gulfstream Aerospace—$72-8 million). The GA manufacturing industry in the USA had its strongest months in Decem ber ($230 million) and March ($180 million). Overall performances for the leading six companies were: Company Billings 1 Cessna 2 Beech 3 Gulfstream 4 Gates-Learjet 5 Piper 6 Fairchild $513 million $272 million $270 million $130 million $126 million $98 million Total $1,209 million The figures are given by the US General Aviation Manu facturers Association (Gama). Other companies reported by the trade association are Maule Aircraft ($4-02 million) and Lake Aircraft $3-9 million); no figures are available for Mooney. (The numbers exclude aircraft bought off the shelf by the US military.) Cessna was 1985's leading US manufacturer, with some 883 aircraft delivered. Piper shipped 540, and Beech moved 288 units. These were the only companies to ship more than 100 aircraft in 1985. Most popular individual type was the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, of which 194 were shipped. Behind this came Piper's best-seller, the pres surised four-seat cabin Malibu (102 units). The only other "century" aircraft was the Piper Warrior (101). Putting family • groups together, the Beech Bonanzas (F33A/C, 36TC, and A36) reached 119 units, and Cessna's 210/Turbo 210/P210 marque totalled 98 aircraft. Among the top six compa nies, two had "dry" months in which no income was derived from new aircraft. Gates delivered no aircraft in both January and July, while Fair- child shipped none in January. Of other manu facturers, Maule and Mooney maintained shipments throughout 1985, but Lake delivered none in January, February, and May. CAA probes pilot fatigue LONDON Britain's Civil Aviation Authority has begun a year long study of flying fatigue suffered by helicopter pilots. Pilot complaints of physical discomfort and stress while flying have been growing, and the study could result in a rethink of existing regu lations. The CAA will look at the workload on the pilots of four leading operators—British Airways Helicopters, British Caledonian Helicopters, Bond Helicopters, and Bristow Helicopters—when flying the Boeing-Vertol 234 Commer cial Chinook, Bell 214ST, and Aerospatiale Super Puma and Tiger machines. It will ask pilots to wear a small record ing device the size of a personal hi-fi system. This will keep a log of various physiological data such as body temperature. Other devices such as acceler- ometers will detect such things as the effect of helicop ter vibration on the pilot's body. The CAA hopes to build up a detailed picture of pilots' response to working short and long sectors in a variety of weather conditions and when wearing special survival clothing such as immersion suits. Working with the CAA is the British Government's RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough and the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at South ampton University. The CAA acknowledges that helicopter cockpits vibrate, are noisy, and can become hot in sunshine due to large glazed areas. Exacerbating the problem are the sometimes hot and sticky immersion suits worn by pilots to improve chances of survival in water following a ditching, and also the growing duration of sectors as the oil- support industry moves fur ther offshore. The CAA says that there is a "general feel ing" among pilots that these factors "influence" safety. Pilot fatigue is the subject of a CAA study begun last week. Dated cockpit design is one pilot complaint The North Sea Pilots Asso ciation puts it more strongly: pilot fatigue has "greatly" contributed to "problems" suffered by operators in the North Sea. For years it has been accepted that helicopter flying is more tiring than fixed-wing flying, but there is still no separate regulation concerning rotary-wing pilot flying hours and duty times, argues the NSPA. The NSPA also claims that elderly helicopters working over the North Sea come in for "severe" criticism from pilots. Manufacturers have "neglected" the "problems" of long-range helicopter oper ations, it maintains. The NSPA has drawn up a list of proposals for reduced flight and duty times that it wants to see established. These are "well down" on the current limitations, it reveals, though details remain a secret until results of the CAA study are published. In the mean time, the NSPA says that it is "thoroughly behind" the CAA study. Piaggio shrugs off Gates pullout GENOA ~ ~ Piaggio expects to fly the first Avanti twin-turboprop busi ness aircraft on schedule in May, despite US partner Gates-Learjet having left the project. The programme is unharmed by the departure because Gates had completed its development work, says Bruno Mori, Piaggio director of international programmes. The US firm has delivered one fuselage and is about to deliver others. Wings and rear fuselage for the prototype are ready to be mated to the forward fuselage, which was due to arrive from the USA by Boeing 747 last week. Gates shared development of the aircraft and was to have manufactured fuselages for production units. It withdrew from the project because of depressed sales of its own aircraft. Piaggio says that it will proceed alone, but might look for a production and marketing partner. 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 1 February 1986
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