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Aviation History
1987
1987 - 0004.PDF
WORLD NEWS R-R studies bigger RB.211 DERBY An RB. 211-700 turbofan producing 65,0001b thrust or more is being studied by Rolls-Royce. The engine is a deriva tive of the 58,0001b-thrust RB.211-524D4D with the diameter of the wide-chord fan increased by 6-8in. The maximum thrust possible within the existing 86in fan diameter is 60,0001b, says R-R. Within the next three to four months R-R will complete initial engineering studies of the RB.211-700. If development is launched, the engine could enter airline service in the early 1990s. As it uses the existing D4D core, development would involve relatively low risk and cost, says R-R. The RB.211-524D4D will enter airline service early in 1989 on the Boeing 747-400 of Cathay Pacific and British Airways. Israeli officer resigns TEL AVIV Israeli Air Force Col Aviem Sela has resigned his post as commander of Tel Nof airbase after the USA embar goed any official US contact with him. Col Sela was indicted in Washington as a controller of the convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence analyst now serv ing a life sentence for passing information to Israel. Col Sela was under enormous pressure to leave his post, which is regarded as one of the best IAF assignments. Israeli Chief of Staff Gen Moshe Levy and Defence Minister Yizhak Rabin approved Sela's move, and the US Embassy in Israel says that Sela's resignation from the post "will clear the atmosphere". Sela will not be reappointed until all Pollard investigations in the USA and Israel are completed. Recent calls by the USA for Israel to stop co-operating with South Africa on arms supply and military prog rammes are, Flight under stands, a direct result of the Pollard case. Pollard is said to have passed raw, unedited reports on South Africa to Israel, which then passed them direct to Pretoria. As the reports were raw this allowed the South African counter-intelligence service to identify their sources, and some US agents might have been compro mised as a result. Atlas-Centaur fails CAPE CANAVERAL ~ A lightning strike may have been responsible for the loss of data and control which resulted in the deliber ate destruction of a $78 million Nasa Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle and its $83 million US Navy Fltsatcom F6 communications satellite payload. Atlas Centaur AC67 was destroyed by a range safety officer 51sec after liftoff from Cape Canaveral on March 27. The launch took place in rainy and overcast conditions, and observers reported seeing lightning strike the launch pad before lift-off. A board of inquiry has convened, but Nasa does not yet know whether the launch of Fltsat com F8, scheduled for June, will be delayed. Australia takes A330/ A340 stake TOULOUSE With Qantas a likely launch customer for Airbus Indus trie's long-range, four- engined A340 airliner, five Australian companies have signed an agreement covering possible participation in the A330/A340 programme. Aerospace Technologies of Australia, British Aerospace (Australia), Dunlop Aviation, Hawker de Havilland, and Lucas Aerospace could take up to 4 per cent of the programme. Participation would go beyond existing subcontract work on the A300, A310, and A320, giving the companies research, design, development, and production responsibilities. France seeks EFA radar share PARIS French equipment manu facturers still hope to participate on a small scale in the four-nation European Fighter Aircraft (EFA). Jacques Savoyen, Thomson-CSF senior vice- president, says informal discussions continue with Ferranti on the French company's possible partici pation in the ECR-90 Euro pean collaborative radar proposed for EFA. Ferranti declines to comment on this, except to say that the ECR-90 trans mitter could use a Thomson travelling wave tube. This is likely to be the same device under development for the Thomson-CSF RDX radar planned for France's Rafale fighter. Savoyen notes that, until France pulled out of EFA in mid-1985, Thomson-CSF had a radar co-operation agree ment with Ferranti, AEG of Germany, Fiar of Italy, and Inisel of Spain. Ferranti and AEG submit ted competing bids for the EFA radar on March 18. Hercules de-iced After being covered by Antarctic snow drifts for 15 years, this US Navy Lockheed LC-130F Hercules is being dug out and is to be flown back to the USA. The ski-Here was taking off from an open snowfield some 700 n.m. from McMurdo Sound on December 4, 1971, when the pilot aborted the take-off and made a hard landing on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. No one was injured. When the aircraft was found again, only the top 3ft of the fin was showing above snow. Lockheed and Navy engineers found it to be structurally sound and fit, requiring only six weeks of preliminary repairs before it can be flown out. With only 14,000hr on the clock and a 15-year rest, the Hercules is only slightly used. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 April 1987
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