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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 0907.PDF
WORLD NEWS Airbus delivers first A320 TOULOUSE Air France formally took delivery of the first Airbus Industrie A320 on March 28, named it Ville de Paris, and flew it proudly down the Champs Elysees at 1,500ft. British Airways' chairman Lord King flew to Toulouse two days later to collect his first A320 and fly in it to London Gatwick. At 7.40 a.m. on April 18 an Air France A320 will take off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport bound for Diisseldorf with 153 pas sengers on board for the new type's first money-earning flight. British Airways does not yet know when and where its first A320 flight will operate, except that it will be "mid-April, probably Geneva". Air France has ordered 25 A320s, and they will all have been delivered by 1992. The airliner has an unequalled record in terms of sales before service entry: commitments total 486 from 19 airlines. Airbus is evaluating a stretched, 180-seat A320, with 13 additional fuselage frames adding capacity for 30 seats more than standard, reports J.M. Ramsden. The Snecma/ General Electric CFM56-5 engine has growth potential to 34,0001b thrust, "but a throttle-push of the -5C1 would probably be suffi cient," according to Airbus (see CFM56 story). The stretched A320, not yet formally designated the -300, is a candidate for collaboration with McDonnell Douglas (see page 6 for a report from Long Beach). Other candi dates for collaboration include a stretched MD-11 with a new centre-section to take the Airbus A330/A340 wing. Airbus says: "We can't go into the 21st century with DC-10 flight-control sys tems," and it does not share MDC's enthusiasm for the propfan; "No serious engine yet exists, and we would not be interested in co-operating on an MD-90 with the same passenger capacities as the A320". FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 9 April 1988 Multiyear bid to save AV-8B The US Marine Corps plans to buy 72 McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier lis at 24 a year over three years, in an effort to reduce costs. The proposed multiyear purchase now before Congress is crucial to the AV-8B's survival, says MDC. Without it, the programme and unit costs of just 24 aircraft a year—half the peak rate—could become unacceptably high, the company believes. The three-year buy would take the number of Marine Corps AV-8Bs to 280, short of the 328 planned. The 100th aircraft, above, was recently delivered to the Marines. Airbus offered bigger CFM56 PARIS CFM International has formally notified Airbus Industrie that it is ready to produce a 31,2001b-thrust CFM56 turbofan to power the projected A340 long-haul airliner, scheduled to enter service in 1992, reports Gilbert Sedbon. Designated the CFM56- 5C2, the engine has growth potential to 33,0001b thrust and beyond, says the General Electric/Snecma joint com pany. From an initial 28,6001b thrust offered in 1986, CFMI has steadily increased the power of the A340 engine, a derivative of the A320's 25,0001b-thrust CFM56-5A1, to 30,6001b thrust for the -5C1 and now to 31,2001b thrust for the -5C2. To provide the extra thrust, fan diameter will be increased 4in to 72-3in, a fourth low- pressure "booster" compres sor stage will be added to supercharge the core, and a fifth low-pressure turbine stage added to drive the larger fan. A long-duct nacelle with exhaust mixer will be fitted. The engine is expected to run at the end of 1989, and to begin flight tests in 1990, leading to certification late in 1991 to meet the A340's 1992 in-service deadline. • The first two International Aero Engines V.2500s for the A320 have been handed over to Airbus. In June these fit- check engines will be replaced by flight-certified V.2500s. India books Ariane BANGALORE ~ India's Space Research Organisation has selected Arianespace to launch two second-generation communi cations satellites, Insat 2A and Insat 2B. Contracts worth $120 mil lion provide Ariane 4 launches for the 1,900kg satellites in October 1990 and November 1991. Arianespace plans to launch the first-generation Insat 1C in July, together with Eutelsat's ECS-5 communi cations satellite. The next Ariane launch is scheduled for May 11, carry ing an Intelsat V communi cations satellite. The first Ariane 4 launch is scheduled for late May or early June, carrying Meteosat P2, Pan- AmSat, and Amsat. The Indian contracts bring to 43 the number of satellites to be launched by Ariane over the next three years. BAe wins SAM study STEVENAGE The UK Minstry of Defence has placed a 15-month, £500,000 study contract with British Aerospace Dynamics Division for a future medium- range surface-to-air missile (MSAM). The study's main guidelines are to establish feasible and cost-effective ways of meeting the UK's perceived MSAM needs. The study will examine the stretch potential of existing UK SAM systems and will also examine the possibility of using foreign missile systems and the feasibility of a "mix and match" option, combining UK and foreign equipment. Army buys Defenders BEMBRIDGE The British Army Air Corps has ordered five Pilatus Britten-Norman Turbine Defenders for utility and observation use. The Defenders will replace the seven remaining DHC-2 Beaver AL.ls, in service for the last 30 years. The first two or three Defenders will be delivered towards the end of this year, and the remainder in 1989.
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