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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 0976.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION Piasecki seeks helicopter partners ATLANTIC CITY Frank Piasecki, president of the Piasecki Aircraft Corpor ation, is attempting to find manufacturing and market ing partners for a new compound helicopter designed to take business from the corporate and commuter aircraft. Piasecki, who has been in the business since 1940 when he founded Piasecki Helicop ter (now part of Boeing Heli copter), released details of his company's design at a rotor- craft technology meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey, organised by the US Federal Aviation Administration. He is seeking partners in the USA and abroad. Piasecki predicts that a number of unconventional features will ensure that the compound helicopter, desig nated the 16H-3, would undercut the operating cost per passenger-mile of other helicopters by 20 per cent. This is enough to make the 16H-3 compare on cost with commuter aircraft on 100- mile-plus sectors, he believes. The compound helicopter's design features a wing which would unload the main rotor in the cruise, as well as allegedly "eliminating" rotor blade stalling and a sudden drag rise at high speed— phenomena which hinder higher speeds by conventional An unloaded rotor is claimed to yield significant cost savings, claims Piasecki helicopters. Other advantages of the unloaded rotor, according to Piasecki, are reduced vibration (with a consequent improvement in component life), and increased passenger comfort and confidence. Cruise propulsion would be provided by a pusher propeller, which is shrouded, so noise disturbance on the ground should be reduced, says Piasecki. The propeller's thrust would be vectored to counter rotor torque and give yaw control at low speed and in the hover. Two turbines each deliv ering a continuous 960 s.h.p. would power the compound helicopter. Several units are suitable, including a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 model, says Piasecki. Nasa is to test the shrouded propeller in a Langley wind- tunnel, under a US Army contract. Bond expansion continues ABERDEEN Bond Helicopters has put its recently acquired Sikorsky S-76A into oil-support service and virtually completed moving its company head quarters from Bourn, near Cambridge, to Aberdeen. The new aircraft is an ex- KLM Helikopters machine purchased from Sikorsky to meet an increase in offshore demand. It is claimed by Bond to be the first helicopter of any type to be bought by the north-west European offshore support industry since the oil price collapse. It takes the company's fleet to seven AS.332L Super Pumas, six Sikorsky S-76As, 14 SA.365C/N Dauphin 2s, and eight MBB BO.105Ds. Bond, with some 500 employees, is now the North Sea's third- largest support operator. The company also has i *ftd(ft3 jparras.wfafcS Dimensions Rctcr oiamerer Overall height : Wwgspart Tad rotor shroud diameter Weights Gross Useful load Payload, one p !o! plus luel for 230 miles Performance Wax cruise, 5 OOOf; Ma* rate of climb, man climb Rate of climb, one engine out Maximum range, no reserves power 3.000ft 44ft 2 8.M 12ft 3 C-in 42ft 9 6in 20ft 6* 4 3in Vertical take-off ! 0.4001b 4.4451b 3.2001b 212 mph 2.35 0 ft/mm -."fteiffttfto'v^::- 480 miles Short take-o*f 10.7001b 4 ?45i;> 3 5O0lb 204 m.p h 1.885 ft/mm V'.--,: •:•' :"'.-' 480 miles aircraft working on a variety of lighthouse support, Minis try of Defence, and emergency medical service contracts. Partial financing of the headquarters move, which created 50 new jobs at Aber deen Airport, was provided by the Scottish Development Agency in its first support helicopter-related project. Bond is considering the pur chase of additional aircraft, and further diversifying its activities. An initial supporter of the Turbomeca Arriel 1A re- engined S-76A project, Bond currently feels that the idea is attractive, but now offers only marginal economic advan tages. Managing director Stephen Bond tells Flight that the company's pilot force has grown from 100 to 140 during the past 12 months, and by July he expects to have a full complement of 150. He says, however, that helicopter air crew are leaving the industry to join the airlines, and suggests that the coming summer months could see oil companies having difficulty in obtaining short-term capacity. McAlpine Aviation for sale LUTON McAlpine Aviation, a leading UK operator with diverse activities and an all-jet fleet, is being offered for sale by its parent company, construction group Sir Robert McAlpine. The parent company refuses to comment, but Flight understands that several firms have expressed interest in buying the busi ness. McAlpine Aviation, which is based at Luton Airport, operates a fleet of eight Brit ish Aerospace 125 and two British Aerospace One- Eleven aircraft. The work force stands at 250. McAlpine Aviation was chosen by the Ministry of Defence to operate a general- aviation centre being devel oped at Farnborough airfield. Sir Robert McAlpine says that it intends to retain and expand its helicopter sub sidiary McAlpine Helicopters. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 16 April 1988
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