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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 1973.PDF
Management rescues ARV ARV Aviation was rescued last week, when creditors approved a £260,000 offer by Island Aircraft for the business and assets, but not liabilities, of the Isle of Wight-based manu facturer. ARV went into Administra tion, the UK equivalent of US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec tion, on June 17. Island Aircraft is controlled by former ARV managing direc tor Chris Wald, although most of ARV's staff have a stake in the new company. Unsecured ARV creditors have lost about £500,000. Island Aircraft has restarted production of the two-seat Super2, and this week planned to deliver the first aircraft since November 1987. The buyer is a so-far-unnamed UK person ality. Island is maintaining only a limited production rate at the moment, Wald says. He hopes to build another ten aircraft by the year's end, bringing the total number of Super2s produced to 35. Although Wald is presently the majority shareholder in the company, he does not expect to remain so. Between £250,000 and £300,000 of new capital is needed to continue develop ment work, Wald estimates. Wald says that the develop ment work is small but signifi cant, and insists that all of the problems with the aircraft that led to its effective grounding are now solved. He wants the Super2 certificated up to 1,1601b maximum take-off weight, and to have a heater in the cockpit and an adjustable seat. Such factors can be signifi cant in marketing, he adds. Tests on the two-stroke Hewland engine continue, in an effort to prove its reliability, but these will also pay off in increased time between over hauls, says Wald. Production of the aeroplane should increase next year, he says, as the company hopes to gain certifi cation from other civil aviation authorities. "We are adopting a 'softly softly' approach for the next few months to ensure everything is just right," he adds. The basic Super2 is still J>eing sold for £26,000. Navy airship soldiers on Hope springs eternal in the US Department of Defence airship programme. Despite its termi nation by the Navy in the spring to save money, funds have continued to trickle in—and now the US Congress has authorised $25 million to continue building a prototype. If the money is finally approved, the Westinghouse/ Airship Industries (WAI) consortium will have enough funding to take the project into its preliminary design review next year, and about three- quarters of the way through the critical design review the year after. This still leaves the programme far short of the $200 million needed to build and flight-test the prototype, however. The project would have run out of funds altogether had it not been for its supporters within the Office of the Secre tary of Defence (OSD). On two occasions since the Navy termi nation, the OSD stepped in at the last minute to release money from a deferral fund containing all of the FY1988 money. All funding for this year has now been released. "It's like we're underwater, breathing through a straw," says Leo Foltzer, executive assistant to the president of WAI. When he was in the Navy several years ago, Foltzer almost terminated the airship programme himself, but made it his duty, "because I have an open mind," to review the project first. He now strongly supports the use of airships as the only way that 24-hour airborne radar protec tion can be given to a battle fleet. Foltzer has also commanded an E-2 Hawkeye squadron, and been mission crew commander of an E-3 Awacs early warning aircraft. Referring to the recent acci dental shooting down of an Iran Air A300 in the Persian Gulf by the USA, Foltzer says, "If they'd had a radar-equipped airship in the Gulf they would have been able to see the target well in advance—probably at the point of origin". Both its identi fication and track could have been established in time to resolve any conflict, he adds. "It would never have been an issue." This October the airship programme is likely to be taken over by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is charged with developing future technologies for the Pentagon. A320 orders continue to grow Air Canada has become the second-largest customer for the Airbus A320, with an order for 34 and options on 20 more. Valued at about $ 1 • 5 billion, the aircraft will be delivered from the first quarter of 1990, and will be powered by Snecma/ General Electric CFM56-5s. Airbus still has no definite plans to start a second prod uction line, saying it has "not got to that stage yet". The Air Canada order has been under discussion for about two years, and was built into plans, says Airbus, adding "but if another Air Canada comes along now, then we will have to look at it seriously". Increased A320 production could come from the existing production line, but the manu facturer has been in discussions with both Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas concern ing some form of co-operation. Any link with McDonnell Douglas could not directly involve the A320, as it competes with the MD-80. A bigger A340 has been mooted, but a stretched A320 is not out of the question. Any agreement with Lockheed would be a straight business proposal. Flight under stands that further develop ments on negotiations may be announced at the Farnborough Air Show. Any decision in the increased production of the A320 will be bound up in the development of an A320 stretch, but the two factors are not necessarily conditional on each other. The operational cost per passenger improves with the stretch of the aeroplane and, combined with increased congestion at major airports, more airlines are press ing for this development to the highly popular aircraft. • :-..• "v : •;•.:••-• • • •- Varig has ordered five Boeing 737-300s valued at , about $140 million. Deiiv- | eries will begin this Novem ber and will run through to February 1989. The airline already leases four 737-300s. Air New Zealand has obtained an extra Boeing 737 on lease from Air Nauru to boost frequencies on domestic services. Air Sew Zealand now has a fleet of eleven 73?s. Garuda Indonesia has wet- leased a Boeing 747-200 Combi from Lionair of Luxembourg, which had in turn leased the aircraft from GPA of Ireland. The 747 will fly between Bali, Jakarta, and Hong Kong for the next two months. Beech has sold its first Beecbiel bu>ines!» jet in Asia, for service as a state aircraft for the chief minister of Satawak, Eastern Malaysia. The Malaysian Civil Aviation Departtneni will certificate the aircraft before it enters service. The aircraft will be operated by the state- owned aviation firm, Horn- bill Skyways, which has also purchased a Beli Mode! 222 Utility Twin heiicopter for use as personal trans portation for the Sarawak Prime Minister. San Francisco-based Pl.M International has acquired • :•. • I- :'r-L -.* -':i> which it is to lease to Trans World Airlines (TWA). America West Airlines has ordered ten Boeing 737-300s with options on five more. The total order includes five aircraft previously unannounced, two of the aircraft having been deliv ered earlier this month. ^hof.nk, Artjsona-biseo . America West already oper ates a fleet of 54 Boeing Air Canada has ordered three Boeing 767-200ERs worth about $170 million, for deliver.' between January and March 1989. Air Canada already operates 15 of the typt, all powered bv Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4D •:-;i;fir;<;s. , FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 30 July 1988 9
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