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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 2042.PDF
Field Aircraft aims to increase expertise Field Aircraft has handed over its 200th BAe Jetstream 31 completion to the manufacturer, six years after its first Jetstream completion for British Aerospace by Ian Goold British aviation-support and service company Field Aircraft has completed its 200th British Aerospace Jetstream 31, is well into its third hundred, and is looking for new areas into which to expand. The mile stone aircraft was handed over to the manufacturer at Field Aircraft's East Midlands Airport base on July 22, almost six years to the day after the supplier's completion of its first Jetstream. Other Jetstream 31s currently going through the facility include the 220th machine, which is scheduled to be deliv ered to BAe in about two weeks' time. The 200th Jetstream 31 is the first Super 31, and is scheduled to be delivered to Big Sky Transportation in Billings, Montana, in September. The carrier flies in the Northwest Airlink network and sports that carrier's scheme. In a deal valued at $21 million, Big Sky has ordered six Super 31s and taken options on six more, bringing total Dollar sales of the marque to 219 aircraft (exclud ing options, which number about 70). Chairman Clive Hunting is at pains to express Field's will ingness to join with BAe in risk- sharing in civil aircraft com pletion. Field Aircraft expects, for example, that, should BAe proceed with the Jetstream 41 or a new derivative of the 146, the manufacturer would seek to apportion some of the risk to contractors. The service company plans to develop its involvement in manufacture, adding subassem blies such as doors or flying controls to its completion busi ness. It claims experience in non-structural composites, at its Metair facility at West Mailing (Kent), for example. The recent RAF trainer com petition saw parent-company Hunting teamed with Norman Aircraft to offer the Firecracker, and another example is Field's involvement with BAe to handle six of the Boeing Awacs aircraft at RAF Waddington while equipment is fitted before the aircraft enter RAF service. BAe civil aircraft division managing director Sidney Gillibrand points out that the current climate of interest and currency-exchange rate means that "on-time, superb-standard" aircraft are the only way that BAe can compete in the fierce I 19-seat commuter aircraft market. Gerry Curran, director and general manager of BAe Prestwick where Jetstream 31s are manufactured, praises Field Aircraft for its work, having originally opposed the letting of completion business to an outside contractor. The initial programme had assumed 25 aircraft, "with 50 per cent going to Field". Subsequently, the 200th aircraft was scheduled to be completed in 1990. Now, according to Curran, everybody can "look forward with confidence way beyond the 300th aircraft". This is not to say that BAe has signed a blank cheque for Field Aircraft. Marketing direc tor David Enstone emphasises that BAe obtains alternative cost estimates from time to time, including one from sister company Metair. Field Aircraft chairman Gordon Williams underlines the competitive nature of the business, claiming that subcontract completion has added sales, because the com pany can "absorb large numbers of customer changes and option changes," which might be diffi cult for an original manu facturer. Field has joined with other BAe contractors to contain costs by improving efficiency. Last year BAe invited all of its suppliers to reduce costs by a third over the next five years. An indication of Field's increasing efficiency is the reducing turnround time for Jetstream completions. This had begun at eight weeks, but is now down to five weeks, and plans are afoot to save a further week. Indeed, Flight understands that one Jetstream has already been completed in 20 working days, although Field Aircraft would prefer to complete several more before claiming a four-week turnround. Such a rate will enable the company to complete 50 aircraft a year, closely matching BAe's pro jected annual production of 48 machines. All Jetstreams are flown to East Midlands for the installa tion of flightdeck instruments, avionics, wiring looms, pas senger cabin interiors, and final painting. Included in the 200 completions to date are Jet stream T.3s used by the Royal Navy for maritime helicopter observer training, and the two Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft used at Warton for Tornado navigation training. In developing its completion business, Field Aircraft and sister company Metair are expecting to handle several larger aircraft over the next several months. Ptrst;A320 simuiatof^-MSsefMc# Aeroformation Training Centre at Toulouse has by Thomson-CSF. By deliv ering the simulator in June, '('?.".'•. flC.-. '.."•."'••-.••' '." Ti~.:-i- -''" v. "-'•";••• ..";•-; '".".;". ..,..; Singer-Link. 311 of whom are working on A320 simulators. Thomson-CSF now has nine A320 simulators on its orderbook. The company claims that this gives it 60 pet cent of the world Airbus simu- ;- •'•'"•".;•,:rl t~. ^ittaSSSflsXfiSsS • The first machine is one of six going to Aeroformalion and Miami-based Airbus Service equipment for crews and main tenance personnel. In the same month Thomson also delivered an A300-600 simulator to Korean Air. in a contract wonh $8 million. and A 310-300 simulators. The machines are due for delivery in early 1990. Both Jordanian simulators will use Rediffusion SP-X 500 visual systems with Wide displays. 20 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 6 August 1988
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