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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 3103.PDF
NBAA REPORT US*,"**'* *Y--~ •^*&m£ New Dallas designs Visitors to the 1988 NBAA show in Dallas had to make do with a model of Beech's Rutan- designed, and built, Cabin Class twin- turbofan bottom—no repeat of the surprise 1983 Dallas debut of the Rutan-designed and built proof-of-concept Beech Stars hip. Although the Williams- powered PoC Cabin Class is flying at Scaled Composites' Mojave facility in California, Beech elected not to bring the aircraft to Dallas, maintaining that the aircraft is still only a design study. Making its first NBAA appearance was the apparently Rutan-inspired Jet Cruzer top , a single- turboprop four-seater sporting foreplane, wingtip-mounted fins and rudders, and fixed tricycle gear nk-Ht*'-* :.A**S Citation V approaches certification University to buy 250 Pipers The University of North Dakota has agreed to buy as many as 250 aircraft from Piper over the next five years. Worth up to $29-8 million, the purchase plan includes single-engined Cadets, up to 95 Arrow singles, and as many as 58 Seminole twins. The initial agreement covers 24 VFR Cadets, 18 Arrows, and eight Seminoles to be delivered by October 1989. The purchase is prompted by the University's need to replace 80 Cessna, Mooney, and Beech aircraft. The University's 1,800 students will log 60,000hr in the current year. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University has ordered 20 Cadets and taken options on a further 30 to replace its Cessna 172 fleet. The Arrow and Seminole (plus the Turbo Arrow) are returning to production after having been previously with drawn. More than 380 Semi noles were shipped between 1978 and 1981. Astra customers line up US company Astra Jet, set up by Israel Aircraft Industries to take over marketing operations from Atlantic Aviation earlier this year, reports a six-month order backlog for the mid-size busi ness jet. Washington D.C. office director Marvin Klemon says that the most recent sale—Astra number 28—to newspaper US News and World Report is due to be delivered in May 1989. All Astras have gone to US opera tors except one to Venezuela and another due to be shipped to Mercedes Benz in Brazil. Astra sales are being nego tiated in Europe and Latin America. Astra Jet claims that the non-US market is promis ing, and the type could follow IAI's Westwind into Australia. The existing production rate of one a month can be increased to 3j a month, says IAI. Astra development work has exam ined longer-range configura tions, but IAI does not expect an early decision on future models. Cessna expects Federal Avia tion Administration approval for the Citation V in about six months' time. Deliveries will begin .in March. Engineering and pre-production prototypes have flown more than 825hr since tests began in August 1987. Announcing at last week's US National Business Aircraft Association convention in Dallas that Citation V per formance meets or exceeds projections, Cessna chairman Russ Meyer said there will be no price increase on aircraft ordered for delivery before May 1, 1990. All 36 Citation Vs in next year's production schedule have been sold, and Cessna hopes that holding the price at $3,995,000 will maintain sales momentum. Orders for all available Cita tion models have increased more than 60 per cent in 1988 over the first nine months of last year. Citation marketing vice- president Roy Norris says that September was the best month for sales m more than five years. Citation III sales have doubled on those of 1987, and the Cita tion II backlog extends well into 1989. Certification of the Citation III in the UK, West Germany, and Australia this year isN sched uled to be followed by air worthiness approval for the V in France, West Germany, and the UK in 1989. '' V; A new Citation III interior has been announced as 'an option. All-new passenger seats provide an extra 2in headroom, while other changes include recessed switches and handles, desks blended into cabin walls, improved upholstery, better- finished cabinetry, custom fabric and handwoven carpet ing, a restyled refreshment bar, and an improved lavatory. IDS Aircraft has been appointed the second UK Cita tion service centre covering I, II, and S/II aircraft. The Bournemouth-based facility will complement the existing centre at Marshall of Cam bridge. By early 1989 50 Cita tions will be based in the UK. Cessna has sold a Caravan I to new Canadian express parcel airline Provincial Express, based at Goose Bay and serving Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia. Two Caravan Is have been sold to the US State Department for use in narcotics control, eradication, and inter diction operations. The aircraft will be delivered in mid-1989. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 29 October 1988 9
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