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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 3115.PDF
of the aircraft now working for his airline that "This is the aeroplane we described together with Fokker". It has dual flight management systems (which means crew training does not have to assume operation without FMS), and will have notched up the landings to achieve Cat III autoland by the end of the year. Swissair's high cabin service standards, even on small short-range jets, can cause anomalies. The carrier's Fokker 100s have galleys both front and rear, and because of the restricted space behind the wing for catering vehicles to approach the rear service door, a modified catering truck had to be designed. Two companies, Freeh (Swiss) and Zellinger (Austrian) now offer suitable vehi cles, however. Swissair's aircraft incorporate a shortened left-hand flap track fairing to make truck approach easier. The Fokker 100 can scarcely be described as a cargo aircraft. The belly hold is less capa cious than that of the MD-80 series and is likewise difficult to load because of its small vertical dimensions. Swissair says that it had not bought the aircraft with freight in mind, but it would not mind if baggage loading was easier. Fokker has been aware of the awkwardness of baggage loading in the F.28, and for three years has been working on a loading system which enables the task to be handled by one man instead of three, and eliminates the need for the baggage handler to enter the hold. The system consists of three elec trically driven belts on the compartment floor, weighing 150kg per compartment. KLM is having the loading system installed in all its Fokker 100s on the production line, but is the only airline so far to order it—even though it is retrofittable. The loader will be ready for installation in operating aircraft by Swissair's Fokker 100 pilots come from the DC-9s. "They have to rethink their piloting," says Capt Peter Haeber- lin, technical pilot oper ational techniques for the type. "Rather than stick and throttle they have to learn how to manage. They have to understand the philosophy of the system. That is very important to get the most out of it" the end of this year, and Fokker says that it has the potential to reduce Fokker 100 direct operating costs by up to 1 • 5 per cent because of manpower savings and improvements in turnaround speed. KLM and US Air have also opted for the larger, upward-opening cargo doors rather than the standard, downward-opening ones. Capt Hansjorg Ammann, Swissair's chief Fokker 100 pilot, remarks that, when the aircraft was delivered, the brakes were very harsh—"like an on/off switch". The first three aircraft were fitted with steel brakes, although carbon had been proposed. The power units are Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15s (though the higher-rated 650s are available). Both engineers and pilots praise them highly. Capt Ammann says that he has "never heard any com plaints about them in the whole operation. I love them" r ^^mj 1 *T" ^m >nn^BS£ ^jjf hjg' f ^4^ !*• | h . W* ^Cjdl Modification kits for the first five aircraft have already been installed at Swissair, however, and the new carbon brakes now perform sensitively. Modification included newly designed, tested, and certificated brake valves, and the supply of retuned anti skid boxes. Aircraft number six incorporated these modifications from the start. Habliltzel says that one area still being attended to is the occasional tendency for the FMS/FGS (flight management/flight guid ance systems) to disconnect if navaid signals are weak. The Fokker 100's FGS is Collins, the FMS Sperry/Honeywell. Fokker's answer is that various solutions are being studied, but that the underlying problem is that "primarily for cost reasons" both Swissair and Fokker opted for an atti tude heading reference system (AHRS) on the aircraft, which is mechanical inertial/radio navaid-based, unlike the remainder of Swissair's fleet which is based on an inertial reference system (IRS). "A known characteristic of AHRS," says Fokker, "is that DME or VOR signals are needed for proper FMS navigation," so if they become weak the navigation system unlocks. Fokker says that it is working with Honey well and Swissair to improve the AHRS/FMS combination. One of the slated solutions is an improved navaid-selection algorithm which makes optimum use of available navaids in, for example, mountain ous areas where they are rare or obstructed, and this will be implemented in the next software update, scheduled for early 1989. KLM has selected the AHRS, but US Air and Wardair have both specified the IRS option. Thrust-reversers are usable only at idle for the moment, though this is not a certification item, and Swissair says that the only purpose FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 29 October 1988 21
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