FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3214.PDF
H EADLINES Superteam unveils revised LH The McDonnell Douglas/Bell Superteam competing to build the US Army's Light Heli copter (LH) is proposing a no tail rotor (NOTAR) design sub stantially modified from the ver sion now flying. Modification of the tailrotor- less anti-torque system is be lieved to include a second inter nal fan in the tail boom, with at least one supplementary air inlet to feed it. Superteam de scribes the change as an "en hancement". Superteam has included the new inlet in its revised LH artist's impression but declines to comment on whether there is a second fan. NOTAR uses an internal fan at the rear of the fuselage to drive air into the tail boom under pressure. Air is then forced out through longitudinal slots in the boom to mix with the main rotor downwash and so induce sideward lift on the boom to counteract torque. Yaw control is provided by air ex hausted sideways through a di- rectable vent at the boom tip. Other changes visible in new LH impressions, which Su perteam programme director Allen Haggerty says are close to the actual design, include a reshaped forward fuselage; rede signed tail surfaces and missile- carrying stub wings; and reposi- Superteam's LH displays a resemblance to the US Army's AH-1 Cobra tioned engine air inlets and exhausts. As both competitors prepare to submit revised proposals based on the recently extended demonstration/ validation phase, Superteam is stressing the proportion of the LH mis sion equipment package, which it has already demonstrated. Now flying on its converted Apache demonstrator is the Honeywell digital moving map, Litton liquid-crystal display, Hughes/Texas Instruments focal-plane-array forward-look ing infra-red sensor, Honeywell/ Hughes helmet-mounted display and fly-by-wire flight controls. FLAWLESS FIRST FLIGHT FOR X-31 Flighi testing of the RockwelVMBB X-31A Enhanced Fighter Manoeu vrability demonstrator, initially minus its thrust-vectoring paddles, began with the "flawless" 11 October first flight from Palmdale, California. "The X-31 handled beautifully and responded positively," says Rochwell chief test pilot Ken Dyson. The competing Boeing/ Sikorsky First Team has demon strated its Fantail anti-torque system on an H-76 and points out that, although its main rotor has not yet flown, it will be essentially a five-bladed version of MBB's four-bladed rotor now flying on its BO108 technology demonstrator. • NEWS IN BRIEF RJ WING JOINS The wing of the first Cana- dair Regional Jet (RJ) has been mated with its fuselage structure "within our origi nal programme schedule", Canadair says. RJ certifica tion is planned for the sec ond quarter of 1992. KOREA PICKS T700 GE Aircraft Engines has signed a $130 million con tract to power South Korea's Sikorsky Black Hawk heli copters. Its T700 turboshafts will be licence-manufactured by Korean Air. TsAGI SOFTWARE SALE The^ Soviet Central Aerohy- dronamics Institute (TsAGI) is offering its aerospace de sign computer software, used to design the MiG-29 Ful crum and Soviet space shuttle Buran, for export. Fuel price halts Canadian airline Worldways Canada, the countryls oldest and larg est charter airline, has tempo rarily suspended operations. The move follows "...very inten sive negotiations over the last several weeks in an effort to alleviate the cashflow crisis cur rently facing the airline due to the dramatic increase in jet fuel prices", it says. The company intends to re sume flights in "a few weeks" but industry analysts say this may be over-optimistic. Worldways owes a total of $51 million to several banks and $6 million to the Ontario Develop ment Corporation. In September Worldways sold its four DC-8-63s to a US leas ing company for approximately $36 million. It still has three Lockheed TriStars and three Boeing 727s. • Indian Harrier surging "cured" Pegasus Mkl04 engines for ten Indian Navy Sea Harrier FRS.51s have had to be returned to Rolls-Royce by British Aero space to cure surge problems. R-R is waiting to see if two modifications to the vectored- thrust turbofans are successful in solving the problem, and the engines have been returned to BAe for installation. At least two of the engines had been installed in airframes and the problem surfaced dur ing surge tests, mostly carried out on the ground, although one Sea Harrier experienced the problem in flight. R-R says: "A number of Pegasus engines [for Indian Sea Harriers] were found to have surge characteristics slightly below BAe's requirement. A small modification to two stages of the high-pressure compressor has been made... We are confi dent the required surge margins will be restored." The problem is believed to have originated from minor en gine modifications made to en hance performance. • h FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24 - 30 October, 1990
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
