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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0687.PDF
H EADLINES USN delays T-45 glass cockpit BY KIERAN DALY IN WASHINGTON DC The US Navy now plans to buy up to 144 analogue- cockpit T-45 trainers before switching to a glass cockpit, but has settled on the required digi tal configuration with McDon nell Douglas. The new schedule is mark edly slower than the previous plan, which called for aircraft number 73 to be digital. Congress did not fund the first proposal, and about 80 aircraft will now have to be retrofitted, says programme manager Cap Richard Koehler. The planned cockpit layout would be an off-the-shelf design including two 127mm x 127mm monochrome multifunction dis plays with bezel switches, a digital engine/fuel display, a full set of standby analogue instru ments, and data-entry panels —all in both cockpits. Only the front cockpit has a headup display (HUD) with ve locity vector; it is similar to the current version "but with a cou ple of extra cards". The configuration will in clude a global positioning sys tem (GPS) receiver and way- point navigation, and is co ordinated through a 1553B bus. Koehler says that the planned system fits easily into the exist ing cockpit. He estimates that a full programme to fit 250 air craft would yield a unit cost of from $300,000 for new-builds to $600,000 for retrofits. US Navy decides on glass cockpit T-45 "McDonnell Douglas is pro posing to do [the retrofit] on the ramp. If we can do the aircraft at a depot check cycle then it could be even cheaper," he says. The contract will be awarded in late 1991, leading to first flight of a prototype digital air craft in early 1995. Koehler says digital production will start at the start of 1996 at the latest, with aircraft number 145, but possibly a few months earlier. • Piper rescue package fails Piper Aircraft is continuing its search for a "white knight" following the termina tion of take-over talks with Socata, the general-aviation subsidiary of France's Aerospa tiale. Socata has dismissed any chance of further talks, but Stuart Millar, owner of the troubled American small-air craft manufacturer, claims that he is in contact with several possible buyers. Piper has sold (and will soon close) its La keland plant in Florida, raising cash "...to sustain operations at a reduced level for the near term". The dominant factor leading to Socata's withdrawal was "Piper's strategy for self- insurance and vigorous defence of product liability suits", ac cording to Millar. "Socata ap parently did not believe that they could employ this strategy as effectively as Piper has". The French company says that product liability made the venture "too risky". • US airlines suffer low loads Passenger loads on US air lines flying international routes declined to less than 50% in February, according to the US Air Transport Association. Some 27% fewer passengers travelled on overseas flights than in February 1990.Airline capacity was reduced by 10.6%, says the Association which monitors 15 operators, includ ing American, Continen tal,Delta, Eastern, Northwest, Pan Am, TWA, United and USAir. The international load factor in February was 49.8%, com pared with 60.8% a year earlier. The decline in international traffic using European airlines bottomed out during February, and traffic began to grow again in March, according to figures from the Association of Euro pean. Airlines (AEA). January's Gulf War-aggra vated traffic figures, already hit by recession, fell briefly in Feb ruary to over 25% below those for the same month in 1990. • Lockerbie: baggage security screening blamed The Scottish fatal-accident inquiry into the bombimg of Pan Am flight 103 highlights an over-reliance on X-ray screening and the laxity in deal ing with unaccompanied bag gage in its determination into the cause of the tragedy. Sheriff Principal John Mowat, who chaired the inquiry, found that the package transfer from the Frankfurt to London flight 103A to 103 "...involved a sub stantial risk". He adds that the UK Depart ment of Transport's security di rective also "...afforded insuf- ficent protection against the possibility that an undetected bag would be transferred". • UK reconsiders NIS involvement The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is re-examining its commitment to the NATO Iden tification System (NIS) project at senior ministerial level, and could withdraw from the multi national programme. The future ,of the project is understood to be under review by Alan Clark, minister for de fence procurement, although the MoD is saying officially only that" NIS is "...under considera tion. We are looking at the way ahead with the French and the Germans." NIS is aimed at providing NATO with a standard for iden tification friend or foe (IFF) systems, instead of the incom patible systems now in service. The US Department of-..De fense was developing the .NIS- compatible Mk XV IFFi :but halted the programme because of costs. Officials close to NIS in the UK and Brussels say that the "affordability " of NIS is now a key issue among the partners. Officials say the UK bought "hundreds" of Mk XII systems to replace its Mk X IFF to provide compatibility with the USA during Desert Storm. To justify this expenditure, the Mk XII may remain in RAF service for some time — remov ing the need for NIS. • Boeing in Euro deal Boeing has signed co-opera tive agreements with two major European companies cov ering the possible development of joint ventures across the whole aerospace industry. The two agreements, which are unrelated, commit Boeing to work with Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) on a range of high speed civil transport technical and financial studies, and to engage in a five-year association with France's Thomson-CSF to "...look for new aerospace busi ness around the world". • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 March - 2 April, 1991
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