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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 1950.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION Future gloomy for general aviation BY IAN GOOLD US general-aviation manufac turing, brightened briefly by slightly increased sales at the top end of the market last year, continues to look gloomy. Deliv eries and billings for new aircraft were down in the first six months of 1991, according to the General Aviation manufac turers Association (GAMA). The number of aircraft shipped fell by more than 9% from 563 in the first half of last year to 512. Value of shipments declined 4.4% from $961 million to $919 million. GAMA says that shipments were "not too bad at all", con sidering "...the war in the Gulf, economic uncertainties abroad, the recession at home, the re cently imposed luxury tax and the continuing ravages of the product liability crisis". GAMA President James Gorm- ley says: "Last year we saw an anomaly in dollar volume; the second quarter was the highest billings quarter of the year due to unusually high deliveries of heavy business jets." Gormley paints a rosier view of the industry by excluding from the picture the business troubles of Piper, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "If you subtract Piper deliveries from 1990 and 1991, you actually find an increase in the deliveries of single-engine aircraft, as other manufacturers pick up some of Piper's market share." He con cludes, that "...the new aircraft situation is not as disappointing at a quick glance as the figures might indicate". Piper has shipped just 29 air craft this year, of which only seven were delivered to custom ers after 31 March. Despite this interpretation of the statistics, shipments of pis ton singles, including Piper products, fell by less than the overall decline in deliveries. Some 308 piston singles were shipped in the first six months of 1991, down 6.5% on 299 units a year earlier. By far the largest fall is among piston twins, deliveries of which dropped from 45 to just 26 — a fall of more than 42%. Shipments of turboprop- powered aircraft were 13% of the corresponding period in 1990, down from 130 to 113. Only the business-jet sector saw increased deliveries — growth of 6.3% from 80 to 85. Gormley says several manu facturers have "strong order backlogs" and "...a sincere atti tude of cautious optimism de spite the many challenges we continue to face". • Agusta will supply firefighters to Italy The Italian Civilian Protec tion Ministry has signed a deal with Agusta to supply 12 helicopters for use in firefighting and emergency relief operations. Valued at L247 billion ($183 million), the agreement involves six CH-47C Chinooks and six AB-412s, which will be required for moving rapid intervention squads, mobile field hospitals and supplies in the event of natural disasters such as earth quakes. The helicopters will also play a major role in firefighting mis sions: the Chinook can carry about 5,000 litres of water/ chemical retardant, while the smaller AB.412 can transport 1,000 litres. The helicopters will be sup plied through a leasing arrange ment. D Thorp T-211 makes certification at last The Thorp T-211 AeroSport two-seat trainer/tourer has received full UK certification — 45 years after it was designed. The T-211 was designed by John Thorp, who also designed the Fletcher Fu-24 crop-sprayer, and the T-16, which became the Piper Cherokee, in 1946. The T-211 — now built by Thorp Aero of Sturgis, Kentucky — has a US type certificate and export certificate of air worthiness. It has no full US certification, however, as it is built only for export because of the USA's product liability laws. The first three markets being attacked by Thorp are those of the UK, Germany and Brazil. The T-211 is an all-metal monoplane, powered by a Tele- dyne Continental O-200-A en gine of 75kW (lOOhp) output. It has a cruising speed of 107kt (200km/h) at 75% power, at which speed it has a claimed fuel consumption of 20.5 litres/ h. In Britain, it is being sold complete apart from avionics for £37,800 ($64,000) by Arrow Air Services of Shipdam, Norfolk. • Better late than never, the 45-year-old Thorp T-211 wins UK certification BAe takes over Rogers' services British Aerospace has set up London Business Aviation to take over the maintenance and servicing contracts which are now performed at the Hatfield Executive Aviation Centre by Rogers Aviation in leased prem ises (Flight International, 9-15 January). Negotiations for the takeover are expected to be completed by 1 August. Most of Rogers Avia tion's maintenance specialists will join the new company. The change is expected to lead to increased use of the Hatfield runway, which otherwise sees reduced utilisation with the planned move of BAe 146 pro duction to Woodford. • Rogers Aviation has formed a partnership with Short Brothers to sell and support Learjet air craft in the UK, Ireland, Scandi navia, the United Arab Emirates and parts of Africa. Sales will be through Shorts subsidiary Skytech Aviation Services, and support through Rogers Avia tion. Shorts and Learjet are both Bombardier subsidiaries. • Production NOTAR makes first flight The first production heli copter without a tail rotor, the NOTAR-equipped McDon nell Douglas Helicopter MD- 520N, made its maiden flight on 2 July at the company's Mesa site in Arizona. The -520N is based on a standard MD-500 model but is modified with the NOTAR (no tail rotor system), which uses tail-ducted airflow for anti- torque and directional control instead of the usual tail rotor. Production test pilot Brad Donovan flew the MD-520N for the 30-min flight and described it as a "completely routine first flight for a model 500- series helicopter". The first MD-520N is sched uled to be delivered to the Phoe nix Police Department in October as part of an order for 17. The company has firm or ders for 156 helicopters with further options on 20. • /,' FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24 - 30 July, 1991
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