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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 3060.PDF
HEADLINES ATR considers doubling range of aircraft on offer ATR considers plans to stretch regionals BY GILBERT SEDBON IN PARIS T he French-Italian ATR con sortium is considering in creasing its family of regional transport aircraft to include stretched versions of both the ATR42 and ATR72. The 50-seat ATR52 and 80- seat ATR82 would be aimed at markets dominated by the de Havilland Dash 8-300 and the Fokker 50. The move follows the Euro pean Community Commission's decision to block ATRs acqui sition of de Havilland Canada. "What EC Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan denies us, we shall conquer," says Alenia chairman Fausto Ceretti. The planned ATR52 and ATR82 should benefit from new advanced technologies — in cluding an updated cockpit and new engine options. The proposed engines would be more powerful versions of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW124 and PW127, and the new Snecma-General Electric M123 engine, a turboprop derivative of Snecma's military M88 engine which powers the Dassault Ra fale combat aircraft. ATR consortium members Aerospatiale and Alenia are in vestigating the market and little is known about their plans at this stage, other than a brief reference to the proposed prog rammes by ATR director-general Henri-Paul Puel in a speech dur ing a recently held ceremony marking the consortium's tenth anniversary. "The ATR family is in full development and will continue to grow....that is the reason why we are studying the future ATR52 and ATR82," said the ATR director-general.. ATR offi cials say, however, that the ATR52 would not be marketed within the next three years. Announcing the ATR52 and ATR82 projects in public has revealed the French-Italian con sortium's strategy in the wake of the Economic Community deci sion on de Havilland. The ATR consortium claims to control 21% of the 30- to 70-seat regional-aircraft market worldwide and is now aiming to capture de Havilland's 15% share while hitting Fokker 50 sales by developing its own aircraft rather than acquiring a rival company. The consortium ex pects to make a formal an nouncement about its future programmes in early 1992. • Hermes launch question postponed for 12 months BY DOUGLAS BARR1E IN MUNICH The expected showdown within the European Space Agency (ESA) over the future of the Hermes manned space pro ject has failed to materialise at the ministerial meeting in Mu nich — the crisis simply being postponed for twelve months. In an anodyne final release, papering over the substantial cracks within the agency, the space ministers of the participat ing countries agreed two resolu tions, one "...unanimously reaffirmed the objectives stated at the meeting in the Hague in 1987" of launching projects such as Hermes, Columbus and Ariane V, while the second ap proves the start of the first polar-orbiting Earth observation mission (POEM). Even agreeing these resolu tions took a considerable amount of closed-door negotiat ing between the thirteen mem ber states' ministers. Ministers also agreed to meet on an annual basis, with the next meeting scheduled for the end of 1992. Madrid is likely to be the venue. This will set the scene for final decisions on Hermes and Columbus, although ostensibly all of ESA's programmes will be under scrutiny. An agenda has also been set for trying to expand ESA's membership, with Japan and the Soviet Union identified as possi ble candidates. One minister suggests that this initiative is aimed primarily at the manned space elements of ESA, and Her mes in particular. A Hermes first launch is now planned for 2002, but with pro gramme costs much increased, Japanese financial support would be welcome. This appears to be particularly true of Ger many, whose support for Her mes has cooled considerably. One official noted that, given its parlous financial state, the Soviet Union had nothing to offer. France and.Germany are un derstood to have clashed over funding issues for ESA, France wanting to commit to long-term budget allocations now, while Germany wishes to review fund ing in twelve months' time. ESA's 1992 budget has been reduced by 5% — 120 million accounting units ($148 million) — with the bulk cut from Her mes and Columbus. Work will continue on the Polar Platform as the intended platform for the POEM missions. British Aero space is the prime contractor. France, however, has kept open a window of opportunity for these experiments to be switched to its Spot satellite, at least until next year's meeting, despite British efforts to the contrary. The Italian-led data-relay- system programme has also been approved, with France taking a 20% stake and Germany a 12% stake in the programme. • NEWS IN BRIEF ITALIAN-DROP OUT Major Italian aerospace indus try concerns have decided not to attend the Farnborough air show next year. A meeting of the Associazione Industrie Aerospaziale, involving com panies such as Alenia, Agusta and Aermacchi, decided that in the current economic cli mate the cost of participation could not be justified. Several smaller Italian companies are still expected to exhibit. CITATIONJET FLIGHT Cessna's pre-production pro totype Citationjet made its first flight on 20 November, reaching 10,000ft (3,000m) and 250kt (460km/h). The pilots performed both clean and dirty stalls and cycled,the entry-level business-jet's land ing gear and flaps. The air craft joins the engineering prototype in a flight-test pro gramme aiming for US certifi cation in November 1992. 6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 November - 3 December. 1991
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