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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0123.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION TFE731-5B Falcons fly with temporary repair Garrett has devised a tempo rary fix to allow operators of TFE731-5B-powered Dassault Falcon business jets to fly while the manufacturer investigates two gearbox failures. The fix involves converting engines back to TFE73f-5A con figuration by replacing the sus pect -5B gearbox with the original -5A unit which has ac cumulated 1.2 million hours of trouble-free operation. "Recon verted" -5Bs are restricted to the -5As lower-thrust rating. Garrett shipped the first -5A replacement gearbox on f3 Jan uary and expects to have the entire fleet,' of some 20 -SB- powered Falcon 20s and Falcon 900s, converted by 22 January. The conversion takes two to three days at the operator's site. The fix "...gets everbody fly ing", while Garrett continues its "multi-track" investigation into why sun gears failed in two -5Bs. The company is looking into the possibility of an assembly error, but is also studying the metal lurgy of the failed gears. Garrett says one of two retainer springs appears to be propagating a high-cycle fatigue crack through the gear. In case the design is found to be at fault, Garrett is already working on two possible rede signs of the gearbox with the aim of allowing operators to convert their engines back to -5Bs by the end of February. The gearbox, which drives the TFE73f's fan, was modified to produce the additional power by increasing its speed. • Wheeled 412HPs enter EMS service Bavarian operator HDM Flug-service is adding two Bell 412HPs to its fleet to meet demand for large helicopters for 24h inter-hospital medical trans fer of critically ill patients. The operator recently received its second such machine, with a third scheduled to arrive soon. An option is held on a fourth, whicb is likely to enter service this year in northern Germany. HDM contracted with Air Methods in the USA to provide emergency-medical service (EMS) interiors for the 412s, which are based at hospitals in Munich and Nurnberg. It chose Bell 412s, rather than German MBB BO. 105s or BK.117s, be cause of their larger capacity and higher power. HDM's aircraft include the first two EMS Bell 412s equipped with wheeled landing gear — providing better airport and hangar manoeuvrability. Only two previous 412s, of the 245 in worldwide service, have been- equipped with wheels. • Air Methods provided the interior and landing gear for this Bell 412HP BAe 125 production is split evently between two models First BAe 1000 to enter service soon The first British Aerospace 1000 business-jet is almost ready to enter service with launch customer United Tech nologies, which owns Pratt & Whitney, whose Canadian en gine company has developed the PW305 turbofan launched on the BAe 125-1000. Ten examples of the BAe 1000 were shipped to completion cen tres during late 1991 and ship ments resume in March. The initial batch includes a further US-customer aircraft. The first UK aircraft to enter service is for Shell, based at London Heathrow, while the next country to certificate the type will be Germany, where two BAe 1000s have been sold. The remaining aircraft are destined for the UK and Saudi Arabia. BAe plans to build 51 business jets during 1992, split almost evenly between Series 800 and 1000 models. Production rate is being more than doubled from about two a month to more than four by the end of 1992. Current order backlog is 22 aircraft. • Munich sets GA traffic ban The Aircraft Owners and Pi lots Association (AOPA) in Germany is heading for a legal clash with the German state of Bavaria over what is an effective ban on general aviation (GA) traffic at the new Munich Air port, due to open later this year. The airport authorities have requested, and been granted by the Bavarian state, a requirement banning all aircraft weighing less than 2,000kg and also utilising visual flight rules, according to Dieter Pade, managing director of AOPA Germany. Pade says that German parties within AOPA, along with AOPA France, Switzerland, Finland and Austria, are pursuing legal ac tion against the Bavarian* state to try and make it rescind its decision. The complaints have already been received in court. One sub mission will ask that the new Munich Airport be opened up for GA use in the interim while a legal decision is reached; an other will argue for the right of free access. AOPA's concern is over what is sees as a lack of an alternative to Munich II in the region. The current Munich Airport at Riem handles general aviation and supports several flying schools. Pade points outs that, in the original concept for a new Mu nich Airport, one of its three uses was intended to be for GA. The management of Munich II says that operating GA aircraft from one of its two large run ways poses unacceptable diffi culties, comparing it to allowing a bicycle on a motorway. Various possible alternatives, including German air force bases being closed in the region, could provide a dedicated GA airport in the region. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 January, 1992 21
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