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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0018.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION UK starts VHF direction-finding T he UK has begun use of a VHF-based emergency di rection finding (DF) system. Military pilots have long benefited from a UHF system at London Air Traffic Control Centre's distress and diversion (D&D) cell which fixes auto matically and instantly the po sition of any aircraft transmit ting on the 243.0MHz interna tional distress frequency. Civilian pilots whose air craft could not be identified on radar, however, had to use a laborious process of transmitting to different air fields in turn, after which the D&D cell would plot the bear ings calculated. The new system gives an instant fix on any aircraft transmitting on the 121.5MHz VHF international distress fre quency, after which the D&D cell can provide a heading to the nearest airfield. It uses 15 direction-finding stations — six at civil control centres and nine at Ministry of Defence bases. The D&D controller can enlarge his display scale to show the DF-derived position on a laser-disc-stored, 1:50,000 scale, UK Ordnance Survey map if required. • Bombardier firms up Global Express plan BY BRIAN DUNN IN MONTREAL Despite falling short of its self-imposed target of 40 firm orders, Bombardier for mally launched development of the Global Express long-range business jet on 20 December. The first of four certifica tion-test aircraft is scheduled to fly in September 1996 and si multaneous Canadian and US certification is planned for May 1998. Bombardier is consider ing assembling the Global Ex press at de Havilland's Toronto, Canada, plant, says chairman Laurent Beaudoin. Bombardier has firm orders lor 30 aircraft, with eight "short-term" options and "ad vanced" negotiations for an other 12 aircraft, representing an order backlog of about $1 billion, says Bombardier Aero space Group, North America, president Robert Brown. Five firm orders and five options are from Bombardier's Paris-based distributor TAG Aeronautics and another five firm sales are to Japanese distributor Itochu. About half the orders come from North America and the rest from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Beaudoin says. Risk-sharing partners will contribute half the develop ment cost, estimated at C$800 million ($608 million) exclud ing the powerplant. Bombar dier's share will come from "off-balance-sheet financing", which is still being negotiated, Beaudoin says. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will develop the wing and cen tre-fuselage section. Develop ment of the wing is expected to cost C$200-250 million, Bom bardier says. BMW Rolls-Royce chairman Albert Schneider says that de velopment of the BR710 pow erplant (which is shared with the competing Gulfstream V) will cost DM1 billion ($750 million), plus another DM500 million to tool up for produc tion. The Global Express will be powered by two 66kN (14,9001b) BR710-48-C2s. Significantly, the Global Ex press has been labelled a Bom bardier, rather than Canadair, product. Engineering and plan ning will be shared between Cessna pushes Canadian Citation deal Cessna has appointed Mon treal-based Execaire as its Canadian distributor for Cita tion business jets. Execaire will take delivery of Canada's first Citationjet in May, placing the aircraft into charter service. Execaire, an affiliate of In- notech Aviation, will sell, serv ice and manage Citation business jets for the Canadian corporate market. The In- notech/Execaire Aviation Group, a subsidiary of Can ada's IMP Group, operates Ci tation service centres in Montreal and Vancouver. Cessna has also announced plans to build its ninth US Citation service centre at San Antonio International Airport in Texas. The centre is to open in the first quarter of 1995. Cessna expects operators in Mexico and Central and South America to use the new San Antonio centre. • The Citationjet has received UK certification. • Citationjet: heading for Canadian charter service Beaudoin plans Toronto assembly Canadair in Montreal and de Havilland, with the test pro gramme to be conducted at Bombardier's Learjet flight-test centre in Wichita, Kansas. Bombardier company Shorts will supply the forward fuse lage, all-composite tailplane and other composite parts. The decision to assemble the aircraft at de Havilland is not yet final, Beaudoin says. Cus tomer deliveries are to begin in 1998 and Brown says that Bom bardier will ramp production up to 30 aircraft a year. Cana dair builds 22 Challenger busi ness jets a year in Montreal. Bombardier Business Aircraft division president Bryan Moss says that the company plans to sell 250 aircraft over 12 years of production, out of an esti mated market for between 500 and 950 long-range business jets. Break-even is calculated at around 100 aircraft. On the eve of the launch, competitor Gulfstream Aero space launched an aggressive advertising campaign offering $250,000 off the price of a Gulfstream V to any buyer willing to cancel its refundable $250,000 deposit on a Global Express. Moss says that Bom bardier did not lose any orders to Gulfstream and, in fact, picked up three orders after the advertisement appeared. Beaudoin welcomes Gulfstream's campaign, saying: "We could not have expected a better introduction for our product this week. The adver tisement was a very nice pre view for us." Global Express customers with firm orders have made non-refundable down-payments of 5% against the $27.95 million price of a "green" aircraft. Moss says. • 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 January, 1994
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