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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0714.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION Beech effort boosts Starship prospects BY GRAHAM WARWICK IN SAN ANTONIO Beech Aircraft's switch to factory-direct sales of cor porate aircraft has improved prospects that production of the slow-selling Starship twin- turboprop will be resumed. Beech is now placing one Starship a month with custom ers, chairman Art Wegner says. Of the 27 aircraft placed, 15 have been sold and 12 leased. The company has almost completed the initial produc tion run of 50, but, Wegner says: "We will let market de mand tell us when to put [the Slarship] back in production." He admits that a decision will have to be taken at some point before the 50th aircraft is sold. "The lead time to re-start production is not as bad as people think," Wegner says. Tooling for the all-composite aircraft is still in place, and some components, such as the engines, are used in other Beech aircraft, he notes. It is believed that deliveries could resume within nine months of production re-starting. Three pre-owned Starships have been leased by United Beechcraft, the company- owned chain of 17 fixed-based operators. The aircraft — a fourth is planned — are being used for corporate charter op erations. The success of the Starship operation has prompted United Beechcraft to lease four pre-owned Beech 1900Bs for charter use. Beech says that King Air, Starship and Beechjet sales have increased since the move away from selling via dealers to factory-direct retailing through the new Beech Sales set-up. Wegner says that the direct- sales effort is "working well", citing Beech Sales' "excellent effort" on the Starship. Wegner attributes some of the direct-sales success to the increased availability of com pany-owned demonstrator air craft, which Beech now has located at four sites in the USA. Factory-direct sales could result in new dawn for Starship Previously, demonstrators were owned and operated by dealers. Dealers now stock only the Beech piston-engined aircraft and the smallest King Air twin- turboprop, the C90B. Beech will introduce a reduced-cost King Air, the C90SE, in July. This will be sold through deal ers and, based on their initial response, Beech believes it may have underestimated demand for the aircraft, which are priced below $1.7 million. • United Beechcraft opened its expanded San Antonio, Texas, fixed-based operation (FBO) on 11 March. The $5.5 million expansion project was funded by the city of San Antonio, which leases the new FBO to United Beechcraft. The com- Senate supports product-liability Bill The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to impose an 18-year limit on general- aviation (GA) manufacturers' product liability. An "elated" Russ Meyer, chairman of Cessna Aircraft and the Gen eral Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), hailed the 91-8 vote as "...a critical first step in the enactment of legislation which will bring general aviation back to life". NEWS IN BRIEF MISTRAL APPOINTED Cessna has named Italy's Mis tral Air as an authorised serv ice centre for its 500-series Citation business jets. Mistral Air is based at Rome's Ciamp- ino International Airport. The next step is for the House of Representatives to pass similar legislation. Work has begun to collect signatures for a discharge petition, which would allow the legislation to bypass the powerful Judiciary Committee and proceed di rectly to the floor of the House for a vote. The Judiciary Com mittee, lobbied heavily by trial lawyers who benefit from prod uct-liability lawsuits, is op posed to the statute of repose. Although the House has al ways been a strong supporter of GA product-liability reform, passage of the statute of repose is not guaranteed, GAMA ad mits. The legislation has 282 co-sponsors, more than enough to win a floor vote, but the powerful Judiciary Committee could still persuade many not to sign the discharge petition, which needs 218 signatures. The obstacles ahead have not dampened enthusiasm for the Senate's action. Piper president Chuck Suma says that the leg islation "...will have a very positive impact on the future of general aviation". Meyer and Beech chairman Art Wegner praised the persistence and po litical courage of Kansas Sena tor Nancy Kassebaum, who pushed the Bill through. "Product liability is the larg est cost of a single-engine air craft. This bill gives us hope for the future," says American General chairman Robert Crowley. Mooney chief-execu tive Jacques Esculier says: "The limitation of product liability should give a new impulse to our industry." • pany will open an upgraded FBO at Van Nuys, California, in May. United Beechcraft has con solidated its corporate- and re gional-aircraft refurbishment activities in San Antonio, clos ing its completion centre in Atlanta, Georgia. The San An tonio completion centre hand les aircraft ranging from Beech piston singles to Gulfstream IV business jets. D Gulfstream ups GV range Gulfstream Aerospace has increased the guaranteed range of the Gulfstream V business jet to 12,000km (6,500nm) at Mach 0.8, matching that offered by the competing Bombardier Global Express. Gulfstream had previously guaranteed an 11,600km range with eight passengers and four crew. Gulfstream president Fred Briedenbach says that the range increase is the result of further windtunnel testing and the decision to use vacant space in the wing for addi tional fuel. Another change is a 450kg increase in the weight allowance for outfitting the aircraft, to 3,550kg. The GV development pro gramme is "on schedule", Briedenbach says and, al though the company has stopped releasing GV order details, firm sales are believed to have passed the 40-aircraft mark. Gulfstream shipped 26 GIVs and GIV-SPs in 1993, an increase of 8% over 1992. • 20 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 23 - 29 March, 1994
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