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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 2427.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION at fixed dates over four years, but only one in die first year, the company expects to know by the end of 1994 when and where to deliver the first ST-50s. Israviation expects to deliver "no more than 50" aircraft in the first year of pro duction, not all of which will be for the time- share operation. According to Euraviation, any person spending more than $150,000 a year on travel within Europe will save money using the TSC. Based on extensive simulations, the company believes that, for 80% of the time, there will be no conflict between owners for access to an aircraft. "Complete conflict" will occur on two days a year, but owners are not paying for 100% availability, Juffa points out. TSC requirements resulted in the design of a pressurised, five-seat aircraft with a 280kt (520km/h) cruise speed and 2,000km Pusher design provides efficiency (l,100nm) range, sufficient to fly between almost any city-pair in Western Europe. The all-composite, pusher-propeller ST-50 is derived from the VK-30 kitplane produced by Cirrus Design, and a proof-of-concept aircraft is scheduled to be flown at Cirrus' US plant at the end of October. "The vehicle design resulted from the system concept," says Israviation vice-president and chief engineer Dany Kleiman. Producing an air craft able to meet ambitious design-to-cost goals was the only wav to maintain a low fixed cost for the timeshare operation, he says. "The resulting price is very competitive." The $1 million ST-50 offers comparable performance to that of Aerospatiale's $2 million TBM.700, Kleiman claims. Euraviation began accepting orders for ST-50s, both direct sales and timeshare commit ments, in September. Development of the ST-50 is being supported by the Israeli Government, which has provided two-thirds of the investment required in the form of non refundable grants and re-imbursable state-guaranteed loans. While Eur aviation has invested $17 million, the Government has provided $9.5 mil lion in grants and up to $20 million the form of loans. Duluth, Minnesota-based Cirrus' is a major subcontractor to Tel-Hai-based Israviation. The US company was responsible for preliminary design of the ST-50, which is a scaled-up version of the VK-30, and built the proof-of-concept aircraft, which will be flown in the USA and dien shipped to Israel. Israviation will be responsible for certification and production. PROVING THE CONCEPT The proof-of-concept ST-50 has a produc tion-configuration propulsion system and will be used to demonstrate the aircraft's perfor mance and stability before the design is frozen. Ground runs began at the end of August. Israviation plans to begin manufacture of two certification-test ST-50s by early November. The first aircraft is scheduled to be flown in May 1995. Simultaneous Israeli and US certi fication is planned for 1996. The ST-50 is powered by an 610kW (815shp) P&WC PT6A-135/7 turboprop dri ving a 2.2m-diameter, three-blade MT pro peller via a driveshaft with Kamatics K-FLEX flexible couplings at either end. These allow the metal shaft to be installed with angular and axial misalignments of up to 2.5° and 13mm, respectively, easing production and mainte nance tolerances, according to Kleiman. The constant-speed, fully reversible, pro peller is supported by a bearing housing in the tail which transmits thrust loads to the airframe, so that the driveshaft experi ences only torque loads. This increases reliability, he says. The engine is supported so that it "grows" forward with thermal expansion, avoid ing compression loads on the driveshaft. Four-point mounting provides crashworthy engine-retention and the engine compartment, immediately behind the cabin aft pressure-bulk- Reed Business Publishing head, is fireproofed to maintain structural integrity in the event of a fire. The engine is mounted as far forward as possible, but the aircraft still has a relatively aft centre of gravity, Kleiman admits. As a result, the wing is set well aft and the tailplane is large. The airframe is glassfibre-reinforced plastic with carbonfibre used in high-stiffness areas. To gain composites-manufacturing experi ence, Israviation built two turboprop-powered VK-30 kitplanes, dubbed ST-40s. Arnav is supplying a low-cost integrated- avionics suite for the ST-50. The ICDF-2000 suite includes four large colour liquid-crystal displays - two primary-flight displays, a multi function display and an engine-indication and crew-alerting system. AlliedSignal Bendix/King radios will be fitted and a fibre- optic-gyro attitude- and heading-reference system will be an option. Although the ST-50 is available for outright purchase, its success will depend on acceptance of the timeshare concept. Juffa says that 67% of European companies approached were interested in the concept, although 23% said that they would never use a single-engined air craft. Euraviation plans to introduce the ST- 50-based timeshare concept in the USA (with a different name, prices and contract language, he says) about six months after operations begin in Europe. • Ground runs prepare for proof-of-concept flights FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5 - 11 October 1994
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