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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 1345.PDF
REGIONAL AND UTILITY AIRCRAFT plans US assembly of the locally designed IPTN N-250; South Korea plans to produce a regional turboprop and to co-operate with China on development of a regional jet; and India has aspirations of developing a light transport aircraft. The industry has made a brisk start to 1995. Bombardier has set the pace by gaining board approval to offer the stretched, 70-seat, Dash 8-400 to airlines and selecting the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150 to power the high speed regional turboprop, which it hopes to launch at the Paris air show in June. The Canadian company has stolen the march on ATR, which has yet to select an engine for die 80-seat ATR 82, once regarded as the pace setter in this market. Subsequent months will see Russian certifi cation of Antonov's 26-seat, Western - engined, An-38 twin-turboprop; the first flights of Embraer's EMB-145 50-seat region al jet and IPTN's N-250 60/70-seat regional turboprop; and Australian and US approval for expanded single-turboprop commuter operations (Flight International, 3-9 May, P5) CASA's stalled hopes to develop a 70-seat high-speed turboprop and Saab's plans to incorporate technology from the 50-seat Saab 2000 into a high-speed development of the 30-seat Saab 340 will inevitably play into any further industry consolidation over the com ing months. This survey comprises piston- or turbine- powered public-transport aircraft, carrying between five and 75 passengers and crew, or an equivalent volume of cargo, which are in series production or under development. It also includes several models no longer in pro duction, but in widespread use worldwide, and some resurrected by rebuilding, re-engineer ing, or updating. Regional aircraft include those which are in, or have the basic capability to be licensed for, scheduled commercial-passenger opera tion in the major aviation nations. This means that they usually have two engines and are designed primarily for passenger operations. Utility aircraft include those which are pur pose-designed or have options available for multi-role commercial operations, including passenger, freight, air ambulance or a combi nation of functions. The directory overlaps slightly with Flight International's Commercial Airliners of the World Directory (26 October-1 November, 1994), which lists the bigger airliners, up to the largest widebodies. For readers unfamiliar with the directory's format, information is given in two main sec tions. Firstly, each type is described briefly by manufacturer, in alphabetical order, with notes on history and recent developments. Secondly, a series of tables provides the rele vant technical details and performance infor mation for each type, in ascending order of seating capacity, to provide ready comparison ATR 12s were launched by the joint French/Italian venture in 1985 of similarly sized aircraft. Where possible, the information is provid ed directly by manufacturers, whose assistance and co-operation we acknowledge. Some data has come from other sources. Details are pro vided for guidance only and should not be used for operational purposes. AERO VODOCHODY (CZECH REPUBLIC) Aero has been seeking development partners for its proposed Ae-270 nine-passenger sin gle-turboprop utility aircraft. The company plans two basic versions: the unpressurised, 580kW Walter M60IE-powered Ae-270W, with fixed landing-gear; and the pressurised, 625kW P&WC PT6A-42-powered Ae-270P variant with retractable landing-gear. The lat ter would probably have Western avionics and a ceiling of some 25,000ft. Aero intends the Ae-270W for use in developing countries and for other operations where cost and utility are at a premium. The Ae-270P would be offered in a variety of internal configurations, includ ing business, club, cargo — with a 1,200kg maximum payload — and standard layouts. ANTONOV (UKRAINE) An-26B The An-26B, a development of the earlier An-24RT and now superseded by the An-32, is powered by Ivchenko AI-20M or 20DM turboprops for "hot-and-high" opera tions. Having first been flown in the late 1960s, the design is die basis for die Chinese Xi'an Y-7 (see Xi'an). The original version was replaced by the An-26B, the roll-gangs to enable freight movement. The aircraft is of similar size to the Fokker F27/BAe 748 and has a rear-loading "beaver tail" and an auxiliary turbojet mounted in the starboard nacelle to improve perfor mance. Specialised variants include the An-30 survey version with a glazed nose. An-32 Antonov has been producing around 40 examples a year of the An-32, destined mostly for the military. A firefighting version, called the An-32P, is also available, with a total water capacity of 8,000kg. The type is a devel opment of the An-26, with numerous improvements, including high-lift devices and de-icing, electrical systems and air-condition ing systems. The high-mounted engines reduce the risk of debris damage and the 3,760kW engines have l,690kW more power than those of the An-26. An-38 The 26-seat An-38 utility transport was first flown in June 1994 and at least five examples were under construction by late 1994, with certification due in mid-1995. The twin-turboprop was developed from the earlier An-28, built by PZL Mielec of Poland. US certification has been delayed by the difficulties in achieving a US-Russian bilateral certification agreement. Nevertheless, the aircraft still has prospects of being the first Russian airliner in produc tion with Western engines — AlliedSignal TPE331-14GRs. Other suppliers inchide Hartzell, Ametek and Lucas. An-140 Antonov says that it is committed to building this 52-seat, high-wing, An-24 replacement powered by two Klimov TV3- 117S turboprops. Progress on all Antonov projects, however, has been delayed while the manufacturer concentrates on seeing its pri mary new programme — the An-70 military transport — into the production phase. ATR (FRANCE/ITALY) Avions de Transport Regional was launched in October 1981 as a collaborative venture between France's Aerospatiale and Italy's Alenia. Since then, the consortium's range of high-winged twin-turboprops has become one of the most successful commuter air craft. During 1993, ATR launched the ATR 42-500, and delivered the first ATR 72-210. The majority of its customers are in the 66 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10 - 16 May 1995
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