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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0868.PDF
jgi^ eamii.*^MLgfptogffifo jm m Jj^ ^.JM| Jf| •tf^, JM| US general aviation targets new pilots KAREN WALKER/TAMPA ACAMPAIGN IS TO BE laun ched to accelerate the revitali- sation of the US general-aviation (GA) industry. The GATeam 2000 initiative will combine the efforts of the General Aviation Manu facturers Association (GAMA) and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) to increase the number of GA pilots. The goal is to achieve 100,000 new-student starts in 2000 and every following year. The programme will be laun ched officially by January 1997, by which time a board of directors will have been appointed to develop a budget and define the tasks. Industry and aviation organisations are being invited to join the team for a fee of $5,000 each. Founding members include companies such as AlliedSignal, BFGoodrich, Cessna, Cirrus, FlightSafety International, Mooney, New Piper Aircraft, Raytheon Aircraft and Teledyne Continental. At today's student start and drop out rates, trie AOPA believes that the US pilot population will drop from 650,000 to 530,000 by the year 2000. An effective student- start revitalisation programme, however, could expand that figure by the turn of the century to 700,000, says AOPA. AOPA says its research has found a "startiingly more positive envi ronment" for GA recently. Its tar get audience is in the 2 5-65- year-old age group, has a household annual income of over $50,000 and sees itself as "independent, adventurous, take-charge and competent." The GA Team 2000 will aim to change the public's misconceptions about how expensive it is to learn to fly — most people over-estimated this cost in surveys — and how long it takes to get a pilot's licence. It will also try to make flying courses more attractive to women and to an increasingly sophisticated customer base which demands bet ter service. • NEWS IN BRIEF • GROUNDBREAKING Sino Swearingen Aircraft has broken ground on the $12 million final-assembly plant for its SJ30 business-jet in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where the first customer air craft is scheduled to be com pleted in September 1998. • COMMANDER RENAISSANCE Twin Commander Aircraft reports increased demand for its Grand Renaissance refur bishment programme and now expects to sell five Twin Commander "like-new" up grades in 1996. • NETJETS MAINTENANCE Raytheon Aircraft Services' network of US fixed-base operations is to provide all aircraft and avionics mainte nance for 17 Hawker 1000s operated by Executive Jet Aviation under its Netjets shared-ownership scheme. • FLIGHTCRAFT ADDITIONS Portland, Oregon-based Flight- craft has added a Cessna Citation II and III to its cor porate-aircraft management fleet, and now manages more than 30 aircraft. • CHILEAN PIPER New Piper Aircraft has ap pointed Piper Chile, based at Santiago's Tobalaba Airport, as its sales and support repre sentative for Chile. Berliners will be able to inspect the Glastar in May GlaStar heads for Berlin STODDARD-HAMTLTONAir-craft plans to display the GlaStar two-seat kitplane outside the USA for the first time at the ILA show in Berlin, Germany, in mid-May. The 860kg aircraft will be flown across the Atlantic via Greenland, an esti mated 40h trip, and will be demon strated in Europe before being returned to the USA in July for dis play at the Oshkosh show. The aircraft displayed will be the first customer-completed GlaStar, owned by MDB Aerospace, which plans to install its new FM2 600 pis ton engine in the GlaStar. The aircraft will be powered by a Teledyne Continental IO-240 for European tour. Stoddard-Hamilton president Bob Gavinsky says that there is strong European interest in the GlaStar, which has already proved popular in the USA. The Arlington, Washington- based company has sold some 300 of the $19,950 kits since introduc ing the aircraft in 1994. J AlliedSignal develops TFE731 upgrade A LLIEDSIGNAL Aerospace plans to introduce a TFE731- 3D engine upgrade based on the -3C modification now offered on the Cessna Citation III and VI. The -3D upgrade is aimed at improving engine durability and cutting maintenance costs by increasing turbine-inlet tempera ture margins by more than 15CC. Thrust and fuel consumption will be unchanged by the modification which introduces new tempera ture-resistant materials into the hot section. The -3D upgrade is avail able from May at the time of either a major periodic inspection, or a core-zone inspection. Garrett Aviation Services has obtained the supplemental type cer tificate for the upgrade on the Dassault Falcon 50 and Raytheon Hawker 400, 600 and 700 under contract to AlliedSignal. • Extra 200 is flown for first time ANDREJ JEZIORSKI/DINSLAKEN G ERMAN AIRCRAFT manu facturer Extra Flugzeugbau has flown its newest sports aircraft, the Extra 200. The maiden flight from the Dinslaken factory took place on 2 April, with company founder Walter Extra at the controls. Extra says that he is satisfied with his lat est product. Minor adjustments to aileron balance were necessary, and other small modifications. The aircraft is a fully aerobatic, two-seat, low-wing monoplane based on the earlier Extra 300L. The largely composite structure is smaller and lighter — with a 550kg empty weight — and the 150kW (200hp) Lycoming AEIO-360A1E provides two-thirds the power of its predecessor's engine. The aircraft will be sold at a basic price of DM250,000 ($370,000), compared with the 300's price-tag ofDM395,000. Extra says that much of the flight-test programme — expected to total 25-50h — will be flown on the second prototype, now nearing completion. Within days of getting airborne, the first aircraft was to be sent to the US to fly on an experi mental-aircraft certificate for mar keting purposes. The USA is Extra's biggest mar ket, and the company is planning to open a second production unit to serve the region, at St Augustine in Florida. The new factory is expect ed to be open later this year. • 20 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10 - 16 April 1996
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