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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 3066.PDF
CORPORATE AVIATION Horizon 4000 Customer demands for a wider cabin substantially scaled up the new Hawker believes is not being adequately served. Of the current contenders, Norris says: "The [Dassault] Falcon 2000 is too expensive, the [Cessna] Citation X is too small and the [Israel Aircraft Industries] Galaxy is not there yet." The Falcon 2000 inaugurated the market, but has moved up in price to $18.5 million — ".. .not what we define as super mid-size", says Norris. The Citation X, meanwhile,".. .is very fast, but it is difficult to call the cabin super mid size", he says. As for the Galaxy, Raytheon believes that it will be some time before the air craft becomes a factor in the market. The aircraft is neither as large as a Falcon 2000, nor as fast as a Citation X, but it is sub stantially larger and faster than the Hawker 1000 and costs only $1.5 million more than the aircraft it replaces. FILLING THE GAP Norris says that the Horizon is being launched into ".. .the enormous gap that has been creat ed" between the $11 million Hawker 800XP and the $20 million Canadair Challenger. Potential customers were allowed unprece dented involvement in the design of the Horizon, including the selection of engine and equipment suppliers. As a result, says Norris, "...the aircraft has changed a lot since its launch". After exhaustive market studies, an advisory council was formed and shown three preliminary designs. One-third of the council members have never operated either a Hawker or a Beech product, he says. The result was "tight agreement" on one design which embodied the best features of the three options. This became the Model 4000, now christened the Hawker Horizon. The major change demanded by the advisory coun cil was the move from the Hawker 1000's 1.83m-diameter fuselage to one with a 2.13m diameter, to provide a stand-up cabin with a flat floor throughout. It was important to Raytheon that the aircraft had the characteristics which have made the Hawker marque successful. "We wanted it to be a Hawker," says Norris. To that end, the com pany brought in experienced Hawker engineers to form the core of the design team. By the end of 1996, some 150 people will have accepted Raytheon's offer to transfer to the USA. "We bought the Hawker genes," he jokes. Despite being an all-new design — ".. .only the control yokes are carried over", Norris says — the Horizon has a distinct, and deliberate, Hawker family resemblance. The "not quite a T" tail, dorsal and belly fairings and nose shape are strong visual reminders of the Hawker 1000. The Hawker heritage is more than skin- deep, as Raytheon has allowed the Horizon team freedom to make the same design trade-offs that resulted in the balanced per formance, consistent handling and rugged Five large-format Honeywell flat-panel displays dominate the cockpit 54 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 November 1996
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