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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0019.PDF
_»/ _« J J —• J SJ-A —I JT J J j f\ J J ^/ J J Gulfstream wins provisional US certification for its GV GRAHAM WARWICK/ATLANTA GULFSTREAM HAS received provisional US cer tification for the Gulfstream V long-range business jet, enabling deliveries of customer aircraft to its Savannah, Georgia, comple tion centre to begin before the end of 1996. The company says that opera tional limitations in the provision al type certificate are planned to be removed by mid-March, before entry into service. Delivery of the first completed GV to a customer is scheduled for late in the second quarter of this year. Additional flight testing planned to begin this month, to complete full certification, and includes take-offs and landings at different flap settings. Gulfstream has already acknowledged that ini tial GV deliveries will be 30-60 days late because of certification delays and the need for structural rework on early wings (Flight International, 27 November-3 December, 1996). The company says that it hopes to be back on schedule by mid-year. is GV operational restiictiom will be removed with full certification Gulfstream planned to have delivered up to five "green" GVs to its completion centre by the end of last year and says that two aircraft a month are now entering the pro duction cycle, alongside two GIV- SPs a month. The company has announced plans to step up com bined production of the GV and GIV-SP to 60 a year by 1999, to make more aircraft available earli er. The next GV delivery position available is in the fourth quarter of 1999, while the GrV-SP is sold out until the fourth quarter of 1998, Gulfstream says. Rival Bombardier, meanwhile, says that the second of four Global Express long-range busi ness-jet flight-test aircraft is scheduled to be flown in January. Some 75h had been logged on the first aircraft by the end of 1996, during almost 2 5 flights. J IA0PA unhappy with lack of GA ATM plans THE INTERNATIONAL Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA) has complained strongly to Euro- control about the lack of recogni tion given to general-aviation interests in the preparation of the future European air-traffic-man agement (ATM) system. It says that, despite working on the European ATM System (EATA1S) concept for a period of one and a half years, Eurocontrol has not given IAOPA "... any posi tion on what might be the opera tional concept for the EATMS time frame". It adds that, while it believes that Eurocontrol is the leading authority on the initiative, it has learned that "...nothing could be further from the truth". IAOPA expresses its "discom fort" with a centralised, ground- focused, ATM system which relies to a great extent on datalinks between air and ground-based computers. The organisation "strongly rec ommends" that general aviation is better represented in the EATMS studies. "We are concerned that people in love with technology are leading the way, where pilots, con trollers and businessmen should be in control," it says. • Advanced Williams turbofan to fly in new aircraft RAMON LOPEZ/WASHINGTON DC THE LOW-COST SMALL turbofan engine being devel oped by Williams International for next-generation light aircraft will be flight-tested in a prototype designed specifically for die revo lutionary powerplant. The FJX-2 engine will be flown in a prototype aircraft provided for the research-and-development project by Williams International. It is believed that the aircraft will be built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites. The aircraft will be used to test the powerplant through the entire flight envelope anticipated for a variety of production aircraft which may be developed by general-aviation man ufacturers following demonstration of the enabling propulsion technol ogy, says the firm. The aircraft will initially be pow ered by the earlier-model Williams FJX-1 turbofan. It will have its debut at the 1997 Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) meet ing in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The FJX-2 engine will power the aircraft during the fourth year of the project. NASA officials say that ground-testing of the FJX-2 is set to begin in 1999, and NASA plans to fly it the following year at the EAA fl'y-in. Williams International believes that the engine will become part of a new line of commercial products for the US company, best known for providing the military with small turbofan and turbojet engines for cruise missiles, unmanned air vehicles, missiles and decoys. In late September, NASA's Lewis Research Center selected Williams International and Teledyne Continental .Motors to develop powerplant technology for future light aircraft. The R&D contracts were finalised in mid- December. Williams International and the space agency will share die cost of developing an advanced turbine- engine as part of NASAs General Aviation Propulsion programme. NASA is contributing S37 million for the four-year co-operative agreement. Overall, the project will cost $100 million, with NASA contributing 40% and Williams die remainder. The new turbofan would power single-engine, four-place, and twin-engine, six-place, aircraft and be capable of more than 200kt (370km/h), says Williams International. It would offer about 3kN (7001b) of thrust and comply with future emission and noise requirements. A mock-up of the FJX-2 turbo fan, was recently exhibited at the US National Business Aircraft Association show in Orlando, Florida. It will feature a high bypass ratio and a simple, lightweight con figuration. Company officials say that it will incorporate components derived from the FJ44-1, including the wide-sweep fan and combus tion system. Other technologies are derived from automotive gas- turbine research aimed at high vol ume low-cost production. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 January 1997 17
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