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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0071.PDF
riON Australian Dash 8 will carry a laser coastal depth-sounder BOMBARDIER HAS SOLD a de Havilland Dash 8 Series 200B to an Australian company which plans to equip the aircraft for hydrographic surveys of shallow coastal waters (Flight International, 1- January, p4). Adelaide-based LADS is to equip the aircraft with a laser airborne depth-sounder (LADS) and offer its shallow-water surveying services worldwide. Developed by parent company Vision Systems, the LADS is already in service with the Royal Australian Navy on a Fokker F27, while another system has been installed on a US Navy Lockheed iMartin P-3 Orion for trials. The LADS fitted to the Dash 8 will be smaller and more accurate than these systems, the company says. The Dash 8 will be delivered in June for installation of the LADS, and will enter service in mid-1998. LADS says that it selected die Dash 8 because it combines extended mission endurance with the ability to operate on hot days from limit ed-length airfields. The company also cites the aircraft's cabin size, which provides room for the equipment and a comfortable working environment for the crew. Bombardier says diat the Dash 8 will provide almost 5h of survey time 550km (300nm) from base, enabling an area of more than 3 60knr to be surveyed from an alti tude of 1,600ft (500m). Time on station 1,500km from base is 90min, enabling an area of 120knr to be surveyed. The LADS can be used to mea sure coastal waters to depths of 70m and is faster and less expensive than the traditional method of sur veying using surface vessels, the company says. 3 Mustang replica heads for Reno race debut THE THUNDER MUSTANG, a three-quarter-scale replica of the North American P-51, has been flown for the first time at Nampa, Idaho. The all-composite $175,000 kitplane weighs slightly over 900kg, and is powered by a 475kW (640hp) Fal coner Vee-12 piston engine. It has a projected maximum cruise- speed of 315kt (580km/h) and never-exceed speed of 440kt. For racing, the engine can produce almost 900kW, or more than l,100kW for short periods. Thunder Mustang designer Dan Denney plans to enter die aircraft in die 1997 Reno Air Races. Grand Canyon tourists to have wings clipped TOURIST FLIGHTS over die Grand Canyon are to be limited, and the phasing out of noisier aircraft has been proposed, in a bid to restore natural quiet to the US national park. From 1 May, new "flight-free" zones will be established, others will be modified and curfews will be set on sightseeing flights. The number of aircraft allowed to fly over die park will be capped at die 1996 level of 136. Accompanying die new regula tion is a proposed rule diat would phase out the noisiest aircraft by the end of 2000 and all but the qui etest by the end of 2008. Only 2 3 of the aircraft now being used — de Havilland Twin Otters and McDonnell Douglas MD 520N and Explorer helicopters — fall widiin die quietest category. J Toyota is cleared to produce piston aero-engine TOYOTA HAS RECEIVED US Federal Aviation Admini stration production certification for a piston aero-engine developed jointly with Hamilton Standard. The 270kW (360hp) FV2400- 2TC is a twin-turbocharged Vee-8 based on Toyota's Lexus car engine and equipped with a Hamilton Standard full-authority digital engine-control (Flight Inter national, 24-30 April, 1996). US type-certification of die engine was received in February 1996, but production certification took longer as die engines are to be produced by Toyota and shipped to Hamilton Standard for installation of the control system, testing and delivery to customers. The partners have yet to announce an application for the FV2400, which will be marketed directly against established Tele- dyne Continental and Textron Lycoming engines. Toyota says that production plans for the engine, including the start date and output volume, have yet to be decided. • NEWS IN BRIEF • GULFSTREAM V DELIVERY Gulfstream Aerospace deliv ered its first Gulfstream V, to an unnamed "international customer", on 30 December, 1996. The delivery was actu ally to Gulfstream's Savan nah, Georgia, completion centre where the aircraft will remain until it enters service in die second quarter of 1997. The first delivery followed provisional US certification of the 12,000km (6,500nm)- range GV on 13 December. Full US certification is due before the first completed aircraft is ready for delivery to the customer. • US APPROVES 50EX Dassault received US certifi cation for its upgraded Falcon 50EX business jet on 20 December, 1996. • JET SERVICES LEARJETS Singapore-based Jet Main tenance, part of the Jet Aviation Group, has become die Pacific Rim's first autho rised Learjet service centre. • BEECHJET GPS CLEARED Rockwell-Collins' AMS-850 avionics-management sys tem has been approved for primary-means navigation and non-precision approach, using die global-positioning system, on the Raytheon Beechjet400A. • SOCATA SPARES COSTS Aerospatiale subsidiary So- cata is to continue its two- year-old policy of holding down spares prices dirough- out 1997, in an effort to reduce die operating costs of its Rallye, TB-series and TBM 700 fight aircraft. • CROAT CL-415 Croatia has ordered a Cana- dair CL-415 water bomber, for delivery during January. Based at Zadar, the aircraft will be operated alongside two piston engine-powered CL-215s delivered to Croatia in 1994. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January 1997
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