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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0441.PDF
New Piper launches Seneca V DAVID HIGDON/VERO BEACH TWO YEARS AFTER start ing work on the aircraft, New Piper Aircraft has unveiled its Seneca V cabin-class piston twin, its first new product since emerg ing from the bankruptcy of the for mer Piper Aircraft (Flight International, 8-14January). "We look at the Seneca V as a dual-purpose aircraft, with features that should appeal to the owner- flown market and the corporate flight-department as well," says New Piper president Chuck Suma. The Seneca V sports a five-seat interior as standard, with the first installation in a piston twin ot an entertainment/business console behind the co-pilot's seat. This can house an optional AWFM/CD unit, video-entertainment system, AlliedSignal Flitefone and hook ups for a lap-top computer and fac simile machine. The customer also has the op tion of selecting a six-place interior which deletes the entertainment/ business centre, but adds a folding New Piper, new tune: the wraps come off its Seneca V piston twin desk built into the starboard fuse lage-side. Inside the new composite cowl ings with their tuned port inlets are turbocharged Teledyne Contin ental LATSIO-360-RB engines which deliver 165kW (220hp) at altitudes up to 19,500ft (5,950m) and power the Seneca Vto its max imum cruise speed of 200kt (3 65km/h) at 18,500ft. Sporting aftercoolers to increase efficiency, the engines can lift the Seneca V to its service ceiling of 25,OOOft with climb rates still well into four digits to 20,000ft. The instrument panel includes turbine-style engine gauges and a digital engine-management infor mation system. The avionics equipment is supplied by AlliedSignal. The equipment in cludes a Bendix/King KLN 90B instrument-flight-rules certificat ed global-positioning system. The anti-icing option requires installation of two three-blade McCauley propellers in place of the standard two-blade units. New Piperplans to build 36 Seneca Vs in 1997, with a base price of $472,900. 3 Cessna delivers first 172R to US AOPA president CESSNA AIRCRAFT has handed over the first new 172R to US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) presi dent Phil Boyer. AOPA took the aircraft on behalf of member Sharon Hauser, who won the 1997 Skyhawk in an Association sweep stake. It is the first Skyhawk to be delivered by the manufacturer in nearly 11 years. Cessna chairman Russ Meyer forecasts that the new $40 million Independence Municipal Airport, Kansas-based factory will produce thousands more Skyhawks, 182 Skylanes and 206 Stationaires in the coming years. The hand-over was the culmina tion of a project on which Cessna has been working since 1992, when Meyer created a team to study the feasibility of Cessna returning to the single-engined field, which it abandoned in 1986 citing low sales and high prices. The first Skyhawk for 11 years: handed over to sweepstake winner With the first delivery complete the focus will now shift to finding buyers for die 2,000 singles a year which Meyer predicts the company will be delivering by the end of 1998, double the figure expected for this year. Just over half of 1997 planned production is earmarked for the Skyhawk, with most of the balance made up by 182S Skylanes, pro duction of which got under way less than two months ago. Beyond the 1998 goal of making and selling 2,000 aircraft, Cessna is examining the addition of re tractable-gear versions of the 172 and 182 near the end of the decade, when production has been predict ed to go to 3,000. Prices range from $124,500 for the basic 172R to the mid- $200,000 range for the best- equipped 206 and 206TC. So far, Cessna has acknowledged deposits or orders for about 500 singles, including an order from Brazilian distributor TAM. • Bell 'Quiet Cruise' reduces 407 noise BELL IS DEVELOPING a technique to reduce the fly over noise of its Model 407 light single-turbine helicopter, to meet expected demand for quieter air craft for use on sightseeing opera tions over US national parks, such as the Grand Canyon. The company has demonstrated its Quiet Cruise concept to park officials. It has achieved fly-over noise levels equivalent to those of McDonnell Douglas NOTAR- equipped tail-rotorless helicopters, among the quietest aircraft used for Canyon tours, says Dale Cato, product manager, commercial development at Bell. The concept uses the full- authority digital engine-control system on the 407's Rolls-Rovce Allison 250-C47B turboshaft to reduce rotor RPM to 90% in the cruise. This lowers the helicopter's never-exceed speed to HOkt (205km/h), which "...fits the pro file of tour operators", he says. The Quiet Cruise concept is in development flight-testing at Bell's Canadian commercial-helicopter plant and is scheduled to be avail able by earlyjuly. Full rotor RPM is used for take-off and landing, but the pilot can flick a switch in the cruise and reduce rotor RPM to 90-93 %. The exact reduction "... is still being fine-tuned", says Cato. The US Federal Aviation Ad ministration has proposed phasing out all but the quietest, "Category C", aircraft now used for sightsee ing tours over the Canyon. The NOTAR-equipped MD520N and MD Explorer are the only Cate gory C helicopters now in use. • NEWS IN BRIEF • FMS APPROVAL Garrett Aviation Services has won a supplemental type cer tificate (STC) for the Allied Signal Global GNS-XLS flight-management system (FMS) and fault detection and exclusion software on the Raytheon Hawker 800. The STC will allow primary-use navigation with the built-in global-positioning system. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 January - 4 February 1997 23
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