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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0782.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT MARKETPLACE ++ Atlas Air has extended two wet leases with China Airlines for Boeing 747-200 freighters. One five-year contract has been extend ed from April 1998 to 2001, while a three-year agreement has been extended from March 1998 to 2001, with a two-year extension option. ++ Prague-based Fischer Air, a new Czech Republic charter airline, has acquired two new Boeing 737-300s from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) for delivery by the end of April. AWAS has also confirmed the lease of two ex-Garuda Airbus A300-600RS to Qatar Air- ways.++ Air Lithuania took deliv ery of its first AI(R) ATR 42-300 on 17 March. The aircraft will be oper ated on routes from Kaunas and Palanga in Lithuania, and Kristianstad in Sweden. ++ Channel Express has bought two Fokker F27 Mk500s from Egyptair regional division Air Sinai. The F27s will be introduced later this year, replacing the carrier's Handley-Page Heralds on express- parcels services. ++ Jersey European Airways is adding a BAC One-Eleven Series 510ED from European Aviation on six- month lease, which will be operat ed on the airline's Stansted- Belfast International service. ++ Air France will take delivery of three Airbus A321-200s in May and June, on five-year lease from GATX A321 Partners. ++ Rich International Airways plans to re-introduce between four and six Lockheed L-lOllTriStarson lease from International Air Leases when it recommences operations. ++ United Airlines is converting options on four Airbus A319s and three A320s into orders for deliv ery over the next two and a half years. ++ Yemenia took delivery of its first of two new Airbus A310- 300s on 18 March. The second air craft is due shortly. ++The Shell Petroleum Development Com pany of Nigeria has taken delivery of the first of two Fairchild Dornier 328 corporate shuttles. Fairchild Dornier has also signed a contract with Royal Brunei Airlines for two Dornier 228s. Eurocontrol solves B-RNAV problem for ageing aircraft JULIAN MOXON/BRUSSELS AGEING AIRCRAFT not equipped with modern navi gation equipment are likely to be allowed to use satellite navigation for basic area navigation (B-RNAV7) after the January 1998 deadline for the introduction of B-RNAV in Europe. A programme of work being car ried out by Eurocontrol, and now almost complete, appears likely to establish that aircraft fitted with approved global-positioning-sys- tem (GPS) receivers will satisfy the performance criteria for B-RNAV. This will enable older aircraft and smaller general-aviation types to fly the more direct, fuel-saving routes being provided under the flexible-use-of-airspace plan, with out their operators spending thou sands of dollars on new, highly sophisticated, RNAV equipment. According to Richard Croft, of Eurocontrol's airspace division, the European Joint Aviation Authorities is "accepting the idea" that GPS can fit the bill for many operators - "... but only as a short- term solution to meet forthcoming RNAV requirements", he says. Up to 20% of European airspace users are threatened with what amounts to expulsion from the B-RNAV air-traffic-services route network if they do not upgrade their avionics to meet the new Eurocontrol standards, which demand a navigation accuracy of 9km (5nm) on either side of the flight-track centreline. The instal lation of an approved GPS costs around $10,000. "Tests so far show that there is no reason not to allow the use of GPS, provided that the existing ground- based aids remain for reversionary use," says Croft. Simulation trials has been carried out, in which "live" crews from British Airways have flown B-RNAV routes using GPS. The pilots showed that they were able to continue flying the B-RNAV route with little difficul ty, using existing ground-based aids, after the GPS capability was deliberately degraded. Eurocontrol has also looked at the case of GPS loss on a busy day, when congestion might limit air- traffic controllers' availability to assist aircraft suddenly dependent on radar and other ground-based aids to continue flying B-RNAV routes. "We identified few prob lems - most aircraft will be able to revert to conventional navigation quite easily," says Croft. Euro- control is "absolutely firm" on the B-RNAV deadline, he adds. • The 737-700 sets a new high for the type during flight tests 737-700 reaches new heights THE NEXT-generation Boe ing 737-700 has reached an altitudeof41,000ft(12,500m)dur- ing flight testing, beating previous 737 altitudes by 4,000ft and attain ing the target height which was planned for type certification. The record height was achieved by the crew of the second 737-700 flight-test aircraft on a test sortie at Mach 0.81(465kt/700km/h). The second 737-700, which had its first flight at the beginning of March, was initially flown "green", but has now been painted in the colours of launch customer Soudiwest Airlines. It is the second of four 737-700s destined to be used in the flight-test programme. The new 737 variant can be flown higher than aircraft of previ ous generations because it has the more powerful CFM International CFM56-7 engines, with a 10% higher thrust capability than the current 737's CFM56-3C power- plants, and a 25% larger wing, with anareaofl25nr(l,350fV). Reaching the higher-cruising- altitude capability was a vital part of the next-generation 737'senvelope expansion, giving airlines more route flexibility, particularly on some of the longer sectors of up to 5,550km (3,000nm) of which the series will be capable. • Lockheed Martin and Bovis win contract LOCKHEED iMARTIN and UK-based Bovis Construction have been named preferred bidders for the contract to provide the new Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre (SCATCC) located at Prestwick. Scheduled to become opera tional in 2001/2, the SCATCC will replace the existing Prestwick cen tre, which controls Scottish air space and oceanic regions over the North Sea and north Atlantic. The decision follows the recent UK Civil Aviation Authority confirmation that it is to retain a two-centre UK air-traffic-control (ATC) system, die other being the new en route centre at Swanwick, near Southampton in southern England, which die CAA hopes to open late this year. The SCATCC is to be privately financed and built by the consor tium, which will then lease the building and its ATC systems to the CAA. It will be operated by National Air Traffic Services. J 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 26 March - 1 April 1997
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