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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2126.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION NEWS IN BRIEF • JET CHARTER SOLD GAMA Aviation has acquired fellow UK-based air-ambu lance and ad hoc charter oper ator Heathrow Jet Charter (HJC) for an undisclosed sum. GAMA, which is based at Fairoaks Airport, in Surrey, will add HJC's two Learjet 3 5As to its fleet of one 35A, two Cessna Citations and two Raytheon Beech King Air 200s. The deal is expected to be finalised on 29 August. • MERCURY EXPANDS FBOs Mercury Air Group has ac quired Stevens Aviation's Nashville International Air port, Tennessee, fixed-base operation (FBO) for $4.2 million. The Los Angeles- based company now operates 13 US FBOs, with a four teenth due to open in April 1998 at Charleston Internat ional Airport, South Carolina. • LUSCOMBE REBIRTH? Monkton, Maryland-based Renaissance Aircraft is studying the market for new- build, updated, versions of the classic Luscombe 8 light aircraft. The "EuroLus- combe" would be powered by a Czech LOM or Textron Lycoming engine. LOMs are marketed by Moravia, of Thunder Bay, Ontario. • JETCRUZER ORDERS Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures says that it has a backlog of 53 confirmed orders for its Si.29 million Jetcruzer 500 single-turbo prop business aircraft, having added 22 confirmed orders since early July. • PENTASTAR RVSM WORK Chrysler Pentastar Aviation of Detroit, Michigan, has won approval to upgrade Gulfstream business jets to meet reduced vertical-sepa ration minimum require ments. It says that it is the only independent service centre authorised by the maker to install the avionics. Conair joins Orenda in study CONAIR AVIATION is study ing the feasibility of re-engine- ing Cessna 400-series and Piper Navajo piston twins with fellow Canadian company Orenda Recip's OE-600 Vee-8 aero-engine. The study is to be completed in mid- September, after which the pair plan to sign a commercial agree ment under which Conair would certificate OE-600 installations, which Orenda would then use in remanufacturing both aircraft. Orenda Recip general manager Peter Jackson says that it has yet to be decided whether the agreement with Conair will involve a joint venture, profit sharing or a subcon tractor relationship. Abbotsford, British Columbia-based Conair would develop the supplemental type-certificates for the re-engine- ing programmes. The company has modified and re-engined Grumman S-2 Trackers under its Firecat aerial-tanker programme. Orenda plans to retrofit the OE-600s at an aircraft-remanu- facturing plant to be established alongside the engine production- line now being set at at Debert, Nova Scotia. Aircraft would be purchased, refurbished arid re-engined for resale, savs Jackson. Certification of the 'initial 450kW (600hp) OE-600 is scheduled for later this year, and re-engineing pro grammes are already under way on the de Havilland Beaver, Raytheon Beech King Air C90B and Rockwell Aero Commander. J Skyfox could be left high and dry unless an investor conies forward New administrator looks to sell Skyfox Aviation or find investor AUSTRALIAN LIGHT-air-craft manufacturer Skyfox Aviation will either be sold or seek a shareholder to invest additional funding. It manufactures the Sky fox Gazelle at the rate on one air craft a week, and holds an order backlog representing several months' worth of production (Flight International, 28 May-3 June). Brian Irving, the outside admin istrator overseeing operations at Skyfox, says that the company is now operating under a deed of arrangement which arose from a "voluntary administration" re quest by the directors, to obtain a creditor moratorium similar to the US Chapter 11 process,".. .to give them an opportunity' to seek addi tional capital funding, but, at the same time, it has been put up for sale as a going concern". Irving says that deposits and advance payments on aircraft or ders are protected, and that prod uct support is uninterrupted. "We have already held discussions with a number of foreign parties interest ed in investing," he says. Existing staff and management remain in place, and Irving says that the preference is for an equity partner. "Such an injection of share capital in the company would put it in a much stronger position to increase its production capacity and to look at additional overseas markets, which it hasn't been able to do at this stage because of under capitalisation," he savs. The Gazelle is certificated under the European Joint Aviation Re quirements for very-light aircraft. The company has built more than 170 aircraft, including the earlier tailwheel version which is still available. • Advanced wing for the Beaver wins approval A CANADIAN company has received supplemental type- certification for a replacement wing which enables tiie gross weight of the de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver to be increased. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Advanced Wing Technologies (AWT) says that it already has orders for the C$95,000 ($73,000) modification from operators in Alaska, Australia and Canada. The new AWT 6000 wing fea tures increased span, tapered tips, an aft-loaded aerofoil and large Fowler flaps. The modification allows the Beaver's gross weight to be raised to2,700kg, from 2,300kg, increasing the useful load by 200- 400kg - at least a one-third im provement in the payload of the popular utility aircraft. More than 1,100 Beavers are still in service, according to AWT. While the large flaps improve low-speed handling, and reduce take-off and landing distances, the tapered tips improve wing efficien cy and provide a speed increase of at least 10%, AWT says. Optional wing tanks increase the Beaver's fuel capacity to 490litres and extend range by up to 70%. AWT is working on other im provements for the Beaver, includ ing an extended cabin and modified floats. The company is planning a version of its wing for the turbo- prop-re-engined Turbo Beaver offered by Viking Air. AWT also says that it has begun design studies into a new 3,200kg gross-weight utility aircraft. • 30 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 August - 2 September 1997
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