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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2772.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION Alpha plans to expand PC-12 share scheme THE US OPERATOR of a Pilatus PC-12 fractional- ownership programme plans to expand the scheme to additional locations. Alpha Flying has added a third single-turboprop PC-12 to its two-year-old PlaneSense pro gramme, which is operating in the north-east USA, and a fourth air craft has been ordered, says Alpha FlyingpresidentGeorgeAntoniadis. The Norwood, Maryland-based firm sells one-eighth or one-quar ter shares in the PC-12. A quarter- share costs $727,500 and gives the owner 175 flight hours a year, for S510/h. Alpha Flying says that it is accumulating 900h/year per air craft, on trips averaging 900km (490nm) and has achieved 100% availability within the guaranteed 8h, and 70% within 6h. • Sikorsky adds HUMS SIKORSKY HAS delivered the first health- and usage-moni toring system (HUMS) for the S-76C+ helicopter following certi fication by the Norwegian and UK authorities. The HUMS, manu factured by GEC-Marconi, was delivered to Norway's Norsk Helikopter, which operates an S-76C+ on offshore-oil services. GEC's HUMS, developed for the S-76A+ and S-76C, has been tailored for the Turbomeca Arriel 2S1 turboshafts and full-authority digital engine-controls of the S-76C+. New capabilities include trending of automatically acquired power-assurance data. The HUMS includes a British Aerospace Systems & Equipment solid-state cockpit-voice/flight-data recorder. • NEWS IN BRIEF • BELL 427 FOR HAINAN Samsung Aerospace has signed a letter of intent to sell three new Samsung-Bell 427 eight-seat helicopters to Hainan Airlines of China. It is also negotiating similar agree ments with China Ocean and China SoutJiern's Zhuhai Helicopters for another ten. General Avia appoints Dutch distributor for F-22 range ITALY'S GENERAL AVIA has appointed Transal Aero Service of the Netherlands as a distributor for its F-22 range of two-seat single-engine trainers. The company will take delivery of a $109,000 Textron Lycoming IO-320-D2A-powered F-22B Penguin by die end of this month, with the sec ond aircraft, a $149,500 F-22C, scheduled for delivery at the end of November. TAG wins Famborough lease KATE SARSFIELD/LONDON TECHNIQUES d'Avant-Garde (TAG) Group to is to convert the UK's Farnborough Aerodrome into a dedicated busi ness-aviation airport following die decision by the UK Ministry of Defence to award the Luxem bourg-based holding company a 99-year lease. The aerodrome, which will con tinue to be the venue for the bien nial Farnborough air show, will become a dedicated business-avia tion airport. "We are keen to devel op Farnborough as a top quality, state-of-the-art, business-aviation centre," TAG says. The news has been welcomed by the European Business Aircraft Association and the UK General Aviation Manufacturers and Traders Association (GAMTA), which have been calling for the UK Government to take a more active role in promoting this increasingly neglected sector of aviation. "It is a vital step to recognising the impor tance of business aviation to the UK economy," says GAMTA chief executive Graham Forbes. TAG says that it will start work on the airfield "...once two major steps have been climbed". The company must satisfy UK Civil Aviation Authority licensing re quirements and resolve planning and environmental issues set by the local authority. "These two big events are crucial to the way things will pan out at Farnborough," says TAG. "We and die local commun ity will have to agree an appropriate balance between the economy and the preservation of the environ ment." Consultation is scheduled to begin in April 1998. TAG will not be drawn on specif ic plans for the airfield, but admits that the company is looking at the possibility of developing a business aviation terminal and a maintenance hangar. "Farnborough will become a globally renowned business air field, and it is perfectly situated near to London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports." TAG anticipates that some operators will divert dicir busi ness to Farnborough, as the two major London airports continue to restrict access to business and gener al-aviation aircraft. The company says that British Aerospace subsidiary Farnbor ough Business Aviation Services will continue to operate the resi dent business-aviation centre. TAG, which acquired Swiss execu tive charter operator Aeroleasing in July, is "actively pursuing" a sim ilar acquisition in the USA. • Night single-engined operations ban gets closer NIGHT COMMERCIAL operations by single-engined aircraft will be banned in all European Joint Aviation Author ities (JAA) member nations if the Joint Aviation Requirements (JARs) go into force as they are drafted, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The relevant JARs are not finalised, however, but are due to become effective from April 1998. The CAA has just won the final stage in a legal battle initiated to establish whether it had the right to ban such operations in UK air space by a Norwegian-registered airline (Flight International, 25 June-1 July). Norwav, which is a member of the JAA and the European Civil Aviation Conference, permits such flights, as does France. Meanwhile die CAA has published a letter of intent to make its rules watertight. AJAR study group, however, is still considering whether single- engine night operations may be allowed in special corridors over sparsely populated areas. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 October 1997
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