FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1997
1997 - 3118.PDF
UBMZimL AVIATION A m . •_•_ £_ _l^ l_ _£ root to generate vortices at high angles of attack. neW Wing may prOVlde a freSh leaSe Of OtherLngesincludealar^stialeinfrontof • •xx x i_ I" i_ -J l -J £ "x the horizontal tail and stall strips. lire to an estaoiisnea oia ravounte Companies attracted to using the new wing include Cambell River-based Sealand Aviation, which is studying a lm stretch of the Beaver GUY NORRIS/BRITISH COLUMBIA design studies were based on a concept devel- achieved by inserting an extension in the fuse- oped bv aerospace engineers Bill Fovle andjohn lage aft of the trailing edge. B RITISH COLUMBIA-based Advanced I [ill. After initial design work was'completed, Wing Technologies (AWT) has unveiled a the project".. .sort of sat in limbo", until revived TURBINE CONVERSIONS new wing for the de I Iavilland DHC-2 with new capital in 1995, says AWT vice-presi- The potential of the AW' 6000 has also attract- Beaver which enables a 340kg payload dent, Tony Rogers. Flight-testing began on a ed companies offering turbine conversions for increase and improves speed, range and short- demonstrator in 1996, and the landplane version the Beaver, among them Vazar Aerospace of take-off-and-landing performance, received Transport Canada certification in July Bellingham, Washington. The company is in The new wing dramatically benefits the 1997. "We're pursuing certification with the the middle of certifying 23 variants of the Pratt Beaver today, but it is the long-term potential FAA [L'S Federal Aviation Administration]on & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop covering which is causing as much excitement among wheels before we can get our certification for the the 370-560kW(500-750shp) range for instal- operators and conversion specialists alike. The float-equipped version," he adds. lation on the Beaver in addition to holding a wing, dubbed the AW 6000, is expected to be AWT is hoping for FAA certification "bythe certificate for an Allison C250-B17F retrofit, the catalyst for a large range of upgrades cover- end of the year". Four wingsets are in produc- Flying with the new wing also improves safe- ing everything from wide-scale re-engineing tion. The company is setting up the AW 6000 ty, says AWT representative pilot Dave Crerar, with turbine or modern reciprocating power- lineata new 2,300nr(24,000ft:) manufacturing who demonstrated the rewinged aircraft to plants to a fuselage stretch. site in Richmond, British Columbia, where it Flight International. A downwind take-off from The wing was demonstrated for the first time plans to move in November from Vancouver Victoria harbour was achieved at just 44kt to operators at the de Ilavilland Beaver 50th Airport. Production will be set at between four (80km/h) and subsequent rate of climb with 10° anniversary convention and trade show in and six shipsets a month, depending on flap, 2,000RP,\I and 760mm of boost was a Victoria, British Columbia and it is emerging at demand, says Rogers. Overall, AWT expects a spritely 650ft/m (3.3m/s). an important time for die Beaver. After succes- demand for around 200 shipsets over the next Some previously dangerous characteristics sive years of a shrinking fleet, die number of air- five years. have been eliminated, such as the Beaver's ten- craft in operation stabilised in the early 1990s and Combined with EDO 4930 floats, the wing dency to roll inverted if stalled in landing has since continued to grow, with more aircraft in enables the Beaver's gross weight to be in- configuration with full flap and fiill go-around service now than in 1987, and even scrapped and creased by almost 450kg, to 2,700kg. AWT esti- power applied. Another manoeuvre, dubbed abandoned airframes in great demand. Prices mates diat the revvinging, priced at a minimum the "...oh my Cod, there's a moose!" turn, has have skyrocketed from around S40,000 in the late of C$110,000 ($80,000), depending on cus- also been rendered safe. Entering the turn at 1980s to more than $300,000 today. tomer choice, will quickly pay for itself. Based lOOkt, the pilot pulls 3g as the aircraft begins a on sorties of l-3h and an average utilisation of 60° bank right turn. "Normally, a Beaverwould NASA TECHNOLOGY 500h a year, the company estimates that the new stall, flip into a spin and you die," says Crerar, The AW 6000 incorporates a variety of NASA wing has the potential to increase revenue by who recovers the aircraft before making a land- aerofoil technologies, and has been under devel- between $24,000 and $120,000 a year. ing with a full stop after just 120m (400ft). opmentsince 1985 when two US-based compa- The aft-loaded wing has a 17% thickness With recovered and rebuilt DIIC-2s being nies, Aeronautical Technical Services and Flight ratio compared to the standard wing's 16%. added to the fleet, and improvements such as the Structures International, began study work The effect of the slightly deeper section, plus AW 6000, it seems likely that many Beavers are under contract to Modem WingofCanada. The the change to a "wet" wing fuel-tank system and heading towards their 100th anniversary. 3 70 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 November 1997
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
