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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 0820.PDF
em NEWS IN BRIEF M CHALLENGER SALES Bombardier has sold two Challenger 604 business jets to unnamed corporate oper ators in Argentina and Ven ezuela. This marks the first sale of the 604 corporate vari ant in Latin America for the Montreal, Canada-based manufacturer. • NEA LOCATES Northern Executive Aviation (NEA) is relocating to a new business aviation terminal at Manchester Airport in the UK. The new £1.5 million ($2.5 million) building is to open in July and will include an aircraft hangar for NEA's fleet of three Learjet 35s and a business aviation centre. • JET DEALERSHIP Honeywell has awarded an avionics dealership to Jet Maintenance Singapore, a subsidiary of business avia tion company Jet Aviation. The contract covers warran ty and support services on the company's avionics. • NETJETS MEDICAL Executive Jet International has introduced Medlink Worldwide passenger care services as part of its Netjets business jet fractional own ership programme. Medlink will install emergency med ical kits in all Netjets aircraft. • CESSNA BAN The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued an airworthiness directive pro hibiting flight in severe icing of the Cessna T210N, P210NandP210R. • SECOND WIN FOR MEGGITT Meggitt Avionics has won a five year contract to supply Raytheon Aircraft with solid state altimeters and sec ondary flight display systems for the Wichita, Kansas- based company's Beech King Air C90B, Beech 1900D, Hawker 800XP and Hawker Horizon business aircraft. Ayres picks Alabama site for assembly of the Loadmaster AYRES IS TO assemble its LM200 Loadmaster cargo aircraft in Dodian, Alabama. The aircraft manufacturer, which is based in Albany, Georgia, selected Dothan over another Georgian town, Americus, as the site for fuselage manufacture and final assembly of the aircraft. The decision was influenced by a com bination of $4 million in economic- incentives and the availability of a skilled workforce. The first three Loadmasters, which will be used for certification flight testing, will be built at Ayres' Albany plant. Fairchild Dornier is designing the fuselage, says presi dent Fred Ayres, while an unnamed subcontractor is designing and will manufacture die wing. A first flight is planned "at the end of 1998, or early 1999", says Ayres. There have been delays, but die company remains on schedule to deliver die first of 50 aircraft on firm order for FedEx in December 1999, he says. Ayres is planning to build 50 air craft a year- half of diem for FedEx - and has orders in hand for some 30 Loadmasters from customers odier man die US package carrier. Ayres says that a floatplane ver sion will be die first Loadmaster derivative to be certificated follow ing approval of die basic freighter aircraft. "There is a lot of interest in die floatplane," he says, particular ly from operators of de Havilland Twin Otters equipped with floats. The company is in talks with float manufacturer Whipline, "...but there's no contract yet", Ayres says. • NASA steps up high flier testing NASA PLANS to conduct extra test flights of its small fleet of high altitude long duration air vehicles diis year as it steps up environmental research work. The AeroVironment Pathfinder solar powered unmanned air vehi cle, which is the most visible aspect of the US space agency's En vironmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) pro gramme, will attempt an 8h, 60,000ft (18,300m) mission during fiscal year 1998. Led by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California, the ERAST project aims to develop aeronautical tech nologies diat will lead to a new fam ily of remotely piloted vehicles. The aircraft would be used in upper atmospheric science mis sions to collect environmental data to assess global change. They could also carry telecommunications equipment, performing the func tion of communications satellites, for a fraction of the cost. Other ERAST aircraft include the Perseus B, which was designed and built by Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Virginia. The propul sion and performance testbed is designed to operate at 65,000ft for up to 96h. The Perseus B's engine, which is double turbocharged to offset die thin atmosphere, "breathes" air surrounding die vehicle. It is being used to test engine concepts, light weight structures, and flight con trol systems. First flown in October 1994, die Perseus B is scheduled to fly again at Dryden during the next few weeks. General Atomics' Alms vehicle is being used to verify technologies diat would lead to a long duration (12-72h), high altitude vehicle able to carry science payloads. The Altus' single turbocharged engine has been replaced by a dual-turbo- charged powerplant. The Altus is scheduled to undergo check out flights beginning this month and resume its mission in mid-May. The Apex research testbed will be built at Dryden by NASA engi neers. NASA's Jennifer Baer- Riedhart says diat critical design reviews are under way and that some components and structures have been built. The Apex's first flight is set for later this year. A glider designed to operate as high as 100,000ft, the Apex would be hoisted up by balloon and released. After performing a pull- up manoeuvre, it would collect data during a 2h glide down through the atmosphere to Edwards AFB, California. "The sole purpose of die Apex is to acquire research data for further development of other ERAST platforms. It is not somediing we would necessarily use for science missions like Pathfinder," says Baer-Ricdhart. • Cessna's new single will build on the performance of the existing Skyhawk Cessna confirms its plans for Skyhawk SP CESSNAHAS confirmed plans to introduce a new version of the Skyhawk Flight International, 18-24 March). The new Skyhawk SP will use the same Textron Lycoming IO-360-L2A as die 172R Skyhawk, but with a fuel injected engine certificated at 135kW (180shp) rather than at 120kW. Improved aircraft performance is coupled widi a 45 kg useful load increase to 435kg, of a total gross weight of 1,160kg. Preliminary performance figures at the gross weight include a cruise speed of 126kt (235km/h), a rate of climb at sea level of 730ft/min (4m/s) and a take-off ground roll of 960ft (290m). Certification is expected by die end of June, with first deliveries beginning in the third quarter of this year. The price of the standard Skyhawk SP is $149,000, com pared to $13 3,700 for the 172 R. • 28 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 April 1998
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