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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1295.PDF
mESJ3JjAL AVIATION TLM revives Grumman singles DAVE HIGDON/WICHITA TLxM AEROSPACE has ac quired the rights to the four- seat Grumman Tiger and Cheetah piston singles, and plans to start pro duction by the year-end at a factory under construction at Martinsburg, West Virginia, in the USA. TLM, a subsidiary of Taiwan's Tong Lung Metal Industries, plans to start with production of the 135kW (180hp) Textron Lycom- ing-powered Tiger AG5. De liveries are scheduled to begin in April 1999. TLM also plans to expand the factory in mid-2000 to accommodate a Cheetah AA5A production line. Resurrection of the Grumman singles is the latest in a line of simi lar relaunches, including the 1950s' Don Luscombe History Foundation's Luscombe 11 and Renaissance Aircraft's Luscombe Silvaire 8F (Flight International. 7- 13 January), following a trend set by Cessna in 1997 with the revival of its 172 Skyhawkand 182 Skylane piston-single line. Tong Lung has invested around Si 5 million in TLM. This figure is expected to double in 2000 with the second phase of expansion and introduction of the Cheetah. Grumman's Tiger and Cheetah singles have had a chequered histo ry. Conceived by Grumman Air craft in the mid-1970s, ownership of the designs shifted to Gulf- stream when the company acquired Grumman's general avia tion line. Aircraft production was halted, however, until die mid-1980s and the line remained dormant until the early 1990s when American General Aircraft (AGA), which revised and improved the aircraft designs, briefly took over produc tion at its plant in Greenville, Mississippi. TLM acquired the aircraft rights from AGA in 1997, two years after that company went into bankruptcy. It is believed that TLM has little desire to modify the design in the short term, because of the com pany's aggressive timetable for erecting the new factory and set ting up the production line. TLM plans to deliver around 65 Tigers in the first year of production. Although the price of the air craft has not yet been disclosed, it is widelv believed that the cost will be similar to the $139,000 which AGA had been charging for the standard Tiger. 3 Cessna and Learjet certificate 'superlights' THE ERA OF the "super-light" business jet has arrived, with final certification of the Cessna Citation Excel and full approval for the competing Bom bardier Learjet 45, achieved on 1 May. Next begins the delivery race for Cessna and Learjet, both of which boast large order backlogs for their respective products. The aircraft represent an expan sion of the light business jet cate gory to include cabins which have stand-up headroom on platforms which retain the economy and operational flexibility of tradition al light business jets with much smaller cabins. According to Learjet president Mac Beatson, the Learjet 45 has an order backlog exceeding 150 air craft, and 32 are already in,various stages of production or comple tion. "We plan to deliver 48 of them this year, about half of our production goal for 1998," Beatson says. Another 28 Learjet 60s and 22 Learjet 31 As are also scheduled to be also delivered. The Learjet 45 received certification for flight in known icing conditions, as well as its pro duction type certification, on 1 May. Unrestricted type certi fication was granted on 6 May, Approvals herald the start of delivery race for Learjet 45 (above) and Excel clearing the way for deliveries. Despite this, the aircraft still has two systems disabled - the thrust reversers and the auxiliary power unit. The company expects to have diose systems signed off and to have them useable as quickly as possible after die expanded type certificate is in hand. Cessna chairman Russ Meyer, meanwhile, has revealed an Excel order backlog, which stretches into 2002, for more than 200 aircraft. "We set a goal of flying off the function and reliability test in 10 days. That really had us pushing to stay on schedule," Meyer says. Now the focus shifts to deliver ing Excels. The first five aircraft will stay with Cessna's marketing department for the coming months, with customer deliveries beginning in July. Cessna expects to have delivered 18 Excels by year-end. In 1999, the company is planning to deliver about 45 a year in an attempt to whittle down the backlog. • NEWS IN BRIEF • RAYTHEON HANGAR Raytheon Aircraft Services (RASL) has opened a newly refurbished hangar at its Broughton, North Wales, base in the UK. The building, which now doubles RASL's capability at the site, will accommodate the company's engineering and support ser vices for a range of Raytheon aircraft. • MARTINI AYRES Duijvestijn Aviation has signed a five-year agreement with Martini Airfreight for the lease of two Ayres Loadmasters. The Amster dam Lelystad Airport-based aircraft sales and leasing company, which has an firm order for five Loadmasters and an option for a further five, is due to take delivery of the first aircraft in December 1999. It will then be handed over to Martini for postal shipment operations. • JET GAINS JAR-OPS 1... Jet Aviation has become one of the first European com panies to receive an air operators certificate under the Joint Aviation Authorities' Joint Aviation Requirement Ops 1 rules, which require implementa tion of an ISO 9000-stan- dard quality system. • ...CHAUFFAIR WINS JAR 145 The UK's Chauffair has won UK Civil Aviation Authority Joint Aviation Requirement 145 approval for its Farnbor- ough-based maintenance and engineering company. It claims to have the largest fleet of business jets in the UK, with a total of seven aircraft. • ANGLO SALE Cabair Group has acquired Bournemouth Flying Club from UK Piper aircraft dis tributor Anglo American Airmotive for an undisclosed sum. As part of the agree ment, Cabair will also acquire theclub's 11 training aircraft. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13 - 19 May 1998 29
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