FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2238.PDF
Agusta reveals new tiltrotor ANDY NATIVI/GENOA AN AGUSTA-LED team is seeking European Union (EU) research and development funding for a second generation tiltrotor which uses a tilting outer wing and can take off like a conven tional airliner as well as vertically. Italian company Agusta is seek ing around 90 million euros ($92 million) from the EU's 5th Framework research programme to build a ground test version of the Erica 20-seat tiltrotor. The test airframe could be built four or five years after go-ahead and will be used to develop the aircraft's dynamic and structural compo nents. A prototype 20-seat feeder airliner could fly two years later. A 3 3-member consortium head ed by Eurocopter is also seeking EU funds for a 19-seat tiltrotor, while Agusta and GKN Westland, which are in the process of merging, are also seeking funding for a com pound helicopter, which is a com peting technology. The EU is expected to decide next year. Agusta's 16-strong Erica team includes GKN Westland, ZF Luftfahrttechnik, Aermacchi, Gamesa, Israel Aircraft Industries, Saab and NLR of the Netherlands. The Italian manufacturer says it aims to use newly patented con cepts and technologies to take a quantum leap over tiltrotors devel oped in the USA by Bell Helicopter Textron, its partner in the nine-seat BA609 project. The design features outer wings that rotate along with the wingtip- mounted proprotors. Tilting the wing for vertical flight - first seen in the 1960s on the Canadair CL- 84andLTV-Ryan-HillerXC-142, and more recently in the Ishida Tiltwing - means the rotor's down- wash does not impinge on the hor izontal wing. Removing the wing's blocking effect increases thrust by about 12%, says Agusta. In turn, this allows a reduction in the size of the propeller/rotor which makes them more efficient, allowing a cruise speed of around 350kt (650km/h). Agusta says the aircraft will be able to take-off and land conven tionally, albeit with the wing tilted by 5°-7° so that the blades do not contact the runway. To aid pro peller tip clearance, Erica's wing will be mounted high above the fuselage and it will be fitted with a tall retractable undercarriage. The wing spar will be a carbon- composite tube housing the shafts that link the engines at the inboard end of the tilting wing panel with the tip-mounted propellers. Agusta says this simplifies the power transmission system. It will be certificated to perform single- engined take-offs and landings at maximum take-off weight. Erica will be a pressurised air frame, 16.6m (54.5ft) long, have a 20.4m wingspan over the rotors and be 6.5m high. Weight will be around lOt and the engines will be in the l,800kW(2,400shp)class.U NATS privatisation hits Scottish ATCC THE UK NATIONAL Air Traffic Services'(NATS) has abandoned plans to build its New Scottish Centre (NSC) as a private finance intiative project with the Lockheed Martin-led Sky Solution consortium in the wake of a gov ernment announcement that the air traffic control provider is to be partially privatised. The policy about-turn is likely to further delay construction of the Prestwick-based centre. The NSC, a vital part of NATS' strate gy requiring two main air traffic control centres (ATCC) for the UK, has already suffered a two- year delay and will not be opera tional until at least winter 2005/6. Despite the finance changes Sky Solutions, is still in line to get the contract, NATS confirms. Negotiations have been under way for several months on the revised contract. Lockheed Martin is also the contractor responsible for the much delayed Swanwick ATCC in southern England. 3 See Business, ¥25. 717 emerges as favourite for BA requirement MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON BRITISH AIRWAYS could be poised to boost the Boeing 717's flagging sales fortunes, with the twinjet emerging as front run ner for a requirement to purchase up to 40 of the 100-seaters. A request for proposals (RFP), covering 20 firm orders, plus up to 20 options, has been issued to Airbus Industrie, Boeing and British Aerospace, calling for the firmly ordered aircraft to be deliv ered over 12 months from the mid dle of next year. The airline seeks flexible financing terms for the air craft, with a short "walk-away" clause of as little as three months. BA also wants the winning bidder to take a large proportion of its 53 Boeing 757s in trade. The 100-seaters are being sought for BA's UK divisions - Manchester/Birmingham-based BA Regional and possibly EuroGatwick - which are about to receive the first of up to 59 Airbus A319/A320s.These divisions oper ate 737-200s, 300s and -400s (112- 140 seats), but the introduction of the larger Airbuses was expected to eliminate gradually 100-seaters from BAJS own fleet, with that size category being limited to the air line's franchise partners/divisions. t .,, "'"••.,. r—-i^~2 A BA 117 deal would provide Boeing with a blue chip client for the twinjet Industry observers suggest the emergence of an immediate requirement for a 100-seater rep resents yet another U-turn on BA's fleet strategy, as it fights to keep control of its capacity growth and focus on high yield passengers. With a large fleet of A3 20 family aircraft on order (188 orders and options), the 107-seat A318 deriva tive would seem the most sensible candidate, but the new model is not available until 2002. The consor tium would struggle to find 20 addi tional A319/A320 production slots for BA next year, while BAe is unlikely to want to get involved in a complex Avro RJ/757 trade-in deal, suggesting the 717 is favourite. The RFP is believed to be linked to BA's negotiations with Boeing for the sale of 75 7s for onward lease to DHL as freighters. The pro posed sale to Boeing of older 757s is believed to have been stalled by a difference of opinion about their value. Industry sources suggest the 717 requirement may have been engineered to push the 757 deal through. • """•., with find FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 August 1999 5
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
