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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 0340.PDF
•mmmMMAL AVIATION NEWS IN BRIEF • BELL 427 CERTIFICATION Bell received US certification for the light twin-turbine Model 427 late last month, clearing the way for delivery of 80 helicopters the compa ny has on order. In the mean time, Bell "is still looking at the 412, trying to decide what to upgrade and modernise", says Bell president John Murphy. • SCHWEIZER BOOST Schweizer Aircraft hopes that the delivery in April of its first three/four-seat Model 333 will help boost deliveries, which slumped to 40 330s, 300Cs and 300CBs last year. The Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C20W-powered heli copter offers a 90kg (2001b) increase in useful payload over the 330. LoPresti gets Fury design rights KATE SARSFIELD/LONDON Till'. SWIFT xMUSEUM Foundation, owner of the Globe Swift light aircraft type cer tificate, has granted intellectual rights to LoPresti for the Swift- based Fury design. The move clears the way for LoPresti, based at Vero Beach, Florida, to begin certificating its all-metal two-seat side-by-side piston single. The move draws to an end a hitter two-year battle between the two entities over the ownership rights to the Fury design, although a separate out standing dispute between LoPresti and Swift licence owner Aviat Aircraft is still blazing. "We have signed a formal agree ment with the Swift Museum, say ing that LoPresti is the sole owner of the modifications designed and developed by our team for the The hold of the A400M is higher and wider than the aircraft it will replace. It can carry all outsize loads specified by the European Staff Requirement. This includes two fully equipped attack helicopters with only minimal dismantling. THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR EUROPE <fr... A400M AIRBUS MILITARY www.aitbusmilitary.com Fury. We have agreed not to use the Swift name in promotional mater ial," says LoPresti managing direc tor Roy LoPresti. The LoPresti Fury has had a chequered history. The aircraft, originally the SwiftFury and based on die 1946 Globe Aircraft design, was developed under licence by LoPresti Piper, which spent more than S7 million on "improvement, flight testing and design work". When Piper went bankrupt in 1991, it withdrew support for the SwiftFury, leaving LoPresti with insufficient funds to extend the Globe Swift licence. It was trans ferred to Aviat, and the aircraft, which is still being developed, was renamed the Millennium Swift. "The final resolution of the SwiftFury programme ownership languished for several years al though LoPresti has continued to fund and direct its development. Now the dust has settled, we hope to secure the remaining investment by March to fund the programme through certification and first deliveries [planned for late 20011," adds LoPresti. The company plans to claw back the bulk of the early 1990s 569 aircraft orderbook. The 10-month legal dispute between Aviat, based in Afton, Wyoming, and LoPresti contin ues, with Aviat accusing its com petitor of violating trademark and "trade dress" laws. Aviat is object ing to the physical form of the Fur)', believing that it will create market confusion with Aviat's Swift. LoPresti, meanwhile, has responded with a counter lawsuit alleging that Aviat "illegally appro priated design data and parts" from the original LoPresti Piper Swift Fury design for its 13 5kW (180hp) Millennium Swift (Flight Inter national, 7-13 July, 1999). • FAA snag sparked Premier revamp RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT says a "communication" prob lem with the US Federal Aviation Administration led to the need to redesign the flight control system on the Premier I business jet. The redesign late in the devel opment programme will delay cer tification to the end of June (Flight International, 1-7 February, P31). Premier I programme manager Duncan Koerbel says the jet was designed to minimise the hazard posed by engine rotor burst, "but we got tangled up [with the FAA] in the definition of'minimise'." While the FAA agreed with the system redundancy provided, he Says, the certification authority felt there were better locations for the hydraulic system reservoir and the flight-control cable runs to the ele vator and rudder. As a result, Raytheon has relo cated the reservoir, which was between the engines, to the for ward part of the baggage compart ment. The control cables tor the rudder, meanwhile, have been re routed away from those for the ele vator. Electric trim provides back-up redundancy for both con trol surfaces, Koerbel says. Redesigned parts are being made. Three aircraft are in flight test, but the fourth - for function and reliability tests - will stay on the ground until new parts are fitted. J AASI poised for Jetcruzer 500 production ADVANCED Aerodynamics and Structures (AASI) has acquired the final critical machin ery needed for full-scale produc tion of its Jetcruzer 500 turboprop, slated to begin later this quarter. The equipment includes a I50t (330,4001b) hydro press system to mass-produce parts, a three-axis milling machine and high-preci sion measuring equipment. Long Beach, California-based AASI is performing maximum cruise speed tests on the six-seat Pratt & Whitney PT6A-66A- powered single, for which it has chalked up more than 180 orders, valued at S220 million. Cert ification and first deliveries are planned for late this year. • 38 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 February 2000
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