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Aviation History
2000
2000-1 - 1408.PDF
NBA A SHOW MFf»Oft/ Attendance was up, but could not seem to keep pace with the relentless expansion of the exhibit space at the National Business Aviation Associ ation convention held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 10-12 October. One or two surprises marked an event which has grown to be the world's biggest civil aviation show REPORTS BY PAUL LEWIS, GUY NORRIS, CAROL REED, KATE SARSFIELD AND GRAHAM WARWICK. PHOTOGRAPHY BY COBURN DUKEHEART Raytheon launches light' Hawker in product revamp RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT has launched development of a "light mid-sized" business jet as part of a strategy to revamp and expand its product line. The new Hawker 450 will com pete head on with the Bombardier Learjet 45 and Cessna Citation Excel in what chief executive Hansel Tookes describes as "the second fastest growing market after the super mid-size". By the end of the show, die com pany had sold "over 100" aircraft, including 50 orders and 25 options from its Raytheon Travel Air frac tional-ownership subsidiary. Powered by twin Honeywell TFE731-40 turbofans, the Hawker 450 will exploit the com posite fuselage technology pio neered in Raytheon's soon-to-be certificated Premier I light jet and used in the super mid-size Hawker Horizon now in development. Tookes says the $7.8-9 million aircraft will have the largest cabin (1.8m/5.9ft high), longest range (over 3,700km/2,OOOnm) and highest speed (above Mach 0.8) in its class. Honeywell is a risk-shar ing partner, supplying the engines and Primus Epic avionics, and Raytheon is looking for other par ticipants, he says. The Hawker 450 will not enter service until 2006, which Tookes says is "a do-able schedule based on experience". The Premier and Horizon programmes have slipped substantially from their original "aggressive" schedules. The Hawker 450 fits between Raytheon's light Beechjet 400A and mid-size Hawker 800XP. Tooks says the 400A will remain in production as long as there is demand, while the 800XP will receive an avionics upgrade this year and a performance boost next year. Tooks says the Hawker 450 is part of a strategy for a "complete family of composite fuselage air craft" endorsed by Raytheon's board just before the show. "I want to have two new aircraft ongoing at all times," he says. Raytheon chose to launch a new light mid-size jet instead of a stretched Premier II, which Tooks says remains "in the future" as a Beechjet 400A replacement, due to the segment's popularity. Rival Cessna has sold almost 300 Excels and is raising production from 60 to 100 a year by 2002. Q The Hawker 450 is aimed at 'the second fastest growing viarket" P&WC starts up next-generation PW600 turbofan PRATT & Whitney Canada (P&WC) is starting work on a full-scale demonstrator of its next- generation general aviation turbo- fan, now called the PW600F, and plans to run the first full-up engine in die fourth quarter of 2001. The demonstrator core will pro vide the basis for a new family of turbofans and turboprops which will replace die company's current JT15D and smaller PT6 versions, as well as open up new territory in the smaller, 1,0001b (4.45kN)- dirust bracket. The programme is expected to produce three main turbofan ver sions in the 1,000-1,2001b, 1,500- 1,8001b and 2,200-2,5001b thrust brackets, as well as a PW600P turboprop family covering the 370-1500kW (500-2,OOOshp) range. The initial application is expected to be aimed at the 450-670kW bracket. The programme is based on two main cores, one scaled up from the other. The larger core, supporting the 2,200-2,50011) thrust PW600F, will run first and is expected to make its first flight as a complete engine on P&WC's Boeing 720 testbed in the second quarter of 2002. Rig testing on some critical PW600 components has already been completed. Although no specific launch applications have been identified, president Grilles Ouimet says: "We are discussing it with several poten tial users, some of them more unconventional than others. We are hopeful of launching this as a full development programme later this year with at least one of them." • Ontario, Canada-based T-G Aviation has completed the first flight test phase of its Super Cheyenne conversion for Piper Cheyenne I and lis, using P&WC PT6A-13 5 A turboprops. T-G says the re-engined Super Cheyenne II has a cruise speed of more than 290kt (540km/h plus a climb rate of 5,000ft/min (25m/s) at lower altitude. The company says fuel efficiency is also 6% better in tests to date. The PT6A-13 5 has a 3,600h time between overhaul.• 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 17 - 23 October 2000
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