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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0151.PDF
BUSINESS & GENERAL AVIATION DEVELOPMENT PAUL PHELAN / CAIRNS Wing-in-ground-effect craft enters production Fliqhtship Dragon Commuter design frozen after successful completion of sea trials Cairns, Australia-based wing-in- ground-effect (WIGE) craft manu facturer Flightship Ground Effect has completed sea trials of its all- composite, single-engined FS8 Dragon Commuter and launched production after freezing the type's aerodynamic and structural design. The FS8 is powered by a General Motors 33SkW (450hp) V8 auto mobile engine driving two pro pellers through a gearbox to pro vide airflow over its twin rudders. Initial orders are held from buyers in Canada, the Maldives, the Middle East, Spain and Thailand and some customers may opt to equip their aircraft with forward-looking infra red night vision equipment such as Raytheon's 4000B system, which is still undergoing certification for the WIGE application. The nominally eight-seat FS8 is now being marketed as a 10-seat transport with only minor rework ing, having demonstrated signifi cantly better than expected perfor mance in flight trials. Flightship's aerodynamics are based around an all-composite "reverse delta" wing with a hori zontal inboard section and about 15° of anhedral on its main outer section. The company is jointly owned by four Singaporean businessmen and Australian managing director John Leslie, who together have invested over A$ll million ($6.5 million) in the venture. The FS8 and later variants will be certificated under International Maritime Organisation (IMO) rules, which designate it as a Type A ground-effect craft - defined as capable of operating only in ground effect and incapable of free flight. The FS8 is currently approved for daylight operation only with a min imum crew of one helmsman and one navigator/engineer. The vehicle cruises at 85kt (160km/h) at a height of 6.6ft (2m) above the surface, with a maxi mum height of 10ft. The craft is capable of overflying sandbars, beaches and coral reefs, providing direct point-to-point capability in most projected roles. Waterborne propulsion for taxi ing, mooring and low-speed manoeuvring is provided by retractable hydraulic thrusters in the wingtip floats. Although commercially viable in its own right, the FS8 has also served as a proof of concept for the planned twin-turboprop Dragon Clipper variant, which would have a 21,000kg (46,2501b) take-off weight and capacity for 40 passengers. REPLICA AIRCRAFT Me 262 damaged in test landing The first flyable replica Messer- schmidt Me 262 has been damaged in a landing incident at the end of its second test flight. Project engi neers are assessing damage caused by the collapse of the left main landing gear and are yet to deter mine if the 18 January incident will delay delivery of the first aircraft, planned for next month. Test pilot Wolf Czaia was uninjured. "We are assessing the repairs that may be required to resume test ing," says Everett, Washington- based Me 262 Project. The replica Me 262 had a suc cessful first flight on 20 December. Me 262 Project must complete lOh flight testing to gain US Federal Aviation Administration approval under the "experimental exhibi tion" category. The flyable replica of the world's first operational jet fighter is pat terned on an original Me 262 that was restored in 2000, and is authentic apart from its General Electric J85 turbojets in place of the original Jumo 004s. Five replicas are being built, priced around $2 million apiece, excluding engines. Three are unsold. The first aircraft, a two- seater, will be delivered to a cus tomer in Phoenix, Arizona. The second will be delivered to the Messerschmidt Foundation in Munich, Germany, early next year. The third replica will be a single- seater; the second and fourth are convertible between single- and two-seat configuration. Only eight of over 1,400 Me 262s built survive, and none are flyable, says Me 262 Project partner Jim Byron. The replica Me 262 had a successful first flight on 20 December ENGINES Lycoming begins drive to replace crankshafts Lycoming and its service centres have begun installing replace ment crankshafts in turbocharged piston engines affected by airworthiness direc tives that have grounded hundreds of aircraft. Final certification for produc tion of the new crankshafts was received earlier this month and the company hopes to have all 950 affected TIO-540-series engines repaired by early in the second quarter. Production and testing processes have been improved to eliminate the weakened "honeycomb" grain structure blamed for a series of crankshaft failures (Flight International, 12- 18 November 2002). Embrittlement is believed to have resulted from overheating during treatment after forging. Lycoming's supplier has switched to press forging of all crankshafts, with auto mated induction heating and temperature monitoring at the furnace exit. All replacement crankshafts undergo impact testing and scanning electron microscope analysis. Training, work instruc tions and quality audits have all been improved, says Lycoming. More than 600 replacement crankshafts have already been produced on a "risk-release basis" that allowed production to begin ahead of certification. Lycoming and 15 authorised repair centres worldwide are planning to install the replace ment crankshafts at a rate of 20-30 engines a day to get the grounded aircraft fleet back in the air by early in the second quarter. Lycoming parent company Textron last year took a $37 mil lion charge to cover production of replacement crankshafts, shipping, tearing down and rebuilding the engines, and pay ing for alternative transport for owners of grounded aircraft. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 28 JANUARY - 3 FEBRUARY 2003 21
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