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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0989.PDF
BUSINESS AVIATION DEVELOPMENT GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC Saf ire to offer larger all-metal jet Manufacturer drops S-26 design and aims to fly twin-engined aircraft early next year, leading to certification in 2005 Satire Aircraft has dropped its S-26 personal jet design in favour of a larger, all-metal aircraft. The redesigned Safire Personal Jet is to be assembled at Miami's Opa Locka Airport using airframe subassem blies supplied by US subcontrac tors. First flight is scheduled for the first quarter of next year, leading to certification by the end of 2005 and first deliveries early in 2006. Safire had previously announced selection of the l,1001b-thrust (5kN) Williams International FJ33- 4 to power the twinjet. It has since selected Avidyne to supply the avionics and Castle Precision to provide the landing gear. The com pany has also unveiled new prices: $1.3 million for deposit holders and $1.4 million for new orders. The holders of more than 720 existing deposits will not be required to make additional pay ments until the first aircraft has completed lOh of flight testing, says chief executive Camilo Salomon. Satire's Swiss backers have agreed to fund the programme to begin ning of flight testing, when the company will use additional pay ments from deposit holders to take the aircraft through to certification. Local and state authorities have agreed to provide incentives in return for locating the assembly plant at Opa Locka, and will issue municipal bonds to guarantee con struction of the factory. Salomon says he is negotiating with a developer and investor that will build a turnkey facility, includ ing tooling and equipment, that will then be leased to Safire. "This will reduce our equity requirement, and the [investment] risk will be the municipality and not Safire," he says. Safire plans to build 90 air craft in 2006, the first year of pro duction, 220 in 2007, 440 in 2008 and 880 in 2009. Salomon says Safire has received a "massive positive" response from deposit holders to the design changes. The majority of buyers are owner-pilots, and the company is now launching a marketing drive aimed at fleet customers interested in using the aircraft for air taxi operations. DELIVERY Myasishchev poised for first M-101 handover The Myasishchev Experimental Machinery Building Plant plans to deliver the first M-101T Gzhel sin- gle-engined turboprop by July - seven months after the six-seat air craft received Russian AP-23 type certification and more than 10 years after the programme was launched. A total of eight Gzhels are scheduled for delivery this year, says the company. The six-seat Gzhel is powered by a 560kW (750hp) Walter M601F turboshaft and is priced at about $1.3 million. DEVELOPMENT Kevlar drive belts ditched High Performance Aircraft (HPA) has ditched the use of Kevlar propulsion drive belts in its TT62 long-range turboprop pusher business aircraft to avoid lengthy certification delays. The Rostock, Germany-based com pany has changed the design of its strut-mounted propellers to rigid transmission. HPA decided that belt slackness issues and unfamiliarity with the technology would lead to delays in certifica tion, set for the end of 2005. DELIVERIES Business jet shipments take another nosedive The depth of the downturn in busi ness aviation has become apparent with the release of figures that show business jet deliveries fell 42% in the first quarter. Overall, worldwide shipments of general aviation air craft fell 16.4% in the first three months of the year, to 444 units, says the General Aviation Manu facturers Association (GAMA). First quarter shipments of pis ton-powered aircraft were stable at 315 units, while turboprop deliver ies declined 32.6% to 31 aircraft. Only 98 business jets were deliv ered in the first quarter, down from 196 in the first quarter of last year. Contributing to the decline was Bombardier's decision to book Learjet sales on delivery of com pleted, rather than green, aircraft, which meant no shipments were recorded for the first quarter. Piston shipments were propped up by the continued ramp-up in production at Cirrus Design, which delivered 90 SR20/22s in the first quarter, compared with 60 a year earlier. Production increased slightly at Cessna, Mooney and OMF, and Australia's Gippsland was included in GAMA's totals for the first time. New Piper delivered fewer pistons, and expects to produce between 200 and 250 aircraft this year - down from 290 in 2002. Raytheon shipped four King Airs in the first quarter, compared with 12 a year earlier. The company is forecasting deliveries of 69 turbo- props this year, up slightly from 2002. Turboprop shipments were down slightly at Cessna, EADS Socata, Piaggio, Pilatus and Piper. Learjet shipments aside, Bom bardier's business jet shipments fell to 11 aircraft in the first quarter, from 19 a year earlier. The com pany is expected to deliver about 70 aircraft this year, down from 108 in 2002. Cessna Citation deliv eries fell from 60 to 49, and the company expects to deliver 195 business jets this year, down from 305 in 2002. The biggest reduction is due to cancellations by frac tional-ownership operator Netjets. Dassault Falcon shipments dropped from 17 to eight. Gulfstream first quarter deliver ies slid to 15 from 27 a year earlier. It expects to produce 75 aircraft this year, down from 85 in 2002. Raytheon has removed 14 Hawker 800XPS for Netjets from its back log. First quarter business jet ship ments were down to 14 from 20 a year earlier. 24 6-12 MAY 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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