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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1487.PDF
HEADLINES AIR TRANSPORT MAX KINGSLEY-JONES / LONDON Court deals Hamburg A380 blow Ruling blocks Airbus plan to extend Finkenwerder's runway to cater for customer-proving flights of heavy variants Airbus is "reviewing its options" following last week's German court ruling blocking a planned runway extension at its Hamburg Finkenwerder plant. The longer runway is required to allow the plant to handle heavier derivatives of the A380, beginning with the -800 Freighter, which is due to enter service in 2008. Finkenwerder will perform cus tomisation of all A380s, and han dle the delivery process for aircraft destined for European and Middle FLIGHT Finkenwerder needs its runway extended to handle the A380 Freighter East customers. Having already completed a 360m (1,180ft) north easterly runway extension towards the River Elbe to cater for the base line A380-800, the company has been preparing to implement a 590m extension to the south west that will increase runway length to 3,270m. "This will enable us to operate customer proving flights with the A380 freighter at maxi mum take-off weight," says Airbus. This second extension requires the demolition of 10 properties in the nearby village of Neuenfelde. Although the project had already received the green light from local authorities, Hamburg's higher administrative court last week sided with the owners of the properties, ruling that their potential personal suffering did not justify the indus trial benefits of extending the run way. The ruling followed an earlier lower court injunction against the construction plan in June. The first A380-8O0F does not fly until 2007, but the decision has had an immediate impact as Airbus had planned to undertake key ground work for the extension this month while the runway is closed for the holiday period. "As production is ramping up, the runway will not be closed again so we have no further opportunities," says Airbus. Although the latest decision is not final, it does prevent any work being undertaken on the extension and a final ruling may take several years. "We are analysing our judi cial options, and will publish a solution as soon as we have one," says Airbus. DEFENCE STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC USIOI team installs uprated General Electric powerplant The Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland/Bell Helicopter US101 team has installed uprated engines and is preparing for flight tests several months in advance of a delayed downselect decision on the USA's next presidential helicopter fleet. Both the Sikorksy VH-92 and Lockheed Martin US101 teams have selected the improved General Electric CT7-8E for the competition, but the Lockheed Martin-led team is claiming its early integration strategy will provide a critical advantage. Sikorsky confirms it has no plans to upgrade from the CT7-8A powerplant until well into the VXX development phase following con tract award expected by end-year. Earlier this month, Canada selected the H-92 for its Maritime Helicopter Programme, but the order calls for the baseline CT7-8A engine. The US Navy stalled the VXX programme on the eve of a planned contract award in late March ostensibly because of concerns with technology readiness, although the delay removes the politically sensitive competition from the limelight until after the US presiden tial election is held in early November. In the meantime, the navy has directed both competitors to focus on risk-reduction efforts. John Young, assistant secretary of the navy for acquisition, technology and logistics, has named engine maturity as one of the service's top concerns ahead of a contract award. The Sikorsky VH-92 team is now conducting a nationwide public ity tour of its aircraft, showcasing the two-engine aircraft at naval bases and the facilities of its suppliers. The triple-turbine US101 team is expected to counter the Sikorsky group's effort later this year, perhaps with the aircraft equipped with the uprated CT7-8E engines. DEFENCE PETER LA FRANCHI / ANAHEIM Vigilante 502s to hunt for weapons in Iraq The US Army is to deploy an undis closed number of Science Applications International (SAIC) Vigilante 502 vertical take off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehi cles equipped with nuclear and chemical agent detection systems to Iraq within the next three months. The VTOL UAVs will be equipped with radiation detectors supplied by SAIC's Canadian sub sidiary Exploranium GS, a chemi cal agent detector, and an L3 Wescam 12DS200 turret-mounted electro-optic EO sensor. The first production air vehicle for the programme is in the final stages of flight testing at the army's Aberdeen, Maryland proving ground. SAIC officials at the Association for Unmanned Systems International's Unmanned Systems North America show at Anaheim, California earlier this month said that the multi-air vehicle order was placed by the US Army late in 2003. The UAVs will be used to per form very low-level, wide-area sur vey work, which is now performed by US Army Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters. The surveys entail fly ing at under 500ft (150m) and at speeds of below 20kt (37km/h), with manned helicopters highly vulnerable in this flight profile. The UAVs will support the ongo ing search for hidden Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, as well as radia tion source material looted from secure storage areas by civilians. SAIC says the radiation detector will be used to localise emitting sources with the EO sensor to pro vide visual identification of the sus pect site. The chemical agent detec tor will primarily be used to monitor the UAV airframe for cont aminants that could harm its ground-handling crew. Vigilante 502 is based on the Ultrasport 496 sports helicopter. Initial versions of the UAV were developed in response to the US Navy's VTOL tactical UAV require ment won by Northrop Grumman with its RQ-8 Fire Scout UAV. 4 17-23 AUGUST 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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