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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1994.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION JOINT VENTURE VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW Law change may reopen i-38 door to Eurocopter Russian legislation could see helicopter manufacturer return to Euromil joint venture Kazan Helicopters and Mil are eager for Eurocopter to return to the Euromil fold after a Russian pro posal to allow foreigners to hold a 50% stake in Russian aerospace companies completed the first round of parliamentary hearings. In 2003, Eurocopter pulled out of the Euromil joint venture to pro duce the 30-seat Mi-38 twin-engin ed helicopter after nearly 10 years of work with its founding Russian part ners, because Russian legislation enacted in 1998 caps foreign owner ship at 25% and prohibits foreigners from performing executive and managerial functions. Eurocopter was also blocked from sharing intellectual property rights to the Mi-38 despite having helped design the cockpit and avionics. "After the Russian govern ment restricted the upper limit of the foreign share, Eurocopter handed over its 33.3% stake in Euromil to the other project partic ipants," says Kazan Helicopters gen eral director Aleksandr Lavrentiev. Eurocopter remains responsible for the helicopter's sale outside the former Soviet Union and continues working on Mi-38 avionics on a Eurocopter was forced to pull out of Euromil in 2003 after nearly 10 years contractual basis, Lavrentiev says. Conceived in the late 1980s, the Mi-38 acquired international status when Eurocopter accepted responsi bility for the cockpit and cabin inte rior and its Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 series powerplant. The engine has been developed under risk-sharing terms by the United Technologies-owned Pratt & Whitney-Rus design house in St Petersburg, based on a turboshaft variant of the turboprop. The aircraft will be available in 30-seat and 44-seat variants and priced between $12 million and $15 million. An executive version seating up to 16 passengers is under consideration, while a mili tary-transport variant is being eval uated by the Russian defence min istry and state-controlled arms company Rosoboronexport. Kazan says it plans to assemble 10-12 Mi-38s a year. Certification to CIS airworthiness requirement AP- 29 is planned for 2007, with first deliveries earmarked for the follow ing year. Sources close to the pro gramme say Kazan and Mil will proceed with Western certification only if Eurocopter returns. DEVELOPMENT KATE SARSFIELD / LONDON Symphony sounds out diesel 250 Symphony Aircraft Industries (SAI), the new owner of the Symphony line of high-wing piston singles, plans to offer a diesel-engine ver sion of the four-seat Symphony 250 with German company OMF Flugzeugwerke. The move comes as the Canadian aircraft developer establishes its dealership network and prepares the first aircraft, a two-seat Symphony 160, for roll out in December. Trois-Rivieres-based SAI has ear marked first deliveries of C$ 170,000 ($130,000) Symphony 160s for this year and plans to deliver up to 50 aircraft next year. "They will be a mix of avgas and diesel variants," says SAI president Paul Costanzo. The diesel version of the Symphony 160, called the 135D, is being devel oped by OMF Flugzeugwerke, which acquired the assets of OMF follow ing its bankruptcy and is responsible for assembling and marketing the Symphony line in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The 135D is powered by the Thielert Aircraft Engines Centurion 1.7 diesel-cycle engine and is earmarked for certifi cation next year, Costanzo says. "The prospects for diesel aircraft are good," Costanzo says. "If the market demands it, we will pro duce the aircraft in North America." Costanzo says it is early days for the diesel 250. "We have to evaluate the engines available, including the Centurion 4.0, but we are in no hurry," he says. SAI plans to certificate the avgas-pow- ered 250 in late 2006. Meanwhile, the company is final ising agreements with up to 20 deal ers, which will fall under the responsibility of its new subsidiary American Symphony. Costanzo says the Moline, Illinois-based offshoot has been formed to oversee market ing, sales, deliveries and after-sales support of the Symphony line. BE CHINA LOOKS WEST As a part of its plan to meet a need to double the present num ber of airline pilots within 10 years, China is to place some of its ab initio flightcrew training abroad. The Civil Aviation University of China (CAUC) has signed a partnership agreement with Lufthansa Flight Training's InterCockpit to expand its pilot- training capacity, and the first CAUC students will arrive in Frankfurt, Germany in "mid- 2005", says InterCockpit. CAP IMAGING The US Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a civilian auxiliary of the US Air Force, is to operate 15 Gipps- land GA-8 Airvans for search and rescue missions equipped with a new hyperspectral imag ing system. Designed by Space Commuter, the system can detect objects from the air more reliably than comparable sys tems. The equipment detects man-made and other objects including vehicles, aircraft debris, oil spills and marijuana while flying over areas of inter est. Portable ground stations will allow operators to review recorded imagery. The CAP per forms 95% of US inland search and rescue missions covering homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions. SPECIAL DIVISION Raytheon Aircraft has formed a standalone organisation dedi cated to existing and prospective special missions markets. "The primary focus of this organisation will be to ensure we provide our special mission customers seam less interaction with our four distinct businesses - Beechcraft, Hawker, Customer Support and Government Business," says Raytheon chief executive Jim Schuster HOLDING COMPANY Hartzell Propeller has estab lished a parent company, Charter Aerospace Partners, to act as a holding company for Hartzell and provide a vehicle for other aero space acquisitions. Charter Aerospace Partners has at the same time acquired non-metallic tube specialist Industrial Tube of Penis, California. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12-18 OCTOBER 2004 27
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