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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2582.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION AIRPORTS KATE SARSFIELD / LONDON Greeks plead for wider GA access Aircraft owners and pilots association calls for former Athens international airport to be reopened for general aviation The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Greece (AOPA Hellas) is calling on the country's government to reopen a general aviation (GA) airport in Athens and expand general aviation access throughout the country. AOPA Hellas president Yiouli Kalafati says the association's key concern is the lack of GA provision in Athens, home to more than half of the country's owner-flyers. "GA was left homeless following the clo sure of two perfectly good airports, DEVELOPMENT Grob slows Grob Aerospace is slowing develop ment of its G140TP four-seat high- performance light turboprop until it can secure a significant launch order. The German company, based in Tussenhausen-Mattsies outside Mindelheim, says it has not begun taking orders for the Rolls-Royce 250-B17F-powered aircraft, even though the first prototype has com pleted about 200 flight test hours. "We have spoken to a number of potential customers who are very interested in the G140, but not yet ready to commit," says Grob sales director Hans Doll. "We are looking for a fleet cus tomer to order around 10 aircraft - a year's worth of production." Grob plans to complete certification late next year, about 18 months later than originally planned. "Like the rest of our training air craft family, the G140 is not an off- the-shelf product," says Doll. The aircraft is tailored to customers' to cater for sport facilities for this year's Olympic Games," she says. Marathon airport, 42km (26 miles) from Athens, was shut to create a linear water park for Olym pic rowing events, while the capi tal's former international airport, Hellinikon, was converted into Olympic venues and a tram system has been built across the end of one runway. "There is still 1,600m [5,300ft] of runway untouched and unused at Hellinikon - perfect for GA," says Kalafati. "Not only that, the tower is still in place, and Athens' air traf fic control radar facility is still housed there." Kalafti suggests that although some government officials are receptive to the idea of reopening Hellinikon for GA, they face local pressure to turn the seaside loca tion into a park. "The government could open Hellinkon again - it is only a matter of will," she says. Meanwhile, pilots are given spo radic use of a military airfield 135km north of the capital. "But this is only available to Athens resi dents," says Kalafti. "Visitors are forced to use civilian and military airfields even further away." Many of these civilian airports are open only when an airline flight is scheduled, "which in some cases is only for an hour a day", she adds. At military airfields, meanwhile, pilots have to provide four days' notice with the exact time of arrival and names of passengers, to be allowed access. SMART BELL Bell Helicopter has introduced the Fly Smart membership programme in a bid to help cus tomers manage operating costs, initially by providing fixed monthly parts costs based on flight hours. SKYLANE ADDED The University of Cincinnati avi ation technology programme has added a Garmin G1000- equipped Cessna 182 Skylane to its training fleet. 100TH SQUIRREL Eurocopter has delivered the 100th EC130B4 to Sonoma County California-based wine specialist Kendall-Jackson Wines Estates. The helicopter is to be used for executive and cargo transport, touring and aer ial surveillance. REPAIR REVAMP French engine manufacturer Turbomeca has revamped its South African maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. The move is part of the company's strategy to expand and upgrade its bases worldwide and provide services close to its customers. Turbomeca Africa is the largest of the 14 Turbomeca sites, in terms of manpower, after its French sites in Bordes and Tarnos. SECURITY Total's Schweizers to monitor UK gas pipelines UK engineering and training com- from UK gas company Transco. dollar deal is designed to protect the pany Total Air Management The Sheffield-based company UK's 275,000km (170,000 miles) of Services (TAMS) has acquired four leases aircraft and provides heli- gas pipeline from damage, says Schweizer 333 light turbine heli- copter pilots, along with engineer- TAMS. The first helicopter will be copters that will be used from early ing, technical and training services, delivered by Elmira, New York-based next year to patrol the country's gas to a range of utility companies and Schweizer in January. The remain- pipelines in support of a recently public bodies, including South ing aircraft are scheduled to enter awarded eight-year contract Yorkshire Police. The multi-million- service before June. G140 as it hunts orders Grob is searching for a significant order to launch its four-seat G140TP requirements, including civilian and military training schools that have a requirement for aerobatic and upset recovery training, as well as owner-flyers. "We don't have the resources to concentrate [full time] on two programmes. Our focus is now to bring the G160 Ranger sin gle-engine business turboprop to market. The first prototype has completed 40h of flight testing and a second aircraft is due to join the programme early next year. Certifi cation of the €2.3 million ($3 mil lion) aircraft is set for the fourth quarter next year. ?r t r pipeline fro . Th y lease copte ing , t d publi h Yorkshir dollar deal is designe t protect the UK' ga TAMS delivere Schweize in service befor . www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7-13 DECEMBER 2004 27
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