Newsdesk – General Aviation

New South Wales is the major centre for general aviation flying with operators based in that State flying 31% of all general aviation hours and recording 36% of all landings.

 1981 GA Market Projections:

The US general aviation industry is projecting its first three billion dollar year for 1981 1980 bil- lings reached $2. 5bn with deliveries of 12,000 aircraft. The current year’s production is expected to largely remain static while inflation will largely be responsible for the higher earnings. Stars of the GA scene are of course the high-flying corporate turboprops and jets that have boomed in recent years as companies realise the investment merits of such purchases. As an example, Cessna delivered 42 Citation and 102 Citation Ils in 1980. At the opposite end of the turbofan market, Gulfstream American delivered 20 of the new GIII. Gates Learjet delivered 120 Model 20 and 30 aircraft in 1980 and Is now gearing up for more sales success with the new Model 50 Longhorn, five of which are destined for Australia via Stillwell Aviation. The Canadians have not been left napping and Canadair is planning deliveries of no less than 58 of the wide-bodied Challenger jets for 1980. The monthly production rate is now five aircraft while more than three-quarters of Challenger sales head south of the border to the USA. Mitsubishi is expected to produce 40 examples of the Diamond I in 1980 and a further 100 in 1982. IAI will this year produce 47 Westwindjets as against 35 In 1980, the bulk of these aircraft are destined for North America though Australia is also a strong market for the Westwind which is distributed locally by Schutt Aviation. British Aerospace reports continuing strong demand for their BAe 125-700 and will be producing 36 such aircraft for 1981, this aircraft is now represented in Australia by H. C. Sleigh Aviation of Essendon. Falcon Jet, represented locally by Hawker Pacific, report strong sales of the Falcon 10, 20 and 50 family. 1980 production figures for the major US general aviation companies were; Cessna 6,393, Piper 2,954, Beech 1,394, Swearingen 86, Mooney 332, Gulfstream American 167, Gates Learjet 120, Bellanca 103 and Ayres 44.

Bankstown And Moorabbin Down:

Bankstown handled 305,770 aircraft movements during 1980 – a drop of 9. 7% while movements at Moorabb1n fell even further by 11. 5% to 289,333. Bankstown officials were more bullish about the level of activity claiming the figures would have been a lot higher but for problems of fuel availability and price and a fuel handling demarcation dispute at the airport. Moorabbin officials were more pessimistic, citing the same fuel problems, a bad winter and slackness in private flying training as the main reasons for the fall-off in movements.

A noteworthy development at Bankstown was the big increase in helicopter movements. There were 23,880 during 1980, a 17% jump on 1979. Bankstown officials say it’s been due largely to increased training

 Piper Takes Action:

Piper distributors, Ansett General Aviation, have taken action under the Trade Marks Actto stop independent dealers from importing Piper aircraft and spares for local sale This follows an identical move by the Cessna agents, Rex Aviation The move involved the Piper Corporation in the US registering the Piper trade mark under the Act and giving AGA the right to it in Australia. This means that no one can import any Piper aircraft or spare parts without AGA’s approval. AGA’s general manager, Ken Holt, said that the move was “designed to protect AGA’s multi-million dollar investment in the industry and our trading rights under the franchise we hold from Piper. ” A large number of Australian companies holding local sales franchises for overseas manufactured products have taken similar action under the Act in recent years.

Littoral Surveillance Contracts:

H. C. Sleigh Aviation Limited have been awarded contracts transport Australia for the operation of the Littoral (close to shore) Surveillance covering the majority of Australia’s northern coastline.

The contracts require two aircraft each to be operated from Derby in Western Australia, Gove in the Northern Territory, Bamaga in Northern Queensland and one aircraft to operate from Normanton in North-Western Queensland.

The Aero Commander Shrike aircraft will carry out daily surveillance from Karratha to Bigge Island on the North-Western coast and from Milling1mb1 to Cape Grenville in the far north of Australia.

Some thirteen pilots and twenty-one observers will be involved in the operation, which will involve over 11,000 flying hours per year.

H. C. Sleigh Aviation Limited also operates three specially equipped Nomad Searchmaster ‘L’ aircraft for the Bureau of Customs, out of Port Hedland, Darwin and Townsville.

Interair Appointed Partenavia & Mitsubishi Distributors:

A new company, literary, has now entered the Australian general aviation scene, principally to handle the Partenavia & Mitsubishi range of aircraft In the Australian region.

The company is located at EssendonAirport, and staffed by personnel with a great depth of general aviation experience.

lnterair sees a bright future for the Partenavia range of light-medium twin-engined aircraft in their region. With the quality of construction, economy of operation and most importantly price, the aircraft will continue to have considerable appeal.

The Mitsubishi range incorporates the MU-2 Marquise 11-seat turbo-prop and the smaller 9-seat Solitaire.

Two Marquise aircraft have been sold and are already in Australia. In addition to a Solitaire (the fastest turboprop in the world) which arrived in mid-April.

lnterair are also distributors for the Diamond 1, a new corporate jet aircraft, currently undergoing FAA certification. There are firmed-up orders for 82 of these aircraft worldwide, and Literary expects their Diamond demonstrator to arrive in September 1981.

A Wider Hughes:

In the age of the ‘stretch’, Hughes Helicopters have created a first by increasing the volumetric efficiency of their established 500 families by virtually cutting the design down the centre and inserting a 15-in Wide plug. The new helo designated the Model. 600X will be flying next year and Hughes claims that the new ‘wide body’ design will increase the endurance of the new model by more than 50% over the Model 500. The helo market is certainly booming, so much so that Bell, the perennial market leader of the rotary wing world announced earlier this year that they had produced more than 25,000 helicopters.

General Aviation Continues Massive Growth:

A whole series of statistics has recently been released all of which point to the remarkable growth that General Aviation has undergone in the last five years. Amongst the interesting information that has become available from the Department of Transport has been-

• Australian General Aviation commuter operators have carried in excess of 600,000 passengers in the last 12 months.

• There has been an increase of 2,000 in the number of General Aviation aircraft registered in Australia over the past five years, and

• The number of pilots registered has grown from 33,000 in 1975 to in excess of 50,000 in 1980

Australian Orders Give Beech King Airs Record Month:

With three Beech King Air Turboprop aircraft delivered to Australian and Asian distributors, Hawker Pacific, have lifted total King Air deliveries by Beech Aircraft Corporation to 50 for the month of March.

This is an all time record. The previous highest number of deliveries in one month was 43 in April, 1980.

Hawker Pacific’s Beechcraftmanager, David Bell, said the. three aircraft delivered to its Sydney plant included a Super King Air 200, which had been sold already to Jet Charter Airlines of Sydney for general-purpose charter work.

The other aircraft were a Super King Air 200, fitted with a 52-inch-wide cargo door and the second King Air F90 to arrive in the country.

The first F90 was sold earlier this year to the Sydney-based Murrumbo Pastoral Company as a business aircraft.

IAI Launch The Astra:

Israel Aircraft Industries have launched a companion to the successful Westwind corporate jet Named Astra, the new aircraft will be slightly more than The Westwind II and will compete directly with the Cessna Citation Ill and Gates LearJet 55 models. The Astra will feature a slightly larger. cabin than the Westwind and will be optimised to cruise at Mach 0. 80 which IAI claim will shave a full hour off a typical 2,000nm Astra flight as against one of its competitors. An engineering mockup of the Astra will be ready this winter while prototype rollout will occur late in 1983 with the first customer deliveries being effected no later than 1985. Westwinds have already paved the way for a strong potential market for the new corporate jet with booming sales for the former which will remain in production indefinitely. In 1980 IAI sold 72 Westwinds as against 41 in 1979. A major achievement when considered that the rich Middle East market is naturally taboo for IAI. The Westwind is marketed in Australia by Schutt Aviation who have in the past three years delivered five 1124s for the local market

GA Getting Stronger:

As the international pacesetter in General Aviation, trends originating in the USA always filter through to Australia with assured regularity. Hence it is indeed refreshing to read through an authoritative analysis of the next five years that does provide much to smile about. The analysis was conducted by the prestigious Battelle Columbus Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio and deals specifically with the growth in GA in the USA from 1980 through to 1985. One of the most interesting conclusions Is that single-engine airplanes will continue to be a dominant type, increasing their number from more than 178,000 to more than 278,000 in the next five years. Multi-engine piston models will jump from 29,000 to 49,000 – a 70 per cent increase.

Contrary to uninformed opinion, the Battelle study indicates singles and piston multis will actually increase their share of the total aircraft population from 90. 9 per cent to 91. 6 percent.

Turboprops, jets and helicopters, meanwhile will hold their own in market share of total aircraft. It has been predicted the total number of aircraft will jump 56 per cent, from 228,000 to 357,600.

The Battelle study indicates a slight reduction in pleasure flying by 1985, but “personal” aviation, including flight proficiency and cross country flying for non-business purposes, will still comprise the largest single share-more than 40 percent.

Business flying will score the greatest increase by 1985. In 1980, business use of aircraft accounted for approximately 31 per cent of the total. In 1985, that share should be about 36 percent.

Flight hours will increase, too, and at a rate slightly higher than that for the addition of new aircraft, meaning most airplanes will fly more. Whereas 1980 will see us log 45. 1 million flight hours, we’ll tally closer to 71. 6 million by 1985.

With more airplanes to fly and more hours to log, the number of pilots is also expected to increase dramatically. Private pilots will number 352,000 in 1980 and 374,000 in 1985 – an increase of six percent. Commercial pilot figures are expected to be 199,000 this year and 223,000 in five years. In all, the Battelle study projects the pilot population will increase from 794,000 to 849,000 in the next half-decade.

The Battelle analysis is refreshing proof, that, based upon the results of one independent study. General Aviation is healthy and getting healthier all the time.

Starlets Set To Take On America:

The successful Australian-designed Corby Starlet light aerobatic aircraft will make its overseas marketing debut at this year in Oshkosh, home of the sport and ultra-light aircraft industry. John Corby will be taking two Starlets to the US aboard Qantas’s special Oshkosh Express charter flight. This marks the first occasion that Australia has become heavily involved with the most famous of light aircraft shows. Travelling in company with the two Starlets in Qantas’s 747 Combi will be a Win-Jeel, Avro 504K, Thorp T-18, a Sopwith Pup replica, de Havilland Hornet Moth, a midget Mustang, several gyrocopters and our own Victa Airtourer. Twelve Corby Starlets have been built in Australasia over the past 15 years and 45 more are in various stages of construction. Penetration of the lucrative North American market would certainly provide a major boost to what is already a successful aircraft programme.

Cost Shocks:

Detailed examination of the General Aviation Study released by Transport Minister Ralph Hunt on March 13 shows that it has some bad news and some good news for the industry. Mostly it’s bad news. Among the bad news is the Study’s recommendations for a 170% lift in government charges to general aviation-mainly through airport movement fees ranging from $4 to $20 and a 25% rise in air navigation charges, abolition of the 50% remission of ANCs for operators who base their aircraft off a government or local ownership airports; abolition of the 15% ANC remission for agricultural aircraft, air navigation charges and airport movement fees for gliders; changes to the existing priority system at capital city airports to give higher priority to airline aircraft over commuters; and introduction of laws grounding aircraft if all government charges are not fully paid.

The Study’s “good news” recommendations include government-guaranteed low-interest finance for selected commuter operators; investigations be undertaken towards encouraging the general aviation industry to develop its own aerodromes, annual grants to sport aviation bodies to help offset their administrative costs; and quarterly payment of air navigation charges (but you would be charged extra if you decide to pay this way!).

The charges recommended by the Study are designed to lift government recovery of the money it currently spends on providing airport and airways facilities for general aviation from 12. 6% to 34%. The major recommendation made by the Study is the introduction of airport movement charges for general aviation aircraft. These would be. $20 at Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney: $10 at Alice Springs, Avalon, Cairns, Canberra, Coolangatta, Darwin, Launceston, and Mackay. Mt Isa, Port Hedland, Rockhampton, Tamworth and Townsville; $4 at Archerfield, Bankstown, Cambridge, Camden, Essendon, Jandakot, Moorabbin and Parafield. A movement will be either a take-off or a landing except for flying training operations involving circuits where a touch-and-go operation will be treated as a single movement.

The Study recognises that higher government charges will have a depressing effect on general aviation and, to soften the impact, says they should be phased in over five years. Despite this phase-in period, however, the new charges will mean huge increases for many types of operations. Commuters will be the hardest hit. Examples given in the Study show that a typical commuter operator flying a Swearingen Metro would have government charges increased by a staggering 654% over the five-year phase-in period with a 130% jump in the first year. A typical training operator flying a Beech or Piper would be hit by a 73% increase in government charges in the first year and a 299% increase over the five years. A typical charter operator would find his bill for government charges rising by 18% in the first year and by 87% over the five years.

Despite these spine-stiffening rises, it seems the industry really doesn’t have to worry. The Study says. “On the basis of the current national outlook and the vigorous growth in general aviation activity in recent years, it is unlikely that the proposed cost recovery program would severely depress the level of general aviation activity”. Really?