Newsdesk – General Aviation

It is felt basically that this level of equipment will not only enhance the safety level of such aircraft but will not preclude their economic salability on the Australian market.

 Robinson Attracting Second Buyers:

It is always a strong endorsement of an aircraft when operators come back to buy their second of type. Helifite, of Castle Hill, Sydney is now finding this as many of their initial Robinson buyers line up for their second aircraft. Heliflite has now sold 11 Robinsons and trained 24 new pilots to use the fuel-efficient light two-place helo. Radio station 2UE has meanwhile purchased their own Robinson R22 Alpha for traffic reporting and promotional work, a first for a radio station and no doubt the first of many such sales. The Ettle R22 has a gross weight of only 1,370 lbs, has a payload of 546 lbs, cruises at 110mph and has a max. range of 368mls with optional long-range tanks. The aircraft is also available with optional spray equipment and a cargo hook.

Growth Continues in Issuing of Flight Licences:

Despite the ravages of recession and ever-increasing costs associated- ted with GA, the number of people holding fight crew licences in Australia has steadily grown. DotA figures reveal that at the end of 1984 some 62,301 people held a licence to fly a powered aircraft. This represented a growth of 23% over 1979 for fixed-wing pilots and 132% for rotary-wing pilots.

The break up at the end of 1964 indicated that there were 24,183 holding a student license (showing strong growth over the past two years), 27,715 holding a PPL, 5,867 holding a CPL, 2,038 holding an SCPL, 1,353 holding a 2nd Class and 1,150 held a 1st Class Airline Transport Licence. On the rotary-wing side there were 774 people holding student licences, 160 holding a private licence, 774 holding a commercial and a further 94 with a senior commercial rating. This made for a total of 1,802 helicopter licences, a figure which has doubled in less than four years. Something that you won’t see in ten years is the present level of 815 Flight Engineer ratings presently in existence.

On the student front, the major age group was not surprisingly the 20/24 years followed then by the under 20s and finally the 25/298. Surprisingly though in 1984 there were 46 student licences issued to people of 60 years or over which was substantially in excess of the number of people in that age group actually holding a PPL. Who said life ends at 40!

Gates-Piaggio “Avanti” Will Fly Early in 1986:

A major milestone in the Avanti program will come in November this year when Gates Learjet ships the first fuselage to Italy for final assembly. The prototype Avanti will make its maiden flight in early 1986.

The twin pusher jet prop is under joint development by Gates Learjet and the Rinaldo Piaggio Company of Italy. The plane was designed by Piaggio and recently christened the “Avanti” as the result of a worldwide contest. The aircraft had previously been known by its engineering designation, GP-180.

Through an innovative manufacturing technique involving vacuum chucks, Gates Learjet is assembling the forward fuselage from the outside in. ” The outer skin is held to close tolerance during assembly in order to ensure laminar airflow.

The main wing and aft fuselage are being assembled by Piaggio at their factory in Genoa, Italy. Composite components supplied by Sikorsky Aircraft, include the forward wing, tail section and gear and baggage doors.

The Avanti’s capability to approach business jet performance comes from twin Pratt and Whitney PT6A-66 turbine engines which power custom-designed composite prop-fans manufactured by the Hartzell Division of TRW.

According to company performance estimates, the Avanti’s maximum cruising speed will be 400 knots and will climb at 3,650 feet per minute at sea level. It will reach a maximum operating altitude of 41,000 feet in 28 minutes and will have a range of 2,100 nautical miles.

Striking characteristics of the Avanti include a sleek forward fuselage with continuous aerodynamic flow lines and its aerodynamic- ally advanced three-lifting-surface design. The three-lifting-surface configuration comprises a forward wing, main wing and horizontal stabilizer.

The forward wing supplements the main wing and tail by producing additional lift to help trim the aircraft over a wide range of flight conditions, which increases operating efficiency.

Certification of the Avanti, which can be con- figured for up to 10 passengers, is scheduled for the third quarter of 1987 in both the United States and Italy. First customer deliveries will commence immediately following certification.

Saab-Fairchild to Market Direct in Australia:

Following the July 1 termination of Aerospace International as the regional marketing representative for Saab-Fairchild in Australia the company has moved fast to appoint Saab-Scania Australia as its sole representative. This is a logical move that will see a small core of SF specialists operating beneath the larger industrial and support of Saab-Scania, a company with a considerable presence in the local transportation scene. Saab-Scania are well known for its range of cars, trucks, coaches and marine and industrial engines and will be the only Saab-Scania facility in the world selling the entire range of Saab-affiliated products.

Meanwhile, Saab-Fairchild commenced the new financial year on a bright note with the announcement of a further two SF340 sales to Kendell Airlines. As reported in depth elsewhere in Newsdesk, the re-order is a boost to Saab- Fairchild who faces strong competition from more than half a dozen competitors in this market area.

Aerospatiale Line Establishing Themselves Down Under:

Aided by excellent design and a favourable exchange rate bias that has largely favoured the Australian dollar the French Aerospatiale Socata range of light aircraft have certainly made their mark on the Australian register. Local distributor, Barney Fernandes of Flight Safety Products reports that there have now been 14 Tobago’s, 12 Trinidad and 2 Tampicos sold since the type arrived in Australia five years ago.

Latest in the impressive lineup is the Timgad, named after a resort town in North Africa, the Timgad is a turbocharged version of the popular retractable gear Trinidad and certainly has an application in the hotter regions of Australia where field performance is paramount. Flight Safety hopes to have a Timgad on the register later this year in addition to a Robin 3000, for which Flight Safety are regional distributor.

The performance of the Timgad is impressive. The aircraft cruises (75% power) at 200kts and has a range of 890nm with nil reserves at high-speed cruise. The rate of Climb at 2,000 ft is 1,090fpm while at 17,000ft it is still a healthy 800fpm. The turbocharged Lycoming is rated at 250hp at 2,575rpm while the aircraft has a useful load of 1288 lbs. For the coming financial year Flight Safety is importing a minimum of 5 Tobagos and 4 Trinidads and hopes ultimately to replace its academy Tobagos with dedicated trainer Tampicos.

 New Jettys Give Aquatic Airways a Flying Start:

Rowing businessmen out to our aircraft in a winter rain storm was always a problem” states Vic Walton, veteran test pilot and founding father of Sydney’s unique Aquatic Airways. This obvious problem has now been solved with the opening of Aquatic Airways new Rose Bay and Gosford jetties. Aquatic operates over Australia’s shortest commuter routes and flies two beautifully refurbished deHavilland Beaver aircraft. During the 1984 summer peak, they met demand with a third Beaver which was destined for Queens- land operation while this year Aquatic will either acquire an 11-seat deHaviland Otter from Can- ada or the ex-Barrier Reef Airways N22 Nomad floatplane. The Nomad was trialled for a period on Pittwater late last year and proved very popular with both crews and passengers alike. During the last financial year Aquatic uplifted more than 5,000 passengers on its scheduled commuter services between Sydney’s Rose Bay, Pittwater and Gosford sixty kilometres north of Sydney city.

A further 5,000 people were flown on specialised charters to the large number of excellent restaurants proliferating on the Hawkes-bury River. The establishment of the New jetties at Gosford and Rose Bay (which now returns proudly to being an active ‘seaplane’ base) will hopefully further boost Australia’s most unique commuter operator in the years ahead.

Boeing Buys a Business Jet:

Once vowing to always fly only on regular scheduled airline services, Boeing have recently changed their long-held policy and invested in a Citation Ill jet. As a result of US airline deregulation, the company had found it increasingly more difficult to get from A to B in the US where A and B were relatively small cities. Use of the Citation, which will be based in Wichita primarily for use by the Boeing military aircraft division will save hundred of manhours each month as marketing and support teams are able to cover their territory more efficiently.

Cockpit Voice Recorders to Be Made Mandatory:

Following an inconclusive ending to the BASI investigation into the cause of a crash involving a Beech King Air aircraft at Adavale, Queensland in August 1983, the DofA has introduced legislation requiring all pressurised, multi-turbine aircraft certificated for 11 passengers weighing less than 5,700kgs to be fitted with an approved cockpit voice recorder. The legislation will be ef- effective commencing January 1987 and the estimated cost of each CVR is $25,000. The Department reports that around 40 aircraft would be involved in the modification programme which it states will enhance safety in giving additional crucial information not presently available with this class of aircraft.

The ‘Simple GA Aircraft Still Abounds in the USA:

A recent release of information by the FAA indicates that there are still over 24,000 pre-1950 built aircraft on the US general aviation register. It’s enough to make you eat your heart out at the sheer quantities of quality vintage-type aircraft still flying on a day-to-day basis in the US.

Records showed that there are still 7500 Piper models, 5200 Cessnas, 2600 Taylor crafts (which is back in limited production for around $US25,000 flyaway) 2000 Aeroncas, 2000 Boeing Stearmans, 2000 Lus- combes, 670 Swifts, 580 Stinson, 500 Wacos, 320 Bellancas, 250 Republic Sea-Bees, 230 Beech Staggerwings, 200 Ryans, 170 Rearwins and 160 Travellers. When our dollar improves how about somebody importing some of these fine aircraft Down Under?

High-Flying Hang Gliders:

The DotA has approved the operation of hang gliders to as high as 9,500ft in selected areas of operation. A one-year trial of the new regulations became effective in early July and basically allowed an overall ceiling of 5,000 throughout NSW with a number of special 9,500ft soaring zones in remoter areas. The new regulations prohibit the use of such craft closer than 9km to a licenced airfield or 18km to an airfield with ILS capability. The new rules were introduced after full consultation with the industry via the Regional Airspace Users Advisory Committee and the National Airspace Users Advisory Committee. The present trial, if successful, will most probably be extended nationally during 1986/87.

 Regional Airline Community Still Dominated by Single-Pilot Aircraft:

An interesting statistic from this issue’s annual Regional Airline Directory is that 69% of the aircraft types making up the Australian third-level community are single pilot nine passenger types. In turn this sector itself is dominated by the Piper Chieftain and Cessna’s 402. A total of 25 Chieftains and 35 402s account for a quarter of the entire regional air-line inventory as at June 1985.

Over the past year just over one-third of the fleet changed hands with a total of 45 aircraft departing the fleet and 42 being added, this re- presents a considerable degree of movement in view of the fact that there are only 47 operators. Turbine-powered aircraft now account for a quarter of the total while the State break up of operators is as follows: Tasmania 1, Victoria 3,NT 7, WA 7, SA 9, Queensland 9 and NSW 11.

 Lear Fan Programme Abandoned:

After six years of development, the end of the road has finally come for the troubled Lear Fan 2100. Continuing excessive wear in the gearbox unit taking power from the twin PT6’s to the single pusher propeller had delayed FAA Certification to the point where it was not economically viable to continue the project. More than $A500m had been sunk into the programme in those years with Lear Fan itself being saved from bankruptcy on two occasions by firstly the British Government and latterly by a group of Saudi Arabian fin- anciers.

The revolutionary Lear Fan 2100 was the brainchild of the late Bill Lear. Lear foresaw during the mid-seventies the need for a whole new approach to corporate aircraft design if the type was to survive the effects of rapidly rising fuel costs. New advanced technology composite materials in place of traditional aluminium, pusher design in place of conventional tractor, all largely untried to any great degree and somewhat lost when Bill Lear died midway through the development programme. Without his design leadership the aircraft rapidly grew much heavier than was originally envisaged while continual power train vibration problems creating excessive gearbox wear always made eventual FAA Certification an optimistic hope at best.

Lear Fan has gone, while its monetary debts are many it will though leave us with a whole new breed of fast and extremely fuel-efficient aircraft in the Beech Starship, Gates/Piaggio Avanti and the Avtek 400, all of which have learnt much from the failures of Bill Lear’s last dream. As the great man once said, “You can tell the pioneers from the arrows in their backs”.

Fuel Prices  Rise Yet Again:

Country fuel prices have increased again following the decision by the government to reduce the petroleum products freight subsidy as part of the package announced in May to reduce Government expenditure.

The increase in fuel prices has ranged from nill in major centres to 1 cent or so at places such as Bathurst, between 283 cents at Kalgoorlie and 4 cents per litre at Wyndham, Alice Springs and Mt Isa.

This impost, coupled with the devaluation effects of the import parity pricing policy has seen the recommended into aircraft price of AVGAS in capital cities increase from 39. 8 cpl in January 1980, to 54. 46 cpl in January 1983 and now to 65. 47 cpl.

Fuel companies have advised the GAA that of the 11. 01 cpl increase in prices since January 1983, they have received only 0. 58 cpl. the remainder going straight into Government coffers.

This further increase comes at the same time as the report of lower prices in the USA and also coincides with reductions in the wholesale price of AVGAS and AVTUR of be- tween two and three cents per litre in the United Kingdom.

Whilst fuel excise is attributable to revenue in the cost recovery equation, the effects of import parity pricing and the lowering of the freight subsidy are not taken into account. The aviation industry’s contribution to Government re- venues is far greater than acknowledged in the cost recovery argument, and aviation, as well as the oil industry, claim the GAA, is well and truly tired of being used as a means of raising revenue for Government pork barrels.

The Bosch Inquiry supports that view, claim the GAA.

Gates Loses Bib Stillwell:

Mr Learjet, Australia’s Bib Stillwell, has resigned his post of president and chief operating officer of Gates Learjet. Stillwell’s position has been taken over by James Taylor who previously headed Canadair. Meanwhile, Gates has resumed commercial production of both the Lear 35 and 55 Longhorn models following cessation of production a year ago One Model 55 and two 35s are being produced monthly in addition to the last batches of military C-21As for the USAF.

Changes in Aviation Administration:

Expert staff fully devoted to the review and development of aviation safety standards will be one outcome of a reorganisation within the Department of Aviation that became effective on July 1.

The functions of the General Aviation Branch and the Regular Public Transport Branch have been reviewed. These names would now dis- appear and their functions would be carried out by two new branches, Flying Operations Branch and the Standards Development Branch. The aim is to free staff working on review and development of standards from day to day administrative tasks which have impeded progress in the past.

The Flying Operations Branch would over-see the day-to-day implementation of the standards and would meet another industry criticism by providing consistency in the application of flying operations standards throughout Australia. Mr Allan Newman, currently Assistant Secretary of the General Aviation Branch would lead the new Standards Development Branch and the Flying Operations Branch will be headed by Mr John Wright, currently Assistant Secretary, Regular Public Transport.

Airborne Harvest Complete First Robinson Overhaul Outside USA:

The first 2,000-hour overhaul of a Robinson helicopter outside the United States and the training of its first overseas student, were accomplished by a local Company during June. Airborne Harvest’s helicopter training and charter organisation operates from the Kembla Grange Industrial Estate where one of the partners, Mr Rob Hall, is Chief Engineer and Chief Flying Instructor – an unusual combination of qualifications.

Under Mr Hall’s supervision, the Company recently completed the first 2,000 hour over- haul on a Robinson R22 Helicopter anywhere in the world outside the Los Angeles factory where they are built and overhauled. The work was completed to the tough standards set by the Department of Aviation in Australia and the manufacturer.

Since November 1983, Airborne Harvest has flown over 3,300 hours in Robinson helicopters without incident apart from the occasion in February 1984, when 3helicopters were totally submerged by floodwaters.

Government Cracks Down on Aviation Debtors:

From the first of July, the Federal Government was able to take out a statutory lien over an aircraft on which air navigation charges have been owing for more than 28 days.

Aviation Minister, Peter Morris, said that under the 1984 Air Navigation (Charges) Amendment Act, the Department of Aviation could seize an aircraft and, in an extreme case, sell it to recover outstanding charges.

He stressed that this action would be a last resort and only taken after every effort had been made to collect the debt.

Mr Morris said the proposal had first been announced last year and had been the subject of detailed discussions with the industry. It is in line with the Government’s obligation to taxpayers to reduce expenditure and to recover its cost wherever possible.

In the past debtors had been taken through the courts – a lengthy and costly exercise which had been a financial drain on the rest of the aviation industry and taxpayers.

Mr Morris said to protect potential buyers of aircraft a public register would be established. The proposal has been discussed by and received the endorsement of the Aviation Industry Advisory Council. Industry or- organisations such as the General Aviation Association and the Royal Federation of Aero Clubs have also individually given their support to the new arrangements.

All aircraft owners are being informed of the new regulation and information pamphlets on statutory liens are available from all regional offices of the Department of Aviation.