Rotor Torque

In addition to MDH’s revolutionary Notar (no-tail-rotor) yaw control system, the MDX will incorporate an integrated glass cockpit featuring easy to read and simple to use instruments. This integrated cockpit will combine most flight instruments into a single video display screen. Additional improvements will include a grease-lubricated main rotor transmission, eliminating complex oil pumps and coolers from the parts inventory and Flexbeam main rotor blades. These revolutionary blades will be made entirely from composite materials for improved handling qualities, increased life and a reduced parts count. The entire design philosophy of the MDX will be to reduce the cost of owner- ship through simplified maintenance, enhanced capability and maintainability and a lower relative acquisition cost than for similar sized current generation helos.

McDonnell Douglas Helicopters have also appointed Masling Rotor Wing of Cootamundra as their regional distributor. Masling will take delivery of an MD 500 series demonstrator in the near future in addition to building up a large spares inventory for both the old Hughes 300 (now Schweizer) and the MDH 500 models. Indeed, with the virtual abandonment of the US Army LHX programme, MDH is looking better than ever as the US Army is virtually now guaranteed to purchase additional AH-64 Apache attack helos and possibly also the smaller Model 530 Defender which has served admirably with the Israelis and various US Special Forces groups in the Persian Gulf in recent times. MDH is also hoping to supply the US Navy/Marine Corps with a navalised version of the Apache which armed with Harpoon would be a considerably potent over-the-horizon anti-ship weapon. The fact that MDX itself would ably fulfill some aspects of the defunct LHX requirement also has significant implications for Australia (and HdH) as this aircraft could also be suitable as an eventual Army Aviation Kiowa replacement during the nineties.

The second project was expected to be the culmination of more that eighteen months of intense negotiation between our own Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), Aerospatiale and China. This team will design and build what effectively will be a successor to the popular Squirrel range of light helos (refer p84 May 87 AA). A market requirement for some 10,000 such aircraft is envisaged by the consortium between 1995 and 2015. The announcement will be good news for ASTA as the company begins to look towards the finalization by the early nineties of the F-18 and Pilatus PC-9 programmes which constitute the bulk of its currently meagre workload.

ASTA is nowadays a much refined version of the old, and highly inefficient GAF and it is hoped that international participation in such a promising long term programme will bring it industrially into the twenty first century. A comprehensive report on both programmes will be provided in the next edition of Rotor Torque.

Hawker Pacific Acquires Arabian Aviation Corporation

Hawker Pacific has further increased its international penetration with the January purchase of Arabian Aviation.

Based in Bahrain, Arabian Aviation is the official Bell Hellcop- ter Textron representative covering Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. In addition to Bell, the company represents over twenty aviation principals in various parts of the Gulf States.

“This first move by Hawker Pacific into the Middle East represents a further strategic acquisition by the company and complements the purchase in 1987 of Los Angeles based Flight Accessory Services which is involved in both airline and helicopter maintenance and support throughout the USA and Europe,” stated Hawker Pacific’s Managing Director, Mr Chris Ryland. “Arabian Aviation was established in 1979 and its aggressive marketing philosophy has been a major factor in establishing Bell as the dominant helicopter type throughout the Gulf. It is Hawker Pacific’s intention to further consolidate this important market and to progressively integrate the Bahrain operation into our worldwide aviation marketing and support network,” stated Mr Ryland.

With its head office in Sydney, Hawker Pacific is a member of the Hawker Siddeley Group and employs nearly 700 people, including 100 in Asia and some 200 in the United States.

Good Year for Aerospatiale

“The past year was a very favorable year for Aerospatiale, with 29 billion francs in orders booked, slightly higher than our target of 28. 8 billion francs (4ff = $A1 at press time). Given the drop in the value of the US dollar this figure in fact represents an even higher level,” stated Aerospatiale Chairman, Henri Martre, in a press conference on January 6, 1988.

The amount of these orders, a significant portion of which were taken by Aerospatiale’s aircraft division, was superior to the group’s revenues, which remain at approximately 25 billion francs. Aerospatiale’s promising future is assured through the record number of new programs launched during 1987. Among them, the go-ahead for the joint Franco-German combat helicopter and helicopter-borne Orchidee battlefield observation system which is the first of its type in the world.

“On one hand, 1987 was a very encouraging period, but on the other it also had certain less positive notes. Our primary concern,” Mr Martre said, “is the economic war brewing on the world scene. ” “This war has led to a number of threats. The first is the extraordinary plunge of the US dollar, which has lost 44% of its value over the past three years. A large percentage of our sales are dollar-based and the dollar is also the production currency of our major competitors in all sectors. The dollar is currently undervalued versus the franc as we fight to remain competitive. ” “The second threat comes from the exaggerated sensitivity of US manufacturers to European aerospace competition, a sensitivity that has resulted in extremely aggressive reactions. ” “Lastly, there is the threat constituted by extremely high interest rates, which hamper Aerospatiale’s investments since we have made a deliberate commitment to a high level of research and development investments, as well as spending designed to enhance product”.

Pacific Aviation to Expand Training Syllabus

Pacific Aviation will shortly be able to offer instruction to Department of Transport and Communications licence standard on a wide range of helicopters including Bell 204/206, 212, 222, Bolkow Bo105 and Kawasaki BK117 in both airframe and engine categories and hope to provide training in electrical, instrument and other basic subjects in the not too distant future. As some operators are already aware the Pacific Aviation Training School is run by Ted Potts, who is unquestionably one of the best instructors in the business having that rare ability to give students a good practical working knowledge of the subject in conjunction with the theory necessary to pass Department of Transport and Communications exams.

Pacific are to be congratulated on providing this service to the industry who will hopefully give it the support it deserves. It is no secret that the author’s opinion is that unless apprentice intakes are increased and additional state-of-the-art training provided, competent engineers with a truly professional outlook and ability will become an endangered species.

Squirrel Water Bomber

Following successful tests in France during 1987 Aerospatiale in association with Conair hope to have a water bombing version of the AS350-B1 on the market during the spring of 1988. Description of the installation is as follows: 800-litre tank fitted to the 4 cargo-swing fixtures under the fuselage, incorporating a 75-litre reserve of foaming agent with injection system.

Filling possible: on the ground by gravity; or in hover flight Water dumping through 2 hydraulically controlled doors through an immersed pump (1,800 litres/min. ) at the end of a 3m flexible hose. Filling time: 20 to 25 seconds.

Hydraulic power supply: Mechanically-driven hydraulic pump.

Airworthiness Engineer Training Scheme

The Department of Transport and Communications are examining the feasibility of farming out Grade 1 Airworthiness Engineers to the aviation industry to assist them in gaining more practical experience, as the amount of expertise they can gain within the Department is obviously limited. A format for the scheme is yet to be drawn up and put to the industry, but the idea has much merit in principle.

New Surveillance Rotorcraft to Be Jointly Developed by BH Pacific and Uni of Sydney

An agreement to develop and manufacture a radically new type of rotorcraft capable of hovering above the horizon for extended periods to detect attacks by sea-skimming missiles and surface vehicles has been signed between the University of Sydney and aviation group, BH Pacific.

The as yet un-named vertical lift rotorcraft differs markedly from a conventional helicopter in that it has four single counterbalanced but overlapping blades. This unique blade arrangement provides the rotorcraft with outstanding stability enabling it to hover for extended periods without any need for manual control or complex autopilot systems.

Aimed primarily at the multi-billion dollar military market, the rotorcraft is being developed by its inventors, associate professor Bryan Roberts, Alan Fien and John Blacker of the Sydney University’s Faculty of Engineering. Through a collaborative agreement, an initial $400,000 development programme is being sponsored by Helicopter Developments P/L, a wholly owned subsidiary of BH Pacific P/L. Worldwide patents have been taken out by the University of Sydney while under the collaborative agreement, international marketing and manufacturing rights are granted to BH Pacific.

The agreement will allow the University research team to develop and flight test three prototypes while first flight is expected through the middle of 1989.

With an initial payload of 30kg the rotorcraft, which will be powered electrically and controlled from the ground or ship by an umbilical cord, will be capable of speeds of up to 100kph and will be able to hover at an altitude of up to 1000m. The rotorcraft is expected to have worldwide applications in defence surveillance and security. Larger sized vehicles, based on the same principle. will lead to more varied applications.