Stop Press

Bombardier Acquires Shorts:

Bombardier, the owner of Canadair has won the battle to purchase the world’s oldest aircraft manufacturer, Short Brothers of Northern Ireland.

The £30m deal (which also sees the UK Government writing off £390min accrued long-term Shorts debt) spells the end of the FJX 50 seat commuter jet while greatly boosting the chances of success of Canadair’s own RJ 50 seater programme. (Refer full Update elsewhere in this issue) Not that the RJ needs it. Announced at Le Bourget were 40 additional orders including 20 each from British Airways and Alisarda, both major carriers that lend much clout to the potential worth of this new class of jetliner.

Bombardier will retain both the civil aircraft, missile and manufacturing divisions of Shorts as individual units while shifting some of the design and assembly of the RJ over to Belfast. This in effect will give the RJ two major support bases straddling the world’s two largest markets, North America and Europe. Commitments for the RJ now exceed 100.

Also announced at the show, and of great interest to Australian operators, was a cheaper, lesser ranging version of the existing Challenger 601 corporate jet. The simplified variant, with a standard interior, will sell for $US13. 5m and in doing so will offer an unprecedented cabin size for this investment. With an NBAA range of 3,000nm the new Challen- ger would be able to operate non stop anywhere within Australia. Also being offered was an extended range version of the 601A which features a new tail tank which allows an NBAA range of 3,600nm, a 200nm improvement on the present model.

Canadair were also looking at a stretched 601 (with a 6′ extension vs 20′ in the RJ) powe- red by new 10,000lb thrust class engines with a range of 4,000nm. It was anticipated that this latter project would not be available though till around the mid-nineties.

Fulcrum Crash Dampens Excel- Lent Soviet Presence at Show:

With their largest and most spectacular presence yet at a Western air show, the Soviet Union captured the hearts and minds of the hundreds of thousands who visited this year’s Paris Salon.

The only blight on their performance was the unfortunate loss of the demonstration MiG-29 Fulcrum on the opening day of the show. In what was a miraculous escape from certain death, pilot Anatoly Kvotchur successfully ejected less that two seconds before his Fulcrum impacted the ground. Proving again the value of zero-zero ejection seats, Kvotchur ejected while the aircraft was rolling nose down, a situation which had him ejected from the aircraft in the horizontal plane rather than the vertical, and at less than 300ft.

Cause of the crash was believed to be a compressor stall in the starboard engine following the selection of afterburner which at its low airspeed and high angle of attack led the aircraft to yaw and stall. With insufficient height to enable a recovery and insufficient time to reflight the failed engine the fate of the aircraft was sealed and beyond retrieval by its pilot. A full colour photo sequence of the crash will appear in the September edition of AA.

In addition to the MiG-29 Fulcrum (a two sea ter remained on display in the static park) the Soviets brought two Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers, two Su-25 Frogfoots (as used in Afghanistan). a Mil-28 Havoc, the all new Ilyushin I-96-300 and Tupolev 204 jetliners plus the gargantuan Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream) complete with shuttle orbiter Buran (Snow Storm) atop its hulking six engined fuselage. If you thought Ruslan was big then Mriya’s bulk is like comparing a Hercules to a Starlifter in visual terms! Very impressive indeed was the performance of the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker which is presently the Soviets number one air superiority aircraft and is roughly equivalent to the Grumman F-14D Tomcat in size, mission role and also in general appearance. The MiG-29 Fulcrum on the other hand is more in the class of the F-18 while the F-15 Eagle is actually slightly smaller than Flanker. Like Fulcrum at Farnborough, Flanker was flown extremely hard throughout the show, performing manoeuvres that literally had to be seen to be believed of an aircraft of this type.

Also of crucial interest to any military observer was the presence of Havoc, the long feared dedicated combat helicopter that up til now has been seen only in artist renderings. Like the US Army’s equivalent AH-64 Apache, Havoc is a dedicated anti armour helicopter with a considerable air-to-air capability built into its wide array of systems and sensors. To have aircraft like Fulcrum, Flanker and Havoc plus the Mriya/Buran at a Western air show is truly something that just three years ago would have been thought of as impossible. Good one Glasnost! The presence of two new airliners also ushered in a new era of Soviet aeronautical design capability. The Tupolev Tu-204 being a 200 seat twinjet remarkably like the Boeing 757 while the four engined Ilyushin 11-96-300 is a 300 pax long-range airliner not that dissimilar to what the eventual A340-200 will visually be like. Indeed it is refreshing to see a Soviet airliner that actually looks like a Western equivalent before the Western version fies.

 All Quiet on the McDonnell Doug- Las/Boeing Fronts:

While the Russians stole the show (again) the US was barely to be seen (again) apart from its usually impressive single display dome, a static SR-71 plus an 80′ model of the X-31 National Aerospace Plane.

News from McDonnell Douglas was essentially that it was beginning to cool on the prospects of ever officially launching its MD-90/ 91 with propfan engines and would instead concentrate on offering the combo with IAE V2500 turbofans. It seems that airlines simply don’t want to risk the technological and perhaps psychological advance that propfans offer when a tamer solution can be had using an existing known turbofan. Despite its assembly line technical hitches, the MD-11 continues to sell well with orders received at the show for a total of 24 aircraft from KLM, Zambia, Alitalia, Minerve and Air Outre Mer. Originally scheduled for rollout last March, it now looks doubtful if this will be achieved before September with eventual airline deliveries of the long-range trijet ultimately delayed by almost a year.

Boeing meanwhile had nothing new to offer and verified that it was still in its evaluation stages as to what the 767X would ultimately be. A very large twinjet similar to the A330 but with a different fuselage cross-section and wing to that of the existing 767 family was the general feeling from Seattle.

Commuters Enter the Mega Sale Arena:

Not to be outdone by their bigger cousins, both Saab and British Aerospace logged record sales at the show for their respective commuter types.

Saab won the long expected order from American Airlines to supply their entire fleet of next generation commuter aircraft. The order comprises 50 firm and 50 options against the Saab 340B plus an additional 50 options against the under development Saab 2000. British Aerospace meanwhile also scored an American Airlines order with AMR signing for 25 firm J31 Jetstreams with 25 more on option plus an additional 40 options against the newly launched stretched 29 seat J41 (refer Newsdesk). All in all a massive order from the world’s largest Western airline that at the stroke of a pen underwrites the future success of both the Saab 2000 and the J41 for all time.

 ASTA/Qantas Link Close:

An official link between Aerospace Technologies of Australia’s aircraft services division and Qantas is imminent following ASTA’s recent approval by the CAA to undertake heavy maintenance on Australian registered airliners. Qantas is presently having to resort to sending a proportion of its burgeoning maintenance work overseas, a move that is expected to cost our national carrier $40m this year alone in addition to not being able to undertake outside maintenance work that it was pioneering several years ago. Over the past year Qantas has had heavy maintenance done overseas by British Airways, Aer Lingus, United, Haeco and Air New Zealand. Primary problem is lack of skilled manpower owing to government wage controls on its sought after engineering staff and a fleet growth rate that was not envisaged several years ago when QF’s apprentice training scheme should have been accelerated to cope with future requirements.

ASTA meanwhile employ 260 people in their rapidly growing aircraft services division and have just completed major servicing of a number of Continental Airlines 747 aircraft at their Avalon facility. In future ASTA will have the first right to quote on any work that Qantas would have normally been forced to send offshore. If the quote is competitive then ASTA will open itself to a large proportion of future Qantas heavy maintenance as the QF fleet rapidly grows in the years ahead.

Qantas is also space constrained at KSA and was previously considering establishing a second major jet base, mooted to be Brisbane, in order to cope with demand into the next decade. As a prelude to future contracts, ASTA will begin later this year providing a cabin configuration change to 26 OF 747s at the rate of one a week. The mods will upgrade primarily seating and will bring the total GF 747 fleet up to the same specs as the carrier’s new 747-400s. ASTA also undertakes low utilisation maintenance work on the RAAF’s 707 fleet, a task previously performed by Qantas but now let go due to lack of in-house capability.

(Be sure not to miss our full editorial report and colour coverage of the 1989 Paris Salon in the September edition)

Revised Qantas Aircrew Acceptance Levels Increases Raaf Attrition Rate:

Qantas Airways’ late 1988 decision to raise the age limit of pilot applicants from 35 to 45 years of age has caused a significant increase in attrition from the RAAF.

The decision by Qantas effectively allowed the large number of highly trained RAAF aircrew who last year missed out on the $70,000 retention scheme the opportunity to leave the service (with their pensions in most cases) while still being applicable for consideration by our national carrier. Figures recently released by the DoD indicate that 51 pilots gave notice in March and April as against 99 in the last financial year.

Up till the Qantas offer was made it appeared that RAAF pilot attrition had reached its peak and would fall through 1989, primarily due to the fact that most applicable aircrew had already left the service. With current graduation anticipated of only 60 new pilots a year the service would be well down on its previously very high skill levels for many years to come unless the major airlines seriously attack their own pilot shortages with large scale training programmes.

 Lest We Forget:

How time flies.

How many readers can remember watching on black and white television that incredible moment on July 21, 1969 when the NASA astronauts Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong (Michael Collins stayed aboard the Apollo mother craft in Moon orbit) brought us those immortal pictures of the Lunar Excursion Module touching down in the Sea of Tranquility with the words, “the Eagle has landed”. Twenty years ago, it seems like just yesterday.

Nineteen Sixty nine was indeed a great year for mankind’s conquest of the skies with the first flights of two very different but technologic- ally breathtaking aeronautical achievements of this century. On February 9 from Paine Field, Seattle, the first Boeing 747 took to the skies while a world away in Toulouse the BAC/Sud Aviation Concorde 001 similarly discarded the shackles of earth to seek out her intended domain. Will there ever again be a year as momentous as 1969 for sheer aeronautical achievement?

Caa Reviews Aeronautical Publications Service:

A move no doubt welcomed by every aviator is the recently announced decision by the CAA to completely review and overhaul its often criticised AIP service.

The review is being undertaken by a special task force within the CAA which also includes AOPA’s Tony Wilkinson. Initial meetings took place during late May with a full response expected from the RFÁCA, AOPA, RAA, HAA, ABAA, GFA, AAAA, GFA, NAPAC and the military by July 7. Further consultation will take place between the CAA and industry by late July with the objective of having a full report issued by August 31st. Primary objective of the review will be to better amortise costs in providing the AOP service, to greatly increase the customer service side of actually acquiring the necessary AOP items and to design the various documents and charts in a more appropriate manner for the use in which they are intended.

Readers are advised that they can offer submissions via their particular Association or direct to the Documentation Working Group Secretary, CAA, GPO Box 367, Canberra 2601.

 Atc, Caa Review Group Agree on Ways to Greatly Increase Sydney Airport’s Capacity:

The joint review group comprising CAA and air traffic controllers that recently visited the US to define better ways of lessening congestion at KSA have revealed that prevailing noise abatement requirements are the primary cause of much of the airport’s congestion problems.

Present noise abatement requirements are not allowing a flexible and time efficient use of the two existing runways, states the report. Greater use could be made of KSA if departures and arrivals were confined to specific runways, dependant of course on prevailing weather conditions. Ideally a situation that saw the shorter east west runway 07/25 operating with departures while the longer 16/34 was used solely for arrivals would greatly increase capacity. This would also be improved on low wind days where arriving aircraft could land on 34 from the south thereby having completed their rollout well prior to intersecting the cross runway.

Sydney’s problem is that while it boasts two runways, as cross runways they essentially represent a one and a half runway scenario. This was the basis of a recent study by the Supporters of the Runway Three lobby group earlier this year when they actively proposed closure of the east west runway in favour of building a new parallel runway to the east of 16/34. The group claimed that this would effectively double KSA’s movement capability with aircraft arriving and departing without operationally interfering with each other’s complex airspace requirements.

The report also favours a modification of the present separation standards between aircraft and broadening the scope of aircraft operating simultaneous departure and arrival profiles on intersecting runways. More practical consideration for the operational capabilities of individual aircraft types should also be employed. A major feature on the problems and solutions to the woes of KSA will be carried in our September edition. Don’t miss it.

 Inbound Tourism Begins to Slow:

As expected, inbound tourism into Australia has begun to slow, reflecting the abnormally high growth of 1988 due largely to the Bicentennial and Expo.

In 1988 a total of 2,249,400 international visitors came to Australia, an increase of 26% over the previous year. While figures for January indicate a growth rate of only 5% over the previous January, the Australian Tourism Commission reports that growth from Japan is still healthy at 14% for the January/April period with Japanese travel officials predicting an overall 1989 growth rate of 20%. Inbound traffic from the US has slowed though, as has that from New Zealand where the travel market has tightened up considerably since late last year due to worsening economic circumstances.

Certainly, the most important assets any airline will boast in the years ahead will be a flex- ible fleet, in capacity and range capability terms and a highly sophisticated CRS and yield management computer network that will allow maximum use of both personnel and aircraft assets to ensure that load factors, frequency and overall fleet productivity is kept at the highest practical levels.

Ansett NZ/Rex Venture:

Ansett New Zealand and Sydney’s Rex Aviation (part of the Pacific Aviation Group) have joined forces to provide a commuter service between Wellington and Nelson.

The service will be flown by an 18 seat Bandeirante imported from Australia and will operate five return flights per weekday, two on Saturday and four on Sunday. Ansett New Zea- land is responsible for marketing the services while Rex Aviation is in charge of the operational aspects. The Bandeirante will use the Ansett NZ terminal at Wellington Airport and automatic baggage transfer will be available to passengers flying on other ANZ services.

The new service will introduce an element of competition onto the Wellington/Nelson route which is already served by Air New Zealand.