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The delayed Boeing orders meanwhile will not incur any penalties as the first aircraft were not due for delivery until 1996, the year when Thai now seeks to take delivery of its first A330s.

Air New Zealand Plugs Hawaii Capacity Gap:

Air New Zealand has announced a 2600 seat increase in capacity to Honolulu, Los Angeles and Australia in the wake of Continental’s decision to withdraw from the south west Pacific.

The new capacity comprises two additional Boeing 767 services per week from NZ to Honolulu, and the substitution of a 747 over a 767 on a current service to LA via Nadi and Honolulu. Additional services to Australia will consist of two new 767 flights to Sydney, one on Thursdays, the other on Saturdays. An existing Monday evening Auckland/Sydney service will also be operated with a 747 in place of a 767, while Brisbane will be serviced with an extra 767 flight each Sunday. The new arrangements will come into effect from November.

Air New Zealand also plans to operate a number of dedicated cargo flights to North America and Australia during November and December, largely to meet seasonal demands from the horticulture industry.indusry.

Outbound Asia Traffic Grows Strongly:

Australian Bureau of Statistics’ figures reveal that the number of Australian visitors to Asia continues to grow strongly.

Travel to Indonesia in particular is growing strongly, with 88,100 visitors to our northern neighbour in the first half of the year up from 76,000 in the same period in 1992. Traffic to other parts of South East Asia also grew strongly, as did traffic to China, although this was off a low base. Traffic to Europe (with the exception of Germany which experienced strong growth) and North America has dropped off.

Outbound business travel is also recording strong growth, with departures for the first six months of the year up by 10% compared with the same half in 1992, with a total of 183,600 departures. Over- all departures from Australia for the half year rose slightly to 1. 05 million, reflecting modest growth in outbound tourists and visiting friends and relatives traffic.

Where’s Hazelton?

Eagle eyed readers will no doubt have noticed that this issue’s cover advertises a report on Hazelton Airlines. Unfortunately last minute technical difficulties meant that the feature had to be held over till next month when it most assuredly will run. The cover of course is produced well in advance of the final sections of the magazine and consequently couldn’t be changed.

Us Cuts Some, Keeps Others:

The US Defence Department’s ‘bottom up’ review of defence programmes has recommended the termination of two projects, the joint service AF-X attack aircraft and the USAF’s Multi Role Fighter. Both have been deemed expendable.

In their place, a joint USAF/USN strike aircraft would eventuate from the initiation of an advanced strike technology programme. The review has also endorsed the continuation of the F-22, F/A-18E Hornet, V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, and AH-64 Apache and RAH-66 Comanche helicopter programmes.

Other programmes have also been given the nod by the review, among them the planned F-22 and F-14 Tomcat ground attack upgrades and an upgrading of conventional capabilities for the Rockwell B-1 and Northrop B-2 bombers. The fate of the troubled McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III transport is as yet undecided.

F-16’s ‘Cobra’:

A Lockheed/GD F-16 fighter has achieved a transient angle of attack (AOA) of 110 degrees and a sustained AoA of 80 degrees using a thrust vectoring nozzle.

The high AoA figure was performed during an emulation of the famous Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker ‘Cobra’ manoeuvre. Ever since that was first performed some years ago, the Americans have been trying to emulate it, and although the F-16’s effort “. . . made the Sukhoi look boring”, it took several years and an especially developed pitch/yaw axisymmetric vectoring engine nozzle to do it.

The two seat F-16 which performed the AoA manoeuvres is a specially adapted variable stability inflight simulator’ which operates as part of the USAF’s multi axis thrust vectoring (MATV) project which examines the effects of pitch/yaw thrust vectoring on combat capabilities.

Avro Deal Closer:

The deal between British Aerospace and Taiwan Aerospace to establish its Avro regional jet joint venture has overcome what should be its final major obstacle.

Negotiations have resulted in a banking consortium led by the Chiao Tung Bank providing about $US460m in working capital and leasing finance with BAe contributing a similar amount.

The deal is still not concluded because BAe and Taiwan Aerospace have still to sort out some details.

Raf Briefed on An-77:

British Aerospace and Antonov have given the RAF a briefing on the new Antonov An-77 large turboprop military transport with a view to proposing it as a possible replacement for the RAF’s Lockheed Hercules fleet.

BAe’s involvement in the presentation was at Antonov’s request and should not be seen as an alternative to the British company’s involvement in the planned European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) consortium. The British government is not officially backing FLA at this stage, although BAe is lobbying it to do so. It is reported that France has also looked at the An-77.

The An-77 is nearing its first flight and is to be operated by the Ukraine and Russian air forces in substantial numbers. Procurement of the aircraft for the RAF is officially considered ‘unlikely’ and in any case nothing can happen until British policy on the procurement of CIS military equipment is announced.

fated F-111 (refer text) A8-127 was ironically the star of the recent Fairford International Air Tatoo in the UK. (Paul Merrit)

Airliner Safety Systems Ex-Amined:

A joint US Federal Aviation Administration/UK Civil Aviation Authority report into the installation of water mist fire suppression systems in airliners has come up with one or two surprises in attempts to reduce the cost of such installations.

Among the possibilities are using the water mist system as replacements for current halon fire extinguishers in aircraft engines, holds and cabins. Halon systems will have to be replaced from 1995 due to environmental regulations.

Also possible is the disposal of cabin emergency oxygen and life jackets as some believe that the higher safety levels of modern airliners justifies a complete re-evaluation of aircraft safety features generally. Although the cost of water mist (and other safety systems) is of concern to the airlines, so is the weight of such equipment. The removal of other systems would consequently help in this area.

Taiwan Buys Hawkeyes:

Taiwan has purchased four Grumman E-2C early warning aircraft at a cost of over $US700m.

The aircraft are due to be delivered next year and will be similar to the US Navy’s latest Group 2 specification which includes AN/APS-145 radar, enhanced high speed processors, colour display units and GPS receivers.

France will most likely be the next export customer for the E-2C with four probably to be deployed on the new nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle. Other potential customers in the near future include South Korea, Turkey and Thailand.

Us Identifies Desert Storm Problems:

Battlefield damage as- sessment has been identified by a US Congressional report into intelligence gathering during the Gulf War as the most significant intelligence failure of the campaign.

The report says that US forces greatly overestimated the number of Iraqi tanks destroyed during the air phase of the war and notes that General Schwartzkopf based his decision to begin the ground war on this exaggerated count. The number of Iraqi tanks destroyed was overstated by at least 100%, according to the report.

The report also praises some aspects of intelligence gathering during the conflict, notably the Grumman Joint Target Attack Radar System (J-Stars), the Lockheed U-2R (previously designated TR-1) and the IAI Pioneer drone. The E-8A J-Stars system (which is mounted in a Boeing 707 airframe) was still under development at the time of the war.

Cathay to Cairns:

Cathay Pacific will become the latest international airline to operate to Cairns when it begins services from Hong Kong to the Queensland resort city on October 31.

To celebrate the occasion, the airline is promoting a special introductory fare offer until December 9. The ‘World of Cathay Pacific’ fare of $1699 will allow passengers to travel anywhere on the airline’s world network, representing substantial savings on the normal economy class fare. Depending on the destination, return travel can take place up to a year after departure.

 Raaf F-111 Lost:

The night of September 13 saw the loss of an RAAF General Dynamics F-111C bomber in northern New South Wales during a routine low level training flight.

Flying from Amberley, the F-111 (A8-127) came down 2km from the town- ship of Guyra in the low level flying area used by the RAAF for some years. The accident apparently occurred during the ‘escape manoeuvre’ which is performed immediately after the aircraft drops its (in this case simulated) ordnance. Unfor tunately, both the pilot and navigator were killed.

This was only the seventh RAAF F-111 crash in 20 years of flying the type. The most recent occurred in April 1987 in what was believed to be similar circumstances. Delivery of 15 additional former USAF F-111Gs to the RAAF (refer p69 Sept & p24 June 93 AAs) will begin during the course of this issue.

Air Charter as a Productivity Tool:

Bankstown based Crane Air has begun to aggressively market air charter as an effective means of business travel.

Crane Air extols that through chartering an aircraft business is able to greatly improve productivity by “reducing travel time, lowering stress, and widening the scope of potential activities. ” Chartering an aircraft also allows executives the flexibility to programme their own flying schedules into areas that are often poorly served by RPT flights, visiting several clients in one day or alternatively flying customers into head office. The principle of air charter as a business tool is not “to save money. It’s to help you make more. ” Crane Air claims justifiably that while charter is widely used in the West it is still not taken seriously by business on the East Coast, something the Bankstown based operator hopes to change.

Human Factors in Aviation Industry Course:

The University of Newcastle’s Department of Aviation will be conducting a course studying the principles of human performance and limitations in flight operations in Febru- ary next year.

The course will be offered each year and will comprise four modules (which can be taken separately, over consecutive years or as a complete block) looking at Aviation Medicine, Information Processing/Aviation Instruction, Cock- pit Management, and Stress and Human Performance. Presenters will include airline pilots, aviation psychologists, medical practitioners and management specialists from Qantas, BASI, the University of Newcastle and industry. Designed for personnel involved in all aspects of aviation, details are available from Mark Wiggins, Department of Aviation, University of Newcastle, NSW 2308, phone (049) 21 5757 or fax (049) 21 6906.

 Qantas Divests Thomas Cook Holding:

Qantas has announced it is selling its 49% share in travel group Thomas Cook Australia.

Qantas’ share is being bought out by Thomas Cook’s parent company in the UK, the Thomas Cook Group. The move follows a similar purchase of the Groups’ New Zealand arm, which will allow Thomas Cook to take advantage of a number of savings through closer cooperation of its Australasian resources.

The move does not affect Qantas’ relationship with Thomas Cook, saying its original aim in buying the holding, to strengthen its sales distribution network in Australia, has been achieved.

Northrop Upgrades F-5:

Northrop’s ubiquitous F-5 fighter-some 1600 examples of which are still in use around the world – will be subject to an avionics and equipment upgrade which will extend its usefulness into the next century.

Northrop has established a team of avionics and equipment suppliers to of fer a modern integrated avionics suite for the aircraft. It will include a significantly improved radar system, a ring laser inertial navigation system, an advanced mission computer, multifunction cockpit displays and a head up display. The result will be comparable to that which is fitted to current generation fighters.

Companies involved in the programme include Westinghouse (APG-66 radar, as used on the F-16), Honeywell (INS), AlliedSignal (mission computer, display processor, air data computer and multifunction cockpit displays) and Fairchild. (data transfer equipment).