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It is believed that the DoD favours the closure of the airport so that a large tertiary education complex can be constructed on the site. Apparently proposals put forth by the FAC and other GA interests are not considered to be economically viable whilst local community opposition to an expan- sion of aviation activity at Schofields is an argument that neither the DoDor local council wish to get involved in.

It was interesting to note the long term opposition put forward from Defence via RAAF Richmond as to increased air activity at Schofields causing concern for operations at the base. As a matter of interest it is worth noting some specifics as to the precise physical relationship between the two airports.

If Schofields was retained it would be limited to 100,000 annual daylight movements per annum, mostly of single engined aircraft. Schofields does lie within the Richmond CTA and its operation is restricted to periods when there is no military activity at Richmond, and is then further limited to a radius of 2nm (3. 7km) from the aerodrome to a height of 1500ft. Schofields is 16km from Richmond, just 500 metres less than the distance between Bankstown and Mascot, Australia’s two busiest airports.

In 1990 there were 18,000 movements at Schofields (mostly at weekends) and 41,000 at Richmond (mostly during the week). In the same period there were 375,000 move-ments at Bankstown and 253,000 at Mascot. The ILS approach at Richmond comesno closer than 11km to Schofields whilst the 07 ILS at Mascot comes within 8km of ankstown. How the RAAF can feel physi-cally intimidated by the presence of Schofields, when Sydney doesn’t, is strange indeed.

A decision is hoped for either way in the coming quarter though sadly it looks like Australia’s largest city is about to lose yet another GA facility. Readers interested in knowing more about this important subject might like to refer to our August issue Recce where the situation was covered in greater detail.

Eurofighter First Flight Faces Further Delays:

First flight of the Eurofighter 2000 has been delayed yet again, due to ongoing concern with the aircraft’s Digital Flight Control System (DFCS).

The first flight target date is now set for February next year, although it has been suggested that a date in July is more realistic, 18 months after initially planned. Before this latest delay, the flight had been planned for November this year.

The delay has resulted from the need for more rig testing of the DFCS than at first thought needed, while increased systems complexitywith its associated greaterworkload for the flight control computer is another factor. The DFCS has long presented problems for Eurofighter, with part of the blame for its troublesome nature given to the politically influenced decision to split the software development among the four Eurofighter partner countries. DASA has design authority for the DFCS, while GEC is the prime contractor for the four participating suppliers.

Eurofighter believes that the delay will not affect the programme seriously, although work is underway to ensure Eurofighter 2000’s entry into service date for Italy and the UK, set for 2000, is met. An analysis of the Eurofighter 2000 programme appeared in our October issue.

Eagles Return for Cope Boomerang:

Twelve USAFF-15 Eagles have been participating in air-to-air combat exercises with the RAAF since mid October.

The F-158, from the USAF’s 44th Fighter Squadron based at Kadena in Japan, are participating in a wide variety of air superiority missions pitted against F/A-18 Hornets of No 3 Squadron. Fighter Controllers from the RAAF’s No 3 Control and Reporting Unit are also taking part, using land based radar to track the air combat manoeuvring. The USAF deployment is supported by C-141 Starlifter and KC-10 Extender aerial refuellers, although no AWACS platforms will be taking part.

Cope Boomerang is in addition to the RAAF’s annual Pitch Black air defence exercises and provides another opportunity for RAAF pilots to participate in dissimilar air combat training (DACT).

The exercise is due to finish on November 7.

 Airlines Strive to Clear the Air:

Qantas and British Airways have announced a new range of nonsmoking flights in response to a growing demand from passengers for clean air.

Qantas will initiate a six month trial on a range of flights from January 1, with the longest flight being the daily QF9 Sydney/ Melbourne/Singapore/London and the reciprocal QF10service. The 72new non smoking flights largely involve flights from Australia to Singapore, and include QF51 and QF52 to and from Brisbane, QF81 and QF82 to and from Adelaide; QF7 and QF8 to and from Perth; and QF61 and QF62 to and from Cairns. In addition all sectors on the four times weekly QF17 and return QF18 flying Sydney/Nad/Honolulu/Los Angeles will become non smoking.

From August 1 this year all Qantas international flights of four hours or less have been non smoking, while the airline, in conjunction with Air New Zealand, has banned smoking on more than 200 trans Tasman services per week.

British Airways, meanwhile also has announced a six month trial, introducing a non smoking ban on all of its flights to Australia and New Zealand from January 1. More than 400 weekly European services are non smoking, as are a small number of nonstops to Hong Kong and the US west coast.

Not only do non smoking flights represent a boon for passengers who neither smoke nor wish to be in the presence of other people who smoke, there are anumber of benefits for the airlines as well. Smoke tends to clog air filters and increase the level of maintenance required for air conditioning systems. From an occupational health aspect for cabin crew there are also the obvious advantages of having a smoke free atmosphere, where currently cabin crew have to work in an environment where smoke can be present for up to 14 hours at a time on some long haul sectors.

Australia, Canada and the USA all ban smoking on domestic flights, with China soon to follow, while ICAO has set a July 1 1996 deadline target date for a blanket smoking ban on all passenger services worldwide.

Northwest’s Cosmetics for Consultants:

Northwest Airlines’ regional manager and AFTA (Australian Federation of Travel Agents) board member Col Hughes has launched an incentive programme involving cosmetics for travel consultants whosell Northwest tickets, despite AFTA NSW policy to the contrary, writes Inside Tourism.

The NSW Chapter of AFTA had previously passed a motion which asked members to stop offering cash and non travel products direct to consultants. Northwest is reportedly offering $300 worth of cosmetics to consultants who sell four first or six business class seats on Northwest services to the USA.

Aeromil Score Learjet:

Sydney based aircraft sales and consultancy Aeromil have been appointed as the official Learjet distributor for Australasia, PNG and the Southwest Pacific.

Aeromil, with a long history in corporate aircraft sales, will not only now be able to market the Bombardier Learjet range but will also support that type via its established spare parts centre which also services Embraer products. Aeromil is also a partner in Aeromech, a specialised maintenance organisation based at Maroochydore airport in Queensland.

The move is seen as a fillip for Learjetas it has been more than ten years since the mark was professionally marketed within the region. Hopefully Aeromil will be able to address the decline in numbers over the STOP PRESS. . . STOP PRESS . . .

past half decade where the current fleet numbers just nine aircraft.

Coroner Blames Raaf, Pilot for 707 Crash:

Victorian deputy State Coroner, Mr Iain West, handed down his verdict on October 18 blaming the RAAF chain of command and the pilot for the loss of a Boeing 707 on October 29 1991.

The inquest found that the aircraft should not have been flown at a relatively low altitude whilst performing minimum control speed manoeuvres below that of the minimum safe airspeed. As pilot in command, Sqn Ldr Mark Lewin was found to be principally at fault due to his demonstrating a double asymmetric manoeuvre below authorised minimum airspeed to Flt Lt Timothy Ellis. The aircraft subsequently entered a spin from which recovery was impossible at such a low altitude.

However, Mr West also took to task the entire RAAF training system stating “In a sense this was a systemic failure, responsibility for which could be said to rest with the entire chain of command of the air force”.

The inquest verified that there were considerable personnel and general morale problems within 33 Sqn which at the time was commanded by Wing Cmdr John Foley. Also acerbating the unit’s problems was the long term detrimental effect of a heavy attrition rate with large numbers of qualified aircrew leaving for the airlines during the late eighties. This erosion of senior pilot skills did not encourage the development of formalised training systems that needed to be developed for the 707. Consequently, general operating knowledge earned through decades of real world practical experience by 707 operators was ignored resulting in manoeuvres, such as double asymmetrics, being flown in the aircraft that had long been outlawed by the airlines as an unsafe and unnecessary practice.

*Each new crewmember was aproduct of RAAF training, their lack of knowledge adversely reflects on the standard of their training and the resources available to them to educate themselves,” stated Mr West.

“I am satisfied on the evidence that there was a gross inadequacy of operational documentation in 33 sqn relating to the 707. ” He said.

“Although the inquest was told of numerous accidents in 707s operated by other mili- tary and civil operators from 1959 onwards, pilots from 33 sqn, when questioned as to their knowledge, either expressed ignorance or at best only sketchy details of them. ” Mr West made three primary recommendations. Firstly that the RAAP upgrade its 707 simulator to be able to better perform dangerous manoeuvres. To collect and disseminate information about the 707 and finally to formalise a training system that can be handed down from crew to crew and not dependent upon individual knowledge. The RAAF in turn commented that these three points are already being addressed.

Killed in the crash were Sqn Ldr Mark Lewin, Flt Lts Mark Duncan and Timothy Ellis and Warrant Officers Jonathan Fawcett and Allan Gwynne.

Their widows meanwhile have kept up a steady resolve to make the RAAF more accountable for the crash which they primarily blame on a system that was doomed to failure from the start due to an inability to take into account lessons learnt through more than three decades of civilian use of the 707, itself one of the safest aircraft ever built. Though happy with the result, the widows plan to fight on for compensation and to highlight the problems with the RAAF so as to hopefully prevent more accidents.

Ironically, whilst double asymmetric manoeuvres in the 707 were banned almost immediately following the crash, this dangerous and totally unnecessary manoeuvre (prohibited by the USAF, RAP and all civil operators) is still be flown by our Hercules and Orion squadrons.

Readers wishing more details on this situation might like to refer to our Recce in the October 1992 September ’93 editions of Australian Aviation.

Tbm 700 Sets Trans Australia Record:

An Aerospatiale TBM 700 single engined turboprop aircraft has set a new world class and Australian national speed record for turboprops between Perth and Sydney.

Flown by Captain Trevor Frost (of Aeroleasing in Singapore) and Jill Terry, the aircraft completed its journey in just under 5 hours 30 minutes at an average speed of 321 knots (595kmh) including an 11 minute stop at Port Lincoln to refuel The flight was made in memory of Aus- tralian Paul Terry, who owned the aircraft (VH-PTG) until his recent death in a hell- copter accident in Hawaii. The previous Perth/Sydney record in the 3000-6000kg turboprop class was set in 1986 also by Trevor Frostina Piper Cheyenne 4001 Salsoowned by Paul Terry.

 Personal Touch:

Incoming Qantas chief executive James Strong has written to all of the airline’s staff ahead of his arrival later this month in an attempt to stop any decline in morale following the recent massive changes and retrenchments.

The letter was “an immediate commit- ment to a major campaign of direct commu- nications to provide more information to everyone in the airline”, says Mr Strong, who is “very much aware of the pressures which have been created by the whole series of events affecting every part of the organisation-the decision to privatise, large scale retrenchment and cost cutting pro- grammes, merging of Qantas and Austral- lan, sale of a major shareholding to British Airways, new chairman and other changes on the board, postponement of the float and now a new chief executive”.

 North Korean Underground Runways?:

US intelligence believes North Korea may be building an underground runwayat Onchon Airfield, the home base of the 57th Fighter Regiment and its 29 MiG-19s.

According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, reports of the construction have come from within North Korea and the various US intelligence agencies are evaluating whether they have any credence or are a deception. The reports state the underground runway is 700m long and may be as long as 2500m when completed. The two entrances to the ‘tunnel’ (whichis reportedly 14m high) have outdoor sections of 670 and 520m in length.

If it is being built, the runway will run through a hill nearly 5km from Onchon’s main runway. Its construction involves tunnelling through some 800m of solid rock.

Record Tourism Year Ahead:

If figures for the first seven months of the year are any indication, Australia looks set for another record year of inbound tourism in 1993.

1. 64m overseas visitors came to Australia between January and July this year, 15% more than the same period of 1992 which was itself a record. If the trend continues, just under 3 million people will travel to Australia in 1993.

The January-July period showed strong increases in tourists from several areas com- pared with the previous year. Asia continued to be the fastest growing market (up 39%), followed by France (2596), Germany (1996) and New Zealand (16%).

 Transtasman Air Race Update:

The Great Trans Tasman Air Race’, scheduled for next March and designed to raise money for Ronald McDonald Houses in Australia and NZ, has created a fair amount of interest since it was first announced earlier this year (refer p13 July 93 AA).

Over 80 pilots have so far registered interest in the race from Sydney to Palmerston North, in aircraft ranging from homebuilts to Cessna 172s and to Bandeirantes. The event is not one of speed but the emphasis is on flight planning and airmanship. The New Zealand CAA has agreed to offer some concessions on the normal requirements for Oceanic Flight for NZ registered aircraft and the NZ Airways Corporation will also waiver landing and enroute charges for the race participants.

Prizemoney will be on offer, and anyone interested still has time to register by contacting the organisers at PO Box 2002, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Extra Argentina/NZ Flight:

Aerolinas Argentinas will introduce a second weekly Auckland/Buenos Aires service from December 10 this year to early March 1994.

The flights will leave Auckland on Tues- day and Friday mornings and return at midday on Mondays and Thursdays. The airline is also looking at other flights to this part of the world, particularly by using non stop services from Buenos Aires to Melbourne and Auckland using aircraft like the A340.