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GE Offers To Buy N-250 Stake

General Electric has tabled an offer which could see it take a 10% stake in a proposed joint venture company with Indonesia’s IPTN to assemble the N-250 regional turboprop in the USA. If the deal goes ahead, IPTN will hold a 40% share in what will be called American Regional Aircraft Industry (AMRAI) while the remaining 60% will be offered to US investors. GE’s proposed share will come from that portion and is reported to be linked to its sale of GE locomotive engines and power turbines to Indonesia. The rationale behind the venture is that no regional turboprop in the 50-70 seat class is built in the USA and that the establishment of a second production line in that country will boost sales there. IPTN was due to decide the location of the US plant as this issue went to press, the choices apparently being Mobile (Alabama), Portland (Oregon) and Phoenix (Arizona). First flight of the prototype N-250 has slipped from April to August 1995 and US certification is planned for late 1997.

Pacific To Sell Falcons

Pacific Aviation has been appointed the new sales agent for the Dassault Falcon range of corporate jets in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Sales prospects for the Falcon 50, 2000, 900B and new 900EX are expected to improve as corporations begin to emerge from recession and once again realise the time savings, flexibility, security and financial advantages operating a corporate aircraft can bring, states Pacific. As reported in Newsdesk, Hawker Pacific will now concentrate on its new Hawker 800 and 1000 jets, the Beechjet and the rest of the Raytheon Beech range. The Australian Dassault biz-jet population currently comprises two Falcon 20s, one Falcon 200 and six Falcon 900s including five operated by the RAAF.

Seaview Wants Sydney Wreckage Salvaged

Seaview Airlines, owner of the Rockwell Turbo Commander 690 aircraft which crashed into the sea en route Lord Howe Island in early October, has asked the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation to salvage the wreckage of a similar aircraft which crashed off Sydney earlier this year. Seaview believes the wreckage could provide important clues for investigations into the loss of its own aircraft and as the Sydney aircraft is lying in 100m of water off Botany Bay, it would be easier to retrieve than the Seaview Commander which went down in more than three kilometres of water. The basis of Seaview’s request is US information pertaining to aileron flutter on the Turbo Commander (refer p49 Nov 94 AA), possibly the result of improper aileron rigging. Seaview believes that problem may have been the cause of both accidents. In both cases, the aircraft apparently hit the water at high speed while out of control. The contradictions associated with this tragedy continue, with Seaview claiming the CAA ignored warnings from the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) in 1993 that the Turbo Commander aircraft had been involved in three fatal accidents in the USA resulting from structural failure. Seaview claims the “CAA took no action to alert owners, operators, pilots or persons responsible for the maintenance of these aircraft of the danger involved in the operation of these aircraft until some days after the Seaview accident”. Contradicting this view is the opinion expressed by Seaview’s former chief pilot, Greg Matthews, who claims in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that the airline was fully aware of the possibly fatal flaw. The Seaview accident could result in the biggest shake up of Australian civil aviation administration for some time. The Civil Aviation Authority is itself subject to no fewer than five separate investigations dealing with alleged cover ups, impropriety and other matters, among them Federal Police investigations, a Judicial Enquiry (into the Seaview accident) and a Parliamentary Enquiry. The responsible Minister, Laurie Brereton, has declined to express confidence in the board of the CAA or its chief executive officer, Doug Roser, and early evidence at the Parliamentary Enquiry has heard descriptions of the CAA such as a “Gestapo like culture” aired. It appears this story is a very long way from being finished and its repercussions will be felt for some time.

Sydney Noise Protests Get Louder

It was probably predictable that the opening of Sydney Airport’s third runway would result in a flood of noise complaints from the well organised anti airport brigade, but it seems that residents all over Sydney – in areas not normally affected – are also complaining as flights track over their homes. It is true that many flights have been tracking over areas not previously used, although popular press allegations that aircraft are flying “willy nilly” over Sydney are untrue, as all are obviously under the strict control of Air Traffic Control. Several factors have contributed to the situation, including unusual winds around Sydney in recent times. In addition, the problem will ease with the opening of the airport’s new control tower next April and when the Standard Terminal Arrival Route System (STARS) has settled down and procedures relating to the third runway are properly established. Despite all this, it is true that many deviations from the published flight paths have been recorded, despite promises from the Federal Government that the opening of the runway would not dramatically affect flight patterns. According to former CAA officer Laurie Foley, a culture of fear had resulted from a reorganisation of the CAA instigated by former chairman Dick Smith, and “the CAA operates in a Gestapo-like culture where any dissent is punished, usually by means of yet another restructure which results in staff who give honest advice being made redundant…” One of the several worrying aspects emerging from the aftermath of the Seaview crash (and the Monarch crash at Young) are that according to some surveys, many Australians are losing faith in the aviation industry, an industry which has long had a reputation for safety standards which are second to none in the world. Some small airlines which have no safety problems are losing passengers because of overall fears, while industry people such as Air Link’s David Miller and Hazelton Airlines’ chief pilot Peter Hazelton have criticised standards of airmanship and charter operators who heavily undercut prices in order to in effect ‘buy’ work. Some maintenance organisations have also come in for criticism, while the public’s perception of the CAA as a responsible and trustworthy authority has been lowered.

Unique PADS Pod Awarded

Search & Rescue’s unique Precision Aerial Delivery System (PADS) was awarded an Australian Design Award and selected for permanent exhibition in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. The two accolades for the PADS system were awarded at the 1994 Australian Design services annual presentation dinner held in Sydney. The PADS system was one of eight designs out of 37 nominations presented an Australian Design Award, which recognises an invention displaying design excellence. The PADS system was also one of four designs selected for permanent display at the Powerhouse Museum, the largest museum in Australia. Director of the Museum Terence Measham noted that the PADS system was “a simple idea in a functionally designed package. The PADS system is a range of air droppable canisters or ‘Storpedoes’ for use in maritime emergencies. PADS canisters can contain a range of medical supplies, food, water, liferafts, marine pumps and other survival gear to survivors of aircraft ditchings or marine accidents. The system can be dropped with a high degree of accuracy from light twins such as Cessna 310s or Navajos, and is particularly useful in countries that do not have a full time professional coast guard/search and rescue organisation.

Sales

Boeing 737: Hspag Lloyd (Germany) Has Ordered 16 737-800s. Total Sales Stand At 3051.

Boeing 757: Feat (Taiwan) Has Ordered 2 Additional 757s. Total 757 Sales Stand At 852.

Bae Jetstream: Trans States Airlines (Usa) Has Ordered 25 J41s And Optioned 35 More. Total J41 Sales Stand At 99.

Beech 1900: Mesa (Usa) Has Ordered An Additional 40 1900ds To Bring Its Commitment On Type To 118 Aircraft.

Dhc Dash 8: Spx (Colombia) Has Ordered 1 Dash 8-200. Total Dash 8 Sales Stand At 411.

Dornier 328: Vif Air (India) Has Ordered 5 328s. Total 328 Sales Stand At 54.

Fairchild Metro: Hazelton (Australia) Has Ordered 3 Additional Metro 23s.

Mdc Md-90: Caac (Prc) Has Signed For An Additional 14 Md-90s To Take Its Total Md-90 Commitment To 34 Aircraft.

Sales Summary

The above data covers the month of November and lists 141 aircraft on order or under option. A massively successful month by any standard, indeed we have not seen monthly sales figures like this for several years. Of significant interest is that the bulk of the action has been in the third level regional airliner category. Jetstream’s massive contract for 60 J41s pretty well ensures that type’s long term success while Beech literally cannot make enough of its spacious 1900Ds to fulfill market requirements. Fairchild is also finding success with the Metro 23 variant of this popular and long established turboprop, particularly in Australasia where the type is by far the most prolific pressurised 18 seat regional in service. Both DHC and Dornier added to their customer lists while McDonnell Douglas has broken a long sales drought with a reassuring boost to its joint China/US MD-90 Trunkliner programme with the Chinese agreeing to boost their requirement to some 23 airframes. Now if only MDC would begin to market this excellent twinjet elsewhere, who knows – they just might begin to sell some! But that’s another story. See you next year.