iscover
Aer Lingus has taken delivery of three BAe 146-300s which it has leased from Asset Management Organisation. The 110 seat 146s are used for domestic services between Dublin, Cork and Shannon, and for flights to Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol and Edinburgh. (AMO)
Newsdesk – Military Aviation
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Adf Nomads To Go
The Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Ray, has ended speculation on the future of the GAF Nomad STOL utility aircraft in Australian military service by accepting a report which says the entire fleet should remain grounded. Senator Ray has accepted the recommendation of a joint Army and RAAF review into the safety and economy of the aircraft, precipitated by a range of concerns in regard to air safety not the least of which was lack of confidence expressed by the pilots themselves. The minister agrees with the report and says: the Nomad was designed as a civil aircraft and may well be suitable for civil tasks. However, the aircraft is not capable of satisfying the military tasks required by the ADF because of limitations and restrictions on its operations. However, I believe the issues in regard to the safety of the aircraft require further consideration. The report acknowledged that the Nomad is likely to be found technically airworthy, but noted that such airworthiness is dependent on operation within a severely constrained flight envelope. Significantly, the report considered that the aircraft’s basic design does not provide an acceptable margin of safety for military operations. Although this seems to indicate that the permanent grounding of ADF Nomads is a fait accompli, the final decision had not been made at the time of writing but was due to be announced as this magazine hits the newsstands. Senator Ray said: I believe it is highly likely that the Nomad will be retired from service with the Australian Defence Force on the basis that it simply cannot perform the operational task required. It was pointed out that a number of other countries in the region successfully operate the Nomad in both military and civil roles, this fact indicating not so much a problem with the aircraft itself but in the way it is being used by the ADF. Several people have leapt to the Nomad’s defence, most notably its designer, Alan Wrigley, who has accused the ADF of exaggerating its shortcomings. Mr Wrigley has quite correctly pointed out that the Nomad was a victim of underfunding and bureaucratic interference throughout its production life. He makes the very interesting point that: The civil side has never had the problems of the military where the motivation has been the RAAF’s opposition to an aircraft industry in Australia. I was involved in a number of studies into aircraft production in Australia and the air force prevented every one of them. There has only been one civil Nomad fatal accident in Australia and that involved an experimental test aircraft.
Uav Market To Boom
A study by the Teal Group has predicted that the market for unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) will double between now and 2003 with nearly 8000 produced during the period with a value of more than five billion dollars. The report estimates that 5250 target drones and 2650 reconnaissance systems will be produced, the latter accounting for most of the increase. The estimated income covers only the UAVs themselves and not the cost of related equipment such as ground control stations. In many cases the UAV constitutes only 15% of the cost of the overall operational package.
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