Search results

SIMPLICITY is the keynote of the Britten‐Norman Ltd. Islander light transport aircraft. Simple in construction and with simple systems, the whole conception of the aircraft was based on the specific needs of the third level or commuter airlines and the air taxi companies for an economical and efficient aircraft with excellent payload capacity over relatively short distances. The fundamental design philosophy behind the Islander was to bring a new low level of operating cost and the potential of a high level of profitability to short haul air transport. For many years the general trend in aircraft manufacture has been to make transport aircraft larger, faster and more complicated; this has applied just as much to small aircraft for the air taxi or feeder‐line operator as to intercontinental airliners, although perhaps not in quite so dramatic a fashion as occurred with the introduction of the Boeing 747 which presented the airlines with an aircraft having double the capacity of its predecessor. The men behind the Islander, Mr John Britten, C.B.E., and Mr Desmond Norman, C.B.E., Joint Managing Directors of Britten‐Norman Ltd., were convinced of the need for a robust utility aeroplane from their early experiences in operating a scheduled service commuter route in the Cameroons. As they saw it, there was a gap in the market for an aircraft designed to have minimum capital cost per saleable passenger scat on short haul sectors. In keeping with this philosophy the airframe structure had to be simple and designed with the fatigue problems of small aircraft very much in mind. Laminations were to be used extensively for spars, inter‐spar stringers and skin‐plating to cut machining costs and to simplify repairs. A high standard of corrosion proofing was needed to give reliability and for operation in all parts of the world. Ancillary equipment that was already proven and in world‐wide use was specified so that the reliability would be of a high order and spares would be easily available. Low wing loading and a high power to weight ratio were necessary to give S.T.O.L. performance without the use of expensive and sophisticated flaps. A large pay‐load capacity together with a cabin that could be quickly adapted for passengers, freight, ambulance, photographic and geophysical survey, agriculture, parachuting and many other roles were also essential requirements.

The primary purpose of this study is to analyse the performance of multirotor unmanned aircraft system platforms for passenger transport and compare them with an ordinary helicopter solution. This study aims to define a standard procedure for power budget analysis of unconventional vehicles recently proposed in the aerospace industry, providing guidelines on rotor sizing in terms of required power and the total number of rotors. The ultimate purpose of the proposed work is to describe a methodology for power estimation with regard to emerging electric vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL) vehicles.

In the context of urban mobility, short-range passenger transport between critical hubs in cities is taken into account and innovative aircraft and traditional helicopters are compared according to a common mission profile. The power budget equations used in the helicopter literature are revisited to consider different multirotor configurations (up to 20 rotors) and evaluate the feasibility of innovative aerospace vehicle design.

The paper includes insights into the maximum number of rotors that ensure a significative, relative power reduction compared to helicopter platforms (the power-to-cruise over power-to-hover ratio appears to be improved). Based on this preliminary analysis, the results suggest the benefit of reducing the installed rotors to avoid excessive power loss in forward flight.

The proposed study provides guidelines for further design considerations and the future development of EVTOL multirotor aircraft.

This paper fulfils the identified need for a systematic approach on performance analysis for innovative vehicles involved in commercial applications.

The 1977 safety records for US air carriers and air taxis have been released by the National Transport‐ation Safety Board (USA).

Killing time in airport departure lounges is one of the biggest gripes of business travellers. Having one's own aircraft — or engaging a charter company—therefore has its attractions. But what about the cost? Laura Pank talks to a private aircraft owner and a charter operator.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze real-world flight data of a piston engine training aircraft collected from an internet-based radar service, along with wind data provided by a weather forecast model, and to use such data to design a hybrid electric power system.

The modeling strategy starts from the power demand imposed by a real-world wind-corrected flight profile, where speed and altitude are provided as functions of time, and goes through the calculation of the efficiency of the powertrain components when they meet such demand. Each component of the power system and, in particular, the engine and the propeller, is simulated as a black box with an efficiency depending on the actual working conditions. In the case of hybrid electric power system, the battery charging and discharging processes are simulated with the Shepherd model.

The variability of power demand and fuel consumption for a training aircraft is analyzed by applying the proposed methodology to the Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee, a very popular aircraft used for flight training, air taxi and personal use. The potentiality of hybridization is assessed by analyzing the usage of the engine over more than 90 flights. A tentative sizing of a hybrid electric power system is also proposed. It guarantees a fuel saving of about 5%.

The scientific contribution and the novelty of the investigation are related to the modeling methodology, which takes into account real-world flight conditions, and the application of hybridization to a training aircraft.

Produced to meet the specific needs of commuter airlines or air taxi operators, the rugged characteristics of the Islander suit the requirements of anyone who wants an economical and reliable aircraft with a good payload capacity for operations over short distances. An integral part of this achievement is the possession of a low wing loading and a high power/weight ratio which confers S.T.O.L. performance features without complicated slots and flaps.

Scottish plastics firm, ICL Technical Plastics Ltd, are set to benefit from the latest big order for the British Aerospace Jetstream 31, built at nearby Prestwick.

As a prelude to the FLIGHT International Business and Light Aircraft Show, at Cranfield in September, C.S.E. Aviation Services Ltd. arranged a special presentation in London, mainly, to express concern about pilot and maintenance engineer shortage and a predicted worsening situation for the '80's. Rex Smith, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, however, before introducing Jack Nicholl. Principal of the Air Training School and Jeremy Smith, Piper sales manager, gave prominence to three major news items and also reported on the continuing high level of light aircraft sales.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the technical and operational specifications of the Small Aircraft Transport System (SAT/SATS) to the achieved safety level.

Safety estimation was made with the use of mathematical model of safety of light aircraft in commercial operations developed on the basis of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data. The analysis was conducted for two different SATS business models based on Direct AiR Transport (DART) concept. It allowed for the investigation of the impact of technical specifications of the aircraft included into the SATS fleet as well as the selected elements of the applied business model on SATS safety level.

It was found that the proposed changes to DART system resulted in a significant improvement of safety. Mean Time Between Incidents and Accident (MTBIA) increased by 200 per cent. Additionally, the introduced alterations impacted the weights of particular domains and pilot’s error became less critical than the technical reliability.

It was shown that the application of new requirements influences both the safety level and the cost of operation, which was demonstrated within the ESPOSA and DART projects. Additionally, it was indicated that further effort to improve the light aircraft safety is absolutely necessary.

Originality consists in combining in one mathematical model both the aircraft configuration and the rules for business operation. Optimization of selected parameters of the system leads to a significant reduction in the accident number and to keeping the cost increment at a reasonable level. It was also found that the resulted improvement sometimes cannot be sufficient to consider a small aircraft operation fully safe, mainly owing to the numerous restrictions because of its small weight and loading capacity.

FOR MOST people the Trislander “happened” at Farnborough on September 11, 1970 when the aircraft created one of the show's bigger surprises by flying in, unannounced, on the same day as its maiden flight. Subsequent events were no less startling as the Trislander's development programme advanced, unfaltering, to the maiden flight of the first production aircraft on 6 March, 1971, to the first £1 million orders announced on 11 March, 1971 to ARB Type certification on 14 May, to the first deliveries in the UK and USA on 29 June, and to FAA certification on 4 August. In little more than a year, all the obstacles that stood between a basic idea and a successful aircraft had been overcome.