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Novel Feature Protects Airframe and Undercarriage Fairey Hydraulics, a member of the Fairey Holdings Group, has been selected by Westland Helicopters to design and manufacture the tricycle undercariage oleo legs for the new Lynx 3, military and W30–300 civil and military helicopters. In the event of unusually heavy landings, a special feature built into military versions, provides protection to both the aircraft structure and the undercarriage itself.

Lufthansa is offering six of the A300‐B2s in its eleven‐plane Airbus fleet for sale in 1984 because, starting next Spring, the airline plans to replace this model — and, subsequently, its Boeing 727s with the more modern, higher capacity A310. The A300‐B2 was designed and equipped specifically for short‐haul work. Five longer‐range A300‐B4s will stay in the Lufthansa fleet. Two of them will go into service with Condor next Summer, while the other three will be refitted for a broader range of operations. With their increased maximum take‐off weight and more powerful engine thrust, they will be able to service Middle‐Eastern destinations and their cabin amenities will be upgraded accordingly, with new seating, expanded catering facilities and an audio system.

This is our report on this first international assembly of Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering, held in Zurich 6th–9th February 1979. This was AIRMEC 79 — and, as was foreseen in our Comment in the January issue, the significance of this innovation among aviation occasions was taken up by thirty‐six countries who sent 276 delegates to the convention, which was supported by the Exhibition, attracting 112 exhibitors from 17 countries. There is every chance that this event will take its place with Farnborough, Paris and Cranfield as a regular feature of the aviation scene and of considerable interest to all engaged in aircraft maintenance. The organisers did announce at the end of that Show that AIRMEC 81 would take place, again in Zurich, in February of that year. And perhaps it is interesting to comment at this stage about the decision to return to Zurich. While it might be said that the event was a success, the fact that the convention was held in a venue separate from the Exhibition, did have some disadvantages and the consensus among the exhibitors was that this did discourage many of the 2260 in attendance from really taking in the Exhibition. Perhaps the only exception to this were the Chinese whose delegation spent almost all of every day in the Exhibition halls, visiting every stand and spending considerable time at each one.

The introduction of second generation jets on world air routes, and the progress being made with supersonic jet transport, have focused attention on developments in aircraft interiors. These developments also raise the question of the importance of interior design in the success of a modern airliner, and the extent to which the influence of soundly engineered and designed interiors in the British and American aircraft industries is reflected in the sales of civil aircraft over the last 10 years. If factual answers to these points are not easily obtainable, there is one thing that is quite certain: interior design is vital to the success of an aircraft, in both its purchase and its subsequent operation.

The experience gained since 1959 at MBB, Military Aircraft Division, in the development and flight testing of V/STOL combat aircraft having the capability to reach Mach 2 and to take off with after‐burning temperatures is described. The German project VJ 101 C and the US/FRG project AVS as well as the joint US/FRG V/STOL Technology Programme conducted during the years 1967 through 1970 serve as examples. The paper consists of two main sections:

UNQUESTIONABLY the highly successful German aircraft industries made notable contributions to technological developments in aviation before the war. Lufthansa was always their principal customer. During the past decades the question, therefore, periodically arose as to whether this tradition might not be linked to present and future demands of Lufthansa and other European airlines.

Air Algérie has put its second MERO‐designed overhaul dock into operation. The new unit is primarily for B‐727 maintenance, and the similar earlier unit was for B‐737‐200 maintenance and overhaul. Both docks, built on the same principle, are further developments of maintenance and overhaul equipment built by the Wrzburg, Germany, manufacturer.

This is the first of a series of three papers discussing a major benchmarking initiative in the air cargo freight industry sector. The project itself focused on nine major competitors in the cargo industry and included organisations known to be leaders in the areas of service excellence. The methodology used for establishing comparisons was an adaptation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) (1996 version). A questionnaire was used with prompts covering various areas of quality management, people involvement in continuous improvement, service excellence aspects, customer focus and satisfaction aspects and finally business and operational performance aspects. Paper 1 discusses the changes that are taking place in the air cargo freight industry and sets the scene by presenting profiles of all of the competitors used in this study.

IN 1955 Hamburger Flugzeugbau began to reconstruct its Finkenwerder plant and develop its aeronautical activities, following the period of in‐activity after the Second World War. Production began with an order from the West German Federal Defence Ministry for components for the S.N.C.A.N. 2501 Noratlas built under licence for the West German Air Force. Final assembly and flight testing of this twin‐engined transport were also carried out at Finkenwerder. The next stage of development involved participation in the European licence production of the Lockheed F.104G Starfighter, and in the design and construction of the Franco‐German C.160 Transall transport. By J 958, HFB had completed the project stage of the design of a turbojet airliner—the HFB 314. This was a short /medium‐range airliner designed to carry 70 tourist class passengers over ranges up to 1,250 miles. Although Hamburger Flugzeugbau had designed the aircraft in close co‐operation with Lufthansa, West Germany's largest airline, and were fully prepared to produce the aircraft in consort with other German or European companies, development costs would have amounted to some £5 million and since no Government financial support was forthcoming, the project was abandoned. Determined to reassert its authority as a design agency, HFB turned to the jet executive field in 1960 and designed the twin‐jet HFB 320 Hansa. The most distinctive feature of this aircraft is without doubt its sweptforward wing and it is this feature which is dealt with in detail in this article. The decision to utilize such a wing was based to some extent on Hamburger Flugzeugbaus‘ technical experience in the development of the Junkers Ju 287 sweptforward wing dating back to the Second World War. The HFB 320 Hansa is powered by two General Electric CJ 610–1 turbo‐jets, each of which has a weight of 355 lb. and a thrust of 2,850 lb. The engine's eight‐stage axial compressor has a mass flow of 565 at. ft. I sec. at 16,500 r.p.m. At gross weights of 16,000 to 18,000 lb., the Hansa will cruise at 500 m.p.h. over ranges up to 1,600 miles with full reserves. Well over 2,000 hours of model testing have been carried out in wind tunnels at the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt, (Goettingen), National Luchten Ruimtvaartlaboratorium (Amsterdam), Torrejon (Madrid), Emmen (Switzerland) and Modane (France).‐ Static testing is underway on an airframe structural specimen including: test for maximum cabin pressure, windshield strength test—bird impact, investigation of ground and landing loads, and investigation of loading at the extremes of the flight envelope. Later this summer, HFB will commence a programme of loading tests of a dynamic test airframe utilizing the water tank technique, involving pressurization cycles and gust loading to simulate 50,000 flights. Assembly of the first prototype HFB 320 Hansa was completed on March 18, 1964, and was followed by ground resonance tests, and engine ground’ running prior to the aircraft's maiden flight on April 21. The prototype, which carries extensive flight test instrumentation and is not equipped with the production‐type cabin, made its first public appearance at the Deutsches Luftfahrtschau at Hanover‐Langenhagen a few days later. The full flight test programme is currently being pursued.