H E A D L I N E S

DHC-7s picked for US Army drug war

The US Army has selected the Boeing Canada Dash7 as the

airframe for its Grisly Hunter surveillance system. The Army plans to install a battery of sen­sors in the aircraft for surveil­lance in low-intensity conflicts and anti-drug operations.

California Microwave of Woodland Hills is the prime con­tractor and Summit Aviation of Delaware will acquire and modify the aircraft, which are now out of production. Funding for the project has been in doubt but the compromise budget to be considered by the full Congress (see story, this page) earmarks $10 million for it as a counter-narcotics programme. The con­tract calls for initial conversion of one aircraft followed by five more over the next six years.

Summit president Pat Foley says ,the Dash7 is the only aircraft large enough to hold the re­quired sensors but still able to land on an unprepared 600m strip as specified. Foley says there are 32 Dash7s potentially available on the used market. •

Malibu crash sets settlement record

In possibly aviation's biggest negotiated personal-injury

settlement, some $31 million has been paid to a Piper Malibu pilot and his family. The piston single crashed in Long Beach in late 1987 following engine failure, killing an instructor and seri­ously injuring pilot Dennis Paboojian, who claimed $50 mil­lion. The settlement is shared by engine manufacturer Teledyne Continental and five other defendants.

Teledyne has paid $20 million, fixed-based operator S&G Flight

• Services and charterer Million Air $5 million each, engine-overhauler Sacramento Sky Ranch $1 million, turbocharger maintainer Kelpak $100,000 and Allied-Signal/Garrett $25,000. No liability was assigned or admitted. •

Kegworth report welcomed Raction to the official report

into the January 1989 crash of a British Midland Airlines (BMA) Boeing 737-400 in which 47 people died has been gen­erally favourable. The aircraft crashed at Kegworth on ap­

proach to East Midlands Airport following a mistaken inflight engine shutdown.

Responding to the UK Air Ac­cidents Investigation Branch report, BMA says it has "incor­porated those recommendations which have been authorised by the Civil Aviation Authority ICAA]".

The British Airline Pilots Association is "working to im­plement the recommendations relating to pilots and training." Boeing says it will work with the CAA ". . . . to seek solutions to the issues raised by the AAIB."

The AAIB has made 31 recom­mendations to the CAA (see pages 8 and 9 for a full analysis): 25 are wholly accepted. On the remaining six, the CAA: • says that the requirement for fan-blade inspections already exists but is being re-emphasised; • does not believe that fun­

damental changes are needed in the way that instrument design and effectiveness is assessed; • says that vibration indicators do not need attention-getters for maximum readings because vibration is transmitted through the airframe. Boeing is studying attention-getters; • says that flight manuals must remain compact and do not need a specific entry for engine-in­duced vibration and smoke; • does not want to make simu­lator training for familiarity with electronic engine instruments compulsory because it can be done in flight. However, it has notified operators of the need for detailed training and familiarity with new systems; • will not insist that engines are put through a complete testing environment when airborne if the manufacturer's testbed sys­tems are judged sufficiently sophisticated. •

Congress compromise saves B-2 and V-22 Acompromise defence auth­

orisation Bill agreed by US Congressional negotiators pre­serves the B-2 programme for at least one more year but cuts funding for the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) by almost 40%.

The $288.3 billion budget, which has to be approved by the full Congress, is some $19 billion less than the Bush Administra­tion's request, and the SDI cut could attract a Presidential veto.

Although the compromise Bill stretches out a number of major programmes, it keeps the major­ity of conventional items in exis­tence. The B-2 receives $1.75 billion for development and $2.35 billion for procurement, although Senate and House negotiators cannot agree on what the money will buy.

Senate conferees believe the money could be used to buy another two aircraft on top of the 15 B-2s so far authorised, but House members argue that funds will be absorbed by cost overruns already identified and cannot be used for further production.

A major beneficiary is the Bell/'

Boeing V-22 tiltrotor which, in defiance of an Administration which wants to kill the project, receives not only $238 million for development but also the full $165 million of long-lead procurement funds requested.

The Milstar communications satellite is zero-funded along with the MX rail garrison, while the Bigeye chemical bomb and Follow-On To Lance nuclear missile are terminated. The Army light helicopter (LH) now re­ceives $291 million for research and, as previously announced, full-scale development will be delayed while three prototypes are built.

The Air Force's Advanced Tac­tical Fighter (ATF) receives an unexpectedly high $964 million and the current demonstration/ validation phase is extended, against the advice of the con­tractors. The Navy's A-12 attack aircraft receives no procurement funds because of "excessive concurrency" but additional "ter­mination liability" money is earmarked.

Defence secretary Dick

Cheney's revised request for just two C-17 airlifters in 1991 is approved at a cost of $400 mil­lion. The conference provides $815 million for procurement of 90 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles but delays produc­tion ramp-up pending the resolution of reliability ques­tions. Procurement of the Tacit Rainbow anti radiation missile is deferred following testing problems.

The joint surveillance/target attack radar system which the House wanted terminated, re­ceives $233 million, and the National Aerospace Plane, which the Senate wanted to end, re­ceives $119 million.

There are funds for pro­gramme upgrades including the F-15XX ATF alternative; a joint Air Force/Navy AIM-9 missile improvement; the Army's Long­bow Apache helicotper; Navy im­proved Phoenix missile, and Air Force C-130J airlifter upgrade.

A number of moves to simplify and improve procurement proce­dures are ordered in the com­promise Bill. •

4 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24-30 October 1990