APRIL 2018

AEROSPACE

PASSENGER
ACCESSIBILITY
PILOT SHORTAGE
ADDRESSED
PLUGGING INTO
ELECTRIC AVIATION
www.aerosociety.com
April 2018
Volume 45 Number 4

THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

AT 100
COMMEMORATING THE RAF'S CENTENARY
WITH THE CHIEF OF AIR STAFF
Royal Aeronautical Society
Your parts have
a destination
We know the way

Do you have an urgent transportation challenge?

We’re here for you 24 hours a day 365 days a year

Contact us now on

24/7/365 AOG Hotline:

www.aln.aero 00 8000 264 8326
Volume 45 Number 4

MoD
14
April 2018

26
Plane Speaking Access all areas
An interview with Raising awareness of
RAF Air Chief the needs of disabled
Marshal Sir Stephen passengers in aircraft
Hillier. cabin layouts.

Contents
Correspondence on all aerospace matters is welcome at: The Editor, AEROSPACE, No.4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ, UK publications@aerosociety.com

Comment Regulars
4 Radome 12 Transmission
The latest aviation and Your letters, emails, tweets
aeronautical intelligence, and feedback.
analysis and comment.
58 The Last Word
An icon retires 10 Antenna Keith Hayward considers
the industrial dimension of
Howard Wheeldon looks at
both the legacy of the RAF’s British air power.
Ever since the first caveman picked up a rock, fashioned a spear or drew centenary and its future.
back the first bow, humans have been compelled to develop more and
more effective ways of extending the distance between hunter and prey,
or attacker and defender, so that violence can be carried out with the least
risk to the one instigating the act. Through bows and arrows, crossbows,
Features

Lufthansa
gunpowder and aircraft, the human race has developed perhaps the
18

Zunum
ultimate ranged weapons in the ICBM and satellite-controlled armed UAV
– able to deal death from thousands of miles away from the person who
pulls the trigger. In March the USAF formally retired the iconic General
Atomics Predator MQ-1 UAV which, since its inception in the 1990s,
has come to define a new era of remote warfare. Indeed, while the ICBM
30
is best understood as an indiscriminate weapon of revenge, contrast New pilot scheme
that with the armed UAV, an aerial weapon which allows extreme levels Power sources The IPTA looks at ways to
discrimination and precision through long dwell times, yet, it might be Is current battery technology solve the problem of the
ready for the challenge of international shortage of
argued, lowers the political cost of conflict since there is no risk of a pilot powering the new generation pilots.
getting captured or killed. However the Predator is perhaps misunderstood of electric-powered aircraft?
32 Cabin fever
in two ways. First, through inadequate mainstream reporting and some
How new trends in cabin
wilful mischaracterisation of ‘killer robots’ – it is often forgotten that, while interiors have spurred
the air vehicle itself is uncrewed, the system requires a substantial number innovation in the passenger
air travel experience.
of humans to operate it. Second, while the armed Predator generates
headlines, it has been primarily a surveillance and ISR tool. Extreme 22 Airbus

36

Russian state media

persistence and its ability to loiter longer than crewed aircraft may be more
revolutionary than its lethal role. The Predator, an iconic symbol of today’s
military technology, has now been superseded by the Reaper UAV – such is its
significance that armed MALE UAVs are now operated by over 25 nations.

Tim Robinson, Editor-in-Chief

Purple reigns Caged tiger tested
tim.robinson@aerosociety.com Qatar Airways takes delivery Secret Soviet tests on a US
NEWS IN BRIEF of its first Airbus A350-
1000.
F-5 fighter captured during
the Vietnam War.
Editor-in-Chief AEROSPACE is published by the Royal 2018 AEROSPACE subscription
Tim Robinson Aeronautical Society (RAeS). rates: Non-members, £160
+44 (0)20 7670 4353 Chief Executive Please send your order to:
tim.robinson@aerosociety.com

41 Afterburner
Simon C Luxmoore Chris Male, RAeS, No.4 Hamilton Place,
Deputy Editor Advertising London W1J 7BQ, UK.
Bill Read Simon Levy +44 (0)20 7670 4352
+44 (0)20 7670 4351 +44 (0)20 7670 4346 aerosubs@aerosociety.com
bill.read@aerosociety.com simon.levy@aerosociety.com Any member not requiring a print
Publications Manager Unless specifically attributed, no version of this magazine, please 42 Message from our President
Chris Male material in AEROSPACE shall be taken contact: membership@aerosociety.com
+44 (0)20 7670 4352 43 M
 essage from our

Online
to represent the opinion of the RAeS. USA: Periodical postage paid at
chris.male@aerosociety.com Champlain New York and additional Chief Executive
Reproduction of material used in this
Production Editor publication is not permitted without the offices. 44 Book Reviews
Wayne J Davis written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. Postmaster: Send address changes
+44 (0)20 7670 4354 47 Library Additions Additional features and content are
to IMS of New York, PO Box 1518,
wayne.davis@aerosociety.com Printed by Buxton Press Limited,
Champlain NY 12919-1518, USA.
available to view online on www.media.
Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire 48 Obituaries aerosociety.com/aerospace-insight
Book Review Editor SK17 6AE, UK
Brian Riddle 50 Minutes of 152nd AGM Including: Singapore tests parcel drones, Brexit
ISSN 2052-451X and EASA − a way forward?, Designing out
Editorial Office Distributed by Royal Mail 52 Diary human error in helicopter maintenance, In the
Royal Aeronautical Society
No.4 Hamilton Place 54 Flight testing the Bristol 188 March issue of AEROSPACE, Qatar Airways
London W1J 7BQ, UK soars above turbulence, Learning
55 Corporate Partners from the Soyuz 1 and Apollo 1
+44 (0)20 7670 4300
publications@aerosociety.com Front cover: 100 years of the RAF. 56 RAeS Elections disasters of 1967.
www.aerosociety.com

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 13

 Radome
INTELLIGENCE / ANALYSIS / COMMENT

Tail control
A tail fan system will provide pitch control in
hover mode, as well as making sure the
aEro 2 is stable in gusty conditions.

Cheap and quiet

travel
The electric aEro 2 promises travel
five times faster than a car but at
the same cost per km says Dufour.
Meanwhile, the two large
propellers and low downwash
mean that the aEro 2 will have a
lower noise profile than a car when
heard at the same distance.

GENERAL AVIATION

Swiss tiltwing revealed

Swiss start-up Dufour Aerospace has unveiled a new concept for a two-seat electric-powered VTOL
aircraft using a tiltwing configuration. The aEro 2 builds on experience the company has had in
developing the aEro 1 fully-electric aerobatic aircraft, which first flew in June 2016. For the aEro 2, the
company began first conceptual designs in September 2016, with scale model tests in December 2017
and flight simulation in January. A one-third scale model is planned, with ground tests scheduled for 2019
and the aircraft ready for a first flight by the end of 2020 according to the company.

4 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

 Dufour Aerospace
Tiltwing VTOL
The aEro 2 uses a tiltwing configuration for
vertical flight with four electric motors
powering twin propellers to provide
redundancy. The company also says that the
laminar flow aerofoil wing makes it less
susceptible to vortex ring state or gusty
conditions than other designs. The wing
gives a glide ratio of 1:12 in the event of a
catastrophic power failure.

Tandem
seating
The aEro 2 features dual
tandem seating with
‘unbeatable visibility’
says Dufour. While the
aEro 2 is initially
designed to be piloted,
it envisages developing
an autonomous or
optionally piloted
variant.

Hybrid or all-electric
While the all-electric version of the aEro 2
would offer zero-emission flight, an optional
auxiliary power unit would allow its range to
be extended to 800km. Specifications
Seats 2
MTOW 500kg
Cruise speed 320km/hr
Range (hybrid) 800km
Range (all-electric)120km
Hover performance at
2,000m/M at ISA +20Deg C.

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 5

 Radome
DEFENCE
In a state of the nation address on 1 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed a
number of new weapon systems that are being developed or about to enter service with
Russia’s armed forces. These include a Mach 20 boost-glide weapon called Avangard
(pictured), the Kinzhal (‘Dagger’) air-launched by MiG-31 Mach 10 missile that could be
armed with a nuclear warhead, as well as an extended range ICBM that would allow A private US start-up may
Russia to attack US soil via the South Pole. He also revealed
Putin boasts of ‘invincible
missiles’
GENERAL AVIATION
Dassault Aviation reveals
latest Falcon 6X
After axing the 5X bizjet
due to engine issues,
on 28 February,
Dassault Aviation
launched its
newest large-
cabin Falcon
bizjet – the 6X,
The Falcon 6X, able to
carry 16 passengers, will
be powered by a P&W
NEWS IN BRIEF
Airbus has announced that
it is to cut the production
rate of the A380 airliner
to six per year from 2020
and the A400M military
transporter to eight per
year. The changes could
mean the loss of up to
3,700 jobs at Airbus
production facilities in
France, Germany, Spain
and the UK.
Budget carrier Norwegian
Air revealed its first
Argentinean-registered
6 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
what was described as a ‘nuclear-powered’ cruise missile
with almost unlimited range.
AEROSPACE
PurePower PW800
variant, rated at
Da
ss 13-14,000lb and will
au
feature a range
lt A
via ti o n
of 5,500nm,
as opposed to
the 5X’s Safran
Silvercrest. First flight
is scheduled for 2021 with
Bombardier
certification and deliveries
set for 2022.
Boeing 737-800 for its
new venture – Norwegian
Air Argentina. The aircraft
was officially presented
at Buenos Aires Ezeiza
International airport, with
services set to begin
in May. Norwegian Air
Argentina received
approval in December from
Argentinean authorities to
operate up to 72 domestic
and 80 international routes.
US Marine Corps F-35Bs
have forward-deployed
operationally to sea for the
SPACEFLIGHT
Rogue satellites in
unauthorised launch
have carried out the first
ever unauthorised launch
of satellites after four of
its cubesats hitched a ride
on an Indian launcher.
Four experimental
communication satellites,
SpaceBee 1, 2, 3 and
4 designed to test the
Internet of Things (IoT) in
orbit, were launched on
Russian State media
an Indian PSLV rocket on
12 January, along with
other satellites, including
Carbonite-2, the first
Bombardier's CSeries airliner has received support from the British Government as
the UK Export Finance (UKEF) credit agency announced financing for two CSeries
for Korean Airlines. This is the first time that UK Export Finance has supported a
Bombardier CSeries order.
Bombardier gets
UK export credit boost for CSeries
first time in Asia-Pacific. and communicate with
The first detachment of missions to Mars and
Lockheed Martin F-35Bs beyond.
US Marine Corps Fighter
Attack Squadron VFA-121 A report from Honeywell
arrived aboard the USS predicts that between
Wasp amphibious assault 4,000 and 4,200 new
ship on 5 March. civil helicopters will be
delivered between 2018
Goonhilly Earth Station and 2022. The company’s
in Cornwall, UK, is to be 20th annual ‘Turbine-
upgraded as part of a Powered Civil Helicopter
£8.4m project to create Purchase Outlook’ predicts
the world's first commercial that around 35% of these
deep-space tracking helicopters will be in the
and communications light single-engine and
station – able to control medium twin-engine class.
imagery satellite for the UK
MoD. The satellites, listed
on launch manifest as
belonging to an unnamed
operator, are believed to be
from a Silicon Valley start-
up, Swarm Technologies.
However, the US
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) had
previously rejected an
application for a launch
license by Swarm to
orbit these experimental
satellites, on safety
grounds.
Textron-owned Bell
Helicopter is to be
renamed as ‘Bell’, dropping
helicopter from its name.
The new brand and a
dragonfly logo are to be
rolled out over the next
year.
Airbus has signed
a memorandum of
understanding for 24
Airbus A321neos from
Vietnam’s FLC Group.
The $3.1bn order is for
aircraft for yet-to-be-
AEROSPACE AIR TRANSPORT
Boeing rolls out 10,000th 737 Turkish Airlines in
widebody fleet revamp

Boeing
On 13 March, Boeing rolled out the 10,000th example of its 737 airliner in Renton,
Washington State, entering the record books as the most-produced jet airliner since
it made its first flight in 1967. The 10,000th example, a 737 MAX 8, is for Southwest Turkish flag carrier Turkish Turkish Airlines also
Airlines confirmed two finalised a firm order,
Airlines. Since it entered service 50 years ago, the 737 has carried over 22 billion
purchases with first announced
passengers.
Airbus and in September,
 Meanwhile, earlier this year, Airbus delivered the 8,000th A320 family aircraft.
Boeing to with Boeing

A ir b u s
expand its for 25 787-9
widebody Dreamliners,
fleet, with up again with
to 60 aircraft. a further five
The carrier signed options. The
a MoU with Airbus 50/50 split is a
for 25 A350-900s, which change from the carrier's
also includes options for a original plans to purchase
further five A350s. 40 787s.

DEFENCE
Saudi final 48 Typhoon
sale one step closer
On 9 March, during a visit
by Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman to
Britain, the UK Government
and Saudi Arabia signed
a memorandum of intent
(MoI) to finalise discussions
on the long-awaited sale
of an extra 48 Eurofighter
Typhoon fighters to the
Royal Saudi Air Force
(RSAF).
The RSAF already
SPACEFLIGHT
Typhoons which were
acquired in 2007, with a
follow-on requirement for
an additional batch of 48
fighters.
The signing comes
after BAE Systems
announced last year that
it would shed 2,000 jobs,
partly due to the need to
slow production rates for
the Typhoon which, in late
2017, also won an order for
ESA
The European Space Agency has ESA
conducted the first successful ground
test of a revolutionary new propulsion tests air-
system that opens-up new applications
for satellites in low Earth orbit. The
breathing
electric ion thruster uses air molecules
ingested at the very top of the
thruster
atmosphere to provide propellent for
extended missions at around 200km.
As well as scooping up air molecules
to prolong the life of satellites in Earth
orbit, ESA says that these atmosphere-
breathing ion thrusters could also be used
for low orbit probes around other planets
with an atmosphere, such as Mars.

operates 72 Eurofighter 24 fighters from Qatar.

launched carrier Bamboo
Airlines which plans
to launch international
and domestic routes to
secondary destinations in
Vietnam.
Switzerland’s public
are to be given another
referendum on whether
to acquire a new fighter
aircraft to replace the
country’s aging F/A-18s
and F-5Es. While an earlier
national referendum in
2014 saw the deal to
acquire 22 Saab Gripens
narrowly rejected, this time
voters will have no choice
over the aircraft type –
with Gripen, Typhoon,
Rafale, Super Hornet
and F-35 as potential
contenders.
On 1 March, a ULA
Atlas V rocket launched
a new weather satellite
for the US NOAA from
Cape Canaveral. The
GOES-S Geostationary
(Operational Environmental
Satellite), is the second
satellite in the GOES-R
family and will improve
weather forecasting for
the Western US, Alaska
and Hawaii.
European GA pilots are
protesting against new
rules proposed by the
European Aviation Safety
Agency (EASA) which
would invalidate flying
hours on Annex II category
classic and kit-built aircraft
from counting toward
EASA ratings and renewal
of existing licences. An
estimated 6,000 Annex II
aircraft are flying in the
UK and France with an
additional 2,500 under
construction.
US and European company
Lord has won a contract to
take over the design and
manufacture of the auto
throttle for the Boeing 737
MAX airliner. Lord, which
already supplies a similar
throttle for the Embraer
Legacy business jet, will
become the sole-source
supplier of the throttle in
2020.
Cathay Pacific has posted
the first consecutive
annual loss in its 71-year-
old history, reporting a
HK$1.26bn loss in 2017,
compared to a HK$575m
loss in 2016. The airline
blamed increased
competition from China
and Gulf carriers.
Russia briefly deployed two
of its latest Sukhoi Su-57
stealth fighters, still in
testing, to its base in Syria
in February for two days.

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 7

 Radome
AEROSPACE
Fatal crashes mount up
in Iran and Nepal
An Iran Aseman Airlines
ATR 72 turboprop crashed
in Iran on 18 February,
killing all 60 passengers and
six crew. The aircraft was
on a flight from Tehran to
Yasouj when it went down
over mountainous terrain.
The President of Iran has
ordered a commission to
investigate the cause of the
accident.
GENERAL AVIATION
Babcock becomes global launch
customer for H160
The UK's Babcock has been announced as the global launch operator for Airbus
Helicopter’s new medium H160. It has signed a five-year agreement to acquire
an unspecified number of H160s for EMS and other critical missions, initially in
Europe.
NEWS IN BRIEF
. vehicle is fitted with three
On 8 March an
Arianespace Soyuz
rocket launched from
French Guiana with
the fourth batch of
four O3b broadband
communications satellites
for Luxembourg-based
operator SES.
A new flying car autogyro
concept was unveiled at
the Geneva Motor Show
in March by Pal-V. Driven
by two Rotax engines, the
two-seat Pal-V Liberty
8 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Meanwhile, on 12 March, a
Bombardier Q400 airliner
from US-Bangla airlines
crashed on approach at
Kathmandu airport, Nepal. At
least 49 people are reported
to have died in the accident,
out of 71 passengers and
crew onboard the aircraft.
All flights were diverted
at Tribhuvan International
USAF
Airport (TIA).
wheels for road transport
and can take-off within
650ft, cruise at speeds up
to 86kt and has a range of
up to 215nm.
The US House
Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee
has announced that it is to
abandon plans to privatise
ATM and remove air traffic
control from the FAA. The
decision has been widely
welcomed by general
aviation groups across the
DEFENCE
USAF retires Predator UAV
On 9 March, at a ceremony at Creech AFB, Nevada, the USAF officially retired the
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator UAV. The Predator first entered service with the
USAF in 1995, where it flew from Creech, then Indian Springs Auxiliary AFB. All told,
the USAF eventually received 268 Predator UAVs, which have been replaced by the
more capable MQ-9 Reaper UAV.
AIR TRANSPORT
Chinese lessor orders
Airbus Helicopters
C919s and ARJ21s
Hangzhou-based Chinese
aircraft lessor China
Huarong Financial
Leasing is to buy
30 COMAC
C919 single-
aisle airliners
and 20 ARJ21
regional jets.
The first C919
flew in May 2017
while the ARJ21 began
operating in 2016 with
US which were opposed to
the idea of ATC operations Dassault is to modify three
being run by an airline- Falcon bizjets with a Thales
dominated board. mission system for the
French Air Forces ‘Epicure’
Italian airline Meridiana is EW requirement. The
to rebrand as Air Italy and ‘Epicure’ EW Falcons (of
expand its services. Based which type is yet unnamed)
at Milan Malpensa airport, will replace the French Air
the carrier will operate a Force's C-160G Gabriels
fleet of 20 Boeing 737 currently used in the EW
MAX 8s which will be role.
delivered over the next
three years starting from A delayed SpaceX launch
April plus five leased of the Spanish Paz radar
A330-200s from part- observation satellite finally
owner Qatar Air. took off on 22 February.
launch customer Chengdu
Airlines. This brings the
total orderbook of the
C919 to 815 from
28 customers,
CO
while the ARJ21
M AC
backlog now
stands at 453.
The C919 is set to
enter service in 2021
a year later than previously
stated, with launch customer,
China Eastern Airlines.
Carrying the Spanish radar
observation craft and two
experimental satellites
for SpaceX’s planned
global broadband network,
a Falcon 9 rocket was
launched from Vandenberg
AFB in California after
delays postponed the
launch from 18 February.
Canadian engineering
company Flying Colours
has won a contract to
modify six new Q400MR
air tankers for aerial
firefighting operator Conair.
SPACEFLIGHT
UK satellite servicing
start-up picks Proton
UK space start-up company
Effective Space has
announced plans
to launch two
satellite
servicing
drones which
can latch on
to satellites
in orbit with a
universal docking
system to extend their
lifespan. The 'drone' then
uses its own propulsion
DEFENCE
GlobalEye makes Saab
has flown its first GlobalEye airborne early warning and control
first flight
(AEW&C) surveillance aircraft on 14 March from Linkoping in Sweden.
Based on a customised Bombardier Global 600 business jet platform,
ON THE
MOVE
SR Technics has named
Frank Walschot as
Chief Executive Officer.
He replaces Jeremy
Remacha.
Former President of
Northrop Grumman’s
Aerospace Systems, Tom
Vice, is to be the new
President and COO of
supersonic business jet
developer Aerion.
Linda Mills has been
appointed as VP
Communications for
Boeing Commercial
Airplanes.
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn
AEROSPACE
Secretive start-up tests aerial taxi in
Kitty Hawk
New Zealand
for station-keeping and
other manoeuvring for the
older satellite.. The
first two 1m x 1m
x 1.25m ion
E ff e c tiv e S p a c
drive-powered
service drones
are due to be
e
launched into Kitty Hawk, a start-up backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, has revealed it
geosynchronous has been conducting flight tests in New Zealand of Cora, a prototype electric-
Earth orbit (GEO) in powered VTOL autonomous flying car. The flying vehicle is part of a wider plan
2020 by an International by Google to create a network of flying taxis across New Zealand within three
Launch Services Proton years and is currently working with NZ regulators. Cora has a range of 100km
rocket. and a crusing speed of 150km/h.
Five people were
killed on 11 March
Saab
when a chartered
AS350 helicopter
crashed into the
three examples of the aircraft have already been ordered by the UAE.
East River in New
York, with only the
pilot managing to
get clear and be
rescued.
AIR TRANSPORT
INFOGRAPHIC: Hawaiian swaps to Boeing with
order for 10 787-9s
INFOGRAPHIC: Haiwaiian Boeing
f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 9
 antenna: Global Outlook and
Analysis with
HOWARD WHEELDON
RAF 100 to inspire the
next generation
A
fter four years of planning, the RAF
100 centenary celebrations are
a truly well thought out collection
of events that not only remember
its people and the many fantastic
achievements of the Royal Air Force over the past
100 years but have been designed to inspire future
RAF 100 IS ABOUT generations and to provide a huge legacy for those
that will join the RAF in future years.
SHOWCASING Official commemorations to mark the 100th
ITS PEOPLE, THE anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force
DEPTH OF on the 1 April 1918 open with a huge Gala concert
TALENT AND at the Royal Albert Hall organised by the Royal
Air Force Charitable Trust and mainly financed by
DIVERSITY THAT members of the defence and aerospace industry
THEY HAVE, including the formal launch of the Appeal.
WHAT THEY RAF 100 is about showcasing its people,
HAVE ACHIEVED the depth of talent and diversity that they have,
what they have achieved in the context of military
IN THE CONTEXT airpower, celebrating the history, demonstrating
OF MILITARY the present and showing what the Royal Air Force
AIRPOWER, might be in the next generation. Just as it was in the
CELEBRATING past, the future is as much about technology and
the Royal Air Force will use the opportunity of RAF
THE HISTORY, 100 to encourage and motivate the next generation
DEMONSTRATING of people. Another important element of RAF 100
THE PRESENT is raising the profile of the Royal Air Force to the
public and in celebrating its people and history and
AND SHOWING
fund raising for RAF-related charities.
WHAT THE ROYAL Throughout the five-month period of RAF 100
AIR FORCE MIGHT events those that have served through the past
BE IN THE NEXT century in the world’s oldest independent air force
will see important history celebrated. Individual
GENERATION
events all over the country will seek to remember
not only those who played an active and supporting
role and without whose skills and expertise there
would have been no Royal Air Force but also look
into the future. The importance of RAF 100 is that
it has been designed to be inspirational, seeking to
inform a new generation of what the Royal Air Force
stands for today, its importance within the overall
context of defence, what it does and what it plans to
do in the decades ahead. In doing so, RAF 100 will
seek to educate and inform of the vital role that its
people and cutting-edge equipment capability play
in the defence of the UK, as well as the huge part
that the Force plays within NATO and in supporting
our allies.
10 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Of course, an event of such significance
and scale as RAF 100 requires far more
than commemoration and celebration of past
achievements and what the Royal Air Force is doing
today but also a look into the future. It is also about
the legacy of what RAF 100 and all the effort that
has gone into it achieves.
Legacy for the future
That legacy is planned to be a great many things,
not least of which is the ultimate benefit being
shared between all four of the main RAF charities.
The legacy has also been designed to be about
encouraging future generations to look at the Royal
Air Force and to provide energy and inspiration for
the Air Cadets through the creation of a residential
plan to assist in their education and support and
importantly, to place a high level of emphasis on
diversity. RAF 100 legacy will include supporting
a significant package of STEM subjects, defence
technical training at RAF Cosford and bringing
industry and the Royal Air Force working closer
together. Combining all these, it is not difficult to
see how the legacy from RAF 100 is about inspiring
future generations of the RAF.
To the public, those serving in the RAF and the
families of those that served in the past, the ties
will be about remembering what has been achieved
through the 100 years, including how the RAF
earned its place in history. Those remarkable words
that Winston Churchill spoke after the Battle of
Britain: “Never in the field of human conflict was so
much owed by so many to so few,” will ring large
through the celebrations.
Importantly, RAF 100 will also provide an
opportunity to enhance the reputation of the Royal
Air Force, to inspire future generations of airman
and airwomen, to raise the awareness of what
the Royal Air Force has done in the past, what
it is doing now and the important role that it will
play in the future defence of the nation and our
overseas territories and within NATO. It will not be
a celebration of war but it will seek to remind of the
many operations that the Royal Air Force capability
has and continues to be engaged internationally.
The hope is that, by the end of the main
celebrations in September, the Royal Air Force

will not only be able to look back on itself and be
very proud of what the service has achieved but
also in how this has been messaged to the wider
public audience. RAF 100 should also be seen
as an opportunity to excite and inspire people for
the future, to better explain and message the vital
importance of the RAF to a very wide audience.
RAF 100 Appeal
Coinciding with the celebrations has been the
launch of the RAF100 Appeal, run by the four key
RAF charities (RAF Benevolent Fund, Royal Air
Forces Association, RAF Charitable Trust and the
RAF Museum) that will aim to raise charitable funds
to support wider objectives.
The plan is that it will also showcase its people,
the depth of talent and diversity and importantly,
celebrate the history of the Royal Air Force while
at the same time, demonstrating why the Service
remains absolutely vital to the security and prosperity
of the UK. Importantly, RAF 100 will support fund-
raising for all the various RAF-related charities.
In advance of this, the RAF Museum at Hendon,
which was itself created from the legacy bestowed
from the 50th anniversary of the Royal Air Force
in 1968, opening in 1972, launched its Centenary
Appeal last year to raise funds to support the hugely
exciting redevelopment plan of major parts of the
Hendon site in time for the RAF 100.
The RAF 100 Appeal legacy process is also
intended to extend the range of flying scholarships
offered for less privileged scholars, air cadets and
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
serving personnel to provide aviation skills to a
MoD/Crown copyright 2018
wider audience. Learning to fly develops personal
confidence and self-discipline.
The Appeal includes plans to provide more
extensive support to serving personnel through
a wider range of service life enrichment activities
and facilities to provide recreational respite from
the rigour of operations and additional personal
development opportunities.
Finally, under the developmental category of
proposed benefits to be made available from the
Appeal, is the provision of a range of new aerospace
training facilities and the Academy at RAF Cosford,
together with equipment and adventure training
aimed at developing further excellence of the air
cadet experience.
The Royal Air Force already engages in a
large number of STEM activities to help create the
engineers and scientists that will be needed. The
work includes tailored STEM packages for schools
and colleges designed to raise awareness of RAF
history and purpose, to demonstrate how essential
disciplines are woven into the fabric of the RAF and
of how future success depends on them.
Young people are the future and the Royal Air
The first of the UK’s Force plays a significant role connecting with more
Lockheed Martin F-35B young people through sport, leisure, community
Lightning IIs to be flown to activities, music, social media and even video
the UK.
gaming to demonstrate what today’s RAF is about
in a way that is as relevant as it is also exciting.
Through what is described as a process of ‘educate
and inform’, RAF 100 will attempt to inspire a
broader range of people with the story of the first
one hundred years of RAF history and then invite
them to imagine its future.
Welfare programmes from the RAF 100 Appeal
process will be aimed primarily at reducing isolation
and loneliness for all generations of the RAF include
support for separated families and isolated serving
communities, practical help for veterans suffering
loneliness and social isolation, together with new
and improved respite facilities to provide nationwide
availability.
Ensuring that the RAF’s many achievements and
the vast number of stories from its past, present and
future are properly collected, shared and explored is
an important part of the RAF 100 process. Various
programmes have been developed to ignite curiosity
in the RAF story and through this, take the recipient
through key learning areas of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.
So, all in all, a number of great events that set
out to revive important memories and history of the
world’s oldest independent air force, that attempt to
inform, commemorate, educate and ignite curiosity
for a future generation. Congratulations for the
first 100 years – here’s to the next 100 years of
continued brilliance and success.
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018
11
 Transmission
LETTERS AND ONLINE
Airbus A380 – Super jumbo or white elephant?
The Airbus A380 still wows the crowds at the 2017 Paris Air Show.
Howard Wheeldon‘s Antenna piece
in the March edition, largely focused
on the A380(1).. As one who was
part of the British Caledonian short-
haul aircraft replacement evaluation
team, I was always extremely proud
of our role in ordering the first ten
Airbus A320s and its pan-European
heritage and being the launch
customer with Air France. The
A320 has gone on to become one
of the most successful commercial
transports ever produced, along with
the Boeing 737 and its derivatives.
I am sure that British Airways’
experience in operating the ten
A320s they inherited from BCAL
after the merger was one of the
reasons that their hitherto exclusive
Boeing short-haul fleet became
A320 and family. I was, however,
less than enthusiastic in relation
to the A380 and the market
opportunity for it. I believed Airbus
would have been better developing
the proven A320 and A300/330
and family and subsequently the
A350, than trying to emulate the
747. In his reference to the A380,
it is a pity that Mr Wheeldon did
not make more of an analysis of
the limited global markets where
the capacity of the A380 might
be needed due mainly to lack
12 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Airbus
of runway capacity. Or to draw
comparisons with the evolution of
the 747 which nearly bankrupted
Boeing at one time or refer to
the limited sales of the Boeing
747-800 or why the MD-11
programme ceased. All in marked
contrast to the 1,000s of sales
that both Boeing and Airbus have
achieved for their highly efficient
777 and 787 types and A330 and
A350. Twin aisles that have seat
mile costs that are increasingly
competitive with the A380. He
made no reference as to why the
A380 is not deployed on the North
Atlantic’s largest market, London-
New York. He focused on hub by
pass as the greatest competition
to the A380. With or without the
A380, that change in the market
will continue as technology permits
it and markets change. The new
generation of 737s and A320s
have transatlantic capability and are
already being deployed but often
at relatively low frequency, with
seasonal services and by secondary
carriers. The 757, 767, 777 and
A330 are also well established in
such roles, particularly from regional
points to international hubs.
He failed to identify how the
economics and performance of
the long-haul twins has meant that
airlines can meet market demand
for frequency better but still achieve
low seat mile cost. Hence, why on
London – New York, the long-
haul twins dominate, as the major
carriers seek to offer maximum
frequency with hourly service
options in the peak.
He did not mention the operational,
market, investment and service
flexibility that an airline achieves by
having larger fleets and resulting
economy of scale. For instance,
published indicative aircraft list
prices (which are not necessarily
what canny airline negotiators pay!)
for the A380 are $450m, the A350
$280m and A330 $260m. Spares
holdings will inevitably increase
these. However, for a little over
the price of one A380, an airline
could acquire two A350s. If Mr
Wheeldon’s calculations are right,
and I am somewhat surprised, he
quotes a break-even load factor of
85% for an A380.
Of course, calculation of break-
even load factors is dependent
on a myriad of variables, not
least on costs such as aircraft
base price, exchange rates,
configuration, depreciation and
pricing assumptions, aircraft
utilisation etc. On the revenue side,
the key determinant will be yield or
the value of net fare per seat that
an airline achieves. I would have
thought an airline would be looking
for a break-even load factor closer
to 65% and that is much more
readily achieved on a 350-seat
twin than a 550 plus-seat A380.
As in any given market, the airline
will be able to design products,
prices and services to maximise its
premium traffic and then fill up with
lower yielding economy, thereby
minimising risk but maximising its
potential for profit. It is interesting
that Emirates is increasing the
configuration of some of its
A380s to 600 seats plus, albeit
with implication to products and
passenger service. But only time
will tell.
Laurie Price, FRAeS
Cabin air quality
In his article on cabin air
quality(2), David Learmount
refers to the Cranfield
study carried out by
Dr Susan Michaelis, a
reference potentially
misleading. Dr Michaelis’
status with Cranfield
has only ever been as a
student and so any implied
association should be
viewed in that context.
Dr Michaelis studied
for a Master of Science
degree in Safety and
Accident Investigation
at Cranfield University
and she graduated in
May 2017. Her individual
research project looked at
certification requirements
in relation to bleed air.
The individual research
project report, which she
has self-published on her
website, was submitted
in partial fulfilment of
the requirements for
the degree of Master
of Science. As such, it
was assessed using the
characteristic described
by the Quality Assurance
Agency as: ‘the ability
to complete a research
project in the subject,
which may include a
critical review of existing
literature or other scholarly
outputs.’ Dr Michaelis’
project report in no way
replaces or supersedes
the earlier work done
by Cranfield University
into cabin air quality. The
thesis was not peer-
reviewed, nor assessed in
the context of professional
research. Similarly, a
pass for such a piece of
work does not represent
an endorsement of the
approach or findings.
Michael Bagshaw
Visiting Professor of
Aviation Medicine,
Cranfield University

Reapers to get AAMs
@DarenSorenson
[On USAF plans to arm
Reapers with an air-to-air
missile] Lord help the first
fighter pilot who has to
kill remove at Red Flag
because of a drone.
@obbynoxus Somewhat
slow to be a good shooting
platform for aam isn’t it?
Really embarrassing to be
‘killed’ by that one if you
are in a real fighter...
Online
Additional features and content are available to view
online at http://media.aerosociety.com/aerospace-insight
@aerosociety i linkedin.com/raes
Find us on LinkedIn
Artistic tribute to the RAF
Pal-V
F-35Bs for Taiwan?
David Bent
@BonySharmaz
[On Taiwan reported to
be interested in F-35B]
RoCAF skill sets are very
poor in its current stage;
they need a revamp not
new shiny jets that they
can’t optimise!
@ikopeam I worry that it
would be very expensive
ballistic missile fodder
PAL-V Liberty anyway. STO would be
autogiro great for Taiwan though.
@GuardedDon That’s @PaulMarks12 Then
a really cool enclosed again, F35 is a flying data
cockpit autogyro. Next centre. PLA cybersquads
Bond movie, redux? will just hack it.
Spitfire and Hurricane Ad Astra on White.
The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire is to
1. AEROSPACE, March 2018, p 10, Antenna. host the Tribute 100 exhibition of aviation art by David
2. AEROSPACE, March 2018, p 32, Clearing the air.
Bent HonCRAeS dedicated to the legacy and ongoing
contribution of the Royal Air Force. According to the artist,
the images use a variety of aircraft and propeller shapes
representing one hundred years to evoke the spirit of that
propulsive force that moves them forever forward, turning
theory into evermore fantastical reality. The exhibition will
be available to view free of charge in the Arboretum’s
Remembrance Centre from 30 March to 30 June 2018.
f facebook.com/raes
Find us on Facebook. www.aerosociety.com
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 13
 PLANE SPEAKING
ACM Sir Stephen Hillier
MoD
Plane Speaking with:
ACM Sir Stephen Hillier
One hundred years ago on 1 April 1918, the world's first independent air arm
was created in the form of the Royal Air Force. We caught up with its current
head, Air Chief Marshal SIR STEPHEN HILLIER CBE DFC FRAeS RAF on this
historic anniversary.
AEROSPACE: 100 years on – do you think Lord
Trenchard would recognise the service today?
ACM Sir Stephen Hillier: Yes I do. I think that what
he would see in the RAF today is very much based on
the principles, his vision if you like, when he formed
the Royal Air Force. His vision was of air power being
a decisive new form of warfare. He had a vision that
the way to execute that new form of warfare was in
an independent, unified service and he believed that
new service required institutions, ethos and heritage,
which was appropriate to its function. If he was to
look 100 years on, he would see all of those things,
air power being decisive in warfare within a unified
and independent RAF that still with that recognisable
heritage and culture, as well as institutions, physical
as well as conceptual ones. I think what he would
also see is an air force which continues to be at the
cutting edge of technology in air and space. It is often
easy to look back at the canvas and string aircraft of
the First World War in a 21st century way and go ‘Oh
gosh, look at those. How quaint’.
14 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
But that was the cutting edge of technology in
its day, just as the F-35 and Typhoon are the cutting
edge of technology in our day. I think also that what
he would recognise today is the essential character
of the RAF, an organisation which was founded in
the middle of a hugely bloody conflict but with a
clear vision, with people who wanted to be on the
cutting edge of technology. It had a certain spirit
with a certain character, less deferential and less
hierarchical and more based on the value of the
individual and the merit of whatever they could bring
to it. Those were the sort of principles which were
right there at the start in the people of the RAF and
they’re still there today.
AEROSPACE: You raise a fascinating point about a
less deferential service. Now that society as a whole
is less class-based and young people can travel the
world and can experience cutting-edge technology
through consumer products, what can the RAF of
today and tomorrow offer the younger generation?
CAS: A lot of those things are exactly as you
described. Young people today have that greater
opportunity and experience. They are more exposed
to technology but that’s precisely why we value
them because we want people with a breadth
of perspective. We want people who have the
enthusiasm that comes with technology and that
they have this spirit of adventure, that willingness to
accept challenge and that desire to realise ambitions
and aspirations. If they are already doing those things
before they join the RAF, well those are the people
that we want. I don’t think that those in 1918 were
fundamentally any different but they were working
within the society and the constraints and the
opportunities available to them at that time. Now we
are just giving them a greater chance to push those
boundaries out of the way.
I think the point that you mentioned about a
merit-based organisation is absolutely at our core. We
are just not interested in where you might have come
from where your connections might be. We’re just
interested in what you can do as an individual and as
part of our team. Our standards reflect that and the
makeup of our service reflects that. You can’t hide in
relation to flying an aircraft or engineering an aircraft.
You can either do it well or you can’t and it’s pretty
obvious one way or the other. You can’t sort of con
your way through it.
AEROSPACE: What will the RAF be doing this year
to inspire young people into studying STEM subjects
and learning about aviation and history?
CAS: What RAF100 does is to give us a very strong
platform. People are already attracted to the Royal Air
Force. In the majority of our branches and trades this
year, we will recruit to 100%. That is something which
is extraordinarily positive. What we want to achieve
with RAF100 is to keep inspiring and motivating
people like that to join us but it is much more than
that. It is a much bigger ambition than that because, if
all we were to do is to inspire the people that we need
each year, then we only recruit about 3,000 people
each year on average. If through RAF100 all I do is
inspire 3,000 young people, then that’s not enough.
Our ambition is much more.
We want to inspire a whole generation of
young people on the platform of RAF100 and to
keep inspiring generations beyond them, because
whether they join the RAF or whether they join the
wider aerospace industry or whether they go into
other areas of the economy, that is equally vital to
our success because I need a healthy aerospace
industry as well as a healthy RAF, and I need a healthy
wider economy as well as those things as well. So if
RAF100 helps inspire young people to realise their
ambitions to develop their capabilities (particularly in
STEM subjects but more broadly as well), then that
will be a huge plus. Our aim in overall terms is to reach
about two million young people with our RAF100
Campaign.
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
The final thing is that this effort isn’t just in 2018,
although this is a key focus year. We want to be able
to do the same in 2019, 2020 and onwards so that, in
2118, a hundred years from now, then people will see
that we put in those very solid foundations that should
take us through our second one hundred years.
AEROSPACE: What will be the highlights of this
anniversary year in terms of events or celebrations?
MoD
CAS: Clearly the signature event will be on 10 July
here in London* and will be that focal point for the
One of the main aims of
commemoration and celebration of our 100 years. RAF100 will be building a
That will just be a tremendous event that everybody legacy by inspiring future
will be able to focus in on and it won’t be just the generations, according to
Sir Stephen.
RAF. It won’t just be the visiting air force chiefs
from around the world. I’m hoping the whole nation
will see that event, so that will obviously be a major
part. But actually I’m equally looking forward to the
events across the country, because this can’t just be
a London-based RAF100. It needs to be an RAF100
which reaches the breadth and depth of the nation
as a whole. Certainly those events are likely to be
smaller than the 10 July in London one but that
doesn’t mean they’re any less important than the
bigger scheme of things.
I am just constantly impressed and touched by
when I hear about the range of events which are
going on around the UK. Some of them sponsored,
if you like, by the RAF, by stations but a very large
number of them are sponsored by individuals
who want in their own way to be part of that
commemoration, celebration and inspiration.
AEROSPACE: Speaking of inspiration again, before
you entered the service did you have an RAF hero
WE WANT
(or heroine) that inspired you into the service and in
your current role, with the years of knowledge and PEOPLE WHO
experience that you now have, is that the same person HAVE THE
or have you found a new hero? ENTHUSIASM
CAS: My original inspiration for joining the RAF, I have THAT COMES
to trace back to my father who was in the RAF in the
Second World War. He was a leading aircraftman and
WITH
he was a wireless operator on the ground in India and TECHNOLOGY,
Burma in the Second World War in a mobile signals AND THAT
unit. I have to credit him for being the person who first THEY HAVE
interested me in the RAF and inspired me. I think the
pivotal moment was when he bought me a Ladybird
THAT SPIRIT OF
book about the ‘Pilot in the RAF’ when I was four years ADVENTURE,
old. That is undoubtedly my inspiration. What inspires THAT
me today, is actually the same thing because my father WILLINGNESS
is part of that heritage and history of the Royal Air
Force but he was also a young man who decided that
TO ACCEPT
that’s what he wanted to do, who developed skills in CHALLENGE
a technical area, who made a contribution to the war AND THAT
effort, and so many of the principles that I have spoken DESIRE TO
about I can absolutely see in him.
REALISE
AEROSPACE: On more current issues – can you AMBITIONS AND
give me an insight into what you might expect from ASPIRATIONS
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 15
 PLANE SPEAKING
ACM Sir Stephen Hillier
the UK’s new combat air strategy that has just
been announced? Are we looking at an EAP-style
demonstrator? How important is it to continue to keep
the UK military-industrial base going?
CAS: The combat air sector in the UK is immensely
important on a number of levels. Clearly, it’s militarily
important and is a vital part of the RAF’s capability and
it is worth reflecting that one of the strongest reasons
for the formation of the RAF in 1918 was the need to
provide a single coherent customer for the emerging
aircraft industry in the UK. It has been there right from
the start of us as an organisation and it continues to
be a central part of our military capability. I then look
at the next level beyond that, as it is a vital part of our
international relationships. Countries which buy the
same equipment countries which come to the UK to
buy our equipment, we develop a relationship with
them. It then goes further with allies and partners, so
acquisition is important for that reason.
It’s also important in terms of generating wealth
for the economy and for preserving key skills in the
economy. It is the case that if UK defence exports
are, or the UK is about the number two defence
exporter in the world, then 80-85% of the financial
value of that is in the aerospace sector. It is a huge
contributor to our national wealth. You put all of those
things together and say: ‘Well you can’t really just
leave all of that to happenstance. You need to have
a coherent strategy which says to the combination
of government and the industries which support
us, how do we have a common framework of how
we do business?’ Now, that is not about, along the
way, sacrificing those things which help give us our
advantage – which includes competition. Competition,
and many industry colleagues will tell me this, is good.
It keeps us healthy. It keeps us vibrant in the export
market. It’s not about throwing away some of our
16 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
principles of acquisition but it is equally about making
our decisions within a coherent framework.
Where is this all going to land as a strategy? Well
this is now something we need to work through over
the coming months. It’s only a matter of weeks since
THE RAF we had the announcement itself. I hugely welcome
that announcement and, as we do more work, you’ll
LAUNCHED A
hear about it in due course.
SPACE-BASED
IMAGING AEROSPACE: For more near-term procurement
SATELLITE, priorities – such as F-35, P-8, Protector etc, is the UK
Government spending remotely near the amount that
CARBONITE-2, is needed to equip the RAF?
USING AN CAS: When I look at our forward equipment
INDIAN programme, it is exciting. Part of the RAF’s strategy
LAUNCHER. IT is growing our frontline capability and the reason we
IS A SATELLITE need to do that is firstly to fill in some of the gaps in
our capability and maritime patrol aircraft are a very
IN A LOW good example of that. The second reason is to be
EARTH ORBIT part of this next generation air force where we need
WHICH HAS increased capability, typically focused on information
data exchange and integration of platforms. The third
AN IMAGING
aspect is we need to thicken up our capability because
CAPABILITY, the RAF is exceptionally busy on operations. The
WITH BOTH challenge that I have is to ensure that we have enough
STILLS AND FULL resilience to sustain ourselves in those operations
for however long they take. The fight against Daesh,
MOTION VIDEO we’ve been doing it for three and a half, four years
now, is a good example. I need a force that has got
enough strength and depth to be able to do that.
I’m getting on in delivering against that ambition.
My first challenge is to make sure that I pay for that
by being as efficient an organisation as possible.
The whole emphasis in the spending review in 2015
The Chief of Air Staff at was to get as much efficiency out of the cost base
the controls of an RAF of the organisation and translate that into buying
Tornado. more. We’re getting on and doing that. Now have we
achieved a 100% of all those efficiencies that we
wanted to? Well, it’s a matter of public record that we
MoD
haven’t yet done that. We need to keep doing more
work on that efficiency side. We also need to make
sure that as the world adapts, or as the world changes
and threats increase (and they have increased since
2015), that we make sure the capabilities we’re
buying are best tuned to that increasing threat, hence
the Modernising Defence Programme.
Would I want more money in the defence budget?
Well, you know, you wouldn’t expect me to say
anything other than ‘Of course’ but it’s not the starting
point of the debate. The starting point is the increase
in frontline capability that we are generating now,
ensuring that that force is well-adapted to the growing
threats, and to make sure we are as an efficient and
effective an organisation as possible. The final point
on efficiency is that I can go back to 1918, 1919 or
1920 and dig out any number of speeches by Lord
Trenchard, and the consistent theme in them is ‘we
need to be the most efficient force we can be’, and he
uses the word ‘efficiency’ constantly. This is nothing
new for us.

AEROSPACE: Thinking of next-gen air force
capabilities, such as cyberspace, information warfare,
and space, how do they fit into the RAF’s future?
CAS: Let me talk about space first of all. We publicly
confirmed last month that the RAF launched a space-
based imaging satellite, Carbonite-2, using an Indian
launcher. It is a satellite in a low-Earth orbit which has
an imaging capability, with both stills and full motion
video. This is the first time the UK has done that. It
sets a pretty good marker of how we feel about space
being a vital part of our capabilities. We will do more in
space and I’m not going to go into specifics right now
but we are ambitious in our space capabilities. It’s not
just about launching satellites. It’s also ensuring that
space continues to be an environment that we can
operate in for military advantage. We are increasingly
being challenged in space, therefore we need to have
a greater resilience. That will include numbers as a
part of that and we need to have the space situational
awareness and improve that, which again will require
us to have additional capabilities.
What I need to do as well, though, is not say: ‘Well
there’s space and there’s air – I need to be able to fuse
these together.’ If I’ve now got a space-based imaging
capability, how do I integrate that with our air-breathing
ISR capabilities so that we get the most effect?
In relation to cyber, I was at Red Flag earlier in
the year and looking at the integration of kinetic and
non-kinetic effects is truly impressive. So now I’ve got
the three components there, space, air, and cyber.
The challenge is not so much: ‘Can I operate in those
environments?’ Of course we can. It's: ‘How do I bring
these together in the most integrated way possible to
achieve the maximum effect?’
For the ‘next generation air force’ that we describe,
I can talk about all the platforms and they’re pretty
clear-cut for the next five, ten years, manned and
unmanned. The principal challenge is not about
introducing those into service. We know how to do
that, even though it is complex and challenging. The
real trick is how do you integrate them in the way
which allows you to achieve the maximum speed of
the decision-making cycle, and how to out tempo your
opposition. We can see a lot of places in the world
where, at a platform level, the technology is catching
up with us, but what I don’t see are those who are able
to integrate and that will be our decisive advantage.
We need to have high-tech platforms but we need
*The centrepiece of RAF100 will take place on 10 July, with a centenary service in Westminster Abbey,
followed by a parade in The Mall and flypast over Buckingham Palace.
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
The Chief of the Air
Staff personally thanks
squadron personnel for
their professionalism and
hard work during Exercise
Atlantic Trident 17.
MoD
MoD
Top: The Chief of the Air
Staff with a RAF veteran
at the media launch of
RAF100 at RAeS HQ and
above with Gen. Yoshiyuki
Sugiyama, chief of the
Japan Air Self Defense
Force in 2016, marking
the first joint exercises
between the two countries
with a ceremony attended
by service chiefs and
government ministers.
www.aerosociety.com
MoD
to integrate. That will give us our decisive advantage
alongside the proper training of our crews and
operating with our allies.
AEROSPACE: For datalinks, integration and sensor
fusion, it's far more difficult for the media, politicians
and general public to grasp, than say an F-35B
hovering at an airshow. How important is it that the
media, public and politicians understand air power or
its limits?
CAS: We need people to understand what we do to
provide the support that we need. The RAF has got
a very good story to tell, which people are very well
aware of, based on our huge operational experience
over the past few decades, which continues right
through to today. We continue to be fighting Daesh at
pretty much the same tempo as we’ve been doing for
a number of years. We are contributing to NATO both
from the UK and in deployments, be they in Romania
or Estonia. We are continuing to do air defence in the
UK and the Falkland Islands.
We have a significant presence still in Afghanistan.
The RAF is currently conducting operations in 21
countries around the world, so in terms of how do I
convince people, I just say: ‘This is what we do’ and I
think people respect that and understand it.
What I particularly need to focus on at the moment
is in developing people’s understanding of how the
air and space environment is changing. For the past
30 years, control of the air has been almost a given
and across the joint force everybody has taken the
benefit of that. We haven’t had to worry about anybody
trying to constrain what we do in the air environment.
That is now fundamentally different, as we have seen
graphically demonstrated in Syria. Control of the air
is the RAF’s primary mission, as it is in any air force.
We are back to the business of needing to fight for
that control of the air. That requires sophisticated
capabilities and it requires a balance of effort, which is
different for air power than we have seen in the past.
This means ensuring that people understand that
and don’t treat either the air or space environment as
a free good. If you want freedom to manoeuvre there,
you will have to, on occasion, fight to secure that and
to maintain it. If you don’t succeed, then you will lose.
I can use Montgomery’s quote on this, he said: ‘If
we lose the war in the air, then we lose and we lose
quickly.’
APRIL 2018 17
 AEROSPACE
Electric propulsion

Power sources
There have been a recent flurry of announcements of new projects to develop
‘green’ passenger-carrying hybrid or all-electric aircraft technology demonstrators.
BILL READ FRAeS asks battery manufacturers whether the current state of battery
technology is equal to the task of powering these new larger aircraft and will they be
as environmentally-friendly as hoped for?

T
he past few months have seen the
announcement of a number of new
projects to develop large passenger-
carrying all-electric or hybrid electric
aircraft. For some or all of their flight
times, such aircraft will rely on on-board batteries to
power electric motors. However, is current battery
technology equal to such a challenge? How reliable
are batteries to power such a large platform as an
aircraft? How easy are they to recharge between
flights? Will they be safe to operate in adverse flight
conditions? How environmentally friendly are they?
To answer these and other questions, AEROSPACE
talked to three representatives from the battery
manufacturing industry – Brett Williams, Director
Brett Williams: The advances have come in the form of Below (Main): Zunum
either improved anodes or cathodes (the two opposite Aero’s proposed new
polarity elements that shift electrons from positive electric aircraft.
to negative and back again). Anodes are traditionally Below (Graph): A
made from some form of graphite while cathodes can prediction from electric
car manufacturer Tesla
vary widely. The chemistry associated with the cathode
on how battery energy
side generally defines the behaviour of the battery with density has improved in
regard to more power and energy or to improve recent years and how it
safety by making the batteries less volatile. may continue in the future.
Claude Chanson: The visible part of the iceberg is the
development of Li-ion batteries: the main progress for
this technology have been incremental progresses in
active materials and cells/batteries design, thanks to

Tesla
of Engineering from True Blue Power in Wichita,
Kansas, USA; Jean-Marc Thevenoud, Marketing
Manager, Aviation from TTG Division, Saft Batteries
in France; and Claude Chanson General Manager
from RECHARGE – The Advanced Rechargeable &
Lithium Batteries Association in Brussels, Belgium.

Technology breakthroughs

AEROSPACE: There have been some remarkable

improvements in battery technology in recent years
in terms of battery size, weight, power and duration.
What have been the main advances and how have
they been achieved?
Zunum

18
a large increase of the manufacturing (automation
and process control). In parallel, a lot of new battery
technologies have been explored, opening a high
probability of success for a post-Li-ion technology in
the future.
Higher energy density
AEROSPACE: What have been the main drivers to
improve battery technology?
BW: The critical factor that battery manufacturers
are attempting to optimise is ‘energy density’ – that
is, the most energy per unit weight. This is typically
expressed as kilowatt per kilogram (kW/kg). Size
improvements also come along with better energy
density. Of course, aerospace is more concerned with
more power and energy per unit weight but it has
less leverage to drive technology than higher-volume
markets.
Jean-Marc Thevenoud: The main drivers for
the aviation market are weight saving, reduced
maintenance time and, most important of all, safety.
Furthermore, the Li-ion technology allows real-time
monitoring of batteries’ charge and health.
Electric cars lead the way
AEROSPACE: Which other industry sectors have
helped with the advancement of battery technology?
BW: The automotive industry has certainly been a
major driver of battery technology with the goals
of going further (and/or faster) on a single charge,
plus quick charging. The size of the market for
electric automobiles has enticed dozens of battery
manufacturers to push the technology forward faster
to capture that opportunity.
Nissan
A new generation of batteries
AEROSPACE: Batteries have been used on aircraft
for many years to power certain systems and more
recently on more-electric aircraft, such as the Boeing
787. Do these batteries differ from those used in
vehicles or on the ground to allow for particular
conditions encountered during flight (such as
extreme temperatures, motion or adverse weather)?
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
Kakam
Kokam Batteries used on
Solar Impulse 2.
Left: Lithium-ion batteries
fitted on a Nissan
Leaf electric car. The
development of the
electric car has been
a major driver in the
development of more
efficient batteries.
www.aerosociety.com
BW: In some cases, yes, aircraft battery cells may be
optimised specifically for an aerospace environment.
However, other applications utilise standard
commercial grade cells but constructed within a
battery or battery system in a way that helps them be
more robust or reliable over their life. They may be
designed with vibration or shock, temperature and
extreme temperature variation, moisture exposure,
or flammability concerns in mind. Additionally, they
would be validated against electrical requirements for
power quality, radio frequency (RF) interference or
susceptibility and protection against lightning effects.
AEROSPACE: Could the same type of batteries be
used to power an all-electric aircraft or would they
need to be completely redesigned?
BW: It’s possible that similar cell technology could
be used for the propulsion of an all-electric aircraft.
However, it would need to be constructed into a
battery system that absolutely maximised the energy
and power while minimising the weight.
J-MT: Batteries in aviation are currently used for such
important functions as starting the auxiliary power
unit (APU), as well as providing the minimum level of
back-up energy required to get information to a pilot
in an emergency. The emergence of more-electrical
aircraft hasn’t changed the overall function of the
batteries, as they are solicited during a limited time
for specific actions. However, the function of the
battery is dramatically changed for an all-electric
aircraft, as the battery is used constantly to power the
aircraft.
Still room for improvement?
AEROSPACE: Studies of future large electric-
powered aircraft often say that they will only be
possible if there are future advances in battery
power storage technology. What scope is there for
such further technological enhancements to improve
energy/weight ratios?
BW: This will certainly represent a challenge. Right
now, lithium-ion technology represents the best
possible solution for practical large-scale energy
storage and delivery on aircraft. However, even the
best lithium-ion cells have an energy density in the
neighbourhood of 250Wh/kg, although there may be
some a little higher. However, most of the research
seems to indicate that the potential for practical
electric flight doesn’t become possible until at least
300Wh/kg, and possibly as high as 500Wh/kg.
While research in university labs are always pushing
towards these kinds of advancements, nothing in that
range appears to be on the horizon of commercial
viability.
J-MT: To power large electric aircraft for long-haul
flights would require an important breakthrough in
battery technology, as batteries have low energy
density compared with aviation fuels, without
APRIL 2018 19
 AEROSPACE
Electric propulsion

Right: In August 2017 considering the challenge of high voltage bus

Pipistrel inaugurated its
first electric charging
station which takes a
hour to recharge one of
its Alpha Electro trainers.
But how practical would
it be to recharge a large
passenger-carrying
commercial aircraft at
an airport and how long
would it take?
Airbus, Rolls-Royce
and Siemens recently
announced plans to use
a BAe 146 as a hybrid
electric aircraft test bed.
Airbus
Pipistrel
architecture that is required for such application.
There are several areas of research, including
lithium-sulphur (Li-S) and solid state. A Li-S battery’s
theoretical energy density is extraordinarily high:
four times greater than that of Li-ion. That makes
it a good fit for the aviation and space industries.
Solid-state batteries represent a paradigm shift in
terms of technology with a marked improvement
in safety at cell and battery levels. Several kinds of
all-solid-state batteries are likely to come to market
as technological progress continues. The first could
be solid-state batteries with graphite-based anodes,
bringing improved energy performance and safety. In having a power source to charge them at their
time, lighter solid-state battery technologies using a maximum rate may be impractical. Even electric
metallic lithium anode should become commercially cars at this point take between 9-10 hours to fully
available. recharge. Higher power may be available at airport
electric charging stations but the batteries will be
much, much larger. It is likely that it would not be
Hybrid vs all-electric aircraft anything near the short refuel and turn-around time
expected by airlines today between flights.
AEROSPACE: One of the hurdles to be overcome CC: A battery’s recharging rate is defined by its
to enable flight certification of a large electric aircraft power. Increasing battery power has some energy
is the risk of the batteries running out during flight. performance drawback but the benefit is the high

How practical is it to fly a large aircraft powered by
batteries alone or would a hybrid design be safer
and more practical?
BW: If there was significant margin in the amount of
energy available, then it could be possible to envision
a purely electric aircraft. Of course, with safety as
the highest priority, a backup system will always be
necessary. That backup could come in the form of
reserve batteries for the primary system or it could
come from an independent power source, such as
a reserve fuel supply. In the short-term, due to the
current state of battery technology, hybrid solutions
will be the only option until we bridge the gap
towards an all-electric solution.
AEROSPACE: Is it practical to use batteries for
take-off, given the large amount of power required?
BW: In theory, yes. Batteries could be used for
take-off, climb, and sustaining cruise. It does take a
lot of power but for high-energy systems configured
electrically in parallel, large amounts of power can be
generated. The primary challenge is not in generating
the power but in having enough energy left to
complete a mission of any significant length. Again,
this problem can only solved by having much higher
energy densities than are available today.
rate charge. In addition, in the case of hybrid systems,
high power batteries would most likely be a technical
requirement. Such types of batteries could possibly
charge in 15-30min, depending on the charging
station power and battery size.
AEROSPACE: Would it be more practical to charge
up the batteries again or swap them out for fresh
ones?
BW: The idea of battery swapping has been tried
before with minimal success, although it has been
on smaller electric UAVs. However, with cars this
did not prove practical. Given the size and number
of batteries needed to power an aircraft, the time
and logistics for removing and reinstalling batteries
quickly would be even more challenging.
J-MT: Both options are feasible and have advantages
and disadvantages. The charge up of the battery on
the ground between two flights would need time
and would immobilise the aircraft, whereas swapping
batteries would require a dedicated logistics team
and handling equipment.

Swap or recharge?

Right: Boeing Phantom AEROSPACE: How quickly could a large electric

Works’ electric-powered
demonstrator was
powered by a hydrogen
fuel cell and a lithium ion
aircraft be ‘refuelled’ after a flight?
BW: Lithium-ion batteries have a very low internal
impedence that allows them to be charged very
quickly. So, it could be reasonably fast. However,
Boeing

battery located inside the

fuselage. based on the size/amount of the batteries needed,

20 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018


Battery life and duration
AEROSPACE: How many times could such
batteries be recharged?
BW: Different battery technologies have different
cycle life capabilities – the amount of times a battery
can be full, charged and discharged or a 100%
DOD (depth of discharge). Some batteries on the
cutting edge of university lab research have achieved
incredible energy densities, only to be unusable after
a few charge and discharge cycles. However, for
the most practical and readily available battery cells,
they can be charged and discharged for hundreds,
sometimes thousands of cycles. I would expect
that aircraft batteries would need to be capable of
many thousands of cycles to be of any financial and
practical value.
AEROSPACE: What limits are there on the time a
battery could operate to power an aircraft?
BW: The amount of time a battery can operate is
only limited by the amount of energy it has and the
amount of energy the aircraft consumes. In theory,
there are ways to recoup some energy to reduce
the load on the batteries or even recharge them in
flight to extend their duration. This would be similar to
some electric or hybrid cars, which use regenerative
braking to put energy back into the system. However,
with aircraft this concept is more difficult to achieve.
Anything that is used to generate electricity also
increases drag or loss of efficiency, thus requiring the
batteries to work harder.
CC: Batteries age due to the cumulative effect of
usage and time (particularly at high temperatures).
It is difficult to anticipate what would be the thermal
profile of the storage life of aircraft batteries which
would also depend on their position in the aircraft. For
reference, the usage duration in electric vehicles is in
the range of ten years.
Safety
AEROSPACE: There have been fire safety issues
with batteries on more-electric aircraft, such as the
Boeing 787. Have these problems now been solved?
BW: This is still a significant concern. For specific
issues, such as the 787, solutions have been found.
Currently, the solution to the potential dangers
of lithium-ion batteries has come in the form of
electronic protection and containment. Electronic
protection prevents an aircraft from overcharging or
overdischarging a battery, which can cause failures.
Containment systems are in place so that, if a battery
experiences a failure, it will not adversely affect the
aircraft structure, passengers or crew. However,
ultimately, the cells themselves can fail, due to
A longer version of this article can be found on: https://www.aerosociety.com/news/power-sources/
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook.com
internal manufacturing or design defects, causing
Saft
a thermal runaway of extremely high heat and the
potential for high pressure, flames/fire, or even
explosion. The safe use of lithium batteries on aircraft
today is primarily concerned with protecting against
and managing this kind of failure. It is not entirely
solved but is evolving with better safety standards
True Blue Power
and testing to vet battery products before being
approved for use.
J-MT: A very important point for lithium batteries
is to ensure the desired level of security for the
application. This is done by the choice of chemistry,
thermal management, cell electronic management,
successive barriers to protect against a cell failure, Top: A Saft Ni-Cd aviation
the propagation of the defect or assaults from battery.
outside. Due to the innovative nature of using Li-ion Above: True Blue Power
technology in commercial aviation, the regulatory TB46 advanced lithium-
ion battery for aviation
authorities require an enhanced development
assurance level to ensure the highest level of safety products.
of the final product.
Are electric aircraft really greener?
AEROSPACE: Electric-powered aircraft are
portrayed as ‘greener’ and having no adverse
emissions compared to conventional jet aircraft. How
much is this true – given that the electric power for
the batteries has to be generated from somewhere –
including from coal and nuclear power?
BW: This is true, as the power to recharge batteries A nickel mine in West
traditionally comes from coal-fired power plants. Australia. While the use of
However, there are some benefits. Electricity provided batteries may be ‘greener’,
the process of extracting
over the grid is more efficient that transporting
the minerals used to power
fuel in trucks (that also use fuel) but the source is them may have adverse
similar. Electricity can also be supplemented with effect on the environment.
greener sources, like wind, solar, nuclear, and others
– although not nearly enough. While it is true that
an electric airplane could have little-to-no emissions
compared to a conventional aircraft, when the total
carbon footprint is considered, from source to use, it
may decrease but is not eliminated by any means.
CC: There has been a lot of discussion on this
question of comparing the CO2 emissions between
fossil fuel and electric vehicles, although I have no
knowledge of any such study for electric aircraft. The
question is very technical and requires an in-depth
understanding of the scope, the boundaries of the
systems compared, and the equivalency of databases
and model used. For this reason, most of the studies
should be considered as non-conclusive, because
of the lack of comparability. Nevertheless, the
studies made by companies proposing comparison
on a representative base are always showing the
reduction of CO2 emission in the case of electrical
vehicles. The source of electricity can significantly
hinder this benefit.
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 21
 AIR TRANSPORT
Qatar Airways A350-1000

Purple reigns
Despite an ongoing blockade of the small Gulf state, Qatar Airways shows no sign
of slowing down in its goal of continuing to raise the bar for passenger air travel.
TIM ROBINSON reports from Toulouse, France, as the airline takes delivery of
its first Airbus A350-1000.

T
here was no expense spared in a
glittering gala dinner ceremony in
Toulouse on 20 February as launch
customer Qatar Airways took delivery
of its first Airbus A350-1000 widebody.
With the finest caterers in France, 3D light show on
the aircraft and on the dinner tables, even veteran
Airbus PR staff, no strangers to Hollywood-style
glitz at delivery ceremonies to airlines, were heard
to gasp: ’this is best handover event we’ve ever had’.
The occasion, the handover of the A350-1000,
Airbus’ newest and most efficient widebody airliner,
had been delayed due to cabin integration issues
– with the original delivery having been set for the
end of December. That said, no one attending this
event could argue that this luxury handover was not
worth the wait.
Taking delivery of the airliner on Tuesday, 20
February, Qatar wasted no time with the aircraft
entering service on the QR15 Doha-London Above: The dazzling
route on Saturday, 24 February, in a 327-seat delivery of the first Airbus
configuration. Beyond the UK, another early A350-1000 to Qatar
Airways.
destination for the -1000 will be the East Coast of
the US.
Enter the A350-1000
The first of an eventual 37 A350-1000s to be
acquired (with six more to be delivered this year),
Qatar Airways first ordered the larger version
of the A350 XWB in 2007. It already is Airbus’
largest A350 operator, having also been the launch
customer for the -900.
The larger -1000 adds 44 more seats than
the 283-seat -900 and adds 40% more space in
business class. Equipped with uprated Rolls-Royce
Trent XWB-97 engines delivering 97,000lb (the
highest thrust ever on an Airbus) the A350-1000

22 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

 delivering better than predicted performance

Airbus
figures – particularly in airport operations.
With its lightweight composite fuselage and
other efficiencies, the A350-1000 is some 25%
more efficient in fuel burn, lower CO2 and operating
MUCH EFFORT costs than ‘current generation’ aircraft, say Airbus –
HAS BEEN SPENT most notably Boeing’s 777-300ER.
IN GETTING Even though the aircraft has just been handed
IN DETAILS over, Airbus is not standing still. Marisa Lucas-
Ugena, Head of A350 Marketing, Airbus, revealed
RIGHT, FROM to journalists at the event that the airframer had
RIPPLED EFFECT instigated a A350 ‘Cabin Get Well’ programme with
PANELS, TO THE suppliers in an effort to iron out remaining kinks –
but did not elaborate further.
PURPLE MOOD Meanwhile, she explained a ‘first wave’ of cabin
LIGHTING AND enablers, which include tweaks to lavatories and
OVERHEAD new galley configurations (which frees up nine
LIGHTING more seats), are set to be rolled out this year to
A350s, with second and third waves already lined
CUTOUTS TO up to follow.
PROVIDE A On the -1000, the already impressive Thales
LUXURY FIRST glass flightdeck is set to be upgraded in just three
CLASS FEEL IN months with the introduction of new touch screens.

BUSINESS CLASS.

Rear and forward facing

twin seats in the Qsuite
mean a ‘club’ seating
arrangement can be
configured.

also features a six-wheel bogie main landing gear Q(suite) for Quality
and modified wing trailing edges.
While the A350 has been notably hit by minor Inside the aircraft was the reason why the delivery
cabin supplier issues, in terms of the overall had been delayed – Qatar’s new Qsuite which, says
development, production and flight test, it has group CEO Akbar Al Baker “Is the ultimate in luxury
been a remarkably smooth ride for a clean sheet in business class”. Supplied by B/E Aerospace
widebody design. One only has to look at the A380 (now part of Rockwell Collins) Qsuite introduces
(wiring) and 787 (batteries) to find examples where double lie-flat beds in business class for the first
manufacturers have encountered major engineering time – as well as an innovative club-style table set
and design challenges along the way. Indeed, up, where a divider between forward and backward
dotted around the airfield at Toulouse are a number facing seats can be lowered to create almost a
of parked A320neos without P&W engines – a boardroom style table space for four people. The
reminder that even supposedly ‘low-risk’ solutions 46 Qsuite seats on the A350-1000 also provide
sometimes prove harder than expected. However, a level of privacy with side doors. Much effort has
the -1000 has sailed through flight testing, been spent in getting the details right, from rippled
effect panels, to the purple mood lighting and
overhead lighting cutouts to provide a luxury first
class feel in business class. Economy, meanwhile,
features 281 18in-wide seats in a nine-abreast
configuration.
As might be expected, this aircraft features the
latest in in-flight entertainment (IFE) and connectivity,
with IFE provided by Thales and inflight WiFi from
Flightdeck of the first
Inmarsat’s GX Aviation. This, claimed Al Baker, would
A350-1000 for Qatar
Airways. Touchscreens be also rolled out across the entire Qatar fleet, saying
will be integrated in three that: “By the end of next year every Qatar aircraft will
months. give you the highest speed of Internet you can have.”

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 23

 AIR TRANSPORT
Qatar Airways A350-1000
Supersonic ambitions
With the Qsuite’s double beds, high-speed
broadband, lower cabin altitude (6,000ft) and
quietness of the A350 – it might conceivably
be asked, how much more luxury and comfort
can be added? Would perhaps some of Qatar’s
premium passengers be prepared to exchange
comfort for speed? Al Baker seems to think so,
telling AEROSPACE: “We are very interested
in supersonic flight.” While not naming Boom
Aerospace directly, he said that: “We wouldn’t
hesitate to be launch customer” for its 50-55-
seat supersonic airliner. However, he was still
awaiting more information on the engine that
Boom would use, adding: “The only reason we are
not committing to this is that they still have not
identified who will be the engine manufacturer.”
Once one was selected, and a ‘proper’ commitment
from an engine maker, Qatar would be very
interested in a ‘small number’ of supersonic
airliners, he said.
While Boom Aerospace may have had a boost
from one of the world’s most influential airline
CEOs, Bombardier (even with its new tie-up
with Airbus) received short shrift, with Al Baker
saying: “We don’t have any interest in CSeries at
the moment” – a reversal, given news of previous
flirting with the Canadian manufacturer.
Blockade has ‘failed’ says Al Baker
While the event was, on the whole, an upbeat event
celebrating the delivery of Qatar’s latest widebody,
its famously direct chief Al Baker did not hold
back when pressed by AEROSPACE about the
effect of the ongoing air and sea blockade, saying
that the question was: “not what was the effect of
the blockade has on Qatar Airways, but what was
achieved by our adversaries? Zero. They failed in
intimidating my country, putting us against the wall,
24 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Above: Could Boom's
supersonic airliner, one day,
be in Qatar Airways’ grey
and purple livery?
Right: Former Airbus chief
Fabrice Brégier shakes
hands with Qatar Airways
boss Akbar Al Baker.
Qatar Airways
trying to take-over our sovereignty, trying to dictate
who our friends should be.”
He added: “They made Qatar more
independent, more resilient, more robust – and
made Qatar stand ‘six inches higher’.”
While he admitted that there ‘will be pressures
on operational costs and our bottom line’ for
the airline, he said that: “Qatar Airways will keep
marching ahead. We are a very robust airline, we
will continue marching ahead and we will continue
buying aeroplanes.”
While this issue might just be seen as regional
politics, some observers note that the Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain air, land and sea
blockade raises a dangerous precedent in this
new multipolar geopolitical world – one where
others (Russia in Baltics/Kalingrad/Syria or China
in South China Sea) might also be tempted to
emulate in the future to shut off airspace, to the
detriment of other airlines.
It is also worth remembering that, while Qatar
and the UAE have been at loggerheads over this
diplomatic and political crisis, both Qatar Airways
and Emirates (and Etihad) have had a common
cause in resisting US carriers' pressure to scrap
Open Skies agreements on the basis of unfair
competition.
A suitable send-off for Brégier
The handover ceremony also functioned as a
leaving party for outgoing Airbus chief Fabrice
Brégier, who stepped down after 11 years at the
helm of the airframer in February and is replaced
by Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters CEO.
Brégier, who named the ‘launch and
development of the A350 XWB’ as his biggest
achievement while at Airbus, was paid tribute by Al
Baker who called him a “ A great supporter, a great
friend and a great leader,” adding “we will miss
you,” in a touching speech. However, despite these
warm words, Al Baker promised that he would not
be relaxing his eagle eye on quality and customer
support – joking to Brégier’s successor at the gala
dinner: “Guillaume, you will not be let off the hook.
We will still be very demanding.”
As well as singling out the A350 XWB as a
career highlight, Brégier also noted the ‘industrial
ramp up was another achievement’ – despite
continuing supplier issues – particularly on P&W
engines for the A320neo. (Indeed, such is the
sheer scale of production that Airbus is now
looking at moving to rate 70 for its single-aisle
lines – a production rate that only a few years
previously would have seemed impossible.)
Handing over the A350-1000 on his final day
at work was “The icing on the cake”, said Fabrice.
How to win friends and influence
people…
As the biggest customer for the Airbus A350, the
launch customer for the -900 and now -1000 (as
well as orders for A320s, A380s, 777s and 787s),
it is no exaggeration to note that Qatar Airways
now commands a deep level of influence at the
airframer (and rival Boeing) due to its immense
buying power and repeat business. Like its other
Gulf rivals (Emirates and Etihad), a case can be
made for it supporting the aerospace industry
in Europe and the US – particularly when these
airlines place orders through good and bad times.
Now 20 years old, the average age of its total fleet
is under five years – a sign of its investment in the
latest, most modern aircraft.
As the flagship airline of Qatar, its A350-1000
(with UK wings and engines) also perhaps can
be seen as a flying symbol of the country’s strong
links with the UK – a relationship that is set to
strengthen in the future in military aviation.
Indeed, this transcends civil aerospace and
Airbus (and Boeing) with Qatar also a key strategic
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook.com
ally for the West in the region – despite current
strains. The state is the host of the massive
Al-Udeid airbase that is used by the US and its
coalition partners as a tanker, ISR and strike hub
for operations, with 10,000 US, UK and other
personnel based there. This includes the vital
CAOC (Combined Air Operations Centre) for
US Central Command – the nerve centre which
co-ordinates and controls all coalition military air
operations across the Middle East.
Despite these already impressive links, Qatar is
set to strengthen its partnerships even further with
recent orders to vastly expand its air force from a
handful of Mirage 2000-5s to a force comprising
The A350XWB on the 35 Boeing F-15QAs, 36 Dassualt Rafales and
production line in Toulouse. (seemingly negotiated in the blink of an eye last
year) an agreement to purchase 36 Eurofighter
Typhoons, along with Brimstone and Meteor
missiles. For the Typhoon deal, this, uniquely, will
see a joint RAF/Qatar AF Typhoon squadron
formed to act as the nucleus of this expanded
fighter force.
Some observers have noted that this incredible
expansion in Qatar’s military air power – (with
orders spread among three key suppliers from the
US, UK and France) is as much about increasing
and widening political leverage and influence, as
increasing its defence capability.
Finally, on the civil side again, Qatar Airways
chief Akbar Al Baker is to strengthen his status
as a prominent global airline CEO, having been
elected as the Chairman of the Board of Governors
(BoG) at IATA. He takes over in June 2018 for a
year.
Airbus
Summary
There is no doubt that, while some aerospace
suppliers may tremble at the thought of the
supreme levels of perfection demanded by Qatar
Airways and its famously exacting boss, the airline
is in fact flying higher than ever before – even
while coping with an air blockade that would have
crippled lesser carriers or at least caused them to
rethink their expansion plans.
Thanks to its geostrategic location, and
the purchasing power (both in civil and military
aerospace), the airline's home nation, Qatar,
remains a key ally, partner and customer for the
West, assuming a global importance far beyond
the size of this tiny Gulf state. Its global influence
is only set to increase further, with its chief at IATA
and deeper and wider military partnerships.
With its new Qsuite and A350-1000, along
with joint ventures in Europe (Air Italy), a plan for a
100-aircraft Indian airline and even an interest in
supersonic flight, the airline is determined to be at
the very front of the pack in its relentless quest for
perfection for its passengers. Says Al Baker: “We
are the people that raised the bar in air travel.”
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 25
 AIR TRANSPORT
Passenger accessibility

Access all areas?

Aging populations and global social media are due to influence legal, operational,
safety and future cabin design for airlines. Flying Disabled founder, CHRISTOPHER
WOOD* outlines progress in raising awareness for a growing number of passengers.

W
hen Alcock and Brown flew the
first nonstop transatlantic flight
in 1919 I doubt they envisaged
what their great achievement
would trigger. Fast-forward
nearly a hundred years and there are thousands of
commercial flights daily crossing the globe, reaching
distant and nearby destinations. Depending on what
you pay, you can travel and eat like royalty in first
class, or in economy where you are packed tighter
than sardines, so tight you can feel the perspiration
on the passenger next to you.
For a wheelchair user, little has changed in a
hundred years. Indeed, it is so bad that most don’t
even fly as it’s not only undignified but unsafe. The
primitive conditions of those pioneers of 1919 still
resonate inside an aircraft for the passenger who
uses a wheelchair – and this cannot be right.
Boarding and alighting an aircraft is a hazardous
military manoeuvre at the best of times, getting
to the toilet (if you can) is an Olympic challenge
*Christopher Wood is a campaigner and lobbyist urging airlines to create a designated aircraft wheelchair space.
He is the founder of Flying Disabled.
and most wheelchair users will dehydrate before
flying and take little or no fluids while in the air. The
worst maybe yet to come, as a wheelchair is really
someone’s legs and there is a high risk of it being
broken while in the hold or, even more regretfully, not
actually arriving at the same destination – despite THE CHANGE
the best intentions of the airline. Power wheelchairs, THAT IS
for example, cost more than £15k and typically are NEEDED IS
bespoke for the user. It is thus impossible to simply
replace it in an hour, a day or even a month if it goes FOR THOSE
missing or is damaged in transit. THAT LIVE
The change that is needed is for those that live THEIR LIFE IN A
their life in a wheelchair to remain in it while travelling,
WHEELCHAIR
as it aids their posture and support. The challenge is
therefore set before the industry – how do we make IS TO REMAIN
air travel more inclusive in the 21st century? IN IT WHILE
TRAVELLING, AS
A wheelchair is a passenger’s legs
IT AIDS THEIR
Today, when things do go wrong, sub-standard travel POSTURE AND
experiences are well documented on a Google SUPPORT

26 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

 The first Flying
Disabled symposium
was held at Virgin
Atlantic’s HQ in
Gatwick.

search. Younger, savvier wheelchair users have
filmed or taken pictures on their smartphones and
these have been uploaded on social media faster
than a low-cost carrier can change its terms and
conditions. Ironically, in this age of mass, cheap
travel, both my young adults (that I still call children)
are in wheelchairs and for them commercial flying
has become more difficult. However, they want to
travel and they want to spend money with airlines.
Two years ago, I started researching why air travel
for someone in a wheelchair was still stuck in a
bygone era. Transport over land and sea have
gradually adapted and reaped the financial rewards
accordingly, yet the cabin of an aircraft remains the
last bastion of accessibility – why?
It has become clear during this campaign that,
while for myself this issue was personally very
close to home, others in the aviation industry had
noticed this and had decided that enough was
enough.
Accordingly, in September of 2017, with the
support of Virgin Atlantic, Flying Disabled hosted
the inaugural Wheelchair in the Cabin symposium
at the airline’s HQ in Gatwick. The idea was to bring
airlines, regulators, Government and stakeholders
together to start exploring a solution.
Without these stakeholders onboard and
engaged, it is this unlikely that a solution will
happen. However, the response so far to Flying
Disabled, which was only set up in 2016, has been
extremely encouraging. Since the symposium, there
is now a Working Group examining how to create
a wheelchair that is ‘cabin safe’. This group will
Priestman Goode
examine every detail from the battery on a power
wheelchair to the screws that hold it together. The
UK Government attended the event and is fully
behind my campaign, as is the House of Lords. With
the help of Airbus, an ‘International Working Group’
is also to be set up. It is crucial to make sure that
the aviation industry is part of this process so that it
is right for all concerned.
Skytrax accessibility award
In 2012, design
house Priestman Momentum is building further with an agreement
Goode revealed to create a new category of awards from airline
awards group Skytrax. It has agreed to work with
this concept,
Flying Disabled to bring a new category award for
Air Access, for accessibility to both airlines and airports, to bring
a detachable much needed accessibility data to this industry to
wheelchair that understand the journey and recognise best practice
and performers.
could be slid I believe the awards will be a first ever in air
sideways and travel and will start a fresh growth in accessibility
into a fixed organically, thus allowing the industry to adjust
frame aisle accordingly. Awards like these will help the more
progressive airlines attract new reduced mobility
seat, allowing a customers and hang on to loyal passengers that
reduced mobility who, through old age, accident or illness have seen
passenger to their mobility reduced.
stay in their chair
Reaping the financial reward
without needing
to be got out. In setting up Flying Disabled, I have learnt a lot
about the aviation industry in the past two years and
understand that every millimetre and every ounce

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 27

 AIR TRANSPORT
Passenger accessibility

inside an aircraft is as sacred as a Wi-Fi connection

to a teenager on Pay-As-You-Go. However, I also
understand that airlines on average do not operate
on full capacity 365 days of the year, with it being
typically around 85% across the globe.
This 15% then gives a lot of wiggle room to
bring in inclusion and reap the financial reward that
offers. To those that think disabled people sit in
lonely bedrooms watching back-to-back episodes
of Jeremy Kyle, think again. They have family and
friends who want to travel with them or visit. Indeed,
on many routes, reduced mobility passengers may
have a choice – high speed train networks are
fighting the aviation industry on the ground and
making serious headway.
The Wheelchair
in the Cabin Embracing inclusion
Symposium
in September Apart from the financial rewards for airlines, why
else should disabled passengers be targeted?
2017 was the In 2020 the Olympics and Paralympics roadshow
first event of its arrives in Tokyo. In 1964 the Paralympics had just
kind and saw 375 athletes representing 21 nations. In 2020
the Paralympics will be hosting nearly 5,000
attendance from
athletes representing over 159 nations. This just
airlines, an aircraft demonstrates how the world now embraces the
manufacturer, world of disability and inclusion and the Paralympics
cabin design is also now an integral part of our viewing
experience. Additionally, due to medical science,
specialists, we are all living longer, our aging population is
travel agents, growing, and boy, do they have money to spend. The
government industry has spent vast sums of money engaging skies. Those that suffer physical life-changing
bodies and with them over the years and most are very loyal. injuries in conflict zones have told me that air travel
Yet there is no foundation to retain or facilitate can be humiliating and does not really offer any
disability these customers/families when their mobility status provision for their needs – with many deciding not
campaigners and changes and they perhaps need more assistance. to fly anymore. Heroes and Invictus athletes surely
charities. Additionaly, there are also ex servicemen and deserve better treatment from our air transport
women, veterans and the very people who secure system.
our freedom over land, sea and, of course, our There are two other motivators for airlines
to get this right – the ‘sticks’ to the ‘carrots’ of
passenger loyalty. The first is social media shaming
via author

and corporate reputation – which can trash carefully

honed brands and make share prices dive. The
second (and allied to this) are the risk of lawsuits,
passenger compensation in an extremely litigious
society. The days when airlines and airports could
ignore the minority of reduced mobility passengers
without consequence are fast disappearing.

Summary
If you think that creating a wheelchair space in
the cabin of an aircraft is unrealistic and cannot
be done for weight, space, safety or engineering
reasons, then go back to where I started this piece
with Alcock and Brown in 1919. Imagine being in
the room when they said; ‘we are going to fly nearly
2,000 miles across the Atlantic in nearly half a
ton of aeroplane’. It is a challenge but one that the
aviation industry can rise to together.

28 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

 20 July
2018

Getting careers in aerospace

off to a flying start!
Reserve your FREE tickets today!
Visit: www.adsgroup.org.uk/futuresday
t: +44 (0) 20 7091 7800 e: futuresday@adsgroup.org.uk
 AEROSPACE
Pilot training
New pilot scheme
CAPT TILMANN GABRIEL FRAeS looks at ongoing attempts made by the
International Pilot Training Association to address the global shortage of pilots.
T
he International Pilot Training Association
(IPTA) was formed in 2011, originally as
a consortium by ICAO, IATA, the Royal
Aeronautical Society and the major
civil aircraft manufacturers. Initiated
by the need to work in partnership on key issues
of pilot performance and through-life training, the
stakeholders came together to work critical subjects
under a neutral Chairman, Peter Barrett, from the
Royal Aeronautical Society.
Several working groups were formed, at the
peak with over 200 industry experts in up to eight
workstreams. Important outcomes were the proof
of concept for the MPL (multi-pilot license), pilot
competencies, UPRT (upset prevention and recovery
training) guidelines, Revision 4 to ICAO Doc 9625
‘The Manual of Criteria for the Qualification of Flight
Simulation Training Devices’, a helicopter manual
for safer pilot training, and assuming responsibility
for ICAO’s NGAP (Next Generation of Aviation
Professionals) initiative for outreach to future pilots.
In 2016, the Consortium became an Association
and, importantly, the original stakeholders were joined
by the major pilot training organisations. IPTA is
now working diligently on key developments in pilot
recruitment, training and professional standards. The
Executive Board, headed by Capt Tilmann Gabriel,
with Capt Francois Lassale and key members from
ICAO, IATA, Airbus and Boeing, meets monthly, and
every other month the Workstream Chairmen – all of
whom are Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society
– report on progress. The IPTA Council meets twice
per year to determine the future strategy and new
projects. IPTA has achieved an important rapport with
British Airways
30 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
ICAO, the FAA and EASA with active experts from
the industry, supporting the efficient rulemaking and
creation of guidance for the industry.
Reaching out for pilots
The Outreach, Recruitment and Retention
Workstream is targeting the pilot demand and aims
to find ways of funding the ab initio training of pilots.
With a demand of 600,000 pilots in the next 20 years
and an average cost of £100,000 per Air Transport
Pilot License, there are not enough pilots produced
per year to cover both retirement and the growth of
the industry. Next, to the costs, there is a growing
decline in the attractiveness of the pilot profession, as
there are many other opportunities for young people.
Women still represent only 7% of the pilot population.
In China and India it is 13% but the interest of
women in becoming pilots is likely still influenced by
the myth that it is not a family-friendly job.
As most educations are free of charge, the young
aviation industry has missed the establishment of
the Profession ‘Airline Pilot’; the former Soviet Union
was much more advanced in this respect. ICAO
Annex 1 is regulating the vocational pilot licenses,
with the new license regulations coming in 2019/20
governed by pilot Core Competencies and observable
behaviours. This represents a true revolution in
pilot training and will be the subject of the Royal
Aeronautical Society International Flight Crew
Training Conference on 25-26 September 2018. The
work is being driven by ICAO, and the author, as a
member of the ICAO task force, would have liked to A British Airways pilot
go a step further and initiate a profession, coupled making pre-flight checks.
 Lufthansa/Ingrid Friedl
Right: Trainee Boeing
747 pilot in the Lufthansa
Training Centre in Frankfurt.
Below: Boeing forecast for
the number of new pilots
needed by 2035.

other ways of indebtedness of each pilot. Obviously,

Boeing
with a Bachelor degree. However, this needs to be
the next step. The myth is prevalent that the pilot
profession will be gone in 20, 30, 50 years, so who
will be flying the aircraft from the ground and who will
work on all the drone flight management? The pilot
job will change, like so many other professions, but
the tasks of flying aircraft safely will remain, coupled
with many other management tasks. Where is the
education for this future?
THERE ARE
Paying the price
NOT ENOUGH
PILOTS One of the key initiatives of IPTA is to find funding
PRODUCED mechanisms for training ab initio pilots. In the past,
most major airlines had their own flight schools
PER YEAR TO and funded their pilot cadets, usually coupled with
COVER BOTH a lower income in the starting years of the junior
RETIREMENT pilot. With our low-cost focus, almost all airlines
have handed the training of pilots to approved
AND THE training organisations (ATO), leaving the risk of
GROWTH OF getting a job in the airlines to the young pilot. The
THE INDUSTRY financing is left to the parents, the mortgage or
this way of getting a pilot license is limited to
young people with wealthier backgrounds. With an
aircraft manufacturing industry which wants to sell
$5trn worth of aircraft in the next 20 years (some
30,000 aircraft), the spectre of insufficient pilots has
been recognised. IPTA is looking into establishing
financing opportunities which give junior pilots from
lower-income countries the opportunity to enter the
pilot profession.
Next to financing pilot education, we need to find
better working conditions for what was once a highly
favoured profession, making it more attractive for
women, but also for career changers of people aged
40+. Working as a pilot must be possible in line with
the increasing retirement age.
Appealing to the new flyers
In today’s global pilot job market, the career pilot has
to manage his/her career. Gone are the days of one
employer from cadet to retirement. The average pilot
changes employers seven times during their career.
This is the main restrictor for young men and women
who have close regional and family ties and don’t find
it attractive to work around the world and adjust to a
new employer culture every few years for career and
greater salaries.
IPTA is accepting a key role in finding solutions,
so far without compensating its experts for the
important work which helps the aviation industry
prosper. The Royal Aeronautical Society and its
membership base are greatly supporting the activities
and together we will continue to seek progress on
the key issues that face the pilot training industry
today and in the future.

RAeS Conference: Human Performance of Pilots – The Next 40 Years, 24 April 2018, No.4 Hamilton Place, London W1
RAeS Conference: Annual International Flight Crew Training Conference; A New Era for Pilot Training & Assessment,
25-26 September 2018, No.4 Hamilton Place, London W1

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 31

 AIR TRANSPORT
Cabin interiors

United Airlines
THE PASSENGER
EXPERIENCE
INDUSTRY IS ITSELF
EXPERIENCING
A RESURGENCE
IN INNOVATION,
ENGINEERING AND
OPPORTUNITIES.

Cabin fever
Converging trends have spurred new innovations in the passenger experience
and aircraft interiors. JOHN WALTON reports on recent developments in the field.

A
fter the airframe, the second most New planes, new gains Above: The United Airlines’
expensive part of purchasing a new Polaris reclining seat.
commercial aircraft is the cabin interior. A new generation of re-engined, longer range Below from left: Qatar Airways
From sculpted sidewalls to integrated and more efficient narrowbody aircraft is entering business class, Construction
bulkheads, bigger bins to luxury into service, and the Airbus A320neo and Boeing of a LIFT by EnCore seat,
lavatories – not to mention new generations of seats 737 MAX will bring with them a sea change in the Delta One Suite, Airbus’
Cabin-Flex programme allows
offering more room in less space throughout the passenger experience. The kind of seats, services exceptionally dense seating,
aircraft – the passenger experience industry is itself and features seen only on longhaul widebodies in Serving food on a British
experiencing a resurgence in innovation, engineering the past are now on offer for the sub-200-seater Airways flight, Acro’s Series 7
and opportunities. market. recliner.
Qatar Airways
LIFT by EnCore

Delta Airlines

32 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018


Flydubai
Gulf carrier Flydubai
showed the first of its
B737 Max aircraft at the
Dubai Airshow, featuring
a new business class
cabin, with ten fully-flat
seats across three rows.
The first and last rows are
configured 2-2, while the
middle row has just two
‘throne’ seats.
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn
Flydubai, the former low-cost carrier based in
Terminal Two at DXB, is the first airline to install
fully flat seating – the Thompson Aero Vantage
product, previously seen on widebodies from
Swiss to Malaysia Airlines to Delta Air Lines – on a
Boeing 737 MAX 8. These 737s now exceed the
passenger experience on many much larger aircraft.
In economy, too, Flydubai’s MAX is breaking
boundaries by offering a Recaro CL3710, the
same fully featured seat in twin-aisle aircraft
operated by airlines including KLM and Singapore
Airlines, all with Zodiac Aerospace’s high-definition
on-demand RAVE inflight entertainment screens,
to be linked later this year to the Global Eagle
Ku-band satellite connectivity system. For flights of
up to seven hours, such as Bangkok-Dubai, these
features are passenger-pleasing for the airline’s
network, embedded in key niche markets covering
billions of potential passengers.
At the other end of the passenger experience
spectrum, Norwegian Air started operating
transatlantic flights using its Boeing 737-800 NG
aircraft even before the arrival of its first MAX,
and there will be few cabin upgrades for the LCC’s
customers.
Latvian-Danish Primera Air, meanwhile, will
at least offer the stylish and comfortable Acro
Series 7 recliner seat in the pointy end of its neo-
generation Airbus A321LR. Primera, through lessor
AerCap, is the launch customer for this version of
the A321neo, which features additional fuel tanks
and can at its most dense accommodate a knee-
crunchingly impressive 240 passengers thanks to
the modification of doors via Airbus’ Cabin-Flex
programme.
What’s in a name?
Much as Club Class in the late 1970s started
offering perks for passengers paying higher fares
than tourists in the very back of British Airways’
aircraft, airlines are marketing their products as if
they fall outside the four global distribution system
categories of first class, business class, premium
economy, and economy.
These new branded cabins bring both upsides
and downsides to passengers, both in the front of
Airbus
f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com
the aircraft – where notionally business products
like Qatar Airways’ Qsuite, the Delta One Suite, and
United’s Polaris are beating out other airlines’ first
class products in space, features and amenities
– and towards the rear, where extra-legroom
economy seats are evolving from ancillary revenue
opportunities to separate branded and packaged
products, like Delta’s Comfort+ or the variety of
seating options available on Singapore Airlines’
low-cost carrier Scoot.
Branded cabins also provide opportunities for
legacy airlines to compete with low-cost carriers,
with the basic economy or hand-baggage-only
fare wave cresting the Atlantic. These fares not
only allow non-LCCs to appear higher up the all-
important fare ranking in search engines but also
open up opportunities for upsells – and to free
up more valuable overhead bin space for those
passengers willing to be upsold – all without really
changing the onboard product at all.
For many airlines, the key to a basic economy
move is not that they want to sell many tickets at
the basic economy fare: it’s that they want to pull
passengers in with low fares and then use targeted
merchandising offers, including their ever-lucrative
frequent flyer data, to get them to pay more than
they’d expected.
From bread to circuses – and
e-circuses
As inflight meals in premium classes continue
to become dine-on-demand, customisable and
higher quality, those in economy largely continue
to shrink. Few passengers, it seems, are persuaded
to fly Legacy Airline X over Low-Cost Carrier Y by
a plastic doggy-dish of chicken-or-beef, although
it seems that some standards do remain. British
Airways, after slashing its longhaul economy
catering over the past few years, has added back
some of what was taken away, while its partnership
with Marks & Spencer on shorthaul routes has
improved quality on the one hand while the other
hand took away the much-loved drinks trolley.
While shorthaul passengers may need to
distract themselves from a previously unthinkable
29” seat pitch with a £5 cheese sandwich – British
British Airways
Acro Aircraft Seating
APRIL 2018 33
 AIR TRANSPORT
Cabin interiors
Panasonic Avionics
Above from left to right: Airways offers a ‘nine month aged farmhouse
Panasonic’s eXO showing cheddar cheese ploughman’s’ – more options
HD overhead video, are available to airlines that want to invest in the
Lufthansa Business Class
passenger experience.
Cabin, Qatar Qsuite
interior, The A321neo Massive new screens are moving beyond simple
will add capacity and HD (720 pixels) or the 1080p of “Full HD”, through
passenger experience 4K and even, from Panasonic Avionics, an 8K screen
options for many airlines, that could grace the walls of a first class suite. More
United Airlines Polaris common but equally impressive at a closer range
Cabin.
are the new standards of 15” in business, 13” in
premium economy and 11” in economy.
The trick, of course, is what you watch on them.
Airlines are almost universally bad at matching their
inflight entertainment hard product investment with
films and television programmes at a resolution that
makes the content look good rather than terrible.
This is largely down to cost: for the past decade or
so on-demand systems have been able to cope with
1080p content but studios charge more for higher
resolution versions. With airlines generally declining
to pay the extra costs – not entirely unreasonable in
an age where Apple provides content at its highest
resolution for one single HD price on iTunes –
passengers end up with the equivalent of watching a
YouTube video at 480p on a 15” Retina quality laptop
screen.
The key is not just getting content that is as
good as people expect at home onto the aircraft.
LIFT by EnCore seating. It’s about allowing passengers to watch it, and
sometimes interact with it, in the way they like to
in their own armchair. An opportunity for second-
LIFT by EnCore
screening, where passengers use a phone or
tablet (or sometimes third-screening with both)
at the same time as they watch something in the
background, is de rigueur at home these days,
and is slowly making its way into the aircraft.
Devices, though, require power,
and lots of it. The new USB 3 Type-C
specification is arriving more quickly
than the industry is engaging with
it but a few seatmakers and airlines
are taking the sub-suppliers up on
upgradeable and modular systems that
will allow for easy changes without
nneeding to replace the whole seat.
34 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Lufthansa
That’s not to mention inflight connectivity,
which looks set to make widespread in-service
appearance in a number of new regions this year,
including Europe and Oceania, where new systems
like the hybrid ground-satellite Inmarsat-Deutsche
Telekom European Aviation Network, Gogo 2Ku
double-antenna offering and Inmarsat Global Xpress
worldwide Ka-band satellite constellation are coming
online.
New seats, new features, more space
Seat modularity is an increasingly popular concept
for airlines that realise their decisions today will
have implications years down the line. Eight years
after the arrival of the iPad, seats flying in 2010 still
serve passengers today, and seatmakers offering
fully featured products are increasingly making them
platform-based rather than model-based.
That opens up a variety of feature options on the
same backbone. If an airline wants to link an NFC
(near field communications) reader into its seatback
now, it may not have many applications to do so. But
will there be some killer app or a new functionality
standard like Apple Pay for NFC within the lifetime
of the seat? Very possibly.
Seatmakers are giving airlines a menu of
choices of features available today – one or more
USB sockets of multiple flavours, AC power outlets,
NFC scanners, personal device holders, cupholders,
and more – plus those approaching at a distance
(wireless charging, augmented reality (AR), Bluetooth
headphone receivers, second-screening information)
and even those not yet on the radar. Providing a
physical location for each type of technology, power,
and data connections where needed, is complex.
Recaro, for example, uses a horizontal module
with a choice of elements above the tray table, which
means that an airline could upgrade its USB power
options and add NFC or Bluetooth during a cabin
refurbishment without replacing the entire seat.
Space has been found, too, for passengers’
knees. As seat pitch shrinks to 29” even among
major carriers, seatmakers are changing the shape
of the seat structure, mostly by moving the rear

Qatar Airways
horizontal structural tube forwards and changing the
supporting foot structure, to increase clearance at
the shin.
The effect is truly remarkable, as
your 6’3” author discovered on back-
to-back flights in row 32 at 29” on two
Boeing 737 aircraft: first, an older style
seat on Romanian carrier Blue Air, and
second the brand new Recaro CL3710
on Flydubai. On the former, a knee sticking
out into the aisle was the only way to get
comfortable, with an ankle parallel to the
floor under the seat. The structure of the
latter enabled a much more comfortable
forward seating position with knees inside
the seat structure, shins clear of the underside of
the seat, and the chance to shift position during the
flight.
Seats from Acro, LIFT by EnCore, Geven and
Pitch in particular have shown similar engineering
genius applied to improve the passenger experience.
The business of business class
remains shaky
New business class seats offer more luxury than
ever before but also contain more moving parts and
must pass more certification requirements. The move
from 9G to 16G testing, the head injury criterion,
and the newer neck injury criterion, means a smaller
envelope in which to engineer.
Meanwhile, increasing consolidation in the
industry has often not been managed well, dragging
previously successful business units in consolidated
companies down to the level of the more poorly
performing predecessor companies. The knock-on
effect to even the more successful seatmakers
has meant that other players in the market have
overcommitted and underdelivered.
The results have been dramatic. Delays in
producing many high-profile seats mean aircraft
sitting on the ground outside final assembly lines
awaiting installation. Quality problems mean that the
seats, even when produced, are not to specification,
with peeling laminate, sections that do not match or
@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook.com
Airbus
United Airlines
line up properly, early wear problems, slap-dash fixes
and, occasionally, bits of seat simply falling off.
Airframers are responding strongly to these
Geven
problems, including cutting laggardly seatmakers
out of lucrative catalogues, working more closely
with carefully chosen suppliers, and even bringing
seatmaking in-house. The former Sogerma, now
Stelia, has made up the premium seating arm of
the Airbus Group for more than a decade, with its
popular Solstys staggered fully flat bed product
joined by new models, including the compact
staggered Opal and zero-G recliner Celeste.
After a 2017 flirtation with Japanese seatmaker
Jamco following relationship (and production)
troubles with Zodiac, Boeing is joining the club with a
Who says you can’t sleep joint venture involving automotive seatmaker Adient,
in Economy? Geven’s which will initially focus on the premium seating
Piuma Sofà, an economy market. Boeing has also been working closely with
class seat that converts to LIFT by EnCore to develop economy class seats
a bed.
specifically designed for the narrower cross-sections
of its six-across Boeing 737 fuselage and the
3-3-3 configuration most commonly seen in its 787
Dreamliner aircraft.
Filling the data gaps
The passenger experience side of the commercial
aviation industry isn’t resting on its laurels either.
Airlines are challenging their suppliers to make
everything lighter, stronger, and more reliable – and
with more features. The networked sensors of the
Internet of Things (IoT) promise much but, at least
inside the cabin, have yet to make a meaningful
appearance.
The amount of data airlines hold on their
passengers is still vast and largely untapped on the
passenger experience side. Despite much work in
digital transformation, rarely has an airline managed
to get this beyond handheld device-driven work,
where cabin crew get a bit more information to help
them assist passengers.
The next step change flyers will see relies on truly
bringing the benefits of the massive investment many
airlines, airframers, seatmakers and other suppliers
are making to bear on the passenger experience.
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 35
 DEFENCE
Soviet evaluation of the Northrop F-5E
USAF

Caged tiger tested

Secret testing and evaluation of captured or covertly acquired Soviet fighters
by the US was a key way of assessing Cold War military capability. While the US
programme featured multiple types, the USSR also conducted its own evaluations
of ‘threat’ aircraft. EUGENE GERDEN illuminates a hitherto little known episode
which saw Soviet pilots test the Northrop F-5E against the MiG-21.

D
espite the fact that it’s been 30 years
since the end of the Cold War and the
arms’ race between the USSR and the
US, many experts in both countries
continue to remember one of the
most dramatic illustrations of rivalry between the
two nations which involved comparative tests of the
Soviet MiGs and the captured Northrop F-5E on one
of the Soviet air testing facilities at the end of 1975.
War booty
The USSR had always been interested in the latest
military developments of its major geopolitic rival
in the international arena, particularly in the field of
military aviation. However, a real opportunity to get to
know US aviation equipment better appeared only in
1975, after the end of the Vietnam War. One of the
last attacks of the pro-Communist North Vietnamese
army on positions of the South Vietnam army resulted
in the capture of a wide range of combat equipment
and weapons, among which were 70 F-5A/E fighters
and 120 Cessna A-37 Dragonfly light attack aircraft,
as well as helicopters, training and transport aircraft
and other military and civil equipment, which were left
by the South Vietnam forces during its retreat.
The number of trophies was so large that
Vietnam, for a certain period of time, became the
world’s second largest exporter of spare parts for
delivered some captured US weapons to the USSR,
including the F-5E and A-37B, where the Soviet
military command had already decided to conduct
their comprehensive tests with the aim to compare
their combat capability with those of Soviet fighters.
THE RESULTS
Test team SPARKED FIERCE
CRITICISM ...
For this purpose, a test team of Soviet engineers and
experts in the field of military aviation was formed. WHO ACCUSED
It included experts of various profiles and was led TEST PILOTS
by the leading engineer of the Soviet Air Force AND ENGINEERS
Research Institute (the leading Soviet Research
OF SOVIET
Institute in the field of aviation), Vladimir Chumbarov.
From the beginning, Soviet experts experienced a AIR FORCE
lack of information about the F-5E, having only the RESEARCH
technical information manual of the aircraft and a INSTITUTE OF
brief description of its armament.
The decision to start tests of the F-5E and
‘PROPAGANDA
evaluate its combat capability, compared to the OF AMERICAN
Soviet MiG-21bis and MiG-23ML, was personally TECHNOLOGIES’
taken by the Chief of the Soviet Air Force Research
Institute, General Ivan Gaidaenko, as well as Deputy
Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Armament, The F-5E was tested in
General Mikhail Mishuk. Testing of the F-5E was air-to-air combat against
entrusted to leading Soviet test pilots and Heroes the MiG-21.
of the Soviet Union Stogov, Vladimir Kondaurov and
Alexander Begevets. Both pilots, already on their
first view of the F-5, noted its simple and thoughtful
Russian TV

the US military equipment to various countries. After design, as well as easy access to the serviced units,
the end of the Vietnam War, Soviet military experts unlike the domestic MiGs.

36 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

 USAF
MiG vs F-5 Above: A MiG-21PF Radio superiority
‘Fishbed’ at the National
On paper, both the MiG-21bis and MiG-23 were Museum of the United Soviet experts also noted the well-developed radio
almost twice as powerful as the F-5E, in terms of States Air Force. equipment of the F-5. Despite the fact that its
thrust-to-weight ratio, speed (about 2M vs 1.6M), Top left: A Northrop F-5E. configuration and composition was typical for fighters
climbing speed (225m/s vs175m/s) and the at that period of time, its general quality and usability
majority of other dynamic characteristics. The F-5E was significantly better, compared to those that were
was equipped with two General Electric turbojets on Soviet fighters in the mid 1970s. The design of
with the power of 15kN each. For comparison, the the F-5 used building-block principles, which allowed
power of the MiG-21reached 70kN in dry power the change of faulty modules and units very quickly.
mode. At the same time the Soviet avionics of that time
The armament of the US aircraft was specially were built on the basis of container principles, where
designed for manoeuvring fights: two built-in repairs always required significant time (1-2 hours
automatic cannons of 20mm calibre with ammunition or even more). According to Soviet test pilots, the
of 280 shells per each barrel. The F-5E was also replacement of the Sapphire 23 radar transceiver
distinguished by its original ‘shark’ nose, equipped of the MiG-23M usually took about two hours. In
with vortex generators, which contributed to its comparison, the replacement of AN/APQ-153 radar
stability at low speeds, allowing manoeuvrable air block on the F-5E was only 20-25 minutes.
combat at critical angles-of-attack. The surprise of Soviet engineers was the almost
One of the leading engineers of the Air Force complete absence of wire checks on the F-5E.
Research Institute, Alexander Marchenko, who also This was especially surprising for them, taking
participated in the test, recalls a non-glare cockpit into account the wide use of these checks in the
panel of the aircraft, which particularly impressed Soviet aircraft-building at that period of time. Prior
Soviet engineers and test pilots during the first look to the beginning of tests, a number of devices with
at the F-5E. He said that the high-quality, non- Anglophone indications in the cockpit of the F-5E
reflecting instrument glass of the panel allowed
reading the panel in any lighting without difficulties. In
addition, Soviet test pilots appreciated the comfort of
the cabin of the US aircraft, a good overview, and the
F-5E MiG-21
rational placement of instruments and controls inside Length: 14.45m (47ft 4¾in) Length: 14.7m (48ft 2in)
it. A particular emphasis was put on the AN/ASQ-29 Wingspan: 8.13m (26ft 8in) Wingspan: 7.154m (23ft 6in)
collimating sight, which was half the size compared Height: 4.08m (13ft 4½in) Height: 4m (13ft 6in)
with its analogue on the Soviet MiG fighter.
Maximum speed: Maximum speed:
Due to its simple, clear design, preparation of
Mach 1.6, 1,700km/h (1,060mph) Mach 1.8 2,175km/h; (1,351mph)
the F-5E for the tests, which were initially associated
with serious problems, became surprisingly simple Range: 760nm (1,405km, 870mi) Range: 1,470km (910mi, 790nmi) at
for Soviet engineers and test pilots. Marchenko said Ferry range: 2,010nm, (3,700km, 10,000m (32,800ft) with 2 × K-13A
that the majority of equipment and units of the F-5E 2,310mi) missiles and 800 l (180imp gal; 210 US gal)
were easily accessible and did not require a special Service ceiling: 15,800m (51,800ft) Service ceiling: 17,500m (57,400ft)
knowledge for their use. Rate of climb: 175m/s (34,400ft/min) Rate of climb: 225m/s (44,280ft/min)
The only difficulty for engineers of the Soviet
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric Powerplant: 1 × Tumansky R-25-300
Institute of Air Force was the intended use of a
J85-GE-21B turbojets afterburning turbojet
button located at the bottom of a deep niche in
the cabin. As it later turned out, it’s purpose was to Dry thrust: 15.5kN (3,500lbf) each Dry thrust: 40.21kN (9,040lbf)
remove the lock on the use of weapons with the Thrust with afterburner: (22.2kN) Thrust with afterburner: 69.62kN
undercarriage extended. 5,000lbf each (15,650lbf)

@aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 37

 Paradoxically in 2018,
F-5s are still seen with ‘red
stars’ paint schemes flying
as adversary aircraft to train
US pilots in air combat. The
F-5N Tiger II is from US
Marine Corps VMFT-40
aggressor squadron.
One test pilot aborted his
take-off run after excessive
nose-wheel vibration in
the F-5E on his very first
flight – a feature that was
then discovered to be
due to the pitted and poor
condition of Soviet era
runways.
38 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
US Navy
were replaced with Russian ones. In addition, the US
feet and miles indications were replaced by Russian
metres and kilometres.
Mock dogfights
Both Soviet fighters had good chances to win a
battle, even when not engaged in a direct dogfight
with a F-5E. Thanks to its more powerful Sapphire
radar, the MiGs could detect the enemy earlier and
conduct an unexpected attack.
The Sapphire radar, mounted both on the
MiG-21 and MiG-23, allowed them to find an
opponent earlier and take a more successful position
for the attack. The MiG-23 had the advantage over
the F-5E in that it was equipped with R-23 medium-
range missiles, which had a range of up to 40km.
The Sidewinder missile, which was available in the
arsenal of the F-5, had a range of only 10km.
The tests began in December 1976 on the
runway of the Akhtubinsk flight test centre in the
Russian Astrakhan Oblast. The results of ‘battles’
were noted using control and recording equipment.
The 20mm M-39A2 guns, installed on the F-5, were
not tested, nor were the Sidewinder missiles.
Russian State TV
As a result of the tests, Soviet experts found that
the MiG-2bis had better acceleration characteristics,
as well as better climbing speed at speeds of more
than 500km/h – due to a greater thrust-to-weight
ratio, compared to the F-5E. Experts also found that
none of the aircraft had advantages at speeds of
750-800km/h. There was a fair contest, however, as
the fighters were unable to conduct dogfights due to
large turning radii.
At speeds below 750km/h, the F-5E had better
characteristics of manoeuvrability, an advantage
that grew with increasing altitude and decreasing
flight speed. Finally, it was found that the F-5E had
more ammunition but a lower total rate of fire, which
allowed it to have a longer firing time.
According to a Soviet test pilot, Vladimir
Kondaurov, the advantage in the manoeuvrability
of the F-5E was completely lost at speeds above
800km/h. However, such conditions always led to
an increase of turning radiuses and the loss of visual
contact of pilots with each other.
Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR and Hero of
the Soviet Union, Colonel Vladimir Kondaurov in his
book about the F-5 tests, writes: “Being not ready
to conduct high-speed manoeuvres in the flight
configuration of the wing, the F-5 was surprisingly
transfigured, after the transfer into a manoeuvre
configuration”.
Experts also noted the high survivability of the
F-5E, which was mainly explained by its twin-engine
configuration and the absence of wing fuel tanks.
This allowed the aircraft to return from missions
even with riddled wings. Soviet test pilots said that,
without using the wing-flap system, the F-5 had no
advantage in manoeuvrability. On the first series of
the F-5, the pilot could set nose and flaps in five
fixed positions, which was done with the help of
a switch, located on the power lever. On the later
series of F-5s, the deflection of noses and flaps was
made automatic by the signal from the height and
speed sensors.
Report buried
Yet after 18 battles, the Soviet MiG-21bis was
not able to ‘get on the tail’ of the F-5E. After the
completion of the tests, the aircraft were transported
to the Chkalovskoye airfield at Moscow. A report
of the results of the tests was made to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Force, General
Pavel Kutakhov. However, the results sparked fierce
criticism of Kutakhov, who accused test pilots and
engineers of Soviet Air Force Research Institute of
‘propaganda of American technologies’.
Due to this, the reports on the testing of the
F-5E aircraft were closed in the archives of the Air
Force Research Institute for many years and have
become available only in recent years. As for the
F-5E, after the completion of all the tests, it was
transferred to the Sukhoi Design Bureau (one of
the leading design bureau in the USSR and Russia)
which was involved in the design of the Su-25 Grach,
a single-seat, twin-engine jet attack aircraft.
Certain technologies, used in the construction of
the F-5E started to be used in the construction and
design of Soviet MiGs. For example, winged influx and
vortex generators of the F-5 were used in the building
of the MiG-23 to increase its manoeuvrability.
Meetings & Events in the heart of London
Home to the Royal Aeronautical Society, No. 4 Hamilton Place is a stunning venue, centrally located in Mayfair,
with a choice of event spaces. The venue offers:

• 10% off room hire for members

• State of the art conference facilities for up to 250
• Versatile meeting rooms
• A beautiful west facing terrace
• Catering by foodbydish, one of London’s leading contemporary caterers

Let our dedicated team take care of your event requirements.

For more information visit www.4hp.org.uk or contact the Venue Team on 020 7670 4314
or hello@4hp.org.uk | No. 4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ
2018
ANNUAL BANQUET Supported by

Thursday 10 May 2018 / London

Established as a key event in the social Guest of Honour

calendar of the aviation and aerospace
community, the Royal Aeronautical Society
Annual Banquet attracts high level industry
attendance and offers the ideal opportunity
for networking and corporate entertainment.
Individual tickets and corporate tables are
available with discounted rates for RAeS
Members and Corporate Partners.
Marillyn A Hewson FRAeS
Chairman, President and CEO
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Venue
The InterContinental London Park Lane,
One Hamilton Place, London W1J 7QY, UK
Programme
Reception: 7.15pm Dinner: 8.00pm
What’s included?
This black tie event includes a pre-dinner networking
reception followed by an exquisite four-course dinner
with fine wines and coffee.

Enquiries to:
Gail Ward, Events Manager – Corporate & Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
T +44 (0)1491 629 912 / E gail.ward@aerosociety.com

www.aerosociety.com/banquet
Afterburner
www.aerosociety.com

Diary
24 April
The Future of Business
Aviation
Network Event

Cessna Citation Latitude. Textron Aviation.

42 Message from RAeS 44 Book Reviews 52 Diary

- President
“This month sees the 100th anniversary of the
formation of the world’s first independent air force.
The Royal Air Force was born out of the recognition
that aerial warfare had become such a dominant
factor in war that it needed expert pilots, engineers,
exponents and operational planners to defend the
skies and to protect those at home as well as those
fighting on the ground and the sea.”
Outposts on the Frontier, When the Navy Took to the
Air and Balloon Madness.
Find out when and where around the world the
latest Society aeronautical and aerospace lectures
and events are happening.
47 Library Additions 54 Bristol 188 flight testing
Books submitted to the National Aerospace Library.
John Thorpe FRAeS delivered a lecture to the
Weybridge Branch on 21 February describing the
48 Obituaries Bristol 188 high-temperature research aircraft.

- Chief Executive
“We are pleased to welcome back the Business
Aviation community to the Society this month. After
a successful event in 2017, we will be considering
what the future of business aviation will look like,
with two expert panels and excellent support from
industry.”
Obituaries for His Honour Harvey Crush FRAeS, Air 55 New Corporate Partners
Cdre David Norriss FRAeS and Alex Gray MRAeS.
Two new companies join the Society’s Corporate
Partner Scheme.
50 Minutes of the 152nd AGM
In advance of the 153rd RAeS AGM on Thursday, 56 Elections
10 May, the Society publishes the minutes of last
year’s AGM. New Society members elected in the past month.

Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 41

 Afterburner
Message from RAeS
OUR PRESIDENT
ACM Sir Stephen Dalton
This month sees the 100th anniversary of the

MoD/Crown copyright (2018)

formation of the world’s first independent air force.
The Royal Air Force was born out of the recognition
that aerial warfare had become such a dominant
factor in war that it needed expert pilots, engineers,
exponents and operational planners to defend the
skies and to protect those at home as well as those
fighting on the ground and the sea. The First World
War demonstrated that military aircraft and pilots,
appropriately employed and trained, were going
to have a material impact on the course of future
An RAF Tornado GR4 takes on fuel from a Voyager tanker during
land and maritime warfare. In the UK, the Royal Air an armed reconnaissance mission in support of OP SHADER.
Force, the Fleet Air Arm and the Army Air Corps
have all made significant steps forward in the past
100 years, because of the development of aviation
skills, technology, materials, and the expertise in how
to use them optimally. However, the establishment
of the Royal Air Force ensured that there was and
remains a critical focus on the strategy, science, art Afghanistan and Syria, air power, precisely applied,
WITHIN THE and tactics of employing contemporary military air can be very cost-effective.
SOCIETY, I AM power. There will always be a fiscal challenge for Within the Society, I am very grateful to those
VERY GRATEFUL any government to provide the essential resources who have put themselves forward this year to be
TO THOSE to keep air forces (actually, all its military forces) considered for Council. The Royal Aeronautical
ready to out-perform any potential enemy. However, Society has great support but, equally, it has a
WHO HAVE PUT the expert employment of air power by the Royal significant role to play. Whether in supporting
THEMSELVES Air Force over the past 100 years has delivered a and encouraging new apprentices in aviation/
FORWARD THIS great deal for this country and the world. Whether aerospace careers, in assisting professional
it was in the darkest days of The Battle of Britain, career development or providing independent,
YEAR TO BE in the retaking of the Falkland Islands or in the impartial aviation and aerospace advice, your Royal
CONSIDERED FOR largely unreported and unseen effect that the Royal Aeronautical Society needs and looks to you for
COUNCIL Air Force has had and continues to have in Iraq, your invaluable engagement and contributions.

153rd Annual General Meeting

of the Royal Aeronautical Society
The 153rd Annual General Meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society incorporating the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers,
the Helicopter Association of Great Britain and the Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Technologist will be held on
Thursday, 10 May 2018, at 1800 hours at the Registered office of the Society, No.4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ, UK.

The business of the AGM:

1. To receive and consider the Minutes of the 152nd Annual General Meeting held on 11 May 2017.
2. To receive and consider the Audited Accounts and Report of the Board of Trustees on the state of the Society for the year
ending 31 December 2017.
3. To appoint the auditors for the year 2018.
4. To receive the names of those appointed to the Board of Trustees and those newly-elected to the Council for the years
2018-2021.

To register your attendance to the 153rd AGM please visit our website on: www.aerosociety.com/AGM18

42 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Simon C Luxmoore
 We were delighted to host Air Chief Marshal
Sir Stephen Hillier FRAeS at No.4 Hamilton
Place to kick off the Royal Air Force’s centenary
celebrations. With support from BAE Systems,
the evening was a wonderful chance to reflect
on the history and achievements of the RAF and,
if you weren’t able to join us, a recording will be
released shortly on www.aerosociety.com/
podcast.
 The Young Persons Committee AeroChallenge
quiz took place on 21 February. The event
attracted 14 teams representing universities
and organisations including MBDA, Leonardo,
Rolls-Royce, Cobham and GKN. Topics such
On 5 March Sebastian Pooley MRAeS, MD of Pooley’s Flight
as current affairs, principles of flight, airlines Equipment, presented to the Society a sword made by Pooley
and space were contested across the day and Sword Ltd to commemorate the Society’s 150th anniversary.
concluded with the GKN team crowned worthy From left: Prof Chris Atkin, RAeS President 2016-2017; ACM
champions and taking the prestigious winners’ Sir Stephen Dalton, RAeS President; Sebastian Pooley and Rear
Admiral Simon Henley, RAeS President-Elect.
trophy back to Bristol. The event was kindly
sponsored by Leonardo.
 We are pleased to welcome back the Business
Aviation community to the Society this month.
After a successful event in 2017, we will
be considering what the future of business Industry, which is hosted by the CSIR. Marié
aviation will look like, with two expert panels and succeeds the outgoing President Dr Glen
excellent support from industry. Visit Snedden of the CSIR.
www.aerosociety.com/BizAv2018 to RSVP.  During the week of 16 April, Hamilton Place will
 We’ve also got two exclusive briefings coming be closed off to the public due to a large event
up for employees of our Corporate Partners; taking place in the area. This means members
the first on 10 April when Mark Burns FRAeS, will not be able to enter the area due to security
President of Gulfstream, will speak on arrangements or come into No.4 Hamilton Place
‘Perspectives, Technology and Innovation’, and during this week. If you were planning to visit
then on 26 April Paul Griffiths FRAeS, CEO during this time, please email
of Dubai Airports, will talk about the future hello@4hp.org.uk so we can assist you
of airport development and the passenger with alternative arrangements to meet with
experience. colleagues.
 Exhibitor registration is now open for our  At the end of the month we will be hosting
recruitment fair taking place on Friday, a showcase for our regular clients at No.4
9 November, once again at our beautiful Hamilton Place to launch our new Spring/
headquarters building. The event has a new Summer menus from foodbydish that will work
name, Careers in Aerospace & Aviation LIVE, perfectly on our roof terrace throughout the
Summer events season.
WE WERE reflecting the depth and breadth of exhibitors
DELIGHTED TO and opportunities available in the industry. If
you would like to exhibit to showcase your
HOST AIR CHIEF opportunities to visitors including young people,
MARSHAL SIR students and graduates, early and experienced
STEPHEN HILLIER professionals and service leavers, contact
FRAES AT NO.4 rosalind.azouzi@aerosociety.com for the event
brochure outlining our fantastic packages, Hamilton Place closure
HAMILTON including early-bird and special Corporate
PLACE TO KICK Partner rates and booking form. During the week of 16 April, Hamilton
OFF THE ROYAL  Congratulations to Marié Botha MRAeS, the
Place will be closed to all visitors due
South African Division’s newly-elected President.
AIR FORCE’S Marié Botha is Programme Manager for the to the security arrangements for a
CENTENARY Aerospace Industry Support Initiative, an large event taking place in the area.
CELEBRATIONS initiative of the SA Department of Trade and

Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 43

 Afterburner
Book Reviews
OUTPOSTS ON THE FRONTIER
A Fifty-Year History of Space
Stations
By J Chladek
University of Nebraska Press, 1111 Lincoln Mall,
Lincoln NE 68588-0630, USA. 2016. Distributed
by Combined Academic Publishers Ltd, Windsor
House, Cornwall Road, Harrogate HG1 2PW, UK.
494pp. Illustrated. £29.99. [25% discount available
to RAeS members via www.combinedacademic.
co.uk using CS314FLIGHT promotion code]. ISBN
978-0-8032-2292-2.

Jay Chladek’s book Outposts on the Frontier

provides a chronological walk through the
progression of space stations and their crews,
beginning in the 1950s.
The book gives good coverage of both the
Soviet/Russian space station programme, the
American programme and finally the International
Space Station (ISS), while omitting recent Chinese
activities. It is written from a mildly American
standpoint, while retaining a fairly balanced
perspective and rightly celebrating the major
Above: The Space Shuttle Atlantis connected to Russia’s Mir Space Station photographed by the
achievements and contributions of the Soviet
Mir-19 crew on 4 July 1995.
manned space programme*. The book gives Below right: A sketch of Skylab, as drawn by George E Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for
background for the crews of each mission and Manned Space Flight, during a meeting at the Marshall Space Flight Center on 19 August 1966.
provides a rich collection of anecdotes from their Bottom right: The Skylab space station in orbit in February 1974.
lives and the experiences of their journey as Below: An artist’s impression of the USAF’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory, c1966. All NASA.
astronauts.
It is a book best suited to dedicated cosmonaut/
astronaut enthusiasts. It provides moderate detail on
the engineering challenges of the evolving stations This is a solid chronology that will inform and
but would benefit from more visuals and narrative entertain but perhaps not excite.
drive.
At times, the book can be a little dry, taking the Richard Lowe
reader through a long series of relatively formulaic MRAeS
mission descriptions. Nevertheless, there is interest
and amusement to be found here. Tales of 1980’s *Sustained use of the definite article for ‘the’ ESA
cola wars and practical jokes played between may irk some European readers, who habitually omit
mission crews add colour to the journey. it just as Americans do for NASA.

44 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

WHEN THE NAVY TOOK TO THE AIR
The Experimental Seaplane
Stations of the Royal Naval Air
Service
By P MacDougall
Fonthill Media Limited, Millview House, Toadsmoor
Road, Stroud GL5 2TB, UK. 2017. 174pp.
Illustrated. £18.99. ISBN 978-1-78155-572-9.
In When the Navy Took to the Air Philip MacDougall
discusses the progress made by the Admiralty in
developing naval and military aviation in the early
days of flight. The title implies a concentration on
air stations and the first chapters do indeed cover
Eastchurch, Calshot and the wartime experimental
stations at Felixstowe and Isle of Grain. In
association with the latter was the Port Victoria
experimental unit that is covered in the next chapter
with emphasis on the work of Commander Seddon
who was appointed to head of the Admiralty’s
aircraft research and development department at
the establishment in 1915.
The book then adopts a more thematic
approach with chapters on test flying, Porte’s anti-
submarine flying boat developments at Felixstowe,
Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
Curtiss H12 Large America
on a lighter under tow at sea.
‘navalising the land-based fighter’, landing decks
and towed lighters, airships, anti-Zeppelin work, the
RAeS (NAL).
development of torpedo bombing and navigation
and instruments. Appendices cover the fate of the
experimental stations and list the work carried out at
the Isle of Grain.
There is much of originality and interest in the
book but the research is patchy and there are a
number of mistakes. There has been useful effort
in the National Archives but the secondary research
that ought to have provided a sound framework for
the documents is sadly lacking. Remarkably, the
author seems to have missed Sturtivant and Page’s
monumental definitive listing of Royal Navy Aircraft
Serials and Units 1911-1919 (Air-Britain. 1992).
This was an essential source in my own research
There is much on this period published in Tim Benbow’s British
of originality Naval Aviation: the First Hundred Years (Ashgate
Publishing Limited. 2011), another ignored source
and interest in
that would have been of use to the author.
the book but The result therefore is rather a ‘curate’s egg’ of a
the research book that could have been a great deal better.
is patchy and
Professor Eric Grove
there are a FRHistS
number of Former Professor of Naval History, Salford and
mistakes Liverpool Hope Universities
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 45
 Afterburner
Book Reviews
BALLOON MADNESS
Flights of Imagination in
Britain, 1783-1786
By C Brant
The Boydell Press, Boydell & Brewer, PO Box
9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK. 2017.
348pp. Illustrated. £25. [25% discount available
to RAeS members via www.boydellandbrewer.com
using BB503 promotion code at the check-out.
Alternatively call Boydell’s distributor, Wiley, on +44
(0)1243 843 291 and quote the same code]. ISBN
978-1-78327-253-2.
When the Montgolfier brothers announced their new
invention in Annonay, France, in 1783 it sparked a
fascination with aeronautics that continues to this
day. Balloons of all sizes, shapes, and purposes have
consistently maintained a significant place in the
thoughts and fancies of men and women, young
and old. Clare Brant’s new book Balloon Madness:
Flights of Imagination in Britain, 1783-1786
captures the swirling hullaballoo accompanying the
sudden rise of balloons in Great Britain during those
first few, heady years.
Brant’s book marks an important contribution
to a field that has seen a number of books devoted
to it over the past decade. Most of the monographs
on this topic emerged from the disciplines of history
or history of science; Brant, however, approaches
balloons from a literary perspective.
Brant divides her book into four sections. The
first introduces the reader to just what balloon
‘madness’ looked like and provides a more in-depth
analysis of how this madness manifested itself in
one particular instance, that of William Windham.
Brant then provides an overview of balloonists
across Britain along with a discussion of the
audience who attended launches. The crowds
proved crucial since they often funded launches. In
addition, successful launches led to appropriation
by the crowd; unsuccessful launches could lead to
riots, injuries, and attacks on the balloonists.
Brant organises the third section around the
theme of levity and discusses the importance
of balloons to fashion, satires, and literature.
Clothes and accessories modelled on balloons
provided alternative means to consume balloons
and contribute to the craze around aeronautics. In
addition, the success or, especially, the failure of
a balloon launch provided rich fodder for satirists
who happily appropriated ballooning into the
existing targets of satirical works. The ongoing
battles between King George III, the Prince of
Wales, William Pitt the Younger and Charles Fox, for
example, proved especially significant in this regard.
The last section utilises the idea of gravity to
explore themes of monarchy, gods and heroes, the
46 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Two depictions of the same event. On Monday, 12 August 1811, to celebrate the Regent’s birthday,
James Sadler ascended from the gardens of the Mermaid tavern, Hackney, where the spectators
were said to number 3,000, with a greater crowd outside the gardens. He was accompanied by
Capt Paget, RN, who paid 100 guineas. They descended near Tilbury Fort 73 minutes later.
RAeS (NAL).
sublime, aeronationalism and war. In these chapters,
Brant brings balloons and balloonists back down to
earth, so to speak and examines how the idea of
aeronautics influenced, and was, in turn, influenced
by, a variety of important concepts. In the chapter
on war, for example, Brant examines how political
and military manoeuvring centred on the island
of Gibraltar took on radically different dimensions
once people believed balloons could transport
armies. The aesthetic importance of balloons also
provided authors with much to write about, although
admittedly they focused more on launches than on
descents since balloonists had difficulty landing
balloons in a manner remotely deemed graceful.
By way of conclusion Brant provides two
chapters, one on parachuting and a final chapter
that takes the balloon imagination up to the present.
Brant hints at considerable material for future
authors in her quick survey of the development of Balloons
toy balloons. She also notes the appearance of of all sizes,
balloons in recent literature, television, and movies
with a special nod to Monty Python’s sketch ‘The
shapes, and
Golden Age of Ballooning’ as well as later Terry purposes have
Gilliam appropriations of balloons into movies, such consistently
as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. maintained
The book includes a large number of prints
that offer pertinent illustrations to the main points. a significant
Overall, Brant provides a rich, literary analysis of place in the
ballooning in Britain. thoughts and
Michael R Lynn
fancies of men
Professor of History and women,
Purdue University Northwest young and old
Library Additions
BOOKS
AERODYNAMICS
Annual Review of Fluid
Mechanics Vol 50, 2018.
Edited by S H Davis and P
Moin. Annual Reviews, 4139
El Camino Way, Palo Alto, CA
94306, USA. 2018. viii; 799pp.
Illustrated. ISBN 978-0-8243-
0750-9.
‘Some Recent
Developments in Turbulence
Closure Modeling’, ‘Diffuse-
Interface Capturing Methods
for Compressible Two-
Phase Flows’, ‘Fire Whirls’,
‘Double-Diffusive Convection
at Low Prandtl Number’,
‘Nonlinear Nonmodal Stability
Theory’, ‘Wall-Modeled
Large Eddy Simulation for
Complex Turbulent Flows’,
‘Supersonic Combustion in
Air-Breathing Propulsion
Systems for Hypersonic Flight’,
‘Hydrodynamic Interactions
among Bubbles, Drops and
Particles in Non-Newtonian
Liquids’, ‘The Sound of
Flow over Rigid Walls’ and
the contribution of John
Leask Lumley to the study
of turbulence modelling are
among the subjects discussed
in the latest enlarged-format
volume in this informative
series reviewing developments
in fluid dynamics research and
applications.
HISTORICAL
Transforming the Skies:
Pilots, Planes and Politics
in British Aviation, 1919-
1940. P Reese. The History
Press, The Mill, Brimscombe
Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire
GL5 2QG, UK. 2018. 283pp.
Illustrated. £19.99. ISBN 978-
0-7509-8410-2.
Gloster Gauntlet.
A Crawford. Published by
Stratus, Poland, on behalf of
Mushroom Model Publications,
3 Gloucester Close,
Petersfield, Hants GU32 3AX
(www.mmpbooks.biz). 2018.
80pp. Illustrated. £15. ISBN
978-83-65281-61-6.
A history of the evolution
of the single-seat open-cockpit
biplane fighter which first
entered RAF service with
19 Squadron in February
1935 and which was to serve
through to 1941 with the
air forces of South Africa,
Southern Rhodesia, Australia,
Denmark and Finland, colour
diagrams recording various
squadron and air force
markings.
Gerhard Fieseler: the
Man Behind the Storch.
N Holden. Helion & Company
Limited, 26 Willow Road,
Solihull B91 1UE, UK. 2018.
Distributed by Casemate,
10 Hythe Bridge Street,
Oxford OX1 2EW. ix; 328pp.
Illustrated. £25. ISBN 978-1-
911512-74-5.
Unto the Skies: a
Biography of Amy Johnson.
K A Lalani. The Book Guild
Ltd, 9 Priory Business Park,
Wistow Road, Kibworth,
Leicestershire LE8 0RX, UK.
2017. 194pp. Illustrated. ISBN
978-1911320-333.
A biography of the woman
who became world famous
at the age of 26 when she
became the first female pilot
to fly solo to Australia (5-24
May 1930), subsequently
to accomplish long distance
flights to Japan and Cape
Town, and of her troubled
relationship with Jim Mollison.
A ‘Short’ Story: the
Lives and Works of
the Short Brothers –
Pioneering Aeronautical
and Balloon Engineers
and Manufacturers.
E M Walker. Short
Brothers Commemoration
Society. 2018. (E info@
shortbrothersaviationpioneers.
co.uk ). 96pp. Illustrated.
£12 plus £2 (UK Postage/
packing).
Incorporating the
recollections of a number
of those who worked
for the company or their
descendants (including
the text of the First Short
Brothers Commemorative
Lecture delivered to the Royal
Aeronautical Society – Belfast
Branch by John Lankester
Parker on 20 October 1960),
this is a concise well-illustrated
group biography of Horace
Leonard Short, Albert Eustace
Short and Hugh Oswald Short
and of the pioneering aircraft
company they formed.
Aerospatiale/BAC
Concorde – 1969 onwards
(all models): an insight
into flying, operating and
maintaining the world’s
first supersonic passenger
jet. Owner’s Workshop
Manual series. D Leney
and D Macdonald. Haynes
Publishing, Sparkford, Yeovil,
Somerset BA22 7JJ. 2015.
160pp. Illustrated. ISBN 978-
0-85733-842-6.
Illustrated throughout
with numerous colour
photographs and other
diagrams, a detailed review
of the supersonic airliner’s
structure, systems (including
flying controls), Olympus
593 engine and flightdeck
instrument panels is followed
by the personal recollections
of former Concorde pilots,
flight engineers and ground
engineers, an inventory of
the 17 surviving Concordes
concluding the volume.
PROPULSION
Ricardo 1915-2015: 100
years of Innovation and
Technology. T Lewin. Ricardo
plc, Shoreham Technical
Centre, Shoreham-by-Sea,
West Sussex BN43 5FG, UK.
2015. 114pp. Illustrated. ISBN
978-0-9573292-1-8.
A large format pictorial
history of the engineering
company which was originally
established as Engine Patents
Ltd by Harry Ricardo in 1915
and the major role it has
played over the years in the
development of diesel engines,
fuels and wind energy systems
among other areas.
Technical Notes – Engine
Notes. Air Board. Camden
Miniature Steam Services.
Rode. 1997. 128pp. Illustrated.
A reprint of a c.1917
Air Board publication,
incorporating many sectional
diagrams, a compilation of
manuals for the 90hp RAF 1A
(Royal Aircraft Factory), 120hp
Beardmore, 80hp Gnome.
100hp Monosoupape, 80hp
Le Rhone and 110hp Clerget
engines.
The Fundamentals of
Gas Turbine Technology.
W R Thomson. Power Jets
(Research and Development)
Limited, London. 1949.
148pp + 4 pull-out diagrams.
Illustrated.
Based on courses held
at the School of Gas Turbine
Technology at Lutterworth in
which the Whittle W2/700
engine is used to illustrate the
fundamental principles of jet
engine cycles, intercooling and
flow through nozzles, pipes,
blades, axial flow compressors,
turbines and gas turbines.
SERVICE AVIATION
Red Eagles: America’s
Secret MiGs. S Davies.
Osprey Publishing, Oxford.
2008. 384pp. Illustrated. ISBN
978-1-84603-378-0.
Incorporating the
recollections of a number of
pilots who were involved, a
history of the USAF 4477th
Test and Evaluation Squadron
and the ‘Constant Peg’
programme which aimed to
provide American fighter pilots
with a high level of training to
combat the Soviet MiG aircraft.
Includes Foreword by General
J Jumper.
Eagles over Husky: the
Allied Air Forces in the
Sicilian Campaign, 14
May to 17 August 1943.
A Fitzgerald-Black. Helion &
Company Limited, 26 Willow
Road, Solihull B91 1UE,
UK. 2018. Distributed by
Casemate, 10 Hythe Bridge
Street, Oxford, OX1 2EW.
192pp. Illustrated. £25. ISBN
978-1-912174-94-2.
A very detailed account of
the air operations of Operation
Husky – the Allied invasion
of Sicily – and the air battles
waged against the Luftwaffe
and Regia Aeronautica which
resulted in a key strategic
victory for the Allies during
WW2.
Destiny Can Wait: the
Polish Air Force in the
Second World War. Polish
Air Force Association. William
Heinemann Ltd, London. 1949.
xvi; 402pp. Illustrated.
Incorporating the
recollections of a number of
those who were involved, a
detailed history of the major
contribution which the Polish
Air Force (which was reformed
in Britain in 1940) made to
the air operations of WW2 in
co-operation with the air forces
of Allied countries. Includes
Foreword by Viscount Portal
of Hungerford who acted as
Chief of the Air Staff for the
greater part of the war.
SPACE
NASA Skylab – 1969 to
1979 (all modules): an
insight into the history,
design, development and
operation of the first US
manned space station.
Owner’s Workshop
Manual series. D Baker.
HaynesPublishing, Sparkford,
Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7JJ,
UK. 2018. 204pp. Illustrated.
£22.99. ISBN 978-1-78521-
065-5.
Illustrated throughout with
numerous colour photographs
and other diagrams, this is
a very detailed technical
description of the pioneering
Skylab space station (including
its environmental control/
thermal control/attitude
control/solar array systems,
meteoroid shield, structure,
Multiple Docking Adapter
(MDA) and the Apollo
Telescope Mount (ATM))
concluding with a summary of
its missions from the launch of
Skylab (SL-1) [14 May 1973]
through to the last manned
visit SL-4 [16 November
1973].
For further information
contact the National
Aerospace Library.
T +44 (0)1252 701038
or 701060
E nal@aerosociety.com

Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 47

 Obituaries
HIS HONOUR HARVEY MICHAEL CRUSH
FRAeS
1939-2017
Harvey Crush was admitted as a solicitor in 1963 and
practised with the City of London firm of Norton Rose
where his air law experience began, notably in air
service licensing before the CAA at which he excelled
as a skilful, courteous and above all, thoroughly well
prepared and convincing advocate in often technically
complex and hotly disputed cases with long-term
A fuller obituary for commercial value to the airlines involved. However,
Harvey may be found on he left in 1993, to the surprise of many of his
the Society’s website. colleagues, to become a circuit judge sitting mostly at
Maidstone and Croydon Crown Courts.
Since retiring from the Bench in 2001, Harvey
practised as an arbitrator and mediator, mostly in
aviation and fatal accident cases.
AIR CDRE DAVID KENWORTHY NORRISS
FRAeS
1946-2018
David Norriss started his RAF career in 1964,
training initially as a Vulcan Air Electronics Officer;
he had tours on No 83 Squadron and No 101
Squadron. He then applied for and was granted
cross-training as a pilot. After a tour as a flying
instructor at the RAF College Cranwell, he converted
onto the Jaguar, serving with No 41 Squadron at
RAF Coltishall and then as a flight commander on
No 2 Squadron at RAF Laarbruch, as a result of
which he was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for
Valuable Service in the Air. After Staff College and a
tour at the RAF’s Personnel Management Centre he
was promoted to Wg Cdr and posted to command
No 41 Squadron in the reconnaissance and ground
attack role; he was assessed as exceptional both as
a pilot and in the role.
ALEXANDER WILLIAM GRAY
CEng MRAeS
1932-2018
After graduating in Physics at St Andrews University
Alex studied aeronautics at Glasgow University,
graduating in the mid 1950s. He then completed
an engineering apprenticeship with English Electric,
gaining early design experience on the Lightning
with his first full job involved on structures design and
clearance work at Avro on the Vulcan. Following the
early 60s’ Wilson budget cuts he progressed to work
at GEC on radar mast structure design before taking
up a role as a lecturer in engineering at Aberdeen
University in 1965 where he remained until retiring
48 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Harvey was a member of the RAeS Council and
Board of Trustees and an early member of the RAeS
Air Law Group becoming one of its most widely
experienced participants. He served on the technical
and air safety committee of GAPAN.
Harvey was married to Maggie, who provided
Harvey with huge support and comfort, for 35
years; she was his second wife and together they
shared three children from their earlier marriages,
and six grandchildren. He was a well-respected rally
driver who in earlier times was Bernie Ecclestone’s
rally navigator. He was capable of servicing and
maintaining his cars himself – and did so.
Living on Mallorca, Harvey designed and built his
first house on the island in 1974 later designing and
building another in 1990.
Peter Martin HonCRAeS
Two tours in the USA on the staff of the USAF’s
Air War College and then the Command and Staff
College followed, after which he was appointed as
station commander of RAF Chivenor, in the rank of
Grp Capt. A short operational tour as Detachment
Commander in Gioia del Colle, Southern Italy, for
Operation Deny Flight followed in 1994; this was
part of the NATO intervention in Bosnia during the
Bosnian War. His final tour was as the UK Air Attaché
in Washington DC in the rank of Air Commodore.
He retired from the RAF in 2000 and joined SBAC
as Business Development Director and Director
Operations. He left that position to become an expert
witness for aircraft accident cases. His final work
saw him as a ground instructor on the Boeing 787, a
job that he intended to continue after convalescence
from a heart-valve replacement operation.
He leaves his wife Nancie whom he married in
1971, three married daughters and six grandchildren.
aged 70 in 2002. He never lost his love of aerospace
and actively promoted the industry to his students.
He continued his involvement with the Society and
in 1998 helped form the RAeS Highland Branch
and became Honorary Secretary. He travelled with
wife Mary, to many Branch Conferences until, to
his disappointment, his failing health and mobility
curtailed his attendance. Regarded as an ‘engineers
engineer’ Alex died after a short illness on 9 February
survived by his widow Mary, children Iain, Lindsey
and Sandra, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
He will be sadly missed but the inspiration he has
provided to others lives on.
Prof Iain Gray CBE CEng FRAeS
RAeS Council Elections are now open!
The membership was previously advised that there will not be
a ballot in 2018 due to the number of nominations received
equalling the number of elected vacant positions. However, due to
an administrative error, there are six vacant elected posts to serve
for a three-year term on the Council and one post to serve for a
one-year term made vacant by the ensuing President-Elect’s term,
following the AGM 2018.
To correct this, the Society will now hold a ballot as there
are six vacant elected posts (to serve for a three-year term) with
seven nominations received. By the time you receive this, you
will have received an email with your unique voting number and
instruction on how to cast your votes. If you have not received an
email or you do not have a valid email address registered with the
Society, please call Mi-Voice on +44 (0)2380 763 987 or
E support@mi-voice.com.
Please note that any member who has not paid their
membership subscription by 31 March 2018 will be taken off the
membership register and will therefore be unable to vote. The
Society encourages you to update your membership to enable
you to participate in the voting process and have your say on who
is elected to Council.
The Society’s Council is responsible for managing the
professional, technical and learned affairs of the Society and
provides the necessary direction and leadership required
to achieve several key objectives, such as increasing and
maintaining the influence, respect and reputation of the Society
globally. For the Council to successfully carry out this objective it
is vital that it is made up of the most suitable individuals – which
is why your vote is so important.
As well as its ex officio members, there are 18 elected
members on the Council, as a voting member, you really do have
the opportunity to influence the way the Society is run through
your voting options.
Voting will close at 9:00 am BST on 10 May 2018, the same
day as the Annual General Meeting.
If you have any queries or have not received the voting email,
please call Mi-Voice on +44 (0)2380 763 987 or E support@
mi-voice.com.
2018 Candidates
Mr David Chinn BSc(Hons) CEng MIET MIOD MAPM ACIL FRAeS
Lt Cdr Richard Gearing BEng(Hons) CEng MCGI MCMI MRAeS
Miss Zoe Gell MEng(Hons) MRAeS
Mr Howard Nye FBIS MInstP FRAeS
Mr Daniel Olufisan BSc(Hons) MSc(Eng) IEng MRAeS
Dr Thurai Rahulan BSc(Hons) PhD AMIMechE FRAeS
Mr Robert Savidge CEng FRAeS
Thank you for taking the time to vote in the 2018 Council
Elections

AEROSPACE
GOLF DAY
FOR INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE MEMBERS

FRILFORD HEATH GOLF CLUB, OXFORDSHIRE / WEDNESDAY 4 JULY 2018

18 hole texas scramble Join us at our 2018 Golf Day for some
healthy competition with fellow golfers
competition
in the aviation community.

9 hole stableford points This event is ideal for networking in a

competition relaxed and informal setting.

Enter a corporate 4-ball team or opt

Individual and corporate to be teamed up with other individual
team prizes players.

For further details please apply to:

Lunch, refreshments and Gail Ward
afternoon tea Events Manager – Corporate and
Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
Optional ‘social supper’ on T +44 (0)1491 629912
3 July 2018 E gail.ward@aerosociety.com
 Afterburner
Society News
152nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
MINUTES OF THE 152nd
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
of the Royal Aeronautical Society
The 152nd Annual General Meeting of the Royal Aeronautical
Society was held in the Lecture Theatre at No.4 Hamilton
Place, London, on Thursday, 11 May 2017.
The following voting members were present: Prof Chris
Atkin (President), Dr Alisdair Wood, Mr Dewar Donnithorne-Tait,
Mr Paul Bailey, Prof Jonathan Cooper, Rear Adm Simon Henley,
Air Cdre Bill Tyack, Mr Colin Sirett, Capt Hugh Dibley, Mr Daniel
Olufisan, Dr Francesca De Florio, Capt Francis Freeman,
Mr Graham Harris, Ms Jane Middleton, Mr Martin Broadhurst,
Group Capt Peter Holtby, Mr Phil Boyle, Mr Philip Spiers,
Lt Cdr Richard Gearing, Ms Sarah Moynihan, Mr Scott Phillips,
ACM Sir Stephen Dalton, Mr Simon Luxmoore, Dr Thurai
Rahulan, Ms Zoe Layden, Sir Donald Spiers, Sir Colin Terry,
Mr Chris Male, Sir Peter Norriss, Dr Graham Johnson, Mr Lee
Balthazor, Prof Keith Hayward and Sir John O’Reilly.
The following non-voting members were present: Mr Daniel
Young and Mr Guillermo Durango.
The following non-members were present: Mr Patrick
Slomski (Honorary Solicitor) and Mrs Saadiya Ogeer
(Governance and Compliance Manager).
To read the Notice convening the Meeting
(agenda item 1)
The President, Prof Chris Atkin, took the chair and welcomed
everyone to the 152nd Annual General Meeting of the Royal
Aeronautical Society.
The Chief Executive, Mr Luxmoore, confirmed to the
President that there was a quorum.
The Chief Executive, Mr Luxmoore, announced that
apologies for absence were noted from: Dr Mike Steeden,
Mr Ian Middleton, Mr Howard Nye, Mr Mike Goulette, Capt
David Rowland, Mr Philip Stehr, Mr Anthony Henley, Mr David
Lang, Mr Jorge Ramos de Oliveira Junior, Sir Richard Branson,
Mr Michael Bosman, Ms Stevie Green, Group Cpt Michael
Hawkins, Air Cdre Andrew Spinks, Dr Christopher Mitchell, Mr
Graham Paterson, Mr Jeremy Graham, Miss Hilary Barton, AVM
Gary Waterfall, Mr Roger Beazley, AVM David Couzens, Mr Ron
Kennett and Mr Mike Carrivick.
The President explained in accordance with By-Law 19.2,
the business of the Annual General Meeting was to:
1. Receive and consider the minutes of the previous Annual
General Meeting
2. Receive and consider the minutes of the previous Special
General Meeting
3. Receive and consider the Audited accounts and the Report
50 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
of the Board of Trustees on the state of the Society
4. Appoint the Auditors for the ensuing year and;
5. Receive the names of those currently on the Board of
Trustees and those newly-elected to the Council.
The papers circulated before the meeting were identified
by the President as being the Calling Notice and Agenda, the
minutes of the 2016 Annual General Meeting, the minutes of
the 2016 Special General Meeting, the 2016 Annual Report
and Accounts and the 2016 Annual Review.
The Chief Executive, Mr Luxmoore, read the Calling Notice,
which had appeared in the April 2017 edition of AEROSPACE
and on the website.
To receive and consider the Minutes of the 151st
Annual General Meeting held on 12 May 2016
(agenda item 2)
The President invited the meeting to consider the minutes of
the 151st AGM held on 12 May 2016.
The Minutes of the 2016 AGM were accepted nem con as
a true and accurate record, as proposed by Air Cdre Bill Tyack
and seconded by Prof Keith Hayward.
To receive and consider the Minutes of the Special
General Meeting held on 12 May 2016 (agenda item 3)
The President invited the meeting to consider the minutes of
the Special General Meeting held on 12 May 2016.
The Minutes of the Special General Meeting were accepted
nem con as a true and accurate record, as proposed by Prof
Jonathan Cooper and seconded by Mr Philip Spiers.
To receive and consider the Audited Accounts and the
Report of the Board of Trustees on the state of the
Society for the year ending 31 December 2016
(agenda item 4)
The President invited the meeting to receive and deliberate
upon the 2016 Annual Report and Accounts.
The President invited Ms Middleton, Chair of the Finance
Committee, to highlight the key points of the report.
Ms Middleton reported that the Society had delivered a
£140k surplus, up 83% on the year before mainly due to a
62% increase in events and conferences along with £50k
net contribution from the 150th Anniversary celebrations. The
Society’s balance sheet remained strong – with investments
under £3 million and total reserves of £9.8 million, which was
up from £270k on the year. Ms Middleton advised that the
Society had paid down £500k on the mortgage, protecting the
Society from future interest rate rises, as well as protecting
the cash flow, and summarised that the Society remained in a
strong financial position.
The President invited questions in relation to the Annual
Report and Accounts. Ms Middleton responded to a question
regarding the unrestricted funds and noted that unrestricted
funds carried forward represented approximately 29 months
operating expenditure as noted in the audited accounts.
The meeting agreed nem con to receive 2016 Annual
Report and Accounts, as proposed by Rear Adm Simon Henley
and seconded Sir Peter Norriss.
To appoint the Auditors for the year 2017 (agenda item 5)
Ms Middleton noted that there were no matters arising from the
audit, which had been undertaken by a new audit partner. Ms
Middleton advised the meeting that haysmacintyre were in the
second year of a three-year contract which had been awarded
in 2016.
The President gave thanks to haysmacintyre for their
support in 2016 and invited questions and comments.
Sir John O’Reilly proposed that haysmacintyre be
reappointed for the 2017 accounts, which was seconded by Mr
Martin Broadhurst and agreed nem con by the meeting.
To receive the names of those newly elected to
Council for the years 2017-2020 (agenda item 5a)
The President announced the results of the Council ballot and
the votes received by each candidate in numerical order:
Total Number of Ballots Issued: 8,244
Total Number of Votes Cast: 1,875
Turnout: 22.7%
Candidate’s Name Number of Votes
Ms Hilary Barton 1,279
Mr Martin Broadhurst 1,160
Air Commodore (Ret’d) Peter Adrian Round 1,063
Mr Philip John Foster Spiers 852
Dr Robert C Winn 794
Mr Ian Sidney Middleton 716
Mr Geoffrey John Clarkson 657
Mr Howard Russell Nye 650
Mr Michael Goulette 638
Mr David Gordon Chinn 609
Mr Chris Daniels 540
The President announced that, in accordance with the
Society’s By-Laws, the following had been duly elected to serve
on Council for the three years 2017-2020, in alphabetical
order:
 Ms Hilary Barton
 Mr Martin Broadhurst
 Mr Ian Sidney Middleton
 Air Commodore (Ret’d) Peter Adrian Round
Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
 Mr Philip John Foster Spiers
 Dr Robert C Winn
The President congratulated those elected and thanked the
other candidates for standing and encouraged them to stand
again.
The President also thanked the retiring members of
Council:
 Mr Phil Boyle who is also retiring as Chair of the Board of
Trustees
 Mr Marc Bailey
 Air Cdre Jayne Millington
To receive the names of those currently on the Board
of Trustees (agenda item 5b)
The meeting received the names of the Board of Trustees:
 Prof Chris Atkin
 Mr Phil Boyle
 Mr Martin Broadhurst
 ACM Sir Stephen Dalton
 Lt Cdr Richard Gearing
 Ms Jane Middleton
 Ms Sarah Moynihan
 Sir John O’Reilly
 Dr Thurai Rahulan
The President noted that Mr Phil Boyle and Mr Martin
Broadhurst would remain Trustees of the Society, under By-Law
6.5, until the first meeting of the new Council year when the
Council would elect a new nominated trustee.
Close of Meeting
The President thanked everyone for their support during the
past year and congratulated ACM Sir Stephen Dalton on
becoming President for the 2017-2018 year.
It was noted that Rear Adm Simon Henley had been elected
President-Elect for 2017-2018 year.
Prof Chris Atkin formally handed over the Presidency of the
Society to ACM Sir Stephen Dalton and closed the AGM.
ACM Sir Stephen Dalton thanked Prof Atkin, noting that
the Society had benefited from his direction and leadership in
the last year and his commitment in raising the profile of the
Society as a global organisation.
ACM Sir Stephen Dalton then presented Prof Atkin with a
medal in acknowledgment of his Presidency.
ACM Sir Stephen Dalton noted that it was a tremendous
honour to become President of the Royal Aeronautical Society,
informing the meeting that he looked forward to the year ahead
as it would be an exciting period in the aviation and aerospace
sector. ACM Sir Stephen Dalton advised that he would continue
to steer the Society in providing informed, unbiased and
independent views to help decision making and to encourage
those in authority, in the UK and globally, to make informed
decisions with the support of our Divisions and members.
The President thanked the members present for attending
the meeting.
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 51
 Afterburner
Diary
EVENTS www.aerosociety/events LECTURES www.aerosociety/events

9 April
International Aeromedical Transport – Concepts in Airborne
Patient Management
Conference

10 April
The Vital Link – Communications for Unmanned Aircraft
Workshop

10 April
Applying Missile Defence Technology to Solve the Near Earth
Asteroid Problem
Alex Godfrey ARAeS, Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin UK
Weapon Systems and Technology Group Lecture

12 April
Alan Bristow Lecture
Vice Admiral Sir Simon Lister KCB OBE, Royal Navy
Named Lecture

24 April
Human Performance of Pilots – The Next 40 Years
International Pilot Training Association Conference

24 April
The Future of Business Aviation Supermarine Spitfire PRXIX, PS915, from the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Networking Event (BBMF), is pictured with a 3 Squadron RAF Typhoon over Lincolnshire. This month there will be
Crown copyright

lectures to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force at Cosford, Boscombe Down,
Brough, Chester, Farnborough, Stevenage and Swindon. Crown copyright.

BAY OF PLENTY required) E secretary@ CARDIFF

Classic Flyers, 8 Jean Batten
Drive, Mount Maunganui,
Tauranga 3116.
6 April — David Love, Classic
Flyers and the Bay of Plenty
Regional Council.
4 May — Denys Coulter-
Jones, Ferrymead Aeronautical
Society.
9 May
RAF Weapons – Past, Present and Future BEDFORD
Conference ARA Social Club, Manton
Lane, Bedford. 7pm. Marylyn
9 May Wood, T +44 (0)1933
Weapon Systems and Technology Spring Reception 353517.
11 April — Branch AGM
10 May followed by Mathematical
RAeS AGM and Annual Banquet modelling the search
for MH370. Dr Nira C
15 May Chamberlain.
Global Journeys 2018 – Shaping the Seamless Transport
Experience BIRMINGHAM,
Conference WOLVERHAMPTON AND
COSFORD
17 May
National Cold War Museum,
The Dams Raid 75 Years On – Reviewing Operation Chastise
RAF Museum Cosford,
Conference
Shifnal, Shropshire. 7pm.
17 May Chris Hughes, T +44 (0)1902
Advanced Hawk Development Aircraft 844523.
Peter Kosogorin, Experimental Test Pilot, BAE Systems 19 April — 100 years of
Lecture the Royal Air Force. Dr Ross
Mahoney, historian, RAF
24 May Museum.
Aircrew Mental Health: Going Beyond Compliance 17 May — Branch AGM
Conference (6.15pm) followed by Flying
Wild Weasel missions in
24 May Vietnam. Col Richard Graham
Aerospace Medicine Lecture USAF Ret’d.
Gus Cabre, RAF Commander Flight Medical Officer 21 June — Flying Concorde.
Lecture Capt John Hutchinson, former
Concorde pilot.
BOSCOMBE DOWN
Lecture Theatre, MoD
All lectures start at 18.00hrs unless otherwise stated. Boscombe Down. 5.15pm.
Conference proceedings are available at Visitors please register at
www.aerosociety.com/news/proceedings least four days in advance
(name and car registration
BoscombeDownRAeS.org
10 April — Branch AGM
and An independent RAF –
inspiration or aberration? Greg
Baughen.
8 May — Joe Morrall Lecture
Competition.
BROUGH
Cottingham Parks Golf Club.
7.30pm. Ben Groves,
T +44 (0)1482 663938.
11 April — 64th Sir George
Cayley Lecture. Saving the
Royal Air Force’s treasures for
the next hundred years. Darren
Priday, Manager Conservation
Centre, Royal Air Force
Museum Cosford. 7pm.
9 May — A passion for
speed – Mrs Victor Bruce. Paul
Smiddy.
CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge University
Engineering Dept. 7.30pm.
Jin-Hyun Yu, T +44 (0)1223
373129.
12 April — Branch AGM
(7.15pm) followed by UAS.
16 May — Flying the F-35B
Lightning II. Joint lecture with
TWI. The Welding Institute,
Granta Park.
CANBERRA
Military Theatre, ADFA. 6pm.
5 April — International
Eminent Speaker. Innovation
in the aeronautical sciences:
the art of the possible. Dr
Susan Ying, Chief Integration
Officer, Commercial Aircraft
Corporation of China
(COMAC). Japan Theatre,
Questacon. 6pm.
8 May — Aviation safety in
ADF. Air Cdre James Hood.
BAMC. 7pm.
E lecture@raescardiff.org.uk
18 April — Branch AGM
followed by Keys don’t float
– all you need to know about
Flying Floats – operational
Float Flying with MAF. Capt
Bryan Pill.
CHESTER
Room 017, Beswick Building,
University of Chester, Parkgate
Road. 7.30pm. Keith Housely,
T +44 (0)151 348 4480.
11 April — BLADE revisited
– a first overview on the flight
test. Paul Phillips, leader of the
aerodynamics of the BLADE
project.
25 April — What your Royal
Air Force is doing today. RAF
presentation team. Room 011,
Binks Building, University of
Chester, Parkgate Road.
9 May — Branch AGM
followed by short talks on
aerospace or aviation.
CHRISTCHURCH
Cobham Lecture Theatre,
Bournemouth University, Talbot
Campus, Wallisdown. 7.30pm.
Roger Starling,
E rogerstarling593@btinternet.
com
26 April — Branch AGM
followed by High Altitude
UAVs. Paul Brooks, MD,
Prismatic.
COVENTRY
Lecture Theatre ECG26,
Engineering & Computing
Building, Coventry University,
Coventry. 7.30pm. Janet Owen,
T +44 (0)2476 464079.
18 April — Branch AGM
followed by Large scale model

52 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

aircraft and UAVs. Chris Bland,
Coventry University.
CRANFIELD
Vincent Auditorium, B52a,
Cranfield University. 6pm.
3 May — Handley Page
Lecture. Airlander – meeting
21st century challenges. Tom
Gundy, Executive Director for
Strategic Customer Solutions
and Support, Hybrid Air
Vehicles.
CRANWELL
Daedalus Officers’ Mess,
RAF Cranwell. 7.30pm. For
non-pass holders notification
of intended arrival should be
made to the Branch Secretary.
9 April — 40 years of the
Hawk. Steven Blee.
14 May — AGM followed by
Human factors in maintenance.
Andy Ebdon.
4 June — Royal Institute of
Navigation: Flying for life. Tim
Allen.
DERBY
Nightingale Hall, Moor Lane,
Derby. 5.30pm. Chris Sheaf,
T +44 (0)1332 269368.
18 April — Young persons’
lecture competition and
Branch AGM.
23 May — Rolls-Royce
UltraFan. Andy Geer, Chief
Engineer, UltraFan and Civil
Demonstrators, Rolls-Royce.
FARNBOROUGH
BAE Systems Park Centre,
Farnborough Aerospace
Centre. 7.30pm. Dr Mike
Philpot,
T +44 (0)1252 614618.
10 April — Templer Lecture.
The RAF – the first 100 years.
ACM Sir Stephen Dalton,
RAeS President.
15 May — Branch AGM
(7pm) followed by Meteorology
within airport operations.
James Shapland, Meteorology
Office, Heathrow.
12 June — F-35 into service –
project update. Paul Needham,
BAE Systems, Military Air.
GLOUCESTER AND
CHELTENHAM
Safran Landing Systems,
Restaurant Conference Room,
off Down Hatherley Lane.
7.30pm. Gary Murden, T +44
(0)1452 715165.
19 April — Branch lecture
and dinner. Concorde to Brexit.
Prof Keith Hayward. Hatherley
Manor Hotel, Gloucester. 7pm.
15 May — SR-71 Blackbird.
Col Rich Graham USAF (Ret’d).
HAMBURG
Hochschule für Angewandte
Wissenschaften Hamburg,
Hörsaal 01.12 Berliner Tor 5
(Neubau), 20099 Hamburg.
6pm.
Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn
24 May — The Avro Canada
story. Brian Mann. Joint lecture
with DGLR, VDI and HAW.
31 May — Airbus single-aisle
step change Hamburg – a
new structural assembly line
in Hamburg. Sven Lutze, Plant
Programmes, Airbus Hamburg.
Joint lecture with DGLR, VDI
and HAW.
26 June — Gerhard Sedlmayr
Lecture. A taste of luxury at
40,000ft – cabin innovations,
safety, upgrades and the effect
in the aftermarket. Bernhard
Randerath, VP Design,
Engineering and Innovation,
Etihad Airways Group. ZAL
TechCenter, Hein-Sass-Weg
22, 21129 Hamburg. 6.30pm.
HATFIELD
Lindop Building, Room A166,
University of Hertfordshire,
College Lane, Hatfield. 7pm.
Maurice James, T +44
(0)7958 775441.
18 April — Sir Geoffrey de
Havilland Lecture. Sir George
Zambellas, former First Sea
Lord. Weston Auditorium, de
Havilland Campus, University
of Hertfordshire.
16 May — Branch AGM
followed by Electro Flight.
Roger Targett, Electro Flight.
HEATHROW
British Airways Theatre,
Waterside, Harmondsworth.
6.15pm. For security passes
please contact Dr Ana Pedraz,
E secretary.raeslhr@gmail.
com or T +44 (0)7936
392799.
12 April — Past, present and
future of atmospheric research
flying in the UK. Prof Guy
Gratton, National Centre for
Atmospheric Science (NCAS).
26 April — Branch AGM
followed by an aeronautical
themed film show.
LOUGHBOROUGH
Room U020, Brockington
Building, Loughborough
University. 7.30pm. Colin Moss,
T +44 (0)1509 239962.
8 May — Branch AGM (7pm)
followed by Sopwith Camel
and Eurofighter Typhoon,
modern air combat fighters of
their day. Eric Giles, Glasgow
University.
12 June — Loughborough
University MEng Final Year
Aircraft Design Projects –
short lecture series. Joint
lecture with Loughborough
University Department of
Aeronautical and Automotive
Engineering. Room J104,
Edward Herbert Building,
Loughborough University. 7pm.
MANCHESTER
Room E5, Aerospace
Research Institute, James
Lighthill Building, University of
f Find us on Facebook
Manchester, Sackville Street,
Manchester. 7pm. Hania
Mohiuddin.
E hania.m@live.com
18 April — Branch AGM
followed by the Teddy Fielding
young persons’ mini-lecture
competition.
MUNICH
6pm.
19 April — Fritz Heppner,
deutsch-englischer Pionier der
Turbo-Strahltriebwerke. Prof
Dr-Ing Dietrich Eckardt.
OXFORD
The Magdalen Centre, Oxford
Science Park, Oxford. 7pm.
Nigel Randall, E oaktree.
cottage@btinternet.com
20 April — Sadler Lecture
and dinner. Space launch
systems past, present and
future. Dr Adam Baker, Senior
Lecturer in Astronautics,
Kingston University.
15 May — Mission Aviation
Fellowship. Capt Bryan Pill.
PRESTON
Personnel and Conference
Centre, BAE Systems, Warton.
7.30pm. Alan Matthews,
T +44 (0)1995 61470.
11 April — RAF Canberra
PR and EW operations –
recollections of the Cold War
1969-1989. Mike Howes, BAE
Systems Flight Operations,
Ret’d.
9 May — Bush pilot in
Australia’s Northern Territory.
Paul Catanach, Business Jet
Pilot Farnborough. 6.30pm.
13 June — The North West
aerospace ndustry, the supply
chain and Brexit. Dr David
Bailey, Chief Exec, North West
Aerospace Alliance.
PRESTWICK
The Aviator Suite, 1st Floor,
Terminal Building, Prestwick
Airport. 7.30pm. John Wragg,
T +44 (0)1655 750270.
9 April — Branch AGM
followed by Secret ops of the
Wooden Wonder. Paul Beaver.
QUEENSLAND
Hawken Auditorium,
Engineering House, 447
Upper Edward Street, Spring
Hill, QLD 4000. 5.30pm.
23 April — International
Eminent Speaker. Innovation
in the aeronautical sciences:
the art of the possible. Dr
Susan Ying, Chief Integration
Officer, Commercial Aircraft
Corporation of China
(COMAC).
SOLENT
Physics Lecture Theatre A,
University of Southampton.
6.30pm. E solent.raes@
outlook.com
25 April — Innovation vs
www.aerosociety.com
de Havilland Mosquito BXVI, ML963. Secret ops of the Wooden
Wonder will be described by Paul Beaver at Prestwick on 9
April. RAeS (NAL).
regulation: what should
unmanned aviation learn from
manned? Geoff Pugh and
Gareth Beverley, Consortiq.
23 May — Branch AGM
followed by historical
lecture. Solent Sky Museum,
Southampton.
SOUTHEND
The Royal Naval Association,
79 East Street, Southend-on-
Sea. 8pm. Sean Corr, T +44
(0)20 7929 3400.
10 April — Branch AGM.
8 May — The Ernest Dove
Lecture. Development of
hovercraft. Brian Russell, The
Hovercraft Museum.
STEVENAGE
The Metropolitan Restaurant,
MBDA, Six Hills Way,
Stevenage. 6pm. Matt Cappell,
E matthew.cappell@mbda-
systems.com
24 April — Leslie Bedford
Lecture. ACM Sir Stephen
Hillier, CAS.
22 May — Branch AGM.
Airbus Defence and Space,
Fusion Restaurant, Airbus
Defence and Space, Gunnels
Wood Road, Stevenage.
24 May — Young Persons
Lecture Trophy Competition.
5.30pm.
SWINDON
The Montgomery Theatre,
The Defence Academy of the
United Kingdom, Joint Services
Command Staff College,
Shrivenham. 7.30pm. New
attendees must provide details
of the vehicle they will be using
not later than five days before
the event. Photo ID will be
required at the gate (Driving
Licence/Passport). Advise
attendance preferably via email
to raeswindon@gmail.com or
Branch Secretary Colin Irvin,
T +44 (0)7740 136609.
18 April — Sir George
Greenhill Lecture and
Reception. 100 years of the
RAF. 6pm.
2 May — Base visit RAF Brize
Norton.
SYDNEY
New Law School Lecture
Theatre 101, Easter Avenue
Camperdown Campus,
University of Sydney. 6.30pm.
4 April — International
Eminent Speaker. Innovation
in the aeronautical sciences:
the art of the possible. Dr
Susan Ying, Chief Integration
Officer, Commercial Aircraft
Corporation of China
(COMAC).
TOULOUSE
Symposium Room, B01, Airbus
HQ/SAS, 1 rond point Maurice
Bellonte, 31707 Blagnac.
6pm. Contact: Pass@RAeS-
Toulouse.org for a security pass.
17 April — Aeroscopia
Aeronautical Museum, Blagnac.
15 May — Branch AGM
followed by 11th Annual ADS
RAeS Toulouse Branch Lecture.
8 June — Annual Dinner.
Château de Larroque, 32200
Gimont.
WASHINGTON DC
12 April — Branch AGM and
Leading Edge Award.
WEYBRIDGE
Brooklands Museum, Campbell
Gate entrance. 6.45pm.
18 April — Branch AGM and
Social.
YEOVIL
Dallas Conference Room 1A,
Leonardo Helicopters, Yeovil.
6.30pm. David Mccallum,
E david.mccallum@
leonardocompany.com
17 May — Branch AGM
followed by AW169 HEMS
entry into service. Mario
Carretta.
21 June — From nowhere
to Normandy: the rise of the
British Glider Forces. Richard
Folkes.
APRIL 2018 53
 Afterburner
Society News
WEYBRIDGE BRANCH
Flight testing the
Bristol 188
John Thorpe FRAeS, was an apprentice in the
Flight Test Department of the Bristol Aeroplane
Company at Filton when the Bristol 188 was under
development, so he brought to the Weybridge Branch
at Brooklands personal recollections and photos of
what pioneering flight testing was like in the 1960s.
In 1954 a contract was received by the Bristol
company against Ministry of Supply Specification
ER134D for a high temperature research aircraft
capable of sustained supersonic cruise after taking
off under its own power. The aircraft had a long,
slender fuselage with a large swept leading-edge fin
carrying a tip mounted slab tailplane. Its length was
77ft 8in and span a mere 35ft 1in and the maximum
take-off weight was 37,000lb. The twin engines in
long cylindrical nacelles were carried on the mid-
mounted wings, which passed through the nacelle
longitudinal axes, well clear of the fuselage. The 4%
thickness:chord ratio wings had very sharp leading
edges. The inner wings were straight, the outer wings
had swept leading edges and the wing tips were
sharply swept.
The aircraft was intended to investigate kinetic
heating effects, to test engines for supersonic
transport applications and armament control systems
for supersonic fighters. The airframe was to be
constructed from 12% chromium steel, capable of
withstanding temperatures of up to 300°C, using a
new technique, argon arc puddle-welding. Armstrong
Whitworth Aircraft had relevant experience, so was
chosen to make the canopy, fin, rudder, tailplane,
outer wings and ailerons. Originally the Rolls-Royce
Avon RA.14R was the chosen power plant, however,
the lighter, similar thrust de Havilland PS.50 Gyron
Junior with fully variable reheat, designed for
supersonic flight, was substituted. Three airframes
were built, including one for structural testing at
Farnborough.
The first flight aircraft, XF923, was rolled out in
April 1961 for extensive ground running to resolve
reheat system difficulties as well as the usual
problems arising on new aircraft. The first taxi runs
were in November which revealed some brake
problems. The aircraft was equipped with a telemetry
system developed from that in the Australian Jindivik
missile target aircraft. The control room had three
pen tables plotting the telemetry traces of system
temperatures, pressures etc for the engineers in real
time while safety pilots had back-up flight instrument
indicators. Aircraft position was continuously plotted
from data provided by Sopley Radar. John showed
extracts from the film Some People starring Kenneth
More as the flight test co-ordinator, which was shot
54 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
at Bristol, showing the control room in operation The Bristol 188 set up for
with the Bristol staff. Included on-board the aircraft ground running at Filton.
John Thorpe.
were ARL recorders producing colour traces on
Ektachrome film. Take-offs and landings were filmed
for performance measurements.
On the first take-off, from Filton on 14 April
1962, XF923 became airborne at 190kt, then
was successfully ferried to Boscombe Down in
spite of an undercarriage foul which caused loss of
pressurisation in one hydraulic system. The threshold
speed was 200kt. At Boscombe the aircraft was
housed in the Isolation Hangar from which 17 flights
were made, including appearances at the September
1962 SBAC show at Farnborough, before it returned
to Filton, The last of 19 flights totalling 9hrs 52mins
was in November 1962.
The second aircraft, XF926, flew in April 1963.
It was fitted with auxiliary engine intake doors for
take-off and low speed and spill doors to focus the
shock wave above Mach 1.4. XF926 went supersonic
for the first time on flight 4. On flight 10 Mach 1.5
was reached and on flight 13 Mach 1.6. The highest
speed, Mach 1.88, was recorded on flight 47. The
last flight was number 51 in January 1964, bringing
the total number of Bristol 188 flights to 70 of which
Godfrey Auty made 60.
The aircraft was deemed ‘pleasant to fly’ by
all three pilots who flew it. However, there were
a lot of flame-out and surge problems and the
30-minute duration, due to high fuel consumption,
was far too short for high Mach number heat soaks.
Nevertheless, valuable experience was gained in
stainless steel airframe design and manufacturing
techniques for high-speed aircraft, as well as in John has a number
supersonic intake, engine nozzle and variable reheat of Bristol 188 Flight
design and operation. Test reports but none
There was a proposal to fit Concorde wedge-type of them provides
intakes but this was not carried out. Also, a carrier- any information
based interceptor version with two Blue Jay missiles on whether the
was projected for the Royal Navy but not pursued.
supersonic intake
Both airframes were sent to the Foulness
weapon range as targets but, fortunately, the second
worked and asks
was rescued and is now on display at the RAF that anyone who has
Museum, Cosford. any information to
let him know via the
Chris Farara Weybridge Branch or
RAeS Weybridge Branch the Society.
Corporate Partners
NEW PARTNERS
HONG KONG AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING
COMPANY LIMITED (HAECO)
80 South Perimeter Road, Hong Kong
International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong
W www.haeco.com
Contact
Christopher Gibbs, Group Director Components &
Engine Services
The HAECO Group provides engine, airframe and
components maintenance services in Hong Kong,
in Xiamen and across China, and in Greensboro
and Lake City in the US. HAECO Americas
manufactures aircraft seats and interiors. The
HAECO Group, along with Cathay Pacific, are part
of the Swire Group.
SAMAD AEROSPACE
Unit 1 Medway Court, Cranfield Technology Park,
Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0FQ, UK
T +44 (0)1234 758078
E info@samadaerospace.com
W www.samadaerospace.com
Contact
Dr Seyed Mohseni, CEO, Director
SAMAD Aeospace is a UK-based technology
start-up. Our dream is to revolutionise the
way humans and goods fly around the world.
To achieve that, a group of world-renowned
experts in their respective fields worked together
and developed a range of products that will
redefine the air travelling experience. Imagine
a transportation which is safer than a car,
completely flexible, as eco-friendly as an electric
vehicle, less time consuming than any plane or
train and as luxurious as a private jet. This is
the unique combination of features that will be
offered by e-Starling and Starling-Jet in a door-to-
door human air transportation, while UAV Starling
will transport goods at an unprecedented pace;
thus completely changing perspectives about air
travel.
Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook
EVENTS
Please note: Attendance at Corporate Partner events is strictly
exclusive to staff of RAeS Corporate Partners. Both individual and
corporate members are welcome at the Annual Banquet and the
Aerospace Golf Day.
Tuesday 10 April 2018 / London
Perspectives, Technology and Innovation
Corporate Partner Briefing by Mark Burns FRAeS, President, Gulfstream
Aerospace Corporation
Sponsor:
Thursday 26 April 2018 / London
The Future of Airport Development & the Passenger Experience
Corporate Partner Briefing by Paul Griffiths FRAeS, Chief Executive Officer,
Dubai Airports
Thursday 10 May 2018 / London
Annual Banquet
Guest of Honour: Marillyn A Hewson, Chairman, President and CEO,
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Corporate tables and individual tickets available
Supported by:
Tuesday 22 May 2018 / London
Corporate Partner Briefing by AVM Gerry Mayhew CBE MA,
AOC No.1 Group, Royal Air Force
Further briefing dates to be advised.
www.aerosociety.com/events
For further information, please contact Gail Ward
E gail.ward@aerosociety.com or T +44 (0)1491 629912
RAeS Corporate Partner Scheme
The RAeS is the ONLY professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace
community.
It retains a sense of history and tradition, while maintaining its energy
and relevance and ability to contribute to today’s environment and is ideally
placed to face the challenges of the future.
AIM
The aim of the Corporate Partner Scheme is to bring together organisations
to promote best practice within the international aerospace sector. With over
300 members worldwide, the scheme provides a respected and recognised
independent forum of discussion and information exchange on issues facing
the aerospace sector, as well as providing unique networking opportunities
with influential figures in the industry, government and public sector.
Find out more about Corporate membership:
corporatepartners@aerosociety.com
www.aerosociety.com/corporate
+44 (0)20 7670 4300
www.aerosociety.com APRIL 2018 55
 Afterburner
Elections
FELLOWS MEMBERS ASSOCIATES SOCIETY OFFICERS
George Barakos Sarah Beswick Victoria Gerrlich
Stuart Beaton Alexander Chown Andrew Cave President: ACM Sir Stephen Dalton
Jonathan Bird Neil Cook William Delany President-Elect: Rear Admiral Simon Henley
Mark Burns James Daly Megan Jones
Murray Butt Daniele De Grazia Edward Kingham BOARD CHAIRMEN
Richard Craft Simon Dingwall Clinton O’Connor
David Cross Martin Doherty Jordan Wade Learned Society Chairman:
Rickie Heaton Ian Gibney Air Cdre Peter Round
Richard Hill Christopher Harbour E-ASSOCIATES Membership Services Chairman:
Henry Johnston David Harwood Philip Spiers
Emma Jones Carlo Henry Luke Boldock Professional Standards Chairman:
Bhupendra Lodhia Matthew Holmes Conor Chaplin Prof Jonathan Cooper
Andrew Mason Maksims Krasula Timothy King
David Moody Benjamin Loxton Joshua Lewis DIVISION PRESIDENTS
Duncan Moore Lukas Mayer Vegar Olsen
Timothy Moore Ricky McCann Dipna Suntoo Australia: Andrew Neely
Ian Muldownmey Samuel McKendrick Samuel Woods New Zealand: John MaciIree
Nobu Okada Andrew McLean Pakistan: AM Salim Arshad
Carl Scott Timothy O’Dowd AFFILIATES South African: Marié Botha
Steve Scott Jevgenija Pavlova
John Shackell Marco Rastaldo Matthew Coutts
Trevor Evans
Tony Smith
Terrence Snow
Darren Rhodes
Chinmay Shastri WITH REGRET
Alan Staple Roslyn Shennan STUDENT AFFILIATES
Ruth Stilwell Michael Sheppard The RAeS announces with regret the deaths of the
Richard Stirk Aunindo Sinharay Paul Baker following members:
Xiaofeng Sun Kevin Spencer Altug Ciftci
Ronald Desmond Anthony CEng MRAeS 92
Robert Tagg Balaji Srimoolanathan Andrew Patfield
Jonathan Timperley Richard Rose Capt William Joseph Cape FRAeS 79
Stephen Vellacott ASSOCIATE Jana-Sabrina Stucke
James Wang MEMBERS Philip Arthur Hosey FRAeS 78
Zbigniew ‘Mike’ Jawor MRAeS 92
COMPANIONS Lee Barnes
Ramzel Joy Paredes Brian William Andrew Johnson FRAeS 87
John Wagner Fangxin Zou
Robert Anthony Lister FRAeS 90
Michael Waring
Air Cdre David Kenworthy Norriss FRAeS 71
Christopher John Dugmore Orlebar FRAeS 73
Neil Edward Palmer MRAeS 47
David Denis Peirce CEng FRAeS 89
Dr Ian Reid Entwistle FRAeS 86
NATIONAL AEROSPACE LIBRARY Capt Alan Richard Selby FRAeS 76
The Hub, Fowler Avenue, Farnborough Business Park, Sidney John Smith FRAeS 93
Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7JP, UK John Frederic Thurlow MRAeS 79

Aviation Book Fair

Roland Graham L’Estrange Wallace Affiliate 96
Donald Charles Whittley CEng FRAeS 97

Thursday, 24 May 2018 10.30am – 4.30pm

100s of donated aviation books and 1,000s of magazines
for sale

Free Admission Dates for your diary

All proceeds to conserve historic aviation material in the 12 April 2018 — Alan Bristow Lecture
Library’s archives Vice Admiral Sir Simon Lister, Royal Navy
10 May 2018 — RAeS AGM and Annual
T +44 (0)1252 701038/701060 E nal@aerosociety.com Banquet

56 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018

 International Pilot Training Society Event
Association Conference

HUMAN PERFORMANCE OF PILOTS THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS

AVIATION
THE NEXT 40 YEARS

LONDON / 24 APRIL 2018 LONDON / 24 APRIL 2018

This event pulls together
With forecast growth, a
senior individuals from
persistent core of accidents
across the business aviation
with Human Performance
sector and wider industry to
(HP) causal factors, this
explore the trends, changing
conference addresses the
regulations and needs of
need and the opportunities
future generations that
to progress HP in aviation
will help this sector grow,
with the goal of establishing
capturing the outcomes of
a road-map for the next
the event in order to inform
40 years. The conference
the Government Aviation
is intended for operators,
Strategy.
training organisations,
manufacturers, regulators
www.aerosociety.com/BizAv2018
and researchers.
Platinum Sponsors:

www.aerosociety.com/humanperformance

Sponsor Gold Sponsors:

Platinum Sponsors:

Apply today for Membership

or Professional Registration
Don’t miss the next closing date for applications on 8 May

Professional Registration
Learn and Influence
AEROSPACE Magazine
Lectures & Conferences
Online Resources
Local Branch Network
Professional Development Advice
RAeS post- nominal letters

Apply today: www.aerosociety.com/login

Get in touch: membership@aerosociety.com/+44 (0)20 7670 4384
 The Last Word
COMMENTARY FROM
Professor Keith Hayward
FRAeS
A hundred years of British air power
also has an industrial dimension
A
pril’s centenary of the RAF was always
likely to accentuate the retrospective.
Thankfully, the celebrations have also
cast a forward look at the continuing
role of air power broadly defined in
UK defence policy. That future may yet see another
generation of British-designed combat aircraft. In
previewing a new combat air strategy, Defence
Secretary, Gavin Williamson, will, in the summer,
outline plans to maintain its industrial expertise in
military aircraft from the mid-2020s.
The importance of a defence
industrial and technology base
The evolution of air power has moved in lockstep
with the emergence and expansion of an industrial
base to develop and produce its equipment. While
some degree of air power capability can be acquired
from external suppliers, an independent source of
development and manufacture has historically implied
a degree of security of supply and some expectation
(not always realised) of technological superiority, or at
least equality, in conflict with an adversary.
However, an indigenous industrial capability
should also be able to produce equipment more
closely tailored to national airpower doctrine.
Buying ‘off-the-shelf’, where proven equipment may
be obtained more cheaply than undertaking an
indigenous programme of development also has
advantages but at the cost of accepting a higher
degree of dependence on external sources of supply.
THERE IS A There may also be some risk that having come to
CLEAR RISK depend on foreign suppliers, the price of equipment
THAT BRITISH increases as national options disappear.
DESIGN AND This has been historically true for the UK as for
many other ‘great powers’. Since 1945, all but one
SYSTEMS of the RAF’s fixed-wing combat aircraft have been
INTEGRATION conceived and built with wholly British industrial
CAPABILITIES expertise, or shared equally with collaborating
nations. The immediate near term will see a second
WILL BE
‘foreigner’ enter squadron service. There is a clear
ALLOWED TO risk that British design and systems integration
WITHER capabilities will be allowed to wither.
58 AEROSPACE / APRIL 2018
Technology demonstration the key
strategy
There is, of course, still a great deal of uncertainty
about future trends in air power technology but a
future dominated by advanced drones has, to some
extent, been moderated by the prospect of at least
one more generation of manned aircraft. We still need
details of how British capabilities are to be sustained
and of costs and exact timings. The outcome is
unlikely to be another EAP-style demonstrator vehicle
of the kind that de-risked chunks of the Typhoon
technology base. There is scope for investment
in ‘technological building blocks’ that could be
developed as test-bench or test-bed demonstrators.
Capability wins partners
Whatever the form, the UK would have some basis for
a continued partnership with its European neighbours.
Given the cost of launching an advanced military
programme, thoughts of a national programme can be
immediately dismissed as fantasy (although a Hawk
replacement might just be feasible). However, Brexit
notwithstanding, military aerospace is one area where
our European neighbours might need and want British
participation. A national investment in the enabling
technologies of a future combat aircraft would
serve equally to underpin bids for exporting design
services and to keep the UK in the frame for future
collaboration with the US.
Hopes, but no guarantees
Have no illusions: whatever Mr Williamson comes
up with, it will not bring back the jobs already lost
in UK defence aerospace. It will not plug the likely
gap in UK defence exports once Typhoon and Hawk
production finally ends. The F-35 should provide a
tidy income for some UK companies but this will not
maintain core skills. Nevertheless, cross fingers for
something that will keep the UK in the business of
designing and integrating combat aircraft into the
2030s and beyond.
Do you want
to further your
professional development?
The aerospace engineering sector is an exciting place to be right now - so why not
boost your career opportunities further with a Cranfield short course?
We offer an extensive portfolio of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes.

Upcoming courses
• Gas Turbine Performance • Marine Propulsion System Integration
14 - 18 May 2018 21 - 25 May 2018
• Gas Turbine Transient Performance • Combined Cycle Gas Turbines
14 - 18 May 2018 4 - 8 Jun 2018
• Gas Turbine Performance and Component Technologies • Gas Turbine Combustion
14 - 25 May 2018 18 - 22 Jun 2018
• Gas Turbine Component Technology
21 - 25 May 2018

For more information:

E: shortcourse@cranfield.ac.uk Download your short course brochure:
T: +44 (0)1234 754189 www.cranfield.ac.uk/aerospacebrochure
 Academic excellence for
business and the professions

Move forward in your career with a

master’s degree in Aviation Management
Our master’s courses are designed to help high-ranking professionals gain a world-
class academic postgraduate degree providing them with the essential skills and
knowledge required to further their career in today’s vibrant airport industry.

The courses at City, University of London are currently the largest mid-career air transport master’s
courses in the world. With over 1,500 graduates over the last 17 years and a proven track
record of enhancing career opportunities, we have established a valued network of
peers in the aviation industry.

Align, develop or transform your career with the option to study across
several locations on our three industry-accredited global courses,
including the new MSc Airport Management course launching for
2018 autumn start. You can choose to follow three-day modules
at any of our locations: City’s Dubai Centre at DIFC, Frankfurt
or our main campus in London. Finish your MSc with an
academic dissertation on a project of your choice.
• MSc Air Transport Management*
• MSc Air Safety Management*
• MSc Aircraft Maintenance Management*
• MSc Airport Management**

* The courses are recognised by the Royal Aeronautical Society and

licensed by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority of Dubai.
** The course is supported by the Airports Council International (ACI) World.

Telephone enquiries
+44 (0)20 7040 8112

Email enquiries Find out more: visit

pgaviation@city.ac.uk www.city.ac.uk/subjects/aviation