HEADLINES

S u r p r is e H A I d e b u t f o r M D 6 3 0 N
G U Y NORRI S/ LOS A N GELES
M
CDONNELL DOUGLAS
Helicopter Systems (MDHS)
has surprised the rotary world by
unveiling a flying prototype of die
MD 63 ON, a stretched version of
the MD 520N, at the Heli-Expo
'95 exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The seven- to eight-seat heli-
copter has been developed in great
secrecy by MDHS, which flew it
for the first time at Mesa, Arizona,
on 22 November, 1994 just 14
days after the MD 63ON concept
was first announced and 138 days
after the programme was approved.
Equipped with MDHS' no-tail
MDHS kept MD630N under wraps until its debut at HAI
rotor (NOTAR) anti-torque sys-
tem, the 630N turbine single is
aimed at bridging the gap
between the five-seat MD 520N
and the twin-engined Explorer
just entering service.
If MDHS enters production of
the MD 630N, it will compete
against makers of other large sin-
gle-turbine mach-
ines such as Bell,
with its 206L-4
LongRanger IV,
and Eurocopter,
with the AS.350B
Ecureuil. The
company says that
it "...expects to
make a 'go/no-go'
production deci-
sion in die second
quarter of this year.
A 'go' decision
would mean deliv-
ery of the first MD
630Ns before the
end of 1996."
Early test flights
have shown that
the aircraft is ex-
pected to be able
to run at a direct-
operating cost of
N a g o y a c r a s h v i c t i m s p r e p a r e t o s
N a g o y a c r a s h v i c t i m s p r e p a r e t o s u e C A L
PAU L LEWI S / S I N GA PORE
C
RASH VICTIMS' relatives
and survivors of the China
Air Lines (CAL) Airbus In-
dustrie A300-600 accident on 26
April, 1994, at Nagoya, Japan,
say that they are to sue the carri-
er for pilot error.
The action coincides witJi publi-
cation of the first draft of the acci-
dent report. Under Japanese accident
investigation procedure, die next
step is a one-day public hearing,
due on 7 February. All interested
parties, which include die airline
and die manufacturer, will present
comments and representations.
The final report is not expected
until at least die end of die year.
CAL is offering victims a
$150,000 out-of-court settlement.
Relatives are asking for die equiv-
alent of domestic Japanese road-
accident compensation
$800,000. Taiwanese law sets air-
accident liability to holders of
Taiwan-issued tickets at $55,000
compensation, hence the decision
to sue. Japan-issued ticket holders
have a right only to $20,000, the
amount specified by the Warsaw
Convention.
Relatives of the victims are con-
sidering also suing Airbus on the
basis of "wilful misconduct".
They allege an aircraft defect.
The relatives' lawyers say that
the basis of their claim would be
diat Airbus, in tiie light of a previ-
ous incident involving autopilot
mode-confusion, issued a service
bulletin (SB) about a system mod-
ification, but did not give a dead-
line for its activation. Airbus says
that SBs, unlike nationally man-
dated airworthiness directives,
never have deadlines.
The claimants also allege that
a protection device was available
at the time of the accident, but
the autopilot-system software
modification from Sextant
Avionique was not. Airbus insists
that the only relevant correction
was purely a software change. It
says that the new software was
available, which is proved by the
fact that it was already incorpo-
rated in new aircraft at that time.
It also denies a further claim that
the co-pilot's training in Tou-
louse did not cover the situation
which precipitated the accident.
Airbus says that it did.
If the SB had been carried out,
the pilot/co-pilot would have
been able to disconnect the
autopilot by applying 0.15kN
(331b) of stick pressure, but, in die
event, the co-pilot failed to select
autopilot disconnect and so his
about $234/h. Andy Logan, vice-
president of commercial pro-
grammes for MDHS says: "The
performance data we have gath-
ered so far shows we are on track
to have a very special helicopter,
including exceptional direct-oper-
ating costs."
Powered by an Allison 2 50-C30
turboshaft rated at 485kW
(650shp) and fitted wifii a six-
bladed rotor, die MD 630N has a
maximum cruise speed of 135kt
(250km/h) and a maximum per-
mitted speed (VNE) at sea level of
150kt. A fuel tank of 4541 capacity
gives a maximum range at 5,000ft
(1,500m) of around 780km
(400nm). Useful load is almost
990kg internally and 1,250kg
externally with the hook able to
take up to 1,360kg.
The MD 630N is capable of
hovering at 10,500ft in ground
effect and 6,800ft out of ground
effect. Maximum operating altitude
is 20,000ft and maximum rate of
climb is l,700ft/min (8.6m/s). The
aircraft has already amassed more
dian 2 Oh of flight tests and was
expected to increase this tally with a
flight from Arizona to die Heli-
Expo show in Nevada.
actions were counteracted by the
autopilot.
The draft report confirms diat
die crew became confused about
what control-systems behaviour to
expect from dieir selected automat-
ic-flight-system mode during an
instrument-landing-system approach.
Go-around mode was selected
"for some unknown reason". It was
noticed by die captain, but not des-
elected, says the report. Con-
sequendy, whenever die pilots
engaged die autopilot or auto-
thrust, the aircraft tended to climb.
The pilots kept manually over-
riding the autopilot, which com-
pensated by motoring the
trimmable horizontal stabilisers
nose-up until the combination of
go-around power and nose-up trim
overcame die pilots' full nose-down
elevator input. The aircraft pitched
up, stalled and crashed.
FLIG HT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 February 1995