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SAY HELLO TO H160


NEW ERA FOR AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

April 2015

ILLUSIONS OF SAFETY
CLOUD SOURCING
HAS THE TIME COME
FOR CARGO UAVS?

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24

A Drwiega

Air freight reloaded


What are the
commercial
prospects for a large
cargo-carrying UAV?

H is for Helicopter
Report on the 2015
Heli-Expo show in
Orlando, Florida.

34

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

Regulars

Comment

4 Radome
The latest aviation and
aeronautical intelligence,
analysis and comment.

58 The Last Word


Keith Hayward on SpaceXs
shake-up of the satellite
market.

10 Antenna
Howard Wheeldon asks
where next for UK
defence?

Features
Airbus

In February, the arguments over state aid shifted to airlines, when Delta Air Lines, along
with American Airlines and United Airlines, opened a new front by accusing fastgrowing rival Gulf carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, of allegedly receiving
$40bn of state subsidies and aid from their governments in a carefully prepared
white paper. The US carriers aim is to persuade Washington law-makers to limit
what they perceive as unfair competition and to rethink Open Skies agreements. For
their part, the Gulf carriers have denied they receive state aid, with Qatar chief Akbar
Al Baker saying: We do not receive any subsidy. Emirates said in a statement that
it is confident that these allegations are totally without grounds. There is no doubt,
however, that these carriers do have some innate advantages when competing, not just
against US airlines but also other established legacy carriers. Young and modern fleets,
little legacy baggage in the form of pensions and unions and supportive aviationminded governments behind them with a long-term strategy has certainly helped their
growth. However, it has been their cabin product and service that has won passengers
over, not any direct line to rulers. (In fact, some might go further and argue that it has
been the Gulf airlines that have been one driver in forcing legacy US and European
airlines to up their game in cabin refreshes, IFE and fleet modernisation). There also is,
supporters of Gulf airlines note, the question of US state aid to airlines in post 9/11
bailouts, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that has allowed airlines to survive and
restructure, plus the anti-trust exemptions that have allowed the big US carriers to
merge often against the wishes of consumer groups. Thus, in both the US and the
Gulf, aviation is seen as a strategically important industry. The battle lines have now
been drawn. And for the Oneworld Alliance, which now sees two members (American
Airlines and Qatar Airways) dramatically at each others throats, future alliance meetings
could be highly charged.

12 Transmission
Your letters, emails, tweets
and feedback.

30

14

Many eyes ... make light


work?
How pooling Reaper UAVs
could boost Europes ISR
capability.

Illusions of safety
Do airline safety
management systems
actually enhance safety?

33 Ramp-up key targets


for Airbus
TIM ROBINSON reports
from the Airbus Group
Annual Results day.

20 Britain decides
The defence, aerospace and
aviation implications of the
May UK general election.
WSI Corp

Airlines subsidies dogfight

28

Tim Robinson
tim.robinson@aerosociety.com

NEWS IN BRIEF
Editor-in-Chief
Tim Robinson
+44 (0)20 7670 4353
tim.robinson@aerosociety.com

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USAF

Contents

University of Twente/PUCA

Volume 42 Number 4
April 2015

Reproduction of material used in this


publication is not permitted without the
written consent of the Editor-in-Chief.
Printed by Buxton Press Limited,
Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire
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ISSN 2052-451X

Cloud sourcing
Can turning airliners into
mobile weather sensors
improve turbulence
reporting?

42 Message from our President


43 Message from our Chief Executive
44 Book Reviews
47 Library Additions
48 149th AGM minutes
50 Obituaries

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Online

Additional features and content


51 Weybridge Branch Lecture are available to view online on
www.media.aerosociety.com/
52 Diary
aerospace-insight
55 Corporate Partners
Lecture

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Aiming high with CPD


Make the most of the RAeS
to boost your professional
knowledge and standing.

41 Afterburner

56 RAeS Elections/Templer
Front cover: Airbus Helicopter H160 helicopter. Airbus Helicopter/
Productions Autrement Dit

36

Including: Aces high A350 XWB pilot training,


In the March issue of AEROSPACE,
So you want to be a drone entrepreneur,
SDSR 2015 Issues, options
and implications.

APRIL 2015

13

Radome
INTELLIGENCE / ANALYSIS / COMMENT

Rear engine/
turbine
A large ducted-fan type engine
at the rear also functions as a
wind turbine to capture excess
electrical energy during cruise
and descent.

Solar panels
By 2030 the aircraft could ultilise hyperefficient quantum solar dot cells which can
capture the other 50% of solar energy in the
infrared spectrum. These would make up
giant solar arrays on the wings and top of
fuselage. Electrical power will be stored in
batteries in the cargo bay and the
endoskeleton structure of the wing.

Smart skin

Oscar Vials

Vials envisages the


aircraft incorporating smart skin and
shape memory
meta-materials
able to repair itself
after damage.

NEWS IN BRIEF
?????? ???? ???? ??? ???
????? ????? ??????

AIR TRANSPORT

?????? ???? ???? ??? ???


????? ????? ??????

Airliner 2030 flight of fancy

?????? ???? ???? ??? ???


From?????
Spanish
?????
??????designer Oscar Vials comes this vision of an 800-seat hybrid hydrogen/electric zero-

emission airliner of the future, the Progress Eagle. Vials' futuristic concept for a three-deck widebody

airliner
of ????
the ???
2030s
??????
????
??? seeks to exploit 'quantum advances in materials that will be in place by then, such as
smart
skins,
graphene
carbon nanotubes and ceramics to create an aircraft that is ultra greener and 75%
????? ????? ??????

quieter than current airliners. The 314ft wingspan Progress Eagle has five superconducting engines, with
four that
used for take-off and landing, the fifth being a large diameter ducted-fan/windturbine for
??????
????are
????just
??? ???
cruise.
Most radical of all, Vials claims that the Progress Eagle will able to generate excess energy during
?????
?????
flight, using its high efficiency solar panels, rear wind turbine and by 'harvesting' radio and electromagnetic
waves and kinetic energy using piezoelectric nanogenerators during flight.

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Take-off engines
Four auxiliary engines for take-off and climb
also feature vectoring nozzles to reduce
take-off distance. Hydrogen would provide
the fuel for take-off and climb phases of
flight.

Biomimicry
The Progress Eagle features low-drag triple
winglets, two on top and a ventral winglet,
similar to birds' tip feathers. The structure
also takes its cues from nature, with a ultralightweight hollow endoskeleton.

A room with a view

Oscar Vials

As well as the traditional three


classes, the Progress Eagle introduces a fourth class pilots class
for premium passengers located
in the nose, which gives unobstructed views out of the front
through large windows.

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APRIL 2015

DEFENCE

GENERAL AVIATION

UK issues RFI for Apache upgrade

Burt Rutan working on


new GA design

MoD

The UK MoD has issued


a request for information
(RFI) for bids to upgrade
the British Army's
AgustaWestland AH Mk1
Apache attack fleet to the
latest Boeing AH-64 E
model standard fielded by
the US and exported to
other nations. The AH-64E
features composite rotor
blades, new transmission
and improved GE engines,
as well as network-centric
systems including a Link
16 datalink. A decision on
the bidder is expected in
2016.

It has been revealed that


aircraft designer, Burt
Rutan, who retired
from Scaled
Composites
in 2011, is
now working
on a new
long-range,
amphibian and
snow-capable light
aircraft. The innovative twoseater SkiGull will feature
retractable floats with

wheels to enable it to land


on water, land or snow. It
will also, according
to the designer,
have enough
range to fly
from California
to Hawaii.
An upcoming
documentary
Looking Up Way Up
is now raising funds to film
Rutan as he develops the
SkiGull project.

AEROSPACE

MD-88 skids off runway


at LaGuardia

Solar Impulse 2 begins epic round


the world flight

A Delta Air Lines


MD-88 suffered a
runway excursion on 5
March when it skidded
off the runway at New
Yorks LaGuardia airport
at 11am in the morning.
Only minor injuries among
the 127 passengers were
reported in the incident,
which saw the aircraft
come to rest up against a

raised seawall. Passengers


disembarked and began
immediately tweeting
pictures and video. The
incident, which happened
as the aircraft was landing
on runway 13 after arrival
from Atlanta, saw the
airport closed for several
hours afterwards. The US
NTSB is now investigating
the crash.

Solar Impulse

AIR TRANSPORT

As AEROSPACE goes to press, the


solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 has
successfully flown the first two legs of its
five-month multi-stage round the world
flight. The single-seat aircraft took off
from Abu Dhabi on 9 March for the first
220nm stage to Muscat, Oman. It then
flew 16h covering 790nm to Ahmedabad,
India. The route will see SI2 fly over
China, the Pacific, the US and New
York and North Africa/Southern Europe
before reaching its start point.

NEWS IN BRIEF
Rockwell Collins has
unveiled a new global
flight tracking service.
ARINC MultiLink fuses
aircraft position data
from six sources: ADS-C,
high-frequency data link
(HFDL), ADS-B, ACARS,
US Aircraft Situation
Display to Industry (ASDI)
and Eurocontrol as well as
future datalinks.
A strike by Norwegian
Air pilots over a new
employment contract

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

caused the airline to


cancel all domestic flights
in Norway, Sweden and
Denmark on 4 March.
Initially 70 pilots began
the strike but this has
increased to around 650
after negotiations with
management broke down.
On 12 March, the first
internationally-assembled
Lockheed Martin F-35A
was rolled out of the Final
Assembly and Check Out
(FACO) in Cameri, Italy.
The aircraft, Al-1, is the

first F-35A for the Italian


Air Force and the first
of eight fighters for Italy
currently being assembled
at Cameri.
The UK Space Agency
has published a shortlist
of sites that could be used
as a base for a future UK
commercial spaceport.
The shortlisted sites are
Campbeltown, Glasgow
Prestwick and Stornoway
in Scotland, Newquay in
England and Llanbedr in
Wales.

US air ambulance company


Air Methods has placed
an order for 200 Bell
407GXP helicopters, in a
deal worth around $600m
at list prices. The 407GXP
was launched at Heli-Expo
and is an upgrade from
the GX, with an uprated
engine, adding payload and
range.
The Vulcan to the Sky
Trust and Aviation
Skills Partnership have
announced the launch

plans to create the Vulcan


Aviation Academy and
Heritage Centre.The
facility, planned at the
home base of Vulcan
XV558 at Robin Hood
Airport, Doncaster, would
see an aviation education
and skills hub be created
to inspire and train the
next generation of pilots,
engineers, air traffic
controllers and other
disciplines.
In February, Indonesian
low-cost carrier Lion Air

Looking Up Way Up

Radome

AIR TRANSPORT

AEROSPACE

Rolls-Royce is to fly the


largest ever 3D printed
component on
a Trent XWB
test engine.
The 15m
diameter front
bearing housing
(marked blue in
cutaway graphic right),
made out of titanium
using additive-layer

manufacturing (ALM), will


be the biggest-ever 3D
printed component
flown on an
aircraft to date.
The part will be
flight-tested on
a Trent XWB-97
later this year as
part of a demonstration
of the industrial viability of
the ALM process.

DEFENCE

US satellite mystery
explosion

Hammerhead UAV maiden flight


revealed

US Air Force Space


Command has revealed
that a 20-year old
military weather satellite
exploded in orbit
on 3 February after
experiencing a sudden
temperature spike
followed by a complete
loss of attitude control.
Launched in 1995, the
Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program Flight
13 (DMSP-F13) has been

operating in a back-up
role since 2006. The
explosion produced 43
pieces of space debris in
sun-synchronous polar
orbit, 500miles up.
Initial investigestion of
the incident according to
the USAF, is pointing to a
catastrophic failure of the
satellite's power system,
leading to the explosion,
rather than space debris or
hostile action.

experienced three days of


delays and cancellations
after three aircraft suffered
foreign-object damage.
Passengers stranded at
Soekarno-Hatta Airport
in Jakarta are reported to
have staged protests and
security forces were called
in to maintain order.

(TLCS) has delivered


aircraft availability 10%
over the requirement
according to Boeing UK.

Boeing has won a 450m


five-year contract to extend
its support services for
the RAFs CH-47 Chinook
fleet. The Chinook Through
Life Contract Support

@aerosociety

Selex ES

SPACEFLIGHT

Russia launched a military


reconnaissance satellite
Kosmos 2503 Bars M
on 27 February from the
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
aboard a Soyuz 1-1a
rocket.
Hollywood actor and pilot
Harrison Ford suffered
minor injuries after crashlanding his vintage Ryan

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Rolls-Royce

The three biggest US legacy airlines:


American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and
United Contintental, have published a
white paper Partnership for Open and Fair
Skies alleging that Gulf-based airlines,
Emirates, Ethihad and Qatar Airways have
received $42bn in quantifiable subsidies
from their governments giving them an
unfair advantage. The Gulf carriers have
swiftly refuted these allegations, after
the spat escalated when the Delta CEO
appeared to link the airlines with 9/11 in a
TV interview with CNN.

Emirates

Gulf carriers accused R-R to fly largest ever


of state subsidies 3D printed part

Piaggio Aerospace has announced that it carried out the first flight of the prototype of its
P.1HH medium-altitude long-endurance HammerHead UAV. Based on the Avanti twinpusher business turboprop with a longer wingspan and additional Selex control systems,
the 001 prototype was flown in December.

ST3KR trainer on a golf


course in California.
He had experienced
engine trouble soon after
taking off from Santa
Monica Airport.
The US FAA has
announced its longawaited rulemaking
proposal for small
commercial UAVs. The
proposed rule covers UAVs
under 55lb and would
allow for commercial flying
within line of sight during
the day. Operators will have

www.aerosociety.com

to pass a test and obtain


a certificate, with the UAV
limited to speeds under
100mph and an altitude
of 500ft.
Mexican carrier Interjet
has firmed up another ten
Sukhoi SuperJet SSJ100s
in a deal worth $350m.
Egyptian Air Force F-16s
have struck ISIS militant
targets in Libya in revenge
for 21 Coptic Christians
who were beheaded by
the terrorists in Libya. The

air raids took place on 16


February against extremist
training camps and
facilities in Libya.
NASAs Dawn probe has
successfully entered the
orbit of the dwarf planet
Ceres the largest
asteroid known. The Dawn
spacecraft, which uses
an ion propulsion engine,
launched seven and a
half years ago, previously
visited the asteroid Vesta. It
will now spend 14 months
mapping the body.

APRIL 2015

GENERAL AVIATION

SPACEFLIGHT

Gulfstream G650 wins


Collier Trophy

LM reveals Jupiter CRS-2 concept

The US National
Aeronautic Association
has announced
that
Gulfstream's
ultra-long
range G650
business jet
has won the
prestigious
2014 Robert
J Collier Trophy for the
greatest achievement in
aeronautics or astronautics

in America. The G650


won out against
other nominees,
including: the
Embraer
Legacy 500;
the F-16
Automatic
Ground
Collision
Avoidance system,
NASA's Orion EFT-1; and
the Aurora Flight Sciences
Orion UAS.

Lockheed Martin has


unveiled a proposal for a
multipurpose unmanned
space tug able to support
deliveries of cargo to
the ISS, as well as take
on deep-space missions
beyond LEO. The Jupiter
spacecraft sees Thales
Alenia Space and MDA
contribute to the vehicle.
For Commercial Resupply
Services (CRS-2) to the
ISS, Jupiter would transfer
cargo out of an Exoliner
Centaur upper stage.

DEFENCE

Double milestone for Pilatus

Lockheed Martin

Gulfstream

Radome

AEROSPACE

Pilatus Aircraft

CS300 makes first


flight

Swiss-based Pilatus has rolled out its 100th PC-21 turboprop trainer with a specially
marked example going to Saudi Arabia, which has 55 on order. The aircraft is also the
1,000th turboprop trainer produced by Pilatus which also has manufactured the
PC-7/MkII and PC-9.

On 27 February, Bombardier
conducted the first flight
of its CSeries CS300
single-aisle airliner from its
Mirabel, Quebec, facility. The
maiden flight was originally
scheduled for 26 February
but was delayed due to bad

weather. The CS300 is a


stretched, 130-160 seat
version of the CS100, which
first flew in September
2013. Bombardier says that
the CSeries will appear at
this years Paris Air Show
in June.

NEWS IN BRIEF
Bristow Helicopters has
officially opened the first
of its civilian search and
rescue bases which will
take over from RAF/
RN Sea Kings after 70
years of military SAR.
The first two sites at
Humberside and Inverness
will commence operations
on 1 April. The 10year civil SAR contract
will see the company
provide SAR using a mix
of Sikorsky S-92s and
AgustaWestland AW189s.

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

A quadriplegic woman has


demonstrated the ability to
fly a F-35 simulator just
using her brain in a DARPA
experiment on humanmachine interfaces. The
woman was able to control
a F-35 in the simulator
directly using neural
signals from electrodes
implanted in her left motor
brain cortex.
Turkish Airlines announced
that the carrier had nearly
tripled its profits in 2014

up from TRY683m to
TRY182bn. Revenue for
the sale period rose by
29% to TRY241bn. The
airline is planning to issue
$500m worth of bonds to
help finance the purchase
of new aircraft to expand
its fleet.
The US State Department
has announced a change in
its export regulations of its
Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR) which will
allow the sale of armed
UAVs to allied nations.

Until now, the US has sold


UCAVs only to the UK and
unarmed systems to other
nations, such as France
and Italy.
On 12 March NASA
launched an Atlas V rocket
from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida
with a payload of four
identical Magnetospheric
Multiscale (MMS) satellites.
The mission will study
the interplay between the
Earths and Sun's magnetic
fields.

French authorities are


still trying to identify the
operators of a number of
small UAVs seen flying
over Paris for two nights
running in February. At
least five small multicopter
drones were spotted close
to Paris landmarks during
the night of 23 February
with a further five sightings
on the outskirts of the city
on 24 February. Flying
UAVs at night is illegal and
there are fears that the
flights may be connected.

AEROSPACE

DEFENCE

Brimstone 2 contract
signed for Typhoon

Jetpack
start-up
goes public

Martin Aircraft

Eurofighter and its


consortium partners
have been awarded a
200m contract for the
next P3E upgrade to the
Typhoon which will see
the fighter integrated
with the air-to-ground
dual mode Brimstone 2
missiles.
The upgrade will see
RAF Typhoons able to carry

was valued at more than


$100m when it was listed.
As well as recreational
users, the company is also
targeting the jetpack at
military, homeland security,
SAR and parapublic
missions. Able to stay
aloft for 30mins and fly at
speeds of up to 74km/hr,
the jetpack is expected to
be available in mid-2016.

GENERAL AVIATION

INFOGRAPHIC: Civil turbine helicopter market


Honeywell predicts rotorcraft market trends out to 2019
17TH Annual

Turbine-powered,
civilian helicopter
purchase outlook
This analysis is based on Honeywell customer
expectation surveys, an assessment of
consensus forecasts, a review of factory
delivery rates and analysis of future new
helicopter introductions.

ON THE
MOVE
President & CEO of
Aerospace Industries
America, Marion Blakey,
has been named President
and CEO of Rolls-Royce
North America.

Purchase plans by region


5-Year Survey respondent
eet replacement and
expansion plan percentages

FOR
SALE

18%

28%

Asia Pacic

Middle East & Africa

2015

Global deliveries

Purchase plans by size

Planned usage of new helicopters

Projected 10% to 22% improvement during 20152019 period.

Light Single-Engine and Twin-Engine models


account for 67% of expected purchases.

Utility and Law Enforcement trend up.

20102014

20152019

30%
General Utility/Other/Incl.
Tourism

18%

Dave Armstrong is the


new MD of MBDA UK,
replacing Steve Wadey
who is to head up QinetiQ.

Emergency
Medical Services/SAR

Light Single-Engine

8%
Oil & Gas

18%

Light Twin-Engine

Dual-use or multi-purpose
aircraft allocated to
primary usage category.

25%
Corporate

18%
Law Enforcement

4,300
Christopher McGregor
is the new Flight Safety
Officer at ATR.

31%
4,750 5,250
=250
=
275 Helicopter
Helicopter deliveries
deliveries

32%

Latin America

49%

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20%
Europe

North America

Middle East and Africa


replacement and
addition rates highest in
the world.

25%

Global purchase
plans rose 3 points
- U.S. leads
improvement

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2%

www.aerosociety.com

Intermediate & Medium


Twin-Engine

1%
News & Television

Honeywell

Oceanic deep
water search
teams looking
for the missing
Malaysian Airlines
flight MH370 say
that they have
now covered
40% of the search
area, equivalent
to 24,000km2
of seabed. The
remaining area
to be searched is
expected to be
completed by May.

New Zealand start-up


Martin Aircraft, which is
developing a personal
VTOL jetpack flying
machine using ducted
fans, has floated on the
ASX Australian stock
exchange.
The company, which plans
to sell the one-person
VTOL machines at around
$150,000-200,000,

MBDA

MH370 a
year on

up to six of the fire-andforget missiles in late 2018.


Meanwhile, MBDA chief
Antoine Bouvier has said
he expects a decision
on the possible US
procurement of Brimstone
in the next few weeks
calling a test case on
the accessibility of the
US defence market to
European suppliers.

Heavy Multi-Engine

APRIL 2015

antenna:

Global Outlook and


Analysis with
HOWARD WHEELDON

Where next for


UK defence?

ith all pre-election


announcements from the
Coalition Government concluded
and the administration now
having entered a period of
purdah until immediately after the 7 May General
Election, the first process of the new government
will be to get the full Comprehensive Spending
Review underway.
These are trying times for all Government
departments and not least for defence. Awaiting the
election result the military, along with industry and
defence commentators, are anxiously anticipating
what happens next for UK defence. Answers may
not be forthcoming for several months yet and, in
terms of future policy, not before the results of the
planned Strategic Defence and Security Review are
published toward the end of this year or early in
2016.
What we know from history over the past 40
years is that, unless the nation is going through a
period in which it feels particularly threatened, most
political parties have a natural tendency to take a
diffident attitude toward defence. Translated, that
means that they see defence costs as being too
high and needing to be further cut. While the subject
of whether or not we should be spending more than
2% of GDP on defence as a minimum is likely to be
aired during the election campaign, along with the
complex issue of Trident replacement, for the rest it
seems that the old adage that there are no votes in
defence will prevail in the minds of our politicians.
What a pity this is, but, on that basis and in terms
of looking forward, we may have little choice but to
anticipate that there is unlikely to be any respite for
defence no matter which party or coalition forms the
next government.
Despite reassuring political rhetoric that the
threat posed by Russia in its manipulation of the
sovereign state of Ukraine was foremost in the
mind of the Coalition Government, I doubt that this
will become election issue for us. And, while there
are differences in party views towards defence, the
bottom line is that no party appears to be standing
out saying that more needs to be spent on the
military.
The history of government attitude toward
defence in the UK since 1955 is fascinating. The
truth is that UK politicians long ago decided that
there are few, if any, votes in defence and from the

10

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

post war peak of 1956/7 when we spent 72%


of GDP on defence and when the real impact of
cuts from the earlier 1955 Duncan Sandys 1955
Defence Review began to kick-in, it seems that from
then on it has been a constant process of managing
decline in defence expenditure. The facts are borne
out by evidence that shows that in the lifetime of
many of you reading this piece today, defence has
moved from being the nations highest priority to one
that struggles to maintain even fifth or sixth place.

Cold War spending high


I suspect that it would be hard for the current
generation who were brought up to live in a world
of great expectation to imagine that, back in 1960,
the 18bn we spent on defence that year was
not only double the amount that we spent on the
NHS but substantially more than the amount that
we spent on education; more than the combined
amount spent on pensions and social security and
also on transport too. In terms of transport it is worth
remembering that in 1960 much of the system
including virtually all the railways, the bulk of the air
transport industry and of road cargo was actually
nationalised, meaning that it was heavily reliant on
the taxpayer for funds.
But it was to be another ten years, 1970 in
fact when, at 28bn, defence expenditure became
a mere equal to the amount that was then being
spent by each of the social security and education
departments. By 1980, defence accounted for

of GDP, defence accounted for 52% of public sector


expenditure. Ever since then spending on defence as a
proportion of GDP has been falling and today we find
that, at %, we have fallen below the previously low point
of approximately 26% set in 1930.
That doesnt, of course, answer the question
which political party is better or worse for defence
and, while we are all well aware of the devastation
that occurred since SDSR 2010, we should perhaps
also be aware that, between 1979/80 and 1996/7,
real terms defence expenditure fell by an average of
06% each year, albeit that, between 1997/8 and
2008/9, there had been a 27% annual increase.
Rarely do the published annual amounts
spent on defence include other than core budget
expenditure. For instance, during the last Blair and
only Brown administration, an extra 14bn was
spent on Iraq and Afghanistan. Money to cover
engagement by UK armed forces in conflicts such
as these comes direct from the Treasury. What can
be said is that the last Labour government was
spending an average of 25% of GDP on defence
but that the figure for the Coalition Government is
far more likely to have been closer to 21% of GDP.

13bn of the annual public spending and, while this


was still approximately 1bn more than was being
spent on the NHS at the same time, it was well
below the amount being spent on social security.
By 1990 defence spending had fallen well
down the league table of public expenditure and, at
23bn, it was not only well below that being spent
on social security but also that on public pensions,
education and the NHS as well. Race forward
another ten years to 2000 and you find that the
28bn that was being spent on defence that year
represented just over a third of the amount being
spent on pensions and just about half that spent
by the nation on social security. Indeed, by then,
spending on defence had fallen well below the
individual amounts then being spent on the NHS
and education.
In fiscal year 2015/16 total spending on
defence is put at 46bn, a figure that represents far
less than one-third the amount spent on the NHS.
In terms of priority, defence is now an also ran and
yet, while the Cold War as we knew it might have
ended, the level of indirect threat against the UK
and the requirement for UK forces to engage in
international conflict in support of our NATO allies
has little changed. Suffice to say that the Royal Air
Force has, in fact, been involved in no fewer than 57
conventional operations since 1989 and has been
continuously engaged in the Middle East since Iraqs
invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
We have come a very long way of course and
probably the best example of that is that spending
on the NHS has actually doubled since 1997/8.
Spending on defence has risen over that time span
too but this was from a low point of 275bn. In fact,
following Options for Change and the Defence
Costs Study, under John Majors Conservative
administration spending on defence actually fell
from 345bn in in 1992/3 to 287bn in 1996/7.
Looking back, we can see that defence
expenditure in real terms in, say 2008/9, was 7% lower
than its peak level in 1984/5 when, as a proportion

A bleak outlook?

MoD

Will defence
become a UK
election issue?

@aerosociety

Find us on LinkedIn

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And the future? No matter who is in power from


May, I consider the outlook for defence to be no
better than it is now. The Prime Minister gave a
commitment back in 2010 that defence expenditure
would rose in real terms from 2016 but, with
Whitehall looking to shave another 1bn to 15bn
off the defence budget, these may be hollow words.
At the current rate, UK government spending on
defence will, by 2017/18, fall well short of the 2%
GDP commitment that the Prime Minister worked
so hard to get all NATO members to work toward.
But, if the Tories are no great friends of defence,
neither are any of the others. Indeed, as far as I can
see, Labour has no intention of reversing fortunes
of defence despite the increased visibility of threat
and various warnings. And, if either of the Lib-Dems
or Scottish Nationalists where to find themselves
in a Coalition with either of the Tories or Labour, I
somehow doubt that the dangers for defence would
be eased. Both are against Trident replacement of
course and they could give either of the two main
parties in a Coalition an excuse to delay.
As far as I know, UKIP is the only party to have
said that it would increase spending on defence
equipment and increase the overall defence budget
by 174bn to 50bn in 2016. These are fairly easy
loose promises to make but note that it has not
only pledged to disband the Ministry of Defence,
cancel Trident replacement and remove foreign aid
but has also come out against any active potential
involvement by UK military forces in Syria.
All of this I am afraid paints another sad picture
for UK defence.
www.aerosociety.com

IN 1960 THE
18BN WE
SPENT ON
DEFENCE THAT
YEAR WAS
NOT ONLY
DOUBLE THE
AMOUNT THAT
WE SPENT ON
THE NHS BUT
SUBSTANTIALLY
MORE THAN
THE AMOUNT
THAT WE SPENT
ON EDUCATION;
MORE THAN
THE COMBINED
AMOUNT SPENT
ON PENSIONS
AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
AND ALSO ON
TRANSPORT
TOO

APRIL 2015

11

Transmission
LETTERS AND ONLINE

12

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

result. It may take five


years merely to set up the
organisation! The time to
start is now.
S L Barrington

Wikipedia/USAF
An air-to-air view of the Convair NB-36H Peacemaker experimental Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA)
modified to carry a 3mW, air-cooled nuclear reactor in its bomb bay although it was not used to
power the aircraft. The NB-36H, seen here accompanied by a Boeing B-50 Superfortress, completed
47 test flights between July 1955 and March 1957 before the programme was abandoned.

and machines to convert


the energy into electricity
and a method of converting
the electric power into
propulsive force. The fuel
is compact but presents
radiation hazards. The
difficult part is to provide
small enough nuclear
reactors with associated
electrical generating
machinery.
Of the three sources of
energy only the nuclear
option has the potential for
satisfying our long-term
future requirements. A
current Airbus A380 has a
combined engine and fuel
weight of about 284 tonnes.
The challenge is therefore
to achieve a nuclear power
plant (comprising shielding
fuel + conversion engine/s
+ propulsion unit/s)
weighing (for example),
no more than 284 tonnes.
Airframes will need to be
developed, adapted or
modified to integrate with
the power plant. We cannot
leave the future to look after
itself. The problem is a world
responsibility and will need
long-term research support
from major countries around
the world. This would include
research into areas such as

fuel, reactors and control,


electricity generation,
heat and radiation
management, propulsion,
structures and containment,

airframe integration and


contingencies. The work will
be long and difficult. Fifty
years may be too short a
time to expect a complete

Role of the RAeS


I applaud the Presidents
invigorating and very
personal distillation
(especially for the benefit
of non-members) of what
our great Society stands
for(2). This is warmly to be
welcomed particularly
as he regards his simple
words as marking a
beginning rather than the
end of relevant discussion.
In this spirit I offer a
modest contribution to
the discussion. I have
reviewed our Royal Charter
and must first point out,
as a preliminary, that
Aeronautics includes
Astronautics most
appropriately recognised by

Jet-powered Lancaster
Referring to the photograph of the RAeS Garden Party(1) over which there was some doubt
about the year, I can confirm that there was a significant RAeS Garden Party in September
1946. At that event Rolls-Royce wished to demonstrate its Nene turbojet and had prepared
a Lancaster as a test bed. In what was called Operation 100, it was fitted with two Merlins
inboard and the Nenes outboard. The senior Rolls-Royce representative was Procter
Gregg. On board for a demonstration flight was my father Charles Gardner, then BBC Air
correspondent, who reported that it was the first turbine-powered flight by a journalist or
other passenger. In his log book dated 15 September 1946, he wrote: RAeS Garden Party
at Radlett. My first jet flight! Beat up the crowds on Merlins and then on jets. A memorable
experience.
Robert Gardner MRAeS

Supplied by author

The nuclear option?


Regarding the long-term
considerations facing
the world aerospace
industry and the research
necessary to take the
industry into the future,
I would like to make the
following comments. Todays
commercial fleets use
fossil fuels, notably liquid
hydrocarbons, to power
aircraft. Whether freight
or passenger carrying, the
huge requirements for this
kind of fast transport are
growing and certainly show
no signs of going away in
the future. The main hurdle
in the future is not noise, nor
airport planning, airways and
control. The critical factor is
fuel. As liquid fuels become
harder to obtain, there will
be ever stronger reasons to
use them for manufacturing
rather than burning them
as fuel for aerospace
propulsion. In the time
between now and then, the
human race will have to put
alternative technologies into
place to support the future.
What alternatives do we
have?
(a) Bio-fuels including
wood and the fuels that
can be made from it, plants
that provide oil from their
seeds and sea-grown
organisms. However, half
million (approx) tonnes per
day of such will be needed
for transport and this will be
competing with food needs.
(b) Solar power energy
from the Sun can be stored
as energy in batteries and
by electrolysis of water
as hydrogen. However,
the use of hydrogen as
an aerospace fuel would
require huge aircraft to carry
enough gas to fly an aircraft
any useful distance; it is
impractical to liquefy as the
temperature is too low and
at high pressure the weight
of the containment cylinders
would be excessive.
(c) Nuclear nuclear
energy requires a reactor

Charles Gardner (holding microphone) at the RAeS Garden Party at Radlett on 15 September 1946
with the jet-powered Lancaster test bed visible in the background on the right.

@aerosociety

views on topics of national


and international importance.
This topic is based on
Clause 4(i) of the Royal
Charter and may serve as
a possible alternative to
the Presidents heading
Informed debate on
aeronautical issues
Harold Caplan, FRAeS

f
David Childs [On favourite
books on World Book Day]
In terms of influence, James
Bigglesworth Biggles has
to be right up there. As well
as inventing that character,
W E Johns was also
responsible for some of the
RFC recruiting posters.
UL Maintenance &
Operations [On skills
shortages (3)] Need to
diversify efforts to bridge the
gap... RAeS is doing well
and there is clearly space
for other aerospace/aviation
organisations to contribute.
Well done RAeS!
Phillip Keane UK requires
some 50,000 fresh
engineering grads per
year for the next decade
(according to IET report) ...
but deports several
thousands of foreign grads
within a year of graduation
due to visa regulations.
Because one department
doesnt know what the
other is doing, then you will
have idiots like Cameron
and Clegg declaring how
much they are doing for the
engineering and innovation
sector while haemorrhaging
talent faster than they can
create it. What a mess.

linkedin.com/raes
Find
us on LinkedIn

facebook.com/raes
Find us on Facebook.

best but it is providing


the opportunities for that
first step on the ladder
which is difficult. However,
it is excellent to see more
women engineers in our
sectors!

i
Oladayo A. Advanced
manufacturing
engineering student at
Loughborough University
[On skills shortages (3)] Well,
we only get to hear about
the skills shortages in the
aerospace industry with no
specific area identified. I
believe the industry should
do more by training young
people graduating from
universities in the areas where
these shortages are most
acute but rather they employ
graduates with 1st class
degree with commercial/
management skills.
Matthew H. Managing
Consultant - Aerospace,
Defence and Aviation
Engineering strength
is lacking. Part of the
challenge is that, in the UK,
there is a stronger drive to
work as a contractor versus
a permanent role - leading
to higher salaries/hourly
rates. From a recruitment
consultancy perspective,
international applications
continue to grow. The
recognised academic
quality from India and
Asia continues but more
and more applicants are
being seen from Central
and Eastern Europe. The
challenge then changes
to relocation costs, visas
and security clearances.
Home-grown is definitely

@EmmaLawford [On
new Airbus Business suite
revamp] Always loved
using the area down there
but this is looking extremely #inspiring congrats!!!

@BD_CFMSuk [On so
you want to be a drone
operator(4)] Informative
article on the realities of
becoming a professional
drone/UAV operator in the
UK from @AeroSociety.
@carolvorders Me at
Royal Aeronautical Society
soonish x RT @AeroSociety Join @carolvorders
for Amy Johnson Lecture
on 9 July

@lloydColman This is
well worth a read if you
are thinking of setting up
in business with a drone.

IWM Duxford and Boeing UK launch


Partners in Flight STEM project

Rupert Hartley

the Presidents first heading


Safe, efficient and
sustainable aviation and
spaceflight. Taken together,
all the Presidents headlines
illustrate salient features
of our output as a learned
society but the concept of
a learned society is not
made explicit which seems
a pity because a stranger
might gain the impression
that the Society is no more
than a bundle of sectoral
products illustrated most
vividly by the Presidents
second heading An
effective defence
aerospace capability. This
is perfectly correct as a
national aspiration but it is
not the express purpose of
our learned Society whose
essential role is to nurture
& promote excellence in the
underlying art, science &
technology. Some members
may even question whether
the Societys scarce
resources are optimally
expended on air power
which, since 1909, has
been the express aim
of the most vigorous Air
League. Of course, no-one
can deny the national
importance of defence
capability. Nor can anyone
deny that the professional
standards of members of
the Society and its multiple
activities form a continuing
essential foundation for
defence competence.
But that vital role is just
one consequence of the
Societys role as a learned
society. Moreover, several
prominent members of
the RAeS play leading
roles in the Air League.
But, if Council decides
that, to attract new
members, the message
is best communicated by
developing further sectoral
headings, I suggest at
least two candidates for
consideration:
- An efficient civil aviation
industry
- The collection and
presentation of members

On 9 March The American Air Museum at IWM Duxford,


supported by Boeing UK, launched a new interactive STEM
project for primary and middle school children, with the
centrepiece of an 1/8th scale B-29 Superfortress model. The
outreach initiative, which saw the children assemble the B-29
to learn about flight, as well as other interactive STEM displays,
aims to reach 2,000 young people in the next year, and is
planned to run for the next decade. Said Boeing UK President
Sir Michael Arthur: The great thing about this project is that
1,000s of young people can be inspired.

@LookingUpWayUp [On
launch of Partners in Flight
STEM project] So cool!
Were huge supporters of
STEM!

@TCornish5 All CADdesigned pieces or are


they alloy? Looks great.

1. AEROSPACE, Transmissions, March 2015, p12.


2. AEROSPACE, Afterburner, March 2015, p 42.
3. AEROSPACE, Skills crisis, February 2015, p 22 / http://aerosociety.com/News/Insight-Blog/2830/Skills-crisis
4. AEROSPACE, So you want to be a drone entrepreneur, March 2015, p 16 / http://aerosociety.com/News/InsightBlog/2902/So-you-want-to-be-a-drone-entrepreneur

Online

Additional features and content are available to view


online at http://media.aerosociety.com/aerospace-insight
www.aerosociety.com
www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

13

SAFETY
Safety management systems

Illusions of safety
entre
e has
ha dev
ana
age
gem
me
ent
n M

Safety

ation: Cranfie
ring
ing
gs tog
ld campus
ulation ethe
and a
The safe
ty ma
tynag
of
o em
the aviation indu
ent.
incidentonm
prev
ention and the stry is of critical
financial perform
Safety Mana
agemen
an
Aviation Organis t Systems (SMS) and thei
r
ation (ICAO)
facilitates a mor
elements that
tha create a
e
safe
safetyy related
te training for operation. With ove
industry, Cranfie
Centre has dev
de eloped this
ld Un
new course to
Man
nag
age
eme
men
nt Manual.
nt
enhan

Safety Mana

System
s ((SMS

gement Syst

It brin
ring
gss toge
etther all the rele
vant academic
regu
ulat
latio
ion
n an
and
c expe
nd accident inve
stig
safe
ety
ty manage
ag
s cours
gement systems ation. This
and their prac
environment.
t
ctica
tical i

16 March 20 March 2015


Duration: 1
week

Centre
h
anagem
brings
to
ulation
ety ma
n
ironme
n

Dr ROB HUNTER Head of Flight Safety, British Airline Pilots Association


(BALPA), comments on the rise and rise of safety management systems.

O
I BELIEVE THAT
IT DOES NOT
SERVE THE
FLIGHT SAFETY
AGENDA TO
HAVE THE SMS
ARENA FILLED
WITH TOO MANY
CHEERLEADERS
AND NOT
ENOUGH
CRITICS

14

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

ne of the most significant changes


in the management of risk in the
aviation industry is the increasing
reliance on safety management
systems (SMS). In their elemental
form, these systems consist of a tailored risk
assessment undertaken by the organisation that
generates the risk. This assessment relies on the
identification of hazards and then the gathering of,
and interpretation of risk data. Mitigations for the
risks identified are put in place, so that a more or
less, defined level of safety is maintained. Hence,
SMS is a kind of over-engineered common sense.
The regulatory oversight of a SMS generally
involves the inspection of practices and documents
held by the organisations that are taken to be the
evidence that the procedures are being applied
in practice. SMS in so far as they are tailored
to particular hazards are generally contrasted
with rule sets that determine what may be allowed
(prescription), or may not (proscription).
All of these types of rules are often misleadingly
referred to as prescriptive regulation or even more
misleadingly as one-size-fits-all regulation as, in
practice, these rules are rather more discriminating.

There may be different rules for different levels of


risk, such as commercial versus private aviation and
so, in practice, the rules are typically a-number-ofsizes-fits-all.
The number-of-sizes-fits-all approach generally
has a desired level of safety that is prescribed
by a body that is independent of the operator.
However, the SMS approach may have a desired
level of safety that is, in effect, determined by the
operator; an example is the risk assessment for the
overflight of conflict zones. However, there are also
regulations that appear to have an independently
determined level of safety but they are written in a
way that is so open to interpretation, that they are,
in effect, also determined by the operator. Examples
are fatigue risk management rules where key
terms have no precise meaning and fundamentally
there is no definition of how tired is too tired to
fly. It is possible that the vague language of such
regulations is by intention rather than accident.
Regulators may be fearful of producing rules that
leave operators hamstrung for years, yet otherwise
regulators have to regulate; writing rules that
place a firm requirement to actively do something
nebulous can seem like a good compromise.

53%

@aerosociety

Find us on LinkedIn

Find us on Facebook

31%
25%

92

s
nd
rla

Ne

the

an
y

67
%
No
rw
ay
78
%
Sw
ed
en
89
%
UK
45
%

%
65
rm
Ge

ce
Fra
n

nm

ark

85

93

10%

ria

In this article I preferentially focus on some of the


problems of SMS, as elsewhere these systems are
heavily and largely unquestioningly promoted. SMS
are here to stay and I believe that it does not serve
the flight safety agenda to have the SMS arena
filled with too many cheerleaders and not enough
critics. To make SMS work, participants in the SMS
need to be able to critically evaluate the design and
operation of their SMS.
In principle, the SMS method is sound, in so
far that the system has the ambition of identifying
and managing all hazards appropriately. However,
in practice, SMS do not generally consider that
the SMS itself could be a hazard. The factors that
may turn a SMS into a house of cards generally
arise from conflicting interests in the human
designer/s of the SMS. Such human factors can act
at individual and organisational levels in both the
operator and the regulator.
An individual, such as a manager, can contrive
the design of the system to serve their own needs
or the design can be contrived to suppress the
reports of individuals who may be fearful of the
consequences of their reporting action. For example,
some pilots say that they are fearful of reporting

54%

37%
33%

Au
st

Critical evaluation

53%

European Cockpit Association

Contrary to CAA statistics of two reported instances over 30 years of pilots falling asleep in the
cockpit, BALPA believes that such incidents may be happening at least once every day.

De

As part of the growing adoption of the SMS method;


levels of safety are actually, or covertly, commonly at
the discretion of the operator. One of the drivers for
the move towards this concept of self-determination
of risk is the bluntness of independently-described
levels of safety as a safety instrument. For example,
the motorway speed limit does not mean that all
cars travelling at the maximum speed limit have an
equivalent level of safety, because among many
other factors that determine safety at speed, cars
with modern braking systems have shorter stopping
distances. In this regard, a better level-of-safetybased maximum speed limit might be the maximum
speed at which it has been demonstrated that the
vehicle can stop within, say, 300m. However, despite
the fettering limitations of the independentlydescribed safety limit, this approach taken in setting
speed limits, blood alcohol limits, aircraft weight
limits and so on, can be a pragmatic cost-effective
approach to safety assurance.
Moreover, having the level of safety determined
by the operator is not without its problems. In
assessing overflight risks on 17 July last year
some airlines considered it safe to fly over Eastern
Ukraine, others did not. The shooting down of
MH17 has thrown into stark relief the variable
output of the SMS method, yet there are many
more features of the SMS method that deserve our
critical attention.

Austrian Cockpit Association

Lowest common safety denominator

A European Cockpit Association survey showing percentages


of pilots stating that they have either fallen asleep without
planning (grey) or experienced micro-sleep episodes while
on duty (red).

fatigue because they will become embroiled


in company investigations that have a quasidisciplinary tone. It is less fatiguing to put up with
fatigue than to report it. An example of the likely
scale of under reporting was illustrated following a
Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2012. The request had
been to ask for the numbers of occasions on which
pilots had reported involuntarily falling asleep in
the cockpit; such occurrences are required in law
to be reported to the CAA. The response revealed
that there had been two such reports in a 30-year
period. Working from models of sleepiness and
knowing pilot rosters, it is likely that this actually
occurs at least every day (if not every hour, indeed,
in the window of circadian low, in the early hours
of the UK morning, this could be happening more
or less continuously). Notwithstanding the sociopolitical disincentives to fatigue reporting, microsleeps of less than two minutes generally occur
www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

15

SAFETY

IF AN OPERATOR
IS FINANCIALLY
CHALLENGED, IT
MAY PRODUCE
AN ECONOMICAL
SMS THAT MAY
BE NO MORE
THAN A COPYAND-PASTE
OF WRITTEN
MATERIAL THAT
TALKS THE
TALK BUT DOES
NOT WALK THE
WALK OF ANY
SUBSTANTIVE
SAFETY
PRACTICE

without awareness and additionally drowsiness with


associated performance decrement can also be
without subjective awareness.
At the organisational level, the fundamental
conflict is between productivity and safety.
Statements such as safety is our number one
priority and if you think safety is expensive try
having an accident are aimed at having us think that
this conflict is unlikely to be anything more than a
theoretical possibility. However, these statements
warrant closer consideration because trying to
have an accident in so far as it can mean running
a greater risk of having an accident, has a different
meaning to having an accident. For a small airline,
at current fatal accident rates, if the airline were to
maintain an industry average level of safety it may not
see a fatal accident for 80 years or so. Hence, if the
airline CEO did think that safety was expensive and
that, by reducing the airlines spend on safety to, so to
speak, try having an accident, the CEO could well find
that, by halving the safety budget, the airline would
still not see the attributable accident for decades, by
which time the CEO would be long gone.
Hence, if you think safety is expensive, you
could well find that it was true and that, from the
point of view of the financial survival of the airline,
trying to have an accident was a great idea because
it was still unlikely to actually happen, yet you get
all the immediate benefits of the cost-saving. The
management guru Druckers famous statement was:
The first duty of an organisation is to survive. In this
regard, claims by some operators that safety is our
number one priority may be disingenuous. If spending
on safety would put an airline out of business, it is
generally better to save the money today, so that
tomorrow you can think about being safe.

Beyond prescriptive regulations


So-called prescriptive regulation is frequently
portrayed as being the first form of safety assurance
and that the new systems of safety management
are a superior evolution in safety assurance. The

16

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Wikipedia/Lonpicman

Safety management systems

Youve got to draw the line somewhere a memorial to


Samuel Plimsoll who campaigned in the 19th century for load
lines on ships to enhance safety, against the interests of the
commercial shipping industry.

part truth of this is that safety management in the


aviation industry has concentrated on accidents that
have occurred and on making recommendations
to ensure that they do not happen again. Now that
accident rates are so low, it is reasonable in order to
seek further safety improvement, to concentrate on
safety process which is a forte of the SMS method.
However, the effectiveness of this approach is
difficult to measure and there is plenty of evidence
of safety failures in SMS-rich environments. In this
regard, the shift in regulatory strategy towards
SMS is much more experimental than is commonly
portrayed. Notwithstanding this, there are many

Who knows best?


SMS that identify the wrong expert to design and
populate the system hazards, risks and mitigations
are vulnerable. Although managers are commonly
held to best know the risk, this may not be the
case in reality. In fact, it may be the worker in the
field that has the best appreciation of a particular
risk. Sometimes the person who is well placed to
assess the risk may not be best placed to manage
that risk. For example, in the moments before
their death, drivers killed by falling asleep at the
wheel generally know that they are sleepy but still
continue to drive. This is because their fatigue
impairs their ability to appreciate the risk. It can
also be the case that the person who best knows
the risk is also the most able to conceal the risk
should they be so minded.
SMS have a component of board level
accountability and this can be a good thing. The
board are seen as the owners of the risk because
they generate the risk and because they have some
jeopardy for the risk. However, the board does not
have as much jeopardy as the occupants of the
aircraft who may be killed if the aircraft were to
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Airbus

cases in which originally-existing forms of selfmanaged risk assessment and mitigation, an SMS
by any another name, which failed often in some
very public catastrophic way, was then replaced by a
number-of-sizes-fits-all regulation at the behest of
government. In this way the trend towards SMS may
be not an evolution but a reversion.
An illustration of this is the Plimsoll load line on
ships. Prior to the 1876 Merchant Shipping Act, ship
owners were judged to be best placed to determine
how heavily loaded their ships would be. Seamen
and ships captains that attempted to refuse to go
to sea in overloaded ships were coerced into doing
so. Despite the losses of overloaded ships at sea, it
was argued that safety was the paramount interest
of ship owners and, on this basis, regulation was
unwarranted interference. The MP, Samuel Plimsoll,
campaigned against fierce commercial interest to
obtain a load line on ships. At first this load line,
known as the Norwood line, was to be determined
by the ship owners. This self-determination of risk
that could so obviously be biased by the commercial
interests of the ship owners was ridiculed at the
time. One ships captain famously sniped that he
would paint the line on the funnel of his ship! It was
the combination of the sustained efforts of Plimsoll,
the continuing loss of merchant seamens lives at
sea and the political pressure of public sentiment
that led to the load line position being determined
by an independent body. The expression Youve got
to draw the line somewhere was coined during the
Plimsoll parliamentary debates that were extensively
covered in the media of the day.

Airbus A350 MSN3 cockpit.

crash. The problem with having the risk owner (the


airline board) as being someone different from the
person that has the substantive jeopardy for the risk
(the crew and passengers) is that it facilitates the
creation of a system which is, in effect, not an SMS
but a BMS a blame management system. This
is because the principal risk for a board is not that
they are killed in one of their aircraft, but whether
they are blamed for someone else being killed in
their aircraft. A blame management system may not
have safety as its primary goal because its primary
goal is the prevention of blame.

Owned science
The SMS method is vulnerable to the problem of
owned science. Earlier I likened SMS to overengineered common sense. The engineering
is largely the application of scientific method
to the gathering and interpretation of data. A
principle of scientific work is that of peer review.
This is a system which exposes conclusions to
greater scrutiny and, through careful description
of the methods involved, allows reproduction of
the experiment and verification of findings. In
situations where organisations are commissioning
science to support an industrial practice of high
commercial value, because they own this data, they
can conceal or choose not to study what is not
in their interest to expose and promote what is in
their interest.
SMS may reasonably allow operators to take
into account their operational experience to
support new safety practices or amend old safety
www.aerosociety.com

IN SITUATIONS
WHERE
ORGANISATIONS
ARE
COMMISSIONING
SCIENCE TO
SUPPORT AN
INDUSTRIAL
PRACTICE OF
HIGH
COMMERCIAL
VALUE, BECAUSE
THEY OWN THIS
DATA, THEY CAN
CONCEAL OR
CHOOSE NOT
TO STUDY WHAT
IS NOT IN THEIR
INTEREST TO
EXPOSE AND
PROMOTE WHAT
IS IN THEIR
INTEREST
APRIL 2015

17

SAFETY
Safety management systems

British Airways

practices of no proven value. However, operational


experience, where it is allowed to be relied upon
in regulation, is generally not defined, Rather than
having some firm statistical basis, it may amount to
little more than anecdote, a feeling that something
has been gotten away with so far, so it must be safe.
Worse still, a feeling that something has been got
away with so far, so it must be too safe.
The SMS method is also vulnerable to a form
of reverse-engineering in which the SMS designer,
having already decided a set of outcomes that are
desired, contrives a process that apparently leads
to an unbiased finding of the desired outcome. For
example, managers that are required
to provide metrics of their
own performance
will generally
know

NOT ONLY
MIGHT TRUSTBASED SMS
NOT WORK IF
THERE ARE
CONFLICTING
INTERESTS,
THEY MIGHT
MAKE THINGS
MUCH WORSE

18

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

which metrics will make them look good and which


metrics will make them look bad.
SMS are strongly promoted by regulators.
The regulators stand to gain from the SMS
approach, because the approach transfers some
responsibility from the regulator to the airlines. This
is potentially an important regulatory human factor.
Regulators that mandate an explicit quantifiable
level of safety are potentially liable if that level
proves insufficient to prevent an accident. SMS
can appeal to regulators because the SMS as a
blame management system puts regulators at
arms length from accidents. Further regulatory
self-interest is met, in so far that there may be an
overall cost reduction to the regulator if there is a
move towards getting the regulated bodies to take
ownership of more of the risk.
In practice, the regulatory strategy for oversight
can be to audit the airlines SMS. If this is taken to
be a more process-based task, then the auditors can
be administrative staff rather than more expensive
technical staff. This is not to say that regulators
should not seek the most economical method of
regulating. Rather, it is to argue there is a potential
vulnerability that this economic interest may
compromise the quality of the regulatory practice.

Diminishing technical resources


A potential disadvantage of a shift in the balance
of administrative and technical capability is that

the technical resource of the regulator as an asset


for the industry may diminish and the airlines may
then have greater potential to mislead a less-expert
regulator. Additionally, SMS, if properly executed,
may place less economic burden on the regulator
and more on the industry. The vulnerability is that, if
an operator is financially challenged, it may produce
an economical SMS that may be no more than a
copy-and-paste of written material that talks the talk
but does not walk the walk of any substantive safety
practice.
The uncertainty of interpretation of regulation
and the system part of safety, management
can work together to belie the common sense
that an SMS really is and turn it into
something of such impenetrable
techno-bureaucratic complexity that it
becomes an area of

specialisation that requires


an expert. Airlines
can outsource this
expertise to an SMS
commercial consultancy. In this regard
marketable features of such a product,
such as the protection of the board (the customer)
from blame and the claim that the SMS can allow
a greater level of productivity for a given level of
safety compliance, become potentially biasing
factors that undermine the intent of the SMS.
A further disadvantage is the formation of
commercial bandwagons. Here the vulnerability is
that the commercial providers overemphasise the
need for their service such that safety resource is
misappropriated within the industry, because airline
managers have been persuaded that their greatest
risk lies in the area promoted by the commercial
band wagoneers.
Because the effectiveness of an SMS depends
so much on the will of the operator, we can see
how a SMS may make safe operators safer and
other operators less safe. Conflicting interest is
the fly in the ointment of SMS. The control of such
conflicts is too often assumed to be sufficiently
safeguarded by vague, easily coerced, aspirational
factors such as trust and safety culture. In
general, not only might trust-based SMS not
work if there are conflicting interests, they might
make things much worse. If instead of policing
traffic speeds, we relied on drivers self-reports
of their speeding violations, not only might we
expect drivers to not report their speeding but
also that they might speed more often. SMS, if
not sufficiently safeguarded against conflicting
interest, can be a nave approach that may
undermine flight safety.

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AEROSPACE
UK General Election

Britain decides
Prof KEITH HAYWARD FRAeS, looks at the forthcoming UK General
Election and its impact on aerospace and aviation.

o what do we do now? were the last


words in a great film about US elections.
Robert Redford, the eponymous
Candidate had just won election to the
Senate based on pure political chicanery;
but what exactly was he to do now in office? On the
eve of a British General Election, the same question
might be asked of a raft of incoming ministers with
aerospace or aviation-related responsibilities.

This may involve a new team entirely and on the


evidence of current polling data, probably another
Coalition Government. There is also a secondary
uncertainty affecting Britains relationship with the
European Union (EU). So, from airports to defence
policy, what will be the main aerospace and aviation
issues facing the next administration?

Airports and a new London runway

MoD Crown copyright

First up must be a decision on the interminable


future of Londons airports. There can be no excuse
for ducking a speedy resolution this time. The
Davies Commission has squeezed every possible
bit of data and opinion out of the conundrum; and
the newspapers have made a penny or two out of
Heathrow (two versions) and Gatwick promoting
their cases. The cynic in me suggests that a lot
will depend on the political shape of a few London
constituencies and the composition of the new

20

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Thinking strategically about defence


Next up: the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and
the future of the nuclear deterrent. Although in
principle this should be a long-term outlook, it is
almost certainly to be influenced by shorter-term
economic pressures. No one has so far demurred
from the NATO commitment of 2% of GDP devoted
to defence but for the foreseeable future there will
not be much spare cash to pay for equipment and
forces beyond those already contracted for an
expeditionary navy in the main. Yet, as minds begin
to focus on the more immediate threat emanating
from a resurgent Russia, gaps and needs in other
areas will become more evident.
The most urgent is likely to be a Nimrod
replacement to cover the UKs littoral and to guard
the nuclear force which evidently has been tailed
by Russian attack submarines. ISTAR in general,
including space-based assets, may need upgrading.
This may entail working with European neighbours
(but see below) if reliance on the US for some
crucial strategic intelligence gathering becomes
more unreliable. Similarly, if the Russian threat
becomes more entrenched, an examination of the
mix of F-35 might be in order, if conventional bases
for the more capable F-35A are to be retained.
Commitments to next-generation RPAS should
also be on the Secretary of States agenda for
strategic as well as for industrial reasons.
Paradoxically, Russian challenges to the
European status quo might make it easier to
justify the billions for upgrading the Trident missile
force. Where the UKs independent deterrent is
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Prime Ministers Office/Dept for Innovation, Business and Skills

Government. If the latter depends on the former,


Gatwick is a shoe-in.
However, in all seriousness, the UK needs
a positive decision and quickly. Business will be
lost if London airports fail to cope with demand.
This is more than just lost revenue on the part of
airport operators; all of the individual cases have
cited the challenge posed by neighbouring airports
offering a wider range of destinations especially
in the emerging markets such as China and Latin
America. The issue here is providing connectivity
for a modern, globalised economy. There is clearly
some scope for regional airport expansion which
could be improved through regulatory action
allowing non-EU airlines onward traffic rights. This,
too, might be something for the next Secretary of
State for Transport to consider with some urgency.
(He might also seek to head off any moves to
protect less-efficient European carriers). But further
procrastination on future airport development
will simply not be justified the inestimable Sir
Howard Davies and his team have removed any
excuse against prompt action. Evidence-based
policy-making should rule on this issue.

Prime Minister David Cameron on a recent visit to BAE Systems in Warton to announce the
launch of degree apprenticeships in aeronautical engineering. With further cuts in military
spending being proposed, despite threats from a resurgent Russia and increasing UK
commitments overseas, defence is likely to be an important issue in the next election.

concerned, it has always been easier to go with a


70-year flow of political justification than to publish
a well thought-through strategic case for continued
nuclear possession. Up to now, while modest but
significant sums have already been committed
to nuclear modernisation, the next five years will
demand much larger sums to build and to buy the
hardware; and beyond that expensive life-cycle
costs. This would have been explained in vaguely
defined terms as an insurance policy in a generally
insecure and uncertain future world. But with an
electorate persuaded that terrorism, cyber war and
real conflicts against the likes of ISIS are the most
dangerous threats to Britons at home or abroad, a
nuclear weapon force with or without a Union
Jack on top without some better justification
would look like a very expensive luxury.
But with Russia rampant, we might have to
dust off the old Cold War arguments about second
centres of decision-making or preventing a
decoupling of the greater American nuclear threat
to deter Moscow (these concepts posited the need
to increase uncertainty in Russian minds that any
military action against UK-Europe would NOT lead
to a massive nuclear exchange).
Only the Scottish Nationalists and the Greens
are set against any form of nuclear modernisation.
The Liberal Democrats (with some dissenters)
would accept a cheaper option. The Conservatives
and Labour are unequivocally in favour of a major
nuclear commitment but would examine cheaper
aircraft/missile combinations. In any event, the
incoming government owes the electorate some
elaboration of exactly why a very large amount of
money should be spent on a Trident force renewal.
www.aerosociety.com

MAINTAINING
BRITAINS
EXISTING
ADVANTAGES IN
COLLABORATIVE
VENTURES,
OR WITHIN
FIRMS SUCH
AS AIRBUS OR
MBDA, WOULD
BE MORE
PROBLEMATIC
IF THERE
WERE MORE
OBSTACLES TO
TRADING AND
WORKING WITH
EUROPEAN
PARTNERS
APRIL 2015

21

AEROSPACE
UK General Election

was a bi-partisan effort, following a report instigated


by Labour). The Coalition put more money behind
existing strengths such as communications and
scientific satellites. But it also introduced an
impressive range of low-cost initiatives designed
to build a broader space industrial base. More
dramatically, it took the UK back into, or close to
re-entering, manned space. The next government
will have to confirm or otherwise back-off
commitments to a space port. It might also have to
think about re-joining a future launcher programme
based on more innovative technology than a simple
rocket. Finally, the Government might want carefully
to review its approach to spectrum regulation,
perhaps more mindful of the satellite operators who
do business out of London.

The next British government


will have to decide whether
or not to proceed with plans
for a UK-based space port.

The exact effects on British


aviation and aerospace
of a yes vote for the UK
to exit from the European
Union are difficult to
evaluate but could
include more obstacles
to trading and working
with European partners,
exclusion from EU R&D
funding and collaborative
projects and the evolution
of the emerging single
European defence market
in ways inimitable to British
interests.

Realining the UKs defence


industrial links further
from Europe and closer
to the US might increase
long-term technological
dependence and erode core
competences.

22

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

So, thats the first couple of years accounted for.


Civil aerospace and the space sector have done
well under the out-going government for good
economic reasons. Aerospace has a key role in
the continuing struggle to rebalance the economy,
and this objective at least has multi-party support.
Depending on the SDSR, we might also hope
for some useful aerospace-relevant technology
acquisition programmes from the Defence Industrial
Partnership. But again austerity politics might just
undermine all of these aspirations. However, the
future of RPAS development in the UK has more
salience as the Eurofighter Typhoon more export
sales notwithstanding enters its final phase of
development and commercial exploitation. This
may be the only viable means of keeping alive the
UKs competence as
a military aerospace
systems integrator
and a route
to market for
several key
OEMs.
It
is
also just
possible
that over the
lifetime of the
next Government,
Airbus will want
to launch an all-new
airliner. In some form or
another (WTO permitting),
the request will go out for
public investment in the new
programme. By this time, the UK
might have recovered from the worst of austerity
economics and the government should be willing
and able to support another generation of UK
Airbus investment, helping to maintain Europes
most successful collaborative exercise. Newspaper
reports that the UK government has reduced its
royalty demands on its A320 investment (circa
late 1980s) imply that another lever to retain
core wing competences in the UK may also be
available. However, with the A380 selling slowly,
the Treasury will want some solid assurances that
further investment in Airbus, or other forms of public
support for R&D, will be justified. Equally, the UK
will be under pressure to maintain commitments to
space, either independently or within a European
context.
The space sector did especially well out of the
outgoing government (although in all fairness, this

And Europe?

European Union

UK Space Agency

Investment in aerospace technology

Which of course brings us to the elephant in the


room Europe: by the end of next month, there
might be a date set for a referendum on a British
exit from the EU. A Conservative
Government, especially if
dependent on support
from the UK
Independence
Party, would
be committed
to holding a
referendum
by 2017, if not
earlier. Even the
Liberal Democrats
the most solid
supporters of British
EU membership, may want a
referendum to settle the issue once and for
all. Labour might concede one for the same reason
but for the moment are set against a referendum.
In the event, much will depend on the terms the
Government might have negotiated from Brussels
and the degree to which it might favour a yes or
no.
The exact affects of a yes to exit on British
aviation and aerospace are hard, if not at this
stage, impossible fully to evaluate. Much would
depend on the terms negotiated with Brussels
and our former colleague states. And these may
in turn depend upon the mood and sense of good
or ill will generated by our departure. Membership
of the European Economic Area (EEA), joining
Norway and Iceland, would give the UK access
to the European market but with little power to
shape future EU policy and legislation. The best
one can say at this stage is that the period prior to
the decision would be fraught with considerable
uncertainty; what is possible to describe some of
the areas of potential impact.

to bring cheap flights and greater convenience


to British passengers. In principle, leaving the EU
should not make much difference in the short term.
Membership of the EEA should preserve British
access to the single European air transport market.
But again, the British government would lose its
ability to ensure that the market remains designed
to deliver the best outcomes for the UK.
A trickier and more complex issue may emerge
in relation to air traffic rights with nonEU states. The UK has been party
to the general Open Skies
agreements with the US;
there is the possibility of a
formal linkage with the
ASEAN East Asian
air transport market;
and there are
emerging questions
of relations with
the Gulf States and
their airlines. The UK
might be able directly
to inherit existing rights
and obligations vis--vis
the US. But it might also
have to re-negotiate separate
agreements, along the lines of the
old Bermuda treaties.

Aerospace manufacturing
Of course, for many years in the 1960s, aerospace
was Britains major substantive presence within
the old EEC, acting as a promissory note on
membership. And while life for a transnational
company is easier within a larger, more integrated
Europe, investment decisions by the likes of Airbus
are now more influenced by levels of domestic
spending on the product and its
technology not necessarily on a
location within the EU.
However, maintaining
Britains existing
advantages in
collaborative
ventures, or within
firms such as
Airbus or MBDA,
would be more
problematic
if there were
more obstacles
to trading and
working with European
partners. The UK would
be excluded from EU R&D
funding; the emerging single
European defence market might evolve
in ways inimitable to British interests if the UK
government loses direct influence over events.
Generally, the UK might find it harder to enter
collaborative ventures with Europeans, although
again the size of the domestic defence market and
the quality of its technology could still be welcome
to a European venture. On the other hand, reenforcing Britains defence industrial links with
the US might provide an alternative, although this
might further increase long-term technological
dependence and erode core competences.
The same would apply to the space sector:
although there are non-EU members of ESA,
increasingly ESA and European space policy will be
decided by the EU Space Council. The UK would
still be able to participate in ESA programmes on an
la carte basis and benefit from the industrial and
technological returns that flow from collaboration.
However, the UK would at best be an observer to
events that again it would have little ability to shape
in its favour.

A decision to leave the EU


should not make much
short term difference to
commercial flights between
the UK and mainland
Europe but could lead to
problems when
re-negotiating air traffic
rights agreements with
non-EU states.

As we go to press, the outcome still looks too hard


to call. But the aerospace and aviation agenda for
any incoming minister is a tough set of questions,
with some issues dependent very much on how
the UK economy evolves over the next five years
and the degree to which fiscal austerity still reigns.
There are many other policy questions that will
touch on UK aerospace over this period: managing
and solving a growing skills shortage for one, as
even more of the Baby Boom engineers and
technicians retire. With no political bias intended,
the UKs aviation and aerospace sectors should be
areas of importance to policy-makers over the next
half decade and their health have some priority as
wealth creators.

The creation of the single European air transport


market has been one of the most unequivocal
benefits that the EU has delivered to the aviation
sector. Shaped by European legislation, promoted
by the European Commission and policed by the
European Court, the EU single market has helped

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Membership or otherwise of the EU does not


affect geography: UK airspace is a vital element
in European air traffic management, and a
more effective and efficient system benefits all
Europeans. There should be little change in this
area. Accessing European money and hardware
programmes to up date the technology might prove
to be more difficult. But again, there is a mutual
interest here to support the status quo.

After 7 May

The airline sector

@aerosociety

Air traffic control

www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

23

UAVs
Unmanned cargo aircraft

Boeing

Air freight

reloaded
As the use of UAVs expands to include
freight transport, what are the potential
applications for a larger unmanned cargo
aircraft? BILL READ reports on the issues
raised at the second Unmanned Cargo
Aircraft Conference in The Netherlands.

A UCA ... WOULD


BE IDEAL FOR THE
TRANSPORT OF
LIGHTER PAYLOADS
OVER SHORTER
DISTANCES WHERE
SPEED AND
WEIGHT ARE NOT
SO IMPORTANT BUT
WHERE FUEL AND
PERSONNEL COSTS
COULD BE GREATLY
REDUCED

24

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

n recent years the use of unmanned aerial


vehicles (UAVs) has snowballed with a huge
increase in the number of UAVs and their
applications. Recent media attention has
focused on the increased use of UAVs in
military applications and also on the rise of small
commercial and privately operated UAVs. However,
one area not so much talked about but still under
development is the introduction of larger unmanned
aircraft. Over the past 50 years, increased
automation of aircraft systems has resulted in the
steady decrease in the number of flight crew with
the removal of the navigator, flight engineer and
the radio operator. Most large commercial aircraft
are now down to a flight crew of two and there
is now talk of single-pilot commercial jets. If this
trend continues, then the next logical step will be

to complete the depopulating of the flight deck


and have commercial aircraft with no pilots at
all. However, before any such move was made,
it would be necessary to ensure the public,
regulators and other airspace users that such
an aircraft would be safe to operate. As yet,
there are no proposals to introduce unmanned
passenger aircraft but there is research currently
under way in developing unmanned cargo aircraft
(UCA) designs, together with the technology and
regulations required to ensure that such aircraft
could be operated safely in commercial airspace.
Such aircraft could offer considerable economic
advantages in certain markets and could also
test technology and operations which could
potentially be applicable to future unmanned
passenger aircraft.

BoXair

In February the University of Twentes


Platform Unmanned Cargo Aircraft (PUCA) in The
Netherlands hosted a conference which looked at
the latest developments in unmanned cargo aircraft
(UCA). Speakers at the Second UCA Conference
(the first conference was held in 2014) looked at
how such aircraft might be designed, operated,
regulated and be economically successful. Hans
Heerkens, Assistant Professor at the University of
Twente (UT), explained how The European Advisory
Council for Aviation Research and innovation in
Europe (ACARE) has predicted that the most
likely first civil use of larger UAVs will be in freight
transport. The US Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) has also forecast that, within 40 years, 2040% of air cargo will be transported by unmanned
aircraft. To stimulate and facilitate the development
of UCA, UTs Department of Industrial Engineering
& Business Information Systems, together with a
number of other European and US organisations, set
up PUCA a project led by Heerkens (see Send it
by UCA, AEROSPACE, January 2014, p 36).

University of Twente

Air cargo opportunity


Joost van Doesburg, Air Freight Policy Manager
at the European Shippers Council (ESC) looked
at what UCA could offer to freight shippers. In
recent years there has been a modal shift in freight
transport, he declared. Research carried out in
2014 by Seabury/IATA showed that air freight has
lost ground to sea transport. The market share of air
freight in international trade has dropped from 3%
in 2000 to 1.7% in 2013 equivalent to around
5.4m tons lost over that 13-year period. There
were also changes within the air freight industry
with freighter capacity falling from 8,500 tons in
2012 to 3,000 tons in 2015 while cargo carried
in passenger aircraft over the same period rose
from 2,500 tons to 8,000 tons. There had been a
significant increase in the number of passenger
aircraft, while older aircraft were being replaced by
new aeroplanes with bigger belly capacity. These
changes had resulted in an overcapacity for air
freight resulting in lower freight rates with further
falls expected. He predicted that there would be
fewer freight-only aircraft operating in the future
with more cargo being carried as belly freight on
passenger flights.
van Doesburg explained how this situation
presented a unique opportunity for a revolution in
the air cargo industry. lThe use of UAVs for freight
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The Unmanned Advantage


University of Twente/PUCA

Top left: The first Boeing 747-8 freighter delivered to


airfreight operator Cargolux.
Top right: A proposed future UCA design from US
company BoXair.
Lower right: University of Twente concept art of UCA
airport operations.

UTs Platform Unmanned Cargo Aircraft (PUCA) lists a number of advantages that
UCAs could offer over manned cargo aircraft:
Because there is no need for a pressurised crew cabin, a UCA could be made
lighter and simpler than manned aircraft while still being able to fly efficiently at
altitudes up to at least 6km. The cross-section of the fuselage would not need to
be circular, as is the case with a pressurised cabin, but could be shaped to fit the
shape of square cargo containers. The cargo area could be relatively small and
the aircraft be built in more aerodynamically efficient shapes, such as a blended
wing body (BWB) or flying wing.
UCA also offer the potential for innovative fire suppression techniques, such as
filling the entire aircraft with an inert gas, such as nitrogen, generated by onboard
equipment.
One controller on the ground could control between ten to 30 UCAs. Dedicated
controllers with local knowledge could handle all UCA take-offs and landings
at specific airports, in a similar way to maritime pilots controlling ships entering
harbours.
Since time spent in the air would not be an issue, a UCA could fly slower than
its manned counterpart at a cruising speed optimised to consume as little fuel
as possible. An optimal speed will be around 450km/h, so a trip from eastern
China to Paris will take one day. This would still be much faster than land or
sea transport and overall delivery speeds could still be comparable with that of
manned aircraft by avoiding the time and costs involved in trans-shipping at hubs.
A low cruising speed would enable the aircraft to have a greater range than
comparable manned aircraft. In addition, a UCA could benefit from efficient
propeller propulsion and use shorter, unpaved, runways.
Because there are no pilots, there would be savings in crew salary and stopover
costs. Their low-operating cost enable UCA to make direct flights with low
volumes of cargo. A UCA could fly all over the world, only returning to its home
base for heavy maintenance.
A business model like that of car rental companies is possible: an operator rents
a UCA out to a shipper who leaves it at its destination where it is rented out to
the next client.

transport has already begun, with small drones


being used for point-to-point deliveries, he said.
However, there are other areas in the air cargo
market which could be served by larger UCA. It is
not intended that such UAVs should compete with
large manned cargo aircraft, such as the Boeing
747F, which is currently responsible for handling
50% of total air cargo. Nor would they compete
with cargo transported in wide-body passenger
aircraft, which would be hard to beat on cost. While
it could not compete with the freight capacity or
speed provided by a large, fast, passenger aircraft, a
UCA with a cargo capacity of 2-20 tonnes, a range
from 1,000-10,000km and a cruising speed of
www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

25

UAVs
Unmanned cargo aircraft

about 450km/h would be ideal for the transport of


lighter payloads over shorter distances where speed
and weight are not so important but where fuel and
personnel costs could be greatly reduced.
The PUCA project is looking at two particular
markets in which it thinks a UCA could be used.
The first is intracontinental transport within Europe.
Companies in Central and Eastern Europe, presently
constrained by inadequate ground infrastructure,
would be able to transport their products from small
airfields to Western European or even US markets.
A UCA could also be used for intercontinental
transport. Small companies, for example, in the

The shape of UCA to come


Alain Lumbroso, Economist for the Joint Transport Research Centre of the
International Transport Forum and OECD looked at the various different
forms that a larger UCA platform might take:
1. Adapted conventional aircraft
A conventional manned aircraft could be converted into a UCA with
additional avionics. Such a platform could use automated taxiing systems,
such as Taxibot, to get to and from the runway and would integrate well
with existing ground equipment and flight traffic patterns. The main savings
from using an unmanned conventional aircraft would be derived from labour
costs with the savings increasing with the distance flown.
2. Unmanned helicopters

K-Max unmanned helicopter.

The feasibility of the concept of an


unmanned helicopter has already been
demonstrated by K-Max which has used
the platform as a small freighter and a
waterbomber. A vertical take-off and landing
(VTOL) UCA would be ideal for areas with
no infrastructure or oil platforms, emergency
transport or military supply operations.
However, it would have the disadvantages
of limited range and payload.

3. Lighter-than-air
Unmanned cargo airships have also
been proposed to serve markets
similar to large UCA. However,
they may not be so economically
feasible, as they would still require
specialised ground crew when
taking off and landing, as well as
such issues as the addition of
Unmanned cargo airship proposal from
ballast to compensate for empty
Aeros.
loads.
4. Custom-designed aircraft
A purpose-designed UCA would fully maximise the benefits of unmanned
flight. A customised UAV would have the advantages of making the best
use of fuselage volume, flying at very high altitudes and low-speed cruise to
minimise fuel burn and could be designed to operate from gravel runways,
snow or V/STOL. However, there would be considerable development
costs to create such a design, although these could perhaps be shared
with government investment to develop a platform which could be used for
military as well as civil applications.

26

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Chinese hinterland, sell their products via the


Internet to customers in Europe. Instead of having
to transport their goods by road to local airports
and then to international hubs, Chinese companies
could use a UCA to deliver directly to the customer.
PUCA aims to do for material goods what the
Internet did for immaterial goods: to create a dense,
adaptable network for moving goods so that each
small company or even an individual can become his
or her own shipper, said Heerkens.
Other potential UCA applications are for routes
linking Western Europe and the US with other
regions that have economic potential but no proper
transport infrastructure, such as China, Africa and
South America. Products carried could include
high-value, raw materials, production equipment and
spare parts, finished products from isolated areas
or emergency supplies to disaster areas. Another
opportunity is in the delivery of cargo to remote
areas. Oil fields and mines have a high need of
spare parts and machinery but shippers are less
keen to deliver them, as there is no round trip cargo
available to take back, commented van Doesburg.
Another UCA application could be in specialist
niche markets, such as the transport of dangerous
goods. Passengers and crew do not like carrying
dangerous goods, such as radiopharmaceuticals or
lithium batteries, in passenger aircraft but this would
not be a problem for a UCA, said van Doesburg.

Pilot projects
Research has already begun on testing the viability
of UCA systems. Professor Jim Scanlan at the
University of Southampton is looking at a project
investigating the commercial viability of a cargocarrying UAV to serve remote regions with small
populations (see Project HIATUS panel on right)
while, in Japan, work is being carried out to develop
a UCA which can provide transport for the logistic
industry. Soaring labour cost of cargo business has
become a big issue in Japan, explained Yasuhisa
Yamaguchi of DBJ Capital: Our UCA project will
provide the solution for this problem and cause
a revolution in the logistics business. The main
technology of our project comes from AIST, which
is the research institute of METI. Dr Iwata, senior
researcher of AIST, has just launched new rogallo
wing UCA which can carry a payload of up to 100kg,
fly at 100km/h and travel up to 100km. Our project
is currently focusing on the flight of the new UCA
and the development of its management systems.
Barry Koperberg, GM of Wings For Aid,
explained how UCA could be used for humanitarian
cargo logistics, using the examples of medicine
distribution in rural Africa and worldwide disaster
relief. Relief supplies could be delivered in bulk in
large aircraft to hub airports and then distributed

Project HIATUS

Challenges and regulations

Professor Jim Scanlan FRAeS, Professor of Aerospace Design at the University


of Southampton, is working on a project investigating the commercial viability of
a cargo-carrying UAV to serve remote regions with small populations and poor
or complex transportation links. Project HIATUS (Highlands and Islands Aerial
Transportation using
Unmanned Systems) is working on designs
for a 3D-printed 50kgpayload UCA with a range of up to 100km.
Requiring a minimal
ground infrastructure without the need for an
airfield, the UCA would
be fitted with twin engines for safety and be
able to operate in poor
weather conditions, such as winds over 30kt,
fog, rain and snow,
low temperatures
and icing
conditions. The
aircraft
could operate in
conditions
where
manned
aviation is

However, before the use of UCAs could become


a practical proposition, much work still needs to be
done in a number of areas. More research needs to
undertaken to look at new configurations for UCA
platform designs (see panel on left), together with
the advanced structures, propulsion systems and
equipment that would enable these aircraft to be
developed and operated. Airport infrastructures and
logistic concepts need to be developed to allow the
use of such aircraft, as do the maintenance, repair and
overhaul (MRO) capabilities needed to service them.
As well as platforms and infrastrastructure, new
certification rules and airspace regulations must be
in place to allow the use of unmanned aircraft in civil
airspace. The European Union is currently working
on its Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR)
plan to radically upgrade Europes air traffic control
system to enable its more efficient operation and
increasing number of flights. As well as introducing
new technology and regulations to improve the
operation of conventional manned aircraft, the
programme is also looking at how remotely piloted
air systems (RPAS) could be introduced safely into
commercial airspace. Denis Koehl, Senior Advisor to
the Executive Director, SESAR Joint Undertaking,
outlined the SESAR 2020 RPAS definition phase
and RPAS R&D Roadmap development.
The requirements for RPAS integration are
linked to the European ATM Master Plan and the
ICAO Global Plan/ASBU timeline, he explained.
The basic aim of SESAR is that all airspace
operators will be treated on an equal basis, including
UAVs. RPAS will be expected to fit into the ATM
system (and not the reverse) and will have to prove
that they are as safe as current manned vehicle
operations and that their behaviour in operations is
equivalent to manned aviation, in particular for air
traffic control.
The plan is to have a gradual introduction of
RPAS into the EU civil aviation system, the pace
of which would be determined by technology,
regulation and societal acceptance. The RPAS
Definition Phase will focus on the regulatory and
operational changes needed to integrate UAVs into
European airspace. These will include performance
requirements, operational changes in air traffic
management, enabling systems and validation
needs. As part of its preparations for the integration
of RPAs, the EU is conducting a series of nine
demonstrations in different countries looking at
different aspects of RPAS operations, including their
relative speeds compared with manned flights, ATM,
take-off and landings and emergency procedures.
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hazardous, he
explained. The UCA
would be equipped
with encrypted
and lockedfunctionality
long-range communications with guaranteed
monitoring of its
location independent of GPS. It could operate
in segregated
airspace corridors in low usage segregated
airspace timeslots such as hours of darkness. The project
is aiming to fly a small demonstrator within nine months after which it will deploy
and test a system for an extended period in a number of regions. One area under
consideration is the Shetland Islands which are frequently subject to poor weather,
especially fog, where the use of manned aircraft is very expensive and maritime
links are slow and costly. A HIATUS UCA be used for lots of short missions and
would be particularly useful for medical emergencies, said Scanlon.

University of Southampton

locally for distances of up to 150km by smaller


cargo UAVs.

The UAV illustrated is the 2SEAS, the worlds first rapid prototyped unmanned aircraft
under 20kg developed at the University of Southampton by the Computational
Engineering Design Group led by Prof Jim Scanlan and Prof Andy Keane which can fly
for up to six hours.

Public perception
Another challenge is that of public perception.
Doesburg admitted that there was still opposition
over the use of cargo UAVs. Public opinion is fickle,
he said. People are asking whether drones are really
safe to use, as well as raising a variety of concerns
over such issues as invasion of privacy, noise, and
loss of pilot and other jobs. Meanwhile, those who
use UAVs want access to commercial airspace but
dont want the cost and burden of qualifications,
medicals and formal engagement with ATM systems
currently required for manned aircraft.
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APRIL 2015

27

AVIONICS
Weather prediction

Cloud
sourcing

Turning airliners into mobile sensor nodes


for turbulence can help airlines save
money and prevent injuries. TIM
ROBINSON reports on crowd-sourced
weather.

IT IS ON ASIAPACIFIC ROUTES,
WITH REGULAR
TROPICAL
THUNDERSTORMS,
MONSOONS
AND TYPHOONS
THAT THIS KIND
OF TURBULENCE
Avoiding turbulence
CROWDSOURCING MAY This push for better turbulence reporting and
PROVE VERY
prediction is not, however, simply to avoid a few
clattering glasses and the odd spilled coffee.
VALUABLE

28

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Turbulence-related incidents are, according to


the FAA, the biggest source of injuries outside of
fatal crashes. Second, even if injuries are avoided,
staying clear of turbulence also reduces an airlines'
maintenance bill. Finally, charting areas of moderate
to high turbulence also allows more efficient flights
and gives crews and dispatchers better information
to plan flights to save fuel. Crucially, while the latest
airliner weather radars give 3D information of
storms and weather ahead, turbulence can also be
found in clear skies making every scrap of data
useful in predicting or reporting danger areas.

How it works
A company that is one of the leaders in this rapidly
growing field of networked weather sourcing is
WSI Corporation, a professional weather services
division of US-based The Weather Company which
perhaps is best known for its Weather Channel
TV. In 2012 it launched a product called Total
Turbulence with the service going live in 2013.
This installs a tiny extra bit of code in the aircraft's
existing condition monitoring system to measure
the G-force of vertical accelerations. Any tubulence
detected in this way is then transmitted via ACARS
to a ground station. The Turbulence Auto PIREP
System (TAPS) algorithm is sophisticated enough
to take account of differences in airframe types
and sizes. It is also, says WSIs Mark Miller, (Vice
President and General Manager) a 'lightweight'
piece of code, that does not require extra

Griffinstorm/wikipedia

an automatically-generated weather
reports, collected by aircraft as they
traverse the sky improve the safety,
efficiency and bottom lines of airlines?
Manually passing on the weather (and
especially turbulence) encountered during a flight
using (pilot reports) PIREPs is just one of the many
tasks for the line airline Captain or First Officer.
However, humans can be tired, subjective and even
when the information is recorded correctly, what
happens to it? Weather reports can obviously be
studied to pick up on bigger trends but even then
the data must be re-entered or sorted manually
a slow and cumbersome process. Too often, the
infomation dervived from traditional PIREPs can
be fragmented across those who need to know, or
arrive too late
However the introduction of computers,
connected airliners (along with a bit of lateral
thinking) and big data is transforming the prediction
of rough weather by automating turbulence
reporting. Turning airliners into real-time mobile
turbulence and weather sensors and feeding this
data into the latest computer models allows for
extremely sophisticated weather alerts and even
prediction.

equipment, sensors or recertification. The system


is set to report normally every 20 minutes but once
it encounters medium levels of turbulence (airlines
can set themselves a threshold of what they deem
acceptable) the system then starts recording vertical
acceleration every 30 seconds, producing an
extremely detailed and statistically useful amount of
objective data. The system itself only records these
vertical acceralation moments while in cruise it is
disabled during climb and descent.
This data is sent via ACARS to WSI which has
a 24/7 control centre staffed with 30 aviation
meteorologists and forcasters to analyse the
information. Simultaneously this aggregated data
is also shared with airlines, dispatchers and even
pilots, who see the turbulence reports along with
other weather information and alerts from the
company. Should the aircraft be connected with inflight Internet, pilots themselves can also call up the
Total Turbulence reports on an iPad through WSIs
software aiding route planning decisions.

The power of the network


WSIs Total Turbulence is already installed on the
767/757/737s of American Airlines, as well as
Alaska Airlines, an unidentified US carrier along
with Hong Kongs Dragonair. In North America,
this means 650 aircraft are now acting as mobile
turbulence sensors and feeding more and more data
into the system. WSIs Mark Miller says WSI is in the
final stages of securing an unnamed big European
carrier as a customer. Total Turbulence is also now
attracting interest with airlines in Asia-Pacific.
Indeed it is on Asia-Pacific routes, with regular
tropical thunderstorms, monsoons and typhoons that
this kind of turbulence crowd-sourcing may prove
very valuable especially on overwater routes
where ground weather stations or ships may be few
and far between.
It is also worthwhile to note that any airline
subscribing to the service gets access to the full
aggregated data set, not just the reports generated

by its own airline. Thus the more airlines that join,


the better and even if they are smaller, they can still
contribute useful data to the weather prediction
models. Key to this system is a large user base, and
as more airlines and aircraft join it, so the quality and
amount of actionable, useful weather information,
increases all the time. WSI is also adding new
compatible aircraft types, including the A320 family.

Alaska Airlines
has signed up
to WSI's Total
Turbulence
service.

Other crowd-sourcing efforts


WSI is not the only company harnessing the power
of the crowd. IFE giant Panasonic Avionics, which
boasts an 80% share of the widebody IFE market,
also has an automated weather reporting product
called FlightLink from its subsidiary Panasonic
Weather Solutions. This is installed on over 300
aircraft, include Norwegian Air. It uses an external
weather sensor that, as well as turbulence, also
records winds aloft, pressure, temperature and
humidity, which is then GPS-location stamped and
transmitted via the Iridium satellite constellation.

Summary
Reporting turbulence and weather data
automatically could be the tip of the 'crowd
sourcing' iceberg. As airliners become more and
more connected with in-flight broadband, it is not
too difficult to imagine that this data (or other
safety critical or flight operational data) could also
be shared in an airborne network. There is, as the
saying goes, safety in numbers.

Collecting the
data
Once an event
is triggered, the
system records
data every
30 seconds,
highlighting
areas of
turbulence.
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APRIL 2015

29

DEFENCE
Pooled ISR force

Many eyes

... make light work?


Air Marshal G A BLACK ROBERTSON* CBE FRAeS
responds to the call from the RAeS Air Power Group for
debate over military role-sharing. Is it time, he argues, to
consider a pooled NATO/European ISR force?

he Role sharing Revisited article in the


December 2014 edition of AEROSPACE
reopened the debate initiated by the
RAeS Air Power Group (APG) in their
earlier report, British Air Power The
Role Sharing Option1. The article invited comment
from members on four specific areas:
The feasibility of role sharing as a concept.
If adopted, which roles should the UK drop?
Which allies would fill these gaps?
How would the money saved be best spent?

The Emperor has no clothes


By concluding that role sharing is not an acceptable
option for UK air power, the article effectively
nullifies the last three questions it poses. That said,
it may be instructive to consider them briefly. This
contribution to the debate also challenges the
implicit assumption that nothing has changed since
the APGs previous report and offers thoughts on
an issue that, certainly in terms of todays reduced
defence spending, can no longer be ignored. So
what has changed? In metaphorical terms, its time

30

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

to acknowledge that the Emperor has no clothes.


The defence debate must necessarily be
conducted in the light of political and financial
realities. Uncomfortable though it is for an
essentially optimistic fraternity, the military (and,
by the same token, governments) must anticipate
progressively reduced defence budgets and frame
their aspirations accordingly. This situation is likely
to be exacerbated by the uncertainty associated
with Mays election and the inevitability that the
UKs economic difficulties will continue as also
in all likelihood will those of its European partners,
possibly more so. It would be optimistic at best and
naive at worst to assume that the September 2014
NATO Summit aim to increase defence expenditure
in real terms as GDP grows and move towards the
2% guideline within a decade2 offers any long-term
solace. That said, reported pressure on the UK from
President Obama3, reinforced by other influential
defence figures (including a recently retired NATO
Secretary General and the current US Army Chief
of Staff), may offer a crumb of comfort. These
concerns highlight the UKs implicit responsibilities
as a leading member of NATO and close military
ally of the US.

No boots on the ground?

Coinciding aims

It is time to acknowledge too the growing


reluctance, fed no doubt by public opinion, of
political leaders to contemplate military involvement
the no more boots on the ground syndrome.
These new realities sit uncomfortably alongside
successive governments underlying but unspoken
aspiration to be seen as an influential player on
the world stage. Indeed, the UKs desire to punch
above its weight has more influence over the
retention of the nuclear deterrent than politicians
are generally prepared to acknowledge. Retention
of the deterrent also begs an interesting question:
would a government reluctant to put people and
platforms in harms way, one arguably more ready
to be led by public opinion than to lead, have the
necessary moral and political courage to use such
a weapon system in anger? Thankfully, and for now,
this remains a rhetorical question.
To such considerations must be added another
pervasive factor: an increasingly unpredictable
and volatile world. While it would be instructive to
consider the reasons for this, such speculation
worthy of a separate debate is outside the scope
of this note. All of which suggests that UK defence
aspirations are overdue the reality check that SDSR
154 should, in theory, provide. But if its predecessor
is any indicator, this seems unlikely. What follows
can, in part, be seen as an attempt to meet this
need.

Role sharing is feasible only where the military


and political aims of all parties to the arrangement
coincide. This suggests that the only roles that
could be shared are those where there is no
possibility of disagreement about politico-military
aims a somewhat utopian ideal that points
towards non-combat tasks, such as air transport,
not least in the humanitarian context, e.g. casualty
evacuation. However, the emergence of the ISIL6
threat may well have created a new paradigm. The
capture of a Jordanian pilot by ISIL forces7 and
his subsequent barbaric killing has reinforced the
dangers and potential consequences associated
with putting manned platforms in harms way. Media
exposure of this event will doubtless exacerbate
these essentially political concerns concerns that
increase the attraction of unmanned platforms.
In a subsequent article that complements the
APGs revisiting of the role sharing debate, Mike
Bratby8 covers many of the points raised above,
highlighting in particular budgetary pressures.
Implicitly, he too questions European nations
aspirations to increase defence spending,
concluding that fiscal pressures on national
defence budgets are unlikely to ease or reverse
any time soon. He also suggests that the European
Union concept of pooling and sharing could act
as a palliative. Air policing in the Baltic by a NATO
consortium is cited in the context of role sharing,
while the European Air Transport Command
represents an example of pooling capabilities. But,
despite the early success of the NATO AWACS
force, beyond these more recent examples there
has been little progress in terms of the pooling and
sharing of military roles.

THE
SUGGESTION
OF A NATO/
EUROPEAN ISR
FORCE MEETS
A NUMBER OF
IMPERATIVES
FROM A UK
STANDPOINT

Doing more with less

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The Reaper club

The European
Reaper UAS
club is becoming
larger and larger
with the UK,
France and Italy
to be joined by
The Netherlands.

French Air Force

The reality is that doing more with less has long


been the norm in defence terms. While the concept
of role sharing may have theoretical currency,
turning theory into practice has proved more than
a little difficult. So what is the art of the possible?
Despite reducing significantly in size the RAF has
shown a marked reluctance to give up any role.
The only recent exceptions, disbandment of the
Harrier force and cancellation of the Nimrod MRA4,
can be attributed purely to financial pressure. Its
ironic though that in such straitened times activity
apparently continues to plug the maritime capability
gap activity fuelled by increasingly regular reports
in the press highlighting the implications of this lack
of capability5. This reinforces the view that there is
little or no appetite for giving up any more of the
RAFs current roles.
The foregoing effectively renders superfluous
any discussion as to which NATO nations could fill
any RAF force majeure capability gaps that might
emerge. A similar argument applies to the question
of where any savings accruing from loss of a role
might be applied. In the financial circumstances
likely to prevail in the foreseeable future, the reality
is that any savings arising from role abandonment
would accrue to a grateful Treasury.

www.aerosociety.com

Looking to the future, there may possibly be


merit in considering a concept that combines role
sharing with pooling. With an increasing number of
European nations looking to acquire MQ-9 Reaper,
in its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
(ISR) role, it could prove an appropriate vehicle to
explore this concept further.
How might such a concept work? First, it would
require an accessible pool of platforms; nations
would effectively have to guarantee availability by
holding them at readiness against the demands of
an emerging crisis, either military or humanitarian.
Given the demands on the UKs current Reaper
fleet, this in itself could create difficulties over
priorities. Second, in order to provide maximum
flexibility, any dedicated role equipment required
could be pooled centrally and made available as
necessary. Such an approach would have the benefit
of reducing operators support costs because
participating nations would not have to provide the
APRIL 2015

31

DEFENCE
role equipment necessary to cover all eventualities.
That said, aircraft would have to be fitted for but
not with various role equipment to render effective
the notion of a pool of ISR systems over and above
the standard MQ-9 Reaper fit. Such a pool might
include inter alia a common maritime system, e.g.
Selex ESs Seaspray 7500E multi-mode surveillance
radar and a long-range reconnaissance system,
such as the UTC DB-110 pod. It would be for
discussion whether system support, most obviously
in the form of mobile ground control stations
(MGCSs), could also be provided from a common
pool. Any such debate would beg the question as
to whether non-Reaper equipped nations could
buy into the concept. Nations unable or unwilling
to purchase MQ-9 systems themselves might still
wish to be part of a consortium to which any such
ISR system could conceivably become available in
a crisis. Possibilities here might include the initial
purchase of commonly available role and support
equipment, an annual contribution to Reaper
operators running costs or even the funding of
additional platforms and/or GCSs for other nations.
If such an arrangement could be brokered and
its a big if it could effectively reduce the cost to
nations already operating MQ-9 Reapers and swell
the size of any putative NATO unmanned ISR force.

Italian Air Force

Pooled ISR force

How would a
pooled European
ISR force
accommodate
armed (RAF) and
unarmed (France,
Italy) Reaper
operators?

A way forward?
Further questions would inevitably arise, e.g. over
levels of dependency on US support and the
implications of weaponry (RAF MQ-9s are currently
the only European air arm Reapers equipped with
weapons). The latter issue could be circumvented
by limiting the concept, and hence operations, solely
to ISR tasks. However, a related problem would
inevitable arise: the conditions associated with the
various FMS contracts. Then, there is the issue of
command and control. Some form of co-ordination/
management/HQ structure would be required,
possibly based on a lead nation concept. Among
its more difficult tasks would be the resolution
of priorities. However, with the right motivation,
leadership and hence direction, none of these
issues and inevitably there will be more should
prove insurmountable.
A NATO/European ISR force need not be
limited to MQ-9s alone. But with nations increasing
reluctance to commit manned platforms to a
potentially hostile environment, the unmanned
element of such an entity would offer advantages
that politicians might find hard to ignore. While this
may be something of an inchoate concept, it would
nevertheless seem worthy of further study. Two
options suggest themselves here: NATOs Joint Air
Power Competence Centre and the US-led Reaper
User Group9, whose first meeting took place in Paris
in January.

General Atomics
Aeronautical
Systems and
SENER have
partnered
together to offer
the Predator B
UAV to Spain.
The partners are
proposing an
unarmed variant
for Spains ISR
requirement.

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

This note began by looking at and dismissing role


sharing, yet paradoxically it concludes by suggesting
such a concept in all but name. This is not as
counter-intuitive as it sounds. The suggestion of
a NATO/European ISR force meets a number of
imperatives from a UK standpoint. As the main
MQ-9 Reaper operator in Europe, it would offer
the UK a mechanism to capitalise on a significant
investment in the RAFs platforms and negotiate
from a position of strength. Importantly, it would
also provide the UKs political leadership with a
crisis management tool that plays to the desire to
be seen to act positively and effectively in the face
of unforeseen events all of this without risking
lives, a not insignificant consideration in todays
febrile media environment. Who knows how much
such a force might have contributed in long-range
surveillance of the Ukraine, the hunt for MH370, the
missing Malaysian airliner, or even had the need
arisen to hunt for terrorists near Paris in the wake
of the Charlie Hebdo shootings?

References
1. The Aerospace Professional, September 2011, pp 28-31.
2. Summit Declaration, 5 September 2014, issued by NATO Heads of State
and Government at the North Atlantic Council meeting in Wales.
3. Obama to Cameron: maintain UK defence spending or weaken Nato, The
Daily Telegraph, 10 February 2015, online
4. Strategic Defence & Security Review 2015.
5. The Daily Telegraph report, 9 January 2015, that MoD has again been
forced to call for US military assistance to help track a suspected Russian
submarine.
6. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
7. Isis forces capture Jordanian pilot after plane came down in Syria,
Guardian online, 24 December 2014.
8. 'Better together, AEROSPACE, January 2015, pp 20-23.
9. The NATO Summit Declaration, issued 5 September 2014, noted that
several Allies are establishing a multinational MQ-9 remotely-piloted air
system users group, in particular to enhance interoperability and reduce
overall costs.

MoD

32

Summary

*The author is a defence consultant for General AtomicsAeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI).
The views expressed herein are those of the author alone; they
cannot be taken to imply the agreement or support of GA-ASI
or indeed as representing company policy.

AEROSPACE
Financial results

Airbus DS

Delivery of first
Malaysian A400M
can Airbus
recover from delays?

Ramp-up key
target for Airbus
A record backlog but can it now deliver? TIM ROBINSON reports
from Airbus Group's annual results in Munich.

hile Airbus Group reported


'better than expected' annual
results with record revenues,
EBIT (earnings before interest
and taxes) and an orderbook
for airliners that stretches a decade into the future,
a key challenge for the group will be a ramp-up of
production, said Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders,
at the European aerospace and defence group's
press conference on 27 February. My target for this
year, he said is two words: ramp-up.
This is not only related to commercial aircraft,
such as the A350 and A320 (which Airbus
announced will now go up to a rate of 50 a month in
2017) but also the A400M. Indeed, after the delays
in delivery to defence customers, Enders now says
that doubling the deliveries of A400Ms would be
a good target. After the management shake-up
earlier this year that has seen military aircraft head
Domingo Urena-Raso replaced by flight operations
test chief Fernando Alonso, as well as Pilar AlbiacMurillo put in place to oversee industrial production,
Airbus seems confident it can now get A400M back
on track.
Ramping up the A320 production line also
features the twin challenge of transitioning from the
A320ceo to the A320neo. Airbus has been studying
lessons from the automotive industry on how they
seamlessly switch to new models without the
production lines breaking stride. But, says Enders,
Its not a walk in the park adding; failure is not an
option. Indeed, such is the narrowbody demand, that
the company is reported to be studying the feasibilty
of rate 60.
On Airbus's new flagship A350, the company
expects to deliver around 15-16 XWBs this year,
following the delivery of the first and second A350s
to launch customer Qatar Airways.
Meanwhile, for the A380 there was good news
in that 2015 will be the year in which it breakseven at least on a per unit basis. Enders, though,
played down questions about whether a re-engined
A380neo makes sense especially when Emirates
had been reported to be dangling the prospect of
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Revenues: up 5%

607bn
EBIT: up 54%

4bn
Aircraft order
backlog

6,386

Orderbook worth

8575bn
Airliner deliveries
in 2014

629

200-instant A380neo sales. "Will we re-engine? If


we find it makes good business sense, certainly", he
said. One airliner ramping down, rather than up was
the A330, which will slow to six aircraft a month, as
the company prepares to transition to the A330neo.

Defence and Space


However, while the civil arm is sitting on a massive
backlog of 6,386 aircraft and captured 1,456 net
commercial aircraft orders in 2014, the defence
business still remains challenging. Despite ongoing
conflicts and crisis, military spending in Airbus DSs
home market of Europe is still falling and Enders
appeared frustrated in his attempt to sell defence to
European nations, Germany in particular. Revenues
and earnings declined in Airbus DS in 2014
despite space highlights, such as ESA's Rosetta
probe and six Ariane 5 launches. Airbus also took
a one-off 521m hit on the A400M programme
due to delays although this was offset by the
proceeds of selling off nearly 10% of its stake in
Dassault Group.
On Airbus DS's unmanned systems future,
responding to a question from AEROSPACE,
Enders revealed that the company had not yet
abandoned its long-running quest to convince
European nations to invest in a MALE UAV project
to provide an alternative to the bestselling Reaper.
Finally. on the cusp of the reveal of the new
Airbus Helicopters H160 (see H is for Helicopter
p 34), the company reported deliveries of 471
rotorcraft in 2014, along with the successful entries
into service of the EC175, EC145 T2 and EC135
T3 last year.

Summary

FAILURE IS NOT
AN OPTION
Tom Enders
Chief Executive Officer,
Airbus Group

www.aerosociety.com

The company expects deliveries to be slightly higher


in 2015 and also increased commercial aircraft
orders. However, it also faces a tricky strategic
decision about the future of the A380. Invest more
money and re-engine it, or hold its nerve and stay
the course?
APRIL 2015

33

HELICOPTERS
Heli-Expo Show report

ANDREW DRWIEGA reports on the Heli-Expo 2015 international


helicopter industry show in Orlando, Florida.

The newly rebranded Airbus


Helicopters H160 will be
powered by two 1,100shp
Turbomeca Arrano engines.
The helicopter features a
Spheriflex bearingless main
rotor hub enhanced with
composite thermoplastic
technology to reduce weight
and increase damage
tolerance. The Blue Edge
technology main rotor
blades are stated to reduce
sound levels by around 50%
and the Fenestron shrouded
tail rotor, the largest ever
on an Airbus Helicopter,
has been double-canted 12
degrees to enhance antitorque performance. At the
rear of the tail boom before
the tail there is a biplane
stabiliser which reportedly
improves performance and
handling.

elicopter industry professionals


gathered in Orlando, Florida, to attend
Heli-Expo 2015 from 3-5 March to the
backdrop of months of decline in the
worlds oil price. This has had a direct
knock-on effect within this sector of aviation that
ranks the offshore energy business as one of its
staples with competition fierce in the battle to win
market share.
A range of new helicopters from leading
manufacturers have been specifically tilted towards
the offshore energy industry. Airbus Helicopters
recently certified H175, AgustaWestlands AW169
and Bell Helicopters 525 Relentless have all been
positioned in the offshore energy support category.
The general view, however, is that while some
offshore research rigs had been closed and the
forward push for new fields had slowed, nearly 80%
of oil production facilities had no change and the
demand was still there. There is also a growing blue
light (parapublic and emergency services) market
in areas such as the Middle East, Asia and South
America.

A Drwiega

H is for Helicopter
production is based on new techniques.
The H160 is a fully-composite helicopter which
features the companys in-house design digital
Helionix avionics suite, said to reduce pilot workload,
enhance situational awareness and improve flight
envelope protection.
There are currently two prototypes, with the first
powering on taking place at the end of November
2014. First flight is planned for later this year with
entry into service predicted for 2018.
During the event, Faury also announced the new
designation policy for all Airbus Helicopters in-line
with the corporate rebranding. According to the
company: the AS and EC letters for in-production
helicopters are replaced by H. Military versions will
be identified with an M after the model name.

Test pilots talk tilt-rotors

H160 data:

Weight

12

passengers

160kt
cruise speed

34

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

The major launch at the convention, and there


always seems to be one, was that made by Airbus
Helicopters which unmasked the X4 medium twin
helicopter, now known at the H160. This is basically
the successor to the H155 and Dauphin family.
During the big unveiling on the first morning of the
event, company President, Guillaume Faury, said
that the H160 was the first helicopter to be brought
to market under the new Airbus brand. It had
been developed over five years but its testing and

A Drwiega

5.5-6t

X4 becomes H160

Access to flight test engineers is usually


quite restricted but the two who delivered
AgustaWestlands AW609 tilt-rotor to the Heli-Expo
show, Englishman Paul Edwards (right) and his
American colleague Dan Wells (left) were on hand
to brief attendees on the final day of the show.
Edwards, Wells and Italian colleague Pietro

Robinson rises

Bell Helicopters

Bell Helicopters signed a


letter of intent (LOI) with
Waypoint Leasing (Ireland)
for 20 Bell 525 Relentless
helicopters with options for
additional aircraft.

Robinson
Helicopter turned
out 329 last year
compared to nearly two
hundred more the year before
(523). Now, he said, the weekly output is
around one R22, three R66s and up to five
R44s.
One of the problems last year concerned
the companys exposure to foreign sales and the
uncertain economic climate that had disrupted the
flow. But, with new momentum, the company signed
a deal at Heli-Expo with Rolls-Royce for the supply
of 1,000 RR300 engines over the next decade.
With the success of the R66, the company
is designing a cargo hook for it that will be rated
at 1,200lb. There are now 468 Robinson service
centres worldwide.

Return of the K-Max


As a footnote, Kaman Aerospace is nearing the
threshold of the reopening of its K-1200 K-Max
production line. The company wisely saved and kept
in good condition its machine tools after the original
production line closed in 2003 after producing only
38 of the intermeshing heavy lift helicopters. Terry
Fogarty, general manager of Kamans UAS Group,
said that only a few more deposits were required for
the company to begin production.
An unmanned K-Max, controlled by Lockheed
Martins optionally piloted software, had a very
successful and well-publicised deployment to
Afghanistan. The company is also conducting a
second unmanned aerial firefighting demonstration
in June this year.

Elbit Systems

Kurt Robinson, son of industry icon Frank Robinson


(now retired), said that his company was back on
track producing a better volume of
helicopters
this year after
a dip
in 2014.
Elbit Systems took the
opportunity of the show to
launch its new Helicopter
ClearVision Enhanced Flight
Vision System for rotary-wing
platforms. Comprised of
enhanced vision technology
and a lightweight wearable
headup display (HUD), it
provides helicopter pilots
with increased situational
awareness, enhanced safety
and continuous flight in
head-up operation.

S Levy

AW609 production
prototype for display at
Heli-Expo and, with the help of a
small tail wind, explained Edwards, had been
transiting at around 350 knots.
We can go 25,000ft and get there
almost as fast as a turboprop. We are
pressurised and the aircraft will be certified
as dual-pilot IFR, but the way it flies we could
push for single IFR in the future.
There are three other AW609s; the second
is in Italy while the third, when it is delivered to
Philadelphia, will be used for other certification
including icing. The fourth will feature a new cockpit.
Edwards stated of the AW609 that: despite a
somewhat challenging childhood, it will be the first
commercial tilt-rotor and will change the nature of
flight as we know it. He said that AgustaWestland
is now the sole owner of the project (at the original
buy-out from Bell Helicopter engineers from the
original team were seconded to ensure that any
unforeseen problems during development could be
solved by people with well-founded experience).
The certification programme has been
somewhat of a challenge, as Edwards revealed:
This is viewed as neither an airframe nor a
helicopter so it will be certified, in a powered lift
category. We have had to help the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). Although they have taken
a lot from Federal Aviation Regulations FAR 25
(Airworthiness category: transport category aircraft)
and FAR 29 (Airworthiness standards: transport
category rotorcraft) but we did have to write some
of our own specific paragraphs.

We will have complete icing clearance as the


blades will be heated. It will carry nine passengers
and go up to 18,000lb max all up weight, Edwards
explained. The test pilots have now amassed over
1,200 flight hours and the drive for FAA certification
continues, with the aim of achieving this by the end
of 2017. The first production line, announced during
the show to be at Philadelphia, will open by 2018.

Among the helicopters on


show was this Sikorsky
S-92 in the livery of the UK
Coastguard to be operated
by Bristow as part of its new
SAR contract.

S Levy

AgustaWestland

Venanzi had just been awarded the Iven C Kincheloe


award by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots
for the successful power-off conversions and
autorotation trials that were completed on the
AW609 between March and April 2014. The tests
were conducted as part of
the aircrafts certification
activities and included
full windmilling
and autorotation
envelopes, the first for
any civil tilt-rotor.
The two
pilots had
delivered
the US
Dallasbased

Not all the helicopters on


show were manned. This
twin rotor Hawk UAV from
DPI UAV Systems was
customised for pest control.

Heli-Expo 2016 will be staged at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky, on 1-3 March 2016. It is the first time that the event has been held
at this recently expanded facility. However, its more northern location compared to the usual Orlando, Las Vegas and Anaheim event sites, given the bad
weather that the northern US was experiencing during Heli-Expo this year, have given exhibitors and visitors alike not a little cause for concern.

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www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

35

CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Continuing Professional Development

Aiming high
with CPD

RAeS Director of Membership and Professional Standards LYNN


BEATTIE, explains how Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
can keep your aerospace, aviation or space career on track.

s an RAeS member, you have signed


up to the Societys Professional Code
of Conduct, set out in the By-Laws,
which says:

The Code of Professional Conduct of the Society


places a personal obligation on its members to act
with integrity and in the public interest.
In discharging their professional duties, members
should:
1. Act with due skill, care and diligence and with
proper regard for professional standards.
In line with the requirements of all
Professional Bodies, compliance with this
means that a member should take all
necessary steps to maintain and
develop their knowledge and
competence appropriately.
For a registered engineer,
this is more fully set
out, as engineers
and engineering

technicians must, from the point of registration,


demonstrate their commitment, to maintaining their
competence throughout their career.
The accepted shorthand for the actions you
take to keep up your professional standards, is
Continuing Professional Development (CPD); it is
arguably built into the DNA of a professional.
For its part, the Society seeks to provide you with
a wide range of means of support for you in this.
This AEROSPACE magazine, with its technical and
other content, the vast range of seminars
and events provided both at HQ and in
the Branches and Divisions, the online
recording tool, mycareerpath and so forth
are all designed to help you not only to
keep up to date but to meet the changing
professional environment and developing
needs of your career.
To state the obvious; in your working life, if
you dont go forwards, you go backwards. With the
emergence of new demands and priorities, changes
in the law or Regulations, CPD goes on all day, every
day regardless of whether we plan or recognise it.
Every time you face a new challenge, encounter a
new technology, talk to a client or read the technical
press, you are engaged in relevant learning. When
you change job roles or move employers, there is
an even steeper learning curve that requires you to
bring your knowledge up to the required standard.

How should we approach CPD?


What you know about your own strengths and
weaknesses will strongly influence the direction you
take: sometimes an annual performance appraisal
will prompt this kind of self-examination and will
throw up suggestions or even requirements for your
future progression.
However, it would be a mistake to use CPD
just to fill the gaps in what you know and can

36

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

do. Far better to try to ensure that building on


your strengths drives some of the development
activities you choose. Your learning preferences will
influence the types of CPD activities which attract
you. Its useful to remember Honey and Mumfords
classification of four distinct types of learner;
some people fall into more than one category, but
generally one predominates. Activists like to develop
skills by learning on the job with others and always
seek new experiences. Reflectors tend to prefer
observation and data collection, working with a
mentor and thinking about articles and case studies.
Theorists respond best to conventional structured
teaching and learning, with a logical step-by-step
approach. Pragmatists enjoy work-based learning to
try out new ideas and are natural problem-solvers,
and so forth. How do you learn best?

CPD activities
Fortunately, the variety of learning styles is matched
by a wide range of activities available and its
generally accepted that, far from professional
development being restricted to formal study, the
number and type of learning opportunities are
only limited by our imagination. Some of the most
common activities include:
on-the-job learning
RAeS Branch, Divisional or Specialist Group
meetings
academic studies
RAeS committee work
writing papers and articles
occasional lecturing
flexible or e-learning
assisting and supporting others
private reading and study
in-house training programmes
conferences and seminars

We can see, therefore, that


undertaking CPD is virtually
unavoidable and is a natural
professional trait. But an important
consideration is how to get the most out of
the effort you put in.

Get the most out of your CPD


What can increase the value of what youre doing
day-to-day? The ideal would be for you to become
a reflective professional. By this we mean taking
the extra step to engage in the well-established
cycle, a virtuous circle that ensures you maintain
and enhance your professional knowledge and
competence on an on-going basis while also getting
the greatest benefit out of what you do.
The planning and review cycle consists of four
distinct phases and is the same for professionals
from most backgrounds, disciplines and working
environments and applies at most ages and stages
of your career.
The first step is to consider where you are,
what you need to do or find out to help you with the
current demands of your job role or to prepare for
the next step on your career path; reflect on how
best to address the need which of the activities
listed above would be best for you. Then plan to
achieve this may require a short, medium or long
term action plan.
This is how it looks:

Identify
Your goals

Determine
Just taking as an example of one of these, CPD
opportunities at work might include:
attending technical presentations of new
products/components
interaction with professionals from other
disciplines, for example at project meetings
leading and facilitating meetings and
presentations of all kinds
understanding the demands of new regulations or
legislation
listening to a new clients brief, and devising a
plan to meet it
teaching, training, coaching and mentoring others,
for example, new recruits
getting to grips with a new technology or aspect
of ICT
managing a dispute or conflict situation
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Review

The skills and


knowledge
you need

and evaluate

CPD plan and


review cycle

Record

Plan

Your learning

to achieve

Log

Your
activities

www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

37

Lets look at this CPD action plan in


more detail:

Identify your goals

The answer to the question: What do I aim


to achieve from professional development?
comes from an analysis of the current situation.
You should produce an outline statement of what
you are aiming for, and the timeframe for achieving
it.

Determine the skills and knowledge you


need
Determining the skills and knowledge you need
requires an awareness of what your current or
target job demands a good appreciation of your
strengths and weaknesses.

Plan to achieve

The plan you draw up should take into account


the learning opportunities available, the time and
resources you have at your disposal and a realistic
projected date for completion. You should be
aware of all the demands on your time and energy,
including those outside work, and ensure that rest
and recreation are included.

Log activity and record achievement

Logging your activities and recording your learning


are really two distinct activities. The first requires
a simple factual record of what you did, when and
where, sufficient to trigger your recollection of the
event: an entry in your diary or on mycareerpath
may be all that is needed. The second requires more
thought: what have you actually achieved in terms of
new skills or knowledge?

Review and evaluate

The Review stage asks you to compare the learning


you have achieved with the goals you set yourself:
how does what you have done affect your future
aims and plans? Now youre ready to go round
again
In addition to facilitating this cycle, your records
of CPD activity and learning will:

MAKE THE
MOST OF
THE SOCIETY
ITS YOUR
PROFESSIONAL
HOME

38

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

be the basis of your application if you are working


towards upgrading your membership of
the Society or applying for registration as an
Engineering Technician, Incorporated or
Chartered Engineer.
enable you to compile an up-to-date CV swiftly
and accurately
help you prepare for your annual appraisal at
work or elsewhere
satisfy the Society that you are meeting your
professional obligations to remain competent
help you win new business or a new post

What is involved in recording CPD?


As we have said, it is helpful to keep records of
what you have done but it is even more useful to
record what you have actually learned. The process
of capturing learning, in one format or another (on
paper or electronically), helps you to reap the full
benefit of what you have planned and done and to
order your thoughts and experiences so you can
build on them.
When considering the form that these records
will take, you should take into account that there are
numerous models to work from most share the
same basic features and perform a similar function.
To assist you, the RAeS provides, free of charge
via the website, an online tool called mycareerpath.
Although it was originally developed for the use of
engineers, it is also suitable for the planning and
recording of anyones CPD. It is currently being
enhanced to ensure that it is even easier not only to
maintain your records but to share the report with a
mentor or line manager, for example, and to produce
reports that can be used in a variety of situations.
Registered engineers who are still actively
working, should also take note that new guidance
issued recently by the Engineering Council will
require the Society to monitor a sample of registrant
members CPD records more information on this
will be made available on these pages and on the
website in the coming months.

Get the most out of your RAeS


membership
To help get you started, the Society offers a wealth
of opportunities for maintaining and increasing your
professional knowledge. These include:
A comprehensive range of events, seminars
and conferences including named lectures and
Corporate Partner events is available throughout
the year with topics covering all aspects of
aeronautics and aerospace. For the comprehensive

Getting involved with RAeS


Specialist Groups or Committees can
help boost your CPD.

The RAeS
offers a wealth
of opportunities
to maintain and
increase your
professional
knowledge
don't miss out!
events diary, go to www.aerosociety.com/Events
RAeS publications are recognised as the
definitive and authoritative works in the field. They
provide accessible information on a range of topics.
There are two journals published each month
plus a third online AEROSPACE, the Society's
flagship publication, a features-led guide to the
global aerospace industry; The Aeronautical Journal,
containing peer-reviewed papers covering the broad
range of aeronautical and space sciences; and The
Journal of Aeronautical History, a web-based journal
containing refereed papers of an historical nature
covering all aspects of aerospace.
Other information sources are too numerous
to list but include podcasts, Specialist Papers,
Discussion Papers and the Aerospace Insight Blog.
Go to: www.aerosociety.com/News/

registration with the Engineering Council (UK).


Contact membership@aerosociety.com
RAeSs membership is a worldwide network
of aerospace professionals. There are currently
approximately 21,000 members active with Divisions
in Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South
Africa and Branches in Brussels, Cyprus, Dublin,
Hamburg, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Montreal, Munich,
Paris, Riyadh, Seattle, Singapore, Toulouse, UAE,
Washington DC and Xiamen. All of these offer their
own wide range of seminars, technical and named
lectures.

So where have we got?


Youre a professional, become more reflective; tap
into the vast store of knowledge the Society and
your fellow members have to offer. Participate in
the quest to push the boundaries of that knowledge
through getting involved in your nearest local Branch
or Division. Log on to mycareerpath and begin to
order your thoughts about where you are and where
you want to be going professionally. Plan, do, record
evaluate its very inspiring. Youll be surprised at
just how much you know and how much you learn
each day. Make the most of the Society its your
professional home and home is a good place to learn
and develop among people just as enthusiastic and
who perhaps know more than you do or who would
benefit from the knowledge and expertise you have
to share. CPD whats not to like?

Specialist Groups and more


Specialist Groups which cover a truly impressive
spectrum of professional interests on offer from
Aerospace Medicine to Weapon Systems and
Technology. In addition to networking opportunities,
discussion fora and events, the Specialist Groups
produce publications of their own. See the Society
website for more information: www.aerosociety.
com/News/Specialist-Publications
National Aerospace Library (NAL): if youre
at a loss as to where to find information on any
aeronautical topic, address your enquiry to the NAL,
one of the world's most extensive libraries devoted
to the development of aeronautics, aviation and
aerospace technology. Based in Farnborough, its
treasures are accessible to members wherever they
are in the world through the online catalogue: www.
aerosociety.cirqahosting.com/
As an accrediting professional body, the RAeS
maintains close links with colleges and universities
offering aeronautical education at diploma, degree
and postgraduate level worldwide and can advise
members seeking advice on further study. We also
provide expert guidance on selecting the right level
of qualified membership for you and then offer
the support and assistance required throughout
your application process. In addition the RAeS also
enables its engineer members to seek professional
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NOVEMBER 2014

21

Conference Proceedings

UAS Group

CONTINUE YOUR
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2015 UAS GROUP ACTIVITY


ARE YOU INTERESTING IN THE FUTURE OF UAS
OPERATIONS?

ACCESS CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS


Airworthiness and UAS
Workshop
7 May 2015

Continue your professional


development with a wealth of
information available through
our conference proceedings.

Civil Unmanned Aerial


Vehicles: Societal Impacts
Workshop
11 June 2015

If you were unable to attend


one of our conferences but
would like to access the latest
research and key findings, our
conference proceedings are
now available in online format,
where you can access papers,
presentations and speaker
audio*.

RPAS Today
Presidents Conference
7-8 October 2015

www.aerosociety.com/proceedings

www.aerosociety.com/events

For more information please contact the Conference & Events department on

Sponsorship opportunities

020 7670 4345 or by email at conference@aerosociety.com

Sponsorship opportunities are available for both workshops and also for the 2015
Presidents Conference.
Please contact conference@aerosociety.com for further details.

* Please view our website for conferences that have associated proceedings and
associated costings.

AEROSPACE
GOLF DAY

FOR INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE MEMBERS


FRILFORD HEATH GOLF COURSE, OXFORDSHIRE / WEDNESDAY 1 JULY 2015
18 hole Stableford Points
competition

Join us at our 2015 Golf Day for some


healthy competition with fellow golfers
in the aviation community.

9 hole Texas Scramble


competition

This event is ideal for networking in a


relaxed and informal setting.

Individual and corporate


team prizes

Enter a corporate 4-ball team or opt


to be teamed up with other individual
players.

Lunch, refreshments and


afternoon tea
Optional Social Supper on
30 June 2015

For further details please apply to:


Gail Ward
Events Manager Corporate and
Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
T +44 (0)1491 629912
E gail.ward@aerosociety.com

Afterburner

www.aerosociety.com

Diary
28 April
Whittle Lecture
Commercial Aviation Trends
Past, Present and Future
Sir Roy McNulty, Chairman,
Gatwick Airport Limited

Gatwick Airport control tower. Gatwick Airport.

42 Message from RAeS


- President
Recently I have also attended several events in
London hosted by the Royal Society, the Royal
Academy of Engineering and the Aeronautical
Technology Institute that, in different but
complementary ways, have promoted science,
engineering and the aerospace industry.

- Chief Executive
The Society and the Airport Operators Association
jointly hosted an Aviation Lunch recently to discuss
a range of issues, including airport capacity, in the
presence of the Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill
MP and the Shadow Minister Gordon Marsden
MP. There were around 40 senior industrialists in
attendance with the discussion being typically full
and frank! That the Royal Aeronautical Society
is now seen as an increasingly important neutral
venue for meetings of this nature is to our credit,
and a good use of our important asset.
Find us on Twitter

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44 Book Reviews

52 Diary

IHS Janes All The Worlds Aircraft, From Lysander to


Lightning, The Men Who Gave Us Wings and Bold
They Rise.

Find out when and where around the world the


latest aeronautical and aerospace lectures and
events are happening.

47 Library Additions

55 Corporate Partners

Books submitted to the National Aerospace Library.

Three new members joined the Societys Corporate


Partner Scheme.

48 Minutes of the 149th


Annual General Meeting
50 Obituaries
Vic Rogers and Ollie Heath.

51 Weybridge Branch Lecture

56 Elections
New Society members elected in the past month.

57 Fellowship presentation
The Chief of the Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force
was presented with his Fellowship certificate in a
ceremony at the PAF Air War College.

Andrew Matter of BAE Systems describes the two


new Queen Elizabeth-Class aircraft carriers, the first
of which will make its maiden voyage in mid 2016.

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APRIL 2015

41

Afterburner

Message from RAeS


OUR PRESIDENT
Bill Tyack

WHILE THIS
REPORT IS
CLEARLY ABOUT
ENGINEERING IN
THE UK, I MAKE
NO APOLOGY
FOR MENTIONING
IT BECAUSE I
BELIEVE THAT
THE LESSONS
PROBABLY
APPLY TO MOST
ECONOMIES...

In the last three months I have had the pleasure of


visiting seven Branches of the Society Gatwick,
Heathrow, Loughborough, Cambridge, Farnborough,
Yeovil and Preston for their prestige Named
Lectures. On every visit I have been warmly
welcomed and I have been impressed by three
things: the quality of the speakers and the
relevance of their topics; the commitment of the
Branch Committee members; and the enthusiasm
of the audiences. The lectures included the 60th
Henson and Stringfellow Lecture at Yeovil, which is
an example of the longevity of some of the
Societys Named Lectures. However, I also attended
the inaugural Elfyn Richards Lecture at
Loughborough, which shows that Branches
continue to develop and enhance their programmes.
I plan to visit another eight Branches before I
relinquish the role of President and I wish that the
schedules and my diary had allowed me to visit even
more Branches during the year.
Recently I have also attended several events in
London hosted by the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Aerospace Technology
Institute that, in different but complementary ways,
have promoted science, engineering and the
aerospace industry. I was particularly struck by the
independent report on the economic impact of
engineering in the UK1 published on 2 March 2015
by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research

Council (EPSERC) and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). While this report is clearly about
engineering in the UK, I make no apology for mentioning it because I believe that the lessons probably
apply to most economies around the world. Therefore,
I would encourage engineers in particular, wherever
they live, to read at least the summary document
Engineering for a successful nation, which can be
found on the RAEng website: www.raeng.org.uk.
To quote from its introduction:
Engineering is central to the well-being and economic
development of every nation. Creative and dynamic, it
evolves to meet the needs of human civilisation.
Engineering is pervasive in our modern society,
enabling every sector from communication and
entertainment to finance and healthcare, as well as its
more visible applications in construction, manufacturing and transport. Progress is driven, as it has always
been, by human curiosity and experimentation but
resources are finite and the art of engineering is to
devise affordable solutions to problems.
For those of us working to inspire the next
generation of engineers I can think of no better point
of departure.
1
Assessing the economic returns of engineering research and
postgraduate training in the UK, by the Technopolis Group, March
2015, published by the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

150th Annual General Meeting


of the Royal Aeronautical Society
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 150th 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 Technologists will be held on Tuesday, 19 May 2015, at 1800 hours in the offices of the Society, No.4 Hamilton Place,
London W1J 7BQ, UK.

AGENDA
1. To read the Notice convening the Meeting.
2. To receive and consider the Minutes of the 149th Annual General Meeting held on 21 May 2014 (see pp 48 and 49).
3. 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 2014.
4. To appoint the Auditors for the year 2015.
5. To receive the names of those appointed to the Board of Trustees and those newly-elected to Council for the years
2015-2018.

42

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE


Simon C Luxmoore

I AM DELIGHTED
TO ANNOUNCE
THAT, WITH
EFFECT FROM
MID-APRIL,
SIMON WHALLEY
WILL BE JOINING
THE SOCIETY
AS OUR HEAD
OF POLICY AND
PUBLIC AFFAIRS

I am delighted to announce that, with effect


from mid-April, Simon Whalley will be joining
the Society as our Head of Policy and Public
Affairs. In this role Simon will be responsible for
co-ordinating policy activities and enhancing
the profile and image of the Society by both
preparing and co-ordinating papers on a range
of aerospace issues, managing the increasing
number of media enquiries we receive and
enhancing communication and links with
various interested parties across industry and
government.
The arrival of certain annual events remind you
of another passing year, none more so than the
annual Meggitt Lecture hosted by the Coventry
Branch. Under the watchful eye of Secretary
Ron Carr AMRAeS, this was once again an
excellent event and I congratulate the Branch
committee for the events ongoing success, while
also recognising Meggitt Vice President Roy
Deakin for his continuing support for the Society.
On behalf of the Trustees, the Societys staff are
preparing a plan for the future of the National
Aerospace Library. Like many organisations
with libraries, we face the challenge of rising
costs and falling visitor numbers, which is
unsustainable if it is to remain fit for purpose in
meeting todays requirements. Clearly we have
a responsibility for a wonderful collection and
are therefore looking at a range of options to
develop the library services to provide value
and benefit to a greater number of members.
Following extensive study, it seems likely that
a solution may well be to return the core of the
NAL collection to No.4 Hamilton Place, together
with the Librarians, and to store the remainder
elsewhere with a professional retrieval service
on request. Many organisations have adopted

this solution with great success but there is


much work to be done by way of preparation so
as to ensure that the appropriate cataloguing
and other support systems are in place prior to
any transfer.
The Society and the Airport Operators
Association jointly hosted an Aviation Lunch
recently to discuss a range of issues, including
airport capacity, in the presence of the Aviation
Minister Robert Goodwill MP and the Shadow
Minister Gordon Marsden MP. There were
around 40 senior industrialists in attendance
with the discussion being typically full and frank!
That the Royal Aeronautical Society is now seen
as an increasingly important neutral venue for
meetings of this nature is to our credit, and a
good use of our important asset.
The Finance Committee, under the leadership
of Jane Middleton FRAeS, recently conducted
a tender for the Societys external auditing
function. This is considered good governance
and was planned by the Finance Committee
some 18 months ago. A number of applicants
were considered at various stages of the tender
process and the outcome is that the Finance
Committee will recommend to the AGM the
reappointment of Haysmacintyre with a rotation
of the senior audit partner.
I am absolutely delighted that Sir Michael
Marshall CBE FRAeS has accepted our
invitation to be the Societys Guest of Honour at
the Annual Banquet in May. Evidently so too are
those quickly booking their tables and individual
tickets for the event. I am conscious of the need
to recognise all aspects of aviation in our roll
of honour but no one could possibly doubt Sir
Michaels entitlement to be our Guest of Honour
in 2015.

2015 RAeS COUNCIL ELECTIONS

HAVE YOU VOTED IN THE RAeS COUNCIL


ELECTION 2015 YET?
Thank you
for taking the
time to vote
in the 2015
RAeS Council
Elections
Find us on Twitter

The Royal Aeronautical Society Council Election


2015 opened for voting on 25 February 2015. All
voting members who have an email address
registered with the Society will have received an
email notice enabling you to vote. If you believe
that you are a voting member but did not receive
an email, or you do not have a valid email address
registered with the Society then please contact
Find us on LinkedIn

Find us on Facebook

www.aerosociety.com

our election provider, mi-voice, on +44 (0)2380


762876 (we would advise you check your email
accounts junk folder, in case your email settings
determine this email as being spam).
Please note that voting will close at 9 am on
Tuesday, 19 May 2015.

APRIL 2015

43

Afterburner

Book Reviews
IHS JANES ALL THE WORLDS AIRCRAFT
Development & Production
2014-2015
Edited by P Jackson et al
IHS Global Limited, Sentinel House, 163 Brighton
Road, Coulsdon, Surrey CR5 2YH, UK. 2014. 1024pp.
Illustrated. 740. ISBN 978-0-7106-3093-3.
This excellent reference book contains listings of all
known powered aircraft that are currently in, or are
anticipating, production in 2014, with the exception
of home-builds and rapidly dismantled ultralights.
The listings are organised by country and then
by manufacturer. Each manufacturers entry begins
with an introduction that typically includes address
and telephone numbers, the names of the Chief
Executive and some senior company officers, a
short history, a list of subsidiaries and locations.
Entries for individual aircraft typically include
information on type, key events, current versions,
customers, cost, design features, flying controls,
structure, landing gear, power plant, accommodation,
systems, avionics, equipment and armament,
followed by a table of specifications which include
external and internal dimensions, areas of wings,
tail and control surfaces, weights and performance
measures such as maximum and cruise speeds,
range, maximum altitude, climb times and field
length. Photographs of each aircraft are provided

and usually a drawing


with top, front and side
views. The amount of
information varies a little
from entry to entry but
is usually remarkably
detailed, especially
for the more common
aircraft.
In addition to the
manufacturer and
aircraft listings, there
are lists of aircraft by
type, international registration prefixes, air-launched
missiles, aero-engines, propellers, aircraft floats,
emergency parachute systems, official records, first
flights in 2013 and an aerospace calendar listing
significant events in 2013. There is a glossary of
aerospace terms and, of course, there is an index to
help you find a particular record rapidly.
There is a wealth of information gathered here
which makes this book a valuable resource for
many people involved in aviation from engineers to
business development managers, market analysts,
students and enthusiasts.
Craig J Mead
CEng MRAeS
Aero Acoustics

A US Air Force crew ferried


the 24th C-5M Super Galaxy
from the Lockheed Martin
facilities in Marietta, Georgia,
on 12 February. Lockheed Martin.

The amount
of information
varies a little
from entry
to entry but
is usually
remarkably
detailed

FROM LYSANDER TO LIGHTNING


Teddy Petter, Aircraft
Designer
By G Davies
The History Press, The Mill, Brimscombe Port,
Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 2QG, UK. 2014.
160pp. Illustrated. 14.99. ISBN 978-0-75249211-7.
At last the Petter story has been told in full and the
foreword by David Gibbings of this excellent longawaited book states that it is not simply a catalogue
of aircraft design and problems solved, it also
relates a tragic human story.
Glyn Davies not only explores Petters life but
also expands on the nature of his remarkable
aircraft and why they are so legendary. The
Lysander, Canberra, Lightning and Folland Gnat are
household names in the world of aviation. They were
each radical in design, they were all successful in
Britain and overseas and they were all born of the
genius of Teddy Petter.

44

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

This book tells the story of Petters life and


family, with his ability to inspire the loyalty of
his teams, as well as his tendencies and his
eccentricities, right down to his retirement to a
religious commune in France and his ultimate
tragic death in 1968 from an untreated stomach
ulcer. The author clearly demonstrates a thorough
knowledge of his subject and there is a wealth of
hitherto unpublished material about Teddy Petter,
together with excellent technical information about
his aircraft, supported by many photographs and
technical drawings.
As Westland is celebrating 100 years of
continuous operation as an aircraft company in
2015, this book will be a fitting biography of its
founders son and, once in your hands, you will find
this will be a very difficult book to put down. There
will certainly never be another man quite like Teddy
Petter.
Derek N James
IEng AMRAeS

Westland Welkin I, DX318.


The Welkin was Petters
last design for Westland to
be built before his move to
English Electric. RAeS (NAL).

THE MEN WHO GAVE US WINGS


Britain and the Aeroplane
1796-1914
By P Reese
Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Books, 47
Church Street, Barnsley, S Yorkshire S70 2AS, UK.
2014. 252pp. Illustrated. 25. ISBN 978-1-84884848-1.
As indicated by its sub-title, this book opens with
the first really serious research into flight and
aerodynamic theory which was pursued, somewhat
by fits and starts, throughout the nineteenth century,
and ends with the deployment of the first RFC
squadrons to France at the start of WW1.
Beginning with Sir George Cayley, the story
continues by way of his successors Stringfellow
and Henson, Wenham and Brearey, Chanute, Maxim
and finally Pilcher as, by theory and experiment,
they grope their way, individually and successionally,
towards the ultimate goal. This duly achieved, albeit
on the other side of the Atlantic, the book is able to
turn its attention to its main purpose: an account of
the founding of the British air service and not least
the struggle by its various protagonists to overcome
ignorance of and prejudice against the aeroplane on
the part of both politicians and generals.
The extensive bibliography, as well as the great
number of references and quotations from earlier
published works which appear in the text, testify to
the considerable research which has made the book
a detailed and valuable record of this involved tale.
If it has a failing, it would lie, in this writers opinion,
in the lack of attention indeed, tribute paid
to those earlier military aeronauts, the balloonists,
who, no less than the aviators who followed them,
had had to struggle against the conservatism and
prejudice of their seniors towards an uncomfortably
exotic newcomer to the battlefield.
Men such as Grover and Templer, Heath and his

Beginning with
Sir George
Cayley, the
story continues
by way of his
successors
Stringfellow
and Henson,
Wenham
and Brearey,
Chanute,
Maxim and
finally Pilcher

Top: Maxims steam-driven biplane test rig of 1894. Above left:


Frederick W Brearey, Secretary of the Aeronautical Society
of Great Britain from its formation in 1866 until his death in
1896. Above right: Percy Pilcher with his Hawk glider. Below:
Stringfellow 1886 biplane model. All RAeS (NAL).

fellow Balloon Section commanders in the South


African War and, of course, John Capper, who
commanded the Balloon School as the aeroplane
was arriving, may seem to have been yesterdays
men, but they too had played their part. By the
creation and development of the first British military
air unit, they presented their winged descendants
with an existing nucleus, firmly air-minded, around
which its newer and more effective replacement
could be constructed. They too ought to be counted
among the men who gave us wings.
However, the main thrust of the book is
concerned with the aeroplane and its establishment
as a major component of modern war in this country.
In this it achieves its purpose in a readable manner,
greatly enlivened as it is by the inclusion of minibiographies of the many personalities who took part,
such as the apparent dinosaur General Sir William
Nicholson, the engagingly maverick and aerophile
MP Noel Pemberton-Billing and, in contrast, the
hardheaded entrepreneur Sir George White, who
saw in the aeroplane, not romance or adventure, but
a serious business proposition, as they and others
either assisted or hindered the ultimate outcome.
Malcolm Hall
CEng MRAeS MCIL

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APRIL 2015

45

Afterburner

Book Reviews
BOLD THEY RISE
The Space Shuttle Early Years
1972-1986
By D Hitt and H R Smith
University of Nebraska Press, 1111 Lincoln Mall,
Lincoln NE 68588-0630, USA. 2014. Distributed
by Combined Academic Publishers Ltd, Windsor
House, Cornwall Road, Harrogate HG1 2PW, UK.
326pp. Illustrated. 23.99. [25% discount available
to RAeS members via www.combinedacademic.
co.uk using CS314FLIGHT promotion code]. ISBN
978-0-8032-2648-7.
This is a lightweight read but with some insightful
quotes for anyone with an interest in this era.
The preface makes it clear that the book is not a
technical volume and that it fits into the Outward
Odyssey series (A Peoples History of Spaceflight)
by relating the human experience of the Space
Shuttle programme. It does this by drawing
extensively on the NASA Johnson Space Center
Oral History Project, such that at least 40% of
the text is made up of direct quotations. On the
positive side, the book is well-edited with only one
typo spotted and the foreword by Bob Crippen
provides thoughtful context. On the negative side,
the 33 photographs are all in black and white, of
poor quality and do not really add anything to the
narrative; quotes are reproduced verbatim so the
often mangled syntax grates after a while and there
is no depth to any of the topics covered, a matter
of necessity given the books scope. You are left
with the impression that it was very much a case
of hanging a large number of quotes onto a loose
framework spanning some 15 years.
The book opens with a very brief description of
the origins and design of the Shuttle but strangely
without mention of the US pork barrel politics
that led to the controversial choice of solid rocket
boosters. Astronaut selection and training is covered
in more detail but the meat of the book is a listing
of, and quotations from, each of the 25 missions
up to and including the fateful STS-51L Challenger
mission in January 1986.
These missions are not addressed in strict
chronological order and two of the missions planned
to be flown soon after 51L are also included, the
last of which reveals some disturbing astronaut
comments on the safety of the Centaur upper
stage and the approach being taken by NASA
management. Similar comments are made about
the 1985 mission that deployed the Arabsat 1B
communications satellite. On a lighter note, the
replacement of sliced bread with flour tortillas,
which avoid crumbs in orbit, was an unforeseen
outcome of flying a Mexican Payload Specialist.
The final chapter is about the Challenger disaster

46

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Above: Space shuttle


Enterprise, mounted atop the
NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier
Aircraft (SCA), is seen as
it flies over the Manhattan
Skyline, Friday, 27 April
2012, prior to delivery to the
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space
Museum. Enterprise was the
first shuttle orbiter built for
NASA performing test flights
in the atmosphere and was
incapable of spaceflight.
NASA/Robert Markowitz.

Right: The 12 April 1981


launch of space shuttle
Columbia STS-1, at Pad 39A,
carried astronauts John Young
and Robert Crippen into an
Earth-orbital mission. NASA.

... the book is


well-edited with
only one typo
spotted and the
Foreword by
Bob Crippen
provides
thoughtful
context

and sensibly does not attempt to replay this


well-documented story but is rather understated
providing some personal insights before ending
abruptly.
The next book in the series Wheels Stop:
the Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle
Program, 1986-2011, covering the following
110 Shuttle flights, was reviewed by Pat Norris
in the July 2014 AEROSPACE and it is quite
understandable why the same listing format adopted
in Bold they Rise does not work in its sequel.
John Thatcher
CEng MRAeS

Library Additions
BOOKS
AERODYNAMICS
Flight Vehicle System
Identification: a TimeDomain Methodology
Second edition.
R V Jategaonkar. Progress in
Aeronautics and Astronautics
Vol 245. American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics,
1801 Alexander Bell Drive,
Suite 500, Reston, VA 201914344, USA. 2014. 627pp.
Illustrated. $119.95. ISBN
978-1-62410-278-3.

Demonstrator and
the Quest for Quiet
Supersonic Flight. NASA
SP-2013-601. NASA
Aeronautics Book Series.
L R Benson. National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Washington,
DC. 2013. (http://www.
hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/
ic/ic2.htm). 388pp. Illustrated.
$24 plus postage/packing.
(e-book version of this
publication can be downloaded
for free via http://www.nasa.
gov/connect/ebooks/nasaebook-quieting-the-boom).
AEROELASTICITY

Cave of the Winds: the


Remarkable History of the
Langley Full-Scale Wind
Tunnel. NASA SP-2014614. J R Chambers. National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Washington,
DC. 2014. (http://www.
hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/
ic/ic2.htm). 533pp. Illustrated.
$30 plus postage/packing.
(e-book version of this
publication can be downloaded
for free via http://www.nasa.
gov/connect/ebooks/cave_
of_the_winds_detail.html).
Annual Review of Fluid
Mechanics Vol 47, 2015.
Edited by S H Davis and P
Moin. Annual Reviews, 4139
El Camino Way, Palo Alto, CA
94306, USA. 2015. 659pp.
Illustrated. $99. ISBN 978-08243-0747-9.
Dynamic Stall in Pitching
Aerofoils: Aerodynamic
Damping and Compressibility
Effects, Dissipation in
Turbulent Flows, Pilot-Wave
Hydrodynamics, the ballistics
and aerodynamics of various
sport balls and ski jumps
and the contributions of
Arnold Sommerfeld, Felix
Klein, Fritz Noether and
Werner Heisenberg to the
study of fluid mechanics and
turbulence are among the
subjects discussed in the latest
enlarged-format volume in this
informative series reviewing
developments in fluid dynamics
research and applications.
AEROACOUSTICS
Quieting the Boom: the
Shaped Sonic Boom
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A New Twist in Flight


Research: the F-18 Active
Aeroelastic Wing Project.
NASA SP-2013-609. NASA
Aeronautics Book Series. P
W Merlin. National Aeronautics
and Space Administration,
Washington, DC. 2013. (http://
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/
hqlibrary/ic/ic2.htm). 193pp.
Illustrated. $24 plus postage/
packing. (e-book version of this
publication can be downloaded
for free via http://www.nasa.
gov/connect/ebooks/a_new_
twist_detail.html).
AIR TRANSPORT

Taking Aviation to New Heights


A Biography of Pierre Jeanniot
Jacqueline Cardinal & Laurent Lapierre
Translated by Donald Winkler

Taking Aviation to New


Heights: a Biography of
Pierre Jeanniot. J Cardinal
and L Lapierre. University
of Ottawa Press, 542 King
Edward Avenue, Ottawa,
Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
2013. 398pp. Illustrated.
$29.95 (Canadian). ISBN
978-0-7766-3046-5.
A detailed biography of
the man who pioneered the
development of the digital
flight recorder (black box)
with Trans-Canada Airlines
(TCA) and the introduction of
computer reservation systems
with Air Canada (of which he
was to become President and
CEO 1984-1990), concluding
with his major efforts to
improve air safety and airline
security through his offices at

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IATA (of which he was Director


General and CEO 19922002), the book chronicling
the vast changes which the air
transport industry experienced
during these decades.
Anglo Cargo: the story of
a cargo airline at London
Gatwick Airport. D Gilbert.
Skyline Aviation Books,
Ryderswell, Collingwood
Avenue, Heathfield, East
Sussex TN21 8DN, UK (E
dick@skylineaviation.co.uk).
2014. 210pp. Illustrated. 12
plus 3 postage/packing.
A detailed history of the
long-haul charter airline Anglo
Cargo Airlines compiled
by its former Commercial
Manager including its freight
transport assistance in support
of military operations during
the Gulf War (Operation Desert
Shield and Operation Desert
Storm).
Air Bridge Carriers: the
story of a cargo airline
at East Midlands Airport
Second edition. D Gilbert.
Skyline Aviation Books,
Ryderswell, Collingwood
Avenue, Heathfield, East
Sussex TN21 8DN, UK (dick@
skylineaviation.co.uk). 2014.
230pp. Illustrated. 12 plus 3
postage/packing.
A detailed history of
the operations of Air Bridge
Carriers which was to
evolve into Hunting Cargo
Airlines and the aircraft
types they operated (including
Armstrong Whitworth AW-650
Argosy, Vickers Viscount/
Merchantman, Handley Page
Herald and Lockheed Electra),
incorporating a concise history
of the origins of the Hunting
Group.
Skyways at Lympne: the
story of Skyways CoachAir Ltd at Kents garden
airport Third edition. D
Gilbert. Skyline Aviation Books,
Ryderswell, Collingwood
Avenue, Heathfield, East
Sussex TN21 8DN, UK (E
dick@skylineaviation.co.uk).
2014. 94pp. Illustrated. 7
plus 3 postage/packing.
A well-illustrated history of
Skyways Coach-Air Ltd. and its
operations from Lympne Airport
in Kent and the later evolution
of Skyways International,
Dan-Air Skyways and other
associated companies.
AVIATION MEDICINE
Dressing for Altitude: US
Aviation Pressure Suits
Wiley Post to Space
Shuttle. NASA SP-2011595. D R Jenkins. National
Aeronautics and Space

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Administration, Washington,
DC. 2013. (http://www.
hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/
ic/ic2.htm). 526pp. Illustrated.
$75 plus postage/packing.
(e-book version of this
publication can be downloaded
for free via http://www.nasa.
gov/connect/ebooks/dress_
for_altitude_detail.html).
A well-illustrated largeformat history of the evolution
of high-altitude pressure suits
and the key role they have
played to enable man to fly
at the extremes of the Earths
atmosphere and overcome the
major problems of hypoxia,
decompression and blackout.
FLIGHT TESTING

Sweeping Forward:
Developing and Flight
Testing the Grumman
X-29A Forward Swept
Wing Research Aircraft.
NASA SP-2013-603.
NASA Aeronautics Book
Series. F A Johnsen. National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Washington,
DC. 2013. (http://www.
hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/
ic/ic2.htm). 328pp. Illustrated.
$24 plus postage/packing.
(e-book version of this
publication can be downloaded
for free via http://www.
nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/
sweeping_forward_detail.html).
HISTORICAL
Thinking Obliquely: Robert
T Jones, the Oblique
Wing, NASAs AD-1
Demonstrator and its
Legacy. NASA SP-2013602. NASA Aeronautics
Book Series. B I Larrimer.
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration,
Washington, DC. 2013. (http://
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/
hqlibrary/ic/ic2.htm). 269pp.
Illustrated. $24 plus postage/
packing. (e-book version of this
publication can be downloaded
for free via http://www.
nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/
thinking_obliquely_detail.html).

Preston Watson 18801915: Dundees Pioneer


Aviator. A W Blair and A
Smith. Librario Publishing
Limited, Brough House, Milton
Brodie, Kinloss IV36 2UA, UK
(www.librario.com). 192pp.
Illustrated. 11.99. ISBN 9781-9092384-8-0.
A review of the pioneering
flight claims of the Scottish
airman Preston Watson which
were examined in detail by
the aviation historian Charles
Gibbs-Smith among others.
Lockheed F-104
Starfighter. J Dobrzynski.
Published by Stratus, Poland,
on behalf of Mushroom Model
Publications, 3 Gloucester
Close, Petersfield, Hants
GU32 3AX, UK (www.
mmpbooks.biz). 2015. 176pp.
Illustrated. 19.99. ISBN 97883-63678-39-5.
Including numerous
photographs, colour schemes
and other diagrams, a wellillustrated history of the
supersonic interceptor aircraft
and its variants which was
operated in 15 countries.
The Work of the
Supersonic Transport
Aircraft Committee:
Prepared for the Royal
Aeronautical Society
Conference on Concorde
April 2009 (Master Copy).
A H Fraser-Mitchell. 2009.
Concludes with a listing
of all the personnel from
British aircraft companies and
research organisations who
contributed to the work of the
STAC Committee.
Northern Lights: the
Official Account of the
British Arctic Air-Route
Expedition 1930-1931.
F Spencer Chapman. Chatto
and Windus, London. 1932.
304pp. Illustrated.
A detailed history of the
expedition across the east
coast and central ice plateau
of Greenland to survey the
area in preparation for the
development of an Arctic air
route between Europe and
America. Includes Foreword
by Admiral Sir William
Goodenough, an Introduction
from Henry George Watkins
and additional chapters by J M
Scott, Captain P M H Lemon
and Augustine Courtauld.

For further information


contact the National
Aerospace Library.
T +44 (0)1252 701038
or 701060
E hublibrary@aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

47

Afterburner

Society News
149th AGM

MINUTES OF THE 149th


ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
of the Royal Aeronautical Society
The 149th Annual General Meeting of the Royal Aeronautical
Society was held in the Lecture Theatre at No.4 Hamilton Place,
London, on Wednesday, 21 May 2014. The following were
present:
Mrs J Body (President), Prof D Allerton, Mr K Awan, Mr P Bailey,
Mr L Balthazor, Mr R Barkla, Mr P Barrett, Ms H Barton, Mr P
Boyle, Mr M Broadhurst, Mr P Brooks, Mr T Cansdale, Mr G
Catnach, Mr H Caplan, AVM D Couzens, Mrs B Crawford, His
Honour Harvey Crush, Mr C Elliott, Capt J Faulkner, Capt F
Freeman, Mr M Goulette, Mr J Graham, Sqn Ldr R Hart, Prof
K Hayward, Mr C Hughes, Mr M Kendrew, Mrs J Lindsay, Mr S
Luxmoore, Mr C Male, Ms J Middleton, Air Cdre J Millington, Mrs
J Mitchell, Prof M Moatamedi, Dr M Philpot, Dr T Rahulan, Mr A
Rankine, Prof G Roe, Capt D Rowland, Mr P Slomski, Ms L Small,
Sir Donald Spiers, Mr P Spiers, Mr P Stehr, Air Cdre W Tyack, Mrs
C Walker, Mr H Wheeldon and Dr A Wood.
Introductory Comments
The President, Mrs Body took the chair. She welcomed everyone
to the 149th Annual General Meeting of the Royal Aeronautical
Society, in particular Mr Awan, who was attending from the
Pakistan Division.
The Chief Executive, Mr Luxmoore confirmed that there was
a quorum and read the Calling Notice, which had appeared in the
April 2014 edition of AEROSPACE. Apologies for absence were
noted from: AM Salim Arshad, Mr R Beazley, Mr G Bisignani, Mr
D Lang, Capt S Senthoorselvan and Dr M Steeden.
The papers circulated before the meeting were identified
by the President as being: the Calling Notice and Agenda, the
Minutes of the 2013 Annual General Meeting, the 2013 Annual
Report & Accounts and the 2013 Annual Review.
Minutes of the 2013 AGM
The President asked the meeting to consider the minutes of the
148th AGM held on15 May 2013.
Mr Caplan stated that some of the comments contributed
to him were incorrect, and that he had forwarded suggested
amendments.
The President confirmed the suggested amendments of Mr
Caplan were discussed amongst Trustees, the Executive and
with the Honorary Solicitor; however, Mr Caplans suggested
amendments to the minutes would not be incorporated.

48

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

The President reported that Mr Caplan had submitted a


number of comments on the draft Minutes from the last AGM
and also on certain aspects of the Annual Report & Accounts
under consideration in this AGM. In the interest of focusing on
the business of the AGM, she confirmed that she was to take
up Mr Caplans suggestion of responding to his comments
separately on another occasion.
The President also reported that Mr Caplan had asked that
his comments concerning the transition to the current By-Laws
in 2012 be addressed. The President stated that, although those
comments had been considered previously and were addressed
at the last AGM, it seemed that such discussions had not been
to Mr Caplans satisfaction. The President stated her belief that
there is little, if anything, to be gained from further consideration
with the Society now transitioned to, and fully implementing, the
new By-Laws under the amended Charter.
The President added, however, that as a matter of respect
to Mr Caplan, his comments had again been discussed amongst
the Board of Trustees, the executive staff and with the Honorary
Solicitor, the outcome of which was that none could see any
reason for concern. With the Societys transition to the current
By-Laws having been completed and all trustees business
on behalf of the Society having been properly and completely
conducted under the applicable By-Laws, the President did not
propose to further address Mr Caplans points at this AGM.
The meeting was content to receive and consider the
Minutes of the 2013 AGM, as proposed by Sir Donald Spiers
and seconded by AVM David Couzens.
2013 Annual Report and Accounts
The meeting considered the Annual Report & Accounts for
2013. The President highlighted a few achievements during
her Presidency which included: the successful passing of
the Engineering Councils five-year review, the new format of
AEROSPACE, the successful launch of the Education & Skills
Committees first conference and the well received inaugural
Presidents Conference.
The President invited Ms Middleton to highlight some of
the key points from the report. Ms Middleton reported that the
Societys income at year-end was just under 4 million, a 3%
increase of 130k on 2012. She commented that all areas
of the Societys income had increased. Total expenditure was
slightly up on 2012, but was less than budgeted, resulting in an

operational surplus of 46k; which was 12k less than in the


previous year.
Ms Middleton continued to report that, as at the end of 2013,
the Societys reserves stood at 87 million of which 66 million
was unrestricted. This increase of just under 650k from the
previous year was attributed mainly to the increase in value of
the investments.
With regard to the Societys investment management, Ms
Middleton reported it had changed from Investec to JM Finn at
the beginning of 2013, and that the Finance Committee had
agreed to re-compete the appointment of the financial auditors
before the next audit in 2015.
The meeting was content to receive and consider the 2013
Annual Report & Accounts, as proposed by David Rowland and
seconded by Martin Broadhurst.
Election of Auditors
The President thanked Haysmacintyre for its work in auditing
the 2013 Accounts. It was proposed by Mr Broadhurst and
seconded by Mrs Mitchell that Haysmacintyre be reappointed
as the Societys Auditors for the coming year and this was
unanimously carried.
Elections to Council
The President announced the following full details of the ballot
return and the votes received by each candidate in numerical
order:
Number of Voting papers dispatched
Number of Voting papers returned
% of Voting papers returned

8,391
1,637
195%

Air Cdre Jayne Millington


Prof Christopher Atkin
Prof David Allerton
Phil Boyle
David Chinn
Marc Bailey
Ian Middleton
His Honour Harvey Crush
Capt John Faulkner
Martyn Hurst
Dr Robert Winn
Philip Stehr
Pat Norris

1,236
924
812
742
725
684
614
613
599
561
546
535
515

The President therefore declared that, in accordance with the


Societys By-Laws, the following candidates, in alphabetical
order, had been duly elected to serve on Council for the three
years 2014-2017:
Prof David Allerton
Prof Christopher Atkin
Marc Bailey
Phil Boyle

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David Chinn
Ian Middleton
Air Cdre Jayne Millington
The President congratulated those who were elected to the
Council and thanked the other candidates for standing, adding
that she hoped they would stand again in the near future. She
also thanked the retiring members of Council for their support
and commitment during the past year.
The meeting also received the names of the Board of
Trustees as of the end of this AGM:
Air Cdre Bill Tyack
Mrs Jenny Body
Mr Martin Broadhurst
Dr Donald Richardson
His Honour Harvey Crush
Mrs Joanne Lindsay
Sir John OReilly
Ms Jane Middleton
Mr Howard Wheeldon
Close of Meeting
The President thanked everyone for their support during the past
year and congratulated Mr Broadhurst on becoming PresidentElect for 2014/15.
Mrs Body then formally handed over the Presidency of
the Society for the year 2014-2015 to Air Cdre Bill Tyack and
formally closed the AGM.
In taking over the Presidency, Air Cdre Bill Tyack said he was
honoured to be elected as President of the Royal Aeronautical
Society and paid tribute to Mrs Body, the Societys first female
President. He stated that Mrs Body had been an inspirational
role model for women and was a champion on matters
concerning the Societys diversity agenda, adding that he was
pleased to announce Mrs Body would continue to support the
Society in that role.
With regards to the new governance structure which had
been adopted in 2012, Air Cdre Tyack thanked Mrs Body,
Mr Boyle, as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Mr
Luxmoore and his staff for guiding the Society successfully
through a smooth transition.
Air Cdre Tyack congratulated the new Council members and
said he looked forward to working with them. He thanked all
the candidates for standing and encouraged those who were
unsuccessful to stand again.
During his Presidency, Air Cdre Tyack said he wished to
encourage continued growth in membership, including greater
engagement by all Society members, including worldwide
members. On this important point, Air Cdre Tyack announced
that, in his next commentary in AEROSPACE, he would be
issuing a challenge to all members of the Society to recruit at
least one new member during the next 12 months.
Air Cdre Tyack then presented Mrs Body with a medal in
acknowledgment of her Presidency and paid tribute to Mrs
Bodys husband.

www.aerosociety.com

APRIL 2015

49

Obituaries
VICTOR ALFRED BADEN ROGERS
CBE MSc FREng FRAeS FIMechE CEng
1926-2015

A fuller obituary for Vic


may be found on the
Societys website at:
aerosociety.com/News/
Society-News/

Vic joined Fairey Aviations inspection department


as a shop boy at the age of 15 becoming a Junior
Inspector before transitioning through craft
apprentice to the graduate stream as an Aeronautical Engineering Apprentice. In 1946 he was
awarded an SBAC scholarship to attend the newlyformed College of Aeronautics at Cranfield, gaining
a Diploma in Aeronautical Engineering (DCAe).
Returning to Fairey in 1948, Vic joined the new
helicopter section, playing a key role within the
Stress Office. He was instrumental in establishing
a sound analytical approach to stress and dynamic
analysis and other technical challenges within the
emerging field of helicopter design with specific

responsibility for stress and dynamics development


throughout the Fairey Rotodyne programme.
During the 1960s, in line with British
government policy, the early work undertaken by
Fairey, Bristol and Saunders-Roe was consolidated
into Westland Aircraft Ltd. Vic moved to Westland
Helicopters in Yeovil as Deputy Chief Designer in
1963 and was appointed Chief Designer in 1966.
Responsible for the initial development and
flight programme for the Westland Lynx, Vic was
appointed Technical Director in 1972. He joined the
Westland board in 1980 and retained responsibility
for technical issues until he retired in 1988.
Vic was a member of the Westland team of five
which received the MacRobert Award for
engineering innovation in 1975 and received the
Royal Aeronautical Society Silver Medal in 1979.

PROFESSOR BERNARD OLIVER HEATH


OBE BSc DIC CEng FRAeS HMIED
1925-2014

A full obituary for Ollie


may be found on the
Societys website at:
www.aerosociety.com/
News/Society-News/

Following a degree in Engineering at Nottingham


and a DIC at Imperial College in 1945 he joined the
newly-formed aircraft design team of the English
Electric Company led by Teddy Petter, working
under Freddie (later Sir Frederick) Page on the
Canberra and Lightning.
Ollie subsequently worked on TSR2 until its
cancellation in 1965. He led the BAC teams
working with Breguet on Jaguar and with Dassault
on the proposed Anglo-French Variable Geometry
(AFVG) aircraft.
In 1968 Ollie was teamed with Helmut
Langfelder of MBB to form the System
Engineering Director function of Panavia. He was

appointed Director: MRCA of the Preston Division of


BAC in 1970, Director of Engineering in 1974,
British Aerospace Technical Director of Warton
Division from 1978-81 and Divisional Director of
Advanced Engineering from 1981-84.
In 1977 he was awarded the RAeS Silver
Medal. He was appointed OBE in the 1980 Birthday
Honours List. In 1982 he was a joint recipient of the
Theodor Von Karman Award by The International
Council of Aeronautical Sciences for successful international collaboration in the Tornado programme.
In 1983 Ollie was appointed to a professorship
at Salford University and retired from British
Aerospace in 1984 after 39 years service, retaining
his Chair at Salford until 1989.
Alan Matthews CEng FRAeS
Hon Sec RAeS Preston Branch

Can you help?


Far right: Capt J Laurence
Pritchard HonFRAeS, RAeS
Secretary 1926-1951, with
Miss Florence Barwood, his
assistant, who worked for
the Society from 1918 until
she retired at the end of June
1962. This photograph was
taken in 1939 in Laurence
Pritchards office on the third
floor at No.4. This would
become the Library in 1987
and is currently the Business
Lounge. RAeS (NAL).

50

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Over the decades the Royal Aeronautical Society


has accumulated a very substantial photographic
archive, conservatively estimated to comfortably
exceed 100,000 images and covering all aspects
of aviation and aerospace. Some 12,500 of these
have been scanned into a high-resolution digital
archive and each given an explanatory caption. With
the Societys 150th anniversary approaching next
year, many of the images most recently added to the
digital archive have concerned the Society, its officers
and the events it has held. This has highlighted how
few images we have of former members of staff
(pre-1990) and of the office areas at No.4 and
predecessor buildings. We would be very grateful for

any contributions from members that might fill these


gaps in our historical record. Loaned images can be
scanned and returned.
Please contact: chris.male@aerosociety.com

Society News
WEYBRIDGE BRANCH

Queen Elizabeth-Class Aircraft Carriers


Flagships for the Future
On 4 February Andrew Matter, Aircraft Carrier
Alliance Integration Manager, BAE Systems,
presented to the Weybridge Branch the story of the
Royal Navys new large aircraft carriers, HMS Queen
Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
What, asked the speaker, are aircraft carriers
for? To project air capability at long range was the
answer given. The QE Class carriers, or CVFs, will
provide 3 acres of sovereign UK territory with
up to 1,500 trained people capable of launching
military and humanitarian missions worldwide.
The task of designing and building the ships was
too big for one contractor to handle, so an alliance
of contractors and the customer was formed from
BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of
Defence; the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA). This
organisation has aligned the goals of the MoD and
industry, removed contract interfaces, reduced costs
and established a co-operative relationship between
the customer and the industrial partners. This has
worked very well with little discord.
At three times the size of the Invincible class, the
CVF is the RNs largest ever vessel: 65,000 tonnes
displacement, 280m long, 70m wide at deck level
and 56m from keel to masthead. She has 16 decks
at 3m vertical spacing, a 325 acre flight deck with
two hangar-edge lifts and two island, one for ship
command and control, another aft for Flyco or flying
control. The hangar deck is 163m by 26m by 71m
high with 20 servicing spots. There is a mechanised
weapon handling system that loads pallets with the
required weapons in the automated (like modern
warehouses) magazine and transports them to the
flight deck.
The propulsion system consists of two
Rolls-Royce MT30 (Trent) gas turbines and four
diesel engines driving four induction motors
providing up to 80mW of propulsive power and
another 30mW for ship services. For maximum
range, only the diesels are used, for the 25kt top
speed all motors are used. Final drive is by two
shafts to twin propellers. Nuclear power, using
four submarine-size reactors, was considered but
rejected on grounds of refuelling infrastructure
requirements and because many ports will not
accept nuclear-powered ships.
Interesting features include an integrated waste
management system which, like cruise liners, dumps
only water into the sea, and a CAA-compliant air
traffic control system.
The aircraft complement will be 40, made up of
ASTOVL F-35B Lightning IIs, AW101 Merlins
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and an early warning aircraft type. The hangar can


hold 23 aircraft, the rest being on deck. F-35B
launch will be off the ski-jump with vertical recovery
unless returning with an excess of weapon and/
or fuel weight when a rolling vertical landing will
be performed. No catapults or arrester gear are
provided, as the F-35B does not need them but the
carrier was sized to accept conventional tail hooked
F-35Cs with space provision for retrofitting cats
and traps.
The ships were designed and manufactured
using CAD-CAM techniques (computer aided
design and manufacture) and were built in blocks
with systems installed at six UK shipyards:
Appledore, Portsmouth, Birkenhead, Tyneside, Clyde
and Rosyth, where final assembly and fitting out
takes place. Each block is transported by barge and
positioned for welding by hydraulic setting, jacking
and levelling equipment. Of the supply chain 75% is
from the UK, the rest coming from Europe, the US,
Australia, India and others. Logistics company
Wincanton operates the central warehouse in
Motherwell handling 15 million items from 2,935
deliveries.
Queen Elizabeth was undocked on 17 July
2014 using seven tugs pulling and one behind
holding the ship back. The ship floated true as
the actual centre of gravity was within 100mm of
prediction. She is now being commissioned and the
maiden voyage will be in mid 2016. Service life is
planned at 50 years with two six-week servicing
periods per year and one six to eight-week docking
every six years. The most costly servicing procedure
is painting.
Chris Farara

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An artists impression of a
CVF in dock at Portsmouth
alongside an earliergeneration warship, HMS
Victory. Aircraft Carrier Alliance.

AT THREE TIMES
THE SIZE OF
THE INVINCIBLE
CLASS, THE
CVF IS THE RNS
LARGEST EVER
VESSEL
APRIL 2015

51

Afterburner

Diary
EVENTS

LECTURES

www.aerosociety/events

Crown copyright 2014/ PO(Phot) Ray Jones

23 April
8-Ton Glider to Autorotating Helo in 12 Seconds: Testing the
AW609 Tiltrotor
Paul Edwards, AW609 Test Pilot, AgustaWestland
Flight Test Group Lecture

27 April
Alan Bristow Lecture: Contemporary Royal Navy Helicopter
Operations
Rotorcraft Group Named Lecture
28 April
Whittle Lecture: Commercial Aviation Trends Past, Present
and Future
Sir Roy McNulty, Chairman, Gatwick Airport
Named Lecture
12 May
Ann Welch Lecture
General Aviation Group Named Lecture
12 May
Human Factors in Engineering The Next Generation
Human Factors Group Conference
Cranfield University
18 May
The Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps The Forgotten
Ancestor of the RAF
Professor Eric Grove
Historical Group Lecture
19 May
RAeS AGM and Annual Banquet
20 May
The European Space Agency
Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General,
European Space Agency
Space Group Lecture
2-3 June
Delivering Weapons System Effects: The Contrast Between
Piloted and Remotely-Piloted Platforms
Weapon Systems and Technology Group Conference
QinetiQ, Malvern
8 June
Sir Sydney Camm Lecture: Air Power and the Defence
Aerospace Industry in the Whole Force Era
Air Marshal Sir Baz North, Deputy Commander Capability and
Air Member for Personnel & Capability, Royal Air Force
9-10 June
Future Challenges in Flight Simulation
Flight Simulation Group Conference
9 June
Edwin A Link Lecture: Investigation in Simulation
Nathalie de Ziegler, Investigating Officer, Bureau dEnqutes et
dAnalyses (BEA)
Flight Simulation Group Named Lecture
All lectures start at 18.00hrs unless otherwise stated.
Conference proceedings are available at
www.aerosociety.com/news/proceedings

52

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

BEDFORD
ARA Social Club, Manton
Lane, Bedford. 6.30 pm.
Marylyn Wood, T +44 (0)1933
353517.
8 April Branch AGM
followed by Horseless carriage
to helicopter, a short history
of Westland Aircraft Ltd to
celebrate its centenary. Jeremy
Graham, AgustaWestland.
BIRMINGHAM,
WOLVERHAMPTON AND
COSFORD
RAF Museum Cosford. 7 pm.
Chris Hughs, T +44 (0)1902
844523.
16 April Royal International
Air Tattoo United Nations
of the air. Tim Prince, Chief
Executive, RAF Charitable
Trust Enterprises.
21 May Branch AGM
followed by The Skylon
spaceplane and Sabre engine:
progress to date and future
prospects. Richard Varvill.
18 June Dornier 17Z
recovery and conservation.
Darren Priday, Manager,
Conservation Centre, RAF
Museum Cosford.
BOSCOMBE DOWN
Lecture Theatre, Boscombe
Down. Refreshments from
5 pm. Lecture 5.15 pm.
Visitors please register at
least four days in advance
(name and car registration
required) E secretary@
BoscombeDownRAeS.org
14 April Branch AGM
followed by The use of
composites in modern aircraft
structures. Nick Livings.
BRISTOL
Concorde Room, BAWA. 6.30
pm. E elizabeth.cole@airbus.com
16 April Branch AGM

www.aerosociety/events
(6 pm) followed by Material
tailoring for lightweight and
morphing structures the
shapes of things to come!
Paul Weaver, Professor in
Lightweight Structures,
Director of the Centre for
Doctoral Training in Advanced
Composites, University of
Bristol.
21 May A lucky aviator
test flying for the RAF, RollsRoyce and BAe. Heinz Frick,
Retired Chief Test Pilot.
11 June A320neo flight
testing. Sandra BourSchaeffer, Flight Test Engineer,
Airbus.
BROUGH
Cottingham Parks Golf &
Country Club. 7.30 pm. Ben
Groves, T +44 (0)1482
663938.
8 April 61st Sir George
Cayley Lecture. Captain Chris
Alcock RN.
13 May A life in aviation,
a brief look back. Drew Steel,
Military Liaison Executive, BAE
Systems.
CAMBRIDGE
Lecture Theatre O of
the Cambridge University
Engineering Department,
Trumpington Street,
Cambridge. 7.30 pm. Jin-Hyun
Yu, T +44 (0)1223 373129.
9 April Voyager An
Unqualified Success? AVM
Keith Filbey, Chairman,
AirTanker Services Ltd. Branch
supper to follow. Marshalls,
Cambridge Airport. Visitors
are required to register their
attendance in advance with
the Branch Sec at jin.yu@
marshalladg.com or +44
(0)1223 373229.
14 May Composites for
Aircraft Engines. David Cook,

Sopwith 1 Strutter, F2211, flown by Lt Col R Bell Davies VC


DSO, during his first take-off from HMS Argus on 1 October
1918. RAeS (NAL).

Independent Consultant and


President, Paris Branch.
CANBERRA
ADFA Military Theatre. 6 pm.
Jon Pike,
E jonpike@grapevine.net.au
14 April Modelling the
Chinook CH-47D flight control
system. Rhys Lehmann, DSTO.
CHESTER
The Auditorium, Customer
Support Building, Airbus UK,
Chester Road, Broughton.
7.30 pm. Keith Housely, T +44
(0)151 348 4480.
8 April 100 Years of Naval
Aviation. Prof Geoffrey Till,
Emeritus Professor of Maritime
Studies, Defence Studies
Department, Kings College
London.
CHRISTCHURCH
Cobham Lecture Theatre,
Bournemouth University, Fern
Barrow, Poole, Dorset. 7.30
pm. Roger Starling,
E rogerstarling593@btinternet.
com
23 April Branch AGM
followed by Flying the Hunter
and other things. Rod Dean.
AGM 6.30 pm.
COVENTRY
Lecture Theatre ECG26,
Engineering and Computing
Building, Coventry University.
7.30 pm. Janet Owen, T +44
(0)2476 464079.
15 April Branch AGM
followed by Time flies at
Old Warden. Alan Reed,
Shuttleworth Vintage Aircraft
Society.
CRANFIELD
Vincent Auditorium, Cranfield
University, Cranfield. 6 pm.
14 April Innovative air

Sea Vixen, XP924, during the handover to the Fly Navy Heritage Trust at RNAS Yeovilton in September 2014. Lmgaylard. 100 years of naval aviation will be discussed by
Prof Geoffrey Till at Chester on 8 April.

traffic management research.


Stella Tkatchova.
27 April Handley Page
Lecture. An overview of the
aviation industry near term
and long term. Dr Fariba
Alamdari, Vice President of
Marketing, Boeing Commercial
Airplanes.
CRANWELL
Whittle Hall Lecture Theatre,
Whittle Hall, RAF Cranwell.
7 pm. Prof Trevor Kerry, E
tk.consultancy@ntlworld.com
13 April Trenchard Lecture.
The rise and fall of the P1154.
Dr Michael Pryce.
11 May Branch AGM
followed by a lecture by Air
Cdre Chris Luck. Daedalus
Officers Mess, RAF Cranwell.
1 June Motion in flight
simulation. Bob Young.
CYPRUS
Bank of Cyprus HQ near the
Hilton Hotel, Nicosia. 6.30 pm.
21 April Risk management
in aviation. Petros Stratis,
Cyprus Department of Civil
Aviation (DCA).
DERBY
Nightingale Hall, Moor Lane,
Derby. 5.30 pm. Chris Sheaf,
T +44 (0)1332 269368.
22 April Branch AGM then
A rummage in the attic.
13 May Westland
a century of flying
machines. Jeremy Graham,
AgustaWestland.
FARNBOROUGH
BAE Systems Park Centre,
Farnborough Aerospace Centre.
7.30 pm. Dr Mike Philpot, T
+44 (0)1252 614618.

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14 April The Wildcat and


Apache helicopters. Mark
Burnland and Charles Pickup,
AgustaWestland.
19 May Branch AGM (7
pm) followed by Novel design
and manufacture of very
large wind turbine blades.
David Cripps, Senior Technical
Manager, Blade Dynamics.
16 June The prone pilot
position. Roger Cansdale,
RAE/DERA (Ret).
GATWICK
CAA, Aviation House, Gatwick
Airport South. 6.30 pm. Don
Bates, T +44 (0)20 8654
1150.
8 April Eavesdropping from
space. Pat Norris.
13 May Unmanned cargo
re-supply dream or reality?
Andrew Horler, Lockheed
Martin UK and Dr Richard
Markiewicz, Dstl.
GLOUCESTER AND
CHELTENHAM
Messier-Bugatti-Dowty,
Restaurant Conference Room,
off Down Hatherley Lane.
7.30 pm. Peter Smith, T +44
(0)1452 857205.
16 April Folland Lecture
and Dinner. R J Mitchell
the Spitfire and the Battle of
Britain. Tony Edwards. Hatherley
Manor Hotel, Gloucester.
HAMBURG
Hochschule fr Angewandte
Wissenschaften Hamburg,
Berliner Tor 5 (Neubau),
Hrsaal 01.12. 6 pm. Richard
Sanderson, T +49 (0)4167
92012.
16 April Manufacturing
the future the case for

Find us on LinkedIn

metals. Prof Keith Ridgeway,


Director of the Advanced
Manufacturing Research
Centre (AMRC) with Boeing,
University of Sheffield.
4 June Brunolf Baade und
die Luftfahrtindustrie der DDR.
Reinhard Mller. Joint lecture
with DGLR, VDI and HAW.
HATFIELD
Room A154, Lindop Building,
University of Hertfordshire,
Hatfield. 7 pm. Maurice James,
T +44 (0)7958 775441.
22 April Sir Geoffrey de
Havilland Lecture. The Sabre
engine. Alan Bond, MD and
Chief Engineer, Reaction
Engines. Weston Auditorium,
University of Hertfordshire.
6 pm.
20 May Branch AGM
followed by Some memories
of a test flying career. Lt Cdr
Dave Eagles, retired BAE Test
Pilot. 6.45 pm.
HEATHROW
Community Learning Centre,
British Airways HQ, Waterside,
Harmondsworth. 6.15 pm.
For security purposes please
contact David Beaumont, E
secretary.raeslhr@gmail.com or
T +44 (0)7936 392799.
9 April Branch AGM
followed by Experiences of a
WW2 airgunner. Harry Irons
DFC.
HIGHLAND
The Gallery, Elgin Library.
7.30 pm. Alex Gray,
T +44 (0)1224 319464.
15 April The state of
UK aerospace. Prof Keith
Hayward.
13 May Airfix: Scaling

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www.aerosociety.com

down reality. Simon Owen,


Airfix Lead Researcher.
LOUGHBOROUGH
Room U020, Brockington
Building, Loughborough
University. 7.30 pm. Colin Moss,
T +44 (0)1509 239962.
28 April Branch AGM (7
pm) followed by Restoring a
Tiger Moth seventy years
on! Terry Dann, Aviation
Industry Consultant. Joint
lecture with Loughborough
Students Flying Club.
9 June Loughborough
University MEng Final Year
Aircraft Design Projects 4
short lectures. Room J104,
Edward Herbert Building,
Loughborough University. 7 pm.
MANCHESTER
Ringways Restaurant, Runway
Visitor Park, Manchester
Airport. 7 pm. Bryan Cowin,
T +44 (0)161 799 8979.
8 April Branch AGM
followed by Mini Lecture
Competition.
MEDWAY
Staff Restaurant, BAE
Systems, Marconi Way,
Rochester. 7 pm. Robin Heaps,
T +44 (0)1634 377973.
15 April Atlas A400M
the early years. Sqn Ldr J
J Harrison, OC C Flt, XXIV
Squadron.
OXFORD
Magdalen Centre, Oxford
Science Park, Oxford. 7 pm.
Nigel Randell, E oaktree.
cottage@btinternet.com
24 April Sadler Lecture
and Dinner. Genesis of the jet.
Ian Whittle. Sadler Building,

Oxford Science Park.


19 May 60 Years of
the British Women Pilots
Association. Pauline Vahey,
Chairman BWPA.
PARIS
ESA headquarters.
23 April Charles Lindbergh
Lecture. The Rosetta mission:
how we landed on a comet.
Paolo Ferri, Head, Mission
Operations Department,
European Space Operations
centre, ESA.
PRESTON
Personnel and Conference
Centre, BAE Systems, Warton.
7.30 pm. Alan Matthews,
T +44 (0)1995 61470.
8 April F-35 towards
a one-day manufacture.
Jonathan Evans, Head of
Operations F-35 Lightning
II, BAE Systems.
13 May Flying the
Shuttleworth Collection.
Paul Stone, Director Flight
Operations, BAE Systems.
10 June V-22 Osprey. Bob
Torgerson, Boeing.
PRESTWICK
The Aviator Suite, 1st Floor,
Terminal Building, Prestwick
Airport. 7.30 pm. John Wragg,
T +44 (0)1655 750270.
13 April Visits to HMS
Ark Royal (IV). Prof Dugald
Cameron.
SEATTLE
Museum of Flight, 9404 East
Marginal Way South, Seattle,
Washington. 6.30 pm.
19 May History of RollsRoyce and the Merlin engine.
Barry Latter, Aviation Historian.
APRIL 2015

53

Afterburner

Diary
TOULOUSE
Symposium Room, Airbus
SAS/HQ, B01, Campus
1, Blagnac. 5 pm. Contact:
Pass@RAeS-Toulouse.org for
a security pass.
14 April Understanding
GPS without the mathematics.
Prof David Allerton.
19 May 8th Annual ADS
RAeS Toulouse Branch
Lecture.
26 June Annual Informal
Dinner. Chteau de Larroque,
Route de Toulouse, Gimont,
45km West of Toulouse airport.
7 pm.

SHEFFIELD
AMP Technology Centre,
Advanced Manufacturing Park,
Brunel Way, Rotherham. 7 pm.
14 April Skylon and Sabre
bringing space, down to
earth. Richard Varvill, Technical
Director, Reaction Engines.
AMRC Knowledge Transfer
Centre, Brunel Way, Catcliffe,
Rotherham.
21 May Concorde an
incredible aircraft, Capt Les
Evans, British Airways (retd).
Joint lecture with IMechE.
SOLENT
Solent Sky Museum, Albert
Road South, Southampton.
7 pm. Chris Taylor, T +44
(0)1489 445627.
20 May Branch AGM
followed by Inside the Cold
War. Air Cdre Ed Jarron, former
Vulcan pilot.

WEYBRIDGE
Brooklands Museum,
Weybridge. 6.45 pm. Ken
Davies, T +44 (0)1483
531529.
15 April Branch AGM.
24 April Branch Social.
7.30 pm.

SOUTHEND
The Royal Naval Association,
79 East Street, Southend-onSea. 8 pm. Sean Corr, T +44
(0)20 7788 0566.
14 April Branch AGM.
12 May Ernest Dove
Lecture. The VC10 in the
operational environment. Wg
Cdr Paul Morris.

A Royal Air Force A400M Atlas City of Bristol of 206(R) Squadron based at RAF Brize Norton. Sqn Ldr
J J Harrison will discuss the A400M at Medway on 15 April and Richard Thompson will describe the
programme at the Leslie Bedford Lecture at Stevenage on 16 April. Crown copyright 2015/Cpl Paul Oldfield.

STEVENAGE
The Lunch Pad Restaurant,
Airbus Defence and Space,
Gunnels Wood Road,
Stevenage. 6 pm. Matt Cappell,
E raesstevenage@gmail.com
16 April Leslie Bedford
Lecture. Introducing the new
A400M into service. Richard
Thompson, HO Airbus Military
Aircraft. The Quadrangle and
The Metropolitan Restaurant,

MBDA (Stevenage), Six Hills


Way, Stevenage.
12 May Branch AGM
followed by Over Everest
expedition. Richard MeredithHardy.
SWINDON
The Montgomery Theatre,
The Defence Academy of

the United Kingdom, Joint


Services Command Staff
College, Shrivenham. 7 pm.
Anyone wishing to attend
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.
1 April Unmanned air
systems and the legal aspects.
Gp Capt Lyndon Hallet and
Cdr Kara Chadwick.
6 May Base visit to Brize
Norton.

YEOVIL
Dallas Conference Room 1A,
AgustaWestland, Yeovil. 6
pm. David McCallum, E david.
Mccallum@agustawestland.
com
16 April The Reggie Brie
Young Members Lecture
Competition.
21 May Airshows behind
the scenes. George Bacon.
YEOVILTON
Nuffield Bar, Little Yeovilton,
RNAS Yeovilton, Ilchester,
Somerset. 6 pm.
28 April Team Invictus.
Norman Wijker.
26 May The Merlin engine.
Peter Maynard.
30 June 100 years of world
class aircraft. David Hassard.

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The Aeronautical Journal


Leading aerospace into the future

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AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

www.aerosociety.com/journal

Corporate Partners
EVENTS

NEW PARTNERS

Please note: attendance at Corporate Partner Briefings 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. Unless otherwise advised, registration for Corporate
Partner Briefings is at 16.30 hrs.

The Royal Aeronautical Society would like to


welcome the following as Corporate Partners.

EMBRAER EUROPE
Bat Eddington, 33 rue des Vanesses, Villepinte,
95943, France
T +33 149 384416
W www.embraer.com
Contact Ana Lago, Marketing Director EMEA

Monday 27 April 2015 / London


The development of Dubai World Central (title tbc)
Corporate Partner Briefing by Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports Company
Tuesday 19 May 2015 / London
Annual Banquet
Supported by:

Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ; BM&FBOVESPA:


EMBR3) is the worlds largest manufacturer
of commercial jets up to 130 seats and one of
Brazils leading exporters. Embraers headquarters
are located in So Jos dos Campos, So
Paulo, and it has offices, industrial operations
and customer service facilities in Brazil, China,
France, Portugal, Singapore, and the US. Founded
in 1969, the Company designs, develops,
manufactures and sells aircraft and systems for
the commercial aviation, executive aviation, and
defence and security segments. It also provides
after sales support and services to customers
worldwide.

THE MASTERMELT GROUP


56 Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8HP, UK
T +44 (0)20 7400 3400
W www.mastermeltgroup.com
Contact
Matthew Davis, Global Business Development
The Mastermelt Group is an international
consortium of precious metal refiners. We have
been servicing the aerospace industry for over 24
years. We work alongside OEMs, MROs, airlines,
asset management companies, alloy collectors
and part supply companies.
We chemically recover platinum, palladium,
gold and silver from various end of life aerospace
components such as: turbine blades, nozzle
guide vanes, APUs, stators, fuel nozzles, heat
exchangers and tobi rings.
Working alongside our partners in the
aerospace industry we provide a total scrap
management programme enabling us to optimise
the value of all base metals and alloys.
All of our processes are performed in-house
at our various locations using our optimised
proprietary techniques; as a result we are able
to absolutely maximise the value of end of life
components.
Find us on Twitter

Find us on LinkedIn

Wednesday 1 July 2015 / Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire


Aerospace Golf Day
www.aerosociety.com/events
For further information, please contact Gail Ward
E gail.ward@aerosociety.com or T +44 (0)1491 629912

THE AIM OF THE


CORPORATE
PARTNER
SCHEME IS TO
BRING TOGETHER
ORGANISATIONS
TO PROMOTE
BEST PRACTICE
WITHIN THE
INTERNATIONAL
AEROSPACE
SECTOR

Contact:
Simon Levy
Corporate Partner Manager
E simon.levy@aerosociety.com
T +44 (0)20 7670 4346

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ETIHAD AIRWAYS
New Airport Road, Khalifa City A, PO Box 35566,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
T +971 2 5111 0000
W www.etihad.com
Contact
Capt Richard Hill, Chief Operations Officer
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United
Arab Emirates, was established in 2003 by the
Government of Abu Dhabi.
The shareholders mandate is clear; the airline
must be safe, have a global brand and presence,
be commercially self-sufficient and achieve
sustainable profitability.
Today, Etihad Airways is one of the fastestgrowing airlines in the world, with more than 110
routes, a fleet of more than 110 aircraft with
more than 200 aircraft on firm order.
It operates over than 260 flights per day,
carried over 14 million passengers in 2014, and
employs more than 24,000 staff from over 140
nationalities.
APRIL 2015

55

Afterburner

Elections
MEMBERS

Alistair Black
Roger Chambers
ASSOCIATE
MEMBERS

Matthew Brooks
ASSOCIATES

Aanveeksha Amilineni
Nathan Arndt
Anish Chavda
Daniel Cherbowski
Neeraj Durgai

Yuri Frey Marioni


Shuyang Guo
Joshua Hoskins
Mark Jackson
Thomas Lafosse
Benjamin Mohankumar
Harshit Patel
Liaaqat Ramjaun
Mohamed Riswan
Alex Enrique Rodriguez
Contreras
Benjamin Schwarz
Aditi Vyakarnam
Brendan Wheeler
David Wheeler
Jon Young
Ilario Zanetti

E-ASSOCIATES

Mohammad Ziaulhaq
Ansari
Gary Backman
Maria del Mar Bueno
Rubio
Alexander Clee
Alister Driver
Alexander Godfrey
James Hall-Reid
Joseph Hoskin
AFFILIATES

Simon Eddings
Ian Sealy
Chinthaka Silva
Arthur Tabor

Date for your diary


19 May 2015 RAeS AGM at No.4 Hamilton
Place followed by the Annual Banquet at The
InterContinental London Park Lane.

SOCIETY OFFICERS
President: Air Cdre Bill Tyack
President-Elect: Martin Broadhurst
BOARD CHAIRMEN
Learned Society Chairman: Prof Graham Roe
Membership Services Chairman:
Dr Alisdair Wood
Professional Standards Chairman:
Prof Chris Atkin
DIVISION PRESIDENTS
Australia: John Vincent
New Zealand: Gp Capt Frank Sharp
Pakistan: AM Salim Arshad
South African: Prof Laurent Dala

STUDENT AFFILIATES

Ruth Hiscox
Katherine Renton

18th FARNBOROUGH BRANCH TEMPLER LECTURE

Air Accident Investigation today: the work of the UK AAIB


On 24 February, Keith Conradi, Chief Inspector of
Air Accidents, UK Air Accident Investigation Branch
(AAIB), gave the 18th Farnborough Branch Templer
Lecture. In the presence of Air Cdre Bill Tyack,
RAeS President and Martin Broadhurst, RAeS
President-Elect, plus two Society Past Presidents,
other distinguished guests and a packed audience of
150, Mr Conradi began by describing the founding
principles of the AAIB. The Branch was originally
founded in 1915 and is the oldest such
investigation organisation in the world. He explained
the statutory status of the Branch and stressed that,
while it is responsible to the Minister of State for
Transport and is funded by the Department, it
maintains complete functional independence from
both Government and industry. A key principle
underlying all its work is the no blame culture.
The job in any accident investigation is to
recover all possible factual evidence, establish what
happened, report the findings in an impartial way
and, where appropriate, make recommendations for
the future guidance of manufacturers, operators and
regulators. It is the responsibility of the CAA and
other such regulatory bodies to introduce any new
regulations which might be judged necessary.
Modern commercial aviation is largely
international, so the normal procedure is for any
accident investigation to be led by the country in
which a crash occurs but in conjunction with the

56

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

countries of manufacture, certification, registration


and operation. There is always strong international
co-operation and the responsible investigation
bodies generally work closely together. Given the
strong design and manufacturing base in the UK,
as well as the AAIBs highly respected expertise,
the Branch is very frequently called upon to support
investigations led by others.
Its work is undertaken by a relatively small core
of highly skilled pilots, engineers and analysts. There
are 12 Senior Inspectors, all of whom are trained
pilots, current on the main civil aircraft operating in
and out UK airspace. AAIB staff include specialists in
a number of technical disciplines, some of whom are
highly skilled in retrieving data from flight recorders,
even when damaged. The investigators will normally
be assisted (but not influenced) by the concerned
manufacturers, while the Branch can also call on
outside independent specialists, e.g. from QinetiQ
and other such bodies. Mr Conradi concluded his
lecture by briefly describing a number of recent
accidents.
Following an animated question and answer
session, Sir Donald Spiers, Farnborough Branch
President and a Society Past President, gave the
Vote of Thanks on behalf of the Branch. Finally, Bill
Tyack presented Mr Conradi with a Certificate of
Fellowship of the Society, awarded by Presidents
invitation.

From left: Sir Donald


Spiers, Farnborough Branch
President; Tim Cansdale,
Branch Chairman; Keith
Conradi with his Fellowship
Certificate and Bill Tyack,
RAeS President, after the
lecture.

A KEY PRINCIPLE
UNDERLYING
ALL ITS WORK IS
THE NO BLAME
CULTURE

Society News
WITH REGRET

Your opinion matters

The RAeS announces with regret the deaths of the


following members:

AEROSPACE is coming up for its second birthday


and we have been delighted with the positive
response we have received so far. We
are now keen to acquire a more detailed
THE
AERONAUTICAL
insight into what you most enjoy about this
JOURNAL
publication, as well as anything you would
like to change. We will use this to inform
the future direction of the magazine.

Eric Sidney Baddeley CEng FRAeS 91


Kenneth George Cooper MRAeS 93
George Alfred Crabb OBE CEng MRAeS 96

Covering all aspects of aerospace


Volume 119

David Chester Ede England MRAeS 81


W D Hardy Affiliate 104
Donald John Harper CEng FRAeS 91

Number 1212

February 2015

We are running an online survey until the


end of April 2015 where you can share
your views on our publications. We would
be grateful for your honest feedback.
Your comments will be anonymous, so dont hold back! Whether you read
AEROSPACE from cover to cover each month, or if this is your first edition, we
would love to know your opinion.

Dr Leslie John Johnston CEng FRAeS 58


Mervyn Leslie Reed MRAeS 87
Robert Alexander Symes-Schutzmann Affiliate 90
Peter Henry Russell Turnbull Affiliate 99
Dr Norman Arthur White CEng MRAeS 92

The survey is available here: http://aerosociety.com/publications2015

Albert Loxley Window CEng MRAeS 82

CAS, PAKISTAN AIR FORCE, ELECTED FELLOW


Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, NI (M), TBt,
Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force, has been
elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. A
ceremony was held on 30 November 2014, at PAF
Air War College, at which Air Marshal Salim Arshad,
President of the Pakistan Division, presented him
with the certificate of Fellowship.
In his welcome address, Air Marshal Salim
Arshad congratulated ACM Butt and expressed the
hope that his personal involvement in the work of
the Society will promote the highest possible
standards in all aerospace disciplines in Pakistan.
The award of Fellowship is recognition by this Society
of his outstanding contribution to the aerospace
industry. This is an honour not only for him personally
but also for the aerospace community of Pakistan
and, more particularly, for the Pakistan Air Force.
On this occasion the Vice-President of the
Divison, Mr Hafeez ud Deen, also presented an
overview of the mission and role of the RAeS. He
also displayed a slide-show of some prominent civil
and military aircraft built and operated during the
past 100 years: 1914-2014.
In his address, the Air Chief Marshal said: I
thank the Royal Aeronautical Society for electing me
as Fellow of the Society. For almost 150 years the
Society has been contributing significantly towards
aviation industry, as it did in WW2 by putting
together aviation experts to advise on advancements. A few years ago the Society started simulatFind us on Twitter

Find us on LinkedIn

AM Salim Arshad, Retd, left,


presents ACM Tahir Rafique
Butt, CAS, Pakistan Air Force,
with his Fellowship certificate
at the Air War College, PAF.

ing emergencies to devise emergency procedures


for the safer future of aviators. As Pakistan has
embarked upon the journey of indigenisation by
producing aircraft such as the K-8 and JF-17 (Thunder), she has to take advantage of the concept of
integrating think tanks and experts in aviation. I also
support the suggestion of the Society to open its
Branches in other cities in Pakistan and urge members of the aviation fraternity to work for the cause.
The ceremony was largely attended by senior
officers of all three Armed Forces, Civil Aviation
Authority, senior executives of commercial airlines,
members of the RAeS (Pakistan Division) and other
prominent citizens.

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FOR ALMOST
150 YEARS
THE SOCIETY
HAS BEEN
CONTRIBUTING
SIGNIFICANTLY
TOWARDS
AVIATION
INDUSTRY, AS
IT DID IN WW2
BY PUTTING
TOGETHER
AVIATION
EXPERTS TO
ADVISE ON
ADVANCEMENTS
APRIL 2015

57

The Last Word


COMMENTARY FROM
Professor Keith Hayward
FRAeS

More tree-shaking from Mr Musk


Having challenged the USAF with legal action (now
withdrawn) unless it opened up its satellite launch
business, successfully re-supplied the International
Space Station under a NASA contract and sent
Arianespace rushing to cut its costs (and maybe
to adopt some degree of re-usability), SpaceX, led
by its energetic owner Elon Musk, is now teaming
up with Google to revolutionise the commercial
communications satellite (CCS) market.
The idea is to place several thousand small
satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO around 1,000km
above the Earth) that will provide broadcasting
bandwidth for a wide range of potential customers
by 2020. A complete 4,000-satellite system offering
full global coverage would be in place over the
next 12-15 years at a total cost of $10-15bn. The
SpaceX proposal would also offer cut-price ground
terminals in the $100-300 range. Others, including
OneWeb with Virgin Galactic proving a launch
vehicle, are planning to do much the same.

SATELLITE
OPERATION CAN
BE A HIGHLY
PROFITABLE
BUSINESS BUT
RETURNS STILL
DEPEND ON
MAINTAINING
EXISTING MARKET
SHARE AND
OPENING UP NEW
MARKETS

58

AEROSPACE / APRIL 2015

Filing for slots


SpaceX will have to obtain permission from the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to
orbit its satellites and to broadcast signals. It will
also have to prove that the system has long-term
commercial viability. While it is unlikely to compete
directly with existing satellite operators for television
services, it has the potential to take a share of the
emerging satellite broadband market.
A key indication in the growing interest in this
market is the number of ITU filings being made.
Applications are awarded on a first come, first
served basis. Almost all of the applications are
made on behalf of a commercial sponsor. They,
in turn will have applied to the relevant national
authority in the US the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) and in Britain, Ofcom.
The commercial challenge
A new set of LEO-based operators would pose a
commercial threat to conventional CCS operators
using much larger satellites in geostationary orbit
(GSO) typically at 36,000km over the Equator.
TV broadcasting and particularly direct satellite
broadcasting (DSB) is now the main source of

business for the satellite operators but this is


a cyclical business and some of the lucrative
contracts to supply capacity to the US and
NATO military are declining. If the big satellite
operators are to maintain revenues, they will have
to develop a new range of services increasingly
focusing on broadband using a new generation of
large, expensive Ka-band satellites operating in
conventional GSO.
The creation of extensive communications
constellations will increase the number of objects
in LEO, which is likely further to increase the risk of
collision and damage. Increasing amounts of space
debris are already regarded as a problem and the
likely development of tiny cubesats for a range of
space-based applications will only add to this problem.
Equally, communications satellites operating in LEO are
technically more limited, with a much smaller ground
footprint. This leads to more complex operational
requirements to co-ordinate the constellation. LEO
satellites will also decay and burn up requiring constant
replacement probably every five years, compared to
the 15-year plus lifetime of a GSO satellite.
Conclusions
Any extensive new constellation would also have to
demonstrate that its signals would not interfere with
existing GSO satellites. This is a major engineering
challenge and will require some tricky frequency
juggling. SpaceX may choose to use optical links,
bypassing some of these ITU bandwidth problems.
This would be another significant technological
innovation in the CCS business.
Satellite operation can be a highly profitable
business (see High stakes, high returns,
AEROSPACE, March 2015, p 32) but returns
still depend on maintaining existing market share
and opening up new markets. The advent of
new entrants such as SpaceX has the potential
to take a large share of the rapidly expanding
broadband market. SpaceX also has a reputation
for challenging established business models in
commercial space. However, there are a number
of legal, technical and physical problems to resolve
before LEO communications satellite constellations
begin operation in large numbers.

Human Factors in
Engineering Conference

Weapon Systems and Technology


Group Conference

HUMAN FACTORS IN ENGINEERING

DELIVERING WEAPON SYSTEM EFFECTS:


THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PILOTED AND
REMOTELY-PILOTED PLATFORMS

THE NEXT GENERATION

UNCLASSIFIED CONFERENCE

CRANFIELD / 12 MAY 2015

QINETIQ MALVERN / 2 JUNE 2015


Can the use of remotelypiloted platforms improve
a weapon systems time
into service, operating
environment and utility
across the different services?

This one day conference aims


to bring together industry
professionals and a new
generation of engineers and
maintainers to promote a
common understanding of
Human Factors and highlight
successful interventions in
managing human factors
related risks in engineering
and maintenance.

Confirmed speakers include


the Air Warfare Centre, BAE
Systems, MoD, Thales, Selex
and Exelis, amongst others.
Please visit our website to find
out more and to view the full
programme.

www.aerosociety.com/events
Sponsors

www.aerosociety.com/events
Sponsorship opportunities are available.
Please contact conference@aerosociety.com or call +44 (0)20 7670 4345.

Flight Simulation Conference

International Flight Crew


Training Conference

CHALLENGES IN FLIGHT SIMULATION

FLIGHT CREW INSTRUCTION

ADDRESSING TODAYS CHALLENGES AND PREPARING


FOR THE FUTURE

SELECTION, SKILLS AND SUPPLY

LONDON / 9 - 10 JUNE 2015

LONDON / 23 - 24 SEPTEMBER 2015

This conference aims to


identify, discuss and agree
outcomes on a number of
selected challenges, including
those aspects of flight
simulation that continue to be
problematic.

Over the next 15 years,


our industry faces an
uprecedented demand for
at least another 500,000
new airline pilots globally
due to absolute fleet growth
and a significant number of
inevitable retirements from
the age of the baby-boom.

The conference will also


review those challenges
that are emerging as a result
of changes across the full
spectrum of flight simulation
activity.

The 2015 International Flight


Crew Training Conference
will consider how to address
this dynamic.

www.aerosociety.com/events

www.aerosociety.com/events

Sponsors

Sponsors

Further sponsorship
opportunities are available.

Further Sponsorship Opportunities are available.


Please contact conference@aerosociety.com or
call +44 (0)20 7670 4345 for more information

Please contact
conference@aerosociety.com
for further details

Your Wedding Day at No.4 Hamilton Place


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ceremonies and receptions. It has a picturesque, heated roof terrace with
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The team at No.4 Hamilton Place have a passion for quality and style
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