AEROSPACE May 2017 44 Number 5 Volume Society Royal Aeronautical May 2017 HUMANITARIAN AEROSPACE ON THE RECORD WITH GULFSTREAM PRESIDENT GENERAL AVIATION DESIGN COMPETITION www.aerosociety.com MERCURY RISING ESA'S BEPICOLOMBO PROBE GETS SET TO EXPLORE When it really matters Steep ramp up. International defence growth. Disrupters. The global aerospace, defence, and aviation industry faces complex challenges. Companies need speed, agility, and critically, high-impact digital operations to compete and adapt fast. AlixPartners delivers results: • 15% aircraft unit cost reduction in two years • €400 million EBIT improvement and ƅɄFMPPMSRGEWLJSVER% (3)1 • 18% revenue increase in 12 months • Integration of an 8000-people aerospace company–19 sites–four countries in 18 months. 3YVXIEQLIPTWGSQTERMes reach their goals. Fast. When it really matters. alixpartners.com Volume 44 Number 5 ESA May 2017 Mercury rising Plane Speaking – An analysis of the Gulfstream President forthcoming ESA/ Interview with Mark 14 JAXA joint mission to 18 Burns, the President of the closest planet to Gulfstream Aerospace. the Sun. Contents Gulfstream Correspondence on all aerospace matters is welcome at: The Editor, AEROSPACE, No.4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ, UK [email protected] Comment Regulars 4 Radome 12 Transmission The latest aviation and Your letters, emails, tweets aeronautical intelligence, and feedback. analysis and comment. 58 The Last Word Business aviation - taking the rap? 10 Antenna Keith Hayward on the Howard Wheeldon on British Galileo statellite naviation Airway’s moves to make system, Ariane 6 and the Play word association with ‘bizjets’ and what immediately comes to mind? its short-haul fl ights more UK’s future outside the Champagne? Superyachts? Superstar rappers and supermodels? Exotic ‘low-cost’. European space market. locations and overpaid CEOs, perhaps? Partly this image is created by the industry itself – glamour and exclusivity help sell the product, whether it is new Features Textron aircraft, or cabin interior specialist, business aviation airport or charter operator. FLIMAX Yet in promoting this image, the business aviation sector also perhaps does a disservice to the many ways it provides ‘social’ good, either through creating 22 high-skilled jobs, boosting regional and smaller airports and stimulating economic growth by allowing executives to increase their productivity by using time better. Medical evacuation and emergency fl ights, transportation of parts and mail, humanitarian missions by NGOs, mapping and surveying and 30 other missions too may fall under the category of business aviation that are Flight design The RAeS General Aviation rarely discussed. Interestingly, but predictably, there is a noticeable division Design Competition aims Bell rings the changes in on both sides of the Atlantic of the image of business aviation. In the US, a to stimulate interest in Valencia keen advocate of business aviation, who recently upgraded from a 757 to the E-Conditions for proving Bell Helicopters opens a new new GA aircraft designs. training centre in Spain. ultimate VIP aircraft, Air Force One, perhaps personifi es the hallmark of the American attitude to wealth and status symbols. Meanwhile, in the UK and 34 Minding the challenges RAAF of mental health Europe, it is a more diffi cult sell. A history of more socialist governments and Tackling the regulatory and a negative public reaction to ostentatious riches, means that private jets are implementation challenges often automatically labelled as luxuries. As we head into EBACE this month, of pilot mental health. it is worthwhile considering, as a RAeS event did in April, whether it is time to UNHCR rethink business aviation – to better understand and communicate the real opportunities and economic benefi ts it can bring. Between the extremes of 26 a brash US ‘if you’ve got it, fl aunt it’ attitude and a European shyness about defending private jets – there surely must be a happy medium. Avalon 2017 smashes Tim Robinson records Editor-in-Chief A report on the 2017 36 Australian Avalon Air Show. [email protected] International rescue NEWS IN BRIEF Mike Bratby reports on AEROSPACE vital role of aerospace in Editor-in-Chief is published by the Royal AEROSPACE subscription rates: humanitarian aid. Tim Robinson Aeronautical Society (RAeS). Non-members, £160 +44 (0)20 7670 4353 Chief Executive Please send your order to: [email protected] Simon C Luxmoore Dovetail Services Ltd, 800 Guillat Deputy Editor Advertising Avenue, Kent Science Park, 41 Afterburner Bill Read Simon Levy Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8GU, UK. +44 (0)20 7670 4351 +44 (0)20 7670 4346 +44 (0)1795 592939 [email protected] [email protected] +44 (0)844 856 0650 (fax) [email protected] Publications Manager Unless specifi cally attributed, no 42 Message from our President Chris Male material in AEROSPACE shall be taken Any member not requiring a print 43 Message from our +44 (0)20 7670 4352 to represent the opinion of the RAeS. version of this magazine, please [email protected] contact: [email protected] Chief Executive Reproduction of material used in this Production Editor USA: Periodical postage paid at 44 Book Reviews Online publication is not permitted without the Wayne J Davis written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. Champlain New York and additional Additional features and content +44 (0)20 7670 4354 offi ces. 47 Bristol Scout documentary [email protected] Printed by Buxton Press Limited, are available to view online on Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire Postmaster: Send address changes 48 Balloon Challenge www.media.aerosociety.com/ to IMS of New York, PO Box 1518, Book Review Editor SK17 6AE, UK 50 Corporate Partners aerospace-insight Brian Riddle Champlain NY 12919-1518, USA. 52 Diary Including: The development and history of Editorial Offi ce Distributed by Royal Mail the Mirage IV, Will circular runways drive pilots Royal Aeronautical Society ISSN 2052-451X 54 Australian Division round the bend? Passenger electronic devices No.4 Hamilton Place ban: safety vs security, In the April issue of London W1J 7BQ, UK 55 YPN in the spotlight AEROSPACE, life-saving drones, +44 (0)20 7670 4300 RAeS Young Persons Network. [email protected] 56 RAeS elections www.aerosociety.com Front cover: Artist’s impression of BepiColombo mission to Mercury. ESA 57 Obituaries @aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com MAY 2017 13 Radome INTELLIGENCE / ANALYSIS / COMMENT Haas 2C specifi cations Length: 53ft Diameter: 5ft Weight (empty): 1,210lb Weight (fuelled): 35,887lb Thrust (sea level): 50,500lbf Thrust (vacuum): 74,000lbf Payload to LEO: 100kg Linear aerospike engine The Haas 2C will use the Executor linear aerospike engine to fl y the entire rocket into orbit in less than 5mins. Aerospike engines are not a new idea but, unlike the traditional bell rocket nozzle which loses aerodynamic effi encies at certain phases of fl ight, the aerospike uses the outside air pressure to create the nozzle – maintaining its effi enciy all the way to orbit and saving up to 30% fuel at lower altitudes. The Executor linear aerospike will deliver 50,500lbf of thrust at sea level and is powered by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene. ARCA 4 AEROSPACE / MAY 2017 Launch from anywhere Using a single stage to orbit (SSTO) launcher not only reduces cost and complexity com- pared to staged rockets says ARCA, but also opens up new possibilties of inland launch sites, without having to worry about spent stages dropping back to Earth. It would also allow for the entire rocket to be refuelled in orbit for missions beyond LEO. $1m per launch ARCA claims that an aerospike- powered SSTO could become the cheapest ever small satellite launcher at $1m per launch for a 100kg payload into LEO or $10,000/kg. The company says that the Haas 2C would provide a fl exible 24hr rapid response launch capability. W SPACEFLIGHT Aerospike direct to orbit Revealed by New Mexico-based space company, ARCA, on 28 March was the Haas 2C- a linear aerospike powered launcher concept that could say the fi rm, provide a revolutionary single-stage to orbit (SSTO) capability – which promises simpler, cheaper and more reliable launches for small payloads. Originally formed in Romania, ARCA relocated to the US in 2013 and has competed in the Ansari X-Prize as well as investigated stratospheric balloon- launched rocket concept. For the Haas 2C, ARCA is aiming to launch the fi rst test fl ight in 2018 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virigina and is now working to get FAA approval. @aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com MAY 2017 5 Radome GENERAL AVIATION DEFENCE Bristow carries out UAV US strikes Syriann On 7 April, the US launched 59 interoperability test Tomahawk cruise missiles from two airbase after sarinin warships in the Mediterranean at the Syrian airbase of Shayrat. The strike was Bristow Group and its the crew maintain track on gas attack UAV partner Sky-Futures a UAV 200ft away using an in response to SyAAF aircraft from the have carried out a fi rst in iPad app – even when they airbase beibg identifi ed as responsible civil manned/unnammed were unable to keep visual for a suspected sarin gas airstrike on the interoperability, with a fl ight contact on the UAV itself. town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more trial involving a helicopter The company called the than 80 people, including children on and UAV fl ying together. trial: “A critical fi rst step in ... 4 April. The US Pentagon said that the The 20 minute trial, carried a process proving that UAS strike was a ‘proportional response’ and out in Galliano, Louisiana, and manned helicopters can that it had removed the means of delivery saw a Sikorsky S-92 hover operate safely in the same of chemical weapons.