Celebrating the bicentenary in style: le Bourget 1989.
Armada International › Vol. 13 Nbr. 4, August 1989
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Paris Air Show 1989
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Celebrating the bicentenary in style: le Bourget 1989.
Celebrating the Bicentenary in Style: le Bourget 1989
The recent Paris Air Show was probably the best event of its type in living memory, due to the combined effects of Russian glasnost and the first showing of many new items of Western military equipment. This biennial "Salon" was the largest aerospace exhibition ever to be held, with close to 1600 exhibitors and tens of thousands of products. This report is thus inevitably restricted to a cross-section of exhibits. Trainer Aircraft At the upper end of the turboprop spectrum, Pilatus presented statically the eighth PC-7 for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, and a PC-9 with EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System), while another PC-9 was demonstrated in flight. Embraer showed a standard PT6A-engined Tucano, and Shorts flew their more powerful Garrett-engined derivative. * Promavia. Spirits were high at the Promavia chalet. The Belgian company chose the Paris Air Show to announce an agreement with Portugal on the manufacture of 30 Jet Squalus trainer aircraft, with an option for a further 70 units. The aircraft, of which three prototypes have been built to date, will be manufactured by OGMA (Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronautico), and the first production aircraft should roll out in December 1990. The first 30 Jet Squalus will be used for military training, but Portugal intends to set up an air academy for civil applications as well. With the Squalus programme virtually "off the ground", Promavia was able to announce two other twin-engine projects designated ARA-3600 (single seater) and ATTA-3000 (tandem seats). Although the two aircraft bear a strong resemblance to the Jet Squalus, they feature a higher sweep wing and a narrower fuselage. * Socata. Aerospatiale's Socata division showed the prototype Epsilon TP or Omega, equipped with a 360 shp Turbomeca TP319 Turboprop and Martin-Baker 15-FC ejection seats. It first flew on April 30th, and is being offered to the Fr...See the full content of this document
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