The HS 748 and BAe ATP Story

one of the most popular airliners to ever be produced by the British aviation industry the Hawker sidley hs748 was built as a replacement to the venerable Douglas DC-3 and Vicar's VI count becoming a huge success during its near 30 years of assembly although by the end of its run the airliner's once unique place in the market have become saturated and attempts to revitalize the model during the late 1980s only served to illustrate how far the world of civil aviation had moved since its original Inception the story of the hs748 begins with AV Rowan company or Avro in 1957 where following the publishing of a defense white paper by Parliament a plethora of advanced warplane programs were canceled including avro's radical needle nose 730 bomber and reconnaissance aircraft the end of this scheme signaling a huge decline in their potential income as the company had visited itself since the end of World War II with a vast array of military products such as the Vulcan they're only forays into the commercial Aviation Market being three variants of the legendary Lancaster bomber the York which was a modest sales success and a stop gap before dedicated passenger models could be developed the lancastrian and the ill-fated Tudor which was dragged down following a controversial dispute between the manufacturer and British International carrier boac in its search for Alternative Market opportunities Avro considered that a replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3 and its military variant the c-47 Dakota of which around 3000 was still in service and formed the backbone of European Regional operations could be a viable Prospect particularly a model which was far more rugged reliable and economical than the pioneering Vicar's Viscount turbo prop which had been designed solely for use out of paved airports and other established Fields with good servicing facilities Avro considering that the unique selling point of their upcoming model would be to have the ability to fly from any part of the world and certificate it to every International modern safety standard the principal design parameters identified by the original Avro team were to allow for a full payload range of 400 nautical miles the ability to operate from semi-prepared airfields in hot and high conditions a simple robust Fail-Safe construction easy maintenance and loading quick conversion from Passenger to Cargo configuration or a combination of the two and low internal and external noise levels the aircraft being powered by turboprops while featuring a pressurized passenger cabin with Fowler flaps and reverse pitch propellers in combination with an effective braking system ensuring its suitability for operations from primitive runways initially Avro had considered a high Wing configuration that mimicked the highly successful fokka f-27 friendship and the ill-fated Hadley page dart-herald but following careful consideration the design team felt that a low Wing configuration which yielded lower structural weight easier handling especially at low speeds and less complicated maintenance would present greater advantages over a high wing while also allowing the use of a shorter and more robust undercarriage the Hawker sidley company board which had acquired a controlling share in the Avro company in 1935 approving the 748 project in January 1959 and authorized the construction of four airframes two flying prototypes and two static test examples the first prototype golf alpha papa Zulu Victor powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Dart 6 Mark 514 engines rated at 1600 horsepower made its Maiden flight from Woodford Aerodrome near Manchester on June 24 1960 with Chief test pilot Jimmy Harrison and first officer Colin Allen who had been recruited from Vickers and had test flown the vi count taking control for the two-hour flight these initial exercises being followed by the start of its air-worthiness certification program for the first and third prototypes while the second and fourth airframes were allocated to ground testing though problems emerged in March 1960 when the third airframe golf Alfa Romeo Alpha Yankee which was being used as a company demonstrator was damaged in a fire at avro's Chatterton Factory while assembly of the remaining three prototypes was delayed and thus meant only the first prototype could undertake Airborne certification trials until April 1961. the main problem of the early prototypes came down to a lack of power from the dart engines with Avro test pilots accusing Rolls-Royce of deliberately providing an engine that had a lower than required power output although the specified performance of the dart power unit was eventually met after it was realized that engine power varied with engine oil temperature while water methanol was added in hot climates to maintain engine torque pressure the result being that in November 1961 with all required flight trials having been completed the first production aircraft golf Alfa Romeo Mike Victor undertook 160 hours of root proving between lipney bovet Leong and Montpellier with skyways Coach air the success of which saw the Avro 748 be awarded a transport category certificate of airworthiness on January 9 1962. as the initial series 1748 was prepared to enter service in late 1961 Avro noted the availability of the upgraded Dart 7 engine offering 1910 horsepower and thus allowing The Airliner to operate with increased payloads or operated over extended ranges and thus prototype golf Alpha Romeo Alpha Yankee was fitted with dart 7 power plants and undertook its Maiden flight with these engines in November 1961 under the guise of the Avro 748 Series 2 carrying out extensive tests involving tropical trials in Kenya and Nigeria between March and April 1962. the series 2 receiving type certification in October of the same year and rapidly became the most popular variant of the type Illustrated that only 22 avro-748 series ones were built before production switched to the 52-seat series 2 the initial production example the first of six ordered by the Brazilian Air Force taking its Maiden flight from Woodford on August 27 1962. the series 2 gave rise to the series 2A in September 1967 which was an improved 748 with more powerful Dart 7s followed by the series 2B of June 1979 as built by British Aerospace which offered better performance with lower operating costs and greater reliability the series 2B distinguishable through its use of a four foot increase in wingspan which with the new engines gave the aircraft increased cruising speed a higher operating altitude and better fuel economy while from December 1971 the 748 was offered with a large Freight door option that added to the aircraft's appeal its combination with a dedicated passenger door enabling the model to operate in pure freighter or passenger mixed traffic or military configuration alongside the 748 the design lent itself to a military variant dubbed the Andover though the model that resulted was essentially a brand new aircraft design the hs-780 which began development in 1961 following the start of discussions between Hawker sidley and the RAF for a tactical military transport based on the 748 series 2. although the specific needs of the 780 would be for a larger airframe with more powerful engines and bigger propellers while also featuring an upswept tail to accommodate a rear loading ramp and annealing undercarriage to facilitate the loading and unloading of military stores equipment and troops with trials being held at the long-disused aerodrome at modelsham Heath in late January 1962 during which Series 2 prototype golf Alpha Romeo Alpha Yankee competed against the Hadley page Dart Herald for the RAF order these trials requiring that the aircraft were to land on what was essentially a plowed field the 748 during its first practice run digging its Wheels into the soft Earth although with weight shedding and holding the nose wheel off the ground for as long as possible meant the 748 was able to avoid getting bogged down during the actual test which were carried out with steadily increased loads on board ultimately the trials proved to be a huge success for the 748 project with the RAF ordering 31 examples of what would become the Andover C1 in April 1963. the original 748 prototype golf alpha papa Zulu Victor being modified to become the aerodynamic prototype for the Andover and re-registered as golf Alpha Romeo Romeo Victor flying for the first time in this new form initially designated the 748 MF or military freighter on December 21 1963 the takeoff weight having been increased to 50 000 pounds with power being provided by two 3245 horsepower Dart 12 engines the first production Andover x-ray Sierra 594 undertaking its maiden voyage on July 9 1965 falling into the ranks of number four six squadron at Raf Abingdon and later RAF thorny Island number five two squadron at Raf seletar in Singapore and number eight four squadron at Raf Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates even before the Andover had been conceived though the military applications of the 748 have been put to great effect in India when air Vice Marshal hajinder Singh who was Keen to find a suitable replacement for the Indian Air Force's dc-3s which could be licensed produced in India abandoned the proposed use of the high Wing Dart Herald and focker f-27 due to the fragility of the long spoke main landing gear which would be required to operate into mostly unpaved and informal Fields across the Middle East and Southeast Asia Avro seeing a clear opportunity to satisfy this Demand with their own upcoming 748 opening negotiations with the Indian Air Force and through a quickly signed contract was able to assemble the first Indian built 748 within weeks of the second 748 prototype this aircraft conducting its Maiden flight on November 1 1961 and was named sabroto after the first Chief of the Indian air staff by prime minister jawahlal nehu initially four aircraft were assembled by the iaf aircraft manufacturing Depot at chakari kanpor from Parts supplied by Avro but licensed building was switched to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited at their Bangalore Factory although despite the high hopes of the Indian 748 production the resultant assembly run only saw 61 units ever produced for the Indian Air Force between November 1965 and 1985 the first Indian manufactured example making its Maiden flight in March 1963 but failed to meet specification an investigating committee even recommending the cancellation of the license until government intervention saw the deal with Avro changed to have the series 1748 be replaced by the series 2 as the basis for the Indian derivatives Series 2 based Indian 748s commencing operations from January 1964. production of Indian 748s remains slow and by 1965 only four aircraft had been flown with this lack of mass numbers for the aircraft being enough for the Indian Air Force to justify the rejection of a contract to license build the Andover instead favoring the purchase of 16 de Havilland Canada Caribou Transport Aircraft although there was some hope for the Indian 748 in that the state-owned carrier Indian Airlines had placed an order for 14748 to replace its Fleet of Aging Douglas dc-3s and by 1968 the production rate had improved with the last of the carrier's models being delivered in 1970 but following further government inquiries and advice from the manufacturers to use the dart Mark 531 engine to improve single engine performance the series 2 m freighter with the mark 531 power unit and a large cargo door was introduced from 1975 25 of these units being delivered from Hindustan Aeronautics by 1980 for use with civilian operators the Indian border security force and National remote sensing agency alongside the Andover and other military variants of the 748 various other proposals were made as to reutilizing the platform for other roles within the Armed Forces including from 1985 an Airborne surveillance platform which was produced as a prototype based on the series 2m and was equipped with a large circular radome enclosed in a dish mounted on a pylon above the fuselage this being dubbed the 748 ASP while other considerations by Avro included civilian models such as the 748e which stretched the series 2 airframe in order to accommodate 52 passengers but at a cost of 200 miles of the range although this was to be supported by a derivative model christened the 10e and would have employed more powerful Dart 10 engines to compensate for the Lost range while improving the payload further complemented by a further derivative of the type called the Super E which would have been a direct competitor with the Japanese namp wires 11 and the 748x which would have been a dedicated executive transport with extra fuel capacity to boost its range to 2002 150 miles another derivative was to create a civilian variant of the Andover which Incorporated the kneeling main gear and would have been used in air Ferry operation across the English Channel to replace the Aging Bristol freighter although this role was filled by the more successful carve air conversion which was employed by British Air ferries further studies as to the use of the 748 being as an Airborne early warning version for aircraft carrier operations designated the 768 while a 748 aew would have featured nose and tail radomes like the Nimrod aew3 the most radical options for the 748 chassis being stolen vital variants that would have used Rolls-Royce rb162 wing-mounted lift engines while a pure jet variant of the 748 was considered in 1976 which would have used Rolls-Royce m45h turbofans mounted above the wings as per the ultimately unsuccessful VFW Focus 614 and would have gone under the designation 748 series 5. in terms of sales the 748 saw relatively slow commercial traction following its initial announcement although in 1959 nine units later increased to 12 were ordered from Argentinian flag carrier erolinas argentinus although due to these aircraft lacking an autopilot they had to be hand flown for the entire 11 300 mile 8 day long delivery flight the 748 representing something of a challenge to the Avro sales staff as they lacked experience when it came to marketing a civilian model after over a decade of promoting military products their work compounded by stiff competition from the fokka f-27 which used similar Dart engines and was well established in the marketplace as well as being faster and slightly larger the main party piece of the 748 being its superb shortfield performance which was demonstrated on short and rough airfields to potential buyers by the Avro team prior to being ordered sales truly began to climb in 1964 and over the next five years 64 aircraft were ordered by 15 Airlines from across the globe including air Salon Thai Airways Philippine Airlines Mount Cook Airline Fiji Airways Channel Airways Altair Austrian Airlines Copa liat lanchili varig Avianca and more while from September 1968 the first production Series 2 was handed over to Avianca although it wouldn't be until 1973 that the 748 would attain type certification in the United States with third level Carrier air Illinois operating the type from Mex Field Chicago a small Inner City strip which was ideally suited for serving the downtown area the airline's new 748 series 2A becoming the largest type to ever fly from this Airport with military and civilian orders pouring in from across the globe the 748 and its derivatives were lauded for being generally reliable and practical aircraft perhaps the biggest advocate for the model being American Business magnate aircraft engineer and millionaire Howard Hughes who after spending much of the 1950s and 60s as a recluse due to pervasive mental health issues arrived into London during Christmas 1972 and was eager to command an aircraft once again after 13 years out of the cockpit being taken to Hawker sidley's Factory at Hatfield north of London and identifying the 748 as suitable for his needs the company director who saw hughes's interest in the aircraft as a way of getting the upcoming 146 Regional jet airliner into the ranks of the Hughes air West Company agreeing to provide him with 748 in a lease purchase Arrangement together with a hawker siddly pilot who would assist with his flying working with Hughes however revealed the many eccentricities to his character as once licensing issues had been resolved he demanded that a demonstrator aircraft be available for his use day or night which meant a full Hawker sidley maintenance team had to be kept on standby at all hours while in another Quirk Hughes refused to fly an aircraft he was intending to buy despite the fact that a demonstrator golf alpha Yankee Yankee golf had been allocated the company eventually having to provide him with another demonstrator golf alpha Zulu Juliet Hotel despite the fact that this aircraft was committed to an appearance at the Paris air show the 68 year old an extremely frail Hues eventually taken to the air on a 40-mile flight to bitterswell Airfield but not before a somewhat clumsy introduction to the nose wheel steering system which saw him weave The Airliner down the runway erratically in the end after several unsuccessful approaches at bit as well and would this Airfield having no night landing equipment Hughes was diverted to East Midlands Airport and throughout the spring and summer undertook further flights with the 748 while also being courted by Hawker sidley with the 146 mock-up of which he showed his approval in the design despite his General skepticism as to jet airliners hughes's association with the 748 ending shortly afterwards when he slipped and broke his hip in the shower putting an end to his flying days and the hopes of a potential tie up with Hawker sidley as to the 748 in service with Hughes air West although Hughes did acquire both the demonstrator 748 and a hs-125 corporate jet production and sales of the 748 continued with enduring success throughout the 1970s but by the turn of the decade the largely untapped market for rugged Regional turbo props it had enjoyed upon its launch have become saturated by a new breed of models including the de Havilland canada-8 and the all-new franco-italian ATR 42 which offered a step change in technology primarily in terms of reducing structural weight through its use of Composites and fuel efficiency from contemporary aerodynamic design both of which lowered operating costs while recently launched was the foka 50 a replacement for the outstandingly popular f-27 meaning that the now 20 year old 748 was becoming an increasingly aged design in a world of far younger opponents therefore in 1980 the British Aerospace Woodford and chadderton project development teams began planning for a 748 replacement even though the Bae board was more focused on developing military models and much preferred the idea of abandoning the civil aviation side of the firm thus constraining the level of investment available and reducing the potential changes from the 748 to the new model by a minimum of increasing the seating capacity from 48 to 70 passengers although in the end despite these restrictions the resultant replacement model would only comprise 27 of the original 748 of 1961. what resulted was the British Aerospace Advanced turboprop project or ATP which utilized a light alloy structure based on the 748 which put it at a disadvantage against the part composite design of the atr42 although this was lengthened to accommodate between 64 and 72 passengers rather than the 44-48 of its predecessor achieved through a lengthening of the fuselage by 16 foot 6 inches four and aft of the wing this larger model being fairly cost effective due to the increased length Bringing Down the average cost per seat while to improve the aerodynamics the original 748 knows was sharpened and the vertical tail was swept back with four doors and a set of air stairs fitted to the front left passenger entry although smaller Windows had to be utilized due to the reduced pitch of the seating arrangement inside the cabin to accommodate more passengers while the wing was of similar Dimensions to the 748 it used a strengthened version of The Wider Center section fitted to the Andover moving the engines further away from the cabin to reduce internal cabin noise caused by the atp's larger propellers the flying controls of the new model being carried over from its predecessor but with all new electrical and environmental control systems a revised hydraulic system redesigned landing gear and 2570 horsepower Pratt Whitney Canada pw1246-bladed turboprop engines from the dash 8 the expectation being that the aircraft would achieve its airworthiness certificate under the category of a modified variant of the 748 although the inclusion of these updated systems as well as the incorporation of an electronic flight information system and full Authority digital engine control meant that the differences between the 748 and the ATP exceeded 85 percent thus requiring the new model to be certified under its own bespoke type while the ATP could have been launched as early as 1984 British Aerospace as a successor to Hawker sidley had a major stake in the Airbus International aircraft Building Company of Toulouse France with Bae being a major supplier of wing components which were to be used as part of the upcoming Airbus A320 Regional Jet project that would go head-to-head with the highly successful Boeing 737 of the 1960s Bae as a nationalized arm of the British state which had abandoned its support of the Airbus project in 1969 following a dispute over potential power plants for the pioneering Airbus a300 wide body twin jet offering the Thatcher government a deal in which Bae would fully fund the ATP project in exchange for 250 million pounds of State support so as to complete the A320 scheme a wish that was granted on March 1 1984 meaning that the 100 million pound development cost of the ATP would now be carried entirely by Bae and the First Flight of the type would be rescheduled to August 1986 with a view to having initial customer deliveries made from 1987. in the end the ease of reusing the 748 airframe even with its many Advanced upgrades and other changes meant Bae only had to endure a 120 million pound development cost for the ATP a mod is sum when compared to the average 350 million pounds other aircraft manufacturers were spending on brand new models that yielded only a four percent improvement over the performance of the ATP the company forecasting that their new model would sell in the same numbers as the preceding 748 despite the fact that the franco-italian ATR 42 and its upcoming larger brother the 70-seater ATR 72 were proving highly popular on the regional turboprop market Bae rationalizing their optimism by stating that the ATR 72 was a year behind the ATP in terms of development while the foka 50 was deemed too small to be a direct competitor and the de havilland-8 would likely suffer a similar fate to its four-engine predecessor the dash 7 which had only sold 113 units between 1975 and 1988. bae's confidence was very short-lived though as by the time of the maiden flight only five firm orders with four options have been made while at the same point in their respective developments the fokka 50 had 38 orders and 12 options and the ATR 42 had 37 orders and 22 options British Midland placing a firm order for three units with two options in August 1987 and Caribbean inter-island carrier liat placing an order for two options in 1988 the first voyage of the ATP regardless of the high winds and driving rain at the Woodford aerotrome taking place on August 6 1986 two years to the day later than had previously been anticipated the ATP which was later demonstrated at that Year's Farber air show had many endearing features being incredibly quiet with very smooth flying manners and with the manufacturer confident that these attributes would drive up sales the model undertook handling and cold trials in Finland and Iceland followed by hot and high trials in Spain and Arizona three prototypes eventually being built all of which were used for flying tests the third being fully furnished and used to conduct tests on the environmental control system cabin noise and evacuation procedures flying 200 hours of root proving throughout 1987 certification of the ATP being eventually granted in March 1988 following 1290 hours of flight testing on May 9 1988 British Midland flew the atp's first commercial saute from Birmingham to Brussels as part of an eight sector day but this initial Triumph was followed by bad news when Wings West an American Eagle feeder carrier canceled its order for 10 atps during the same month although this was balanced out by the American FAA granting type certification at the end of the year allowing United Airlines franchisee air Wisconsin to take delivery of its 14 ordered units between 1990 and 1991. a brief promising sign that the type was about to make a splash in the United States in a similar manner to the preceding 748 only for these units to be withdrawn from service with the carrier in September 1993 and replaced by smaller but more efficient-8s other orders for the ATP included an initial eight taken on by British Airways for regional Services across Europe later expanded to 14 which operated between January 1989 and early 1999 followed by manx Airlines a subsidiary of British Midland which took ownership of their Fleet of atps from the same year eventually operating 17 units on Services between the Isle of Man the mainland UK Ireland and across Europe the ATP also seeing work with byman Bangladesh Airlines mapati nusantara Airlines of Indonesia and satyr of the Azores though cumulatively the number of atps being acquired by carriers was a fraction of those sales figures being exhibited by the dash 8 ATR 42 and 72 and even the focker 50. despite the fact that this airliner was also having commercial problems as the fokka company faced Financial ruin in mid-1991 British Aerospace attempted to revive interest in the ATP by way of performance improvements which included Pratt and Whitney Canada pw126a turboprop engines as standard which increased takeoff Power by 8 percent while a new 20 degree flap setting was added and takeoff performance improved so the ATP could fly 288 miles with 64 passengers and baggage from a 3500 foot Runway as compared to the original required length of 4500 feet this being followed by a weight-saving campaign that would enable the maximum payload to increase to 68 passengers in baggage plus 1909 pounds of freight and cabin noise reduced to that of a typical twin jet Regional airliner by improving the noise dampers introducing soft cabin soundproofing throughout and by slightly reducing engine Cruise revolutions per minute however despite these improvements the ATP sales by April 1992 remained at a trickle of 60 units on order against the 516 notched up by the ATR 42 and 72 ranges and thus in January 1993 in another bid to improve performance and reduce Administration costs as well as being used as a marketing Ploy the management of British Aerospace transferred all aspects of the ATP program to Jetstream aircraft a subsidiary firm based at Prospect airport near Glasgow the Bae jet stream being a range of extremely popular Regional turboprop airliners that had first been introduced under Hanley page in the 1960s and in the guise of the jet stream 31 had seen massive sales success across the globe the transfer of the ATP project to Jetstream aircraft being part of an effort by Bae to find a partner or even a buyer for its turboprop business which would reduce labor costs by 38 and see all turboprop production be undertaken at the preswick factory alongside the Jetstream 31 and enlarged 41. as mentioned the movement of the ATP project to presswick was also done as part of a marketing strategy where from April 26 1993 the model would be christened the jet stream 61 in order to give potential buyers the impression that the aircraft belonged to the same family range as the incredibly popular jet stream 31 and thus boost sales while modifications to the design included more powerful Pratt and Whitney 127ds with 2750 horsepower and improved interior with larger luggage lockers and an increase in operating weights the Prototype Jetstream 61 taking its Maiden flight on May 10 1994 and appearing at that Year's farnborough air show in September while as the project continued to gain traction a second prototype took to the skies in July 1995. sadly the jet stream project together with the ATP in general met a very sudden end during the same year when it was announced that British Aerospace together with aerospatial's successor Airbus of France and elenia now Leonardo of Italy would combine their assets to form Aero International Regional a conglomerate that would jointly Market their aircraft while rationalizing those models that didn't have the greatest selling power the ATP and Jetstream 61 being singled out as the biggest commercial failure of the scheme and thus was axed in its entirety so as to avoid internal competition with aerospatial and Elena's ATR 42 and 72 range the ATP project ending after only 65 units two of which were jet stream 61s the 10 additional j61s being assembled at the preswick factory having their production halted and the incomplete airframes immediately scrap with the end of the ATP as the last incarnation of the pioneering 748 several attempts to improve the breed with aftermarket upgrades were considered in order to keep these units in service with BAE Systems Asset Management in 2000 launching the atpf freighter project in order to develop the market for the 40 atps it owned offering both bulk E-class and large Freight door lfd versions that were capable of carrying eight ld3 containers or six ld4s when fitted with the eight foot seven inch by five foot eight inch cargo door or book loading of up to 8 tons when configured with an E-class compartment the total build out of the atpf project being 23 units for the lfds and 20 conversions to E-class Interiors while further proposals were to create a military variant of the ATP used for maritime Patrol which would have included six hardpoints two under each wing and two beneath the fuselage that could carry a combination of torpedoes missiles depth charges bombs and mines while up to 59 Sono boys could be launched to a rear fuse large launcher and the aircraft could endure continuous flight for up to 9 hours with options to extend the flight time to additional fuel tanks though this project never went beyond the concept stage due to a lack of Interest in terms of accidents 23 hs748 were lost in various incidents leading to the cumulative deaths of 350 people while two atps were lost to accidents killing a total of 50 people the very first loss of a 748 taking place on July 10 1965 when Avro 748-101 series 1 golf Alpha Romeo Mike Victor of skyway's co-chair was written off in a landing accident at limply airport in Kent although none of the 51 people aboard were injured on August 15 1967 two HS 748s crashed within 90 minutes of each other at the same airport for the same reason starting when Channel Airways limited 748 Series 2 golf alpha Tango Echo kilo operating a scheduled service from South End to Paris via Portsmouth landed in rainy conditions and was unable to stop in the available distance on the grass Runway sliding sideways and coming to a stop on an embankment followed an hour and a half later by Channel Airways hs748 golf alpha Tango Echo Hotel operating a scheduled service from Jersey via Guernsey to Portsmouth sliding on the runway and crashing through the perimeter fence before coming to rest on the main Eastern Road although in both cases there were no injuries and both accidents were put down to inadequate braking which had resulted from the extremely low coefficient of friction provided by the very wet grass surface over the hard dry and almost impermeable subsoil the first fatal accident involving a hs748 occurred on February 4th 1970 when era Linnaeus Argentina's flight 707 on route from kamba Punta airport in corientes Argentina to Islas malvina's International Airport in Rosario flew into a cumulonimbus cloud and lost control due to the severe turbulence causing the plane to enter a 90 degree Left Bank and a 45 degree dive crashing into the ground with the resultant deaths of all 37 people aboard the worst accident involving the hs-748 took place on June 26 1987 when Philippine Airlines flight 206 operating between Manila and lokan crashed into the side of Mount ugu during a monsoon killing all 50 people aboard which was at the time the worst commercial aviation accident in Philippine history until the loss of Cebu Pacific Air flight 387 in 1998. for the ATP the first accident of the type occurred on April 19 1997 when mapati nusantara Airlines flight 106 lost control at 2000 feet during a botched go-around while in poor weather conditions leading to the deaths of 15 of the 53 people aboard while on December 11 1999 SATA air Azores flight 530 crashed into a mountain on South George Island due to crutus orientation killing all 35 passengers and crew aboard and making it the worst accident involving the ATP the latest accident involving any member of the hs748 or ATP range occurring on November 14 2014 when a hs748 working a relief flight on behalf of the Lutheran World Federation from Juba crashed on approach to panya Gore airstrip in South Sudan killing two crew members and seriously injuring a third for those remaining in service the hs748 was largely replaced on mainstream work during the 1980s and 90s by more advanced Regional turboprops such as the dash 8 and the atr-42 with a total of 12 units known to still be in operation as of July 2018 while the ATP after the widespread conversion of 40 units to Cargo rolls saw its Last Passenger operations end in 2010 leaving the remaining 18 units in Freight operation with West Air Europe and Daria Air Taxi of Indonesia overall the reason is to the success of the 748 when it was launched in the 1960s was due to a mixture of an untapped market and the aircraft's ability to operate in a more sturdy and rugged manner than the comparative foca f-27 and Hanley Paige Dart Herald making it an ideal airliner when working to among the more remote locations of the world and using a very simple rolling development plan to keep the aircraft relevant throughout the 1970s selling an eventual 381 units by the time production ended in 1988 together with 37 military andovers by the time the ATP entered development though British Aerospace were fully convinced that applying simple modifications to the airframe and increasing the capacity would allow it to replicate the success of its predecessor not appreciating the fact that the Rival de havilland-8 and more notably the ATR 42 and later 72 were already key players on the global market for regional turbo props and with most customers having traded their 748 for brand new ATR and de Havilland models the ATP was seen simply as the warming of a 30 year old design that was long obsolete in the ranks of modern commercial Aviation and thus in combination with higher fuel consumption and a general dismissiveness on the part of British Aerospace to fully optimize The Airliner for the market of the 1980s was doomed to a dismal failure

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

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Keywords: Airbus, Boeing, Air, Aircraft, Airplane, Aeroplane, Airliner, Commercial Airliner, Airline, Airlines, Airways, International Airline, International, International Airport, Departure, Arrival, Take-off, Landing, Flight, Flying, Plane, Runway, Approach, Terminal, British Aerospace, BAe, Avro, Hawker Siddeley, HS 748, Avro 748, BAe 748, BAe ATP, Advanced TurboProp, Turboprop, BAe Jetstream 61, Jetstream 61, Jetstream 31, Jetstream, BAe Jetstream, British Midland, Hawker Siddeley Andover, Andover, RAF, India

Id: LwppkWdXFhw

Length: 35min 20sec (2120 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023