Of Things

The Shape

To Come

The British Aerospace HS 146, due for its first flight late next year, will be the world’s first fan jet feeder airliner.

Designed to bring jet oper

ation to routes previously ac cessible only to piston and smaller prop-jet aircraft, and to replace turboprop and narrow bodied twin-jet craft, the HS 146 should introduce new stan dands of comfort and efficiency to short-haul oper ations.

fan engines, the aircraft is designed to meet the most stringent noise control regu lations in existence, or planned for the foreseeable future. One of the specific stated aims of the HS 146 design was to limit the aircraft’s noise ‘footprint’ to within the boundaries of the airports it uses.

Passenger capacity will be

between 70 and 100 in a variety of wide-bodied configurations.

Range will be up to 1400 nauti cal miles with operating speeds of up to 800 km/hr.

The HS 146 is designed to

serve in regions dependent

upon unsealed airstrips less than 1.2 km in length, where terrain clearance is an import ant factor.

Future developments in clude military and VIP trans port versions.

British Aerospace’s HS 146 image ... jet for unsealed strips