Pilot September 2017

http://www.pilotweb.aero Pilot September 2017 | 21

Easy does it

The first UK Airbus A320neo (‘new

engine option’) has entered the easyJet

fleet, with 100 ordered. These have the

CFM International LEAP-1A engines (the

acronym standing for Leading Edge

Aviation Propulsion) which offer sixteen

per cent reduction in fuel burn: good for

the airline’s finances and green

credentials, and also significantly

quieter. Additional efficiency comes from

redesigned winglets, called ‘sharklets’.

The registration, G-UZHA, is the first to

depart from easyJet’s traditional

G-EZXX format.

European lights

Eurofly is an Italian company offering a

range of light aircraft designs, from

two-seat Skyranger-like types to Single

Seat Deregulated weightshift microlights.

It makes its British debut with Minifox

G-CKIZ, an SSDR kit-built version of the

Firefox high-wing, pod-and-boom,

three-axis microlight. As the website

calls it ‘a new and amusing airplane’,

presumably it’s fun to fly. Aeriane

Swift’Light PAS G-CHKZ is a self-

launching version of a foot-launched,

tailless sailplane from France, while

G-CLTX is a LAK-I7 FES Mini, one of a

new lightweight range of Self Launching

Motor Gliders from the Lithuanian

manufacturer.

Kittyhawk goes home

Long-time North Weald resident Curtiss

P-40N Kittyhawk G-KITT has been sold

in Oregon, USA, as Hangar 11 owner

Peter Teichman looks to bring his

restoration of Spitfire PT879 to

completion. It was built in 1943 as a

P-40M for the Royal Canadian Air Force

and civilianised five years later. For

certification purposes it was given the

identification and paperwork of a

scrapped P-40N. It came to Duxford

with The Fighter Collection in 1985 and

has been painted in RAF Desert Air

Force colours as a USAAF 343rd Fighter

Group ‘Aleutian Tiger’, and latterly as

flown by the ‘Tuskegee Airmen’ for the

film Red Tails.

(Look out for Peter Teichman’s P-40

‘Cockpit Report’, appearing in Pilot later

this year — Ed.)

Avro 146-RJ limits

The former Swiss European Airlines Avro

146-RJ100 HB-IYQ has reverted to

G-CFAH while awaiting resale with

Trident Leasing. In 2005, while with BA

CitiExpress, it suffered a minor tail-

strike while landing at London City

Airport, which has an unusually steep

approach angle; 5.5 degrees compared

with the normal 3.0 degrees, making it

sensitive to any over-rotation in the

flare. The AAIB report emphasised use

of throttle to control descent rate. The

limits of the envelope of the similar

RJ70 G-BVRJ are being explored by the

Empire Test Pilots School/QinetiQ, which

has now put it in military markings.

MD Explorer G-LNCT has been re-registered as G-EHEM