Third Preparatory Test Flight Completed
Raytheon Systems Limited at
Broughton, England, has just completed the third of five test
flights of a green Bombardier Global Express -- an unmodified ASTOR
aircraft -- from Hawarden Airfield in North Wales. These flights
are being carried out under RSL's newly achieved Ministry of
Defence AvP67 Flight Approval and are in preparation for the maiden
flight of Broughton's first modified Sentinel RMk1 ASTOR aircraft,
ZJ 691, which is anticipated in July.
The first of these flights, which are being undertaken by the
fifth aircraft, ZJ 694, took place on the 11th May. The flight
lasted about two hours and 20 minutes with the aircraft being flown
first to RAF Waddington, where the ASTOR squadron will be based
with the newly formed Number 5 (AC) Squadron, and then back to
Hawarden. The second, longer, flight took place on the 19th May
with the aircraft flying to both RAF Boscombe Down and RAF
Waddington. The third flight on the 8th June took flying hours for
this series of test flights to some 10 hours.
The aircraft captain for the first flight of ASTOR #5 was
Squadron Leader Tim Butler from the Heavy Aircraft Test Squadron
(HATS) at Boscombe Down, who is also the RAF's ASTOR Project Test
Pilot. Co-pilot on this flight was Peter Collins, Head of Flying at
Raytheon in Broughton and the ASTOR Raytheon UK Project Test
Pilot.
After the third flight Peter Collins commented, "These
successful flights of ASTOR aircraft #5 are an important
mini-milestone for RSL Broughton because they prove that,
operationally, the whole organisation is now ready for the far more
complex challenge of flying and flight testing ASTOR #2, the first
UK integrated ASTOR aircraft, later this month. The whole Raytheon
Broughton team has worked incredibly hard over the last 12 months
to ensure that our MoD Flight Regulator, Director Flying at
Boscombe Down, is fully confident with the approvals he has granted
RSL Broughton under the Military AvP67 Regulations. It is very much
a team effort to launch an aircraft and it is a great pleasure to
see that team working so well."
Aircraft #5 will be the last of four Bombardier Global Express
aircraft, all currently based at RSL's Broughton facility,
scheduled to be modified and configured into Sentinel RMk1's for
the Royal Air Force. The first Sentinel RMk1 is being modified and
integrated at Greenville, Texas, and made its maiden flight last
year.