The British Aerospace Advanced Turboprop or BAe.ATP is a twin turboprop
airliner for up to 72 passengers. The BAe ATP is evolved from the
earlier British Aerospace 748 (BAe748). Development of the BAe ATP /
Jetstream 61 started in 1984 as a short-range, low-noise, fuel-efficient
turboprop aircraft. The airframe of the Avro 748 was re-designed and
lengthened and the wing re-designed. Minor modifications were made to
the nose and tail shapes. The six-blade propellers were driven by
1,978kW Pratt & Whitney Canada PW126 engines. The prototype British
Aerospace ATP, G-MATP s/n 2001, was flown first on 6 August 1986.
Certification was granted in March 1988 and the ATP entered airline
service in May 1988 with British Midland Airways. In 1994 a modified
version with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127D engines was introduced under
the name Jetstream 61. The BAe ATP and Jetstream 61 failed to attract
significant orders. The ATP / J61 saw a limited production run. 63 ATPs
and 1 Jetstream 61 were built. Production ended in 1998. In 2001 the ATP
Freighter project started, with 6 ATPs to be converted into cargo
aircraft for West Air Sweden. The ATPF is capable of carrying eight LD3
containers or six LD4s when fitted with the Large Freight Door, or
loading up to eight tonnes. The ATPF made it first flight on 10 July
2002. Since 40 ATPs were converted into the ATP Freighter configuration.
Of these 17 are in the Large Freight Door (LDF) configuration.
On 13 July 2005, the 1991-built West Air Europe Cargo' BAe ATPF LX-WAO was
seen at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands.
British Aeropspace ATP c/n 2043 was registered, G-BTPM, EC-GNI, EC-GSH,
G-BTMP, G-11-043 and G-BTPM before it was exported to Sweden in 2002 and operated by West Air Sweden
as SE-LPS. In 2004, the aircraft was converted
into a Large Freight Door (LFD) freighter in the Romaero Baneasa
facilities near Bucharest in Romania.
Luchtvaart déjà vu
