Ahuriri Aerospace R510
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| R510 on its first test flight following assembly. | |
| Role | Wide-body jet airliner |
| Manufacturer | Ahuriri Aerospace |
| First flight | 1970 |
| Introduction | 10 June 1971 with Onekawa Skylines |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users | Onekawa Skylines Air Kermat |
| Produced | 1970-2003 |
| Number built | X00 |
The R510 series of aircraft are wide-body jet airliners manufacutered by Ahuriri Aerospace. First developed in the late 1960s following the success of the R500, it undertook commercial operations with Onekawa Skylines in 10 June 1971. Designed for "short and wide" routes in comparison to its smaller cousin, the R510 was the first wide-body airliner ever designed by Ahuriri Aerospace, and one of the first twinjet wide-bodys in the world. Having been a commercial success, the R510 and its variants remain in service around the globe, and remained in production for over 30 years before the assembly line for the R510 and its variants was closed 10 June 2003.
Design
Development
With the significant commercial success of the R500, it was clear that the growing commercial aircraft market would be a key focus for Ahuriri Aerospace going forward. Whilst there had been preliminary plans to a wide-body design during the development of the R500, these had been relatively immature in their development as Ahuriri Aerospace was not sure if this latest attempt to enter the civilian market would be successful. When the R500 proved their was space in the market for Ahuriri Aerospace to be a significant player, it became a company priority to offer a wide-body aircraft within as short as time as was feasible.
The aircf\raft that would become the R510 would be focused on "short and wide" routes between major cities and destinations, with the same expectations for range as R500 in the 3,500km to 6,000km but with significantly higher capacity for passengers and freight. This was a continuation of the "minimal risk, clean sheet approach" that had been proven successful in the development of the R500, where a relatively unambitious approach to overall parameters was matched with utilising the latest in manufacutring and aviation technology to provide an extremely robust design.
The success of the R510 would lead into the development of its larger cousin, the R520 that many viewed as an enlarged R510.
Variants
R510
The original design of the R510, it entered service with Onekawa Skylines in 1971. With a range of 6,000km and a capacity for 180/216/250 passengers in a typical 3-class/2-class/1-class configurations. It has been primarily utilized by airlines on high demand regional and intra-continental routes, connecting major destination hubs. Originally powered by two AA3300 high bypass turbofans producing a total of 52,000lbf each, it was also offered with the option to use the XYZ offered by ABC. As of 2020 there are still X0 aircraft in service, with a total amount of X00 sold before production ceased in 1985.
It was further developed into the R510F, a dedicated freighter equivalent. Able to carry 80,200 lb of cargo, its interior had space to accommodate 22 LD3 containers. The R510F proved popular amongst freight operators, selling X00, with X00 still remaining in service in 2020.
R511
The first lengthened variant, designed alongside the original R510, the R511 fuselage was stretched an additional 6.02m to increase passenger capacity. Able to accommodate 210/256/292 in typical 3-class/2-class/1-class configurations with the same 6,000km range, the R511 proved to be more popular amongst operators then the original R510. Utilizing the same engine options as the R510 as well as the option for the AA3350 engine producing 55,000 lbf and a mild increase in fuel capacity, it would makes its first commercial flights with Air Kermat in 1972. The R511 went on too sell X00 units by 1985, with X0 still in service by 2020.
The R511 was developed into the R511F and the R511ER. The R511F was the dedicated freighter equivalent, now able to carry 30 LD3 containers and total weight capacity of 90,000 lb, it proved to be just as popular as the R510F, with the first R511F taking flight with Freight Karaihe in 1973. The R511ER significantly increased interal fuel capacity for the R511, extending total range to 8,500km. The R511ER increased range greatly opened up opportunities for travel on the platform. Able to carry passengers from Onekawa-Nukanoa to destinations in the Periclean and the vast majority of Ochran, it sold X00 aircraft by 1985, with X0 still in service in 2020.