Another Technical Problem' - The Turbulent Story of the BAe ATP

DALLAS - Today, the American and European giants, Boeing and Airbus, dominate the commercial aircraft industry. But for many years, the United Kingdom produced many iconic, world-leading airliners such as the de Havilland Comet, Vickers Viscount, and Hawker Siddeley Trident.

However, by the late 1980s, its share of the civil aviation market was falling. British Aerospace (BAe) decided to have one last throw of the passenger plane dice, and the 'Advanced Turbo-Prop' or ATP for short, was born on March 1, 1984. 

Development

The ATP was developed from the Hawker Siddeley 748, a medium-sized turboprop airliner produced in the late 1950s to replace the Douglas DC-3. The new aircraft would be a significant redesign of its predecessor rather than a clean-sheet design, reducing production time and costs. 

While the ATP was billed as an updated 748, the only things in common with its predecessor were an identical fuselage cross-section and a wing design based on the military freighter version.

The ATP had an 18-foot fuselage stretch, taking maximum seating up to 72 passengers, although the standard capacity was 64 with a 31-inch seat pitch. The cabin was thoroughly modernized, with a single lavatory at the front and a galley at the rear. Integrative forward air-stairs were fitted as standard to allow faster turnarounds on multi-sector flights. 

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Pratt & Whitney produced a new version of its PW100 power plant, the PW126A, to meet the ATP's specifications. The engines were created to be rugged and reliable. Maintenance requirements were also simplified, with all accessories mounted on top of the powerplant for easy access.

The flight deck was also overhauled using Electronic Flight Information Systems (EFIS), an automatic flight control system, and Electronic Engine Control (EEC) to help improve safety and decrease pilot workload.

Maiden Flight

Painted in BAe's house colors, the prototype ATP (G-MATP) made its first flight on schedule on August 6, 1986. Despite poor weather conditions and strong crosswinds, the flight lasted two hours 40 minutes and was a complete success. 

The second aircraft to roll off the production line (G-BMYM) was painted in the colors of the launch customer, British Midland (BD). The third (G-BMYK) appeared at the 1987 Paris Air Show before being used for cabin evacuation trials. Full certification was planned for September 1987, but problems with the test program caused delays. By the close of 1987, two ATPs had been placed with BD for intensive route-proving trails, leading to final certification in March 1988. 

The ATP entered full passenger service with BD in May 1988 on its new twice-daily 'Diamond Service' from East Midlands (EMA) to Amsterdam (AMS) and a six-daily route from London Heathrow (LHR) to Birmingham (BHX). Despite being the launch customer, the aircraft never established itself in the carrier's fleet. Only three (G-BMYK, G-BMYL, G-BMYM) were ever used.

British Airways (BA) ordered eight ATPs in 1988, with four based at Glasgow (GLA) for its Highland division. The remaining four would be stationed in Berlin (TXL), where BA provided internal German services. However, following the country's reunification, these were returned to GLA. 

Following a reorganization of its regional division, many of BA's ATPs were passed on to its partner airlines. This included Manx Airlines Europe (JE), which would later become British Regional Airlines (TH), operating as British Airways Express. BA later purchased TH and merged it with Brymon Airways (BC) to create British Airways Citiexpress, which subsequently became BA Connect. 

Other Operators

The only US carrier to order the ATP was Air Wisconsin (ZW), a United Express affiliate who would fly a total of ten between January 1990 and September 1993.

Other notable operators included SATA Air Açores (SP), which flew seven ATPs, the first entering service in 1989 to replace its aging 748 fleet.

Palma-based Air Europa Express (X5) operated 17 of the type on Spanish domestic routes from February 1998 until October 2001.

Swedish domestic carrier NextJet (2N), founded in 2002, held the honor of operating some of the last passenger ATPs in the world. When the airline ceased operations on May 16, 2018, it had five still in service.

Problems

Despite some limited success, big orders were slow to materialize. The ATP was also dogged with technical issues, leading the airplane to be often referred to by crew and engineers as 'Another Technical Problem.' Issues quickly arose with electrical wiring, de-icing difficulties, engine problems, and performance issues. Indeed a British Aerospace trainer later said that "they took the 748 and designed all the simplicity out of it." 

Desperate to save the project, BAe looked at relaunching the ATP as the Jetstream 61 (J61) in 1993. Apart from the name change, it introduced several minor technical changes and more powerful PW127D engines. Passenger capacity was also increased from 64 to 70 seats. 

The ATP prototype was re-registered as G-PLXI and modified to become the first J61, first flying in this guise on May 10, 1994. The new model was available for delivery from 1994, but only four were ever created. These were subsequently scrapped before they entered service. 

Cargo Reprieve

As the ATP was retired by passenger carriers, it was lucky enough to find a new lease of life as a cargo aircraft. West Air Sweden's development of the cargo version was undertaken, with the first conversion making its maiden flight on July 10, 2002. Using a modified HS 748 freight door, the cargo ATP carries 30% more cargo than its predecessor with marginally increased operating costs. 

Like most things in aviation, timing is everything. Sadly, the ATP came at the wrong time and was riddled with too many flaws. By the early 90s regional jets were coming into service and proved much more popular than turboprops. 

By now, this market was well covered with the popular de Havilland Dash 8 and ATR's -42 and -72 models. Only 65 'Advanced Turbo-Props' were ever built: 61 ATPs and four J61s. Yet, despite the aircraft's shortcomings, it has found a new lease of life as a freighter, and over 30 years since taking to the skies, many are still flying today.

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Featured image: British Midland was the launch customer of the ATP but only three were ever used by the airline. Photo: Felix Goetting/GFDL 1.2