Hawker Siddeley Trident 1978, 117 Tridents had been produced. BEA's successor British Airways withdrew its Tridents by the mid-1980s. Trident services ended in China in the early 1990s. In 1953, as British European Airways (BEA) introduced the world's first turboprop-powered civil airliner – the Vickers Viscount – into passenger service, the operator was already considering what would be required of a potential successor. Following the entry into service of jet airliners in 1952, many airline managers and economists remained sceptical and advocated turboprop airliners as replacements of piston-engined airliners. In 1953, while several manufacturers across the world were investing in pure jet-powered aircraft,
Vickers Aircraft Wave light-sport aircraft category. Vickers Aircraft Wave The Vickers Aircraft Company Wave is a two-seat amphibious aircraft, currently under development by the Vickers Aircraft Company of Hamilton, New Zealand. It was introduced at the Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida in 2014. The Wave is a two-seat, side-by-side configuration, high wing amphibious aircraft. The fuselage and wings are constructed from a combination of aluminum and carbon fibre composite materials. An automatic folding wing mechanism and ballistic parachute are planned to be integrated. The standard engine is the Continental Titan 340 four-stroke powerplant, mounted in a pusher configuration. The aircraft is intended