Newsdesk – Commercial Aviation

Boeing acknowledges this but points out that in the Taiwan accident, it was the lower part which failed and the upper section in the case of the Aloha 737. Meanwhile, Boeing has conducted fatigue tests on a 737 fuselage to show it can safely log 130,000 flights (40,000 more than the Aloha aircraft) without concem, although the Sunday Times newspaper in London claims that these tests included only the rear part of the fuselage and not section 43.

A320 Crash Blamed on Pilot Error:

The highly publicised crash of an Air France Airbus A320 at an airshow in France has been officially blamed on the aircraft’s pilot. Investigation has resulted in the A320’s electronic flight and engine controls being cleared after coming under close scrutiny.

Three of the 130 people on board died after the A320 crashed into trees following a very low and slow flypast at the show, an unscheduled flypast for which no flight plan or passenger manifest had been prepared. The pilot later claimed that the engines did not respond to his selection of full power, and although this was later disproved, both eyewitness and flight data recording evidence confirm that the aircraft was already in the trees before power increased A brief explanation of the A320’s automatic stal protection systems reveals that at or above 100ft, the aircraft will not stall regardless of any manual control inputs the pilot may invoke, the computers always keeping the angle of attack/arspeed/bank angle/power equation in equilibrium. Below 100ft the aircraft automatically switches to another stall protetion mode which is provided by way of angle of attack protection but power selection has to be performed manually otherwise the aircraft could not be landed it would perform an automatic go-around! Although the A320’s crew intended perform- ing the flypast at 100ft, the aircraft actually got as low as 30ft (and therefore into landing mode) despite synthesised voice warnings which were clearly audible on the cockpit voice recorder, yet ignored by the crew. In fact, atone time the captain asked his copilot to switch off the aural warning system as it was annoying him! The best estimates put the selection of maximum power at five seconds before impact and it takes seven seconds for the CFM56-5 engines to spool up from idle (the power setting during the flypast) to maximum.

As it was, it has been suggested that the stall protection as it existed in the last moments of the A320’s flight contributed greatly to the aircraft’s relatively ‘gentle crash and resultant saving of life. This particular A320 was the ninth off the line, had been delivered only two days before the accident and had logged just 22 flying hours.

Highly skilled pilots making inexplicable errors before air show audiences is unfortunately not a new phenomenon, in fact one air safety investigator has gone as far as calling it ‘Airshowitis’. For additional background on this seemingly illogical but regrettably common affiction, furn to our Air Safety feature elsewhere in this edition.

Troubled Shorts to Be Sold:

Britain’s oldest existing aircraft manufacturer, Short Brothers, will be sold by the British Government following continuing heavy financial loses by the Northern Ireland manufacturer.

The company’s 1987/88 loss will exceed £45m and accumulated losses over the past three years are more than £100m (about $A245m). Accumulated borrowings are double even that figure. Much of the problem stems from substantial slippages in the Tucano trainer programme for the Royal Air Force, a programme negotiated on a fixed price basis. It’s likely that British Aerospace will take over Shorts’ until recently successful and profitable missile systems division but the future of its air- craft division must be doubtful once the Tucano contract is completed.

Apart from Tucano, most activity at Shorts centres on production of the 330/360 transport, of which more than 300 have been sold. Shorts are also actively engaged in sole source components production for Boeing, Airbus, Fokker and BAe, in addition to having a large engine nacelle contract for the Rolls-Royce RB211 and IAE V2500 programmes.

 A320 Goes From Strength to Strength:

Already well into the history making class by recording the greatest number of orders before first flight by any airliner, the Airbus A320 has increased its tally to 319 firm orders plus 291 options/commitments following Air Canada’s decision to place 34 on firm order and another 20 on option.

The order is the first for the A320 to be placed by a Canadian operator and is valued at $US1. 5bn. Air Canada’s aircraft will be powered by CFM56-5 engines and will be configured to seat 137 passengers in a mixed business/ economy arrangement. Deliveries scheduled to commence in the first half of 1990.

Quieter 727:

The many airlines who wish to continue operating the Boeing 727-200 into the 1990s and beat the ever more stringent noise requirements can now do so by installing a kit developed by Valsan Inc in Phoenix Arizona. The kit involves replacing the 727s fuselage-mounted Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15s or-17s and replacing them with current generation JT8D-200s as used on the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series. The conversion shares that aircraft’s basic nacelle, inlet and thrust reverser design. The 727’s centreline engine remains as before but is hush-kitted by removing the thrust reverser and installing a new acoustical mixer assembly and tailpipe fairing. The conversion costs about $US8. 5m per aircraft.

The Price of Success:

Douglas is making concerted efforts to recover from the situation it now finds itself in regarding late deliveries of its popular MD-80 series of airliners. The combined effects of large numbers of orders, parts shortages and labour problems – mainly the need to train a rapidly increasing workforce have put MD-80 deliveries up to two months behind schedule, meaning that some airlines have had to reorganise their re-equipment programmes.

Two key MDC executives have been put in charge of the programme to get things back on schedule and already some time has been made up. The current production rate of the MD-80 is around 10 per month with orders and options totalling some 1,000 aircraft.

Tay 650 Ahead of Schedule:

The Rolls-Royce Tay 660, latest and most powerful version (15,000!b thrust) of the hew turbofan engine -thus tar, has been certificated by lh0c British Civil Aviation authority 10 weeks anead of schedule During its certification programme, the 650 simulated about 20,000 takeoffs and seven development engines logged 1,530 test hours. Compared to the initial Tay 610/611 and 620 versions – which power the Gulfstream IV and baseline Fokker 100 – the 650 delivers 9% more takeoff power and a 15% increase in maximum continuous climb and cruise thrust ratings. The Tay 650 first flew in a Fokker 100 last June and is now offered as a standard option on that type. The first 650-powered F100 for a customer is scheduled to be delivered to USAir early in 1989 while more recently Braniff has also ordered the type (refer Sales). Additionally, a BAC One-Eleven re-engined with the Tay 650 will fly next year, opening up a possibly lucrative market for the engine which RR is also looking to eventually put on DC-9-30 airframes.

MD-11 Leasing Venture:

McDonnell Douglas and giant Irish- based leasing group GPA have signed a preliminary agreement which will see the three organisations form a joint venture to lease McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliners on the world market.

GPA will own 50% of the new company with BA and MDC holding 25% each. British Airways now finds itself a future operator of the MD-11 since it inherited a firm order for three and options on a further nine when it took over British Caledonian although the new arrangement will enable the airline to lease these aircraft to other operators if it decides not to operate them itself. This way BA won’t be liable for cancellation fees if that course of action is taken and MDC won’t lose the order.

GPA already has two MD-11s on firm order (plus two options) with first deliveries expected in 1991. The three companies are already tied up through other leasing deals GPA and MDC have a joint venture company – Irish Aerospace-covering the MD-80 series and British Airways currently leases several dozen Boeing 737-200s from GPA.

Atp Downs and UPS:

British Aerospace’s 64-72 passenger ATP twin turboprop airliner has recorded mixed fortunes of late following the recent cancellation of Californian operator Wings West’s order for ten aircraft an order which represented more than half the type’s firm sales-and the subsequent firm ordering of up to 23 others for use by four British operators.

The Wings West cancellation came about only six months after the order had been placed (and after its first aircraft had been completed) and occurred as a result of the carrier’s recent takeover by American Airlines, which indicated that the post-merger Wings West fleet would not include aircraft of the ATP’s size. As a result, the order was cancelled by mutual agreement, with Wings West emphasising that the cancellation was not due to any mechanical, economic or performance problems. The airline’s order for 15 BAe Jetstream Super 31s remains intact.

The strong British airlines’ order therefore comes as a timely boost for the ATP. Of those, 8 have been ordered by British Airways (with a further 8 on option) for the airline’s internal German services and for its Scottish routes while the remaining 7 will go to operators in the Airlines of Britain group. The ATP’s launch customer, British Midland (which put its first ATP into service in May this year) will take 2 aircraft, Manx Airlines 2 and Loganair 3.

Another Quieter 727:

Boeing 727 noise reduction programmes seem to be all the rage at the moment with not only the Valsan system (refer Newsdesk elsewhere this issue) for -200 aircraft on offer but also a kit for the -100 models developed by Federal Express and Pratt & Whitney.

The Fedex/P&W kit is much simpler and cheaper than the Valsan re-engining idea with its multi-lobed mixer and acoustic treatment of the nose cowl and nozzle reducing the noise of the JT8D-7 engines by mixing highly accelerated gases from the engine core with cooler, slower moving air from the fan duct. The kit will enable the 727-100 to comply with the latest FAA Stage 3 noise regulations and will cost an estimated $US1m per aircraft.

Fedex and P&W will initially offer the kit for -100 aircraft only but may seek certification on the-200 later on. For its part, Valsan (whose kit is only for the 727-200) claims the Fedex/P&W idea is “not viable” for the later aircraft, but with more than 1,700 727s of all models (of which about a third are -100s) still in service the market potential is obviously very lucrative and the competition bound to be intense.

With Apologies to Uncle Roger:

We couldn’t resist sharing this example of “Yukspeak’ (or ‘Hawkespeak’ for those into political satire) with our readers. It is a headline from a US aerospace publication: “Space Shuttle Launch Date Contingency Time Deple- ted”. We think they mean “it’s late”!

Viva la Viscount!

Britain’s most successful commercial transport, the Vickers Viscount, has a received a boost following the completion of a structural life extension review by British Aerospace and the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The now 30 year old airliner will soon be allowed to continue operations to 45 years or 75,000 flight cycles, whichever occurs first. The Viscount first entered service in June 1950 as the world’s first turboprop airliner to achieve production and of the 444 built up to 1964, some 40 remain in service. British Air Ferries is currently the largest Viscount operator and will undertake the necessary engineering modifications. BAF’s fleet have logged between 35,000 and 58,000 cycles each, meaning that the aircraft should still be flying well into the next century.

 Tay One-Eleven on Way:

The Dee Howard Company has completed initial ground testing of a Rolls-Royce Tay powered BAe One-Eleven following the aircraft’s rollout earlier this year.

Dee Howard’s demonstrator aircraft is a Series 400, although the conversion is being offered for the larger Series 500 as well. With significant reductions in fuel bum and noise as well as improved airfield and payload/range characteristics, the Tay One-Eleven is considered to be an attractive commercial proposition, especially considering the high life expectancy of the basic One-Eleven airframe. The aircraft is currently cleared to 85,000 cycles and most examples have not yet reached the half-way point. The Tay One-Eleven is scheduled to make its first flight in early 1989 and Dee Howard is negotiating with Rombac (the aircraft’s Romanian licensees) about installing the Tay on their new-build One Elevens.

Another Concorde in Service:

Air France has put a fifth Concorde into service for use on scheduled and charter operations, complementing the four already regularly used and allowing them to be stood down for major inspections on a rotational basis.

The French national airline had a total of seven Concordes in its fleet-of the other two one is used for spare parts and cannot be refurbished to flight status, while the other is in reserve and could be put back into service if required.

Crowded Skies a European Problem:

As a natural follow up to the article in July’s Australian Aviation on airport congestion (p86), a recently published report on European air transport deregulation contains some interesting reading.

The report prepared by the Aviation Industry Strategy Group in London-points out that prospects for the deregulation of air transport in Europe are likely to be strangled at birth unless the current airport, airways and ground infrastructure is expanded to cope with updated growth forecasts. In key European regions, and especially in the London area, these are ‘hopelessly inadequate’ to cope with traffic growth, according to the report. It also points out that air traffic control is creaking at the seams’ in some areas and that safety is a real and existing problem with only a mid-air collision likely to jolt the appropriate governments into some kind of coordinated action.

The study urges the formation of a Federal Aviation Authority for the whole of Europe and the establishment of a single air traffic control system for the Continent. It also predicts a réorganisation of airline services as we now know them with the national flag carrying European airlines like BA, KLM, Air France and Lufthansa moving almost exclusively into long- range, high capacity operations leaving the traditional and shorter European trunk routes to the regionals such as Ryanair, Air Europe and British Midland.

 Corn Corner:

First man at Moscow airport: “I must be seeing things, I think that was a VC-10. Second man: “No, it was only an Ilyushini And, with thanks to Flight International’s Uncle Roger, at last the true definition of the EROPS acronym – Engines Running or Passengers Swimming!

Rollspower for MD-11:

Rolls-Royce and McDonnell Douglas have signed a memorandum of understanding that allows the latest version of the Rolls-Royce RB211 family of high bypass jet engines, the -524L, to be offered on the new MD-11 trijet.

The 65,000lb-70,000lb thrust -524L will be available to go into airline service on the MD-11 in the spring of 1993. The MD-11 is an advabced technology follow on to the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 senes of trijets, offering improvements in both payload capacity and range capability. It is 18. 6 feet longer than the DC-10, with single class seating for up to 405 passengers and increased lower deck cargo space. Non-stop range exceeds 7,000 nautical

miles.

Development of the MD-11 was launched at the end of 1986. Assembly of the first aircraft is well underway at the Douglas plant In Long Beach. First flight 1s scheduled neX1 March, and deliveries to alrlines will begin in mid 1990. The RB211-524L will also be available to power the Airbus 1ndustrie A830 medium to long twinjet.