Newsdesk – Commercial Aviation

Meanwhile the consortium has completed a year long series of trials using 3M’s drag reduc- ing nblets (that Dennis Connor successfully used in the 1986 America’s Cup defence) aboard a Lufthansa A300-600. Airbus will now coat some 80% of the total surface area of their developed A320 twinjet with the riblets to further gauge the long term practicality of such a product being used as standard equipment aboard future jet transports. Al and 3M believe that the riblets can reduce overall airframe drag by between 1 and 1. 5%, a not insignificant figure on a 15 hour A340 haul.

The Consortium is also planned to be profitable in its own right by the mid-nineties and has in the past year taken significant steps at corporate restructuring and reducing its exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. As it sells and buys in US dollars, Al has in the past, as have most non-US companies, been greatly disadvantaged when the Greenback has lost its strength, thereby costing Al more for its basic products.

While Al itself has not been highly profitable, its member companies have been and that is important as Al workload is now forming an ever more crucial portion of their overall workload as defence work worldwide subsides and Al’s airliner production base increases. Overall, the workforce of the Al consortium companies is far greater than either Boeing or McDonnell Douglas, a point that largely goes unrecognised on the other side of the Atlantic.

RB211 for 767:

The Rolls-Royce RB211- 524H turbofan engine has been cleared for use in the Boeing 767-300 and will power the 17 Boeings on order for British Airways and six for Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services.

Rated at 60,600lb thrust, the new RB211 is mechanically identical with the -524G version fitted to BA’s 747-400s and is therefore interchangeable between the two Boeing types Rolls-Royce has received 500 orders and options for these two RB211 variants.

 CFM56 Restrictions:

Boeing and engine manufacturer CFM International have recommended that Boeing 737-400 aircraft powered by CFM56-3C engines be withdrawn from service pending modifications, the result of several incidents with the engine including the crash of a British Midlands aircraft earlier this year.

The proposed modifications include replacing fan blades and steps to limit maximum thrust to 22,000lb rather than the usual 23,500lb. The recommendation does not apply to 737-300s and -400s powered by the -38 engine which is already rated at 22,000lb However, the British Civil Aviation Authority decided not to let carriers under its jurisdiction downgrade their engines, effectively grounding the UK fleet just in time for the northern summer peak season. The airlines affected were British Midland, Dan-Air, Air UK Leisure and Air Europe.

The CFM56 situation is not without precedent. Way back in the days when most aero-planes still had propellers, a first generation jet engine called the de Havilland Goblin had a few problems. At the top of the climb its compressor, a single sided centrifugal compressor, vibrated and sometimes shed some bits, usually the sharp corner of a blade. The solution? Rounding off all the sharp corners!

MD-90V on Offer:

As revealed in the May issue of AA, it appears McDonnell Douglas is planning to drop the Ultra High Bypass Proplan MD-90 series of airliners in favour of a version powered by IAE 2500 turbofans Discussions are now being held with airlines about such an aircraft under the generic designation MD-90V. Three subvariants of this latest extrapolation of the basic DC-9 are being discussed; the 114 passenger MD-91V, the 165 seat MD-92V and the 180 passenger (in two classes)MD-93V. If full-scale development of these aircraft begins within a year, the first aircraft could be in service as early as 1994. McDonnell Douglas claims the MD-91V would offer a per seat fuel burn improvement of 12% over the current and comparably sized MD-87 (with P&W JT8D-217 engines) on a 500 mile flight while the MD-92V and -93V will use up to 20% less fuel per seat than the current 143 seater MD-88. The UHB engined MD-90s are still officially on offer to the airlines, McDonnell Douglas saying that it will “let the market decide which type of engine will ultimately power the MD-90 series. ”

Amazonian Jetliner

Embraer, manufacturer of successful commuter types such as the turboprop 19 passenger Bandeirante and 30 passenger Brasilia, has entered the regional jet market with the unveil- ing of its latest design, the EMB-145 Amazon. The Amazon will compete with the Canadair Regional Jet in this new market area. To keep development costs down, the Amazon is basically a stretched and re-engined Brasilia and will retain some 75% structural and systems commonality. A 22 feet (6. 7m) fuselage stretch increases the Amazon’s passenger capacity to 45 at a 31in seat pitch (48 if the galley or wardrobe is removed) seated three abreast. Power will be provided by a pair of 6,400lb thrust turbofans of a type yet to be selected. The GE/Garrett TFE738, Lycoming ALF501 and Rolls-Royce/Allison RB580 are in the running and, unusually, they will be mounted above the wings in mounts similar to those on the Brasilia. The Brasilia’s wing has been partly redesigned and will incorporate increased span and aspect ratio, greater chord, winglets and slight sweepback on the leading edges.

Brazi’s Optimised for 500-600mm (926-1,110km) stages but with a maximum range of 1,400nm (2,600km) with reduced payload, the Amazon will cruise at 400kt (740km/h). Because of its commonality with the Brasilia, the new aircraft can be initially sold at a low $US11m, $US4-5m less than the Canadiar Regional Jet. First flight is set for 1991 with entry to service the following year. Embraer plans to build 60 Amazons per annum by 1995 and intends capturing half of the projected market for 1,000 aircraft in this class.

Australian Aerospace Lodges Another Record:

The Australian aerospace industry has exceeded its previous levels in both total output and export earnings.

The results of the latest survey recently completed by the Australian Aerospace Industries Association indicate that the industry has broken the A$1 billion a year mark for the first time, reaching $1,215m for the last year. This represents an increase (in real terms) of about 21% over the previous year. Export earnings have also increased, to reach A$346 million for the first time. This represents an increase (in real terms) of 18%

Allison for Saab 2000:

In a slight surprise, the new Allison GMA 2100 turboprop engine has been selected to power the forthcoming Saab 2000 regional airliner, a stretched and faster derivative of the existing Saab 340.

The favourite to win the Saab contract was the General Electric/Lycoming GLC38 which, in its military form, has been selected to power the Lockheed Orion’s successor, the P-7A The GMA 2100 will produce around 4,500shp for takeoff and 3,500shp in the cruise, pushing the Saab 2000 to a speed of around 360 knots (660km/h), considerably faster than any other turboprop currently on offer. The GMA 2100 is based on the T406 engine currently under development for the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

Let’s Bash the DC-10 Again Dept:

Anyone even remotely aware of what really goes on behind the scenes in aviation must have been sickened at the general lay media response to the two unfortunate DC-10 accidents which occurred in late July. Once again folks it was time to pull out all the old footage and bash hell out of the DC-10.

That the GE engine on one aircraft (United/ Sioux City) suffered a massive structural failure of unprecedented proportions and the other DC-10 was landed on a suburb rather than a runway is really little to do with the structural integrity of the type itself. The only reason the Tripoli accident didn’t capture hours of air time was because footage from that part of the world is naturally difficult to come by. A very lucky PR break for an accident prone Korean Air! Similarly, back in the early eighties when DC-10 Bashing was a world sport, the fact that almost all the incidents and accidents were directly attributable to human error, both in the air and on the ground, went largely unnoticed by the mass of the world’s lay media. The result of course was an international paranoia against the MDC trijet, a rapid decline in its resale value (which smart operators made a killing on when they acquired fire sale DC-10s that within five years would double in value) and a move away from ordering the type which finally (but for the KC-10 tanker) closed the line Previous major accidents had the type taking off with half its key pylon/engine/wing mounting bolts missing (American Airlines/Chicago), a

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association

Australian Aviation has been appointed the official organ of the 2,000+ member Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.

The ALAEA’s membership maintain virtually all transport class aircraft in Australia. Australian Aviation is proud to be able to represent this highly experienced and skilled sector of the industry as their official organ.

This now brings to six the number of industry associations represented by Australia’s largest selling aviation magazine (with a CAB audited circulation of 18,764). The other associations are the Australian Business Aircraft Association, the Association of Australian Aerospace Industries, the General Aviation Association, the Aviation Law Association of Australia and the Helicopter Association of Australia.

cargo door left unlatched with resultant depressurisation of the cabin (Turkish Airlines/ Paris), flown into a mountain (ANZ/Erebus). landing on an inactive runway full of parked earthmoving equipment (Western Airlines/ Mexico City) and the World Airways overrun into Boston Harbour.

A pilot friend of this writer once stated mournfully that aircraft must often cringe when they see a flightcrew coming towards them on the ramp. When you think of the proportion of accidents that are directly attributable to the failure of an aircraft’s design, then you can well see what my pilot friend was getting at.

 First of Type Revisions:

Following the major feature in our January edition (p. 36) the much criticised, unique, expensive and largely unnecessary Australian first of type aircraft certification standards may be in for an overdue shakeup following the appointment by the Civil Aviation Authority of two consultants whose brief is to recommend changes.

Mr Ron Yates (former Qantas chief executive) and Mr Mike Terrell (former Ansett director of operations) will operate under terms of reference calling for an assessment of the appropriateness of present practices and policies for certification of imported aircraft and to make recommendations on changes which could reduce CAA and/or industry costs without reducing safety margins.

Of particular interest to regional airline operators is their brief to investigate the implications for safety and costs if SFAR-41 aircraft were accepted for Australian certification without modification. The USA’s Supplementary Federal Aviation Regulation 41 was introduced to allow the upgrading of general aviation types for regional airline services under deregulation but has never been fully accepted in Australia and has in fact thwarted some plans to introduce new types. See p. 36 of the January 1989 edition of AA for a detailed story on the first of type fiasco.

AA Comment: The launching by the CAA of an independent review of the often controversial issue of certification is another example of how the Authority is nowadays going out of its way to work with industry for the improvement of aviation within Australia.

However, it is now up to industry to report in detailed and fully accountable terms the specific reasons why they consider their technical opinions warrant consideration in the first place If industry remains in its usual apathetic and lethargic state and does not offer the technical justification for accepting already approved overseas standards for certain air- craft types, then it will only have itself to blame f the report finally opts to remain with the status.

At Australian Aviation we get tired of having people constantly whinge to us about what is wrong with the aviation bureaucracy while refusing to actually do anything positive about it -now is a time of change and if industry does not get organised and totally behind its beliefs on certain crucial issues, then it will get the CAA it deserves. The ball is now well and truly in industry’s court.

Air Seychelles 767 Sets Twinjet Distance Record:

Air Seychelles set a new distance record for a commercial twinjet during early July with its latest Boeing 767-200ER flying nonstop from Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the United States to its home base on the island of Mahe in the Indian Ocean.

The 7,727nm (14,311km) flight, with 32 people on board including crew, took 16 hours 49 minutes. It eclipsed the previous twinjet record of 7,583nm (14,044km) set in April 1988 by Air Mauritius, also with an extended range 767-200. That flight was from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Mauritius.

The aircraft is certified for a maximum gross takeoff weight of 387,000lb (175,543kg) and is equipped with increased fuel tankage to carry a total of 24,140 gallons of fuel (91,380 litres). With a full load of 208 passengers and baggage in a two class arrangement, the aircraft has a typical range of 6,400nm (11,900km).

Paris Good for Embraer:

Brazilian manufacturer Embraer had a brilliant Paris Air Show, logging close to $US1bn worth of firm orders and options for its Brasilia and CBA-123 regional airliners from four North American and two European operators.

US operator Comair placed orders and options on 80 30 passenger Brasilias (bringing orders for the type to 246 firm with 170 options) while the 19 passenger CBA-123 had a total of 70 options placed on it by US regionals Skywest and Express Airlines (20 each). Canada’s Ontario Express (20), BritAir of Fr- ance (5) and Finland’s KarAir (5) Local agents Aeromil, also took one CBA-123 option.

 Ge’s Big Engine:

General Electric is planning a new family of civil turbolan engines capable of producing up to 90,000lb thrust after development and beginning with a thrust rating of around 77,000lb. Although no market exists for such an engine at the moment, GE believes it will in the 1990s, powering aircraft such as the as yet unlaunched Boeing 767-X, the American answer to the Airbus A330 GE says its existing CF6-80C2 engine can grow to produce more than 72,000lb thrust through component development (the most powerful version now available is rated at 63,000lb) but beyond that a new design will be required. Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney have entered the high thrust turbofan market with refined derivatives of existing engines, the RB. 211-524L Trent and PW4000, respectively. Both will eventually be capable of producing 80,000lb thrust at the limit of their development.

727 Inspections:

The US Federal Aviation Authority in July ordered inspections of early model Boeing 727-100 airliners following the discovery of a 51cm crack in the lower left side of a United Airlines 727, midway between the wing leading edge and the forward passenger door.

The particular 727 was built in 1964, the 23rd off the line out of a total of 1,832 manufactured between 1963 and 1984. Small cracks were also discovered in two other United 727s. The FAA’s order covers the first 47 727-100s built by Boeing in 1963 and 1964, although only 39 of these are still flying.