Newsdesk – Commercial Aviation

Pilot workload was evaluated on landing at Denver and Seattle, where runway changes were made at the last minute, and at Anchorage where a non-precision approach was accomplished, all actions being handled routinely. Computer systems were tested for any problems associated with overflying the Pole, the equipment reportedly performing properly during all five passes.

 Essendon Constraint on Tullamarine Denied:

The Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) has strongly denied a claim that Essendon Airport restricts Tullamarine Airport aircraft movements by up to 20%.

The claims were made in an Essendon City Council commissioned report entitled “Melbourne Airport Tullamarine, Reduction in Capacity due to Flight Path Conflict with Essendon Airport”. The report found against Essendon, claiming its use hampered operations at Tullamarine, particularly if certain runways had to be used because of adverse weather. The report was countered, however, by an analysis recently undertaken by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) into the interaction between the two airports. The MIT report found that Essendon affected Tullamarine aircraft handling by just 2% and only 1% of the time, this being because “under present control procedures the two traffic streams (those of Tullamarine and Essendon] are so separated that aircraft can often arrive or depart virtually simultaneously at both airports. ”

On the other hand, Essendon’s contribution to the overall airport capacity of the Port Phillip/Melbourne region is significant, the situation certainly not warranting closure of the airport.

Boeing Seeks Instant 767-Xerops Capability:

Boeing is seeking to radically alter existing extended range operations (EROPS) regulations to allow the 767-X to be granted 180min EROPS prior to entry into service.

Negotiations are underway with the FAA and other international authorities to change the EROPS rules so that 180 minutes EROPS approval can be granted by first delivery. With most potential 767-X customers being attracted to the aircraft in its A (transcontinental-US capable) variant, an instant EROPS approval is desirable, though not essential. Under current guidelines, EROPS approval can only be granted to a particular airframe/engine combination if the engine variant in question has achieved 250,000 hours of successful operation on the aircraft with an inflight shutdown rate of less than 1,000hrs, or 0. 02%. This would normally require around two years of airline service to achieve.

Boeing, however, seeks to have the performance requirements waived so the 767-X can enter service with 180 minutes EROPS already granted. This is despite the fact that the 767-X is an airliner which will have what is essentially a new fuselage, a new wing – possibly with a radical new wing folding mechanism – and, probably, entirely new (for a Boeing airliner) fly-by-wire technology. The engines can also be rightly described as new, the advanced P&W 4000 being a development of the basic W4000, the Rolls Royce Trent being a stretched derivative of the RB211, while the GE90is essentially an all new design. None have yet flown, let alone been tested in operational service.

Airbus officials have supported Boeing’s move in principle, though it has been stressed that the A330 will gain EROPS approval through the current method. Boeing must now convince aviation authorities during the 767-X test program that the aircraft should be automatically granted EROPS, or face the prospect of having customers opt not to purchase an airliner which only has the potential for 180min EROPS without a guaranteed approval.

Badgery’s Creek Design Work Begun:

Preliminary design work for Sydney’s second airport, Badgery’s Creek, has commenced with a $2. 2m Federal Government grant being made available to the Federal Airports Corporation (FAC).

The FAC is scheduled to complete the preliminary design work for the Badgery’s Creek general aviation area by 1992. Design of the domestic and international &irlme terminals is a more long term project, for it will be necessary to instal GA facilities at the airport first to build up a working infrastructure prior to airlines moving in.

MD-11/CF6 Fuel Burn Unsatisfactory:

McDonnell Douglas and General Electric are examining ways of reducing MD-11/CF6 fuel burn after flight test data revealed that the airframe/engine combination is not meeting its performance targets.

With over 1,000 hours of MD-11 flight testing already completed, the majority of these hours utilising the three GE CF6-80C2 equip- ped aircraft, it has become clear that the MD-11 fuel burn is consistently 3-4% above the original design estimates; if this is not rectified, the aircraft will not meet its pay-load/range guarantees. Early customers of the aircraft have been officially notified of the current problem, though MDC/GE designers are acting fast to overcome it. An indication of the depth of the problem is that American Airlines, an early customer expected to take delivery of its first GE powered MD-11 in January 1991, has reportedly threatened to seek at least $US7m per aircraft per year in compensation if the original guarantees are not met.

Various options to improve fuel burn are being studied. The main areas being looked at are aerodynamics and weight, weight being the critical factor with all four MD-11 test aircraft about 907kg overweight. A weight reduction program being implemented has seen improvement, though fur- ther refinements are needed. One possible measure being considered is the replacement of the MD-11’s aluminium floor beams with lighter but more expensive aluminium-lithium beams.

 Tripal Wins Hanoi Contract:

Australian companies are continuing to prove themselves in the international aerospace industry, the latest being Tripal Systems Pty Ltd which has been awarded the contract to upgrade Hanoi airport’s control systems.

The $8. 3m United Nations/International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) contract was successfully tendered by Tripal, which will now be responsible for the upgrading of systems at Noi Bai airport, Hanoi, Vietnam. Equipment to be installed includes computer controlled communications and air traffic control systems, new lighting, and power generating and distribution systems. The work, to be completed in 12 months by Tripal and Australian subcontractor AWA Defence Industries, will allow Vietnam to assume proper air traffic control of aircraft transiting its airspace.

Honeywell Tcas Enter Revenue Passenger Service:

Honeywell’s Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System ( TCAS) was officially activated by Northwest Airlines for passenger revenue service on August 10. The system was used aboard a Northwest 757 for its scheduled flight from Minneapolis to Detroit.

In June, Honeywell announced that its TCAS was certified onboard a Northwest DC-9. Since that time the two companies have concentrated on further certifications, subsequently certifying the Boeing 757 as well as 7 4 7 and 727 aircraft types. According to Northwest, pilot training for TCAS operation is proceeding on schedule, with all of the airline’s DC-10 pilots trained and some pilots trained for every other aircraft type in the airline’s fleet.

 Iata Action Group Established:

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has established an Air Transport Action Group (ATAG).

ATAG has been established by IATA’S Infrastructure Action Group (AG), formed in May this year to tackle the increasingly important problems of airways congestion and inadequate air traffic control systems. The IAG is strongly supported by the airline industry, with representatives of nine airlines – Air France, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Pan American, Qantas, Royal Air Maroc and Varig – on the committee. The group, however, has also received strong indications of support from concerned and related industry sectors, such as consumer groups, chambers of commerce, tourism organisations, aircraft manufacturers, tour operators, travel agents and other industry sectors. It was therefore decided to establish the ATAG to allow these interested parties to play a greater part in the reform of the airline industry and airways systems.

The key objectives of the ATAG have been stated as: “to promote an increased public awareness of the solutions to congestion problems; to provide strong support for the restructuring of the European air traffic control system to develop airport support groups to address airport issues on a local basis; and to encourage a continuous dialogue between environmentalists and aviation experts to seek realistic compromises between environmental concerns and the need for increased capacity. ”

HDH 737 Aileron Construction Milestone:

Hawker de Havilland’s production of 737 ailerons is now the longest running international manufacturing subcontract in the history of the Australian aerospace industry.

The milestone was reached on 20 July, a week which also saw the 737 ailerons subcontract surpass in quantity the 945 sets of Boeing 727 wing ribs previously delivered; during September the company was expected to have delivered its 1,000th set of 737 ailerons to Boeing. The initial contract for the aileron sets was won by HDH in 1982 with deliveries commencing at a rate of six sets per month. With the hot sales achieved by the 737 since, production has been increased to almost 20 per month.

Hawker de Havilland is currently studying a major expansion of its composite construction facilities to undertake the manufacture of the proposed 767-X’s elevators. A decision by Boeing on HDH participation in the project is expected with the launch of the 767-X later this year.

Latest Boeing 767 Flies Into Qantas Record Books:

When the newest Qantas 767 touched down in Sydney for the first time on July 31, it entered the record books as the airline’s first commercial Honolulu/Sydney twinjet operation.

The Boeing 767-300ER, registered VH- OGF, flew empty from Boeing’s Seattle plant late last week. It left Honolulu on Sunday afternoon (local time) with about 100 passengers for the 4,409nm (8,165km) flight which took 10 hours and three minutes.

Qantas, a world leader in extended range twin engine operations (ETOPS), has bought 12 767-300ERS powered by General Electric CF6-80C2 engines to provide more scheduling flexibility on Pacific and Asian routes. Five 767-300ERS already in service were also delivered from Seattle via Honolulu but without paying passengers. The record breaking flight took off from Honolulu at 151 tonnes, well below the maximum takeoff weight. Qantas also operates seven smaller Boeing 767-200ERS.

 Pilot Error Blamed for Most Airline Accidents:

A Boeing analysis of civil transport accidents of the last decade confirms that more than 70% were caused primarily by pilot error.

The Boeing study made use of a database kept since 1958 which contains details of 850 accidents and incidents. The analysis considered those that have occurred in the last ten years during which time the accident rate, adjusted for the number of aircraft flying, has remained quite stable after years of steady improvement. Crashes and incidents with sabotage or military action as their primary causes were not included in the study. Of the 121 hull loss accidents in the period, 72. 5% were caused primarily by aircrew error, a large number involving pilots deviating from approved flight procedures.

The three prime categories identified as being associated with crew error were approach and landing, rejected takeoff (RTO) and controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). A very large proportion of accidents in these categories could, Boeing concluded, be avoided if the crews followed standard operating procedures.

Of the 44 CFIT accidents recorded since 1975, two thirds involved aircraft which either possessed no ground proximity warn- ing system (GPWS), or in which the system had failed or been turned off. Although there was a marked decline in the rate of CFIT since the introduction of GPWS in 1974, the situation is still far from satisfactory. False alarms signalled by first generation equipment has often led pilots to ignore warnings, while many airlines simply disconnect troublesome systems. As a result, some 2,300 of the 6,000 accident fatalities during the past decade have been caused by CFIŤ crashes.

The study found that 52% of accidents occurred during takeoff and landing, most of these in Third World countries. Many such accidents, the study found, could be avoided by aborting or going around, though there would appear some reluctance with less experienced pilots to do so because of an apparent stigma attached to these actions.

Decades of Engine Improvements Well Evident:

A recently released Pratt & Whitney Engine Listing. which lists all P&W engines in service, in production or under development, well illustrates the advances in technology which are now so evident in the performances of modern airliners.

The listing commences with the very earliest JT3C-6 turbojet which initially powered the Boeing 707-120 and the Douglas DC-8-10. These engines typically possessed a maximum dry takeoff thrust of 11,200lb with a dry takeoff fuel consumption of 0. 775 pounds per hour per pound of thrust, or a maximum continuous thrust during flight of 10,000lb with a fuel consumption of . 770b/hr/lb of thrust. The engine itself weighed just 4,234lb and had a diameter of 38. 8in and a length of 138. 6in. Relatively little improvement was made in later variants of the JT3C turbojet. The -12, for instance, still only produced a dry takeoff thrust of 13,000lb and a maximum continuous thrust of 11,500lb. Fuel consumption as a result increased to 0. 820lb/hr/ Ib of thrust during dry takeoff and 0. 780lb/hr/ Ib of thrust during flight.

Perhaps the greatest advance in modern engine technology was the introduction of the turbofan. Pratt & Whitney’s first such engine, the JT3D-1 (used to power the 707-1208, 7208 and DC-8-50) increased dry takeoff thrust to an unprecedented 17,000lb with a maximum continuous thrust of 14,500lb. Fuel consumption was dramatically decreased to 0. 52016/hr/lb of thrust during dry take- off and just 0. 505lb/hr/lb of thrust during maximum continuous thrust. Even this, however, was just a sign of things to come. Figures were unfortunately unavailable for the 747-400’s powerplants, but using the JT9D-7R4G2, which amongst other powers the 747-300, an idea of the vast bounds made in engine technology can be seen. This much larger engine (weight 9,140lb, diameter 97. 0in and length 153. 6in) provides a dry takeoff thrust of 54,750lb (almost five times that of the JT3C-6) and a maximum continuous thrust of 50,200lb (just over five times that of the JT3C-6). Fuel consumption over the years has been substantially reduced, with this engine requiring just 0. 360lb/hr/lb of thrust during dry takeoff and 0. 350lb/hr/lb of thrust during flight.

The benefits to society as a whole of engine development aboard an aircraft such as the 747 over a 20 year period are thus a reduction in fuel burn per seat kilometre of around 50% between the first 747-100s and the latest -400s. A not inconsequential achievement in a world of ever decreasing reserves of aviation fuel.

Pioneers Lecture:

Readers are reminded that the annual Royal Aeronautical Society (ACT branch) Pioneers Lecture is being held on November 7.

Guest speaker will be WW2 veteran and well known airline captain, Mr Peter Gibbes, MVO DFC AFC. For further details contact Jerry O’Day on (06) 288 9895.