Newsdesk-Commercial Aviation

Also under consideration is a double deck fuselage design seating 450 passengers in three classes and offering easier ground handling due to it being shorter than a Boeing 747. These characteristics remain subject to revision at presstime although it appears more than likely that the launch version will have four engines, making it a direct rival to proposed products from Boeing and Airbus. Service entry could be as early as 1998.

 More Inspections Sought:

Following the September 1991 crash of a Continental Express Embraer Brasilia turboprop, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to improve airline maintenance inspections.

The crash was caused by the separation of the Brasilia’s port tailplane in flight, the result of 40 screws which secure the tailplane’s leading edge not being replaced after overnight maintenance.

The NTSB report noted deficiencies in several areas which were not detected by FAA surveillance due to their inspectors’ excessive workload which contributed to a lack of surveillance.

Boeing Backs Etops:

Following an analysis of some 160,000 North Atlantic crossings by Boeing 767 aircraft, the manufacturer has suggested that the number of engines on an airliner may not be as critical as was thought when extended range twin engined (ETOPS) operations began.

The analysis revealed that those 160,000 flights resulted in 56 “events” where the pilot had to choose between diverting, turning back or continuing when the aircraft was in the ETOPS phase of the flight- more than 60 minutes from a suitable

nate airport. Thirty two of these events resulted in the flight continuing while the remainder diverted or turned back. Interestingly, only 15 were engine-related (or 0. 009% of the total flights), meaning one per 20,000 flights. Boeing 767s cross the Atlantic about 4,000 times a month and of note is the fact that this year an estimated 80% of the Atlanticseats offered by US carriers will be in twins.

Skunk Works Looking at Sst:

Lockheed’s famous ‘Skunk Works’ Advanced Development Company is examining the feasibility of a 60-70 passenger supersonic transport incorporating technology derived from military programmes such as the SR-7 1 Blackbird. Intended mainly for the non stop trans oceanic market, the aircraft would have a single premium class interior and fares would be at first class levels. No further details have been released, including those of the powerplants. Lockheed notes that Singapore Airlines regularly sells 100 or more first-class seats onits USAwestcoast to Asia services and sees the aircraft as possibly catering for that and similar markets

 Airline Fatalities up in 1991:

Statistics released by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have revealed that airline safety was slightly. worse in 1991 than it had been the previous year.

The scheduled air carriers of ICAO’s 164 member states experienced 30 fatal accidents in 1991 compared with 25 in 1990 resulting in 653 passenger deaths as against 495 the year before. The fatalities per 100 million passenger kilometres rate increased marginally from 0. 03 to 0. 04. Non scheduled air services recorded 26 fatal accidents in 1991, the same as 1990, but the number of passengers killed rose from 184 to 385.

On the positive side, the number of ‘acts of unlawful interference’ decreased significantly from 36 to 13, with no passengers or crew killed as a result. In 1990, 137 deaths resulted from these acts. Seven of the peple responsible for these crimes were killed in 1991, a figure over which no-one who travels by air will suffer any remorse.

 More Power for V2500:

The International Aero Engines consortium (IAE) is proposing a more powerful version of its V2500 turbofan engine to enable it to be suitable for twin engined airliners in the 180-200,000lb (82-90 tonne) maximum weight class and possibly the four engined Airbus A340.

Currently offered in versions producing between 22,000 and 30,000lb thrust for the Airbus A320, A321 and McDonnell Douglas MD-90, the new derivative will produce 35,000lb thrust and feature an increased diameter fan and a revised low pressure compressor and turbine configuration. The new engine is provisionally designated V2535.

Reduced to Spares:

American parts supplier Ryder Airline Services is undertaking what is believed to be the first disassembly of a Boeing 747. The former PanAm aircraft will be a classic case of the ‘sum of the parts being greater (in value) than the whole’ when it is sold, piece by piece, as spares.

P&W in WA Joint Venture:

It’s good to see someone getting on with the business of being part of a ‘clever country”. Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in conjunction with the USA’s Wyman-Gordon Company and Australia’s Western Aerospace, has formed a joint venture to produce nickel based superalloys for use in aerospace manufacturing.