iscover
The Dash 8 turboprop airliner has been celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The original standard fuselage Dash 8-100 was granted certification and was first delivered in late 1984. The stretched 50 seat 300 (depicted in cutaway form) was first delivered in February 1989. In recent years the Dash 8 fleet in Australia and New Zealand has grown considerably, and it seems likely that the Dash 8-300 series will enter service downunder as regional airlines grow and the need for more capacity increases. (de Havilland)
Newsdesk – Commercial
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Md-95 Final Assembly Subcontracted
McDonnell Douglas has subcontracted final assembly of the forthcoming MD-95 airliner to Texas based maintenance and modification company Dalfort Aviation, an unprecedented move in recent times. An assembly line will be established at Dalfort’s facility at Dallas and when fully operational will be capable of delivering one MD-95 each week. MDC will establish a Douglas Delivery Centre at Dallas alongside the final assembly line and this will have responsibility for flight testing, airworthiness certification, quality control and pre delivery work. Although not yet formally launched, MDC has already taken steps to spread the 100 seat MD-95’s workload and risk sharing far and wide. Apart from Dalfort’s involvement and the choice of BMW Rolls-Royce engines, Alenia (Italy) will build the fuselage section, Halla (Korea) the wings, Korean Air the nose assembly, Shin Meiwa (Japan) engine pylons and horizontal stabilisers, British Aerospace the empennage and Israel Aircraft Industries the landing gear. MDC anticipates launching the MD-95 by July 1994.
Korea Talks Airliner Development
The South Korean aerospace industry is currently engaged in talks with China about developing a new 100 passenger regional jet, while at the same time is reported to have reached provisional agreement with McDonnell Douglas about becoming a risk sharing partner in the similarly sized MD-95 airliner. The regional jet programme involves Samsung Industries, Korean Air, Halla Engineering and Daewoo plus various South Korean and Chinese government organisations. Samsung will be the major contractor for the Korean side of things (including final assembly) and Xian Aircraft will be the main Chinese contributor to the programme. A second assembly line in China is considered a possibility. Overall agreement on the programme is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Full scale development will begin early in 1995 with first flight scheduled for 1998. Western manufacturers are being approached to provide aerodynamics and avionics technology in return for a 10 to 12% risk sharing stake in the project. The engines will also be sourced from the West. Korean Air is also reported to be signing a contract with MDC this month which will see it become a risk sharing partner in the MD-95 programme, including production of the aircraft’s nose section. The MD-95 is a planned short fuselage version of the forthcoming MD-90 series of twinjets similar in size to the DC-9-30, and as a 100 seater, seems to clash with the new Sino-Korean regional jetliner described above. Another Korean company involved with the new aircraft – Halla – is also negotiating with MDC on the MD-95.
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