Commercial Aircraft Sales

US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) pleas for US airliners to be fitted with upgraded flight data recorders (refer p7 5/95 AA) have been met with a positive but not urgent response from the Federal Aviation Administration. The NTSB’s call resulted from investigations into the crash of two Boeing 737s where the installed FDRs measured insufficient parameters to positively identify the causes. Many older airliners – and some newer ones – have FDRs which record only 11 measurements and the NTSB wants a minimum of 32. The FAA will eventually issue a directive on the matter but for the moment recommends voluntary installation of the equipment. Some 4,500 aircraft are affected and it will take several years for all to have upgraded FDRs installed. The cost to the airlines is estimated at $US250-750m and this factor alone should ensure any voluntary installations will be performed at a very slow rate.

146s on the Move

British Aerospace subsidiary Asset Management Organisation (AMO) continues to place previously idle BAe 146 airliners with operators with three more companies taking aircraft. New US carrier TriStar Airlines is to lease three 146-200s for a period of five years for scheduled services out of Las Vegas; and Air Wisconsin (the USA’s largest 146 operator) has taken delivery of another 146-200 bringing its fleet total to 14.

Germany’s Grob has flown its first Strata 2C high altitude, long endurance research aircraft. The 56.4m (185ft) wing span Strata 2C will have a service ceiling of over 80,000ft and a maximum endurance approaching 80 hours. It will be delivered next year to the German government for use in research projects such as ozone layer studies.

British operator Jersey European Airways (JEA) is to acquire two additional 146-200s from AMO to supplement its existing fleet of two 146-200s, two -300s and a single -100. The airline has agreed to ten-year lease extensions (from March 1996) on the -200s and -300s and a five-year lease extension on the -100. JEA operates scheduled services from Belfast to London Gatwick and Stansted, Birmingham and between Jersey/Guernsey and London Gatwick.

Hundred Grand 747s

Information issued by Avmark shows that TWA operates the highest time Boeing 747s. The fleet leader is 747-131 N93109 (c/n 19675) with 96,194 hours and 17,650 cycles logged as at March 30 this year. 747-131s N93104, ‘107, ‘108 and ‘110 all have more than 95,000 hours logged and in the case of N93108, more than 18,000 cycles. All were delivered in 1970. Two other TWA 747-131s are well into the 80,000 hours regime while another was withdrawn from service in September last year after logging 95,004 hours and 17,941 cycles. The 747s have averaged over 10 flight hours and two cycles per day since delivery and none have been involved in a serious accident.

The nearest any other airliner has come to this sort of use are two of the products of Long Beach. In the eighties there was a Provincetown-Boston Airways Douglas DC-3 which logged about 90,000 hours before being sold a few years ago. The DC-3 was originally delivered to American Airlines in 1939. Meanwhile, the Gooney’s big brother, the DC-9, also rates well with Northwest still flying some with more than 95,000 hours on the clock and almost as many cycles. Remarkable aircraft all of them.

Turboprop Ice Testing

The October 1994 crash of an American Eagle ATR 72 – believed caused by large droplet icing – has prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to introduce plans for the manufacturers of 26 regional turboprops to test their aircraft for susceptibility to the problem. The tests will be similar to those conducted by ATR when it was performing its own investigations into the accident, the tests proving that large droplet icing could result in an uncommanded roll. ATR used a USAF Boeing NKC-135A icing tanker for the tests but this aircraft is due to be retired. The FAA has asked its retirement be postponed. The FAA wants the tests applied to all turboprop airliners with manual flight controls and pneumatic de-icing systems, 26 types in all.

More Boeing Job Cuts

Boeing is to reduce its employment level by 12,000 this year, 5,000 more than was previously announced (refer p8 April 95 AA). The decision comes as a result of the company having to further reduce costs to cope with “increasing competitive pressures” and coincides with a general reduction of production rates. The majority of the additional 5,000 job losses are expected to occur at Boeing plants in the Seattle area. Boeing currently employs about 113,900 people, down from more than 117,000 at the beginning of the year. The new cuts will reduce this to around 105,000 by the end of 1995.

IPTN Selects US Factory Site

Indonesian manufacturer IPTN has announced that Mobile, Alabama, will be the site of its proposed US joint venture factory for the assembly of the N-250 regional turboprop. IPTN has a 40% interest in the venture with US and international companies holding the rest. Despite the selection of the factory site, no other partners in the project have as yet been announced. Airframe manufacture of the N-250 will be carried out in Indonesia with assembly (including the installation of engines and equipment) to be performed in the USA.

A321 Range Extension

Airbus is now offering a longer range version of its 170 to 190 seat A321 twinjet. The max takeoff weight of the standard A321 at 83 tonnes has been increased to 89 tonnes in the A321 Growth, which boosts range by 400nm to 2800nm (740km to 5190km) and brings it into line with the max pax range of the A319 and A320. This better allows an airline to swap the types as required to meet traffic demands on a particular route. All three aircraft are also Cross Crew Qualified (CCQ) so pilots can fly all three at will allowing a variation in their duty roster otherwise not possible, whilst increasing the productivity of the airline concerned. Aero Lloyd and ILFC have already ordered the higher gross weight A321 and the first is planned to enter service in May ’97. Changes include an underfloor centreline tank of 2900 litres capacity, higher thrust engines and reinforced structure. The new version of the A321 is expected to be popular with North American customers where its increased range will allow it to fly many routes not presently possible. Over 500 of the Airbus family of single aisle twinjets are in service with total orders standing at 868.

Germany Should Join Euro Alliance

The new regional airliner manufacturing alliance between British Aerospace and ATR (Aerospatiale and Alenia) should be expanded to include Germany’s Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) according to Aerospatiale chairman Louis Gallois. In an interview with the Financial Times, M Gallois said the BAe and ATR link should not be seen as the end of the process of creating a new European regional aircraft company and that “we have to find a way of negotiating with DASA (which owns 51% of Fokker)… we are not creating two antagonistic groups. In the end, we will have to work with DASA-Fokker”. DASA’s new chairman, Manfred Bischoff, wants to take the concept even further saying that a purely European venture would not succeed and that Asian companies would have to be involved. DASA-Fokker’s exclusion from the BAe-ATR deal surprised many observers but there would have been a direct clash between the Fokker Jetliner and BAe RJ series of regional jets. The BAe-ATR arrangement has meant only one such clash and has resulted in the relatively easy decision to terminate the slow selling BAe ATP/J61 turboprop programme in favour of the much more successful ATR 42/72.