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Australian Aviation Visited the Qantas Facility for a Briefing on the 744 Qfuture Reconfiguration Program’s Progress and to See the Extent of the Work Involved.

The Avalon Facility

Southwest of Melbourne, Avalon is a Key Qantas Heavy Engineering Base, Capable of Anything From Cargo Conversions to 747 D-checks.

The Upgrade Work Was Awarded to the Avalon Facility on Merit Says Qantas Operations Manager Alan Milne: “it’s a Very Competitive Market. As a Company We Need to Be Sure We’re Making the Best Cost Decision for the Shareholder. So This Facility Had to Be in the Market. It Had to Be Able to Show That It Was Cost Efficient. And the Decision to Award the Reconfig Program to Here Was Based Exactly on That. With Where We Are With the International Business at the Moment, We Can’t Afford to Say ‘it’ll Cost $5 Million More to Do It in Avalon, but It’s Our Facility, We’ll Swing It Down There’. It Was a Very Strict Process, These Guys Had to Put a Bid Together and Tender for the Work.

When the Decision is Made, the Auditors Can Scrutinise Why We Made the Decision.

It’s a Pretty Solid, Robust Process but It Needs to Be. ” Milne Added That Qantas is Out on Its Own in Terms of the ‘minimal’ Amount of Offshoring It Undertakes, and That the Awarding of the Reconfiguration Contract to Avalon is “great” for Australian Aviation.

But Despite the 747 Reconfiguration Work Win, It Seems the Future of the Avalonfacility is in Doubt. At Press-time Qantas Announced a Review Into the Future of All Three (Avalon, Melbourne and Brisbane) of Its Major Maintenance Facilities, Flagging That at Least One, and Possibly Two, Will Be Closed.

The Scope of the Upgrade

the Reconfiguration Program Involves Every One of the Six 747-400ers in the Qantas Fleet – the Only Passenger 747-400ers Ever Built – as Well as Its Three Youngest Rb211 Powered 747-400s (Dubbed ‘classics’).

The Refit Essentially Entails Removing the First Class Cabins and Replacing Them With an Upgraded Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy ‘product’ for Service on the Airline’s Pacific and Kangaroo Routes.

Post Mod Aircraft Seat 364 Passengers, Up From the Er’s 307 and the 744’s 353.

Preparing the Aircraft

Ge Powered Vh-oeh Was Ordered New by Qantas and Entered Service in February 2003. Its Last D-check Was Completed at Avalon in November 2010 and It Has Recently Returned From Xiamen, China, Where It Was Stripped and Repainted in the New Qantas Livery.

RECONFIGURATION START DATES
OEG August 15 ’11
OEI November 12 ’11
OEH January 4 ’12
OEJ February 18 ’12
OEE March 29 ’12
OJU May 10 ’12
OEF June 29 ’12
OJS August 5 ’12
OJT September 13 ’12

Twelve Weeks Before Its Arrival at Avalon, Engineers Began Reviewing Its Service Bulletins, Studying Technical Drawings and Noting Subsequent Revisions and Changes.

Engineering Staff Then Prepared Upwards of 2500 Task Cards, Which Break Down Service Bulletins Into Manageable Chunks, So That the Reconfiguration Work is Sequenced in the Correct Order.

After Arriving at Avalon, the Aircraft is Defuelled, Wheeled Into the Hangar, Has Plastic Sheeting Placed Over Its Tail and Wings to Protect Against Bird ‘strike’ and is Then Placed on Three Giant Jacks. At This Point 110 Sheetmetal Workers, Avionics and Airframe Technicians, Working From 7am to 11pm in Two Shifts, Set About Transforming the Interior of the 747. The Process Takes 42 Days, Including 29 Working Days With Weekends Used for Overtime and ‘catchback’. Once Stripping and Installation of New Equipment is Taken Into Account, Essential Engineering Work is Completed in Just Three Weeks.

At the Heart of This Modification Are Changes to the Seat Tracks, the Long Aluminium Strips That Run the Length of the Aircraft Floor, Spaced 50cm Apart, Upon Which New Seats, Galleys and ‘monuments’ Such as Snack Bars Are Bolted. Once the Aircraft is Reconfigured, It is Then Brought Outside the Hangar and Reweighed Before Undergoing Four Days of Outdoor Testing. It is Then Ready to Recommence Revenue Service. Milne Outlined the Airline’s Strategy Behind the Refit, in Particular, the Removal of First Class. “it’s Around Network Optimisation.

As We Saw More A380s Come Into the Business, the First Class Product is on More of the Long Haul Flights, to the Londons, the Las, the Hong Kongs That’s Where We Were Getting Good Yield, So the Rest of the Services Like Lax-bne, There Was Just Not the Requirement for It, We’d End Up Selling First Class Cabin as Business Class Product. So This is Based on Our Historical Data, Which We’ve Got a Fair Bit of Now and the Forecast of What We See Going Forward. ”

Project Integration

While Qantas Engineering Does the Upgrade Work, Us-based Company Heath Tecna is Responsible for Project Integration.

It Supplies the Technical Drawings, Produces Reconfiguration Kits and Manages the Delivery of Interior Fittings, Bose Lighting Systems and New Seating. Heath Tecna is Also Responsible for Obtaining the Newlymodified Aircraft’s Supplemental Type Certificate (Stc), Granted Not by Casa but the Faa.

Qantas Engineer and Program Check Coordinator Mark Flitton Explains the Process: “there’s Two First of Type [stcs], One for the Er Series, and One for the Classics.

The Faa Will Send Out a Dar, or Designated Airworthiness Representative, They’re Basically Airline Employees Who Are Subcontracted to Do This Work. They View All Installation as It Progresses, to Assure We’re Complying With the Drawings. Towards the End of the Check, We Have the Ders, the Design Engineering Reps. They Do Final Certification, They’ll Want to Inspect Particular Parts of the Installation and They’ll Want to Do the Testing, Like Emi [electro Magnetic Interference] Testing. ” a Test Flight With the First-of-type Aircraft and With an Faa Test Pilot on Board Completes the Stc Process. Once Granted, the Stc is Owned by Heath Tecna and Licensed to Qantas.

Anatomy of an Upgrade

Work is Well Progressed on Vh-oeh’s Reconfiguration, Which Will Involve Simultaneous Work on Its Six Zones – One on the Upper Deck, and Five on the Lower Labelled a to E.

The Current in Service Pacific Er Configuration Sees These Zones Occupied by 14 First Class Seats (Zone a), 66 Business Class Seats (Zone B and the Upper Deck), 40 Premium Economy Seats (Zones C and D) and 187 Economy Seats in Zones D and E. The Upgrade Sees All First and Business Class Seats Removed and Replaced With 58 New 203cm (80in) Pitch Flat Skybeds in Business Class Fitted to the Upper Deck and an Area Forward of the Stairwell to the Nose.

Space in Zone a is Maximised by Removing the Nose Coat Locker, Some Partitions and the First Class Galley and Two Lavatories.

Underlying Floor Structures Are Removed and Seat Tracks Are Installed to Accommodate the New 240kg Skybeds.

“the Heart of the Structural Part of the Cabin is the Seat Track,” Milne Points Out.

“so All the Modules and the Seats Themselves All Lock Into Them. The Modules Are Prefabricated in Japan by Jamco, Who Were Severely Hit by the Tsunami. A Lot of Their Suppliers Were Wiped Out and Their Delivery Schedule Was Severely Impacted. ” the Pointy End of the Reconfigured 747 Now Features Business Class Seats, Plus New Furniture, Coat Closets, a New Ottoman, New Partitions and Stowages. Removal of the Galley and Two Lavatories That Once Serviced Just 14 Passengers Has Freed Up More Space for Additional Seating.

Sadly, Only a Few of These Now Surplus First Class Seats Are Set for a Dignified Retirement.

Whereas, in the Past, Discarded Seats May Have Been Sold Internally, This Time, One or Two Seats Will Be Sent Through to Workshops to Be Overhauled for Future Heavy Maintenance Checks. The Rest “are Going in the Skip”.

Zone B

the Most Significant Change to Zone B, Immediately Aft of the Former First Class Section, is the Deletion of Two Lavatories and Two Flight Attendant Seats. A Modified Centre Lavatory With Disabled Access is Being Installed as Well as New Overhead Bins, Side Walls and Decompression Cages. According to Flitton, “b Zone Stays as It Was, a Full Business Class Section, With a Different Density of Seats Due to the Increased Pitch, So We Lose a Few Seats Off the Main Deck There but That’s Offset by the Ones Going to a Zone. ” on the Er, Access to Lavatory Plumbing Requires the Removal of the Aircraft’s Auxiliary Fuel Tank, Which is Removed on a Pallet via the Lower Deck Cargo Door.

Zone C

According to Flitton, the Majority of Engineering Man Hours Goes Into the Reconfiguration of Zone C: “between Door 2 and 3, We Probably Do the Most Structural Work. There’s Work Under the Floor, at Door 3 We Remove Two Toilets and We Make Provisions for New Seats Going in There. There’s a Lot of Underfloor Structural Work There. A Lot of Wiring Comes Together in That Area as Well, the Termination for All the Ife Controls as Well. ” Other Deletions From This Zone Include the Self-serve Bar, a Flight Attendant’s Seat, a Galley, Coat Lockers and Trash Trolley Stowages.

In Their Place Go New Stowages, Selfserve Bar, Lavatory, Dogbox and Birdboxes for the Storage of Miscellaneous and Emergency Equipment, Bassinets and Galleys. A Notable Addition is the Toasted Sandwich Press, Which, Due to Concerns About Smoke, Has Taken Six Years to Certify! Working Directly Above the Aircraft’s Main Spar Demands Extra Care, as Milne Notes: “with the Main Spar and the Frames Around the Fuselage, This Overwing Area is the Strongest Part of the Aeroplane. Any Work in This Area Has to Have Another Level of Care and Attention to Detail, Because These Frames at the Moment Are in Tensionas the Weight of the Wings and the Engines Are Pulling Down. So This Area Has to Take Varying Loads, and We Have to Be Very Exact With What We Do Here. ”

Zone D and E

Zone D, Aft of the Stairwell, is the Aircraft’s Premium Economy Section. Again, More Toilets Have Been Removed Along With Class Dividers and Stowages, Which Will Be Replaced by New Units. At Door 4, a Lowered Ceiling Will Be Installed as Well as New Overhead Bins. Towards the Rear of the Aircraft, in Zone E, New Bassinets, a Snack Bar and Galleys [at $350,000 Apiece] Are Being Installed, in Addition to the New Mark Newson-designed Recaro Economy Seats That Are Standard on Qantas’s A380s. These Come With in-built Inflight Entertainment Screen and Are Set at 79cm (31in) Pitch.

Upper Deck

on the 747’s Extended Upper Deck, Changes Also Are Afoot. As With the Main Cabin, a New Lighting System is Being Installed, Along With New Skybeds – at $42,000 Each – Overhead Bins, a Salvaged Attendant Seat to Be Installed at the Top of the Stairs, Magazine and Coat Stowage and Overhead Bins. Of Note is One Other Change, as Flitton Explains: “there’s One Wire Deletion on the Flightdeck – We Take a Co-ax Cable Out That Runs Up From the Main Equipment Centre to the Flightdeck. It Was for the Camera for the Antarctic Trips. ”

In Flight Entertainment

One of the Imperatives Driving the Upgrade is the Airline’s Desire to Give Passengers an A380 Standard of Luxury Across the Long-haul Fleet. Just as the Seats Have Been Standardised So Too Has the Inflight Entertainment (Ife) System. The Upgrade Sees the Replacement of the 747’s Existing Rockwell Collins Ife With a New Panasonic System, Standard on the Big Airbus.

A Significant Benefit of the New Entertainment System is That Its Data is Transferred Not by Relatively Bulky, Heavy Wire but by Fibre Optics, Which Offers Valuable Weight Savings and an Increase in Bandwidth.

The Black Boxes for the System Have Been Moved From the Customer Service Manager’s Station to the Main Equipment Centre Further Aft. The New Panasonic System Controls Seat Power, Pc Power, the Phone System and the Ife. Future Developments May See the Deletion of Seatback Ife Altogether. Indeed, on a Domestic 767 the Airline is Trialling Downloadable Ife and Internet Access on Ipads That Are Provided to Passengers. A Fleetwide Rollout of This Product May Be Some Time Off but if Milne’s Informal Research is Any Guide: “i Was Talking to a Lot of Frequent Flyers [recently] and They Said ‘nine Hours on a Flight Not Being Contacted is Exactly What We’re After. ’ ”

Total Makeover

Upon Completion of Its Reconfiguration, Vh-oeh Will Be a Virtually New Aircraft, Inside and Out. As the 747 Enters What Will Almost Certainly Be Its Last Decade in Qantas Service, the Flag Carrier Has Ensured Its Product Offering on the Type Remains as Competitive as Any in an Increasingly Cutthroat Long-haul Market.