Aircraft

Alcoa-SIE Cargo Conversions’ (ASCC) first Boeing 757-200 passenger-to-freighter conversion prototype made its maiden flight on 17 November at Abbotsford, Canada.

Converted by modification specialist Cascade Aerospace, the 757 has embarked on a short series of certification test flights, most to be conducted from Moses Lake, Washington. “We will conduct smoke tests over the next couple of days, and then perform system checkouts,” says ASCC sales and marketing director Richard Gauvin, who adds that type inspection authorisation is expected in mid-December when the last data is due to be submitted to the US Federal Aviation Administration. “We’re pretty confident we’ll get our supplemental type certfication in January,” says Gauvin.

Converted on behalf of launch customer Babcock and Brown Aircraft Management, the first 757 has “already been placed with an airline”, says Gauvin, who declines to name the operator. “We have a second aircraft coming in [for conversion] January, with completion due in late June. We are giving it six months for the second one, but we will be ramping up quickly.”

The ASCC conversion provides a total of 232m3 (8,190ft3) cargo volume.

GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES