March 2010 Archives

Boeing is investigating an unexpected buffet in the inboard flaps of the 747-8F, a design issue that may prompt a costly redesign and put significant pressure on the flight test schedule.

The buffet was first discovered following the first flight of the 747-8F on February 8th, when the aircraft extended its flaps to the maximum setting of 30 with the landing gear fully extended, say program sources. Continue reading...

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International looks back on the highs and lows of the Nimrod MR2, the last of which gets retired from the UK's Royal Air Force tomorrow, 31 March. The Nimrod flew for 41 years and was derived from the deHavilland Comet, the world's first jet airliner. We find out what is was like to fly on one of the "Mighty Hunters" and look forward to the new-generation MR4 as BAE Systems prepares to begin "convex" training for the first four squadron pilots.

The cover image is from the UK Royal Air Force and depicts Nimrod MR2 XV229 in flight above the Scottish countryside.

Also featured in this issue are:

• A400M Shapes Up: How Airbus is making up fast for list time
• Embraer Target: Brazilian manufacturer sets deadline to reach 'mature decision' on model strategy
• Happy Landing: F-35's 'flawless' vertical touchdown gives welcome boost to troubled programme
  

You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user NZpeteair. His photo depicts a Helicopters New Zealand AW139 landing off the Coast of Taranaki, by the North Island of New Zealand.

Peter writes of his photo:

This photo was taken landing on the stern helipad of the large 113,690 tonne FPSO (Floating Production Storage & Offloading) Umuroa ship permanently moored 1.5 kms from the Wellhead Platform and 90 kms off shore. The floating production and storage vessel is permanently moored and is able to store up to 770,000 bbls of oil before being off loaded into a tanker.

ZK-HNZ has the s/n 31103 and was manufactured in October 2007. It was test
flown in Italy, arriving in Auckland December 2007 and by mid January 2008
the new AW139 was available to two oil companies, STOS (Shell Todd Oil
Services) and AWE (Australian Worldwide Exploration) for there off shore oil
operations out of New Plymouth.

  See more of Peter's photos from this location by browsing his member gallery.

After a career spanning roles from air traffic control to cabin crew, Donahue Cortes founded Crawley-based Active Solutions Consulting Group, offering training, consultancy, management and auditing solutions to airlines.

How did your career evolve before taking this job?

As an 18-year-old I was awarded a scholarship to become an air traffic controller, which was my ambition at the time. Restrictions with my eyesight led to a change in career focus, so I studied a variety of aviation-related subjects while I looked into a new career path. This led to a cabin crew job, which soon progressed from flying duties into training and then managerial work. Consultancy type assignments led me to the creation and the development of our current organisation.

What does Active Solutions Consulting Group do?

We offer training, consultancy, management and auditing solutions to worldwide airlines. Our Active Aviation Training brand specialises in the delivery of third-party services using either customised training with our own materials, or programmes provided by our customers. This includes flight and cabin crew initial, conversion and recurrent training, and we also provide courses for training instructors in a variety of disciplines. Our offices are near London Gatwick. Continue reading...

In a shift away from traditional practice for a major US defence contractor, Boeing has decided to restart production of its A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter despite the lack of a new order.

The industry typically waits for the US military to define a requirement or award a contract before launching an aircraft into low-rate production, but Boeing began assembling the first of 21 new A160s on 15 March, says programme manager Ernie Wattam. Continue reading...

Dassault Aviation delivered a record number of Falcon business jets in 2009, but cancellations far outweighed new orders as fractional ownership provider NetJets scrapped 65 post-2014 deliveries.

French manufacturer Dassault delivered 77 Falcon jets in 2009, an increase of five on the 2008 total and a new record. It expects to break that this year, forecasting 80 business jet deliveries by the end of the year. Continue reading...

Successful rocket engine ground-test firings have taken Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences a step closer to filling their roles as key private-sector launch contractors to NASA.

SpaceX achieved a 3.5s firing of its Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin first-stage engines in preparation for an April maiden flight. Orbital is looking forward to verification and acceptance testing of its Taurus II rocket's AJ26 engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi beginning in April, paving the way to a first flight in 2011. Continue reading...

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice-president marketing Randy Tinseth explained: "We think we're going to need a new pylon, a new nacelle, strengthening of the wing and potential strengthening of the wing-box."

To accommodate the larger nacelles of the advanced turbofans under evaluation - including the CFM International Leap X and Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan - Tinseth says Boeing is studying some "minor modifications around the nose landing gear, still to be determined". However, he says that the company "doesn't want to" and "won't have to" make changes the main landing gear. Continue reading...

 

Gulf Air celebrated its 60th birthday on 24 March 2010.  

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International for an intelligence special looks into the UAVs, business jets, and fighter jets the UK uses to sweep intelligence on its Afghan enemy.

The cover image is from the UK Royal Air Force and depicts General Atomics Reaper remotely piloted aircraft. The service now has the type in constant operation in Afghanistan.

Also featured in this issue are:

• F-35 New Broom: US Navy Admiral to take charge of troubled JSF
• Engines ready: Boeing reveals early study for 737 repowering while Airbus prepares A320 proposals
• All Systems Go: First launches beckon for Space Station-bound rockets as key ground tests are passed
  

You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.

Picture credit: Fanny Eternod

(L-R) Flavien Guderzo (co-pilot), Tom Zorman (mission control), Riccardo Mortara (mission commander / captain) and Gabriel Mortara (co-captain)

 

Italian pilot Riccardo Mortara has set the world record for the fastest round the world flight in his 30-year-old Sabreliner.

They had to add a 12th leg to their trip, after plans to land in Keflavik, Iceland, were aborted due to a volcanic eruption.

The Sabreliner 65 jet, took of from Geneva at 06:12 UTC on Friday morning, flew east, and returned  Sunday at 16:06 UTC, completing the 36,770 km minimum distance in 57 hours 54 minutes. The average speed around the world was 647km/h.

This journey beats pioneering pilot Steve Fossett's time of 67 hours and one minute, which was achieved without stops in the state-of-the-art VirginFlyer in 2006.

A secondary target was to beat golfer Arnold Palmer's 1978 record of 57 hours 26 minutes, which he set in a Learjet 36 - an aircraftin a lighter weight category.

The three-man crew, Mortara, 62, co-captain Gabriel Mortara, 28, and co-pilot Flavien Guderzo, 26, blogged and tweeted on their journey from Geneva to Bahrain, Colombo, Macau, Osaka, Petropavlovsk, Anchorage, Las Vegas and Montreal, and had to urgently change plans following a volcanic eruption in Iceland causing all of Iceland's airports to be shut down.

Picture: Twitpic.com

Mortara was forced to return to Canada, refuelling in Goose Bay, Labrador, before re-calculating the Sabreliner's route.

With the aborted leg not counting towards the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) minimum distance, the previous Keflavik-Casablanca-Geneva plan was ditched in favour of Shannon, then Marrakech, and finally home to Geneva. The total distance traveled was 36,900km.

Mortara said: "To complete this circumnavigation and establish a new record is a tremendous honour and the proudest moment of my career. Steve Fossett's time in this category of plane was a challenge to beat, but I was confident we could do so.".

"I would like to thank my plane. The aircraft is known as 'the legend' for a reason. She is a very special plane, and a great team mate. Very few aircraft can fly for 58 hours straight without experiencing any mechanical troubles. After this mission, she returns to her regular job as a luxury air taxi for my company, Sonnig SA."

More information about at the mission along with a blog from the trip detailing every leg and the crew's experiences.

Video

 

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Michael Leek. His photo depicts a RAF Beech King Air B200.

He writes of his photo:

It was taken on Thursday 25 February at the Cader Idris pass in mid Wales (part of the Mach Loop). She came out of the low cloud and instead of climbing up to get clear of the weather she dropped down into the pass. She made two complete circuits of the Loop. I was in mid Wales for two days - specifically to photograph whatever aircraft came through on low level sorties and, as you can see, the weather was not the best - the snow was knee deep in places! Capturing a King Air is unusual as these are rarely seen low level. The vast majority of my aviation photography is low level; in Wales, north west England and in Scotland, though the latter is more hit-and-miss because north of the central belt practically the whole country is a low flying area!

Former US Army captain Brock Barrett left military service for a life as an insurance agent, but his Christian drive to help others led to missionary flights and support as chairman of Air Calvary.

Where did you fly with the army?

I served as an attack helicopter platoon leader with the air cavalry on the demilitarised zone in South Korea, and as a scout helicopter platoon leader with the air cavalry in Alaska. As a young boy, I always wanted to be a soldier. Growing up in the Vietnam era, I was fascinated with the concept of air mobility, and working in complex and difficult environments.

There's only one paid employee?

We had an opportunity to create a full-time air ambulance programme for the Central African country of Gabon, where we own and operate a Cessna 207, an eight-seat, single-engined bush aircraft. This programme was developed and led by our one paid employee, Reverend/pilot/mechanic Steve Straw. It connects the capital city and other communities to the remote and renowned Bongolo hospital near the Republic of Congo border.

Continue reading...

Argentina is again looking at upgrading the engine powering the indigenous AT-63 Pampa following the renationalisation of the local company that produces the jet trainer.

The engine project could result in the next batch of 10 Pampas being delivered with the Honeywell TFE731-40, as well as re-engining all 18 of the TFE731-2-powered Pampas currently operated by the Argentinian air force. The AT-63 demonstrator is expected to be outfitted with the -40 engine within the next couple of months and test flights should begin later this year. Continue reading...

For its 50th anniversary, Thai Airways has unveiled this B747-400 bearing its original livery.

The carrier plans to revive its first flight, from Bangkok to Hong Kong, on 1 May. See our Asian Skies blog for more details.

Entrepreneurs behind the long-running effort to develop a Fokker 100 successor intend to modify an existing airframe this year, after securing financing from the Dutch economics ministry.

The organisation driving the programme, NG Aircraft, is a successor to the Rekkof company which has pressed for years to restart Fokker production. NG Aircraft says that the economics ministry is to provide a €20 million ($27 million) loan - although this still needs European Union clearance. Continue reading...

Korea Aerospace Industries has conducted the first flight of its Korea Utility Helicopter (KUH), which it developed with Eurocopter.

Also known as the Surion, the KUH achieved the milestone on 10 March at an airbase in Sacheon, south-east of Seoul. Continue reading...

Aeronautics Defense Systems' Aerostar-C unmanned air vehicle has performed its first series of test flights in Israel.

The largest version of the tactical UAV design has a 10m (32.8ft) wingspan, 2.5m wider than that of the basic configuration. The aircraft is powered by a four-stroke fuel injected engine which produces up to 65hp (48kW). Continue reading...

As rising fuel costs and pressure to cut emissions drive most of the aviation industry to seek even small improvements in aircraft efficiency, NASA is pushing to mature technologies that may realise in the 2020s an aircraft concept that could slash fuel consumption by up to a third.

The so-called flying wing, or blended wing body, is not a new idea. Serious work on the concept goes back to the 1940s, but only now with a coming together of composite material construction and computer-aided fly-by-wire control are its huge gains in aerodynamic efficiency realistically achievable. Continue reading...

NASA's N2A concept (top) and Northrop's 1940s flying wing:

The first A400M (MSN001) flew from Seville to Toulouse on 4 March in its tenth sortie since its maiden flight on 11 December. The second test aircraft will fly "within days", while the third is undergoing final production ground tests before engine installation and will take to the air by the middle of the year.

The fourth test aircraft, now in final assembly at Seville, will join them in the second half of 2010. Continue reading and read about how EADS is confident on A400M exports after rescue deal...

The second Airbus Military A400M, known as MSN2 (front), has been handed over to the
Flight Test department at Seville, Spain where it will soon join MSN1 (rear) in the air.

(Photo: Airbus Military)

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International asks now that an all-American tanker, Boeing's NewGen, has become the sole KC-X bidder, what is next for EADS's US prospects?

The cover image is Boeing's impression of its NewGen tanker, its latest iteration of a 767-based aerial refueller, for the US Air Force.

Also featured in this issue are:

• A400M saved: Is future secure for European airlifter after governments step in with cash?
• Toxic truths: Are the authorities finally waking up to the dangers of contamination in airliner cabins?
• Preview of Chile's FIDAE airshow in Chile rebounds: All changes for aerospace as nation moves on
  

You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 5 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user commercial aviation, otherwise known as Manuel Negrerie. His photo depicts an EVA B777-300ER taking off from her home at Taipei bound for Shanghai. He notes the carrier's B777-300ERs are replacing its B747-400s. This particular aircraft sports a wave design, signifying it was the first of the type to join EVA's fleet.

After a number of years with the UK's Ministry of Defence, Qinetiq's task technical manager for 'Project Julius' Ross Young is now responsible for upgrading Boeing Chinook Mk2 helicopters for the Royal Air Force.

Why did you choose an aerospace-related career?

I was interested in aircraft from an early age and used to attend air shows with my father. Aeronautical engineering seemed to be a good idea; that was 21 years ago.

Which jobs have you done?

I started my career as a UK Ministry of Defence apprentice technician on helicopters (airframes/engines) and then became a design engineer (draughtsman) with the Joint Aircraft Test and Evaluation Unit at RAF Brize Norton. Continue reading the interview...

While officials from China's Comac maintained a relatively conservative stance when selecting design features for their new 150-passenger single-aisle C919 airliner, they made at least one significant exception - picking a new company to wrap some tantalisingly new but unproven technologies around the aircraft's two CFM International Leap X1C engines.

The new company was Nexcelle, a joint venture between Aircelle, a Safran subsidiary, and GE's Middle River Aircraft Systems. The 50/50 teaming was modelled on the CFM joint venture between GE and Safran subsidiary, Snecma, that led to the development of the CFM56. Continue reading...

Norwegian investigators have opened an inquiry after an Aeroflot Airbus A320 bound for Moscow Sheremetyevo took off from a taxiway at Oslo Gardermoen yesterday.

The aircraft, operating flight SU212 at 14:55, had been intending to depart from runway 01L.

But a spokesman for Gardermoen says that, at around 15:10, the aircraft turned right onto taxiway M, which runs parallel and immediately to the right of the runway, and took off. Continue reading...

The Boeing Phantom Ray will start taxi tests in July ahead of first flight in late December, but the future of the unmanned strike aircraft after a one-year series of 10 flight tests remains uncertain.

Boeing has delayed taxi tests from the second quarter to July because the Phantom Ray's exhaust system had been diverted to a classified programme, says Daryl Davis, president of Boeing advanced systems. The exhaust has now been returned from the classified programme, which Davis described as technology tests to demonstrate reliability and maintainability, among other things. Continue reading...

The UK Ministry of Defence has lifted the veil on a previously secretive helicopter training service being provided to future Afghan national security force pilots.

Details of the Project Curium activity were revealed at the MoD's Boscombe Down facility in Wiltshire on 3 March, along with information on a pair of Mil Mi-17 transports photographed in the circuit at the base and over the nearby Salisbury Plain Training Area since early last year. Continue reading & see more photos...

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International looks at commercial engines in the great leap forward: rival camps step up a gear with their solutions to powering the future.

The cover photo is from CFM international and is of a full-scale demonstration Leap X 3-D woven RTM (resin transfer molding) composite fan installed on a CFM 56 5-C engine. The fan is in ground testing.

Also featured are:

• JSF: More Delays -- US government auditors wanr F-3 programme faces further parts shortages down line

• Light twin-aisle? P&W hints at high-thrust PW1000G for revival of McDonnell Douglas concept from 1990s

• India's promise: Industry taps opportunities at Hyderabad:

*India unveils details of indigenous 70-seat turboprop
*Pawan Hans orders seven AS365s
*CFM opens Hyderabad maintenance training centre
*India needs 400 airports: aviation minister

You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Eagle, otherwise known as Gilles Diotte. His photo depicts Canadian military forces rapelling from a Bell 212 helicopter during a training exercise at Montreal. You can see more shots from the exercise here.

Gilles writes:

The helicopter repelling shots were taken on Sunday March 18th 1989 around noon time. This was the second weekend the military were conducting this exercise at the Montreal international airport. At that time I was working overtime a few weekends in a row. A week earlier, when the helicopters came around, we ran outside to have a look as they came in quite low. The noise and vibration caused by their main rotor was quite astounding: the office ceiling tiles and windows would rattle vigorously. Once outside, we had an impressive show. I made certain I would bring my camera for the next weekend in case they would come again. (They did, approximately at the same time). The images were taken with a 300mm lens onto 35mm film.

After more than 30 years in the South African Air Force Steve Bothma made the move to business aviation. He now heads the maintenance division for ExecuJet South Africa and is looking forward to football's World Cup in June

What sparked your interest in business and general aviation?

My love for aviation really stems from the extensive time spent on fighter squadrons in the South African Air Force. After 31 years I decided to call it a day and seek employment in the private sector. General aviation, and more specifically business aviation, was the closest association to the fast jet environment in the SAAF and therefore I selected this area to pursue my second career. Continue reading...

Germany is on track to begin operating leased Israel Aerospace Industries Heron 1 unmanned air vehicles in Afghanistan in March, with its first personnel having completed training on the system. Continue reading...

Tad McGeer, an unmanned aircraft pioneer who designed the Aerosonde and ScanEagle, has now unveiled a vertical take-off and landing, long-endurance aircraft in the same size class called Flexrotor.

The 19kg (42lb) Flexrotor is designed to challenge the ScanEagle for the commercial and military surveillance markets, says McGeer, president of Washington-based start-up Aerovel. McGeer's goal is to dramatically reduce the cost of long-endurance aircraft, which he believes remains uncompetitive with even short-range manned aircraft for the same missions. Continue reading...

After a brief delay, Boeing has delivered the first B777-200LRF to Connecticut-based Southern Air, making the carrier the first ACMI operator to feature the 777 freighter, Boeing says.

Southern Air will place the aircraft into service with Thai Airways, who will be the first Asian carrier to use the 777 freighter. The aircraft will be based out of Bangkok.

From a recent article in Flightglobal publication Flight International:

Southern now operates 12 Boeing 747-200s and three 747-300s, with roughly two-thirds of its revenues coming from its main wet-lease business and the remainder generated from a mix of civil and military charters. McHugh says Southern has no plans to phase out or even shrink its 747 Classic fleet and sees the 777 as complementary.

McHugh says that over the past six months Southern has already been operating one of its 747-200s from Bangkok as part of the initial phase in Thai's new cargo expansion plan. The next phase will involve Southern's two 777s operating from Bangkok to Frankfurt and "probably" to Amsterdam.

McHugh says Thai may also later use Southern's 777s to launch cargo flights to Australia and North America. Thai has said a future phase of its new cargo strategy is likely to also involve the carrier, which in recent years has been mainly relying on passenger aircraft belly space, operating its own freighters.

Southern becomes the fifth 777F operator after Air France, Emirates, LAN and AeroLogic.

Boeing has revealed a new version of the P-8 Poseidon aimed at challenging the primacy of the Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS in detecting and striking moving ground targets.

The 737-based P-8 aerial ground surveillance (AGS) concept proposes to add a next-generation radar, such as the Raytheon advanced airborne sensor, plus an on-board arsenal of bombs and missiles. Continue reading...

Ruag is close to completing final assembly of the first new-build Dornier 228 New Generation 19-seat turboprop at its factory in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. The aircraft, the first 228 to roll off the German line since 1997, will be delivered to an undisclosed Japanese airline. Continue reading...

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International looks at if India's aerospace sector can match the potential of becoming a booming market.

The cover photo is of two Indian air force Dhruv helicopters putting on an aerial display at last year's 77th anniversary of the service in New Delhi.

Also featured are:

• Boeing pitches P-8 variant to replace JSTARS: Boeing has revealed a new version of the P-8 Poseidon aimed at challenging the primacy of the Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS in detecting and striking moving ground targets.
  

• Heli-Expo 2010: All the news from Heli-Expo 2010 in Houston

• This week we are also launching the 2010 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award. Do you have potential? Do you know someone who does? Nominate now!
  

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user flyer1. His photo depicts an Extra EA-300L taken at Shoreham Air Show in Sussex on 23 August 2009. Flyer1, Martin Dighton, says of the photo:

Justyn Gorman, owner and pilot, is known for his low flying skills: he has a Civil Authorization for Limbo flying at 3ft AGL! and often flies a low pass the length of the runway. I took this image because of the low level pass and the background makes a change from boring blue sky. As you know this aircraft is the bees knees when it comes to aerobatics, powered by an Avco Lycoming AEIO-540 8.9litre 6 cylinder 300hp engine with a Max, speed of 220kts. It is constructed of composite materials such as carbon fibre epoxy resin and Kevlar.