Murdo Morrison: September 2011 Archives

The coverline on this week's Flight International (27 September) proclaims DELIVERANCE, with a picture of the first 787 in ANA colours being shone on from the heavens.

Marking the delivery of the long-delayed airliner, the cover is also an allusion to the big question now surrounding the Dreamliner: does the hand-over to the Japanese carrier mark the end of Boeing's well-catalogued problems with the 787 and the start of a long-lived and highly-profitable aircraft (like the 737, 747 or 777) - or is it merely the latest development in a seemingly never ending struggle to balance the books on a disastrously mismanaged programme?

In a news focus, Jon Ostrower, who has followed the programme almost since its birth, examines the history and the prospects now for Boeing's Dreamliner.

Also in the issue, in our commercial engines special feature: why Rolls-Royce is turning to composites after traditionally relying on metalic fan blades. And, in an era of rising oil prices, where next for the turboprop? Has a technology deemed almost obsolete for passenger airliners a decade or more ago gained a new lease of life, and will we yet see new larger turboprop airliners?

To London yesterday to interview Homaid al Shemmari, head of strategy for Mubadala Aerospace, who is in town. We'll be doing an update for our pre-Dubai show issue on Abu Dhabi's sovereign investment vehicle, which is targeting aerospace as one of the sectors to diversify the emirate's oil and energy-reliant economy. So more on Mubadala in that 8 November issue.

Abu Dhabi's ambitions are impressive, but it's not just hype - everything is couched in a degree of realism. Mubadala wants to move from its current position where it is an investor in European businesses Piaggio (it owns a third) and SR Technics (wholly owned) and has moved into manufacturing with its Strata aerostructures start-up in Al Ain, to one where it is a global player in all these disciplines.

It plans to eventually be assembling a business jet in Abu Dhabi and to merge SR Technics and the local ADAT MRO houses and expand internationally, including into Asia. It also intends to move up the value chain with Strata, developing from build-to-print to risk-sharing, project managing, engineering contracts within five years. For the latter objective, it admits that it may have to buy capability in Europe or North America initially. 

You can read more in our Dubai special.

Not to spoil the surprise, but we're really pleased with the front cover - and the rest of the content, of course - in the 27 September issue of Flight International, which closes for press tomorrow. It's not one that you'll want to miss.

Jon Ostrower, who as FlightBlogger has followed every nuance of the Dreamliner programme almost since its inception, asks what the delivery - over three years late - of the first aircraft to ANA means for Boeing. It's an open-the-champagne moment for Seattle but Boeing's 787 angst is far from over.

We've also got a special on commercial engines, in which we look at why Rolls-Royce is finally switching to carbonfibre materials for its blades.

This week's issue of Flight International looks at the state of the civil helicopters market in Europe ahead of the HeliTech show, with a detailed breakdown on the fleet by country and market sector. Plus: why helicopters will be banned from London airspace during next year's Olympics and how better training is being seen as the answer to making the industry safer. The package also profiles the UK's growing offshore helicopter sector...not to oil rigs but wind turbines.

We also have a special feature on European MRO and report from both the big in-flight entertainment and aircraft interiors show in the US, and defence and security fair DSEI in London. In news: how Boeing is taking the 777 to the next stage, the latest on the 747-8F and EASA's efforts to banish fuel exhaustion.

In Tunisia last week to visit some of the country's aerospace industry in the company of Wassim from Tunisian trade association GITAS. I'll be writing about the sector as part of a special feature on the Middle East and North Africa region in our 8 November issue.

Tunisia's revolution at the turn of the year, which deposed dictator President Ben Ali, was a relatively short and less bloody affair than some of the other uprisings it helped spark in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria (although almost 300 people died). A provisional government was installed almost immediately ahead of elections this October.

This meant, among other things, that Tunisia's aerospace industry - well established before the revolution - continued almost as before, as did its economy, heavily dependent on tourism and trade with Europe (agriculture, including olive oil and dates, and light industry, mainly automotive and chemicals are the main industries).

The former French colony is still culturally very French (the language is universally spoken alongside Arabic) and - even under Ben Ali - was socially fairly liberal, although Islam is the predominant religion. The hope is now that much of the corruption and red-tape that stifled economic growth will be lifted under the new government and the country made even more welcoming to investors.

Tunisia's main advantage, other than a French- (and widely English-) speaking, highly-educated workforce, is its proximity to Europe and lack of customs and currency barriers. Rome is one hour's flight time away and London and Paris are less than 3h. Goods can leave Tunis by sea and be in France, Spain or Italy within 24h. 

Most of the European companies which have made their home there are - not surprisingly - French, among them Latecoere, Zodiac and the latest arrival, Aerolia. But Naples-based aerostructures specialist Dema also has a factory and GITAS and the government are keen to attract investors from the UK, Germany and Benelux countries too. 

Read my full article in 8 November.

To the Aviation Club in London yesterday to hear Rolls-Royce's president of civil aerospace Mark King. Unfortunately King wasn't doing one-to-one interviews and didn't really answer my questions from the floor about progress on the next-generation of the Trent 1000 for the 787, or about Emirates' Tim Clark's concerns that building a new core for the 97,000lb-thrust Trent XWB for the A350-1000, in service from 2017, would destroy the communality of the Trent family.

However, he did have plenty of other interesting stuff to say. Significantly, the UK engine maker has decided against coming up with an offering for the Airbus A320Neo or Boeing 737 Max, prefering to wait for all-new aircraft from the big two to come up with an all-new engine. In the light of the seeming success of the Neo and Max so far, that might seem to have been the wrong call. However, Rolls' solid position on the A350 and 787 means the production lines at Derby will be far from idle over the next decade.

He also refuted suggestions that the IAE V2500 that powers about half A320 family aircraft and in which R-R is a programme partner is "dead technology". IAE, the consortium King used to head, was producing 400 engines a year and would continue to do so until 2018. "The engine is alive and kicking and so is IAE."

King believes it will be the "middle of the next decade" before an open-rotor engine - R'R's favoured next-gen technology - enters service. Work on the project continues. "We have a solution to the noise. It remains an option and if the industry is serious about making a step change in performance, then this is the step we will take."

R-R has long shown a reluctance to engage with the media, a policy encouraged by former chief executive Sir John Rose, who did not have much time for the press generally. R-R's famed media-shyness came to a head with the company's reaction to the potentially catastrophic engine failure on the Qantas Airbus A380 last November, a sequence of events which King spoke about at length.

It was wrong to accuse Rolls's refusal to respond to media inquiries about its own investigation into the incident as "a sign of arrogance or evasiveness", he said. "We're a company of engineers with rigorous standards of quality and attention to detail. We were clear that we would only communicate publically when we could be absolutely certain of our facts; that we understood the event and had identified a rectification programme. This is an important principle that we have resolutely maintained, but one which is hard to sustain in the face of what has become an insatiable demand for material to fill the world's rolling 24h news channels and web sites."

Here are some images of the efforts to bring G-BOAC Concorde "back to life" from its final resting place at Manchester Airport's aviation museum. As I explained on 6 September, the guys behind the project are called Heritage Concorde, but their successful attempt to repower the Conc were thwarted over health and safety concerns. You can see the museum's reply to this on my entry of 7 September.

Anyway, here are the pictures, courtesy and copyright of Ellie Bastin Photography. I'm sure you'll agree they are pretty special.

Following my blog yesterday about the thwarted efforts to restore power to the former British Airways Concorde G-BOAC housed at Manchester Airport's museum, the airport has got back to me with its side of the story. It admits that the project to bring G-BOAC "back to life" has been halted due to insurance and health and safety concerns, but says there was no way of avoiding it. Here is its statement:

"We are very proud to host the former British Airways flagship Concorde and have invested over £1 million to construct a hangar and visitor centre at the airport's Runway Visitor Park to protect Concorde and safeguard her for future generations. Whilst we recognise the enthusiasm of this group of volunteers, providing a safe environment for our passengers, staff, and the many different visitors to the Park is our number one priority. Therefore we will not be able to enable the proposed project to proceed, but we will continue to showcase the retired Concorde in Manchester to visitors from across the world."

Just had a fascinating chat with the guys behind Heritage Concorde, a project to repair and return to power G-BOAC at Manchester Airport.

Here's the story we'll be running in next week's Straight & Level.

A successful attempt to bring a British Airways Concorde "back to life" in time for the London Olympics has been thwarted by health and safety concerns.

A group of Concorde enthusiasts - Heritage Concorde - has for several months been carrying out repairs to the cockpit windows and visor of G-BOAC at Manchester Airport's Runway Visitor Park, its home since 2003.

In order to lower the nose to replace the co-pilots windshield, engineers had to use the aircraft's electrical and hydraulic systems. To do this, in March, G-BOAC was powered-up, via a ground unit, for the first time in eight years.

Since then, the aircraft has had been powered several times, including for six hours on 26 August. Heritage Concorde founder Steve de Sausmarez said the ultimate aim was to get the Concorde to droop its nose on special occasions, including the 31 October anniversary of its arrival at Manchester Airport, and the Olympics opening ceremony.

Eventually, some in the group believe, it might even have been possible to return G-BOAC to flight.

However, according to de Sausmarez, officials at the museum have ordered Heritage Concorde to drain the hydraulics and kill the electrics because of insurance and safety issues. "Against the odds, a British Concorde was returned to life by Heritage Concorde engineers, only to be killed once again by people without vision," he bemoans.

You can follow the saga on www.heritageconcorde.com

The 6 September issue of Flight International is out tomorrow and it's got one of - in my humble opinion - our best ever feature packages in some time.

Our look back on 9/11 and how it changed aviation looks at the history and repercussions of various hijacks and other aviation related terrorist plots over the past 30 years. Kerry Reals examines how airport procedures have altered and asks how effective the enhanced security measures are. We find out how 9/11 changed the flight training market in the USA and discover how well the air force is prepared to meet a 2001-style attack over the skies of its major cities.

There's plenty more in the issue too. Jon Ostrower explains why Boeing is taking it so slow on the development of its 737 Max after the painful lessons of the 747-8 and 787. Mary Kirby finds out why Bombardier is anxious about production schedules for its CRJ. And we detail the bizarre series of events that saw the captain of a Chinese A320 refuse to make way for a Qatar Airways 777-300ER whose crew had declared an emergency. 

Imagine having the privilege of meeting a Joe Sutter or a Marcel Dassault right at the beginning of their career and sensing just some of that ingenuity, enterprise and ambition that would see them mature into leaders capable of inspiring others and reshaping aviation.

The Boeing Engineering Student of the Year is a great opportunity to identify the talent of tomorrow. We've been working with Boeing for several years now on this competition. This year the winner will be announced at the Dubai air show in November.

If you are, or know, someone whose student work has the potential to really make a difference to the industry, this is a unique chance to have that achievement recognised at the highest level, by Boeing and Flight International/Flightglobal.

But the deadline for entries is fast approaching. Make sure you check out the criteria on www.flightglobal.com/awards

If you're not quite in the running to be Engineering Student of the Year, you can still vote for the Aviator, Leader and Innovator of 2010. Check the same page for all the details.

Flight International has long set the agenda when it comes to the latest thinking on aviation operations and safety.

Anyone who works in this field or is interested in making flying safer - and can be in London on 8 and 9 September - should attend our Flight Safety Conference. More than 100 delegates have signed up, among them some of the real gurus in the field.

There's a fantastic line-up of speakers from around the global industry and I'll be there myself keeping order from the chair. You can check out the programme and book your place on www.flightglobal.com/flightsafety