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February 2012 Archives

Photos of Note: Flyaway of the first 747-8 Intercontinental

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on February 29, 2012 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

SEATTLE -- Even on its delivery flight, the identity of the first 747-8 Intercontinental was well hidden. Air traffic controllers in the Pacific Northwest knew they were looking at A7-HHE, but as a private business jet, the aircraft's flight plan to Vancouver to clear export customs was blocked on Flightaware.

Despite the worst-kept-secret nature of the identity of the aircraft's owner, the flyaway of the all-white 747 was matched with a camouflage sky that was designed for discretion. The complete set of 74 photos of the first passenger configured 747 flyaway since 2005 is available below the fold.

Continue reading Photos of Note: Flyaway of the first 747-8 Intercontinental.

First 747-8 Intercontinental set for Tuesday delivery (Update4)

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on February 28, 2012 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

SEATTLE -- While no official confirmation exists beyond a very telling Qatari registration, the Government of Qatar Amiri Flight will take delivery of the first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental today.

The aircraft, registered A7-HHE, the prefix denoting a Qatar registered aircraft, will depart Paine Field in Everett, Washington around noon pacific time enroute to a business jet completion facility.

Currently, Jet Aviation's Basel, Switzerland facility is the most likely candidate to host RC002 for the 24-month completion process, as it was the first completion center selected by an undisclosed Middle East in December 2010.

Sources point to all of the first three 747-8 VIP transports as intended for Middle Eastern customers. RC001, Boeing's Sunrise-liveried jumbo flight test aircraft, destined for the Government of Qatar, while RC003, wearing an A6-PFA United Arab Emirates registration, will fly with the Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight.

Lufthansa Technik has signed up customers for completion of a further two 747-8 aircraft. It's first is speculated to be the Kuwaiti VIP transport and the second for the UAE.

Boeing holds orders for a total of nine VIP configured 747-8s.

I'll be up in Everett for the pre-flyaway press conference with program leaders starting at 11 AM PT, and will be posting photos and updates by way of Flickr and Twitter.

UPDATE 11:14 AM PT: Boeing has officially delivered the first 747-8 Intercontinental to an officially undisclosed VIP customer. RC002 will fly to Vancouver for export then to McConnell Air Force Base at Boeing's Global Transport & Executive Systems for Greenpoint Technologies' outfitting of the Aeroloft. Then later to Hamburg, Germany for full completion at Lufthansa Technik. The date of first 747-8 delivery to Lufthansa has not yet been officially set, but it rapidly approaching.

UPDATE 11:17 AM PT: Boeing will deliver eight 747-8 VIP aircraft in 2012 and its production system is advancing to two 747-8s per month in the middle of this year. 747 vice president and general manager Elizabeth Lund says the back end of the factory (wing and structures) has already "broken rate" accelerating to two per month and the forward part of the factory for final body join will join soon.

UPDATE 11:27 AM PT: Boeing's 747-8 performance improvement package (engine and airframe) will fly on the aircraft on 2013 and will bring the aircraft within 1% of the originally planned specification, says Bruce Dickinson, 747-8 chief project engineer. Boeing is continuing its analysis of the flutter condition found on the 747-8's tail fuel tanks, and aims to have the system reactivated in 2013.

UPDATE 11:41 AM PT: The 747-8Fs since service entry have served 55 airports to date, roughly twice as many as the A380. Operators have found performance to be about 1% better than first though despite the initial shortfall. Boeing is also "on track" to roll out updates to the 747-8's avionics in 2012. To get within 1% of final specification, the airframe weight will be reduced by about 5,000lbs, paired with aerodynamic and General Electric GEnx-2B engine updates.

Video Courtesy Matt Cawby

Movie Monday - February 27 - Cold and Dark to Ready to Taxi

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on February 27, 2012 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

This week's Movie Monday takes us to Lithuania, home to Baltic Aviation Academy. BAA's social media presence is significantly larger than the overwhelming majority of pilot training centers and they've provided a look into two of the most prolific narrowbody aircraft on the planet. With our guide Pranas Drulis, an ATP student, BAA takes us through the initial procedures to take the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 Classic family from "cold and dark" after first receiving the jet all the way through to the point just before the simulated aircraft are ready for taxi. Movie Monday doesn't quite get more in the weeds than this, but it's the most detailed look at the side-by-side similarities and differences of the systems and procedures for these two types. The two videos run a total of 34min. Enjoy!

UPDATE 9:59 PM ET: There were a few questions about why a Classic not Next Generation 737 was used as comparison. While BAA does operate a 737-800 simulator at its Vilnius campus, the video they chose to produce is for Boeing's second generation narrowbody workhorse.

Boeing's leadership swap begins to chart 777 and 787's future

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on February 24, 2012 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LR A7-BBI

The replacement of any high-profile program leader tends to elicit questions of confidence, though the trading of positions between current 777 vice president and general manager Larry Loftis and his 787 counterpart, Scott Fancher, represents two important changes for the heart of Boeing's widebody products and the future of both programs.

The move plays to the strength of each leader, their respective divergent styles, and what is required for future of each program.

Fancher's departure, and his newfound role on 777X development, is the clearest reflection of where the widebody twin is headed. The move is not negative reflection on Fancher's handling of the 787 program up to now, but rather a signal about how to fine tune a supply chain that can deliver to Everett what is likely to become the world's largest composite wing.

Jim Albaugh, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO addressed this indirectly, saying Fancher's relocation will allow "him to align the 777 production system with the next generation 777."

The comment is near-confirmation of Boeing's future path on the 777, which once included study of an all-new aircraft, is now coalescing around a future stretched 407 and 353-seat 777-9X and -8X, meeting or exceeding a 20% per seat fuel burn and 15% seat costs improvement, say those directly familiar with the 777X conceptual studies.

Fancher has spent more than three years in the trenches of supplier warfare to bring the 787 to a state of steadily decreasing travelled work, through flight test and into service, though his move to the 777 may just signal a coming redrawing of the supplier lines ahead, similarly mirroring that of the Dreamliner.

For Loftis, himself a lieutenant of former Airplane Production vice president and 737 chief Carolyn Corvi who ushered in the Renton moving line, will bring a different culture to the 787. Loftis shepherded the 777's transition to a moving line at a time when it was viewed as unscalable at the widebody level. Loftis and his teams proved the naysayers wrong, turning the 777 into the company's cashcow.

Loftis who, with the leadership of now 747 and 767 program chiefs, Elizabeth Lund and Kim Pastega, introduced the 777 freighter onto a moving line without hardly a notice, is tasked with doing the same for 787 with the larger 270-seat 787-9 and the conceptual 323-seat 787-10X.

Yet, those big changes to the 777 line, now operating in a horseshoe arrangement, fundamentally are the sum of a countless number of small improvements incorporated over the past 1,000 aircraft assembled.

"We've seen some tremendous results in streamlining the production system" said Loftis in an August 2011 interview, "We're seeing it in significant improvements in the amount of time it takes to build the airplane, and the amount of resources required to assemble the airplane. We're seeing ever improving quality rolling out of the factory, and the result is really an airplane that we deliver on time to meet all of our commitments."

In short, that is Loftis's task for the 787.

With its steep learning curve and production rate requirements ahead to achieve profitability, Pat Shanahan, head of airplane programs, speaking of the cost improvements on the 787 said Thursday at Barclays Industrial Select Conference in Miami:

"And it's not going to come at the negotiating table. It's going to come on the factory floor and it's going to come in the supply chain. We've got a lot of experience, they've got a lot of insight, and when we put our heads together there is value that gets created and we come to an agreement and we can share in that."

It is here where Loftis has shown his strength in building and supporting teams to get the cost out of the 777, but the 787's history has pointed to a "negotiating table" approach, with suppliers feeling increasingly squeezed as the delays and halting starts and stops of final assembly made it hard to plan production and incorporate design changes under intense schedule pressures.

As Fancher and Loftis relocate factory mezzanine offices, can a leader whose experience is steeped in the 737 and 777's incremental improvement make lasting change for a program that's own experience and culture has been rooted in big change? And can a leader whose own experience has been forged in the 787's siege-like environment maintain the culture as Boeing looks to its next 1,000 777 deliveries?

Boeing's 787 and 777 chiefs to swap roles

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on February 24, 2012 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Boeing has appointed 787 vice president and general manager Scott Fancher to run the 777 program, shifting roles with current 777 chief Larry Loftis.

Loftis, a veteran of the 737 and 777's transition to a moving final assembly line, will guide the 787's move toward production maturity and lean manufacturing advancement.

Fancher, who has served as vice president of the 787 program since December 2008, will run the 777 program and assist in development of the next generation 777X.

NEWS ANALYSIS: Boeing's leadership swap begins to chart 777 and 787's future

On A320's 25th birthday, where does automation go next? (Update1)

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on February 22, 2012 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

A320 [F-WWBA]

February 22, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the first flight of the Airbus A320-100, an aircraft type that has surpassed 5,000 deliveries since its 1987 first flight from the European airframer's Toulouse, France base.

In addition to firmly establishing Airbus in the commercial marketplace, the single biggest contribution of the A320 to commercial aerospace is its digital fly-by-wire flight control system. The Airbus and Boeing philosophies for pilot control have been the centerpiece of a technology debate that has raged for a quarter century now. While the philisophical debate has diverged among airframers, the value of digital fly-by-wire implementation is settled law.

At today's Aeronautics and Space Engineering board meeting at The National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, DC, Dale Klapmeier, founder of Cirrus Aircraft, spoke of the flat safety record for general aviation which has matched the growth in the industry. In short, general aviation, unlike commercial aviation, has not gotten any safer as technology has evolved.

Cirrus was at the forefront of increasing the automation in its single-engine general aviation aircraft with the introduction of the Avidyne Entegra in 2003 aboard its four-seat SR22 aircraft. The airframer, based in Duluth, Minnesota, and now owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), has evolved its glass avionics to include its Garmin G1000 based Cirrus Perspective system, which features expansive "highway in the sky" synthetic vision and enhanced vision systems, as well as a "LVL" or level button to return the aircraft to straight and level flight, assuming the aircraft's bank does not exceed 75° and the pitch does not exceed 50°.

Similar avionics systems are also implemented on Beechcraft, Cessna, Diamond, Mooney, Piper, and Quest aircraft as well.

With the technology developed by Cirrus and other general aviation airframers, Klapmeier says that a Cirrus pilot will hand fly for roughly 45 seconds, just after takeoff and just before landing.

"There is very little airmanship left in aviation," he says.

That figure nearly mirrors that of a commercial airline pilot, though an SR22 pilot has access to virtually the same, if not more advanced avionics than those available in the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, but the difference in pilot training and experience are stark.

Klapmeier is of the opinion that training regimes that have always emphasized aviate, navigate, communicate as the tenets of flying need to add "automate" as one of its characteristics to safely bring the technology to bear to enhance the other three priorities.

On the flipside, there is a 'self-driving car' model for safety; just remove the pilot from the loop. Klapmeier suggested on Tuesday: "If you want to design an aircraft tomorrow that prevents today's accidents, put the pilot's seat backwards."

With the ubiquity of fly-by-wire on new clean sheet commercial and large business aircraft, both segments of the industry that continue to improve their respective safety records, is there a place in general aviation for hard envelope protections provided by fly-by-wire?

Photo Credit Jonathan Grondin

Southwest's first 737-800 goes from green to Canyon Blue

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on February 21, 2012 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

A first for Southwest

After its 11 day trip down the 737's moving final assembly, Southwest Airlines' first 737-800, the company's first new 737 variant since 1997, is out in the open on the flight line at Renton Municipal Airport wearing the airline's signature Canyon Blue colors.

This aircraft, wearing registration N8301J and extended operations (ETOPS) tags, left the paint hangar about four days ago and will be the first of 33 delivered to the largest 737 customer in 2012. MORE PHOTOS

Along with the Boeing Sky Interior, the aircraft will also feature the airline's new Evolve interior. For an airline known for its incremental DNA, the name Southwest has given to its new interior is quite fitting.

APEX magazine editor-in-chief Mary Kirby explains the biggest small change:

However, the most profound changes have been reserved for Southwest's seats. The carrier is retaining the B/E Aerospace-manufactured 'Innovator II' seat frames on its Southwest 737-700s, but will add fixed wing head rests; new, thinner, more durable foam fill; and lightweight E-Leather synthetic leather seat covers. It is also removing the under-seat floatation device - and instead adding life vest pouches - to create a lower profile seat, which in turn creates weight savings of nearly six pounds per seat.

While the change will also accompany a 1in reduction in seat pitch from 32in to 31in, Southwest says it preserves the same amount of body space for each seat. More importantly, that single-inch change allows for an extra six seats per 737-700.

Because each seat is made lighter by nearly six pounds, Southwest shaves 635 pounds per aircraft (even with the extra row) and is expected to result in more than $10 million in ongoing annual cost savings.

It is estimated that for every 500lbs of empty weight removed from a 100 to 200 seat aircraft equates to a roughly a 1% improvement in fuel burn. In this case, the 635lb savings in empty weight is traded by making room for six more 200lb paying passengers.

As near-term delivery slots are scarce with the added worldwide demand for narrowbody aircraft set to reach 84 deliveries per month split between Boeing and Airbus in 2013, Southwest is focusing its attention over the next two years to building its 737-800 fleet.

All of Southwest's 2012 and 2013 deliveries from Boeing are for the larger 175-seat -800, a total of 74, though by the end of 2013, the airline will add the equivalent of 16 new 143-seat 737-700s during this same period without a single new -700 joining its fleet. Same 737-700 fleet, 2,300 more seats to sell.

The price tag for these 16 737-700s? A $60 million up front investment in Evolve, approximately the cost of two 737s (after discounts*).

Photo Credit Drew Ramsey

*According to Southwest's most recent SEC 10K filing, the $2.14 billion investment in 74 737-800s delivered in 2012 and 2013 will cost the airline an average of $28.9 million each.

A350's Trent XWB engine makes maiden flight aboard A380

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on February 19, 2012 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

On Saturday, Airbus's A380 flying test bed made its maiden flight with the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB flying in the number two position under the superjumbo's wing. The milestone flight for the A350 XWB's powerplant also marked a first for the A380, which flew for the first time with different engine types.

The contrast between the A380's Trent 900 and A350's Trent XWB isn't nearly as stark as the Trent 900 under the wing of the A340-300 that served as test bed for the superjumbo's first powerplant back in June 2004. The comparatively oversized higher-bypass Trent 900, one of two engine options on the A380 along with the Engine Alliance GP7200, dwarfed the CFM56-5C engines.

The A380's Trent 900 first flight on the A340 came approximately ten months before the A380 first flew in April 2005. As a point of comparison, the A350-900 is expected to fly in early 2013, per Airbus's revised November 2011 schedule that pushed the type's service entry to the first half of 2014.

There's a great deal of speculation as to whether the higher-thrust 84,000lb Trent XWB could ever serve as a possible successor for the Trent 900 to power the larger 1000-seat A380-900 should it ever come to be. The possible groundwork may potentially be laid during this flight test program, as Airbus has already developed a prototype pylon that has a natural A380 wing interface and an A350 Trent XWB engine mounting.

Airbus flight engineering Pascal Verneau, who was interviewed last November in Toulouse demonstrating the Trent XWB flight deck interface, is shown in the video above and was part of the A380's flight this past weekend. Verneau joined pilots Terry Lutz and Frank Chapman, experimental test flight engineer and flight test engineers Emanuele Costanzo and Tuan Do for the 5h flight.

My complete set of photos of the A380 test bed and the Trent XWB are below the fold and include and up-close look under the engine's nacelle and flight test instrumentation.

Continue reading A350's Trent XWB engine makes maiden flight aboard A380.

President Obama visits Boeing's 787 final assembly line

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on February 17, 2012 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Kangaroo-buster 777-8LX concept being studied by Boeing

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on February 13, 2012 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Boeing 777F N5020K

Anyone that has ever flown between the United Kingdom and Australia knows about the kangaroo bounce.

The "bounce", the stop in Asia, often Singapore, is part of the famous Kangaroo Route used to transit between the two nations separated by three continents and 9,188nm. Even with today's ultra long-range jetliners in service, the Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-200LR, the fierce headwinds on the westbound route robs airlines of carrying enough passengers and cargo to make money.

Connecting the London and Sydney has long been seen as a Holy Grail of aviation. As part of its next generation 777X studies, Boeing is exploring an ultra long-range 777-8LX, with nearly 9,500nm range. FULL STORY

Likely to be the last of three members of a conceptual 777X family, the -8LX could potentially have a service entry in the 2020s, providing a mission range of 17,550km (9,480nm), industry sources tell Flightglobal, which is 85nm longer than the 17,395km (9,395nm) offered by the 777-200LR.

The 777-8LX's fuselage would match that of a proposed -8X, now seen as a three-class 353-seat 4.46m (14ft 7in) stretch of the 777-200ER.

With common structural elements, the -8LX and the larger -9X would share a 344t (760,000lb) maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), allowing the smaller jet to carry additional fuel for the extended missions, with a common fuel tank capacity across the conceptual family.

Both the 777-8X and -9X concepts currently aim for an 14,800km (8,000nm) design range.

With a common engine to the 777-9X, the -8LX is conceptually powered by the General Electric GE9X with a 99,500lb thrust rating, while the -8X is understood to be significantly derated off the engine's baseline design with its lower MTOW.

Boeing cautions no decisions have been made and that the company continues to explore a myriad of different options with respect to the future of the 777 family, ranging from a composite wing all the way up to a full clean-sheet replacement of the type, which first entered service in 1995.

The conceptual 777-8LX joins the 777-9X, 2.13m (7ft) longer than the 777-300ER, which would lead the conceptual family late in the decade, and 777-8X, which are both understood to have a baseline composite wing of 233ft 5in (71.1m).

The 233ft wing design, which features an 11ft raked tip, is being explored along with 213 ft 3in (65m) and 225ft (68.6m) spans wings with blended winglets. The massive 233ft 5in wing also is being studied with a folding 11ft outer tip, reviving a design originally envisaged for the 777-200.

The design of the conceptual 407-seat 777-9X in particular is expected to create significant improvements in per seat fuel burn, with internal estimates of the company's conceptual designs now pointing toward an approximately 20% improvement over today's 777-300ER, achieved through incremental technology updates to the 777 platform.

Movie Monday - February 13 - Harrier, A Love Story

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on February 13, 2012 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

With tomorrow's Valentine's Day holiday, I felt it important to find an aircraft we could all fawn over. Today's Movie Monday takes you inside the development of the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Harrier, from its earliest concept as the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 to the Harrier GR.1 and US Marine Corps AV-8A, the type's engagement in the Falklands War in 1982 and evolution to the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II.

The documentary, which runs a little over 53min, is British, incredibly dry and absolutely fantastic. It's lack of music is made up for with ample jet noise, which the Harrier supplies in spades. Enjoy.

Boeing brands the sky with 787 test flight (Update1)

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on February 9, 2012 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (1)

UPDATE 2/10 9:46 AM ET: Thirteen hours later, Airplane 35 is still flying. The aircraft is heading back for Seattle and, when complete, will likely mark the longest 787 flight to date, exceeding 19h.

SEA J12 EPH GEG 4733N 11706W 4236N 11831W 4450N 11752W 4414N 11230W 4710N 11126W 4714N 11125W 4730N 11443W 4214N 11629W 4140N 11325W 4714N 11126W 4645N 10711W 4105N 11056W 4405N 10902W CZI KD81U KD72W 4148N 10335W HANKI YANKI ONL 4201N 9830W KP72C CVA 4148N 9034W GIZCY FOD KP81C KP87A ONL ATY 4523N 9711W KP12C 4743N 9843W 4845N 9655W 4755N 9857W KP15A KP06Y 4248N 10523W MBW ALPOE 4026N 10616W KD60U 3947N 10516W DVV KD60W BENNZ KD63W 4027N 10500W 4040N 10510W 4131N 10501W GYZ KD81W 4728N 9907W 4610N 9804W AMMAJ SOBME 4400N 9820W 4324N 9850W ADEDY ANW 4203N 10104W ALU KD75W 4245N 10424W 4333N 10518W 4404N 10552W 4437N 10558W MARLS YAFLU KU15W POVNY KP18Y 4746N 10000W 4742N 9930W 4753N 9901W MIB JINUK LAMBE 4711N 10515W MLS 4603N 10613W FOURS CZI 4406N 10900W 4643N 10703W 4734N 11444W 4439N 11546W MADPE 4733N 11701W SEA

Boeing brands the sky with 787 test flight, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

I'm sitting at gate C34 at Houston Intercontinental Airport waiting for my flight to DCA and was tipped to 787 ZA236's flight plan (BOE236) for its systems functionality and reliability tests today. The aircraft is in the last stages of flying certification flights for the 787 airframe pairing with the General Electric GEnx-1B engine. Today's flight path, like the creative skywriting we've seen before from the 747-8, traces 787 and The Boeing Company logo from Washington State to Iowa.

Graphics Credit FlightAware

Photos of Note: Lufthansa's first 747-8 takes flight

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on February 8, 2012 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8I D-ABYA RC022

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8I D-ABYA RC022

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8I D-ABYA RC022

EVERETT -- Sometimes running late pays off.

I was zipping out the door this morning for the last day of the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference in Lynnwood and running a few minutes late (as those who know me I am sometimes prone to be) when Lufthansa's first 747-8 taxied into position on Runway 16R at Paine Field.

RC022 operating at Boeing 22, registered D-ABYA, did a quick rejected takeoff test turned around at the end of 16R and departed to the north a few minutes before 9 AM PT.

The aircraft is expected to be handed over to Lufthansa in March.

The full set of photos of D-ABYA's first takeoff, which were shot through a barely cracked window of my hotel room, are below the fold.

Continue reading Photos of Note: Lufthansa's first 747-8 takes flight.

Movie Tuesday - February 7 - Three Approaches, Three Perspectives

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on February 7, 2012 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

SEATTLE -- Movie Monday comes a day later than usual today and gives a unique look at some of the worlds most interesting approaches.

The first video puts you in the flight deck of an A320 on approach to Paro, Bhutan's capital city and widely believed to be the most difficult approach in the world. The runway, which sits at 7,300ft, is surrounded by 12,000ft peaks.

The second video, which I shot in November, was filmed on the upper deck of an Air France A380. While it's not a flight deck point of view, the IFE onboard allows multiple external views. I took advantage of both and tuned one screen to a forward view from the A380's tail and the other to a straight-down view at the ground below.

After our turn final it became clear that there was a significant crosswind, and the superjumbo would crab into the wind. On the straight-down camera view, notice the offset angle of the markings on the runway as the A380 compensated for the perpendicular wind component.

The third video, I shot from the jumpseat of an Embraer Lineage 1000 while on approach to Santos Dumont Airport in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The views out the front of the modified Embraer 190 provided a look at the amazing terrain that defines Rio, including the city's iconic Sugarloaf.

The Jeppesen charts for the Bhutan and Santos Dumont arrival, which should under no circumstance be used for actual flying, are available after the jump.

All told, these three videos run about 17min. Enjoy!

Continue reading Movie Tuesday - February 7 - Three Approaches, Three Perspectives.

Airbus looks to offer 20in aisle seats for A320 family

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on February 7, 2012 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

SEATTLE -- There was a collective "why didn't I think of that?" realization that dawned on the crowd at the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference in Lynnwood, Washington this afternoon when Airbus said it was offering a 20in aisle seat to airlines for the A320 family.

The goal is to use the 20in-wide seat as additional ancillary revenue opportunity (aka charge more) for the aisle seat in a six-abreast configuration. Some airlines charge for the aisle seat today, though the difference is that there's no major product differentiation with the middle and window seats. Airbus said the width of the A320's cabin allows for the 3in flexibility in the aisle seat in comparison to the other four seats at 17in.

Varying the width of certain seats isn't new for commercial cabins, Bombardier offers a ~~1in~~ .5in wider middle seat on the CSeries to make the five-abreast 3-2 configuration more attractive to the 20% of customers who will end up in that seat.

No word yet if any airlines have selected this for its A320 family aircraft.

Boeing inspects 787s after aft fuselage composite delamination

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on February 4, 2012 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (1)

Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA181

Prepared for Flightglobal Pro

Delamination prompts Boeing to inspect 787 fleet

Jon Ostrower/Washington, D.C.

Boeing again faces a manufacturing quality issue, requiring inspections and repairs of its 787 fleet.

Structural stiffeners were found to be improperly joined to the composite skin in the aft sections of the aircraft, causing parts of the aircraft's carbon fibre structure to delaminate, confirms the airframer.

"Boeing has found that incorrect shimming was performed on support structure on the aft fuselage on certain airplanes in our facility in Everett, [Washington]," said the airframer.

Flightglobal has confirmed there are at least three affected airframes, Airplanes 56, for All Nippon Airways, where the problem was first discovered, and Airplanes 57 and 58, the first two aircraft for Qatar Airways.

Boeing declined to say how many 787s have this issue, though sources indicated that there are "significantly more" than the three initially identified in the factory.

Programme sources say the stiffeners, or longerons that run along the length of the aircraft, are delaminating around the rear opening of the Section 48 section above and below the cutout known as the "bird's mouth" that holds the Alenia Aeronautica-built horizontal stabiliser.

Boeing said the issue is a "straightforward repair" and poses no "short-term safety concern" and the airframer said its inspections have revealed "delamination in some instances."

Boeing is currently conducting inspections on the already built 787s and those waiting to be assembled, at least 50 airframes, in Everett and its North Charleston, South Carolina facilities.

"We have this condition well-defined and we are making progress on the repair plan," said Boeing and declined to say if the inspections were slowing preparations for delivering additional 787s.

The issue, identified around 24 January was traced to assembly of the aft fuselage by Boeing South Carolina, Formerly Vought Aircraft Industries, where Sections 47 and 48 are fabricated, assembled and stuffed with systems before being delivered to final assembly lines in North Charleston or Everett.

When the longerons are installed on the wound carbon fibre barrel, frames and longerons are secured to the skin of the structure to give it strength. When natural variations in the fit of parts exists, aerospace mechanics will install shims, or spacers, which compensate for variations and wedge into structure to create a tighter fit.

Without the shims, damage can be sustained to the composite when fasteners are installed by pulling the structure together, damaging the layers of carbon fibre.

Over the long-term composite delamination can decrease the fatigue life of the aircraft's structure.

Boeing said it has "already taken appropriate steps to address this issue" in South Carolina, declining to elaborate on what steps it has taken.

"We have already notified our early customers to ensure they are informed and aware of our plans to make repairs, should they be needed," the company said.

ANA, currently the sole operator of five 787s, said: "Currently we are not experiencing the issue; however, we are aware of this issue arising at the factory, and will take appropriate action when contacted by Boeing."

For the affected aircraft, Boeing said its "current plan", which one programme source described as "tedious", will not require the removal of the 787's tail cone and horizontal stabiliser to fix the longerons, its initial remedy for aircraft in the factory, and it can "address this condition without removal of any major structural parts."

"Repairs, should they be needed, will be implemented in the most efficient manner possible," said Boeing in order to maintain a design that conforms with its airworthiness certification standards.

Boeing has faced manufacturing quality issues before, most notably the June 2010 inspection, teardown and reinstallation of many Alenia Aeronautica-built horizontal stabilisers after many were assembled without proper shimming creating gaps in the structure that threatened the fatigue life of the empennage.

A touch of truth and humor for Everett's most famous residents

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on February 1, 2012 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Submitted without comment. Levity courtesy of reader WingBender:

Meet the Boeing family of wide body jetliners

787: She is drop-dead gorgeous, she has all the "right" friends, and all the boys want to date her. She loves spending time at the spa, and she is addicted to social media. Predictably, she is a drama queen. Every little problem gets blown out of proportion, resulting in tears and tantrums. She has an attitude of entitlement, believing that everyone exists to serve her needs and desires.

767: He isn't terribly smart, or good-looking, or popular, or talented. He is a little clumsy and socially awkward. Though he is a diligent and reliable worker, his only real option for the future is to go into the military, because frankly he has little prospect of finding employment in the private sector. But bless his heart, we love and adore him.

777: He's the family overachiever. Eagle Scout, 4.0 average, captain of the football team, scholarship offers flowing in, a gorgeous and smart girl friend. He wonders to himself how he could possibly be related to this cast of characters, and secretly wishes he weren't.

747: Quiet and studious, she tends to keep to herself. She's a bit heavy and has a touch of asthma. She seems wise beyond her years, and is burdened by an unspoken sadness. Yet she is unfailingly loyal and will go to the wall for you. Others would do the same for her in an instant.

ANA's 787 faces bumpy service entry on Haneda-Frankfurt

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on February 1, 2012 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

JA805A @ EDDF 01.02.2012

ANA's first 787 flights with JA801A and JA802A on domestic flights within Japan have been nearly flawless, with a 96.3% on time reliability during its first months of service. For JA805A, the first 158-seat 787 in long-haul international configuration, the introduction on the Tokyo-Haneda to Frankfurt route, the first long-haul service, has been anything but smooth.

All Nippon Airways first long-haul international service with its Boeing 787 has faced a rocky start since 21 January with two of its ten flights operating between Tokyo-Haneda and Frankfurt, Germany cancelled due to technical issues with the new aircraft, the airline confirmed.

ANA cancelled flight NH204 on 26 January and NH203 30 January. Other 787 flights to Germany operated on 21, 23, 26 and 28 January.

The 26 January service was cancelled in Frankfurt when the aircraft's flap system failed, while the 30 January cancellation in Haneda was due to "a temporary failure of the computer software which monitors and controls the aircraft", said ANA, adding "the aircraft has been repaired by replacing the computer's concerned parts and loading software."

Of the five 787 deliveries to ANA, JA805A, Airplane 31, delivered on December 30, is operating exclusively on the airline's long-range international flights.

Photo Credit Carsten Gurk

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