Airbus: October 2008 Archives

With the help of A380 spotter Sean Taylor, I put together this rundown of key October movements for superjumbo production.

In Service

• MSN014 (VH-OQA) No. 1 for QANTAS entered commercial service on October 20 between MEL and LAX as QF93 and October 24 between SYD and LAX.
  
• MSN013 (A6-EDB) No. 2 for Emirates was delivered from XFW as EK7380 at 07:25 on October 24.

In Toulouse

• MSN021 (F-WWSQ) for Singapore Airlines was spotted on the flight line with engines fitted at TLS on October 24.
  
• MSN026 (F-WWSX/VH-OQD) for No. 4 for QANTAS arrived on the flight line with engines fitted at TLS on October 24. This aircraft is the first Wave 2 A380 to have production standard wiring.
• MSN019 (F-WWSP/9V-SKG) for No. 7 Singapore will be the next A380 to fly at TLS. The aircraft was seen taxiing for the first time on October 27.

In Hamburg

• MSN016 (D-AXAC/A6-EDC) No. 3 for Emirates conducted taxi tests at XFW on October 28. Delivery is expected in November.
  
• MSN015 (VH-OQB) No. 2 for QANTAS undergoing interior outfitting since June 25. Delivery is expected in December.
  
• MSN020 (A6-EDE) No. 4 for Emirates undergoing interior outfitting since July 16. Delivery is expected in December.
• MSN022 (VH-OQC) No. 3 for QANTAS undergoing interior outfitting since August 4. Delivery is expected in December.
• MSN017 (F-WWSN) No. 5 for Emirates was transferred to XFW on October 7.

Photo Credit: David Barrie - MSN026 - Toulouse

It seems to be a now weekly tradition on this blog to reveal more and more detail about the final exterior design of the A350 XWB. This week brings us an even clearer shot of the aircraft's new wings, fuselage and winglets. These pictures come from a competing aviation magazine's advertisements. They shed quite a bit of light about the new widebody's design. From below, the nose even looks to have a 7E7 feel to it. Also worth noticing, the Rolls-Royce Trent XWBs don't feature chevron notches at the back of the nacelles for noise reduction.

I apologize for the quality of the images, my camera was elsewhere.

Two more close up shots after the jump.

Airbus A340-600 F-WWCA climbing away from Toulouse on its first flight
with the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1000G engine under its wing.

"Demonstrating the geared turbofan technology throughout its entire operating envelope using the Airbus A340 flight test aircraft will provide us with valuable installation and operating data to further evaluate the performance of the new engine architecture," says Todd Kallman, president, Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines.

READ THE STORY

Image courtesy Pratt & Whitney

More images after the jump

Thousand point spikes and drops are enough to make my stomach churn. Since September 12, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has only had three days where the close at the end of the day was less than 100 points difference from the opening, and even on those days the market swung wildly during trading. All this volatility could be bad for business and bad for backlogs.

With the global economy [insert perilous sounding metaphor], consumers are taking a more conservative approach with their finances. Americans are already cutting back on traveling, shopping and eating out to save where they can. With less movement of goods and people, energy costs will begin to drop with the reduced demand. In just the last two weeks, the price at the pump fell 36 cents, the steepest drop ever.

Which brings me to a comment made two weeks ago by Boeing CEO Jim McNerney:

Our airline customers already are struggling to operate profitably under volatile and high fuel prices. A reduction in business and leisure travel would further damage their fragile health and potentially impact the sales of our airplanes and services. However, the flip side of the high fuel price coin is that demand in the market for our fuel-efficient new airplanes remains high, and we have seen few order deferrals or cancellations. [Emphasis mine]

Mr. McNerney is absolutely right, but what happens if the other side of the coin is wiped clean? What if the high fuel price is no longer a factor?

Did the pain of $140 forever impress upon airlines the need for new fuel efficient aircraft? Or has the pain subsided as capacity cuts have given way to a healthy influx of cash?

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer identified a 'triple threat' to Boeing that included the on-going strike, 787 delays and an inability for its customers to secure financing. The first three are accurate representations for Boeing, but a fourth threat is one that could strike at Airbus, Bombardier and Embraer as well.

How low and for how long does oil have to remain cheap for backlogs to feel the pain? If airlines are able to operate profitably without new fuel-efficient aircraft, does it still make sense to buy new equipment?

The subject of the final look and feel of the A350 XWB has been the subject of extensive discussion, mostly of the unserious kind. Yet, after Flight revealed a different nose and window design for Airbus's new long-range widebody two weeks ago, the windows appear to be right back to the original design in another ad running running on flightglobal.com.

What's a nitpicking aircraft junky to make of all this?

Today:
Two weeks ago:
With that being said, check out this video of how Airbus can deck out the XWB Prestige:

David Velupillai, marketing director for Airbus's executive and private aviation division, generously provided a tour of the Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) for us yesterday. This particular A319, operated by Comlux (9F-AFK), is fully decked out. It's got a range of about 6,000 miles with room for 19. Take a look for yourself.

Honeywell, which has partnered with commercial manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to offer the IntuVue 3-D Advanced Weather Radar, will offer its big jet hardware as a standard feature for Gulfstream's all-new G650 business jet.

On August 14, 2008, members of the media, including this blogger, were invited by Honeywell for a demonstration of the 3-D weather radar in the skies over central Florida to chase thunderstorms in a 1952 Convair 580 (N580AS).

The IntuVue system, which is currently standard equipment for the Airbus A380 and an option on the Boeing 777 and 737, will be adapted to the Gulfstream G650 by shortening the antenna drive underneath the significantly smaller radome.

Also, the IntuVue will be certified in the first quarter of 2010 as an optional feature for the Airbus A320 and a year later on the A330/A340, as well as standard equipment on the A350 XWB.

The G650 will integrate the IntuVue 3-D weather data into the INAV display in the PlaneView II system based on the Honeywell Primus Epic avionics platform.  

IntuVue, the re-branded name of Honeywell's existing RDR-4000 3-D weather radar, is the company's first foray into offering the scalable technology on smaller platforms to penetrate the general aviation and business jet markets.

Honeywell sees the IntuVue employed on two new business jet platforms within the next three to four years, and adds one of those will be in the very light jet category.

The IntuVue system uses 3-dimensional volumetric scanning to capture all weather data +/-90 degrees to the left and right of the aircraft, optimizing scans relative to the aircraft altitude up to 320 nm and 60,000 feet. The data is then fed into the 3-D buffer to create a picture of the surrounding weather on both horizontal and vertical situation displays.

The IntuVue system can complete a full sweep of the surrounding area in 30 seconds, offering flight crews the ability to detect and avoid previously unforeseen turbulence, wind shears and storm activity.

The selectable azimuth allows for a slice of the weather environment to be examined in the vertical situation display to enable better tactical and strategic route planning.

Because of the 3-dimensional data processing, the IntuVue system is able to compensate for the curvature of the Earth, not by bending the radar beam around the surface, but by extrapolating data relative to the altitude and distance from the aircraft. The aircraft is still limited to line of sight, limiting the return to 320 nm.

Weather data for a given area is stored for six minutes after collection and can display weather information behind the aircraft. This is done in the center display mode showing 2/3 forward and 1/3 behind aircraft or as much as 200 nm.

The 3-D buffer also interacts with Honeywell's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGWPS) database to filter ground returns from weather data as to not confuse the pilot. The ground returns are not discarded, but rather stored to create an extended ground map.

The system can operate in multiple modes for strategic (AUTO) and tactical (MANual) weather analysis for both vertical and horizontal route planning.  

In AUTO mode, the radar automatically displays weather based on the aircraft flight path using the vertical rate and ground speed or the programmed FMS flight plan. The aircraft automatically tracks a +/-4000 foot boundary up to 60,000 feet. Weather inside the boundary is considered relevant and displays in solid colors, whereas weather outside the boundary is secondary and displays cross-hatched.

In MANual mode, the radar azimuth can be tilted side to side to create a 3-dimensional vertical cross section of the weather data overlaid on the vertical situation display.

The weather data is independently retrievable by both captain and first officer enabling customized displays for the left and right side displays.

Gulfstream's G650, the manufacturer's largest aircraft to date, will enter service in 2012, following a flight test campaign beginning in the second half of 2009.