Recently in Boeing Category

Movie Monday subjects are sometimes tough to decide. This week, for instance. Do we go with the Collier Trophy homage, in honour of the 2012 award that is being presented on Thursday to the Boeing 787? Or do we make it about the winglet, a la the vortex-reducing airframe accessory unveiled last Wednesday for the 737 Max? Alas, nobody ever won the Collier Trophy for inventing a wingtip device.

But we have the next best thing. Richard Whitcomb developed the methodology for applying winglets. He also claimed the Collier Trophy in 1954 for inventing the area rule, which adds a pinch in the fuselage aft of the wing leading edge to minimise drag at transonic speeds. In yet another revelatory moment, Whitcomb also came up with the supercritical wing, which can hold more fuel with no drag penalty compared to a thinner wing at the same cruise speed. 

The video above unfortunately cuts off just before Whitcomb discusses winglets. But this video released shortly after Whitcomb's death provides a few more details.

Who came up with the dual-feather blended winglet concept that Boeing revealed earlier today?

Boeing says it owns the intellectual property on the split wingtip design for the 737 Max.

But that claim was only made because three different reporters asked about the technology's ownership in a teleconference this morning programme manager Beverly Wyse and chief engineer Michael Teal.

That's probably because the similarity with the already unveiled Aviation Partners winglet is too much to ignore. Aviation Parnters chief executive Joe Clark proudly showed off his new winglet design about six months ago at the NBAA annual convention.

Boeing's released images so far appear to show a few differences. Boeing's lower feather seems to end at a straight edge, while the Aviation Partners design curves slightly. There also seems to be more convex shaping in the upper feather of the Aviation Partners wingtip. 

You thought the Sonic Cruiser was dead -- sacrificed more than nine years ago for the 787-yielding Super Efficient.

Maybe you also thought Boeing was never really serious about the Sonic Cruiser anyway, unveiling the M0.98 speedster in 2001 only to distract the industry from its decision to drop the 747-X Stretch.

You're probably still right.

And, yet, the Sonic Cruiser is not entirely dead.

Somewhere deep inside Boeing, a team of engineers is even now continuing to fiddle with the last decade's most high-profile conceptual aerospace flop. A new Boeing patent application, which was posted online on 19 April, reveals a new and improved Sonic Cruiser. Filing a patent application, mind you, should not be construed as a confession of even long-term corporate strategy. It's most likely just a project some engineers are fiddling around with. Still, it reveals an interesting new approach to an old and fascinating concept. 


The new Sonic Cruiser appears to be just as fast as the original design unveiled by a beaming Alan Mullaly at the 2001 Paris Air Show. Improvements are focused on reducing the nearly supersonic aircraft's noise and heat signatures. Rather than embedding the engines under the wing, high bypass turbofans are installed on top of the fuselage. Vertical stabilizers mounted outboard of each engine shields noise generated by the exhaust, while the long aft deck blocks sound waves aimed at the ground. In addition, Boeing's engineers have proposed variable geometry chevrons on the exhaust nozzles of each engine, which soften the noisy mixing of very hot exhaust air with much cooler ambient air.

Besides the new engine locations, Boeing has also made several aerodynamic changes. The differences are clear by comparing the drawing above with the image shown below, which first appeared in a 2003 Boeing patent filing for the original Sonic Cruiser concept. Notice the differences in shaping in the fuselage, nose and wings.



 

In this decade's great narrowbody race, Mitsubishi became the first runner to publicly stumble -- again.

The Japanese airframer warned us in February that first flight of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) would be delayed from the second quarter this year.

This morning, the MRJ programme announced first flight is indeed postponed 15-18 months to the fourth quarter of 2014, which is the third quarter of the Japanese fiscal year. First delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airlines is delayed at least 18-24 months to between October 2015 to March 2016.

The delays slightly reshuffle the official order of appearance of the six major narrowbodies now in development. The Bombardier CSeries still comes first in 2013, although there are growing doubts about this timeframe. The re-engined Airbus A320neo is scheduled to enter service in 2015. Then comes either the MRJ or the Russian MS-21 starting from late 2015 to 2016, respectively. Embraer has said the next generation E-Jet should appear between 2016-2018. Boeing, finally, has pegged entry into service of the re-engined 737 Max in 2017.

Although the MRJ programme is only four years old, this is actually the second major delay announcement. The first postponement came at the Asian Aerospace airshow in Singapore in February 2010. Mitsubishi pushed back first flight by a year as it dumped the carbon fibre wings for simpler aluminium alloy and unveiled a stretched 90-seater.

We don't know exactly why another programme delay was necessary. Mitsubishi reassures the Pratt & Whitney PW1127G geared turbofan development is going smoohtly, with first flight of the engine on a testbed aircraft scheduled later this month. MRJ only says cryptically that the latest delay will allow the designers to "confirm respective fabrication processes" and "provide sufficient time for technical studies".  

Six months after entry-into-service of the 747-8 Freighter, we now have the first hard indications of the new type's technical dispatch reliability, a rating that measures the number of flights canceled because of a technical problem with the aircraft. It does not count cancellations due to weather or staffing delays.

With six aircraft delivered to four 14 aircraft delivered to five operators [ED: er, slight miscount!] since 12 October, how is the 747-8F performing?

Answer: Not bad. If Boeing's numbers match those of its customers, the 747-8F is doing fine. Its performance is roughly equivalent to the Airbus A380 at the same stage in early 2008, slightly below the 777's benchmark performance in late 1995 and above the company's own forecasts. For a new type with only 30% parts commonality with its predecessor, the 747-400, that's doing okay.

How do we know this? Boeing does not reveal specific technical dispatch reliability statistics for its aircraft. But a company official, 747-8 support and services director Leslie Lauer, told us the freighter is tracking "slightly below" the 777's benchmark one-year performance. A quick check of the Flightglobal archive in 1996 revealed the number was 97.9%, which Boeing confirmed is the statistic to which Lauer was referring.

Although Boeing is justifiably proud of the 777's performance, it was actually a disappointment to launch customer United Airlines in 1995. United expected the 777 to enter service with 98.5% technical dispatch reliability after a year. After seeing reliability fluctuate as low as 96.5% and averaging 97.9%, United later acknowledged it had been a little too optimistic.

Twelve years later, Airbus repeated the same experience with the A380. The airframer actually guaranteed a 98.5% technical dispatch reliability in the first year to launch customer Singapore Airlines. After one year, SIA reported that reliability actually averaged between 97%-98%. Another customer, Emirates, reported a slightly lower dispatch reliability rating.  Each airline can measure technical dispatch reliability slightly differently, so there could be small variances in the data.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa is poised to receive the first passenger variant 747-8 Intercontinental very soon, perhaps even next week. The German carrier is no stranger to fleet introductions, having received its first A380 in 2010. By that time, the A380 had three years to mature in service with other operators. The 747-8I has only been flying for six months, but Lufthansa isn't cutting Boeing any slack.

"When we introduced the [Airbus] A380 in June 2010 we had for the first months 100% technical dispatch reliability," Lufthansa says. "So we are working very close with Boeing to make sure the 747-8 performance is matching the A380 performance."

Spirit AeroSystems has released several images of the destruction at its sprawling plant in Wichita, Kansas. Its production facilities for Boeing commercial aircraft and other airframers were hit by a Category 3 tornado on 16 14 April. Importantly, nobody in Wichita was killed, and no Spirit AeroSystems employees were injured.

It's still too soon to know how the damage will disrupt assembly lines in Renton and Everett, but Spirit AeroSystems already acknowledges that the short-term delivery schedule is "obviously" impacted.

Despite the destruction shown in the photos, Spirit AeroSystems says its "production capabilities" -- presumably, the tooling jigs and machine shops -- are "essentially intact". [See new photo of undamaged 737 fuselage assembly stations below]. More news coverage is here. 

Spirit AeroSystems chief executive Jeff Turner briefed local news media at 14:00 in Wichita. The communications staff, which still has no access to email, has been heroically posting important updates on Twitter. They also live-tweeted Turner's press conference. Here is what they reported Turner said:

Turner: Power is now up in all substations. Key is to make infrastructure safe, then we can return to production.

 

Turner: telling most suppliers to keep building, but wait to ship. We are gaining confidence hour by hour. Much different than Sat night.

 

Turner: production facility overall looks very good, except for debris. Tools and product overall look fine. We may ship some things soon.

 

Turner: no major production areas are ruined, they just need attention and safety prep.

 

Turner: a number of areas are production-worthy, just a few are not. Need power, gas, water etc.

Some day very soon -- perhaps even next Monday or Tuesday -- Lufthansa will formally accept the first Boeing 747-8 airliner. The exact date still remains a mystery. On 30 March, Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz refused to commit to a delivery date during a brief interview on the sidelines of an International Aviation Club luncheon, even though his airline had already tipped his hand a week earlier. Boeing also won't commit to a firm date for the delivery ceremony. Certainly, recent experience offers no assurance on timelines for 747-8 delivery ceremonies. So far, there's been no sign of a Cargolux/Qatar/Boeing-like impasse.

We've decided we prefer the added suspense. There are already intriguing questions hanging over the future of the 747-8 airliner -- Will Boeing find a fourth airline customer? Could the 777-9X kill the 747-8 airliner, or will the latter's unique passenger-cargo combination preserve a niche for the Queen of the Skies for another decade or more? Like the delivery ceremony date, only time will tell.

While we're waiting, brush up on your trivia knowledge of the aircraft the 747-8 succeeds. With nearly 700 built over a 20-year production life, the 747-400 deserves a final memorial viewing on this blog. Enjoy our Movie Monday.  
 

[Editor's note: Filing this aboard an American Airlines 737-700, DCA-DFW. Will post updates as possible. Technically-speaking, I'm supposed to be on vacation!]

Boeing has decided to adopt a 20.3cm (8in) nose gear extension and control the spoilers using fly-by-wire among other design changes revealed today for the 737 Max family.

The company's announcement clarifies several key design features first discussed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive Jim Albaugh in November.

Albaugh had previously said the nose-gear extension could range between 15.2-20.3cm, accommodating the larger diameter of the CFM Interanational Leap 1B engine. CFM has initially sized the engine with a 1.74m-wide fan, but the precise dimensions could change before the design is frozen in the fourth quarter.

By using the maximum extension in the trade study, Boeing potentially opens the door to slightly increasing the diameter of the turbofan. The longer nose gear also means Boeing must alter the door.

Meanwhile, the new 737 Max will be integrated into the wing in a design similar to the 787, the company adds.

All flight controls will remain mechanically-driven except for the spoilers, which will be based on fly-by-wire inputs, Boeing says. The 737 Max also will adopt an "electronic bleed air system", which is also used on the Airbus A350. The electronic bleed air system can reduce fuel burn by improving cabin pressurization and anti-icing systems without adopting the 787's bleed-less architecture.

Boeing also is extending the 737's tail cone and thickening the section above the elevator for the re-engined variant.

Finally, Boeing also could slightly change the wingtips of the 737 Max, but the company provided no details. A revised design is being tested in a wind tunnel, Boeing says.

We received the tip at noon: Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Embraer were going to make an "important announcement" downtown at the US Chamber of Commerce at 15:30. Jim Albaugh and Frederico Curado, CEOs of both companies, would be there. That's all we needed. We dropped our afternoon plans, jumped in a taxi and headed for Lafayette Square, the chamber's strategic location caddy-corner to the White House.

The dream headline was our goal. Something like, "Boeing, Embraer partner to develop next-generation single-aisle", had a nice ring to it. Alas, it was just a dream.

As more journalists arrived, the press aides of both companies attempted to lower our expectations. No specific projects would be announced, they said. Then, the aides uttered those awful three words, the term that kills all headlines: memorandum of understanding, or MoU.

We're not saying all MoUs are uninteresting to journalists, but there's a reason why Googling the terms "mou" and "few details" brings up 91,500 results.

In truth, we probably should have known better. Boeing is the aerospace industry king of the MoU -- and we don't mean just the kind that lead to aircraft orders. Boeing has been signing MoUs all over the world. It is already bound to "develop materials and systems" for South Korea, to share "key business and manufacturing tools" with India, and to provide an Israeli-Brazilian firm "opportunities" to work on the Super Hornet fighter.

Boeing even signed an MoU with Embraer -- and, in fact, Airbus -- last year to work jointly on bio-fuels. When it comes to MoUs, Boeing never leaves an "IOU".

It's possible, of course, this MoU will be different. It was signed as part of a far larger event that brought Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff to the White House today. Indeed, the aviation agreement was only a footnote in a broader diplomatic discussion between the two countries over new collaboration on energy, defence and scientific research. It just so happens that it comes at a particularly sensitive moment for the top commercial aviation manufacturers of both countries.  

Boeing right now really wants to sell Super Hornets to Brazilian air force and navy. Embraer wants probably even more to sell Super Tucanos to the US Air Force.

Each is the largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the two most populous countries in the Americas, yet they have no real track record of collaboration on anything despite almost no overlapping market segments. Embraer, meanwhile, is searching for new ways to expand its phenomenal growth spurt over the last two decades, but has already conceded the over-130-seat market to Airbus and Boeing. At some point, Embraer may decide it needs to partner with Boeing or Airbus to continue its growth, or it can try to keep expanding within its already defined pocket of commercial and military aircraft. For Embraer, perhaps an MoU signed in the shadow of the White House may tip the scales of history slightly towards Boeing.

Of course, it's hard to fit all of that in a headline.