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The Flightglobal iFDN team has the Singapore air show covered with the second edition of our interactive daily. Also, check out a video wrap up Siva Govindasamy and I did a the end of day two (below the fold). There were no commercial orders through day two in Singapore, as the discussion turned once again to the re-engining of the A320 and 737, while on the defense side, Joint Strike Fighter was making headlines.
- GE continues tests of open rotor blades
- GEnx-2B starts icing certification tests
- Boeing postpones canted tails for F-15 Silent Eagle
- 757 replacement gets new focus as 787-3 dwindles
- Bell in discussions to export V-22 tiltrotor
- Boeing looks to capitalise on F-35 woes
- Airbus and Lockheed push airlift capabilities
- Leadership turmoil hits F-35 programme
- Bombardier says 'watch this space' on Global Express successor
- Tiger advances delivery of four A320s
- Airbus aiming for A320 re-engining decision by Farnborough air show
Continue reading #SIN10: Flightglobal brings you day two with iFDN.
At the Dubai air show in November we got a first glimpse at Bombardier's M170 product, its answer to the Gulfstream G650 in the long-range large-cabin business jet market. The aircraft is widely rumored to be set for its public debut at EBACE in Geneva in May. During Bombardier's briefing today I had an opportunity to ask David Dixon, head of Asia-Pacific for Bombardier business aircraft about what the future holds for this mystery aircraft. Mr. Dixon didn't show his company's hand, but certainly stirred the pot.
Jon Ostrower: Can you talk about the future potential for the M170 product you're looking at to take on the G650 as a clean sheet design and where that stands and when we can hope to hear more about it?
David Dixon: There isn't a new program launched at this point. That said, Bombardier has launched 25 airplanes since 1989, so we're always watching the market and responding to what the market needs.
I put it to you this way, take a look at what that product is [G650] it's actually playing catch up, it's not a bigger fuselage cabin, it has other features, it goes a bit further but it is just coming up to the Global Express so I think they're [Gulfstream] is trying to come along side, rather than overtake.
But watch this space, we're always looking at the market and we've maintained our investments historically, so I would say there will be new airplanes whether it's going to be competing with the 650 or any others, I don't know.
Never content to rest on our laurels, the Flightglobal team has stepped out on the edge of digital publishing once again bringing you a perspective of the Singapore air show never before seen. Our first issue of iFDN, or interactive Flight Daily News, is the collaboration of a small team here in Singapore and in London at the Flightglobal headquarters. Our premier issue has just been published and I invite you to explore its interactive pages seeing all the multimedia resources we've brought to bear. We'd love to get your feedback on the final product.
- IAI unveils plans to convert used 767s into tanker-transports
- MRJ airframe delivers 'half of fuel-burn advantage': Mitsubishi
- Piper open to manufacturing in Asia
- IAE open to developing new A320 engine
- BOC Aviation and ANZ sign lease for A320s
- Sichuan chooses V2500 to power new A320s
- Lockheed may deliver more F-35s than DoD buys
- CFM and Comac in joint definition phase for C919's engine
by Jon Ostrower: Looking beyond the 787-3, your customers have indicated a need for a medium range 787, somewhere in the trans-continetnal 3,000 to 4,000 mile range, do you see an opportunity now take the 787 to adapt it to that market?
Randy Tinseth: So the question is are we going to design a 787 with the range of a 757?I'll tell you, it's not in the plans today, but over the last week we did some changes at Boeing and one of those changes is we brought Mike Bair, who was my boss, to now lead our single aisle development efforts.
That type of airplane, whatever it might be, would fall under the Mike Bair regime as we go forward. No plans at this date, do we have customers that our interested in an airplane that has the same capacity and range as a 757? Yes. We sold 1000 of them. There is some need out there, the question is when do we build that, can we build that, does it make economic sense for us and for our customers?
Will the replacement for the venerable narrow-bodies take the form of a two model solution spanning the 125 to 200 seat range? Or will Boeing surrender the sub-150-seat market to its Canadian, Brazilian, Japanese and Russian competitors, building a single type optimized to ~180-seats stretched to meet the demands of today's 737-800 through to the 757-200?
The game just got interesting.
I had a chance to talk to him about the prospects for an A330-300F and its market potential. He shared with me that a launch decision on the -330F would come later this year and would see retiring A330-300 passenger aircraft converted to medium-haul freighters around 2013 or 2014. Lenormand says that a cargo integrator has already expressed great interest in a conversion program. That quickly narrows down the possibilities for a customer: UPS, FedEx, TNT and/or DLH.
We also discussed the prospects of an A350 freighter, which he said is currently in the concept phase for a 2017/2018 entry into service, but made a specific point of discussing the challenges of mounting a cargo door on a composite fuselage compared to an aluminum fuselage. He was unsure whether or not both 787 or A350 has the potential of becoming a new-build or a converted freighter later in its life. He specifically cited managing the load paths of the composite material as the primary challenge for designing a new-build freighter out of a composite fuselage.
"It will be interesting to see how 787 gets a door on a purely composite structure. Because first, it's a major change to an airplane even to design a door on a new build airplane. It's a big change because you have all these openings there where you need to reallocate all the stress to the structure, because you generate in the structure of the plane, and in the integrity of the aircraft, a weakness. So, we have see how those are going to do for new build."
Boeing said in May 2008 that it is "ready for a 787 freighter" and requirements for such an aircraft were placed into the initial design of the aircraft. Lenormand's comment certainly illuminates what Airbus believes its own challenges are for developing an composite fuselage freighter sometime in the next decade.
MANY PHOTOS BELOW THE FOLD
Continue reading Video & Photos: Airbus A330-200F makes air show debut in Singapore.
There are a lot of us here at #SIN10, so keep an eye on these Twitter feeds: @flightblogger, @sivag, @flightglobal, @flightdoyle and @cockburnb. There's even more coverage on Tumblr too.
Here's a round up of the Day Zero goings on here at the show:
- Boeing to have 30 787s in process by year-end
- Boeing doubtful on 787-3 prospects
- Embraer reaches 100th Phenom delivery, but falls behind schedule
- Embraer confirms E-190 an option for Harbin plant
- Embraer says E-Jets competitive against MRJ
- Airbus might launch A330-300 P2F conversion this year
- Goodrich wins MS-21 flight control system deal
- Goodrich to supply brake system for MRJ
- RSAF displays G550 AEW platform for first time
SINGAPORE -- Roaming the display floor while it's still being set up one of my perennial air show rituals. Walking amongst the organized chaos as the show is set up often yields interesting observations on the products on display for the week. At China's Comac stand, the ARJ21 and C919 are prominently displayed in company colors. The ARJ21 even includes a cutaway fuselage to reveal the interior arrangement of the five-abreast economy seating and four-abreast first class.
As you look to the back of the aircraft, you'll notice the gray outline of the rear exit. Curiously, it sits directly next to the inlet of the aircraft's General Electric CF34 engines. I'm no expert on aircraft safety, but common sense tells me that in the event of an emergency evacuation, waiting until the engines have sufficiently spooled down might not be the most realistic option. Comac said just last week that it wants to see FAA approval for the ARJ21. I would have to believe that emergency evacuation is going to be close to the top of the list of items the FAA wants to discuss with Comac.
SINGAPORE -- Boeing has brought a model of the 787-9 to the Singapore air show, the first time it has had the stretched Dreamliner on display at its stand. The size of the model caught my eye instantly, though the most notable part of the scale model is on the forward fuselage and an inexplicably missing window. The 206ft 1in long 787-9 gets its additional length from elongations of Sections 43 and 46 in the center fuselage. The stretch of Section 43 adds five windows in front of door two. Just as on the 787-8, the 787-9 has a missing window at the point of the join between Section 41 and Section 43. However, the model on display here in Singapore has a second missing window on the 41 Section as you can see above.
I checked the most recent rendering of the 787-9 which appears on the Etihad order announcement from July 2008 and it too is missing that second window on Section 41. The latest airplane characteristics document put out by Boeing in December shows only one window missing from the forward fuselage.
The latest airplane characteristics document put out by Boeing last December shows the window very much on the aircraft (right), which appears to have disappeared on the model here at the show. The plot thickens.
It seems somewhat inefficient to go from a sectional stretch to a plug between Sections 41 and 43, turning one fuselage join into two. I thought it best to open this question up to everyone. Where has that second window gone? Which is it: window or no window?
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