Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
Boeing Business Jets expects to gain US Federal Aviation Administration approval for the PATS-developed auxiliary fuel tank system and related control software this week, allowing its BBJ to begin extra-long-range flights.
Certification of the system was delayed by months, mainly because of difficulties in integrating the software for the long-range tanks with the standard fuel system.
The delay led to a temporary re-shuffle of the BBJ manufacturing process, which involved sending aircraft directly to completion centres from Seattle, rather than to the PATS modification centre in Georgetown, Delaware.
Although the FAA issued a provisional supplemental type certificate (STC), the full clearance will allow the original completion process to be resumed.
News of the imminent STC follows the completion of the longest non-stop flight yet by any BBJ. Fitted with a nine-tank PATS fuel system, a test BBJ flew 11,580km (6,250nm) in 13h 51min.
Crewed by BBJ chief pilot Michael Hewett and air-to-air specialist photographer Clay Lacy, the aircraft departed from Martin State Airport near Baltimore, Maryland, and flew for 6h 28min to Seattle. It turned south and flew to San Diego before turning south-east towards Texas. From there, it flew on to Miami and then north to Baltimore. At Baltimore, it held until fuel was at normal reserves before landing at Sussex County Airport near the PATS site.
Average speed for the flight was 451kt (835km/h), fuel used was 29,745kg (65,580lb) and the amount of fuel still in reserve at landing was 2,500kg. The BBJ's total fuel capacity was 40,480litres (10,680USgal), of which almost 14,460litres was held in the auxiliary tanks.
Typical range for a fully configured BBJ with nine auxiliary tanks, full interior, eight passengers and winglets is about 11,475km.
The Aviation Partners-designed blended winglets were not fitted to the test aircraft, but will be part of the baseline configuration from November when the first winglet-equipped aircraft is due to be handed over to NetJets.
The winglets were tested and then removed from the prototype BBJ, which is now at Raytheon in Wichita where it is being fitted with a full interior before beginning a worldwide sales tour.
Source: Flight International
