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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1916.PDF
FLIGHT International, 31 October 1963 721 1961 1962 Years ended March 31 BEA Engineering costs £>10000C I I International J Domestic I Overheads I 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1964 BEA's annual reports over the years are the source of the engineering cost data in these three figures. Estimates have been supplied by BEA for the year 1963-64 No 2 engine test bed is designed to take the Spey as well as the Avon). At present the output of overhauled engines is running at the rate of about one engine a day, and the programme calls for com plete overhaul of all these Rolls-Royce engines in BEA service at the rate of four Darts, two Tynes, one Avon and one Spey per five- day week. Few maintenance jobs call for more organization than the over haul of the bewildering proliferation of components that go to make up one, let alone four, types of modern turbine engine. From strip to build each engine entering the roller-tracked overhaul circuit is, miraculously to the observer, kept together as an engine. The classical overhaul sequence—strip, clean, inspect, build, test— includes a stage which is the key to the whole business of do-it- yourself overhaul, particularly engine overhaul: reclamation. The economies of rework, for example in the case of combustion cans, can be very great. "It's like retreading tyres," as one BEA engineer puts it; "replacements are so expensive rework almost always pays." Parts eligible for reclamation emerge from the stripping and inspection bays with labels on them (no label means the part is OK for build). As often as not, and certainly more often than if the job were sub-contracted, the work of reclamation is put in hand. BEA's project and development engineers are constantly devising repair schemes (incidentally with the full support of Rolls-Royce); and the resultant economies can run into several hundred pounds per overhaul. The savings result not only from reclamation, and the salvaging of parts that might otherwise be scrapped and replaced, but also from reduced pipeline time. Spares are extremely costly; and only with everything under the air line's control is it possible to react quickly to the inevitable changes in operational pattern. Chaos as well as expense can arise if, when an emergency occurs, large numbers of a particular component have to be rushed off to be dealt with by a sub-contractor. What BEA engineers like doing least, though they are acknow- 'eged as the world's No 1 experts in the field, is the replacement of time-expired Viscount spars. The operation calls for the aeroplane to be completely filleted—to use the vivid shop-floor term. All early Viscount 700 series have limited spar life, the components concerned being the lower spar of the wing and that of the centre section, each having in fact a different life. First inner wing spar change is required after 6,000 landings, and the aircraft is then good for a further 10,000 landings. Some of BEA's V.700s have been re- •sparred twice. BEA have now filleted about 45 Viscounts, and r,-ckon to do the job in 60 working days, using regular maintenance s|aff, at about £60,000 less than if the work were sub-contracted. Il pays BEA to do this work themselves, even to the extent of hiring lw° examples of what BEA Engineering like doing best: spare-time restoration of veterans like this Nash collection Sopwith Camel; and the profitable disposal of impecably maintained and refurbished surplus aircraft 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 Years ended March 31 extra people and keeping them on in the summer. Even Vickers acknowledge BEA as the experts in Viscount filleting. The section of the BEA engineering base where the work is carried out has on occasion looked like the Viscount assembly line at Hum in its hey-day. It must certainly be the most fundamental airline engineering to be seen anywhere in the world, and it is a sight which explains why airlines these days demand aircraft structures with a 30,000hr guaranteed life. In the east hangar of BEA's engineering base is the visitor- stopping sight of a Clerget-engined Sopwith Camel. This aeroplane, part of the Nash collection, was lovingly restored by enthusiasts in BEA's engineering department working in their spare time. Its presence in the shop is a warming reminder that BEA Engineering, for all its calculated efficiency, still has a soul.
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