FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1984
1984 - 0476.PDF
AIRBUS UPDATE Assembling the aeroplane Airbus Industrie expects to produce 30 A320s in 1988, the first year of production, according to senior vp, indus trial, Hartmut Mehdorn. This implies assembling some production standard A320s during the flight-testing and certification phase, but Airbus is confident of a successful outcome. The A320s will come together next door to the current A3O0/A310 assembly line, in a hangar that once housed Concorde production. An A320 represents about 40 per cent of the manu facturing effort that goes into each A310, according to Mehdorn. The responsi bilities of the partners are broadlv the same as they were on the A300 and A310, but there have been some changes. Aerospatiale is responsible for the whole of the front fuselage, the lower section of the centre fuselage, pylons, nacelles, powerplant integration, and final assem bly of the whole aircraft. Deutsche Airbus (MBB- Erno) takes on the rear fuselage, the upper centre- fuselage, and fin, and flaps, having relinquished part of the forward fuselage to Aero spatiale. "British Aerospace has 100 per cent responsibility to bring a flyable wing down to Toulouse", adds Mehdorn, a change from its "wing box only" role on A300 and A310. BAe Chester will assemble the load-carrying wing box of each A320 wing, which will then be flown to Filton to receive slats, flaps, spoilers, airelons, and systems — today's A300 and A310 wings receive this fitting out at MBB-Erno in Bremen. The result will be a "ready to fly" wing, that will travel to Toulouse in Super Guppy comfort. Casa carries forward its tailplane role into the A320. This represents a significant advance for the Spanish company, however, since the A320's tailplane will be made from carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). Mehdorn explains that "the partners have agreed to transfer tech nology to Casa, if it is necessary". Casa's share also includes some rear-fuselage panels. Slats remain the task of Belairbus, which is an associ ated partner of the Airbus Industrie consortium. At the moment only one engine is offered to customers — the CFM56-4 supplied by CFM International — but this will change when the Inter national Aero Engines V.2500 enters the picture. A total of 80 CFM56-4s have already been ordered. Airbus Industrie expects to reach a business agreement with International Aero Engines by the middle of this year. This would allow the A320 to have V.2500 engines around mid-1989. A320 work-sharing between the partners leaves Aero spatiale with 36 per cent, MBB-Erno with 31 per cent, BAe with 27 per cent, and Casa with 6 per cent — give or take the odd per cent. Mehdorn emphasises that these are the proportions in which each partner will invest in A320 development cost. PERFORMANCE Typical passenger load A300B4-200 251 (First class & economy) (26*225) Range with these passengers (n m.) Maximum take off weight (tonnes) (Optional higher weight DIMENSIONS Overall length Fuselage diameter Wingspan Wing area (ft-') Aspect ratio Sweep idegrees) POWERPLANT Engine Maximum thrust/ engine (lb) SCHEDULE Go-ahead First flight Certification First airline delivery TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES 2.900 165 — 175ft 11 m 18ft 6m 147ft 1m 2,800 7 7 28 THE AIRBUS FAMILY A310-200 220 (20 + 200) 3.800 132 (142) 153ft 1in 18ft 6m 144f1 2,360 8 8 28 TwoCF6-50C2(C) _ OR Two JT9D-59A 52.500 (50,000) May 1969* October 1972* March 1974+. May 1974$ Baseline (A3, C3I OR Two JT9D-7R4D1 (El. E3) 48,000 (50,000) July 1978 April 1982 March 1983 March 1983 CRTs FBW slats, flaps, and spoilers A310-300 220 (20+200) 4,600 150 (153) 153ft 1 in 18ft6in 144ft 2,360 8 8 28 TwoCF6-80A1 (A3, C3) OR Two JT9D 7R4D1 IE1, E3I 48,000 (50,000) Early 1982 Mid 1985 November 1985 November 1985 Trim by fuel- transfer to tailplane tank CFRP fin F8W slats, flaps, and spoilers Carbon brakes A300-600 267 (26+241) 3,500 165 — 177ft 5in 18ft 6in 147ft 1in 2,800 7 7 28 Two CF6-80C2 OR A320 150 (12 + 138) 1,750 66 — 123ft 3in 13ff 111ft3in 1.320 9 4 25 Two CFM56-4 OR Two JT9D-7R4G Two V 2500 — — 1980 July 1983 March 1984 March 1984 CRTs FBW slats, flaps and spoilers 23,500 — March 1984 March 1987 February 1988 April 1988 FBW primary controls Sidestick CFRP fin. tailplane Integrated avionics (including CRTs) Carbon brakes Note: The A300 column provides B4-200 performance data, and dates ($) for the original A300B2 The asterisk means upper diameter in the A320 s double-bubble fuselage. 7,38 The revenue from A320 sales will be distributed according to the financial share of each partner in Airbus Industrie. That is to say 37.6 per cent each to Aerospatiale and MBB-Erno, 20 per cent to BAe, and 4.8 per cent to Casa. Mehdorn reckons that the "cleaned up" work share will make final assembly more efficient, and that it will require less Super Guppy flight hours to carry each set of A320 elements to Toulouse - around 21 flight hours compared with 34 flight hours for today's A310. Flight hours will fall still further to around 16 when production is established, because a Super Guppy can accommodate more A320 parts than A300 or A310 elements - two equipped wings, for example, or four fins. No extra capital investment is envisaged for the A320, because the machines and buildings used in A300 and A310 manufacture are more than adequate (capital in vested in these is some $500 million). Money will be spent on A320 jigs and tools, but this is considered part of the development cost. Airbus plans to use four aeroplanes for A320 flight testing, and there will be two airframes dedicated to ground-based testing. With carbon fibre- reinforced plastic (CFRP) winning widespread accept ance in airframes, it would be surprising if the A320 did not make more use of the material. In fact the A310-300 will be the first airliner to have CFRP primary structure as standard fit, thanks to its fin box. A320 goes a step further in having a CFRP tail- plane as well as a CFRP fin, plus traditional secondary structures such as control- surfaces, fairings, and nacelles. A320 will be some 850kg lighter thanks to the use of composite components, each of which saves 20-25 per cent over aluminium alloys. Aluminium-lithium alloys are also being incorporated in A320, but in a limited way. They promise a weight saving of around 10 per cent over traditional aluminium-copper and aluminium-zinc alloys, and will mean a weight saving of around 500kg on A320. Typical uses of the new mate rial include floor-beams, the cargo hold, and undercarriage support beams. FLIGHT International, 24 March 1984 •i
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
