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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 0099.PDF
Power for the A340 SIR—Your editorial "Power Struggle" Flight, November 7), and the follow-up letter by Roger Young in the December 5 issue, ask whether the Pratt 6 Whitney PW2037 and Rolls-Royce RB.211-535E4 would be suitable engines for the Airbus A340. The short answer is no, they would not, as a re-evaluation by Airbus Industrie has again recently shown. These analyses have revealed, and continue to reveal, unacceptable weight, drag, and fuel-burn penalties with the significantly heavier, larger, and thirstier PW2037 and RB.211-535E4, good though they are in their class. The CFM International CFM56-5 series provides the performance required to power our all-new four- engined very-long-range widebody. In fact the CFM56-5 consistently emerges as the best engine for the A340 programme, having both the thrust for today's versions and the growth potential for future versions. This engine also has the advantage of commonality with those of the Airbus A320, thereby offering a major saving in spares and training for airlines that operate both A340s and A320s, plus the added benefit of lower mainte nance costs. Readers should also know that, when the Airbus A340 and A330 enter service in the early 1990s, they will have the most advanced and efficient wing—in terms of key yard sticks of aerodynamic effi ciency such as aspect ratio and lift:drag ratio—of any airliner in the world. For the technically minded, the A340/A330 wing has an aspect ratio of 9 • 30, compared with only 7-38 for the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and 6-96 for the Boeing 747. As a result, the all-new A340/A330 wing has a lift: drag ratio that is some 14 per cent better than that of the MD-11 and Boeing 747 during cruise, and about 30 per cent better during take-off and landing. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 16 January 1988 These aerodynamic advan ces mean that the A340 and A330 will go about their business without the higher, and hence more costly, thrust:weight ratios deman ded by competing three- and four-engined widebodies, the less efficient wings of which were designed some 20 years ago. Incidentally, we can only interpret the interest of Rolls- Royce and Pratt & Whitney as further confirmation that the A340 is a worthwhile programme, a line of reason ing that Flight itself supports by advocating similar argu ments. For those who still seem to doubt the success and future potential of the A340, the following figures speak for themselves. When McDonnell Douglas launched the MD-11 at the end' of 1986, Flight reported 92 orders and options, while press reports during December cite 93 orders and options. When Airbus Industrie launched the A340/A330 as a combined programme in June 1987, it had 130 orders and options (58 + 31 for the A340 and 12 + 29 for the A330), while today there are 144 orders and options (68 + 35 for the A340 and 12 + 29 for the A330). For the record, the highly success ful Boeing 747 managed only 53 orders from six customers at the corresponding stage six months after launch. Finally, no one need be surprised in the future by a twin-engined aircraft taking off after the failure of one of its 70,0001b-thrust engines. The largest twin-engined aircraft in the world, the Airbus A300-600, is already in airline service with the ability to complete a safe take-off after the failure of one of its 60,2001b-thrust General Electric CF6-80C2 engines. Augmenting the thrust in future to 70,0001b—for what ever aircraft—represents a very reasonable increase of only about 15 per cent. DAVID VELUPILLAI Press relations manager Airbus Industrie F31707 Blagnac-Cedex France Winding up the Gannet Dear Uncle Roger—Reference picture E in your picture quiz in Flight's December 19 issue—yes, of course it is a Gannet, but you could have run a small competition asking people what is going on. The Gannet was from 820 Squadron at RNAS Eglinton, and if the picture belongs to Flight International [it does—Ed], then it was proba bly taken when one of your staff photographers came up to take some air-to-air shots of the Squadron. Well, what is going on? Our Squadron Engineer Officer was trying out a scheme he had devised to start one of the Mamba engines if the aircraft was stranded somewhere where no starter cartridges were available. He designed a flat sort of hook which was fitted round the foot of one of the propeller blades, and attached to this was a long length of rope. The rope was wound round and round the LETTERS spinner, and lots of jolly jacks held the loose end. At a given signal they would run off at high speed, turning the propeller and thus the compressor. When the com pressor reached the appropri ate r.p.m. the pilot would initiate the relight procedure, and away the engine went. That was the theory, but alas, it never worked! You could in fact start a Mamba by positioning one Gannet directly in front of another and then, when the front aircraft went up to full chat on both engines, you could wind mill the props on the rear one fast enough to get a light. I know, I had to do it once at Valkenburg. PETER LYNN 17 New College Road Shrewsbury Shropshire SY2 6PU WHAT'S ON January 19-29 University of Southern California ten-day course; "Aviation Safety Programme Management". Contact USC, Institute of Safety and Systems Management, Professional Programmes, 3500 South Figueroa Street. Suite 202, Los Angeles, CA. 90007: Tel (213) 743-6523. January 21-22 Institute for Inter national Research two-day forum; "Successful Strategies and Advanced Techniques in Aircraft Finance", The Westin Stamford & Westin Plaza, Sing apore. IIR Pte Ltd, Suite 08-03 Golden Wall Centre, 89 Short Street, Singapore 0718; tel Singapore 338-3521. January 26 RAeS one-day workshop, "Aircraft Mechanical Design"; 4 Ham ilton Place, London W1V 0BQ; tel 01-499 3515. January 26 RAeS Historical Group; "The History of Stability and Control", Darrol Stinton. 7.00 p.m., 4 Hamilton Place, London W1V 0BQ; tel: 01-499 3515. January 26-28 RAeS Aero-Marine Group, three-day international confer ence: "Technology Common to Aero and Marine Engineering". Tara Hotel, London. Tel: 01-499 3515. Ratings burn off surplus energy in a futile attempt to start a Gannet—see letter above 45
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