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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3782.PDF
TECHNICAL: AIR TRANSPORT Airbus A340 fuselage under assembly BY GILBERT SEDBON Assembly of the first fuselage sections of the Airbus In dustrie A340 four-engined long- haul airliner has begun at Aero spatiale's Clement Ader plant at Toulouse-Colomier in south west France. Fuselage sections for A340- 300 No 1, airlifted from Aero spatiale's Saint Nazaire plant by Airbus Super Guppy, arrived in Toulouse at the end of last month. The first load was the 21m-long forward fuselage — the nose section produced by Deutsche Airbus — and a 16m- long central wing section. They will be mated with the British Aerospace-built wing. In January, the rear fuselage portion (Deutsche Airbus, Ham burg), the horizontal stabiliser (CASA, Getafe) and the engine pylons (Aerospatiale, Toulouse) will arrive for final assembly at the plant. Assembly of the aircraft at workstation 35 will begin early in the new year, with the first flight planned for October/ November 1991. Production work on the A330/340 programme is inter national in scope. The forward A340 forward fuselage sections awaiting central wing sections at Aerospatiale's Clement Ader Plant section of the cockpit and the forward under-fuselage are built by Aerospatiale at its Meaulte and Nantes plants respectively. Canadair, in a contract worth C$1.2 billion ($1 billion) over 16 years and covering the man ufacture of components for 600 aircraft, builds the rear sealed frame, side parts and ventral beam in the central section. Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA) makes the floor support structure, the pressurisation bulkhead separat ing the passenger cabin from the main landing-gear compart ment and the central gear hatches. ASTA estimates the Airbus programme will amount to a 16-year workload with an estimated revenue of A$100 mil lion ($76 million). Australia's Hawker de Havilland also man ufacturers A330/340 parts in cluding the wingtip devices. The Canadian and Australian industrial concerns are risk- sharing partners whose co operation also covers the design and development of structural components. Finally, as part of recent in dustrial agreements with Jugo- CANADAIR FITS UP FIRST RJ Two General Electric CF34-3A1 flight-test engines have been mated on schedule to the first Canadair RJ production aircraft (7001), at the Canadair factory in Montreal. The RJ is due to begin ground testing in March with a first flight planned in April 1991. The 41.5hN- (9,220lb)-thrust CF34-3A1 is derived from the TF34 which powers the Lockheed S-3A and Fairchild A-10. slavia, Aerospatiale's subsidiar ies Sogerma and Socea have concluded an agreement with the Jugoslav Soko Aircraft In dustries for the manufacture of the upper fuselage panels in the central section of the Airbus A340. Forward upper structures are supplied by Silat which co operates with Korean Air. The Airbus A340 will come into commercial service at the end of 1992, followed one year later by the twin-engined A330. At the end of October, 217 firm orders had been placed by 23 companies in the new program mes (129 for the A330 and 88 for the A340). Although production is now geared to one aircraft a month, preparations are complete to step up the rate to four a month. When the new assembly tooling is received shortly, the targeted production rate of seven A330/A340s per month, planned for , 1994, will be achieved. D NEWS IN BRIEF TCAS II CLEARED Bendix/King's traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS II) has been certifi cated in Europe for the first time with clearances to fly on Iberia Boeing 747-200 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft. The Bendix/King TCAS II has now been certifi cated by seven airlines on nine different aircraft types. ' 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 December, 1990 - 1 January, 1991
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