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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0468.PDF
TECHNICAL: AIR TRANSPORT r India in Si Tu-204s f o India and the Soviet Union have signed a protocol to strengthen and expand civil and military co-operation between the two nations in the aviation industry. The deal is believed to in clude the purchase of Tupolev Tu-204s for Indian Airlines and the licensed assembly of Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters, al though officials decline to re veal details of the agreement. Indian officials say the Tu- 204s on offer are to be powered Riveting robots make debut on A340 fuselage Airbus has begun using its semi-automatic riveting sys tem on its A330/A340 produc tion line in Toulouse, France (Flight International, 20-26 Feb ruary). It is the first time such a process has been used in the final assembly of an airliner, says Airbus. Four robots are being used to join the front, centre and rear fuselage sections of the first Airbus A340, due to make its first flight in October. The robots, based on those used in car assembly and made by Game Ingenierie of France, each working in partnership with one worker, inside the fuselage. The machine drills a hole, injects sealant and then puts a rivet in place. The worker forrps the head on the rivet, before the machine moves on to drill the next hole. A total of 13,000 rivets is needed to join the three sections. Airbus is also using robots in the first stage of manufacture to mate the wings to the middle fuselage — an operation which requires 3,500 holes to be drilled to each wing. The bolted centre structure is then moved to the riveting centre in the next-door hall. The first A340 is due to remain in the "general assem bly" work station until March, by Rolls-Royce RB.211-535 en gines. The British company has already supplied a mock-up of the engine to Tupolev as the first step to full installation on the Tu-204. Rolls-Royce is unable to con firm, however, that Indian Air lines will be the first customer for the Western-powered ver sion of the Soviet aircraft nor mally powered by MKB PS-90A (Flight International, 20-26 Feb ruary) . The signing of the protocol Robot built A340 takes shape at new to be fitted with its fin, tailplane, undercarriage and en gine-support pylons. Once se ries production has been estab lished, at a rate of seven aircraft per month, each A330 and A340 will spend about three days in the work station. In March, the A340 will move to one of three "docks" in which engine installation and systems testing is finalised. Sen sors, cabling and recording equipment will be fitted in preparation for its flight-test role. First flight is due in the second half of October. • wiet deal follows the recent visit of an Aviaexport presentation team and a flight demonstration of the Tu-204 to Indian Airlines (Flight International, 30 January- 5 February). The agreement also includes the purchase of Soviet ground equipment to support the Tu-204s. The Soviet Union has also informed Indian aerospace com pany Hindustan Aeronautics that it is willing to let the company produce spare parts for export Tu-204s. • Airbus factory NEWS IN BRIEF LUNDY GRAPHICS Lundy Computer Graphics is offering its newly developed LDS-2 colour graphics con troller to Eurocontrol and French, German and Belgian aviation authorities as an up grade for their air traffic con trol (ATC) systems. The company displayed the sys tem at last week's ATC '91 exhibition in Maastricht, Hol land, and has already demon strated it in Britain. Qantas awarded satcom approval by Inmarsat Inmarsat has given Australian airline Qantas the first-ever access approval for air-to- ground satellite data communi cation using satellite communi cations (satcom) equipment fit ted to its Boeing 747-400 fleet. The approval followed de tailed airframe/avionics integra tion and testing by the airline, Boeing, Rockwell Collins (which developed the satcom avionics), as well as Canadian Marconi and Ball Aerospace, which developed the dual an tennas. Successful flight tests were carried out on a revenue flight from Melbourne to Singapore. Satcoms and overall support was provided by OTC and SITA, two members of the AIRCOM consortium selected by Qantas as a satcom supplier. Live tests were conducted through Inmar sat satellites in the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, using two Earth stations in Perth, au thorised by Inmarsat for provi sion of Data-1 satcom services. The antenna system com prises a Ball low-gain antenna positioned above the upper deck, and a Canadian Marconi Mascott 2000 high-gain antenna on the mid-upper fuselage. The test aircraft is fitted with low-speed data avionics and the system will be used to test global automatic position re porting in a co-operative ven ture between the Australian Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration and the Japanese Civil Aviation Board. The Automatic Dependent Surveillance System (ADS) will be tested aboard Quantas, Uni ted, Northwest, JAL and ANA aircraft. It will report con tinuously flight number, regis tration, latitude and longitude, wind, outside air temperature, altitude, vertical speed and air speed through the Airborne Condition and Reporting Sys tem. ADS will form part of the International Civil Aviation Or ganisation future air navigation systems programme. • 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 February - 5 March, 1991
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