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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 2012.PDF
m TRANSPORT Air Canada and Finnair targeted for BR715 BY GUY NORMS IN LOS ANGELES Air Canada and Finnair have emerged as the leading candidates to provide a launch order for the proposed BMW Rolls-Royce BR715 turbofan. The Anglo/German company is "poised" to launch the BR715 and has offered the en gine to the two airlines to power modernised DC-9s which they are studying in association with airframe manu facturer, McDonnell Douglas. Boeing has under-run its cost target for the first 777 tail empennage at its newly built composite manufacturing centre at Frederickson, south of Seattle, Washington. Boeing 777 empennage manu facturing manager Tom Hall admits "surprise" at the result, which is the company's first application of composites to primary structure on any of its commercial programmes. Hall warns that, despite the early success of the manufacturing site, the company is aiming for long-term cost savings. "Our goal is to be able to produce the structure at equal, or less than, the cost of alumin ium, but raw-material costs are still quite high and the jury is still out," he says. Hall says that Boeing will have a better idea about the real savings "by the end of the year, after three or four units". Boeing's savings could im prove even further, with planned flow-time reductions for the unit. These call for production time to fall from 123 days earlier this year, when the site opened, to 72 days by 1994, 57 by 1995, 38 in 1997. "It takes 80 days of flow time for skins normally, but we will be flowing through at 13 days," says Hall. Stringers will take 16 days, against 60 using normal metal methods, spars will take 13 days against 75 normally and ribs should be manufac- "We're ready to go with the 715 and looking for a basis to launch it on. The DC-9 is very active now," confirms BMW Rolls-Royce business director, David Evans, adding that the main driver is Air Canada, with a requirement to re-engine or hushkit 35 DC-9s. Finnair, which is close be hind, has 17 candidate DC-9s. Potentially, around 500 suita ble aircraft are available for re-engineing or hushkitting. The BR715 faces considera ble competition for the re- tured in 11 days, rather than the 55 which it takes now. The long-lead items for the seventh shipset are now in the 777: composite benefits Flow time (days) Normal Skins 80 Stringers 6 Spars 75 Ribs 5 Parts Empennage 4,400 Weight saving (kg)* Structure Horizontal stabiliser Vertical fin * 450kg = extra 75km range Composite 13 16 13 11 3,623 730 590 160 factory, which began its first assembly in April 1993. The first horizontal stabiliser is due to be delivered to the 777 final assembly site in Everett in Oc tober, followed a month later by the first vertical fin. engineing from Pratt & Whitney, with an updated ver sion of the JT8D-200, as well as Rolls-Royce itself with the as- yet unlaunched Tay 670. Further in the future, com petition is also promised from the General Electric, P&W, Snecma and MTU consortium which emerged from the Paris air show, and which is propos ing a new, mid-sized engine in the same thrust category. "We want to be sure that, if we launch the BR715, we do not jeopardise the BR710," says The extensive use of com posites in the tail reduces weight and parts count. The 777 empennage will have 3,623 parts, compared with 4,400 for the equivalent aluminium structure. More than 750kg of weight saving is expected from the composite structure, 590kg will be shaved from the hori zontal stabiliser and 160kg from the vertical fin. A weight saving of 450kg will equal an extra 75km (40nm) of range. Other major components of the first 777 are also being assembled at Boeing's Everett plant in readiness for the scheduled roll-out in the sec ond quarter of next year. The first major fuselage- barrel section has been built and the 27.4m left wing is now being completed. D Evans, who explains that the 65kN (15,0001b)-thrust BR710 could power the DC-9-30 se ries — a significant proportion of the twinjets being consid ered for upgrade. The core of the BR710, launched in March 1991 with orders for 100 shipsets from Gulfstream for the GV, fol lowed by an order from Cana- dair for the Global Express, is due for its first run at Rolls- Royce Bristol by the end of the month. The engine will be flown for the first time in 1995 and certificated in August 1996. Evans says: "We are sure we could do a 48-month pro gramme on the 715," which would utilise the same core as the 710. If launched early in 1994, the engine could have its first run in 1996 and enter service in early 1998. "The timescale we are talking about is keeping Air Canada and Fin nair interested," adds Evans. BMW Rolls-Royce is also in talks with other engine compa nies about possible risk- sharing, or other types of partnerships, on the 715. "We are certainly having discussions with people all over the place, but none that we are ready to name as yet," Evans says. Earlier this year, the com pany was identified as having talks involving Taiwan as a possible risk-sharing partner. Other than for the moderni sed DCr9 programme, which has been dubbed the DC-9X by McDonnell Douglas, the BR715 has also been projected for possible use on the British Aerospace/Taiwanese Aero space Avro RJX, the McDonnell Douglas MD-95, the Tupolev Tu-334 and the Euroflag trans port aircraft. • NEWS IN BRIEF PW4000 FOR ETOPS Pratt & Whitney has re ceived US Federal Aviation Administration 180min ex tended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) clear ance for the PW4000 engine on Boeing 767s. Composites cut costs on Boeing 777 Boeing completes 777 fuselage section en route to 1994 roll-out FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18 - 24 August, 1993 11
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