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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 1589.PDF
HEADLINES Boeing 777-300 launch at Paris PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES BOEING IS TO launch the stretched 777-300 at the Paris air show later this month on the back of firm orders for around 30 aircraft from Asian and Middle Eastern airlines. Launch customers are expected to include All Nippon Airways (ANA), Cathay Pacific Airways, Egyptair, Korean Airlines (KAL) and Thai Airways International. Boeing declines to comment. United Airlines, launch cus tomer for the 777 and first opera tor of the -200 series, is also showing interest in the -300, but is not expected to be included in the initial orderbook. The main push for Boeing to launch the 777 stretch has come from Asia- Pacific carriers, in par ticular Cathay Pacific, Thai and the two largest Japanese carriers ANA and JAL. The aircraft is needed to replace 747-200/300s on high-density medium-range regional routes, such as from Hong Kong to Sydney and Melbourne. The higher-capacity stretch is also needed in Japan to replace early-build 747s used on domestic routes. The stretched 777 will be more than 10m longer than the current -200 series, making it some 3.5m longer overall than the 747. The stretch adds ten frames, or 5.3m to the length forward of the wing, and nine frames (4.8m) aft. It will seat up to 550 people in a high- density lay-out, or 420 in a tri- class configuration. The 777-stretch, now designat ed the -300X, is expected to offer the same seat-mile costs of the 747-400, but across typical 747- 200 sector lengths. ANA holds firm orders for 18 Pratt & Whitney PW4000-series -powered 777s and holds options on a further seven. The first of its "A"-market -200 aircraft is due to be delivered in October. The Japanese carrier is expect ed to convert at least the last seven options to the -300. JAL is not expected to wait long before it follows ANA and converts some of its "A"-market aircraft to the stretch. Cathay Pacific is expected to convert the remaining seven of its first 11 Rolls-Royce Trent 800- powered 777-200s to -300s. The first four -200s will be delivered by August 1996, and the first -300 in May 1998. Cathay also holds options on a further 11 aircraft. Korean Air Lines, which has publicly spurred the engine mak ers into providing a 422-436kN (95,000-98,0001b) powerplant for the stretch, is widely expected to order at least eight 777-300s. KAL now holds eight 777 orders and has options on a further eight. Thai Airways International has orders for eight -200s. Thai has now also agreed in principle to purchase six stretched aircraft and take options on a further two. • Left/above: Aircraft 111; the first to befitted with vectoring nozzles. Top; Su-27UBL with a single box nozzle Sukhoi reveals latest thrust-vectoring Su-35 DOUGLAS BARRIE/LONDON SUKHOI'S LATEST pre-pro duction Su-35 has been fitted with dirust-vectoring nozzles, and it is believed to be undertaking flight tests at the Zhukovsky flight- test research centre near Moscow. First pictures of the advanced Flanker derivative show two axisymmetric nozzles fitted to tlie aircraft. Senior Sukhoi designers have claimed that the Su-35 will enter service with thrust-vectoring control (TVC) as standard. While the round nozzle appears to be axisymmetric, the aircraft retains the full-tail sting of previ ous Su-35, making it likely that the TVC is only available in the pitch plane. Nozzle movement in the yaw plane would seriously risk damaging die tail sting. TVC is being pursued by Russia and the West as part of the quest for a super-manoeuvrable fighter aircraft. The USA has sev eral programmes under way such as the Pratt & Whitney pitch/yaw balanced-beam nozzle and the Multi-Axis Thrust-Vectoring (MATV) programme. Unlike the MATV, the Su-35 TVC nozzle appears to retain the usual actuators for a con vergent/divergent nozzle, coupled wim me actuators necessary for pitch movement. This probably means mat the TVC unit imposes a weight penalty. Earlier pictures of a TVC system shown on a test rig showed only slow nozzle movement There is a question as to whedier the TVC nozzles can move effec tively at the same speed as the Su- 35 tail plane. This is desirable for optimum super-manoeuvrability. Previously, Sukhoi had shown a boxlike nozzle fitted to a Su-27, dubbed the Su-27UBL. This air craft had been seen in 1990. Some Sukhoi officials say that this nozzle was intended to be used to explore reducing a supersonic commercial aircraft's sonic foot print, but others contradict this. The nozzle on this aircraft is unlikely, given its size, to be associat ed with me Su-35, and may have been intended for a larger aircraft. • 6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 June 1995
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