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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 3135.PDF
INDUSTRY China builds presence on 757 CHINA'S AEROSPACE in dustry is further expanding its share of production of major sub assemblies for Boeing aircraft. Chengdu Aircraft (CAC) is prepar ing to begin manufacturing 757 empennages from early-1997. The company is close to com pleting a new production site at its Chengdu plant, at which it will build the 757's tail. Under its sub contract with Northrop Grumman it is to begin tooling and fabrication work in 1997, and deliver the first shipsetinl998. CAC will initially concentrate on producing the 757's vertical stabilis er, followed later by the horizontal stabiliser. Its work package will eventually be expanded to include the twinjet's fuselage section48. Itis not known how many assemblies CAC has been contracted to supply, but sources suggest that the deal could cover 1,000 shipsets. The company has already estab lished itself as a major subcontrac tor, supplying nose sections for the McDonnell Douglas MD-80/90. Its contract with Northrop Grum man represents a significant expan sion of 757 work in China, which until now has been limited to Shenyang Aircraft (SAC) supply ing the twinjet's cargo doors. SAC, together with Xian Air craft (XAC) and Shanghai Aviation Industrial, have also been contract ed by Boeing to supply tail sub assemblies for the next-generation Boeing 737-600/700/800. XAC is due to begin delivering vertical sta bilisers in early 1998. A year later, S AIC will begin supplying the new 737's horizontal stabiliser to Seattle and, with SAC, will begin building the new aircraft's aft-fuselage sec tion 48. • Fokker wins N-250 fatigue-testing contract from IPTN FOKKER CONTROL Sys tems has been selected by IPTN to supply a rig for fatigue testing of the N-250 commuter aircraft. Indonesia's state-owned test laboratory, LUK, will be re sponsible for integrating the equip ment and carrying out the tests. LUK will perform an accelerat ed-flight-cycle programme on an N-250 test airframe, split into for ward and aft sections. According to Aart Hemmink, general manager of Fokker Control Systems, each flight-cycle can be performed in "approximately 2min". The rig will be controlled by hydraulic jacks, and include a pres- surisatJon system and an electronic control and data acquisition unit, adds Hemmink. Amsterdam-based Control Systems, a division of Fokker Space, will begin deliveries duringthefirstquarterofl997. • Coltec to supply CTP800FADEC LIGHT HELICOPTER Tur bine Engine (LHTEC) has selected Coltec Aerospace to sup ply its Model EMC35E full- authority digital-engine-control (FADEC) for the CTP800 turbo prop engine. The EMC35E was designed, and will be manufac tured, by Coltec's West Hartford, Connecticut-based Chandler Evans Control Systems division. The CTP800 is a derivative of LHTEC'sT800 turboshaft engine, and has been earmarked for re- engineing the US Army's fleet of Bombardier deHavillandDash7s. "This is our first FADEC for a turboprop," says Paul Glover, vice president marketing and pro grammes at Chandler Evans. "We expect the advanced aspects of the CTP800 engine and our fuel con trol system will enable us to make significant inroads in the market for turboprop engines." • Coltec Aerospace has been con tracted to supply the first 12 pro duction shipsets of main landing gear systems for the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E/F fighter. • Cathay takes 'shark-skin' A340 CATHAY PACIFIC HAS TAKEN delivery of an Airbus A340- 300 with 30% ofits skin covered with so-called "shark-skin foils" or riblets. The in-service test follows experiments carried out by Airbus, in conjunction with US manufacturer 3M, using an A320 partially covered with the drag-reducing plastic film. "Per formance results have been as expected, but in any trial you dis cover problems, and die shark-skin foils of diat time began to turn yellow and were difficult to remove," says Klaus Schneider, Airbus deputy department manager, structures. The A340 will be used to test the latest film, developed for improved durability. Lufthansa has shelved plans to participate because of the seven days needed to apply die film to one ofits A3 40s. "It will not return so much money for die risk we will take," says Dr Jiirgen Thorbeck, senior project manager, aircraft evaluation and concepts. NEWS IN BRIEF • SAS CHOOSES BFG BFGoodrich will supply wheels and brakes for 41 Boeing 737-600s which SAS has on firm order, and for 35 on option. Delivery of kits is scheduled to begin in mid- 1998. SAS will receive its first 737-600 in August 1998. • UNITED TAKES BEA United Airlines has ordered BE Aerospace's (BEA) B/E 2000M individual-passen ger entertainment system for its Boeing 747-400, 777 and 767-300 fleets. The ini tial $60 million deal covers the supply of video systems for installation on 54 air craft, with deliveries to the airline due to begin in February 1997. US Army Apaches to get colour displays MOST OF the US Army's fleet of McDonnell Douglas (MDC) AH-64D Longbow Ap ache helicopters are to be retrofit ted with AlliedSignal full-colour, flat-panel, multi-purpose displays (MPDs), replacing the existing monochrome units. The deal could eventually cover up to 1,000 aircraft, if the Army pushes ahead with plans to upgrade 758 AH-64As to the Longbow Apache standard, requiring over 4,000 MPDs. The colour displays will also be fitted as standard to the 97 AH-64Ds ordered by the UK and Dutch armed forces. The colour MPDs are designed to reduce crew workload by colour-coding critical flight infor mation. They also weigh signifi cantly less than the monochrome units which they will replace. The AlliedSignal MPD uses an Optical Imaging Systems active-matrix Hquid-crystal-display and a Korry Electronics-designed backlight. An initial batch of preproduc- tion MPDs will be delivered to MDC in December for flight test ing, v$uch is due to start early in 1997. Installation of production units is scheduled to begin in March 1998. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 November - 3 December 1996 27
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