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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0058.PDF
HEADLINES AD could ground 727 freighter conversions GRAHAM WARWICK/ATLANTA US CARGO CARRIERS are bracing for a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness dir ective (AD) which could severely restrict die payload of Boeing 727 freighter conversions. The AD had been anticipated in late December 1996, but the FAA says that it now plans to begin discussions with air craft modifiers and operators in late January. The AD would affect the major ity of more than around 200 727s which have been converted from passenger to freighter aircraft by third-party modification compa nies, rather than by the original manufacturer, and is the result of recent FAA inspections which ".. .have revealed possible discrep ancies in the designs and installa tion practices used in some of these conversions", says the agency. ADs affecting other third-party conver sions are expected to follow. "It's a matter of when, not if [the AD is issued]," says an industry source, who adds that the modifi cations required are expected to be "expensive". While the directive could reduce the payload of con verted 727 freighters from around 30,000kg to as little as 9,000kg, making them uneconomic to oper ate, the FAA is not expected to issue an emergency AD requiring im mediate compliance. Instead, it is likely to give operators time, possi bly six months or to the next sched uled C-check, to incorporate the modifications. To remove the payload restric tions, holders of the supplemental type-certificate for each 727 con version will have to recalculate the loads used during design and gain FAA approval for structural modi fications to be incorporated by operators. The review was promp ted by structural problems experi enced with GATX Airlog's third- party 747 cargo conversion, al though there have been no known incidents involving 727 freighters. GATX-modified 747-100 freigh ters effectively have been grounded by FAA payload restrictions. Behind the directive is the issue FAA review could bring 727freighters down to earth of substantiation of the loads assumed during design of the con version. Third-party modifiers did not have access to Boeing's original data and the FAA believes that the loads used during design may have been wrong and that converted air craft, therefore, may not meet 9G crash-survival requirements. Areas affected are seat tracks, floor beams, shear panels (which transfer cargo loads to the fuselage barrel) and the cargo-retaining system, whether it is a bulkhead or a net. Q Piper certificates secret new twin NEW PIPER AIRCRAFT will unveil on 16 January its first substantially new design since emerging from bankruptcy in 1994, when it takes the wraps off its Seneca V piston twin. The latest Seneca has new engines and avion ics, improved performance and a modified appearance, and is described by Piper as an "almost new" design. The aircraft was certificated in December after flight-testing was conducted in secrecy at Piper's Vero Beach, Florida, plant. Only the company's distributors were allowed to view the aircraft, with the result that the planned 1997 production of 35 Seneca Vs has already been sold out. The Seneca Vis a key element in Piper's plan to sell 210 aircraft and generate $100 million in sales in 1997, up from 186 aircraft and $84 millionin 1995 and 165 aircraft and $70 million in 1994. The company built 17 Seneca IVs in 1996. Piper plans to unveil a turbocharged ver sion of one of its existing designs later this year. • Blanc attacks French Government JULIAN MOXON/PARIS THE PRESIDENT of Air France, Christian Blanc, has launched an unprecedented attack on the French Government for its "counter-productive and defen sive" attitude to air-transport liber alisation. In an interview with the Paris- based political club "Fondation Saint-Simon", Blanc accuses the Government of pursuing a "totally catastrophic" air-transport policy over the last 15 years. He accused the Governmnet of "interfering in everything.seeking compromises everywhere and having absolutely no strategy". Outlining what he calls the "rev olution" of the French flag carrier in the three years since he took over as president, Blanc complains about the Government's failure to ensure co-operation between the state-owned Aeroports de Paris and Air France. The lack of a com mon development policy is "to the profit of foreign competitors", he says, adding that he "admires" the "collective intelligence" applied by Blanc: unprecedented attack UK aviation bodies to support the UK air-transport industry. Blanc outlined a plan to reduce unit costs by a further 15 % over the next three years on top of the 20% already achieved since he took over. The new cuts will bring it on a costs par with its European rivals. He adds that Air France ".. .would be a part" of the expected 18% growth in traffic during the same period, and would develop "faster than the industry" on long- and medium-range routes, to com pensate for the loss of business on short-range routes as a result of increased competition. • Passenger traffic continues growth WORLD SCHEDULED passenger traffic continued to grow by 7% in 1996 and is expected to stay buoyant this year, according to preliminary estimates by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Traffic growth, measured in terms of revenue-passenger kilo metres (RPKs), was again led by a 9% rise on international services, where load factors climbed back towards record levels of 69%. Overall world load factors also edged up to 68%, where they have not been since the boom of the late 1980s. This came through a com bination of the strong passenger- demand and an easing in the growth of seat capacity, which rose by an estimated 5% in 1996. ICAO estimates that world pas senger numbers grew slightly more slowly than RPKs, rising by 4%, to 1.35 billion. Growth in freight ton nages slowed even more markedly. Following an 8% growth in 1995, growth in freight tonnages was 4% during 1996, taking the total to 22 million tonnes worldwide. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January 1997
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