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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0170.PDF
HEADLINES Airbus gets ready for tough talks KEVIN O'TOOLE/LONDON THE AIRBUS Industrie part ners are preparing for a tough round of negotiations over the value and scale of assets which are to be pooled when die consortium becomes a fully fledged company, but little firm progress is expected until Aerospatiale has sealed its own merger with Dassault Aviation. A memorandum of understand ing, which was promised by die end of 1996, was finally signed on 13 January, pledging to turn the con sortium into a stand-alone com pany. In principle, it would incorporate the full range of design and development, production, procurement and customer ser vices functions now carried out by the existing four partners. No firm decision appears to have been taken, however, over exacdy which assets will eventually be pooled. A statement by the part ners says only that the issue of what is transferred to the new company will depend on "...how far die assets are essential for the described functions and dieir detailed valuation". High-level working parties are understood to be preparing to begin tackling die valuation issues, which is always the most problem atic in any merger, widi the aim of completing die study by die end of this year. Sources close to die talks admit diat any firm decisions are likely to have to stay on hold until after Aerospatiale has tied up its pend ing merger with Dassault Aviation, expected to be finalised in the first half of 1997. The two companies themselves are involved in highly sensitive negotiations over valua tion, which sources concede will have to be agreed first before Aerospatiale can throw itself into detailed discussions over Airbus restructuring. There are also continuing doubts over how much of its Air bus operation Aerospatiale is will ing to relinquish. Around 30% of die French group's workforce and closer to 40% of its sales come from Airbus — representing a transfer of up to some 11,000 jobs and $4 billion turnover if die whole operation were put into the new company. The assets are centred on the final assembly lines at Toulouse, as well as aerostructures plants at St Lazare and Nantes. German partner Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) has been the most public supporter of a full merger of Airbus work from design dirough to assembly, although it has not yet specified how much of its own assetswould be transferred. DASA Airbus employs a workforce of 13,000 at five plants i n Germany, with commercial-aircraft sales in die region of $2.5 billion. British Aerospace is openly talk ing about the possibility of con tributing the whole of its BAe Airbus operations, based on the wing design and assembly plant at Filton and the manufacturing operations at Chester. That would involve around 4,000 jobs, although the group says that another 2,500 people who are working elsewhere within die group on Airbus programmes would not be included. BAe does not disclose die value of its Airbus work, but it is estimated to be in the Si-1.5 billion range. The aim is for the new com pany's ownership to continue to reflect the existing shares held by die partners, with Aerospatiale and DASA both holding 37.9%, BAe taking 20% and CASA of Spain 4.2% of the shares. That will require compensation for com panies which contribute more than their share in assets, although details of how this may be achieved have vet to be laid down. • FAA demands total 737 rudder-retrofit programme RAMON LOPEZ/WASHINGTON DC GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES The US Federal Aviation Administration is to order airlines to retrofit four newly developed rudder-svstem compo nents in 2,800 Boeing 737s. US Vice President Al Gore revealed die move in a speech on commer cial aviation security and safety. The updated components will be incorporated in new-build 737- 300, -400 and -500 series from mid-1998 onward, says Boeing, as die components become available. Thev will be standard on die next NEWS IN BRIEF • ENGINE TIE-UP Pratt & Whitney Canada has signed a joint venture agree ment with China National South Aeroengine and Machinery Company on a partnership in small gas tur bine engines assembly. generation 737-600/700/800. The modifications must be com pleted within three years of die air worthiness directive (AD). The order is compulsory for US-regis tered aircraft, but Boeing expects most foreign operators to be required to comply because the FAA is die 737's lead certificating authority. Boeing says that world wide retrofitting will cost $126- $140 million, which it will share with its suppliers including rudder- power control unit (PCU)-maker Parker Bertea. Airlines, which will carry out the work during "overnight maintenance periods", will cover the labour costs. The changes were prompted by two unexplained 737 crashes: to the USAir 737-300 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 8 September, 1994, and to the United Air Lines 73 7-200 near Colorado Springs on 3 March 1991. In both cases, an uncommanded rudder hard-over is suspected, but not proven, to be a cause. Acting FAA administrator Linda Hall Daschle says: "We want to ensure that the rudder moves Rudder and yaw-damper limits Rudder Maximum rudder deflection at zero airspeed (available rudder deflection reduces as airspeed increases) Source: Boeing FUGHl only when the pilot wants it to." The changes include: • a rudder-limiter which reduces hydraulic pressure to actuators. This decreases rudder travel by about 3 3 % in the event ofa rudder hard-over; • a redesigned rudder power con trol unit (PCU) with a new servo valve similar to the one proposed by Boeing for the 737-700. This unit, which will undergo extensive testing to evaluate the effect of rud der-control system jamming, is designed to eliminate uncom manded rudder motion, including rudder reversals; • mechanical rate-gyros used in the yaw-damper system will be replaced by dual-configuration solid-state rate-gyros to reduce system faults; • redesigned fasteners on the con trol rod which links a torque tube to the main rudder PCU input arm to reduce the chance of mechanical failure. The AD will require that the yaw-damper and rudder-limiter work must be completed within three years. A two-year deadline has been set for the PCU and rudder-control- rod changes. Meanwhile, Boeing wants rud der-pedal force to be a flight-data- recorder parameter in all 737s. • 4 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 January 1997
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