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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0423.PDF
HEADLINES R-R and airlines wrangle over cost of -524G/H problems ANDREW DOYLE/LONDON ROLLS-ROYCE IS facing demands that it bear the brunt of the mas sive costs airlines are incur ring because of reliability and performance shortfalls of their RB.211-524G/H engines. The problems, which affect more than 100 RB.211 -powered Boeing 747-400s and 767-300s, are esti mated already to have cost the air lines more than S200 million in additional maintenance and opera tional expenses. The demands come as R-R is in discussions with carriers such as Cathay Pacific over retrofitting their -524G/Hs with the core, or 04 module, of the Trent 700, to form a "hybrid" known as the -524GT. The modification is expected to cost $2.5 million per engine, although the net cost to the airlines is closer to $1.75 million, because they avoid paying for an overhaul of the core which is removed. The hybrid is expected to be test-cell certificated in April, afterwhich flighttestingwill begin. One airline source says that die price to the customers of the mod ifications will reflect die losses that ••W^Wil:Mi|ff Operator Air New Zealand British Airways British Airways British Airways Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Qantas South African Air Yunnan Airlines MIWA Aircraft 747400 747-400 747-400 767-300ER 747-400 747-400F 747-400 747-400 767-300ER ''-• No 3 6 26 24 19 2 18 4 2 •-524G rated at 258kN, -524H rated at 270kN Engines* 4xRB.211-524G3 4xRB.211-524G 4xRB.211-524H2 2XRB.211-524H3 4xRB.211-524H2 4xRB.211-524H2 4xRB.211-524G 4xRB.211-524H2 2xRB.211-524H2 Source: Airclaims they have incurred in performance shortfalls and extra maintenance costs. The airlines are taking differ ent approaches on who pays for what, but at least one carrier may press for direct compensation. High-pressure (HP) turbine- blade failures in existing-524G/l Is have resulted in engines being removed for overhaul after 1,400 cycles rather than the 2,000-plus cycles of competing engines, while inadequate exhaust-gas tempera ture (EGT) margins mean that maximum thrust is not available at "hot-and-high" airfields. Fuel con sumption is also higher than expected. R-R began offering"2C" single-crystal HP turbine blades in 1994, to replace earlier "2 B" blades in an attempt to eliminate the problems — although these have also experienced shroud failures. Cathay Pacific and South African Airways (SAA) are understood to be closest to signing deals with R-R for the hybrid retrofit. "SAA believes that the replace ment of the 04 module will solve the 2B [blade] fail ures and 2C shroud fail ures," says Dieter Kleinen, senior manager, aircraft, at SAA.There is also "...a potential to increase the KGT margin and improve fuel con sumption", he adds. "SAA is still in discussion with R-R regarding the cost of the package and has not yet reached a final agreement," he says. British Airways, meanwhile, is understood to have told R-R that the hybrid option is too expensive, and is in talks over fitting 2 C blades instead. The airline is havingto per form 60% more engine changes than expected on its fleet. BA's bar gaining position over the cost of the solution is strengthened by the fact that it must select an engine for 14 747-400s on order soon. R-R says that it has "...worked with customers to address some in- service incidents. We have agreed programmes covering technical and commercial matters, but it is not our policy to discuss these." G Ministry places launch order for Beriev Be-200 R USSIA'S MINISTRY of Emergency Situations has placed an order with the Beta-Air consortium for seven Beriev Be- 200 jet amphibians.The aircraft will be built at the APK Sukhoi Irkutsk plant. Along with Irkutsk and Beriev, the Beta-Air consor tium also includes Swiss financier ILTA Trade. The order is a further success for the Irkutsk factory, which recently saw plant manager Alexei Fedorov appointed as general director of APK Sukhoi in preference to Mikhail Simonov, Sukhoi's general designer. He was made chief exec utive of the new concern by a decree signed by Prime Minister Further Be-200s will soon be rolling down the production line at Irkutsk Victor Chernomyrdin on 30 December, 1996. Federov played a key role in securing die sale of more than 40 Su-30MKIs to India. The aircraft is being built at Irkutsk. APK Sukhoi brings together the Sukhoi design bureau and the Irkutsk, Komsomolsk and Novo sibirsk production plants. There has also been speculation that Beriev could join. Deliveries of the Be-200 are due to begin in 1998. The first aircraft will be in a firefighting configura tion, with search-and-rescue vari ants to follow. • MDHS'MD600N troubles increase MCDONNELL DOUGLAS Helicopter Systems (MDHS) is meeting with the US Federal Aviation Administration to discuss design and certification options following another crash of an MD 600N on 18 January during the flight-test programme. The eight place helicopter should have received FAA certifi cation by mid-December 1996, despite earlier delays to the pro gramme caused by the crash of die second prototype in May last year and subsequent modifications. Two further crashes, the first in November and the latest this month, now threaten to delay cer tification and handover for several months, however. MDHS declines to give details of the incidents, or of any possible design changes, until its meeting with the FAA have been complet ed. The company confirms that no new target date for certification has been agreed. The two latest inci dents appear to have been virtually identical, as both occurred at the end of an autorotative descent at the high- altitude Flagstaff Airport in Arizona. No injuries to the crew were sus tained in either event, though the helicopter in the January crash (RN02), was "pretty banged up" when it toppled on its side. The tests were being made as part of die final high-velocity curve evalua tion of the flight characteristics. MDHS introduced changes to the helicopter to increase main rotor blade to tailboom clearance following the May 28, 1996, acci dent. This occurred when the main rotor struck and partially severed the tailboom as the pilot performed control reversals in the longitudi nal axis at maximum speed and minimum rotor RPM. • NEWS IN BRIEF • A3XX TEAM GROWS Belairbus of Belgium and Fokker Aviation of the Neth erlands have signed memo randa of understanding with Airbus to join the study phase of the A3 XX project. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 January - 4 February 1997
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