FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0426.PDF
NEWS IN BRIEF • US REGIONAL GROWTH The US regional-airline in dustry grew moderately in the third quarter of 1996, with revenue-passenger kilo metres increasing by nearly 6%, to $6.88 billion, while the average load factor was 54%, up by 3.4% over the same time in 1995. For the period, the American Eagle Simmons Airlines ranked as the largest regional in terms of passenger embarkations, carrying 1.56 million passen gers, with Comair second, carrying 1.19 million people. • CONTINENTAL TO EUROPE Continental Airlines plans to expand its transatlantic ser vices later this year, with the introduction of a New York (Newark International) to Birmingham, UK, service on 1 July. The US carrier will use Boeing 757s on the route. • MONARCH LEASES A321 Monarch Airlines has signed a lease deal with Inter national Lease Finance for a new Airbus A321-200 for delivery in April. The air craft, which will be Inter national Aero Engines V2500-powered, joins a fleet of CFM-powered A320s, on a three-year lease. • ATR EXELS Air Exel Commuter, the Maastricht-based KIJVI part ner, has concluded a deal for three used AI(R) ATR 42- 320s, scheduled for delivery in March this year. Fairchild Dornier selects P&WC for new turbofan-powered 32S ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MUNICH FAIRCHILD DORMER has selected Pratt & Whitney Canada to supply a powerplant for the proposed turbofan-powered derivative of its 328 regional nirbo- prop aircraft. According to North American sources, the companies were poised to sign a contract at the time of going to press, once a final offset question had been resolved. The Canadian engine manufac turer has offered a derivative of its PW306, believed to have a new low-pressure spool and a bigger fan. It has beaten off competition from AlliedSignal Engines, with a version of its LF507, and General Electric, offering the CFE738. Fairchild Dornier says that the initial deal covers only the 30-seat variant, the 328-300. The pro posed 50-seatstretch,the 328-700, will be dealt with separately. Dornier 328: Big Jet comfort. A. 1 ) •-!/ Wv/i The 328's P&WC PW119 tnrboprops will be replaced by PIV306 turbofans Candidates to power the 328- 700 are the AlliedSitmal LF507-2, the Allison AE3007G and the P&WC PW308. The fuselage is to be stretched with two plugs, and a longer, 23.4m, wing — possibly with additional sweep on the out- hoard section —will be added. The manufacturer hopes to fly the 30-seat aircraft by January 1998, aiming for certification a year later. The -300 variant is expected to have a top cruise speed of 375kt (690km/h) at 22,000ft (6,700m), compared with the stan dard -110 nirboprop's 3 3 5kt, and it should have a range of 1,650km . Minimal modifications are required for the jet-powered vari ant, says the manufacturer, and all derivatives could be produced on a common production line. • Stage 3 727 without hushkits is certificated RAISBECK Engineering has won US Federal Aviation Ad ministration certification for a Boeing 72 7-200 modification which reduces noise below Stage 3 levels without hushkits or re-engineing. The package involves flat-rating the engines to 25°C, rather than the standard 29°C, "over-speed ing" the take-off flap settings and restricting maximum take-off weight to 75,820kg. "We're opti mising the procedures of the air craft and reducing the drag for take-off ana* landing," says Rais- beck Stage 3 marketing director, Jeffrey Lown. Dubbed the Rais- beck Noise Abatement System, the kit costs $695,000 per aircraft. A pre-requisite for the kit is Boeing Quiet Nacelles. The kit includes a new card file on a box in the E6 avionics rack, new wiring to the engine-pressure ratio (EPR) sensors for the new flat-rated EPR settings, and a lock-out for die flaps 30° setting on the detent. Take-off runs are increased by around 140m (450ft) and approach speeds are higher as the landing flap is restricted to 25°. Sideline noise for the -200, equipped with any of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9/9A/15/15A/I7 or 17Astandard engines, is reduced to 97.9dB effective perceived noise level. Take-off is reduced to 96.6dB and approach to 97.6dB. The first kits will be available in April. J Airbus rolls prompt FAA to issue proposed airworthiness directive DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON PILOT REPORTS of uncom-manded rolls between 5° and 30° in Airbus A320s and A321shave led to a US Federal Aviation Administration proposed airwor thiness directive (PAD) for fleet- wide modifications to the elevator and aileron computers (ELACs). Airbus, however, says that 90% of the world fleet and all US-regis tered aircraft have been modified in advance of the PAD following an August 1995 service bulletin from the manufacturer. The company claims that uncommanded rolls had been limited to 5°, explaining that aileron over-sensitivity in spe cific situations had led pilots to over-control in roll. Modifications, says Airbus, consisted of changes to the ELACs' software, which reduced aileron sensitivity. The French Direction Generale de PAviation Civile had notified the FAA that the vulnerable situations were associated with flap settings 3 or /////, in which overcontrolling could happen too easily. Also, when a system designed to prevent asym metric-flap deployment immo bilised the flaps, with the flap lever at 3, "roll oscillations" could occur. Airbus says that associated mes sages on the electronic central air craft-monitor display have also been clarified. Finally, the PAD says contami nants in the sidestick's transducer have caused the ailerons to "jerk". Airbus says diat this was traced to electrical "spikes" produced by the control's potentiometer. • 8 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 January - 4 February 1997
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
