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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 3059.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Qantas asks Boeing to produce three long-range 747-400IGWs GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE QANTAS HAS asked Boeing to build and certify its three newly ordered 747-400s to an increased-gross-weight (IGW) specification, to allow the Australian carrier to overcome payload-range restrictions to Europe and the USA. It is pressing the Seattle-based manufacturer to commit to a -400 growth derivative, with a maxi mum take-off weight (MTOW) of just over 413,000kg. While Boeing has not been contracted to produce a heavier 747 version, it is under stood tiiat Qantas is viewed as a "back-door" approach to launch ing a new longer-range, heavier version, at a time when the compa ny's board is preoccupied with pro duction hold-ups and the consequences of its merger with McDonnell Douglas. Qantas needs the extra weight margin to carry additional fuel and a full payload all-year round from Los Angeles to Sydney, and from Singapore to London. Under hot conditions, the airline is forced to leave as many as 3 0 seats empty and is limited on cargo. It is also in the process of installing an extra 2,720kg of new in-flight entertain ment equipment to each aircraft. The new IGW being discussed by Qantas is thought to represent an interim step to developing new derivatives using a "modular approach". The -400IGW, similar to the proposed extended-range 747-200X (Flight International, 5- 11 November), would incorporate a strengthened 747-400 Freighter wing, offering progressively higher MTOWs from the existing 397,250kg, through 400,880kg to just over 413,000kg. Reconciling this last growth step with Qantas' three contracted delivery dates of October and November 1999 and March 2000 could pose a problem. The aircraft will require a heavier landing gear and it is doubtful that new wheels and brakes would be ready in time. One suggested solution is to pro duce the three 747s to the IGW standard, but operate at the existing -400 MTOW until new gear could be retrofitted and the aircraft re- certificated to the higher weight. The redesigned gear and struc ture developed to support the last growth step would then provide the platform for the next phase, now dubbed the -400X. This entails growth to 426,300kg and range increase to 15,200km (8,200nm). The same wing, under carriage and centrebody improve ments would also form the basis of a model with a 485-seatstretch and the range of a -400. Qantas is expected to issue an request for tenders to competing engine manufacturers for power- plants by December. Rolls-Royce is expected to offer its improved RB.211-524G/HT engine as a new build powerplant and a retrofit for the carrier's 18 - 524G equipped -400s. General Electric will offer the CF6-80C2, stressing commonality with Qantas' Boeing 767-300 fleet, while Pratt & Whitney is likely to propose its PW4056. • Virgin arrives at Heathrow short of wheels A VIRGIN ATLANTIC Airbus A340-300 (G-VSKY) with 114 passengers and crew on board makes a gear-inspection fly-past at London Heathrow Airport in the UK on 5 November, before landing safely with the left main gear still locked up. No-one was hurt in the landing, which closed one of Heathrow's two runways for almost 24h. Engineering sources confirm that the problem was mechanical, caused by a loose brake-rod which fouled the mechanism. The following day, an Air France Boeing 737-500 landing at Berlin Tegel Airport skidded off the runway because of a possi ble brake defect. There were no injuries. IATA warns of the risks of success DAVID LEARMOUNT/AMMAN SENIOR EXECUTIVES from International Air Transport Association (IATA) member carri ers have been warned that the industry's rapid growth contains the seeds of its own destruction by alienating passengers. Fatal-acci dent numbers are set to increase with traffic expansion, and con gested airports will create misery unless the whole passenger-pro cessing system is radically simpli fied, according to IATA's director general Pierre Jeanniot. Speaking at IATA's 1-2 November annual general meeting (AGM) in Amman, Jordan, Jean niot said that a predicted average growth rate of 6-7% a year could, within ten years, see passengers becoming frightened by increasing accident numbers, even if actual rates stay the same. Meanwhile, air travellers would suffer packed air ports, where check-in, customs, immigration, security and bag gage-handling fail to cope ade quately widi the numbers. Jeanniot's answer was to give safety, usually left to specialist IATA groups, an unprecedentedly high profile at the AGM, where 259 of the world's major carriers are represented. He set a target of halving the hull-loss accident rate by 2004 "as an interim measure", especially focusing on the worst killer, controlled-flight-into-ter- rain accidents. Half of the AGM's first day was given over to a safety seminar addressed by representa tives from a manufacturer, a regu lator, and an airline chief executive, and European Civil Aviation Conference chief Andre Auer. Also given high priority was Jeanniot's launch of a programme dubbed Passengerprocessi?ig - simpli fying the journey. The programme will examine the use of technology to ease the travel process, from tick et-sale and check-in to the time the passenger leaves the destination airport. Crucial for success, says Jeanniot, is improved co-operation with airports, security services, and customs and immigration agencies to find ways to speed die flow of passengers through airports. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 November 1997 11
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