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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 0060.PDF
Boeing firms up the flightdeck design of stretched 767-400 The flightdeck adopts the now-standard layout, as fitted to Next Generation 737s JCAB drops plans to order more Saabs THE JAPAN Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) has scrapped plans to order further Saab 2000 flight-inspection aircraft in response to the Swedish manufacturers recent announcement that it is to halt civil-turboprop production. Japan is scheduled to take deliv ery of the first two Saab 2000s already on order at the end of the year. The JCAB had planned to order a total of five aircraft and was seeking funding in the next fiscal year (1998/9) budget, beginning on 1 April, for a third Saab 2000. The final two aircraft were pen cilled in for fundingin 1999-2001. "Saab's announcement that it is ceasing production of civil aircraft means that we have been forced to look elsewhere, however," says Nobu Ochi, director of the JCAB's operations and flight- inspection division. He adds that, with preparations for budgetary requests for fiscal year 1998 now in their final stages, "...a decision on what aircraft to replace the third Saab 2000 with has to be made urgently". The JCAB selected the Saab 2000 in early 1997 after having ruled out the Aero International (Regional) ATR 42 and de Havilland Dash 8. Plans to order a Saab 2000 simulator have already been abandoned (Flight Inter national, 3 -9 December, 1997). • NEWS IN BRIEF M FORCED LANDING IN IRAN All 104 passengers and nine crew of an Iran Air Fokker 100 are safe following a night emergency landing on flat ground about 10km (5nm) from the pilot's planned diver sion airport at Isfahan, Iran. Loss-adjuster Airclaims con firms that the aircraft was in landing configuration and that the gear was destroyed. The country's civil-aviation-au thority chief AH Shahcheraghi says that the crew had diverted the Orumiyeh-Tehran flight on 5 January because of bad weather, but reported "tech nical problems". GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES BOEING HAS completed the firm design configura tion of the stretched 767- 400ER, revealing an upgraded flightdeck and a new-look cabin based on the 777 interior design. The bulk of the design was fixed by September 1997, but airline pressure drove Boeing to conduct trade studies on the additional features, and final reviews with the airline flight- deck upgrade group were carried out in December, says 767-400ER programme manager John'Quin- livan. "We've a two-package set up, an initial introductory package and then an upgrade which will include new features such as main tenance displays," he says. The flightdeck will incorporate six flat-panel displays arranged in the now-standard Boeing layout of five across and one down. "We will use 777 components with little or no changes. Fortunately, the 767 and 777 are very similar geometri cally at windshield-post level, so we're able to build on that and enhance 777 features where we can," Quinlivan adds. As with the Next Generation 737 PRECAUTIONARY checks on certain Boeing737-300s, -400s and-500s have been ordered by the US Federal Aviation Admin istration following the discovery of tailplane wreckage from the crashed Silk Air 737-300. Fasten ers are missing from sections of the horizontal stabiliser, and bolts from elevator attachments. The accident occurred on 19 December when the aircraft, with no emergency call from the crew, dived from its 35,OOOft (10,700m) cruising height into the Musi River, Sumatra en route from Djakarta, Indonesia to Singapore. The checks for each aircraft take about an hour. Silk Air, having completed the work on its five flightdeck, the digital displays will be programmable to show data in either a "round dial"or"PFD" (pri mary flight-display) format. The functionality will be the same, Quinlivan says, but the display flex ibility will allow for the same pilot- type rating on the current 767,757 and 737 in round-dial format, and die Next Generation 737,747-400 and 777 in PFD mode. Details of the avionics manufac turers involved have not been released, although Honevwell and Rockwell-Collins are known to be involved in the design work. "Eventually we plan to implement this flightdeck on the -300, but we don't anticipate retrofitting any flightdecks," adds Quinlivan. Roll-out of the first 767-400 is on schedule for August 1999. The final span has been set at 52m, compared to 47.6m for the current aircraft. The span is increased with composite-raked tip extensions supported on me tal spars. The extensions are "in- plane" with the wing and have virtually twice the sweep angle. The new interior, with sculpt ed side walls, ceilings and larger overhead stow bins is based on the "open" 777 architecture, and was particularly pushed by the air lines along with the flightdeck, says Boeing. The -400ER*will be 6.4m longer than the -300 and carry up to 245 in three classes, or 304 in two-class configurations. Anodier major difference is die new main gear which will be 440mm taller, to increase die rota tion angle for take-off and landing. The gear will be made from new, larger forgings and will have wheels, brakes and tyres identical with those on the 777. To enable it to fit into the same cavity, the main gear and trunnion fittings are being moved slightly outboard. Two main GE engines are offered, a CF6-80C2B7F and a more-powerful-B8F version. • FAA orders 737 checks after wrecked tail find checks after wrecked tail find 737s, says diat no fasteners or bolts were found to be missing, and it is confident that its normal line- checks would have discovered the absence of any such components. All 737s delivered after 20 September, 1995, are affected by an airworthiness directive (AD) issued on 8 January. Some 213 aircraft are involved. By 9 January, the FAA says, it had been notified of one loose fastener. The FAA stresses the precau tionary nature of the AD. Inve stigators looking for evidence at die crash site say that almost all the wreckage is in extremely small pieces. One theory is that any miss ing fasteners could have detached during the dive or at impact. The flight-data recorder was found on 27 December, 1997, and the cockpit voice-recorder on 4 January, but dicir contents have yet to be revealed. Silk Air has dis counted rumours about damage to the rear pressure-bulkhead, and Lloyds Aviation of London says that there is no record of any dam age to the airframe which would have affected the bulkhead. A row of three seats was found 10km (5nm) from the main impact position. It is unclear whether this could imply airframe break-up before impact, but secondary' radar traces have revealed a maximum 22,OOOft/min (111.76m/s) rate-of- descent - 2.5 times the 737's maxi mum emergency-descent rate. J FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 14 - 20 January 1998
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