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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 0305.PDF
717 beats performance targets as production version flies GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON BOEING HAS revealed that its 717 twinjet is bettering its per formance targets by up to 5%, as the first production example, "P-1", made its maiden flight from Long Beach, California on 24 February. Boeing's just-released perfor mance details of the baseline 717 reveal it is demonstrating a sub stantial 5% fuel burn advantage in cruise compared to predicted per formance, while climb fuel burn rate is around 3% better than expected. Boeing estimates the average fuel burn benefit is likely to be between 3% and 4.5% for the complete flight, depending on the route length. The performance gains are largely due to lower than predicted interference drag around the empennage, says Boeing. Per formance of the 717's BMW Rolls-Royce BR715 is also better than predicted, it adds, with the engine manufacturer claiming that fuel consumption is bettering esti mates by up to 1.5 %. Boeing is studying ways of improving the 717's field perfor mance to increase the number of airports from which it could oper ate, with the short 1,199m (3,93 4ft) Lower than expected drag has reduced the 117'sfuel burn runway at London City airport a specific target. The studies include the use of an higher 50° flap setting to reduce approach speed and land ing length, and greater rudder throw to maintain minimum con trol speed with one engine out to enable more powerful engines to be used. The 717 is approaching the halfway point in its l,700h flight- test programme, with 712 flights and 756h accumulated by late February. "Certification is on tar get for mid-July and deliveries to Air Tran should begin on 1 September," says Boeing's director of 717 marketing, Rolf Sellge. Sellge says 717 production will rise from 12 units this year to 32 in 2 000 and will stabilise at 60 per year from 2001. Sellge adds that pro duction is sold out until 2 001 at the current rates. Sales of the twinjet have been slow to date with just four cus tomers, Air Tran, TWA, and leas ing companies Pembroke and Bavaria, accounting for the 717's 115 orders. Sellge says the marketing effort is being increased and discussions are underway with several poten tial customers which could materi alise in orders in the second half of this year. Boeing is marketing the 717 with a sticker price of $31.5 million (1998 value). Industry sources sug gest the lessors are pitching for monthly rentals of around $200,000 to $250,000. Bavaria has not yet placed its four 1999 delivery slots with airlines. • Garvey: USA must look at GPS cost US FEDERAL Aviation Administrator Jane Garvey says an independent risk assess ment which said the global position system (GPS) can be the sole means for navigation services, was "a very good first step regarding specific technical questions." The report was compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She says the US aviation agency must now "figure out a transition strategy for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), including consideration of the cost implica tions". Garvey may offer a clearer picture of US planning for GPS and the companion Wide Area Augmentation System and Local Area Augmentation System when she addresses the International Civil Aviation Organisation General Assembly on 12 March. A senior FAA official says Garvey hopes to use die forum to clear up confusion on GPS. IATA director general Pierre Jeanniot has also weighed into the GPS debate by hitting out at recently announced European Commission plans to build its own satellite navigation system. There is no "economic advantage" in the European Galileo system, and Jeanniot suggests that European Commission funding would be better spent supporting an interna tional organisation providing GPS services. "We can work together on the Space Station. Why not on an international navigation system? The world only needs one GPS constellation," he says. Q Tu-154 crashes as China flags ATC plans CHINA SOUTHWEST Air lines has grounded its fleet of four remaining Tupolev Tu-154Ms after one crashed on 24 February, killing all 61 people on board. The aircraft, descending towards its destination at Wenzhou, dived steeply into the ground with no time for an emer gency call from the pilots. The impact made a hole in the ground 60m long and 30m wide in a field about 30km from the air port. The crashed Tu-154, a nine year old "M" model (B-2622), was car rying 50 passengers and 11 crew from Chengdu to Wenzhou on 24 February. At the last contact with air traffic control the crew had been cleared to descend from 1,000m (3,050ft) to 700m (2,100ft) in sunny weather with good visibility. The last fatal accident to a Chinese carrier involved a China Southern Airlines Boeing 73 7-3 00 landing at Shenzhen in May 1997. China's air safety has improved radically since 1993, when there were four major fatal jetliner crashes. After that the government placed a compulsory freeze on the breakneck pace of airline expan sion, with a view to improving training, infrastructure and air traf fic control (ATC). • The Civil Aviation Admini stration of China (CAAC) has just published its long-term strategy for air traffic control. By 2010, says the CAAC, China will have replaced the existing 37 ATC cen tres with 10 new establishments at acostoflObnYuan($1.25bn) Work on three of die new ATC centres - at Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - has started, and die fourth will be at Wuhan. Locations for the remaining six have yet to be decided. At the same time, the handover of ATC from the military to the CAAC has begun, with the three main domestic trunk routes (Beijing to Shanghai and Guang zhou, and between Guangzhou and Shanghai) already handed over to the authority. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 March 1999 9
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