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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 3243.PDF
Directory: world airliners German aluminium milling factory in Varel. Fuselage panel manufacturing also began in Nordenham, Germany, while Airbus UK has started cutting metal for the first A380 wings at Filton. Construction of major component assembly hall and other A380-related structures is under way at Hamburg, as is the wing assembly plant at Airbus UK's Broughton site. Work is also underway on the A380 assembly plant in Toulouse, dubbed Aeroconstellation, which is due to be completed by the end of next year. Production A380 final assembly will be undertaken by Airbus France at its new Aeroconstellation complex in Toulouse. Airbus Deutschland in Hamburg will have responsibility for interior installation as well as deliv ery of aircraft to customers in Europe and the Middle East. The division of work on the A380 is similar to ear lier programmes, with Airbus France responsible for the cockpit and centre fuselage section, Airbus Deutschland for the forward and rear fuselages and vertical stabiliser, Airbus Espana for the horizontal tailplane, and Airbus UK for the wing. Because of their size, Airbus will deliver A380 sec tions to Toulouse by a novel combination of sea, river and road, rather than by air, as the subassemblies for current models are transported. A380 production will eventually settle at one aircraft a week. Government refundable loans account for 33% of the programme's cost, with the rest being funded by the Airbus partners EADS and BAE Systems. About $2.1 billion of the costs are being covered by risk- sharing partners on the airframe, and $900 million by equipment vendors. Airbus is finalising equipment vendor selection for the A380 and has takers for most of the risk- sharing work. Contracts cover flight control, fuel, electrical, hydraulic and environmental systems, cockpit avionics, landing gear, engines, nacelles and evacuation slides. Over 30 risk-sharing part ners have been secured, with Airbus planning to outsource around 30% of the programme's cost. Partners include Alenia, CTRM of Malaysia, EADS Socata, EADS Sogerma, Eurocopter, Finavitec, Fokker, Gamesa, GKN, Labinal, Saab, Sabca and Sonaca. Korea Aerospace Industries is expected to sign up for a 1.5% stake and produce aluminium wing panels. Orders: 95 Deliveries: 0 Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex, 1 Tupolev St, Kiev 252062, Ukraine Tel: +380 (44) 4425 7098 Fax: +380 (44) 4495 9996 Telex: 131048,132792 OZON Antonov converted the second, static-test proto type to flight status and it was flown in April 1997. An expected firm order from the Russian air force has still not been confirmed. There have been discussions between Russian cargo airline Volga-Dnepr and the design bureau's Antonov Airlines to introduce the An-70 as a com mercial freighter. Antonov has investigated the development of a twin-engined variant, the An-70T-100, powered by the same Progress D-27 propfans, which would not have the standard An-70's short take-off capability but would be lighter and less expensive. The An-70 prototype completed its certification tests in August, but approval also requires a produc tion aircraft to be completed and audited. The first production airframe is close to completion at the Aviant factory in Kiev, but is not expected to fly until mid-2003. Production Polet will undertake series production of the An-70 at its plant in Omsk. The factory, which is better known for its space launcher work, repaired the An- 70 prototype that was damaged in an accident at Omsk in January 2001. The setting up of a produc tion line will cost roughly $100 million, part of which will come from federal and regional budgets. Aviakor, in Samara, Russia, was originally desig nated to build the An-70, but it was unable to raise enough financing. Aviakor could still receive a share of the programme, probably production of the wing. An-124 Ruslan The An-124 made its first flight in December 1982 and entered service in January 1986. Although con ceived originally for use by the Russian military, the 150t-payload An-124 has found a market niche with •Western cargo operators because it can carry very heavy, outsized loads. The civil version is designated the An-124-100, and Russian outsize cargo carrier Volga-Dnepr is undertaking a $2 million project to gain European JAA certification for the aircraft through the UK CAA. Meetings have already been held with CAA officials. The Antonov design bureau and Russian airworthi ness body MAK are involved in the programme, which is expected to be completed next year. Volga-Dnepr says that European JAA approval would enable the aircraft to be registered in the UK and acquired by Western airlines. The airline could also use the aircraft as collateral to generate finance from Western banks. In July, Volga-Dnepr secured a $30 million loan from the World Bank to fund the completion of an An-124-100 at Aviastar in Ulyanovsk, Russia. The aircraft will be the airline's tenth purchase. Additional civil An-124s are being created by the modification and upgrading of ex-Russian air force aircraft. Polet Airline of Voronezh took delivery of the first of five ex-military An-124s earlier this year following major overhaul and conversion to the civil An-124-100 standard by Aviastar. Polet has invested over $20 million to have Aviastar upgrade the ex- Russian air force aircraft, including the purchase of four new ZMKB D-18T Series 3 engines. Two of Polet's An-124s will be -100VS models equipped to deploy from the rear loading ramp the 10Ot launch vehicle being developed by the Air Launch Aerospace joint venture. Polet has placed an order with Aviastar for a new Ruslan for delivery in 2003. Volga-Dnepr has proposed converting an An-124 to air-launch space boosters from the upper fuse lage. Last year it linked with the Khrunichev space centre as part of an alliance to reduce the costs of launch services by using the An-124 to transport space hardware between the manufacturing site and launch pad. The An-124's original design life was set at 6,000 flight hours. Volga-Dnepr and its rival Antonov Airlines (a subsidiary of the design bureau) have agreed a joint approach to extending the lives of air frames and engines. New production aircraft have their airframe lives extended to 24,000h. A Chapter 3 hushkit developed by the engine design bureau ZMKB Progress in conjunction with Antonov was certificated in mid-1997 for the An- 124'sD-18Tturbofans. Antonov is working with ZMKB Progress and the Motor-Sich production plant to make the An-124- An-70T This four-engined propfan-powered airlifter is designed as a military transport, but a commercial version has been proposed. The An-70T first flew in December 1994, but the programme was thrown into turmoil after the fatal crash of the single proto type in February 1995, following a mid-air collision with an An-72 chase aircraft. Length (m) Wingspan (m) Height (m) Wing area (m2) Cabin width (m) Max take-off weight (kg) Max landing weight "(kg) Operating empty weight (kg) Max zero fuel weight (kg) Max payload (kg) Powerplant Proc Standard fuel capacity (I) Max cruise speed (kt) Max cruising altitude (ft) Take-off field length (m) (sea Landing field length (m) (sea Design range with payload HHH 4x 10 ress ZMKB level/ISA) level/ISA) 430lb D-27F An-70T 40 73 44.06 16.38 204 204 131,500 72,800 114,000 47,000 Ivchenko Propfan - 431.2 31,500 1,800 1,800 3,800km/35t An-124-100 69.1 73.3 21.08 628 6.4 392,000 330,000 178,000 325,000 120,000 4x51,630lb Ivchenko Progress ZMKB D-18T 348,740 467 - 2,800 2,400 8,400km/80t An-225 84 88.4 18.2 905 6.4 600,000 - - - 250,000 6 x 51,6301b Ivchenko Progress ZMKB D-18T - 460 - 3,500 • 4,500km/200t www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 NOVEMBER 2002 47
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