FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2002
2002 - 3365.PDF
HEADLINES AIR TRANSPORT GUY NORRIS / EVERETT Boeing outlines 747-800X study Proposals show significant increase in range and payload Boeing has confirmed it is consid ering studies of a more capable 747 variant, provisionally dubbed the 747-800X, with range and payload greater than anything since the abandoned stretched models of the mid-1990s. The -800X studies have evolved from the -400XQLR (Quieter Longer Range) proposal which did not have sufficient range to attract real airline interest. Boeing believes the potential changes from the baseline -400 are now so great that the study merits renaming it the -800X. The label leapfrogs the pro posed 747-500X/600X models, as well as the "747 look-alike" 747- 700X all-new large aircraft proposal of 1996 which was designed to counter the Airbus A380-800. "We also didn't want to leave the image of a warmed-over QLR," says product development vice-president Dan Mooney. "We haven't settled on the market or timing yet." Mooney says a possi ble airline consensus on the outline -800X proposal could allow Boeing to "set a stake in the ground" on the project towards the end of the first quarter of next year. The -800X is "something we haven't consid ered before", he says, and is "a nice balance between getting more range and still getting more rev enue using the aircraft". The basic proposal involves com bining aerodynamic and structural changes studied for the QLR with additional tail fuel and a 2m (6.5ft) balancing four-frame fuselage stretch forward of the wing, where both main and upper decks would be extended (Flight International, 29 October-4 November). Mooney says the additional fuel, believed to be around 3,790 litres (l,000USgal), would be housed in extra tankage created in the out board sections of the horizontal sta biliser, as well as forward of the sta biliser main spar. It would not involve adding fuel to the vertical fin. The extra fuel would provide up to 14,800km (8,000nm) range and make space for 20 to 40 more seats. Modifications introduced for noise reduction, such as raked wingtips and drooped ailerons, also had better-than-expected perfor mance when combined with other aerodynamic changes such as trail ing edge wedges, says Mooney. "It has led us to see what's beyond QLR. So now we are back in a prod uct development phase to see what opportunities we might have with new or derivative propulsion sys tems." Powerplant candidates are in the 62,000-64,0001b (276-285kN) thrust bracket and include the Rolls-Royce Trent 600, General Electric NGen6 CF6-80 development and Pratt & Whitney PW4000 derivatives. DEFENCE Tanker team selects Smiths pod One of the two teams bidding for the UK Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) has chosen Smiths Aerospace to supply in-flight refuelling pods, opening the way for the displacement of the Royal Air Force's long-term incumbent supplier Flight Refuelling (FRL). Tanker & Transport Service Company (TTSC) has selected the Smiths sys tem for its bid, which is based on ex-British Airways Boeing 767-300ERs. TTSC comprises BAE Systems, Boeing, Serco and Spectrum Capital. TTSC says risk reduction was a key factor in selecting the refuelling system. Although the Smiths' system has not been flown it will enter service on Italian air force 767s over two years before the FSTAs would be delivered to the RAF in 2008. Smiths will supply fuselage centreline hose drum and wing mounted pods. Boeing selected Smiths as standard equipment for its 767 tanker-transport programme in March Flight International, 19-25 March). Briefing Britten-Norman co-founder dies OBITUARY Desmond Norman, co-founder of Britten-Norman, died last week of a heart attack at the age of 73. Norman and John Britten joined forces in the late 1940s and their partnership led to the development of the ubiquitous BN-2 Islander and Trislander utility aircraft series and later the Defender military/paramilitary variant. More than 1.250 of the aircraft have been sold, with over 800 still in service. The company, now called the B-N Group, continues to manufacture the types with airframes produced by Romaero of Romania and assembled at the B-N plant in Bembridge, Isle of Wight. John Britten died in 1979. Second T-50 trainer flown FLIGHT TESTING Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin have flown the second T-50 training aircraft from KAI's facility at Sachon, South Korea. The 8 November flight lasted 47min, during which the aircraft achieved an airspeed of 250kt (465km/h) and an altitude of 15,000ft (4,575m). Aircraft number two will be used to evaluate airframe loads throughout the T-50's flight envelope, plus stability and control, high angle-of-attack characteristics and stores separation testing. Unlike the first test aircraft, number two is equipped with a spin-recovery parachute. Thales challenges court's licensing decision DISPUTE Thales has lost a decade-old licensing and marketing dispute with Euromissile and must pay €108 million ($109 million) to the EADS company, the International Arbitration Court in Paris ruled last week. Thales is challenging the decision, which it says is based on an erroneous calculation of how much potential income Euromissile has lost after Thales in 1999 revoked its seven-year-old licence to manufacture the VT1 missile. Thales withdrew the manufacturing licence for the VT1, which equips the Crotale and Roland systems and was designed by Thales (then Thomson-CSF, after Crotale was sold to Greece in 1999 and then could not agree on a manufacturing price with Euromissile. The VT1 is now made by Thales Air Defence in Belfast. Meanwhile, Thales Avionics has received C$9.9 million ($6.3 million) in Canadian government funding to support development of a fly-by-wire flight-control system, enhanced vision system and required navigation performance system, mainly for business and regional aircraft. KLM's UK pilots threaten to strike over pay LABOUR RELATIONS UK-based KLM Group pilots could go on strike next week if management does not respond to pay and conditions demands linked to restructuring of the airline's operations in the low-cost sector. KLM is to merge its KLM UK and Cityhopper Amsterdam feeder operations and establish Buzz as a separate company for European low-cost services, without defining how personnel can transfer between the two companies. The British Air Line Pilots' Association (BALPA) confirms that of 265 pilots balloted, 239 (90.2%) voted for strike action. Pilots had rejected an earlier company offer of a 2% pay rise and improved conditions, but late last week the company had not responded to the pilots' renewed demands. It had until 18 November to do so. Apache training system gets approval CERTIFICATION Aviation Training International (ATIL), the Boeing/Westland joint venture responsible for delivering Apache AH1 crews to the British Army Air Corps, has achieved the ready for training (RFT) standard required by the UK Ministry of Defence. A field-deployable simulator base at RAF Dishforth, Yorkshire, which passed a final assessment on 5 November, joins the main aircrew training centre at Army Air Corps HQ, Middle Wallop, Hampshire, a role conversion centre at RAF Wattisham and an engineering training school at Aborfield, near Reading, Berkshire. SEE FEATURES P36-49 www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19-25 NOVEMBER 2002 5
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
