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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2330.PDF
HEADLINES AIR TRANSPORT GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES Sales drought takes 757's scalp Boeing decides to end production after Continental Airlines decision sees firm backlog for twinjet shrink to 12 aircraft Boeing plans to end production of the 757 twinjet at its Renton plant near Seattle by the end of next year, following a decision by Continental Airlines to change its last batch of aircraft on order from 757-300s to 737-800s. Boeing has held off its long- expected decision to axe the line with a rearguard sales campaign that yielded only five additional orders from Shanghai Airlines in China. More ambitious bids to sell further -300s to charter carriers and even new-build -200PFs to FedEx Express failed to materialise, leaving a firm backlog of just 18 until Continental's announcement on 16 October reduced this to 12 aircraft. Continental's decision was "clearly a factor" says Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Alan Mulally, who adds the final demise of the 757 was caused by the emerging prospect of the 7E7 and "really by Boeing technology and the Next Generation 737". He says the 757 line closure will not affect the 737's Renton assembly line. "We are making a pretty big investment in Renton to improve the tooling and efficiency. The 737 is going to stay there," Mulally says. Continental is still due to take its final five -300s in 2004, while Northwest Airlines was scheduled to receive its 16th and final -300 this month. Air 2000 will take a final -200 around April 2004 while Shanghai is scheduled to accept three -200s between April and June. The Chinese carrier is sched uled to take its last two -200s in April and June 2005, though these are now expected to be manufac tured by the end of 2004 and either delivered early or stored pending handover early the next year. Boeing will take a third-quarter pre-tax charge of $184 million, "principally related to termination and shutdown costs", says the company. Assuming all current -300 orders are fulfilled, production will end with 55 aircraft - Boeing's smallest "orphan" fleet since the 747SP - which could severely cur tail residual values. Since deliveries began in late 1982, 1,034 757s have been handed over to more than 55 cus tomers. Annual delivery rates remained above 40 for most of the life of the programme. same fault. As Flight International went to press, Eurofighter was unable to say when the Typhoons would be returned to flying status. Meanwhile, the US Air Force is investigating an apparent tempo rary loss of control of a Lockheed Martin/Boeing F/A-22 during a flight test on 19 September. The USAF says the pilot's manoeuvring produced an "unintended effect" in flight, understood to have left the F/A-22 "at a lower altitude than planned". It adds that the safety investigation is "looking primarily at the human actions aspect". The aircraft was returned to flight after an initial assessment found no anomalies with it. Television images showed the Chinese astronaut safely back on earth SPACEFLIGHT TIM FURNISS / L( China plans secoi China plans to send a second man into space late next year following the successful landing of its first astronaut, army air force Lt Col Yang Liwei after a 14 orbit, 21 h 23min flight on 16 October. His spacecraft, the $120 million Shenzhou 5 - based on the Russian Soyuz- was launched from Jiuquan on 15 October aboard a Long March 2F booster. This followed four unmanned test flights of the 7,600kg (16,7401b) DEFENCE JULIAN MOXON / LONDON & STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC Typhoon brake fault, F/A-22 control l< Flight testing of all Eurofighter Typhoons has been suspended pending the outcome of an investi gation into a braking problem which occurred on a German test aircraft on 9 October. Eurofighter says the problem DEFENCE centres on a braking system com ponent that was identified after a cockpit warning light came on dur ing landing. The pilot deployed the braking parachute to slow the air craft, but was able to use the brakes to bring it to a final halt. The suspension came as the Royal Air Force was due to take delivery of its first production Typhoon, on 17 October. This will be delayed until all eight series pro duction aircraft and three flight-test aircraft have been checked for the Component costs delay second Rafale contract The contract for the second tranche of Dassault Rafales, due to be signed by the French procurement agency and Dassault Aviation before the end of this year, faces a delay because of disagreement over the cost and certification of new components. An industry source says electronic components used in the F1 air-superiority version are no longer available and that the manufacturer wants to charge too much for the new components, which will also have to be certificated. According to the source, money is available in this year's procurement budget to sign the contract for the 59 F2 air superiority and ground attack aircraft for the French air force but will not be paid until the government is satisfied it is "paying the right price for the components". The French navy has 10 Rafale F1s in service and the air force's first Rafale F1 will be delivered next year. LONDON second manned flight Soyuz-wa spacecraft since 1999, carrying suites of microgravity and other science experiments. Yang's craft carried minimal sci ence equipment but is suspected to have carried a high-resolution reconnaissance camera. China plans eventually to join two Shenzhou spacecraft together to form an initial six-person space station, followed by a larger inde pendent station. It does not plan a space shuttle vehicle. loss probed 4 21-27 OCTOBER 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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