FlightBlogger Archive 2007-2012

Blog

  • ISTAT 2012 and a snapshot of instantaneous industry speed

    SCOTTSDALE – The International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading has significantly cemented itself as the closest thing the industry has to a US air show. The two-day conference avoids the static aircraft displays and sprawling exhibition halls, opting for a cattle auction-style format that sees airframers, engine-makers and lessors addressing the assembled delegates. 

    With nearly all of commercial aircraft purchases financed in one form or another, the importance of third-parties in how the industry funds itself makes the gathering one of year’s most news-worthy events. Like any big aerospace industry gathering, each tends to be a measure of instantaneous speed, not a barometer of future events. 
    2011 was no different.
    Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh in March 2011:

    While we haven’t ruled out a re-engine, but it’s very difficult for us to put together a very compelling business case to do it. And right now, we’re looking at a number of different options and we’re working with many of you, our customers, we’re looking at things like, what are the complexity issues are as we would introduce a new airplane to a fleet. One thing Southwest has taught us the last few years is: do not add complexity to what we do. And if we do do a new airplane, we have to be very cognizant of not requiring a lot of new training, investment of capital to make things as repeatable as we can and make this airplane as transparent in terms of introduction into service as we can.

    I think the other thing we’ll be looking at very hard is the residual values. Let’s not do anything to make what out customers investment in worth less than it is today. Our customers tell us what they want is a game-changing airplane. They want an airplane that will give them a fuel burn that is twice as good as what they might get with a re-engine. They’re telling us they want a cash operating cost reduction of well in the double digits and we’re working on that, but I think we’ll be producing the 737 NG for another 15 to 20 years, I really believe that.

    Airbus vice president of Marketing Andrew Shankland in March 2011:

    The aircraft is on time, the -900 enters service in 2013, the -800 in 2014 and the -1000 in 2015. And the engine thrust that we have available from Rolls-Royce today is certainly sufficient to power the A350-1000. There are always, let’s say, discussions with customers regarding potential changes to any aircraft in the future, but when you haven’t yet hit the detailed definition phase, so that’s not the case, we are there with the -900, we’re not yet there with the -1000. But I would like to dispel any rumors regarding, sort of: is the -1000 capable of doing the mission as advertised for not, and the answers is “it certainly is” with the current airframe design and the current engine from our engine partner Rolls-Royce.

    What a difference a year makes.

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • JAL preps to be Boeing’s second 787 customer as delivery nears

    JAL 787-8 JA822J

    Japan Airlines is preparing to become the second 787 customer, as Boeing nears imminent certification of GEnx-1B engines and a restart of deliveries that were stalled in early February by required repairs following improper shim installation in its aft fuselages. 
    The airline has completed both route proving and maintenance training following a quiet visit of GEnx-1B-powered 787 test aircraft ZA005 to Japan for service ready operational validation (SROV) trials that lasted from February 20 to March 9.
    Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO, Jim Albaugh, says JAL will take delivery of its first aircraft in “the weeks to come”.
    Airplanes 23 and 33, both with 186 seats and registered JA822J and JA825J, respectively, are expected to be handed over to the carrier in late March, say program sources, ahead of the April 22 start to Boston-Tokyo-Narita services. 
    Service from Narita to New Delhi and Moscow, as well as Tokyo-Haneda to Beijing are slated to start following the 787’s inaugural US service.
    Boeing is nearing an imminent certification for GEnx-1B engine-airframe approval for its 787, a milestone expected to be paired with 330min extended operations (ETOPS) approval, says the program’s top engineer.
    “The work’s all done, it’s just a matter of churning through all the paper work at this point,” says Mike Sinnett, 787 chief project engineer of the 330min ETOPS requirements, “So now it’s just rolling it through the process with the GE [certification] coming in the next couple of days, [JAL] will be able to seek operational approval and we’ll be done.”
    JAL’s Boston link will not require a 330min ETOPS certification, though the aircraft will meet requirements to fly routes that require a diversion airport between 3h and 5h 30min flying time.
    GE says its pairing certification of GEnx-1B 787 will include both its baseline Block 4 and Performance Improvement Package (PIP1) configurations, the latter of which is expected to deliver a 1.4% improvement in specific fuel consumption, due to an increase in the number of low pressure turbine (LPT) blades.
    JAL’s first 787 is fitted with PIP1 engines, says GE. Boeing completed flying for engine-airframe certification with Boeing on Airplane 35, a production model for Air India, on 23 February.
    United Airlines, which takes delivery of six 787s this year, is expected to be the first to require the 330min requirement for its routing between Houston, Texas and Auckland, New Zealand.
    180min approvals for Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered 787s were granted ahead of its October 2011 service entry, 330min certification was split into a second block of requirements with a “software adjustment” to the low fuel quantity indication necessary to meet US Federal Aviation Administration regulatory criteria.
    Engine approvals were granted to Rolls for 330min ETOPS certification for its Trent 1000 in May 2011 and to GE on the baseline Block 4 GEnx-1B in December 2011, and again on March 8 for its PIP1 configuration.
    To date, Boeing has delivered five 787s, all to All Nippon Airways, which is flying its aircraft on a majority of domestic routes, as well as a sole long-haul connection between Tokyo-Haneda and Frankfurt, Germany.
    ANA expected its sixth 787 in February, Airplane 40, and JAL its first, but both required repairs to shims in the aft fuselage, slowing near-term deliveries. As of March 5, Boeing had conducted repair work on five 787s, a number expected to climb further as inspection continue.
    On March 1, Boeing began receiving structural shipments at the Everett factory’s Position 0 at a rate of 3.5 aircraft per month for pre-integration and Postion 1 followed to the higher rate as well with the recent loading of Airplane 61, LOT’s first 787, for final body join.
    Albaugh expects Airplane 66 to be its first 787 that will not require change incorporation work following final assembly, an assessment that has extended beyond previous internal assessments that Airplane 63 would be the company’s first “right to pre-flight” 787.
    Mapping out its climb to 10 787s per month by the end of 2013 spread across three final assembly lines, Boeing is nearing a June activation of its surge line at its Everett, Washington factory and first delivery from its Charleston line.
    Rather than double the pace of its primary Everett line, operational since May 2007, Boeing will initially build up to mirror the current 3.5 aircraft per month rate on its surge line, advancing the factory’s 787 output to five per month by years end with the surge’s 1.5 per month contribution.
    “That second line will basically replicate what we’re doing on the first line. So in terms of getting up to five per month, we already know how to do that so this is a matter of replication,” says Pat Shanahan, Boeing senior vice president of airplane programs. 
    “We’ll fold it back into having just one line in Everett,” he adds of the surge line, “but in the interim as we wait to bring on the 787-9 it’s risk protection. So we’ve got kind of this belt and suspenders approach in Everett, so we’re doubled down on getting to five, and then when we introduce the -9, we’re rate protected if we want to run -8’s down one line and -9’s down another.”
    Though as the output across the supply chain and final assembly accelerates, Charleston’s mid and aft-fuselage facilities remains the biggest “pinch point” to watch for Albaugh, despite delivering to final assembly to 100% completion of assembly. 
    Charleston facilities are likely to break to the higher five aircraft per month rate mid-year, say those familiar with the plan, but with more than fifteen center fuselage undergoing integration at a time on three lines, Boeing must advance production in South Carolina well ahead of its final assembly operations to meet its planned rate increases.
    “The work cells can only handle so many jobs,” says Albaugh. “We want to make sure we don’t overload the work cells. We’ve had an issue to date with change traffic with a lot of late parts. We have been able to resolve the change traffic. We have been able to resolve the parts issues. 
    “And for the first time, our mechanics are starting to see planned work, time, after time, after time, and we will get the learning and we will sneak up on the rate changes rather than force them,” says Albaugh.
    Photo Credit Mitrebaud

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • Boeing’s third-generation 777 maps closely to 737’s evolution

    Boeing-777X-Wingspan.jpg
    This week’s Flight International cover story offers the most comprehensive look yet at Boeing’s 777X concept, the third generation 777 with its new carbon fiber wing and emerging engine battle between incumbent General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. 
    If its conceptual performance goals are achieved, Boeing believes that the 777-9X could become the most efficient commercial aircraft it has ever built, touting a 21% improvement in per seat fuel burn and a 16% improvement in per seat cash operating costs, say those directly familiar with the plans to make the potential superlative a reality.
    To look into Boeing’s history as it moved from the early 737-200 to larger -300 model, the first model of the Classic family, the incremental development of the narrowbody maps closely to the airframer’s continuous improvement strategy on the 777. 
    The re-engining and wing lengthening of the 737-300 with the CFM56-3 engine, which was then in competition with the Rolls-Royce RJ500, provided the source of the improved efficiency and performance just as the transition from the 777-200ER and -300 to the -300ER and -200LR and its GE90-115B.
    When it developed the 737-300, 18 of the 21% fuel burn improvement on the 737-300 came directly from the higher bypass CFM56-3 engine, according to the Flight International archives from February 1982. 
    737-300-Changes.jpg
    During the development of the Next Generation 737 a decade later, Boeing would offer an updated CFM56-7B engine along with a 16% larger, more efficient, wing and 30% increase in fuel and commensurate increase in range. 
    The larger fuselages of the -600, -700, -800 and -900 and their larger seating increases provided the bulk of the per seat fuel burn improvement between generations.
    The 777X is already at the edge of 8,000nm performance, the design of the 777-9X need not stretch the aircraft’s legs beyond the current 777-300ER, but the new wing appears aimed at allowing the next generation 777 to accomodate an 12% increase in seats, additional revenue cargo coupled with a 15,000lb pull-back in maximum thrust.
    The 737 Max, a fourth generation evolution of the narrowbody, works within the boundaries of the trans-continental performance already achieved with the wing of the Next Generation, pushing a design that comes to market faster, better and cheaper than its predecessor, rather than flying higher, faster, and farther.
    Yet as Boeing works to firm the required investment to develop the 777X, the historical parallel with the Next Generation 737 signals an undeniable fact of aircraft development: As Boeing pushes its stalwart widebody design farther, each generational jump continues to be more expensive than the one that preceded. Answering this question is central to Boeing’s year-end go, no-go on the 777’s next generation.

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • Movie Monday – March 12 – Flight Testing 787

    Boeing has compiled its flight test footage for an expanded look at the 787’s certification campaign. The 11 minute look inside the 787-8’s trials is a technical overview at the battery of evaluations the aircraft went through from December 2009 to August 2011, including flutter, rejected takeoff, crosswind testing, as well as velocity minimum unstick and control tests on the ground. Enjoy!

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • Boeing’s first 787, seen from space, in retirement


    View Larger Map

    In early December, an orbiting satellite snapped updated photos of the flight line at Palmdale Regional Airport in southern California, catching the ZA001, the first 787, shortly after ferrying from Boeing Field on December 1 for long-term storage. As you can see, one of the two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000s had already been removed with pieces of the thrust reverser and nacelle sitting along side the aircraft.
    The lead 787 flight test aircraft was joined on February 7 by ZA002, while each awaits word on a more formal spot for permanent retirement from flying.
    Hat tip to Zach Rosenberg for finding this.

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney set to take on GE to power 777X

    Emirates Boeing 777-300ER A6-EGO

    The existence of a 2011 request for proposal to GE, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney has now been officially confirmed, as Rolls and P&W have shared preliminary details of its planned 90,000 to 100,000lb thrust class engines to power Boeing’s 777X concept.

    General Electric, which is the exclusive engine supplier on the 777-300ER, -200LR and freighter, is offering the GE9X for Boeing’s conceptual family.

    This morning, Rolls detailed its conceptual engine, which it has dubbed the RB3025, exclusively to FlightBlogger and Flightglobal, which it touts will achieve better than 10% improvement in fuel burn against today’s GE90-115B engine that powers the 777-300ER, and 15% better than the 777-200ER’s Trent 800.

    Rated at 99,500lbs with a 337cm (132.5in) fan for the baseline 407-seat 777-9X, giving the RB3025 a bypass ratio of 12:1.

    The engine-maker says the current concept provides a low specific thrust and “excellent” propulsive efficiency, along with a 62:1 overall pressure ratio, which, if achieved, would be the highest OPR achieved in a commercial turbofan engine.

    The engine builds off of the Trent 1000 and XWB engines, but Nuttall says the RB3025 is derived around its Advanced3 environmentally friendly engine (EFE) technology development programme, which includes a Trent 1000-derived core, lean-burn combustor, composite fan and advanced materials in the high pressure elements of the core.

    Additionally, Pratt & Whitney also confirmed it, too, is offering a geared 100,000lb thrust class engine for the 777X in response to Boeing’s information request:

    Citing an excess of 6,000h and 80,000 cycles on its fan drive gear system (FDGS), P&W says its testing has “validated our analytical prediction that this engine architecture would be suitable to thrusts up to 100,000 pounds.”

    As the engine-maker “looks ahead to powering future wide-body applications” it plans to “scale the Geared Turbofan architecture to the required thrust levels”.

    While GE has not confirmed the details of its GE9X offering, the 777’s incumbent has begun to begun to firm its own conceptual specifications to power the 777X, say those directly familiar with the engine-maker’s planning.
    Compared to the 115,000lb-thrust GE90-115B that powers the 777-300ER, the lower thrust 99,500lb and derated-88,000lb GE9X for the 777-9X and -8X, respectively, are enabled by the larger, higher-lift and comparatively lighter composite wing. The eCore-inspired engine would also feature a GEnx-style composite fan casing and third-generation Twin Annular Premixing Swirler (TAPS) Combustor, dubbed TAPS III, say those familiar with the engine maker’s planning.
    The 325cm (128in) diameter GE9X engine is believed to tout an approximately 10:1 bypass ratio, 60:1 overall pressure ratio and 27:1 high pressure compressor ratio, compared to the 42:1 and 23:1 pressure ratios, respectively, on today’s GE90-115B.
    Boeing says it’s far too soon to say if one or more engine choices would be available on the 777X, as it has yet to be officially launched, but it appears that both Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney are readying for a significant battle with GE to power the next-generation 777.

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • What’s keeping Bombardier’s Pierre Beaudoin up at night?

    Late last month in New York City, Bombardier CEO Pierre Beaudoin addressed the Wings Club, mounting a defense of his company’s aerospace unit’s CSeries program. Beaudoin’s tone was confident, rebutting the arguments of the duopoly the Canadian airframer is facing, despite the CSeries competition with only the smallest Boeing and Airbus models. 
    The complete 22min unedited audio of the speech was posted by Bombardier and is available above.
    Afterward, Beaudoin took questions from the audience, and I asked – despite his extended defense of the CSeries’s market and execution – what was keeping Mr. Beaudoin up at night about the development of the new 110 to 149-seat aircraft.
    His reply:

    I think one of the challenges in our industry – if you talk about aerospace – is to manage these very complex development projects with as much visibility as we can. And I think that’s the challenge, when we push our teams enough to get the maximum out of them at the same time not to push them too much so they stop reporting problems.

    I think one of the big challenges in aviation is when there’s an airplane development, it’s easy to criticize your engineering team and say, you know, “don’t bring those problems to me”, but if you say that as leaders we’re not going to hear about the problems.

    We have to realize these are huge projects, we put about 100,000 parts together, they have to come together, they have to work and they have to deliver the performance. To be supportive and at the same time to challenge the team.

    So, that’s one of the challenges that keeps me up. Are we pushing enough? At the same time are we hearing about all the issues? Because you are investing millions and millions and you want to not disappoint your customer and build your products on time.

    Beaudoin’s answer was a fascinating one, and a natural concern while looking at the recent history of troubled aerospace programs, but his comment suggests that the internal transparency of the program is something that concerns him. Beaudoin appears to ask a question of culture, where teams organized to “get the maximum out” of each member.
    A central component of Dr. Theodore F. Piepenbrock’s Evolution of Business Ecosystems – or Red/Blue – examines the relationship structure, or architecture, of organizations. The CSeries supply chain, which closely mirrors that of the 787’s globally distributed model, places an emphasis on a more-transactional, less-integrated architecture, with design and manufacturing responsibility located outside the four walls of Bombardier. In a mature market like commercial aerospace, an integral – or “Red” – model has demonstrated itself to yield sustained long-term success, says Piepenbrock’s work.
    This “modular” or “Blue” architecture between stakeholders, is one that the airframer is familiar: “We know our processes work, ever since the Global [Express] we’ve been making planes like this with international supply chains so we know it works,” said Bombardier’s Ben Boehm in October 2010. In short, Bombardier aims to do “blue” better than Boeing did on 787. 
    Would Beaudoin’s concerns be different if the Bombardier’s commercial aerospace programs were organized differently?

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • Movie Monday – March 5 – Inside a Southwest 737 delivery

    Last week, we saw switch-by-switch detail of the A320 and 737 Classic’s cold-and-dark start-up procedures. This week, we join the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for a delivery of a brand new 737-700 to Southwest Airlines. AOPA magazine editor-in-chief, Tom Haines – who you should be following on Twitter – is our guide for the handover of N967WN. This particular 737-700 first flew on September 24, 2011 and departed Boeing Field as Southwest 8700 just a few days later on October 3. Today’s Movie Monday runs just under 12 minutes. Enjoy!

    Big thanks to Bradley Cooke for sending this my way.

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • Photos of Note: Flyaway of the first 747-8 Intercontinental

    FlightBlogger image

    FlightBlogger image

    FlightBlogger image

    SEATTLE — Even on its delivery flight, the identity of the first 747-8 Intercontinental was well hidden. Air traffic controllers in the Pacific Northwest knew they were looking at A7-HHE, but as a private business jet, the aircraft’s flight plan to Vancouver to clear export customs was blocked on Flightaware. 

    Despite the worst-kept-secret nature of the identity of the aircraft’s owner, the flyaway of the all-white 747 was matched with a camouflage sky that was designed for discretion. The complete set of 74 photos of the first passenger configured 747 flyaway since 2005 is available below the fold.

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

  • First 747-8 Intercontinental set for Tuesday delivery (Update4)

    SEATTLE — While no official confirmation exists beyond a very telling Qatari registration, the Government of Qatar Amiri Flight will take delivery of the first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental today. 
    The aircraft, registered A7-HHE, the prefix denoting a Qatar registered aircraft, will depart Paine Field in Everett, Washington around noon pacific time enroute to a business jet completion facility.
    Currently, Jet Aviation’s Basel, Switzerland facility is the most likely candidate to host RC002 for the 24-month completion process, as it was the first completion center selected by an undisclosed Middle East in December 2010. 
    Sources point to all of the first three 747-8 VIP transports as intended for Middle Eastern customers. RC001, Boeing’s Sunrise-liveried jumbo flight test aircraft, destined for the Government of Qatar, while RC003, wearing an A6-PFA United Arab Emirates registration, will fly with the Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight.
    Lufthansa Technik has signed up customers for completion of a further two 747-8 aircraft. It’s first is speculated to be the Kuwaiti VIP transport and the second for the UAE.
    Boeing holds orders for a total of nine VIP configured 747-8s.
    I’ll be up in Everett for the pre-flyaway press conference with program leaders starting at 11 AM PT, and will be posting photos and updates by way of Flickr and Twitter.
    UPDATE 11:14 AM PT: Boeing has officially delivered the first 747-8 Intercontinental to an officially undisclosed VIP customer. RC002 will fly to Vancouver for export then to McConnell Air Force Base at Boeing’s Global Transport & Executive Systems for Greenpoint Technologies’ outfitting of the Aeroloft. Then later to Hamburg, Germany for full completion at Lufthansa Technik. The date of first 747-8 delivery to Lufthansa has not yet been officially set, but it rapidly approaching.
    UPDATE 11:17 AM PT: Boeing will deliver eight 747-8 VIP aircraft in 2012 and its production system is advancing to two 747-8s per month in the middle of this year. 747 vice president and general manager Elizabeth Lund says the back end of the factory (wing and structures) has already “broken rate” accelerating to two per month and the forward part of the factory for final body join will join soon.
    UPDATE 11:27 AM PT: Boeing’s 747-8 performance improvement package (engine and airframe) will fly on the aircraft on 2013 and will bring the aircraft within 1% of the originally planned specification, says Bruce Dickinson, 747-8 chief project engineer. Boeing is continuing its analysis of the flutter condition found on the 747-8’s tail fuel tanks, and aims to have the system reactivated in 2013.
    UPDATE 11:41 AM PT: The 747-8Fs since service entry have served 55 airports to date, roughly twice as many as the A380. Operators have found performance to be about 1% better than first though despite the initial shortfall. Boeing is also “on track” to roll out updates to the 747-8’s avionics in 2012. To get within 1% of final specification, the airframe weight will be reduced by about 5,000lbs, paired with aerodynamic and General Electric GEnx-2B engine updates.

    Video Courtesy Matt Cawby

    This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

    This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.