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TAKING ON 787-10
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MATTER OF TIME
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MATTER OF TIME
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AirSpace regular flyvertosset posted this shot of the business end of a Corsair F4U-5N over Galveston, Texas. This machine, called “Annie-Mo”, belongs to the Lone Star Flight Museum. Open a gallery in flightglobal.com’s AirSpace community for a chance to feature here
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COVER IMAGE Indonesian rescue workers help remove a section of a Lion Air Boeing 737 from the sea four days after it crashed while trying to land at Bali’s international airport on 17 April this year P28
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NEWS 6 7 8
9
THIS WEEK Sukhoi unruffled by latest mishap SIA first in line for lower MTOW A350. Airbus blames EU policy for becalmed orderbook First modified EC225 nears return to service with CHC. AgustaWestland kicks off AW189 SAR certification New entrants face familiar problems. PW1100 stays on track despite test discovery
AIR TRANSPORT 10 Probe ‘inconclusive’ on Doha decision. CFM cool on Chinese assembly 11 American Airlines reacquaints itself with Airbus family. UTair takes first A321 but awaits approval to fly type 12 Australian study endorses abilities of low-hour pilots. Lion growls defiance over European crew concerns 13 Confusion drove 737 low-fuel landing DEFENCE 14 Royal Navy starts Merlin transition to upgraded HM2.
First flight of Bombardier CSeries pushed back P9 Next-generation version of Sidewinder to increase tactical flexibility of Joint Strike Fighter P15
DARPA dips into underwater UAS launch vehicles 15 US Navy to target 60% range boost for AIM-9X variant. Qantas readies surplus C-130s for Indonesia 17 A400M partners all set for military certification boost. US Navy takes first MQ-8C Fire Scout
BUSINESS AVIATION 22 Avionics hold back trio of Cessna jets 23 Bristol airport keen for FBO growth as flight rules eased GENERAL AVIATION 24 Rescued Lisa plans restart of Akoya amphibian testing
COVER STORY
28 So far... so good Accident figures for the first half of 2013 look encouraging, but is this due to improved operational quality or just luck? 29 Accident reports David Learmount looks at seven recent investigation findings
FEATURES
32 SAFETY OPERATIONS Wake-up call for cockpits In an era of ever-increasing automation, the NTSB says pilot culture must change to clarify what it means to operate a modern aircraft during all modes of flight
TECHNOLOGY 25 GPS-reliant forces are all in a jam BUSINESS 26 Thielert keeps motoring on
5 34 35 36 39 43
REGULARS Comment Straight & Level Letters Classified Jobs Working Week
NEXT WEEK UNMANNED AIRCRAFT We home in on the latest developments in the UAV world – including their operation in civil airspace – ahead of the AUVSI convention in Washington DC.
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30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 3
Patrick Cardinal/Lockheed Martin
TAKING ON 787-10
Singapore Airlines signs up as launch customer for lighter-weight version of Airbus A350-900 7
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WHAT A TATTOO RIAT WELCOMES THE WORLD AND PUTS ON A SHOW PICTURE SPECIAL
30 JULY-5 AUGUST 2013
CONTENTS
IN THIS ISSUE Companies listed
AgustaWestland ...........................8, 14, 18, 22 Airbus ................................................7, 11, 19 Airbus Military..................................17, 18, 26 Air France-KLM ............................................27 Air Inter.......................................................... 7 Air Partner....................................................25 AirTanker ......................................................19 Alenia Aermacchi ...................................15, 19 ATK ..............................................................19 ATR ..............................................................10 AVIC.............................................................26 Avidyne........................................................24 B/E Aerospace ............................................27 Beechcraft ...................................................23 Beijing Capital Airlines .................................22 Bell Helicopter .......................................22, 24 BLR Aerospace ............................................24 Boeing .........................6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18 Bombardier .......................................9, 11, 12 Bristow Helicopters ........................................8 Cathay Pacific ................................................7 Cessna ..................................................22, 23 CFM International ..................................10, 11 CHC Helicopter ..............................................8 Cirrus...........................................................26 Colgan Air ....................................................12 Comac .........................................................10 DC Aviation ..................................................23 Dassault ......................................................25 Deer Jet .......................................................22 EagleMed ....................................................24 Eurocopter .........................................8, 23, 24 Eurofighter ...................................................19 FB Heliservices ..............................................8 Garmin ..................................................22, 24 Gulfstream .............................................22, 23 Hainan Airlines Group ..................................22 Hawaiian Airlines ...................................11, 27 Hawker Pacific .............................................24 Hexcel .........................................................27 Icon Aircraft .................................................24 Jet Aviation ..................................................25 JetBlue Airways ............................................11 Jet-Care .......................................................27 Lion Air ........................................................12 Lisa Airplanes ..............................................24 Lockheed Martin ..........6, 8, 14, 15, 19, 25, 27 Lufthansa ....................................................27 Lycoming .....................................................24 MD Helicopters ..............................................6 Mitsubishi Aircraft ....................................9, 23 MTU .............................................................26 Muncie Aviation ...........................................24 NexAir Avionics ............................................24 Novatel ........................................................25 Northrop Grumman................................17, 27 Piper Aircraft ................................................24 Pratt & Whitney ........................................9, 24 Qantas...................................................13, 15 Qinetiq.........................................................25 Raytheon .....................................6, 15, 17, 25 Rolls-Royce................................................ 6, 7 Russian Helicopters .....................................27 SIA Engineering ...........................................27 Signature Flight Support ..............................25 Singapore Airlines ..........................................7 Southwest Airlines..........................................6 Spirit Airlines................................................11 StandardAero ..............................................25 Sukhoi .....................................................6, 11 Thales ....................................................14, 26 Tupolev ........................................................11 Turbo Jet Engines .........................................27 UTair ............................................................11 Virgin Australia .............................................13
BEHIND THE HEADLINES Flightglobal head of strategic content Andrew Doyle travelled to Toulouse (top) to see Airbus hand over the 1,000th A330 to operator Cathay Pacific, while news editor Dominic Perry visited RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall for an event marking the formation of the first squadron to fly the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2.
THE WEEK ON THE WEB
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Our blogs got a facelift this week, and behind the prettier front there is also a more powerful engine, so as the new system beds in you can expect better, brighter and faster, like this Dew Line shot from RIAT. Our man in Tel Aviv, Arie “Ariel Viewâ€? Egozi, turned his attention to the politics of weapons sales – could it be that the Israeli air force, which is to receive a new batch of V-22s and KC-135s – needs those rather less than Washington wants to sell them? Meanwhile, Israeli defence exports hit a record $7.47 billion last year, putting the country up against the USA to hawk arms to Asia-PaciďŹ c and other weapons-hungry regions. As for deadly civil matters, David Learmount wonders just why it is that monitoring (that is, not ying) pilots seem to do so little monitoring? Or, why aren’t flying pilots checking their gauges? Are they not looking, or is it time to overhaul instrument design? Find all these items at ightglobal.com/wotw
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Last week, we asked: What’s the main reason more people don’t take up ying for fun? You said: Aircraft too expensive
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The top ďŹ ve stories for the week just gone: 1 NTSB: Nose gear penetrated Southwest 737 electronics bay 2 Boeing stages quiet 787-9 roll-out overnight 3 VIDEO: Nose gear on Southwest 737-700 collapses on landing 4 Crashed Superjet landed with retracted gear 5 Ethiopian 787 fire probe urges lithium ELT safety review Flightglobal reaches up to 1.3 million visitors from 220 countries viewing 7.1 million pages each month
4 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
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COMMENT
Beyond the basics
A gear-up landing at Reykjavik won’t have helped the Superjet 100’s image, but the real problem for Sukhoi’s sales people is that a good aeroplane isn’t enough to break the market
ou can tell a bird by the way it flies, states a Russian proverb – “vidno ptitsu po polotu” – but if the air transport market could be satisfied with such a casual bit of subjective judgement, then the Sukhoi Superjet would probably have fewer obstacles to market acceptance and commercial success. One of Mexican carrier Interjet’s pilots enthusiastically declared that the aircraft was “amazing” as he ferried the twinjet from Venice on its delivery flight to Toluca on 20 July. Such praise might have been lightly sugar-coated, but Sukhoi probably wouldn’t have cared if it had been triple-dipped in toffee syrup as long as its customer was saying something positive about a programme that just can’t seem to catch a break. That one of its Superjet prototypes came to grief on the runway at Keflavik, barely half a day after the Interjet aircraft left the same airport, seems characteristic of the misfortune which has haunted the project.
A strong background in military design does not guarantee a smooth transition to civil sales Regardless of the improbability that the Keflavik accident is due to a malfunction, the sight of the crippled aircraft in Iceland will do little to enhance the type’s reputation at a time when Sukhoi – which is struggling to score sales while dealing with financial pressures – could do without more adverse publicity. Superjet’s problem is less about image than ego. It is symbolic of Russia’s longing to rebuild its former strong position in the civil aviation industry, a position that was sustained not by superior technology but by a geo-
Rex Features
Y
At least the gear is down
political situation that kept Western competitors out of the market. Superjet is a clear improvement on Soviet-era types. But it is one thing to talk about market opportunity and aircraft demand, quite another to believe that, in the cut-throat and unforgiving arena of regional jet competition, having a catalogue of Western-built components is sufficient to give a product the edge. Competent does not equate to compelling. Embraer’s sweep of orders for its re-engined E2 at the Paris air show demonstrated the combined power of critical mass, sector experience and global presence, none of which Sukhoi has sufficiently acquired. Its aviation credentials are unquestionable but a strong background in military design, as Russian history has shown, does not guarantee a smooth transition to commercial air transport. Attempting to vault the entry barrier, especially into Western sales, is commendable. But Sukhoi cannot afford to fool itself into thinking it isn’t set very high. O See This Week P6
Must try harder G
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lobal airline safety is looking good so far this year. Six months is too short a period to enable heavyweight conclusions to be drawn from events within it, but a comparison with results from the same period each year during the past decade shows a steadily improving trend in terms of fatal accidents and deaths. The particularly low fatalities total is not only the result of fewer accidents – massively improved impact survivability built into modern hulls and aircraft furniture has played a significant part. This was exemplified by the outcome of the Lion Air Boeing 737-800 crash in Denpasar, Indonesia. Everyone survived it. And since that accident, an Asiana 777 suffered a serious impact on landing at San Francisco which was
survived by all but two of those on board. Other examples of aircraft robustness abound, not least the 777 that force-landed short of the runway at London Heathrow, and the Hudson River ditching by an Airbus A320. While the aircraft manufacturers and cabin systems designers are rightly praised for this engineering improvement, it would be even better if their achievements were put to the test less often. In fact, the high level of airline safety today is the result, almost entirely, of aircraft enhancements. The converse of that truth is that almost everything that goes wrong is the result of sub-optimal human performance. Investment in more appropriate training is the simple answer. O See Feature P28 30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 5
THIS WEEK
BRIEFING SEOUL TARGETS AMRAAM PURCHASE
MISSILES South Korea has requested a possible purchase of 260 Raytheon AIM-120C7 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for $452 million. The weapons would provide a “contingency stock” for the nation’s Boeing F-15K and Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft fleets, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency says.
BOEING FREEZES 737 MAX 8 DESIGN
AIRFRAMES Boeing has locked in the final design of the 737 Max 8 and started a three-year countdown for development and manufacturing of the re-engined single-aisle jet. Completing the firm configuration of the first variant of the Max family freezes the overall specifications and allows suppliers to begin detailed design of the individual parts and systems. Final assembly of the first flight-test aircraft is scheduled to begin in 2015, with initial delivery to Southwest Airlines in the third quarter of 2017.
MD HELICOPTERS WINS AAS SPAT WITH BOEING
RULING MD Helicopters has been cleared to continue bidding its MD540F for the US Army’s prospective armed aerial scout (AAS) deal, after winning a legal battle with Boeing. An arbitration panel in Phoenix has ruled that a 2005 agreement between the companies linked to the latter’s failed armed reconnaissance helicopter offer to the service using the MD530-based Mission Enhanced Little Bird should not be extended to also cover the new requirement.
INDIA WELCOMES SECOND C-17
DELIVERY India’s air force has taken delivery of its second Boeing C-17, with the strategic transport to enter service immediately. New Delhi received its first C-17 in June under a 10-aircraft deal, with three more to arrive this year and the remainder to follow in 2014. It is also considering the purchase of an additional six aircraft.
ROLLS-ROYCE LIFTS FIRST-HALF DELIVERIES
ENGINES Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division delivered 346 engines during the first half of 2013, an increase on the previous interim figure of 313. Its civil aerospace operation posted a 6% increase in underlying revenues to £3.2 billion ($4.8 billion). Original equipment income showed the stronger growth, climbing by 8%, while service revenues were up 3%. Underlying profit rose by nearly 60% to £486 million, partly reflecting a £112 million benefit from the restructuring of International Aero Engines, as well as higher fees from new Trent engine programmes.
PROBE OPENS INTO 737 GEAR COLLAPSE
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INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Sukhoi unruffled by latest mishap Pilots requested a touch-and-go manoeuvre shortly before Reykjavik crash as part of Category IIIa certification trials
P
ilots of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 test aircraft had requested a touch-and-go manoeuvre shortly before a gear-up accident at Reykjavik’s Keflavik airport. The twinjet touched down with its landing-gear retracted on 21 July, as it underwent certification testing for Category IIIa approaches, coming to rest about 100m (330ft) off the far end of runway 11. The aircraft sustained damage to its aft lower fuselage and both PowerJet SaM146 engines. Sukhoi expects to repair the aircraft. Icelandic accident authority RNF’s lead investigator Ragnar Gudmundsson says the crew had “requested a touch-and-go with the tower”. But he says the inquiry is not yet prepared to disclose details on subsequent events. Fuel was drained from the Superjet in order to remove it from the accident site. Gudmundsson says the Superjet was lifted with cranes and inflatable supports. Personnel powered the aircraft up using internal batteries, then lowered the landing-gear, although Gudmundsson declines to state whether this was achieved using the gear selector or an alternate procedure. Both flight recorders have been retrieved and Gudmundsson says they will “most likely” be sent to Moscow’s Interstate Aviation
Committee for download. RNF has yet to disclose other details about the aircraft’s configuration, including its airspeed and flap setting, and the status of any onboard warning systems. The aircraft had performed dozens of approaches during the course of several hours before the accident at about 05:25. Sukhoi says “all aircraft systems were functioning normally” before the accident. The aircraft involved – 95005 – entered the flight-test fleet in February 2010. Category IIIa certification allows an aircraft to conduct an automatic landing approach with a decision height below 100ft and a runway visual range of 200m. Sukhoi began tests in late 2011. “Test flights to evaluate performance of the automatic landing system with strong crosswind conditions are the most complicated part of the trials,” it says. Sukhoi says that the crash will not hold up Category IIIa approval because the company has achieved a “sufficient volume” of landings. Three crew members and two certification personnel were on board at the time, one of whom was injured during the incident. O Read more about the Sukhoi Superjet 100 programme at flightglobal.com/superjet
INQUIRY Investigators say the nose-gear of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 collapsed rearwards and upwards, into the electronics bay, during a 22 July landing accident at New York LaGuardia. The fuselage sustained damage from sliding 663m (2,170ft) on runway 4 as flight WN345 from Nashville. Nine occupants were injured. Southwest says the 14-year-old jet was last inspected on 18 July.
EGYPTIAN UNREST STALLS F-16 DELIVERIES
AirTeamImages
FIGHTERS The US government is delaying deliveries of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters to the government of Egypt. “Given the current situation in Egypt, we do not believe it is appropriate to move forward with the delivery of F-16s at this time,” the US Department of Defense says. Four F-16s were delivered to Egypt earlier this year, and another four were due as part of a 20-aircraft order.
The twinjet had made dozens of approaches prior to the incident 6 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
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THIS WEEK
First modified EC225 nears return to service with CHC THIS WEEK P8 FORECAST ANDREW DOYLE TOULOUSE
Airbus blames EU policy for becalmed orderbook irbus expects demand for its A330 widebody twinjet family to pick up again despite the airframer having managed to add only eight aircraft to the type’s firm order backlog during the first half of 2013. Production is running at a record rate of 10 aircraft per month after sales of 88, 99 and 80 A330 models in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively, leaving the firm backlog at 260 aircraft at the end of June. Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy points to Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) as a continuing headache, with Chinese opposition to the scheme holding up order approvals. Leasing companies are, in turn, reluctant to commit to orders while unsure of being able to place their aircraft with Chinese carriers, he adds. “On the A330
right now my biggest issue remains China, where there’s a lot of demand but they’ve all gotten the word that until this ETS issue has been resolved they can talk to us all they want, but the government’s not going to approve any orders,” he says. “We have 45 [aircraft] in backlog there – 18 got approved but not the whole amount.” Leahy says the manufacturer is committed to maintaining the 10-per-month production rate through 2015, adding that there is “no question” that the type will remain in production “beyond 2020”. Although the new technology engines equipping the rival Boeing 787 provide roughly 10% lower fuel burn, Leahy argues the A330 continues to remain competitive thanks to its “30% lower capital costs, wider seats and better reliability”. O
Airbus
A
Flight tests of the Rolls-Royce XWB-powered type began in June ORDER ANDREW DOYLE TOULOUSE
SIA first in line for lower MTOW A350 Carrier becomes launch customer for “regional” variant of widebody twinjet to counter threat posed by Boeing 787-10
S
DELIVERIES
The Airbus A330 on 19 July became the first European-built widebody to reach the 1,000-deliveries milestone, with the handover of a -300 to Cathay Pacific. Following launch of the A330/ A340 programme in 1987, first flight of the baseline A330-300 took place in 1992, and the type entered service with Air Inter two years later. Cathay received its first aircraft in 1995 and has since placed a total of nine follow-on orders, taking the Hong Kong-based group’s total firm commitments to 54 aircraft. Total A330-family orders stood at 1,252 at the end of June. The bulk of these are accounted for by the -300 and the reduced-capacity,
Airbus
Toulouse marks widebody milestone
Cathay has ordered 54 A330s longer-range -200 passenger models. The rest is made up of -200F freighters, VIP ACJ330s and military MRTT tanker/transports. O
A330 ORDERS AND DELIVERIES BY VARIANT AS OF 30 JUNE Orders Deliveries Backlog
A330-200
A330-200F
A330-300
Total
576 502 74
45 22 23
631 468 163
1,252 992 260
SOURCE: Airbus NOTE: Includes military and corporate variants
flightglobal.com
ingapore Airlines has signed up as launch customer for a lower operating weight “regional” version of the Airbus A350-900 widebody twinjet. Aimed at addressing the competitive threat posed by Boeing’s 787-10 double stretch, the aircraft will be structurally identical to the baseline A350-900 but certificated to a reduced maximum take-off weight of 250t, compared with the standard 268t. It will be equipped with the de-rated, 75,000lb-thrust (334kN) Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines that will power the -800 shrink version of the A350, rather than standard 84,000lb powerplants, allowing cyclic engine maintenance intervals to be extended. Airbus says it has an undisclosed customer for the new offering, which will carry a lower sticker price than the full-specification A350-900. Industry sources confirm that Singapore Airlines is buying a batch of the de-specified aircraft as part of its follow-on order for 30 A350-900s, which was announced in May 2013 for delivery starting in 2016. The Asian carrier – which has placed total firm orders for 70 A350-900s – says it “plans to operate the aircraft on both
medium- and long-range routes” but declines to comment on any plans to introduce the lowerweight version. It has also committed to 30 Boeing 787-10s. Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy says the A350-900 regional has “five or six more seats [than the 787-10], with nine-abreast seating at 18in while they have eight-abreast seating at 18in”. He adds: “It’ll be offered formally later this year, but we’re offering it to individual airlines right now. Some of them have even bought it, but they’ve kept it quiet for a while because they want to see exactly how we position it.” The principal target markets for the lower-weight A350-900 are intra-Asian, Middle EastEurope, and transatlantic routes, where Airbus claims the aircraft can offer the same payload-range capability and “comparable economics” as the 787-10. Owners will be able to pay a fee to Airbus to “re-activate” the full 268t MTOW. Leahy reveals that the airframer also plans to offer a lowerweight version of the A330-300 wideobody twin, optimised for regional routes with an MTOW of around 207t. O
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 7
THIS WEEK
A
gustawestland will shortly begin a year-long certification campaign for the search and rescue variant of its developmental AW189 super-medium helicopter, based at its Yeovil, UK site. The Anglo-Italian manufacturer will utilise one of its prototype aircraft for the effort, which will arrive in Yeovil later in August, said Ray Edwards, managing director of AgustaWestland UK, speaking at an event at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall. Yeovil has been handed the lead role for the certification push, as it will provide 11 AW189s for Bristow Helicopters, which was victorious in the UK’s £1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) Long SAR contest in March. Bristow will use the AgustaWestland aircraft and 11 Sikorsky S-92s to replace the Westland Sea Kings currently operated by Royal Navy and Royal Air Force units from 2015. Bristow confirmed its SAR order with the manufacturer on 18 July, and the first aircraft from the commitment will begin final assembly at Yeovil in January. Edwards says the initial example will take 4,000-5,000h to build – a figure that will fall to 3,500h for the final delivery. Aircraft will be handed over to Bristow at a rate of one every two months, he adds. Yeovil is intended to be the assembly facility for all SARroled AW189s, although Bristow is the only customer for the variant so far. Edwards suggests that “10 per year” would be the “minimum” number required to support the activity at the site. “We want to start well and demonstrate our competitiveness on those initial AW189s,” he says. Certification of the offshore transportation-configured AW189 is due towards the end of the third quarter this year, with service entry – again with Bristow Group – pegged for November. O
First modified EC225 nears return to service with CHC Operator begins flight tests of heavy twin helicopter as it moves to overcome grounding
C
HC Helicopter has begun flight tests of a Eurocopter EC225 fitted with the full range of EASA-mandated safety modifications from its base in Aberdeen, Scotland, as it attempts to return its fleet of 32 of the type to operation. It was the October ditching off Shetland of a CHC Scotia aircraft (G-CHCN) that prompted regulators in the UK, Norway and Denmark to ban overwater flights with the type, effectively grounding the Super Puma in the North Sea region. Now CHC is on the way to become the first operator to get its EC225s back in the air, with the initial aircraft having undergone Eurocopter’s safety fixes, following their approval by EASA on 9 July, and commenced flight trials on 18 July. CHC says its engineering teams are taking four to five days to complete the modifications, with the bulk of the work accounted for by the addition of an in-cock-
CHC Helicopter
AgustaWestland kicks off AW189 SAR certification
SAFETY DOMINIC PERRY LONDON
The trials are taking place at the company’s base in Aberdeen pit system to alert the pilots to the propagation of cracks in the main gearbox bevel gear vertical shaft. A circumferential crack in the bevel gear shaft was later pinpointed as the cause of the CHC ditching and that of a previous incident involving a Bond Offshore EC225 (G-REDW) in May 2012. “Our pilots completed the first test flight of a modified EC225 [on 18 July] in Aberdeen,” says CHC. “We are continuing to modify and test other EC225s around the world, following the regulator-
approved process to prepare for an imminent return to service.” Two further aircraft began flight tests in late July, with additional rotorcraft undergoing modification in Malaysia, Australia, Norway and Brazil, it says. “At the same time, in partnership with industry safety groups and unions, we are providing information to customers, including offshore workers, so that they understand and can be confident in the return to service process,” it adds. O
ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY LONDON
UK MoD pushes for interim training fix A
decision on an “interim” solution to provide rotary-wing training for all three branches of the UK’s armed forces is likely to be taken by the end of this year. During 2012, the UK Ministry of Defence delayed for 10 years the award of a £400 million ($614 million), 20-year contract under its UK Military Flying Training System (MFTS) programme, as a money-saving exercise. However, as its current contract with Cobham-owned FB Heliservices, which provides triservice training at the Defence Helicopter Flying School (DHFS), ends in 2018 at the latest, the government is seeking a temporary provider to step in. Ascent Flight Training, the Lockheed Martin/
8 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
Crown Copyright
VARIANT DOMINIC PERRY RNAS CULDROSE
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Bell 412s may be replaced Babcock joint venture that manages the overall MFTS programme, has proposed modified versions of the bids provided by the two original contestants for the requirement – AgustaWestland and Alphar, a consortium
comprising Eurocopter, FB Heliservices and CAE. Simon Falla, training director at Ascent, says he expects the MoD will choose its preferred option by Christmas. Although the duration of the contract could solely cover the 10-year interim period, Falla says it could last even longer if that offers “value for money for the taxpayer”. “They asked us to look again at various aspects of the original solution and we have now got something we can work with and we think they’ll like,” he says. FB Heliservices presently operates Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel HT1 light singles and Bell 412 Griffin HT1 twins for the DHFS. O flightglobal.com
THIS WEEK
Probe ‘inconclusive’ on Doha decision THIS WEEK P10 PROPULSION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
P
ratt & Whitney says that certification for the PW1100G-JM powering the Airbus A320neo family remains on track, despite a test mishap discovered earlier this year. A routine inspection detected an “issue” with a turbine vane that prompted P&W to make a “minor modification”, the company says. Despite a report indicating the engine suffered substantial thermal damage during a stress test because of the turbine vane issue, P&W says the engine con-
tinued the test programme and accomplished all objectives during more than 100h. “We intentionally run the engine well beyond design limits to validate the integrity of the design,” P&W says. “Extensive testing confirms that the PW1100G-JM engine is on track to meet our performance guarantees,” it adds. The engine is scheduled to complete Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 33 certification in the third quarter of 2014, and entry into service on the A320neo is planned four the
Pratt & Whitney
PW1100 stays on track despite test discovery
Flight testing of the engine for the A320neo began in June fourth quarter of 2015. “We are very confident that Pratt & Whitney will deliver on its commitments,” adds Airbus. The vane modification is the
second known change on the PW1100G engine, following the engine manufacturer’s earlier decision to abandon the variable area fan nozzle. O
PROGRAMMES STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE
New entrants face familiar problems First flight of Bombardier CSeries postponed again as Mitsubishi Aircraft hints at fresh delay to its developmental MRJ
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For its part, Bombardier says it is “comfortable” with the new delay as it will enable it to “ensure the required integration is finalised and the CSeries aircraft is cleared for its first flight”. The latest postponement came as Bombardier started the gauntlet series of systems testing, which simulates a full take-off, cruise and landing cycle of all the aircraft systems on the ground. Completing the battery of trials is necessary for Bombardier to begin a series of slow- and high-speed taxi tests at its final
assembly plant in Mirabel, Canada. Test of the type’s Honeywell 131-9 auxiliary power unit and the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofan engines have also taken place. Bombardier says the engine APU tests are “running smoothly”, and integration work overall is “progressing well”. In late June, Bombardier announced it had completed a series of last-minute software upgrades, but the latest release indicates validation work of those changes is ongoing.
Patrick Cardinal
wo of the crop of all-new regional jets currently under development may have suffered fresh schedule slippage as their manufacturers struggle with ambitious programme targets. On 24 July, Bombardier announced that first flight of its CSeries had been pushed back again, moving the date for the third time from the end of July to the “coming weeks”. This was followed a day later with an announcement from Mitsubishi Aircraft that it was “reviewing” the schedule of its MRJ regional jet.
Bombardier has begun a series of ground trials with its first flying prototype at Mirabel flightglobal.com
The CSeries was originally scheduled to complete its first flight milestone in December 2012, followed by entry into service a year later. Last November, Bombardier delayed the first flight date by six months and then, more recently, to the end of July. Meanwhile, on 25 July media reports surfaced in Japan hinting that the MRJ will be delayed because of issues in the procurement of “key components” from foreign manufacturers. Although the airframer says all its partners “fully support the MRJ programme” and will “meet requirements for our development schedule”, it adds: “We are currently reviewing the schedule and will make an announcement in one month or so.” Mitsubishi’s disclosure on 25 July is the strongest indication yet that the MRJ programme could be delayed again. Before this, the Japanese airframer had maintained it was on track to perform its year-end first flight. The PW1200G-powered twinjet was originally expected to enter flight testing in late 2011. O More on Bombardier’s CSeries development programme at flightglobal.com/cseries
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 9
AIR TRANSPORT
Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles
INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Probe ‘inconclusive’ on Doha decision UAE investigators unable to determine if shorter turnback to could have saved crippled UPS freighter as fire took hold nalysis of the fatal UPS Boeing 747-400 Freighter fire has been unable to determine whether a diversion to Doha, rather than the longer turnback to Dubai, would have altered the outcome. United Arab Emirates investigators looking into the onboard fire – caused by the combustion of lithium batteries – examined the captain’s decision to pursue a return to Dubai, a track of 185nm (342km), having been informed that Doha was closer at 100nm. Neither pilot survived the 3 September 2010 accident. The captain was incapacitated and the first officer’s attempt to land the crippled aircraft singlehandedly at Dubai was unsuccessful, and it crashed just outside of the city. Checklists for a main-deck fire instruct the crew to plan a landing at the nearest available airport. At the point of the diversion decision, the aircraft would have needed 20min to reach Doha’s runway 15, says the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, which would have put a Doha landing some 6-7min ahead of the time of the crash. However, the inquiry points out that the crew was familiar with Dubai and did not have Doha’s charts or instrument landing system frequency immediately available. The aircraft’s flightmanagement computer also reprograms automatically to the
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UPS has since introduced a number of safety modifications to its Boeing 747-400 fleet departure airport in case of a turnback within 400nm. “There is no direct information as to why the crew elected to choose Dubai verses Doha,” says the inquiry. “However, it is likely that at the time of the initiation of the turnback, the crew was not yet aware of the full extent of the fire and its effects.” The analysis notes that a Doha diversion would not necessarily have been successful. It says that the progressive failure of systems on the 747 – including elevator, speed-brake and oxygen supply problems – would have generated a similar level of control difficulties for the crew. Investigators also found that the landing-gear
failed to extend when the first officer selected the undercarriage lever, and this would have complicated a Doha approach. The aircraft was still heavily-fuelled, fully-laden, and “in all probability” would have made a gear-up landing, the inquiry said. However, the GCAA states that the turnback created a “major difficulty” by taking the aircraft out of VHF radio range with Bahrain area controllers. Smoke prevented the first officer from retuning the radio frequency and communications had to be relayed via other aircraft. Diverting to Doha would have enabled the crew to maintain direct contact with Bahrain, while
radar surveillance and coordination would have been simplified. “Analysis of the diversion to Doha and the likely outcome is speculative as the crew incapacitation, as well as smoke and fumes in the cockpit, would have prevailed,” the inquiry says, adding that the 747’s control was “seriously compromised”. It says: “The likely outcome of the diversion to Doha is therefore inconclusive, although the communication and task saturation issues experienced by the remaining pilot would have been negated by a Doha diversion.” O Keep up with safety issues in aviation online by logging on to flightglobal.com/safety
PROPULSION GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE
CFM cool on Chinese assembly of Leap engines
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FM International has ruled out a technology joint venture with AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engines (ACAE) and plans for a China-based assembly line for the company’s Leap-1C engine have effectively been placed on hold. “Never say never, but we steadfastly refuse to do a technology [joint venture] with ACAE,”
says Chaker Chahrour, executive vice-president of CFM. “We have technology we want to protect.” “There is a letter of intent for final assembly of the Leap-1C, but we don’t see this happening imminently,” he adds. In June 2011, CFM and ACAE signed a memorandum of understanding to study the local assembly of Leap-1C engines in China.
10 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
However, he says this will now only be considered if there is a compelling business case for it, stressing the C919’s orderbook of 380 aircraft as insufficient to justify an in-country assembly line. Chahrour’s comments came at a media roundtable in Singapore. He adds that CFM is still working on the basis that the Comac C919 aircraft will have its first flight in
the fourth quarter of 2014. “Comac has not communicated about any change of dates,” Chahrour says. “I was at Comac last week. There has been talk about it, but no formal communication with us about new dates.” Chahrour was referring to persistent rumours that the first flight of China’s high-profile narrowbody airliner will be delayed. O flightglobal.com
AIR TRANSPORT
Lion growls defiance over crew concerns
AIR TRANSPORT P12 DELIVERY EDWARD RUSSELL HAMBURG
American Airlines reacquaints itself with Airbus family A
merican Airlines took delivery of its initial Airbus A319 on 23 July, the first aircraft in its fleet from the European airframer in four years. The 128-seat narrowbody marks the start of deliveries stemming from the Fort Worthbased airline’s 2011 firm order for 260 Airbus A320-family narrowbodies. The order is split
between 130 A319 and A321s, and 130 A320neo family aircraft. Airbus formally handed over the CFM International CFM56powered aircraft (N8001) to American during a ceremony attended by executives from both companies at the manufacturer’s Hamburg assembly line. “The introduction of the A319 is another important step in
American Airlines
Delivery of initial A319 from 260-narrowbody order marks return of Europe-built jets to fleet after four-year absence The handover marks service entry for sharklets on the A319 building a strong foundation for the new American,” says Virasb Vahidi, the US carrier’s chief commercial officer. The aircraft is leased from Airbus under an OEM financing arrangement. It will later be acquired by lessor Avolon and put
on a 10-year lease to American. Airbus has sold on 30 of the American aircraft to date. American will take 15 A319s as well as five Airbus A321s this year. However, it has yet to disclose the future split between the two variants as it retains the option of switching between the narrowbodies based on its operational needs. Deliveries will run until 2017. The carrier last operated an Airbus type – an A300-600 – in 2009. In addition to being a milestone for American, this delivery marks the entry into service of the A319 with Airbus’s sharklet wing-tip modifications. O
PRODUCTION
Mobile mobilises as construction progresses Airbus plans to begin operations at its new A320 family final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, in the “late first half” of 2015. Delivery of the first aircraft, which will be an A320 for JetBlue Airways, is on schedule for early 2016, said Barry Eccleston, president and chief executive of Airbus Americas, at a delivery ceremony for American
Airlines’ first A319 in Hamburg on 23 July. Airbus broke ground at the final assembly line site at Brookley Field, a regional airport adjacent to downtown Mobile, in April. Construction work is progressing as scheduled and is “coming along fine”, says Eccleston. Initially, only A320s will be assembled at the
Mobile facility, but production will “quickly move” to A321s to fulfil Airbus’ orderbook for the variant in North America, he adds. American, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines and US Airways have at least 233 outstanding orders for both current-generation and Neo variants of the A321, based on Airbus’s most recent order data. O
For details on Airbus’s plans to build more A320neos, go to flightglobal.com/neo
REGULATORY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
UTair takes first A321 but awaits approval to fly type ussian carrier UTair is confident that it will be granted authority to operate the Airbus A321, after formally receiving the first of a batch of 20 on order. UTair ordered the A321s in July last year, but has faced resistance from Russian federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia, which has expressed concern over the airline’s ability to handle the introduction of multiple aircraft types. The airline’s first A321 – serial number 5681, powered by CFM International CFM56 engines – was delivered during a ceremony at Airbus’s Hamburg plant on 18 July. UTair admits it “hasn’t got flightglobal.com
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Older Soviet-era aircraft are still operated by the carrier permission” to operate the type from Rosaviatsia, but says: “We have the documents which we have sent to authorities.”
The airline believes that it will overcome regulatory concern and receive clearance within weeks. “We need time,” it says. “We think
we’ll get permission, because this is a really big contract.” Rosaviatsia’s latest disclosure of air operator’s certificates does not include the A321 under UTair’s entry. The aircraft types include 21 ATR turboprops, 49 Boeing 737s, a dozen 757s and 767s, and 11 Bombardier CRJs, alongside older Soviet-era Tupolev jets. Although UTair is planning to withdraw some of its older aircraft, Rosaviatsia remains concerned as to whether the airline’s safety management system can cope with the increasingly diverse fleet. UTair is also planning to bring in Sukhoi Superjet 100s next year. O
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 11
AIR TRANSPORT
Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles
STUDY MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE
Research from nation’s safety regulator finds inexperienced aviators to be as proficient and capable as direct-entry peers
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study by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has found no evidence to suggest cadets or low-hour pilots are less competent than their direct-entry and high-hour peers. The ATSB says it chose to explore the issue because there is “significant debate” within the aviation industry regarding the issues of pilot training and experience, particularly regarding the introduction of the multicrew pilot licence (MPL). “The main concern being presented by sectors of the industry that are not in favour of the MPL concept is the possibility that low-hour pilots are not as competent as their high-hour peers,” says the ATSB. There is a focus on the hours a pilot has accumulated because of an “inherent assumption” that this ensures a level of individual skill, says the ATSB. The safety regulator gathered data from three unnamed Australian airlines to explore the issue of pilot performance as a function of flight-hour experience and how they entered the industry – either as cadet pilots or via direct entry. Data was collected from simulator checks covering unusual scenarios and line checks related to normal day-to-day flight operations. Manoeuvres examined on the simulator included ILS missed approaches, engine failures during take-off and non-precision approaches. The line checks covered communication, terrain awareness and teamwork. The ATSB found the overall performance of cadets and lowhour pilots matched that of their direct-entry and high-hour peers, as all were marked proficient, the only differences between the
groups being how many exceeded standard requirements. “Given that the cadets met the standard and are therefore proficient, the evidence is demonstrating that the cadet pathway for low-hour pilots is a valid option for airlines,” says the ATSB. “Contrary to the expressed concerns of some sectors of the industry, there was no evidence
The ATSB gathered data from three unnamed Australian airlines to explore the issue of pilot performance as a function of flight-hour experience indicating that cadets or low-hour pilots within these airlines were any less competent or proficient than their direct-entry and highhour peers.” The USA enacted legislation to increase the minimum flight hours first officers require to enter an airline to 1,500h following the fatal crash of a Colgan Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 on approach to Buffalo, New York in 2009. Australia’s senate in 2011 also conducted an inquiry into pilot training to explore whether it should follow suit. However, it decided against imposing a 1,500h minimum, partly due to concerns that it could limit the supply of flightcrew. This was despite hearing evidence that the current minimum hours were “insufficient”. O For comprehensive breaking news in air transport, go to: flightglobal.com/pro
12 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
Joe G Walker gallery on flightglobal.com/AirSpace
Australian study endorses abilities of low-hour pilots The Indonesian carrier remains on the EU’s list of banned airlines SAFETY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Lion growls defiance over European crew concerns I
ndonesian carrier Lion Air is countering European reservations over its crew experience levels, insisting it demands more than the regulatory minimum when recruiting pilots. The European Commission identified pilot experience as a source of concern at Lion Air, after the carrier gave a presentation in June to the air safety committee ahead of a revision of its blacklist. However, Lion Air says the Commission’s “condensed” synopsis of the presentation is misleading because it leaves out “important information”. While Lion Air was asked to confirm it meets minimum requirements set by Indonesia’s regulator, the DGCA, the carrier says its representative told the air safety committee it exceeds them. The DGCA demands that first officers recruited from overseas
need to have logged at least 250h on type. But Lion Air says foreign first officers must have “more than 250 flight hours” on type, and claims the European Commission’s interpretation – that it “did not demand additional experience”, beyond minimum licensing – is “incorrect”. It also says it requires trainee first officers, which it recruits from Indonesia, to have 100-150h with an experienced line-training captain before being accepted as a full first officer – above the 75h threshold which, it says, is set by the DGCA. First officers moving up to captaincy must have logged at least 3,500-4,000h on the same type, the airline adds, even though the DGCA has “no set minimum” for command beyond the 1,500h established for granting an air transport pilot’s licence. Lion Air is still covered by the EU’s ban. O
INVESTIGATION GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE
Poor forecasting preceeded overruns Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee has attributed two Lion Air runway excursions – a day apart – to a combination of bad runway conditions and flightcrews’ over-reliance on weather information provided by air traffic control. The excursions, both involving Boeing 737-900ERs, occurred on 14 February (PK-LFI) and 15 February 2011 (PK-LHH) at Pekanbaru’s Sultan Kasim Syarif II airport on Sumatra. During both landings, flightcrew relied on ATC weather information specifying winds were calm and made their
landing calculations, apparently without reference to onboard systems. But analysis of flight-data recorders shows both 737s had 8-10kt (15-18km/h) tail winds, resulting in approach speeds 17kt above target. Also, conditions on runway 36 were slippery, with water up to 3cm (1in) deep in places, coupled with deposits of rubber from previous landings. The NTSC recommends Lion’s training curriculum place greater emphasis on stabilised approaches and pilots take wet runway conditions into account. No crew or passengers were injured in the incidents. O flightglobal.com
AIR TRANSPORT
Royal Navy starts Merlin transition to upgraded HM2 DEFENCE P14 INVESTIGATION ELLIS TAYLOR SINGAPORE
Confusion drove 737 low-fuel landing Erroneous weather data and false assumption over condition of diverted Qantas flight led to Virgin Australia jet’s emergency naccurate weather reports and confusion over the situation on another aircraft contributed to a Virgin Australia-operated Boeing 737 conducting an emergency landing at Mildura in June with only 535kg (1,180lb) of fuel remaining on board. Detail was revealed in an Australian Transport Safety Bureau preliminary report on the incident, which involved a Virgin 737-800 (VH-YIR), and a Qantas 737-800 (VH-VYK) that were operating flights to Adelaide on the morning of 18 June. Based on weather forecasts for the destination issued to both crews prior to departure, each had sufficient reserves and additional fuel on board. However,
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The incident involved Boeing aircraft from two Australian carriers neither aircraft was required to carry enough fuel to reach an alternate airport. En route to Adelaide, the forecast changed, indicating fog was expected at their intended landing times. The Qan-
tas crew received the meteorological update about 21min after departure, but their Virgin counterparts were unaware of the changed conditions until informed near the top of descent.
Both diverted to Mildura, where they were advised visibility was fine, but as the Virgin 737 descended through about 10,000ft (3,050m), the crew became aware of fog and low cloud at the airport. They elected to break off the descent and headed to a waypoint southeast of the airport to activate a RNAV approach. But at the same time, the crew of Qantas aircraft announced it was starting its approach and “fuel was an issue”. The Virgin crew assumed their counterparts had less fuel on board and allowed the Qantas aircraft to proceed. However, on landing, the latter had about 2,100kg remaining, while analysis of the Virgin 737 revealed only 535kg of fuel left. O
DEFENCE
For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter
ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY RNAS CULDROSE
Royal Navy starts Merlin transition to upgraded HM2 T
he UK Royal Navy has stood up its first unit to operate AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin helicopters enhanced to the HM2 standard under a £750 million ($1.15 billion) upgrade programme. Based at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, training unit 824 Sqn has so far received five of the modified aircraft, which have been equipped with a new mission system and avionics suite in an effort headed by Lockheed Martin as part of the Merlin Capability Sustainment Programme (MCSP). A further three helicopters configured for the anti-submarine
warfare role will join the squadron in August, while a first frontline unit, 820 Sqn, will get its Merlin HM2s from September. Ground-based conversion training for the initial cadre of 820 Sqn pilots began in mid-July, with the last of its HM1s having already departed to receive the upgrades at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil site in Somerset. Speaking at a 23 July ceremony to mark the milestone at Culdrose, Cdre Andy Lison, representing the UK Defence Equipment & Support procurement agency, said the Merlin has now “come of age”. “It
Crown Copyright
Training unit begins using modified anti-submarine warfare and multi-mission helicopters, under 30-aircraft programme
Five upgraded AW101s are now in use with 824 Sqn in Cornwall offers the force commander capability, flexibility and the all-important military edge,” he says. Alongside improvements to the cockpit and mission system interface, increased modularity means the helicopter can be converted in about 2h 30min to other roles, such as casualty evacuation or troop transport. It also gains a
VARIANTS
UK considers conversion for naval commando force As a first batch of AgustaWestland Merlin HM2s enters service with the Royal Navy, two additional upgrade programmes for the AW101 are under evaluation by the UK Ministry of Defence. Most urgently, the MoD is considering the conversion of 25 Merlin HC3/3As currently operated by the Royal Air Force into a marinised HC4 variant for use by the navy’s Commando Helicopter Force from 2014-2015. These would replace Westland Sea Kings which will be retired in 2016. A decision is expected by year-end,
but navy crews have already begun conversion courses at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. Changes from the RAF configuration will include a folding tail boom and rotor blades for shipborne storage, plus a number of modifications “to take out obsolescence”, says Cdre Andy Lison from the UK’s Defence Equipment & Support organisation. AgustaWestland would lead the manufacturing and development phase. The MoD has also launched a “Crowsnest” contest, to equip the navy’s multimission HM2 fleet for the airborne surveillance and control
(ASaC) role currently delivered using Sea King 7s. Lockheed Martin is overseeing the effort under an initial £3 million ($4.6 million) contract awarded in 2012. All 30 upgraded Merlin HM2s will be able to perform the task, courtesy of Lockheed’s Vigilance mission suite, but only 10 ASaC systems will be purchased, from either Lockheed or Thales. Both companies are to provide test systems for an 18-month evaluation phase, with the RN aiming to field the Crowsnest system from 2020 as part of its carrier strike capability. O
door-mounted .50cal M3M machine gun for self-protection. AgustaWestland has received 22 of the 30 aircraft which will get the MCSP enhancements; a reduction of eight from the initial proposal. No decision has been taken on the surplus helicopters, but in the short term they are likely to be used for spare components, says Lison. HM2 deliveries will continue until late 2014, with a number of software releases of “increasing maturity” rolled out as systems such as the radar acoustics and mission suite are fine-tuned, he says. The final four aircraft will get additional defensive suite upgrades to enable their deployment in the Persian Gulf, he adds. A first embarkation in UK waters aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Argus is planned for November, with initial operational capability due for the first quarter of next year. Full operational capability is expected to be declared by the end of 2014. O For more news and information on the rotorcraft industry, go to flightglobal.com/helicopters
UNMANNED SYSTEMS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC
DARPA dips into underwater UAS launch vehicles T
he US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hopes to develop a Hydra unmanned submersible carrier vehicle capable of launching small unmanned aircraft, surface and underwater vehicles.
“The air vehicle payload is envisioned to consist of individually encapsulated air vehicles within a module that fits into the standard Hydra modular enclosure,” says DARPA, which wants to award one or possibly more de-
14 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
velopmental contracts for each of five technology areas. Subsequent field testing and operational demonstration phases are planned, with DARPA’s preliminary concept of operation involving a UAS being ejected
from the module before floating to the surface and taking off. It hopes to “leverage” an existing aircraft for the project. O For more about unmanned air vehicle operations, visit flightglobal.com/uav
flightglobal.com
DEFENCE
A400M partners all set for military certification boost DEFENCE P17 CONTRACT GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE
Qantas readies surplus C-130s for Indonesia sia “straight away”, he adds. Following refurbishment work to be performed at the base, the following three will be delivered in January or February, June or July and October 2014, QDS says. Indonesian pilots are already preparing to use the ex-RAAF Hercules, with the Australian cockpit configuration making simulator training necessary. Jakarta already has an active fleet of 15 C-130B/H transports, plus four commercial-variant L-100s, says Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets database. Australia halted operations with its last C-130Hs in November 2012, six months after announcing that it would retire the type early as a cost-saving measure. The four examples to be transferred to Indonesia could serve for another 20-30 years, Brown says. O
The Block III weapon will offer increased capability for the F-35C MISSILES DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC
US Navy to target 60% range boost for AIM-9X variant Next-generation version of Sidewinder to increase tactical flexibility of Joint Strike Fighter from 2022, NAVAIR says
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Alenia Aermacchi
antas Defence Services (QDS) has entered into a contract with the Indonesian air force for refurbishment work on four former-Royal Australian Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules tactical transports. Worth A$63 million ($58 million), the deal mainly applies to three of the aircraft, says Glenn Brown, head of the Qantas Aviation Services organisation, of which QDS is a unit. Stored for between three and four years at RAAF Richmond in New South Wales, the trio require varying degrees of maintenance to return them to operational status, Brown says. The other, which had undergone heavy maintenance shortly before being retired, has already been painted in Indonesian air force colours. This aircraft is “immediately airworthy”, and will be sent to Indone-
Lockheed Martin
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Ankara’s first instructor pilots have completed training on the type DELIVERY CRAIG HOYLE LONDON
Turkish navy gets first ATR 72
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lenia Aermacchi has delivered its first of two ATR 72-600 utility aircraft to the Turkish navy, as part of a recently revised maritime patrol and antisubmarine warfare acquisition. Turkey’s first instructor pilots have already completed training on the adapted regional aircraft at the company’s Turin-Caselle site in Italy, with the second transport to be handed over by mid-August. “Both will be used for utility roles, personnel and cargo logistic transport,” says Alenia Aermacflightglobal.com
chi, which has added military radios, identification friend or foe equipment and tactical mission positions to the commercial type. Ankara earlier this year adjusted its Meltem 3 programme from a plan to acquire 10 modified ATR 72-500s to the two utility aircraft, plus six -600s in a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare configuration. Deliveries of the latter will start in February 2017 and conclude in 2018, with Turkish Aerospace Industries to modify the aircraft. O
he US Navy hopes to increase the employment range of Raytheon’s AIM-9X Block III airto-air missile by 60% over current Sidewinder variants, due to the unique needs of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) says. The new weapon is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability in 2022. “The Block III range requirement was in response to Joint Strike Fighter requirements in the 2020+ timeframe,” NAVAIR says. The current AIM-9X Block II missile already overlaps some of the range capability of Raytheon’s more powerful AIM-120D AMRAAM, and the future development will “provide fighter aircraft with increased capacity of BVR [beyond visual-range] weapons for tactical flexibility,” it adds. “Programme affordability was a primary concern for new missile development,” says NAVAIR. “Modifying the existing AIM-9X for increased range provides a highly affordable solution for meeting the performance requirement. Increased range will be achieved through a combination of increased rocket motor performance and missile power management.” In addition to a more energetic
rocket motor, the enhanced weapon will also have a new insensitive munitions warhead, which will be safer to store onboard an aircraft carrier. However, NAVAIR says the Block III will “leverage” the current design’s guidance unit and electronics, including its AMRAAM-derived datalink. While the Department of Defense needs the new passive imaging infrared-guided Sidewinder to be a supplemental BVR weapon for situations where friendly fighters could face electronic attacks from advanced digital radio frequency memory jammers that would degrade the utility of the radar-guided AMRAAM, it will not compromise on the AIM-9X’s close-in performance. “The requirement and design call for the same WVR/HOBS [within visualrange/high off-boresight] capabilities as those found in the AIM9X Block II,” NAVAIR says. The Block III programme is currently scheduled to enter into its engineering and manufacturing development phase in 2016, ahead of developmental testing from 2018 and operational testing to start in 2020. O Follow more US defence topics on our The DEW Line blog: flightglobal.com/dewline
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 15
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DEFENCE
Airbus Military steps up its C295 maritime pitch to UK SHOW REPORT P18 TRANSPORTS CRAIG HOYLE LONDON
A400M partners all set for military certification boost
CONTRACT DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC
Launch nations to approve milestone, as talks continue on terms for first French delivery
oeing has been awarded a $17 million contract to help support the integration of Raytheon’s next generation jammer (NGJ) pod with the airframer’s EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft for the US Navy. The activity “will include technical, programmatic and logistics efforts, as well as overall systems engineering management to ensure that the NGJ subsystem is ready for entry into the planned engineering, manufacturing and development [EMD] phase,” Boeing says. Boeing “will work with the NGJ prime contractor to seamlessly integrate the NGJ subsystem with the EA-18G’s existing avionics suite,” it adds. The NGJ programme recently entered a 22-month technology development phase, after the navy decided to award a roughly $280 million contract to Raytheon. This work will be followed by a 4.5-year EMD phase, with the system expected to become operational with the service’s Growlers during fiscal year 2020. Intended to replace the USN’s increasingly obsolescent ALQ-99 mid-band jamming pods, the NGJ will incorporate active electronically scanned array antenna technology. “This will enable unsurpassed airborne electronic attack performance on the EA-18G, the only platform announced for NGJ at this time,” Boeing says. Meanwhile, losing bidder BAE Systems is challenging the navy’s decision to pick Raytheon’s offering for the requirement, via a protest filed with the US Government Accountability Office. “The solution we put forward would provide the US Navy with an affordable and effective way to significantly enhance current capabilities and protect our aircraft, ships, and armed forces,” the company says. “We protested the award based on concerns with the navy’s evaluation of our offering,” it adds. O
Boeing secures NGJ integration deal for Growler
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he A400M transport is poised to lift military certification approval from the programme’s seven European launch nations, as Airbus Military’s first production example awaits delayed service introduction with the French air force. France’s DGA defence procurement agency on 20 July announced via Twitter that the A400M launch partners had agreed to approve the military certification milestone. Airbus Military earlier this year secured full civil certification for the Europrop International TP400-D6 turboprop-engined type, after completing a key phase of function and reliability testing. Meanwhile, Airbus Military says it is continuing discussions with the DGA over the terms for delivering French air force aircraft MSN7; the first of 170 A400Ms under contract for Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK. The service is due to field its first
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Deliveries of the European transport are still waiting to take off three of 50 A400Ms this year, with the second already having been flown in Seville, Spain. Paris had previously been scheduled to accept its first example in late May or early June 2013. Airbus Military’s productionstandard development aircraft “Grizzly 5” is to soon start an additional phase of aerial delivery testing in Spain, with the work following on from its participation at the 20-21 July Royal Inter-
national Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK. The same aircraft performed a series of equipment loading and unloading trials and flights from the Ministry of Defence/Qinetiq flight-test centre at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire before the show. Vehicles carried during the activity included a roughly 8t British Army Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicle. O See Show Report P18
UNMANNED SYSTEMS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC
US Navy takes first MQ-8C Fire Scout N
time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” says George Vardoulakis, Northrop vice-president for medium-range tactical systems. “Testing on the Naval Air Systems Command test range provides us with extended air space to conduct and demonstrate long
US Navy
orthrop Grumman has delivered its first MQ-8C Fire Scout to the US Navy, with the unmanned helicopter to be used for developmental testing. “Ground and flight testing are the next steps in meeting the [navy’s] urgent requirement for mari-
The unmanned helicopter’s systems will undergo ground testing flightglobal.com
endurance and systems testing in a maritime environment.” Initial ground testing will ensure the MQ-8C’s systems can communicate with a ground control station prior to first flight. Northrop has repackaged the avionics hardware from its original Schweizer 333-derived MQ-8B into a Bell 407, giving the new Fire Scout system three times the payload and twice the endurance at extended ranges compared with the earlier version. The USN expects to make its first operational deployment with the MQ-8C in 2014. The service has so far ordered 12 of the type, from a planned 30unit acquisition. O
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 17
SHOW REPORT
For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multi-media content visit flightglobal.com/wotw
RIAT 2013
Dylan Eklund
While the impact of budgetary constraints associated with Congressional sequestration meant there were no US military aircraft in attendance, blue skies and an 8h flying display each day drew sell-out crowds totalling roughly 130,000 visitors to the UK’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT). Held at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire from 20-21 July, the annual event included around 230 aircraft from 19 nations. Thirty air chiefs from services around the globe also made the trip to the Cotswolds, underscoring the show’s relevance to international relations. To return from 12-13 July 2014, the next RIAT will immediately precede the Farnborough air show. Report by Craig Hoyle RECONNAISSANCE
Airbus Military steps up its C295 maritime pitch to UK
ROTORCRAFT
RAF officers shown Portuguese multimission aircraft, as Nimrod replacement need grows
he Royal Air Force is on schedule to take delivery of its first Chinook HC6 transport helicopter from a 14-aircraft order before the end of this year, says Chuck Dabundo, Boeing vice-president in charge of the CH-47 programme. The UK’s first three aircraft are currently involved in testing in the USA, with one being flown in Mesa, Arizona, and another at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland. The third is undergoing groundbased electromagnetic testing at the latter site, Dabundo notes, adding: “We are tracking well on the programme.” First flown in March 2013, the UK’s HC6 version of the Chinook will be delivered with a Thalessourced cockpit developed for Project Julius, which will bring the RAF’s previous HC2/2A and HC3-standard aircraft to a common avionics configuration. The HC6 model also will feature a digital automatic flight control system, which Dabundo says could later be retrofitted to previous examples. O
Chinook testing on track for delivery to RAF
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he UK’s lack of a dedicated maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) fleet continues to attract companies eyeing a potential need to acquire successors to the Royal Air Force’s British Aerospace Nimrod MR2s, the last of which were retired in March 2010. Industry sources say a UK air ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) optimisation study is set to enter a second phase soon, following an analysis of initial engagement between potential bidders and the Ministry of Defence. If progressed, this could lead to the MoD establishing a funding line by April 2014. Several senior RAF officers were given a tour of a Portuguese air force Airbus Military C295 multimission aircraft during the Royal International Air Tattoo. Operated by 502 Sqn from Montijo air base, the adapted transport was on show in its MPA configuration, which includes a maritime search radar, electro-optical infrared sensor and onboard operator workstations, plus fuselagemounted side-looking airborne
Rich Cooper
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Lisbon’s 502 Sqn has five aircraft equipped for naval surveillance radar sensors, used for tasks including pollution detection. Portugal operates 12 C295s, with five equipped with the palletbased MPA fit at any one time. Other roles undertaken in four years of operating the type have included troop transport, supporting long-range search and rescue operations involving AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters, and acting as a command and control platform during firefighting activities, says 502 Sqn commanding officer Lt Col Pedro Bernardino. Airbus Military, which displayed a model of a torpedoequipped C295 in RAF markings inside the EADS chalet, has al-
18 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
ready discussed potential co-operation with local equipment suppliers for a potential UK competition, says Gary Soul, head of strategy and business development at EADS UK. Other possible candidates would include the Boeing 737based P-8 and a so-called Swordfish offering based on the out-ofproduction Saab 2000. The MoD spent £3.8 million ($5.8 million) in the 2012-2013 financial year on a “seedcorn” initiative, through which 34 RAF personnel maintained maritime patrol experience using assets flown by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. O
To access additional stories and images from RIAT, visit flightglobal.com/defence
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RIAT 2013 SHOW REPORT
COMBAT AIRCRAFT
Multi-role Typhoon ‘over-delivering’ UK says performance of aircraft in Red Flag exercise shows its potential to operate alongside F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
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RAF Eurofighters are heading towards new weapons integration
Peter Foster
ombat experience over Libya and a recent first involvement in a “Red Flag” exercise in the USA have helped to inform a Royal Air Force reassessment of the Eurofighter Typhoon’s future potential alongside the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, senior officials say. RAF Typhoons dropped more than 200 Raytheon Enhanced Paveway II 454kg (1,000lb) laserguided bombs over Libya in 2011, in co-operation with the service’s Panavia Tornado GR4s. But by the time of Red Flag in FebruaryMarch 2013, the type was able to perform full swing-role missions as part of a formation also involving the US Air Force’s stealthy Lockheed F-22 Raptor. “Multi-role [Typhoon] is being taken very seriously by other air forces and governments around the world,” says Air Vice-Marshal Edward Stringer, RAF assistant chief of the air staff, who adds the type is now “over-delivering”.
“Red Flag was a real eye-opener about how we should think about Typhoon,” says Wg Cdr Rich Wells, officer commanding Eurofighter-equipped 11 Sqn, which sent nine aircraft to Nellis AFB, Nevada. “Now we’ve started to take the handcuffs off.”
With the last Tornado GR4s due to leave service by late this decade, attention is being given to how the Typhoon will be used in combination with the F-35. On 18 July, the RAF announced GR4-equipped 617 Sqn is to be disbanded in April 2014, before
PROGRAMME
TRANSPORTS
Voyager close to new tanker clearance A
has yet to be achieved, Wg Cdr Rich Wells, officer commanding the RAF’s Typhoon-equipped 11 Sqn, says: “The whole squadron has been through tanking now.” Six Voyagers have been delivered so far under the Ministry of Defence’s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme with the Air-
Rich Cooper
irTanker is close to securing full release to service (RTS) clearance for the Royal Air Force’s Airbus A330 Voyagers to provide in-flight refuelling for its Eurofighter Typhoons, but the combination are already working together under a temporary exemption. Although the full RTS milestone
AirTanker A330s are now supporting the Eurofighter and Tornado flightglobal.com
reforming in 2016 as the first UK unit to operate the F-35 Lightning II. To have a mix of air force and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm personnel, the squadron will be based at RAF Marham, Norfolk. “We already know what the next epoch in combat air will be; a way of operating fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft that is completely different,” Stringer says. “It’s quite exciting to see what we will be able to do with Eurofighter and JSF together.” Meanwhile, Stringer says some planned weapon system enhancements for the Typhoon could happen “sooner than you think,” adding: “We are looking to accelerate when some of the capabilities will go onto the jet.” The RAF will soon gain the ability to use Raytheon’s Paveway IV precision-guided bomb, with the MBDA Brimstone air-to-surface weapon, Storm Shadow cruise missile and Meteor beyond visualrange air-to-air missile to follow. O
Tanker consortium. Full capability will be declared in May 2014, with the delivery of a ninth example, and a total of 14 will be in use by the end of 2015. Now flown by the RAF’s 10 Sqn from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the Voyagers are gradually assuming the tanker role held by the service’s Vickers VC10s, which will be retired by the end of September, and its Lockheed TriStar tanker/transports, which will leave use in March 2014. AirTanker in mid-May received RTS clearance to deliver in-flight refuelling services for the RAF’s Panavia Tornado GR4s. Its next focus will be on flying clearance tests to refuel widebody aircraft using the centreline hose refuelling unit to be installed in roughly half of the fleet, says chief executive Phill Blundell. O
Eye on Dubai for MC-27J
P
artners Alenia Aermacchi and ATK plan to take their developmental MC-27J gunship and multi-mission aircraft to the Dubai air show in November, with the Middle East being just one “focus area” for the type. Airborne firings using a fixed ATK GAU-23 30mm cannon were conducted in the USA earlier this year. A second test phase will demonstrate increased accuracy via mission system software enhancements, and fire the weapon beyond the maximum 12,500ft (3,800m) slant angle already achieved, says Brad Hayes, business development director for its special mission aircraft unit. “The RFPs and RFIs have really started to pick up. We have multiple potential customers looking,” says Hayes. O
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 19
RIAT 2013
For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multi-media content visit flightglobal.com/wotw
SHOW REPORT
SHOW OF FORCE
Rich Cooper, EADS, Peter Foster, Craig Hoyle, Kevin Jackson, Ryan412 Gallery on flightglobal.com/AirSpace
Now into its fifth decade, the Royal International Air Tattoo is renowned for its ability to draw a dazzling array of military aircraft from around the globe. A rare run of fine weather meant even the lack of US participation failed to take the shine off this year’s spectacular event
(Clockwise from main): Belgian air force F-16; Lancaster leads Tornado GR4 in 617 Sqn tribute; Italy’s Frecce Tricolori; Classic Air Force Meteor WA591; Italian KC-767 tanker trails hoses for Anglo-Italian Eurofighter pair;
German navy-operated Dornier 228NG; restored Canberra PR9 returns for Midair Squadron; British Airways’ first A380 stars, leading a Red Arrows flypast; and a final RIAT appearance for the RAF’s venerable TriStar
20 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
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30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 21
BUSINESS AVIATION
Keep up to date with all the latest business and general aviation news at flightglobal.com/bizav
DELAYS STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Avionics hold back trio of Cessna jets Garmin difficulties in certificating flightdeck push M2 and Sovereign service entry to fourth quarter, and Citation X to 2014
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extron has lowered its revenue outlook for subsidiary Cessna to account for new delays on several business jet development programmes that will reduce expected deliveries this year. Textron chief executive Scott Donnelly blames the delays on struggles by Garmin to certificate a common flightdeck that is shared between the new M2, Longitude and Citation X business jets. “The guys are very bullish that we think it has the things that it needs to have in it for the final [certification], and so it’s a matter of just taking those now and getting them into the actual aircraft,” says Donnelly. The delays will push back entry into service for the M2
and the new Sovereign from the third to the fourth quarter. The effort to complete certification on those two aircraft means the delay on the Citation X will be longer, stretching from the third quarter to the first quarter of 2014, he says. “In the grand scheme of things, I don’t like having a certification date slip, but this is a relatively mild, modest slip,” Donnelly says. Cessna continues to develop the Latitude and Longitude jets for service entry in 2015 and 2017, and is “making good progress”, Donnelly says. In the second quarter, Textron announced that Cessna would slow production of light jets, such as the M2, CJ2, CJ3 and CJ4, as po-
“I don’t like having a certification date slip, but this is a relatively mild, modest slip” SCOTT DONNELLY Chief executive, Textron
tential customers were demanding steeper discounts than the corporate parent was willing to allow to complete deals. Market demand for such aircraft has not changed since that announcement in May. “There’s some activity, but it’s still pretty soft,” Donnelly says. In Textron’s view, the light jet market remains depressed be-
cause target customers are owners of small and mid-size businesses, and that community has not regained confidence levels from before the 2008 financial crisis. As a result, instead of buying replacement aircraft in roughly sevenyear cycles, they’re holding back longer and accepting a penalty on the used aircraft’s residual value. “Eventually they will come, but I think a lot of it just has to do with where the residual values are,” Donnelly says. “I think the biggest challenge is that we haven’t really seen… a price recovery in terms of used aircraft values.” O Read how Flightglobal’s flight test pilot appraised the M2 at flightglobal.com/m2
DEVELOPMENT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Textron hovers on 2015 for first Bell 525 delivery
Gulfstream
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China’s market for business jets such as the G280 is growing OPERATIONS KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
Approvals open doors for G280
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ulfstream has clinched validation for its G280 business jet from the civil aviation authorities of China and Canada. The approval paves the way for the super-midsize aircraft- which entered service late last year – to be operated commercially in these countries. China is a key market for Gulfstream. The US airframer boasts an installed base of more than 110 business jets in the Greater China region and a 65% share of the super midsize market there with the G280 predecessor the
G200. According to Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets database only two G280 orders have been recorded so far from customers in the region. To help swell the order book, Gulfstream has opened a sales office and a service centre in Beijing as part of a joint venture with Hainan Airlines Group, Hainan Aviation Technik and Beijing Capital Airlines. Ten G280’s are in service worldwide - including one in Canada - and 25 of the types are on order, says Ascend. O
22 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
he Bell Helicopter 525 could enter service in about two years’ time, depending on negotiations with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about certification timelines for the first commercial fly-by-wire helicopter, says Textron chief executive Scott Donnelly. Bell has never announced the certification schedule for the 16-passenger super-midsize helicopter, despite launching it in February 2012. “We’ll likely certify – we haven’t given a hard date to customers yet, but probably sometime out in 2015,” says Donnelly. The 525, also called the Relentless, remains on track to fly for the first time in 2014. But the certification timeline has always been uncertain as Bell and the FAA negotiate how to apply airworthiness standards for fly-by-wire from the fixed-wing market to the helicopter industry. The 525’s fly-by-wire system is designed by BAE Systems, which also developed the digital flight
controls for the military V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. Bell has said that experience with the V-22 and preliminary negotiations on certificating the civil BA609 tiltrotor allowed the 525 programme to have a head start in discussions with the FAA.
The certification timeline has always been uncertain Bell dropped out of the BA609 programme after partner AgustaWestland took over the effort and renamed the aircraft the AW609. The 525 is now expected to enter service at least a year ahead of the first fly-by-wire civil tiltrotor. Meanwhile, Bell delivered 44 commercial helicopters in the second quarter – three fewer than in the first quarter. However, Donnelly says full-year deliveries will be up on 2012, as shipments “are more heavily weighted towards the third and fourth quarters”. O flightglobal.com
BUSINESS AVIATION
Rescued Lisa plans restart of Akoya amphibian testing
GENERAL AVIATION P24 DEVELOPMENT MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE
IN BRIEF
MRJ near to Japan government order
DC EXPANDS FLEET German business aviation services provider DC Aviation added five midsize and long-range business jets in the first half of 2013, bringing its global fleet count to 17. Its Swiss subsidiary Heli-Link has also acquired a VIPconfigured Eurocopter EC155 B1 light twin-engined helicopter.
M
SINGAPORE SIGNATURE
Mitsubishi
itsubishi Aircraft appears to be closing in on an order from Japan’s government to provide a VVIP variant of its new MRJ regional twinjet. Japanese reports suggest the government is looking at buying the MRJ for the prime minister’s use on domestic and short-haul international travel. When contacted, Mitsubishi said the reports are not based on any announcements or comments it has made: “Mitsubishi Aircraft has been promoting the MRJ as the chartered government jet and Self-Defence Force’s plane since the project launch. Yet we do not have anything specific to announce or comment publicly about this deal from our side.” The company says that in its view, the MRJ is suitable as the successor to Japan’s Gulfstream
The twinjet is viewed as a successor to Japan’s Gulfstream IVs IVs used for mid-range government VIP transport. Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database lists the Japan Air Self-Defence Force as having a fleet of five Gulfstream IVs, which it designates U-4. The Japanese govern-
ment also has two Boeing 747s. Mitsubishi is working towards the MRJ’s first-flight by the end of 2013. However, the airframer announced on 25 July that it was reviewing the development schedule for the twinjet. O
Signature Flight Support has officially opened its new passenger and ground handling facility at Singapore Changi International airport. This is the second Asian base for the world’s largest fixedbase operator which already has an FBO in Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport.
EASY STANDARD
FACILITIES KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
StandardAero has become the first Dassault-authorised service centre to complete the EASy II flightdeck upgrade on a Falcon 2000LX. The company says it has numerous orders lined up for the Primus Epic-based EASy II upgrade which features Honeywell’s SmartView synthetic vision system and a more efficient route planning system.
Government grants request to handle all charter movements at business aviation terminal
EVACUATION PLANS
Bristol airport keen for FBO growth as flight rules eased B
ristol airport has set its sights on becoming a leading UK hub for business aircraft traffic having removed the operational hurdles which have stifled growth at the facility – home to the largest fixed-base operation in the southwest of England. The FBO – Bristol Flying Centre – clinched government approval at the end of July to handle all charter flights directly. Previously, all charter flights above 10t – except privately owned or derogated flights – had to be cleared through the main airport. “This approval opens up the potential for significant growth in movements for the business,” says Phil Brockwell, chief executive of the BFC Group, which also owns Bristol-based Cessna Citation CJ2 charter operator Centreline Air and maintenance company BFC Engineering.
flightglobal.com
“Clearing flights through the airport’s commercial terminal was inconvenient for passengers. This takes away some of the benefits of flying by business aircraft in the first place,” adds Brockwell. BFC has also renegotiated its fuel contract with BP, cutting the cost of refuelling for its customers. Bristol Flying Centre, which is about 86nm (160km) from London, underwent a huge redevelopment earlier this year, and can now handle private and charter flights of all sizes via its two lounges. Brockwell says that he is aiming to turn the facility into a leading business aircraft hub: “We hope to attract long-haul flights that need to make a fuel or tech stop in the UK. This is a lucrative market.”
BFC also hopes to increase its tally of Bristol-based aircraft. “We are promoting ourselves as a cheaper and more accessible alternative to the London-area airports,” Brockwell adds. Bristol airport had about 3,000 business aircraft movements in 2012 and expects this tally to climb to 4,500 by the end of 2013. The closure in late 2012 of nearby Filton airport has boosted the throughput significantly, Brockwell says. “About 98% of the traffic has come to us. New handling business includes Airbus’s daily Embraer ERJ-145 corporate shuttle from Bristol to Toulouse [operated by] British Midland and the thrice-weekly Beechcraft King Air shuttle to Barrow-In-Furness for BAE Systems.” O For news from the business and general aviation sectors, go to flightglobal.com/bizav
Aircraft charter broker Air Partner has developed a global contingency plan aimed at evacuating passengers from cruise ships and deploying specially chartered aircraft to fly them to their destinations. The UK-headquartered company says the cruise industry launches about 10,000 annual voyages, supporting nearly half a million passengers at any time.
AIRCRAFT DESIGN APP Jet Aviation’s St Louis, USA facility has launched an app which will enable its customers to design the interior and exterior of their business aircraft. iDesignJets will initially be targeted at Bombardier Challenger owners but will be expanded to other types across the Bombardier, Boeing, Embraer, Falcon, Gulfstream and Hawker families at a later date.
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 23
GENERAL AVIATION
BELL DOWN UNDER Business aviation services provider Hawker Pacific is planning to take delivery of a Bell 412EPI helicopter, which will be used as a demonstrator for the Australian market. The mediumtwin was launched earlier this year as a more powerful and sophisticated version of the 412EP. It features the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-9, BLR Aerospace-supplied dual tailboom strakes and FastFin vertical fin modification and Bell’s internally developed BasiX-Pro avionics suite. The 412EPI was recently approved to perform single pilot Category A operations from elevated helipads.
MIRAGE MILESTONE Piper Aircraft was due to deliver the 800th Mirage at the AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this week. The sixseat, single-engined pressurised aircraft – which entered service nearly 25 years ago – is going to Muncie Aviation, Piper’s dealer for the Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and southern Illinois regions of the USA. The $1.1 million Mirage is powered by the Lycoming TIO-540-AE2A and features a Garmin G1000 avionics suite.
SARATOGA STC Avidyne and NexAir Avionics have received US supplemental type certification to install the Entegra Release 9 integrated flight deck in the Piper Saratoga piston single. The upgrade is part of NexAir’s Saratoga NX refurbishment programme, which includes new paint, interior, cowlings and lighting.
EAGLEMED AS350 US operator EagleMed has begun air medical service operations in Cody, Wyoming with an air ambulance-configured Eurocopter AS350 B3 helicopter. The single-engined type is designed for high-altitude terrain with a mission range of 180nm (330km) and a cruise speed of 120kt (220km/h).
DEVELOPMENT KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
Rescued Lisa plans restart of Akoya amphibian testing Service entry of “revolutionary” light aircraft set for 2015 in wake of Chinese investment
L
isa Airplanes is gearing up to restart flight testing of its Akoya amphibious light sport aircraft, three months after the French company emerged from receivership with the financial backing of private Chinese investors. The Le Bourget-du Lac, southeast France-based company hit financial problems a year ago after its former backers withdrew from the programme. “We are now back on track with the Akoya,” says Lisa’s marketing manager, Vanessa Troillard. “Our Chinese investors are committed not only on bringing this aircraft to market but also to the longterm future of the company.” The Akoya programme was launched in 2004 as a “revolutionary” light aircraft aimed at the private flyer and leisure markets. The aircraft had flown around 100h times before testing ceased. “We are weeks away from restarting flight testing,” Troillard says. “We will build two aircraft in total with the second expected to enter the programme early next year.” Certification and service entry of the Rotax 912-powered
Lisa Airplanes
IN BRIEF
Explore 100 years of aviation history as it appeared in the original pages of Flight: flightglobal.com/archive
The company holds around 100 tentative orders for the type aircraft is earmarked for 2015. Lisa says that despite the setback with the programme, the Akoya remains “popular”. “We have letters of intent for 100 aircraft now,” says Troillard. “Lisa will be at the AirVenture show in Oshkosh from 29 July to 4 August to promote the aircraft to the US market.” This should account for a significant share of Akoya sales, says Troillard. It plans to sell the Akoya across the world, including New Zealand, Europe, Latin America and AsiaPacific – notably China, where the GA market is opening up. Lisa says, despite having Chi-
nese investors, there are no plans to set up an assembly line for the Akoya in the country. The €300,000 ($396,000) Akoya can operate from ground, water or snow. The aircraft is equipped with emergency parachute, hydrofoils, skis and retractable landing gear. It has a range of 1,080nm (2,000km), a maximum speed of 135kt (250km/h) and consumes 5.6 litres (1.5 USgal) of fuel per 100km. Troillard says that there are plans to build a bigger version of the Akoya “with four seats or maybe more”. O
AMPHIBIAN STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Icon angles for safer general aviation L
ight sport amphibian manufacturer Icon Aircraft has completed testing of its angle of attack (AoA) system – a key safety feature of its A5 aircraft, and the first of a new breed of stall warning systems in development by the general aviation industry. The first details of the system released by Icon reveal that the A5’s AoA gauge presents a graphical indication of the aircraft’s margin using a tricolour scheme, with green indicating stable flight, yellow showing approach to stall and red signalling the wing is stalling. Although com-
24 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
mon on military fighters and turbine-powered private aircraft, such AoA systems are “rarely seen” in the general aviation sector, Icon Aircraft says. Greg Bowles, director of engineering and manufacturing for industry advocate General Aviation Manufacturers Association, agrees with Icon’s description: “It is accurate to say an AoA system is very, very rare in light [general aviation] today.” Icon’s system is the first of several in development, he adds. The renewed appreciation for a system that indicates the angle of
the wing to the relative wind direction – or AoA – follows the progress of a new guide being drafted by standards body ASTM International, Bowles says. The light aircraft industry hopes AoA systems can reduce the most common cause of accidents – loss of control during the turn to final approach. “The thought is to prevent some of those accidents. The [US Federal Aviation Administration] has been trying to install an AOA system in more aircraft,” Bowles says. “Icon is a little bit ahead of the others.” O flightglobal.com
TECHNOLOGY
Thielert keeps motoring on BUSINESS P26 NAVIGATION DAN THISDELL LONDON
GPS-reliant forces are all in a jam Even the mightiest military machines are vulnerable to electronic devices that may be bought online for as little as $30 ne of the main tools of modern air-to-ground warfare is the laser-guided bomb and one of the most relied-upon types is the Paveway. According to Raytheon, Paveways made up more than half the precision-guided air-toground weapons used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In its IV version, Paveway is a mainstay of the UK RAF’s armoury. And enhancements currently in development by Raytheon should improve the weapon’s accuracy and reliability to target, as well as allow pilots to release the weapon earlier and get away sooner. However, one of the key improvements highlights the fact that even the mightiest military machines are vulnerable to cheap electronic devices that may be bought online for just £20 ($30) or so.
LASER SEEKER The enhanced Paveway IV is believed to be aiming for an in-service date of 2018 to coincide with the arrival of the RAF’s first Lockheed Martin F-35s. It will feature an extended launch acceptance region, allowing the bomb to be released earlier in a mission, and a wider field-of-view laser seeker, which is already in flight testing. A new penetrating warhead is in the works and the improved Paveway IV will also be capable of striking moving targets. All variants will retain the current munitions’ mass, centre of gravity, external profile and aircraft integration. However, a particularly notable development is a built-in GPS anti-jammer. This antennae, which is just 115mm across and 55mm deep yet sensitive enough to distinguish between GPS signals and interference, is likely to fly late this year or early in 2014 and will be retrofitable for Paveway II bombs and other munitions. In particular, it highlights the urgency of developing technologies to counter inexpensive GPS jammers. Units capable of jamming GPS flightglobal.com
Crown Copyright
O
Try jamming that signals over a 200-300m radius are widely available online for as little as £20. They are widely used on UK roads, by criminals or people who don’t want to be tracked by their companies. According to Raytheon UK’s business development executive for GPS systems, Andy Proctor, speaking at a Raytheon technology briefing in London in mid-July, examples of UK military facilities being inadvertently denied GPS service by passing motorists are not unknown. In one case, the culprit turned out to be a washing machine repairman who preferred not to be tracked to extra stops he was making on his route. GPS jamming equipment is clearly a threat to US, UK and NATO operations. Raytheon’s latest anti-jammer devices have been miniaturised to be carried on any platform and they are early examples of what Proctor describes as the “building blocks” of a future system being developed to protect the armed forces from navigation signal jamming. Today, the technology is best described as “jam-resistant”, a phrase used by Raytheon itself to describe its antennae systems. These are “able to recognise multiple sources of deliberate jamming and other electrical interfer-
ence and reject them by creating nulls in the reception pattern… [allowing] the navigation equipment to function safely, accurately and efficiently in the presence of multiple jammers”. Novatel and Qinetiq liken their GPS Anti-Jam Technology, called GAJT, to noise-cancelling headphones, which create destructive interference to cancel out unwanted wavelengths. GAJT, “tested by both the Canadian and British military”, creates up to six “independent nulls”, which “improves the GPS jamming immunity of the connected receiver, significantly decreasing the reach of the jammers”.
LOW-TECH ADVANTAGE However, Proctor notes, the jammers have a relatively easy target. GPS signals are very weak, on the order of 25W. Imagine trying to spot a 25W lightbulb 15,000km away, and it is obvious how GPS can be overwhelmed locally by equipment built from electronic components costing pennies. Battery-powered jamming units scattered about an operations area could prove very difficult to find and disable, but hugely disruptive for ground forces or low-flying unmanned systems like the backpackable scouts car-
ried by many infantry units. As Novatel-Qinetiq note, a 1W jammer can overpower GPS signals “within a large area”. Jammers operating over 200-300m are not a threat to high-flying aircraft or their GPS-guided bombs, though they may deny navigation in the final metres of flight. However, Raytheon C4ISR business development executive John Craib notes that more expensive jammers which are capable of operating over several kilometres are available. And, he adds, when units capable of jamming GPS signals – or those of other navigation services, including Europe’s soon-to-beoperational Galileo constellation – over a few thousand kilometres are available, the availability of satellite signals themselves will be in question. At that stage, advanced air forces could lose a valuable technical edge. The simplest guided bombs work by a pilot illuminating a target with a point of laser light, which the bomb follows until impact.
ILLUMINATION With GPS, that illumination need only last long enough for the bomb to find it once; then, the aircraft can fly away, to safety or its next target. Pilot safety aside, it is not always possible for an aircraft to keep a laser on its target, owing to weather or battlefield smoke. Ultimately, says Craib, even satellite makers will be looking to incorporate anti-jamming technology. However, denial of service, for example to prevent targeting, need only be achieved temporarily and locally. Potential adversaries would thus spend their money wisely by investing in jamming technology. As Raytheon readily admits, any signal is jammable if an area can be filled with enough electromagnetic radiation. O For commentary on the latest global defence news, go to flightglobal.com/dewline
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 25
BUSINESS
Aircraft finance is among the sectors covered by our premium news and data service Flightglobal Pro: flightglobal.com/pro
GENERAL AVIATION DAN THISDELL LONDON
Thielert keeps motoring on
Good week
AVIC’s acquisition of the bankrupt diesel engine maker heralds a push for new markets
THALES First-half aero-
Airbus Military MTU
MTU The German engine specialist downgraded its earnings forecast for 2013 as half-year figures showed profit slipping despite a first-half revenue improvement of nearly 19% to €1.85 billion ($2.44 billion). MTU had expected 10-12% growth in full-year EBIT and net income but now expects to merely match both 2012 figures, at about €375 million and €235 million respectively. Commercial engines business grew strongly, but spare parts sales were disappointing.
Bad week
hings have not been going so well for Frank Thielert. In early 2008, the German entrepreneur behind the Centurion diesel aircraft engine brand saw his company crash into administration, and carry on without him. Then, late in June 2013, Thielert himself was arrested in a Hamburg courtroom and jailed, deemed a flight risk awaiting trial on charges dating to 2006 of forgery and fraud that allegedly bilked engine company investors out of around €4.3 million ($5.68 million). But while its founder may be locked up, Thielert Aircraft Engines, which makes the Centurion line, has been lifted through its acquisition by China’s AVIC. The buyout, for an undisclosed sum, pulls Thielert out of Germany’s equivalent of Chapter 11 protection and places it with other AVIC purchases in the general aviation sector – Cirrus aircraft and Continental Motors. Sites at Lichtenstein, Altenburg and Hamburg, and their 200 jobs, will remain intact. Bruno Kübler, the administrator who stabilised the business and led the long search for investors, says: “Enormous development opportunities will open up for Thielert – and not only in China.” Indeed, the Chinese market is probably not the first, and possibly not the largest, growth opportunity for the company. Rhett Ross, president of Mobile, Alabama-based Continental – bought from Teledyne Technologies in April 2011 for $186 million and now AVIC’s “integrative brand” for aircraft engines – says AVIC understands that while it must prepare for the time when China’s market finally opens up, it needs revenue now in established markets, namely North America and Western Europe. Although, like its peers, it is finding life difficult in today’s sluggish general aviation market, piston single-maker Cirrus is just such a proposition. Likewise Continental, which supplies air-
26 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
Cirrus Aircraft
T
space division sales were down 1% to €2.03 billion ($2.69 billion), but EBIT soared 44% to €168 million, far outstripping transport and defence and security. Although order intake was down 8% to €1.78 billion, it did register €100 millionplus orders for simulation and training services for UK Airbus Military A400M crews and from the European Space Agency, which made it prime contractor for the Exomars missions in 2016 and 2018.
Does that take diesel? framers including Cirrus, and has been a stalwart of the general aviation scene since the 1920s. However, both airframer and engine maker face disruptive challenges. Much of AVIC’s ongoing investment in Cirrus is believed to be aimed at getting its Williams FJ33-powered Vision SF50 personal jet to a market that has rejected single jet projects from Eclipse, Piper and Diamond. Meanwhile, aircraft powered by piston engines such as Continental’s burn avgas. This last redoubt of leaded gasoline is increasingly rare and expensive enough to be a notable reason for the decline in general aviation. Hence the appeal of Thielert, which has long promoted the idea that automotive-derived diesel engines are the way forward. Not only do modern diesels dramatically outperform the old oil burners, they provide far better fuel economy than spark-ignition engines and, critically, can handle a range of fuels including widely available Jet-A. Continental, back in 2010, began to develop a diesel based on its own opposed-cylinder “boxer” designs but, Ross says, buying Thielert was a “great way to leapfrog years” of work. Ross reckons that diesel gives AVIC a chance to “truly open new markets for pistons” in Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. He is not predicting a return to the 1970s glory days of general avia-
tion, but believes new markets could easily double, if not triple, production. He is especially enthusiastic about Africa. With high rates of economic growth and business start-ups and poor ground transportation, there is demand for affordable general aviation aircraft. He sees diesel pistons as ideal for “short hop” trips. The same logic applies to AsiaPacific, where many business people need to fly short distances over water. Thus there is, he adds, much interest in a “serious, robust twin” that would be ideally powered by diesel.
FREE SKIES, FREE MARKET Africa, he adds, is also a great environment for general aviation as airspace is relatively free. In China, despite talk of opening airspace, it remains necessary to receive per-flight permission from the People’s Liberation Army – or be shot down. Underscoring AVIC’s recognition of its need for growth outside China, Ross readily concedes that any opening of the Chinese market is “easily five-plus years away”. Back in Hamburg, Frank Thielert’s lawyers will fight for acquittal. If they fail, their client faces up to 10 years in prison. Whether China’s general aviation market is soaring by then remains to be seen but, inside or out, Thielert himself will have plenty of time to contemplate the impact of the technology he pioneered. O flightglobal.com
BUSINESS
Accident figures for first-half 2013 look encouraging FEATURE P28
BUSINESS BRIEFS
PEOPLE MOVES
Lawrie: Jet-Care UK operations Jet-Care engine programmes manager Jim Lawrie has been promoted to the newly-created position of UK operations manager. At Hawaiian Airlines, former JetBlue Airways alliances manager Bryan Kapeckas is now revenue analytics director. Air France Industries maintenance president Franck Terner has been appointed to the newly-created position of Air France-KLM group MRO director. He is succeeded by Anne Brachet, who previously headed AFI’s engineering and airframe maintenance division. Northrop Grumman veteran Carol Erikson is now VP engineering, space
HYDERABAD FREE TRADE ZONE GETS FIRST INVESTOR
INVESTMENT The free trade zone at Rajiv Gandhi International airport in Hyderabad has signed its first tenant. Turbo Jet Engines (Hyderabad), with a foreign partner, is to establish repair, testing and calibration facilities. Meanwhile, the government of Karnataka state forecasts inward investment of $5 billion by 2017, with the creation of 5,000 jobs. EADS is among the names being linked to an aerospace park being established near Bengaluru International airport.
systems, where she will lead engineering efforts for programmes that include the James Webb Space Telescope. Vladimir Artyakov, deputy chief executive of Russia’s state-owned high-technology industries development company Rostec, is now chairman of Mil and Kamov parent Russian Helicopters. Thomas Kennedy has joined MRO provider Mubadala Aerospace as regional VP sales for Asia. Lockheed Martin chief information security officer Chandra McMahon is now VP commercial markets for the Information Systems and Global Solutions business.
SIA ENGINEERING DOWN IN ‘CHALLENGING’ QUARTER
MAINTENANCE Citing global economic uncertainty and a “challenging” environment, Singapore Airlines’ maintenance subsidiary SIA Engineering posted a 1.6% drop in its net profit to S$69 million ($54.7 million) for its first quarter to the end of June, as revenue fell 3.7% to S$289 million on lower material and fleet management revenue. Operating profit for the quarter declined by a fifth to S$27.7 million.
BERLIN MAY PART-OPEN BRANDENBURG HUB
AIRPORTS Uncertainty surrounds plans for inaugurating Berlin’s troubled Brandenburg airport after the operator confirmed German media reports it is considering a part-opening of the terminal complex by the end of the year. However, newspaper Bild Zeitung believes building approvals cannot be had before March 2014. After a series of delays, the flagship airport was to be opened in June 2012, but trouble with a fire-protection system saw the date pushed back several times to March 2013, a target which again slipped.
HONEYWELL STEADY THROUGH Q2
Hawaiian Airlines
Jet-Care
Air France-KLM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
Kapeckas: Hawaiian revenue
SYSTEMS Second quarter aerospace segment sales and profit followed first quarter trends at Honeywell, which finished the six months to end-June with revenue down 2% at $5.91 billion but profit up 4% at $1.13 billion. Defence and space sector sales were lower, but largely offset by commercial growth, particularly in original equipment, buoyed by strong build rates and a favourable platform mix. in the second quarter, commercial aftermarket sales rose 3%.
BUSINESS JETS LEAD CHARGE AT B/E AEROSPACE
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I wouldn’t look at anything coming out of UTX for a few years” United Technologies
GREG HAYES, HAYES chief financial officer at Pratt & Whitney Whitne and Sikorsky parent United Technologies, stock s market symbol UTX, advised analysts in a half-year results briefing that 2012’s $18 billion takeover of 2012 Goodrich will not be followed any Go time t soon by another move in aerospace
flightglobal.com
INTERIORS At B/E Aerospace, the aircraft cabin interior products maker and fasteners distributor, first half pre-tax profit jumped 22% to $251.2 million on sales increasing 12% to $1.69 billion. The unit serving the business jet market led percentage growth, with sales up 15% to $202 million and operating profit up 30% to $32 million.
HEXCEL LIKES TO BE ON BOARD A350
SUPPLIERS At composite materials, tooling and structures supplier Hexcel, first-half sales were up 5% to $839 million, driven by a 15% improvement in commercial segment sales. Pre-tax profit gained 2% to $130 million. Chief executive David Berges noted that the second quarter “marked the first flight of the [Airbus] A350 XWB, which will be a key contributor to Hexcel’s future and involves shipments to more than 40 customers in 14 different countries.”
GATWICK WANTS SOUTHERN SECOND RUNWAY
INFRASTRUCTURE London’s Gatwick airport has set out a formal
proposal for a parallel second runway, to the south of the airport, to open in 2025. The scheme would cost some £5-9 billion ($7.5-13.6 billion) which, it claims, would be a “fraction” of the cost of expanding Heathrow. Chief executive Stewart Wingate says Gatwick would form part of a “constellation” of three major airports for the capital and is privately financed without “substantial” state subsidy.
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 27
COVER STORY
SO FAR... SO GOOD
Accident figures for the first half of 2013 look encouraging, but is this due to improved operational quality or just luck? DAVID LEARMOUNT LONDON
W
orldwide airline fatal accidents in the first six months of 2013 maintained the all-time best figure of nine, while the number of fatalities involved has seen a new low at 58. Such a short period has limited statistical significance in its own right, especially since safety has become so improved that the numbers are tiny, but in comparison with the same period in each year for the last decade, the trend shows that gradual improvement is being established and maintained. Last year’s total of nine fatal accidents matched the decade low figure and is comparable with 12 for the same period in 2011. Accidents included in this survey cover all airline operations, whether passenger or cargo, scheduled or charter, on revenue service or positioning flights. A complete non-fatal listing is not attempted, as there are enormous numbers of minor incidents, so it just includes accidents or incidents that are significant in their own right or illustrate a trend or phenomenon – like runway excursion, the most common accident type. The very low fatalities figure this year so far will probably prove to be a matter of chance. The first six months of last year was
28 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
more typical, with 338 casualties in the period. The low figure results from the fact that none of the passenger aircraft that crashed happened to be large, and they were carrying small passenger loads. Nevertheless, crash survivability in modern hulls continues to be a favourable factor. The Lion Air Boeing 737-800 that crashed into the sea short of the runway at Denpasar in Indonesia saw injuries among its seven crew and 101 passengers, but no fatalities (see accident list, P30). Another demonstration of remarkable survivability took place in early July – just outside the period under study – when the tail of an Asiana Boeing 777-200ER approaching San Francisco airport hit the sea wall short of runway 28L. This caused separation of the entire empennage, but 304 of the 307 people on board the aircraft survived the subsequent crash and fire. In general terms, the more serious accidents this year so far follow an established pattern: most of them happened to small operators in developing economies.
However, the USA has proven an exception this year with three fatal accidents for N-registered aircraft operating as freighters. One involved a National Air Cargo Boeing 747-400F, lost just after taking off from Bagram air base in Afghanistan. The event was caught on camera, showing a spectacular and distressing total loss of control before the aircraft fell to earth and exploded. The cause is yet unknown, but the inevitable speculation surrounding the event suggests centre of gravity problems. The aircraft was carrying a load bound for the USA. Unusually, there were no fatal accidents involving regional or commuter airline passenger turboprop operations, though five cargo turboprops crashed fatally. And the majority of the listed non-fatal accidents involved turboproppowered aircraft. In fact, there were only two jets in the entire fatal accidents listing – a Bombardier CRJ200 during winter operations in Kazakhstan, and the National Air Cargo 747F. O Read more expert analysis by David Learmount of aircraft accidents and incidents on his eponymous blog: flightglobal.com/learmount
FATAL ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES IN FIRST SIX MONTHS OF EACH YEAR: 2003–13 Number of fatalities 800
Number of fatal accidents 25
700 20
600 500
15
400 300
10
200 100 0
03
04
SOURCE: Flightglobal archive
05
06
07
08 Year
09
10
11
12
13
0
flightglobal.com
Reuters
A Lion Air Boeing 737-800 came down in the water just short of the runway in Denpasar, Indonesia
SAFETY REVIEW
ACCIDENT REPORTS
OVERDUE NIGERIAN SUMMARIES HIGHLIGHT HISTORICAL SHORTCOMINGS
O Russian investigator MAK said the pilots of the PetropavlovskKamchatsky Aviation Enterprise Antonov An-28, that suffered a controlled flight into terrain accident on 12 September 2012 had alcohol in their bloodstream, and that the aircraft should have had a terrain
flightglobal.com
awareness and warning system rather than a simple ground proximity warning system. The crew carried out what was supposed to be a let-down, according to the published non-directional beacon approach to runway 11 at its destination of Palana, but they provided air traffic control with an incorrect position and made up their own “arbitrary” approach procedure, during which the aircraft hit high ground, killing the crew of two and eight of the 12 passengers.
O There have been three accidents affecting AVIC Xian MA60 turboprops in 2013 so far, one involving Indonesian domestic carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines and two involving Myanmar Airways (see accident tables, P30). Indonesia has declared that it is carrying out an audit into operations of the Chinesemanufactured twin turboprops in Indonesia, and says it intends to ground the aircraft in stages for inspection when the operational audit is complete. Merpati is the only Indonesian operator of MA60s. O The Australian Transport Safety Board’s report on the Qantas QF32 accident involving an Airbus A380 uncontained engine failure south of Singapore in November 2010 contained a primary recommendation that the certification regulations concerning uncontained engine failure be reviewed, because the
Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has recently released a clutch of accident reports turbine disc failure in the RollsRoyce Trent engine caused greater damage than had previously been seen or predicted. Other recommendations about manufacturing quality control at R-R and the robustness of oil and fuel feed tubes on similar engines from all the manufacturers have largely already been carried out, said the ATSB.
Reuters
O A 21 October 2009 Boeing 707 freighter crash at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, resulted from aggravated crew mishandling of the aircraft following the separation of engine cowls from the No 4 power unit soon after take-off from runway 30, according to the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority. All six crew died in the accident. The 40-yearold aircraft (ST-AKW), operated by Sudanese carrier Azza Air Transport, did not have any working flight recorders, so the GCAA investigation used radar information and tower voice recordings plus witness reports. When the cowls – which had not been properly fastened – separated, they cut a cable providing data to the No 4 power unit’s EPR (engine pressure ratio) gauge, leading the crew to conclude – incorrectly – that there had been an engine failure. The crew requested a return after “losing No 4 engine”, but they did not compensate for the extra drag from the unclad engine, and the right wing dropped. The crew increased the right bank well beyond the 15˚ limit for the aircraft’s initial climb configuration, probably in an attempt to return for landing. The pilot flying increased power and attempted to pitch up, but the GCAA said this probably caused an accelerated stall, and the right wing dropped further. The aircraft eventually developed approximately 90˚ right bank and dived into the ground. Radar data suggests the maximum height reached was 380ft (116m), and the maximum groundspeed was 149kt (276km/h). The authority noted that the condition of the aircraft and engines demonstrated the application of sub-standard maintenance techniques, but analysis ruled out the operation of asymmetric reverse thrust as a factor in the accident.
SCAT’s CRJ200 crashed in thick fog near Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty and broke into pieces Generally, it was satisfied with the way the A380’s electronic centralised aircraft monitor presented information to the crews in a complex, multiple-failure scenario, judging this to be “manageable” by the crew.
O Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has recently released a clutch of accident reports, some of which were well overdue by normal standards. The first involved the Bellview Airlines Boeing 737-300 that crashed while climbing out from Lagos on 22 October 2005. The report said the aircraft had so many defects it was not fit for flight and should not have been dispatched. For reasons that are unclear, the AIB was not able to recover the aircraft’s recorders, so the cause of the accident is not fully understood. Both pilots’ records of flying hours and training history were found to be unreliable.After take-off from runway 18L at Lagos they turned right to head for Abuja, and were asked to report passing FL130. That was the last contact, and there was no emergency call. O At Lagos, Nigeria, on 7 September 2006, a heavily laden
DHL Boeing 727F made an approach in a heavy squall with 600m visibility. It was flying 30kt faster than its approach reference speed, landed halfway along runway 18L and overran it, destroying the ILS localiser antenna. The crew were not injured.
O At Abuja, Nigeria, on 29 October 2006, an ADC Airlines Boeing 737200 crashed almost immediately after take-off. The AIB report says that during taxiing, an approaching rainstorm was creating gusty conditions and the crew would have been well advised to delay departure until the storm had passed.At take-off, the aircraft rotated at 133kt, 5kt less than the correct speed. Some 6s after the gear had been retracted, the windshear warning alert was triggered as the airspeed dropped by 25kt to around 137kt because the headwind had rapidly changed direction to become a tailwind. The crew initially made a nose-down elevator input, but then quickly commanded a pitch-up to about 30-35˚ nose up, inducing a stall. The investigation concluded that the aircraft had sufficient energy to have survived the windshear if the crew had handled it skilfully. O
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 29
COVER STORY
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS JANUARY–JUNE 2012 NOTES ON TABLES Accident data comes from Flight International’s own research in association with Flightglobal advisory service Ascend, which compiles the World Aircraft Accident Summary, among other safety analysis products. Details of non-fatal incidents are not made available officially by the authorities in many countries, but Flight International continues to list known significant incidents in the interests of maximising the availability of relevant information. We accept that the non-fatal listing may be weighted against the airlines of those countries that make safety information more readily available.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AA airfield approach/early descent AAIB UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch
EFIS electronic flight-instrument system EGPWS enhanced ground proximity
GPWS ground proximity warning system HP high pressure
PF pilot flying PNF pilot not flying RA runway/final approach
AAL above airfield level ADC air-data computer ADF automatic direction finder
warning system EGT exhaust gas temperature EICAS engine indicating and
IFR instrument flight rules IMC instrument meteorological conditions
SID standard instrument departure TAWS terrain awareness and warning system
AF air force AGL above ground level AMSL above mean sea level
crew alerting system ER en route ETOPS extended-range twin
ILS instrument landing system ISA international standard atmosphere – sea level pressure of
TO take-off TOGA press-button selected takeoff/go-around thrust
AOA angle of attack ASI airspeed indicator ATC air traffic control
operations FAA US Federal Aviation Administration
1013.2hPa and standard temperature/pressure lapse rate with altitude
VASI visual approach slope indicator VFR visual flight rules VHF very high frequency
C climb C-B circuit breaker CFIT controlled flight into terrain
FDR flight data recorder FL flight level = altitude, in hundreds of feet, with international
L landing LP low pressure MEL minimum equipment list
VMC visual meteorological conditions VOR VHF omni-range navigation
CNK cause not known CVR cockpit voice recorder DFDR digital flight data recorder DME distance measuring equipment
standard pressure-setting (ISA) of 1013.2mb set on altimeter (eg FL100 – altimeter reading of
beacon V1 take-off decision speed
10,000ft with ISA set) FMS flight management system
MTOW maximum take-off weight NDB non-directional beacon NTSB US National Transportation Safety Board PAPI precision approach path
ECAM electronic centralised aircraft monitor
G on ground GPU ground power unit
indicator PAX passengers
Date
Carrier
Aircraft type/registration
Conversion factors 1nm = 1.85km 1ft = 0.3m 1kt = 1.85km/h
Location
Fatalities Total occupants Phase (crew/pax) (crew/pax)
Nr Almaty airport, Kazakhstan
5/16
FATAL ACCIDENTS: SCHEDULED PASSENGER FLIGHTS 29 January
SCAT
Bombardier CRJ200ER (UP-CJ006)
5/16
RA
Crashed on final stage of an ILS/DME approach to runway 23R at Almaty, coming down on the extended centreline about 1,400m from the runway threshold. It was daylight but visibility was 100m in freezing fog; runway visual range given as 150m.
FATAL ACCIDENTS: NON-SCHEDULED PASSENGER FLIGHTS 13 February South Airlines
Antonov An-24 (UR-WRA)
Donetsk airport, Ukraine
0/5
8/44
L
2/7
2/7
ER
Aircraft crashed on the airfield following a night ILS approach in fog. Witnesses reported a wing drop just before touchdown.
6 March
Aero Transporte
Beech King Air
Nr Matibamba, Peru
Hit high ground.
30 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
flightglobal.com
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS
Date
Carrier
Aircraft type/registration
Location
Fatalities Total occupants Phase (crew/pax) (crew/pax)
Pellston, Michigan, USA
1
1
C
Queen Alexandra Mts, Antarctica
3
3
ER
6
10
AA
Nr Dillingham, Alaska
2
2
AA
Bagram air base, Afghanistan
7
7
TO/C
FATAL ACCIDENTS: NON-PASSENGER FLIGHT 15 January
Martinaire Aviation
Cessna 208B (N1120N)
Crashed in woods shortly after take-off in darkness at 19:45 local time
23 January
Kenn Borek Air
DHC Twin Otter 300 (C-GKBC)
On a positioning flight from the Amundsen/Scott Station to the Zucchelli Station in Terra Nova Bay, the aircraft crashed into a mountainside at the 3,900m level.
4 March
Compagnie Africaine d’Aviation Fokker 50 (9Q-CBD)
Goma airport, DR Congo
The aircraft hit buildings as visibility was reduced by heavy rain during an NDB approach to the airport. It was expecting to land on runway 36.
8 March
Ace Air Cargo
Beech 1900C (N116AX)
Hit high ground in Muklung Hills while positioning for a GPS approach to runway 19 at Dillingham.
29 April
National Air Cargo
Boeing 747-400F (N949CA)
Very soon after take-off, the aircraft adopted an extremely steep nose-up attitude which must have affected the airspeed. Soon the left wing dropped, recovered, then the other dropped and the aircraft yawed dramatically right. Control was lost and it crashed.
29 June
Batair Cargo
Embraer Bandeirante (ZS-NVB)
Nr Francistown airport, Botswana
2
2
RA
The aircraft came down in scrub nearly 5km short of the end of runway 11. Reports suggest visibility was affected by early morning mist, and that a previous attempt to land on the reciprocal runway 29 had been abandoned. The aircraft was landing at Francistown to refuel during a positioning flight from Lanseria in South Africa to Lubumbashi in DR Congo.
Date
Carrier
Aircraft type/registration
Location
Injuries Total occupants Phase (crew/pax) (crew/pax)
SIGNIFICANT NON-FATAL ACCIDENTS (ALL OPERATIONAL CATEGORIES) 2 January
Sol Líneas Aéreas
Saab 340 (LV-BMD)
Mendoza airport, Argentina
-/-
3/28
G
Nose undercarriage leg “fractured” while taxiing for take-off from runway 18. Directional control was lost and the aircraft ran off the taxiway onto soft ground, where the left propeller hit a post.
2 February
Alitalia
ATR 72-200 (YR-ATS)
Rome Fiumicino airport, Italy
1/1
4/46
L
Landed on runway 16L at night with a strong, gusting crosswind from the right (250˚/28kt gusting 41kt). Following a nosewheel touchdown, the aircraft bounced three times before veering off the right-hand side of the runway, where it came to rest. The nose gear collapsed about 50m clear of the runway, around 1,800m beyond the threshold. Runway 25 was unavailable because of work in progress.
6 February
Tunisair
Airbus A320 (TS-IMB)
Carthage International airport, Tunis
-/-
8/75
L
?/?
L
After landing on runway 19 in a strong crosswind from the right, the aircraft veered off the right hand side of the runway and eventually came to a halt with its nose gear collapsed.
9 February
Pacific Coastal Airlines
Beech 1900C (C-FPCO)
Blue River airport, British Columbia, -/Canada
The crew lost directional control after touchdown and the aircraft veered off the runway and hit a snow berm. The nose gear collapsed and both propellers were damaged.
11 February Pakistan International Airlines
Boeing 737-300 (AP-BEH)
Seeb airport, Muscat, Oman
-/-
7/107
L
Boeing 737-800 (PK-LKS)
Ngurah Rai airport, Denpasar, Indonesia
-/4
7/101
RA
The left main gear failed on landing.
13 April
Lion Air
On a VOR/DME approach to runway 09, the aircraft appears to have continued through the minimum descent height even though the pilots could not see the runway. The EGPWS called “minimum” when descending through 550ft, but the crew continued the descent. It hit the sea just short of the runway threshold and came to rest in shallow water with the hull fractured but largely intact. Soon after descending through 500ft, the aircraft was reported to have entered very heavy rain, possibly a downburst, and if the crew had had sight of the runway, they had lost it again. The aircraft’s rate of descent increased, and at 150ft AGL the captain took control from the co-pilot, who had been PF, and began a go-around. The EGPWS called “20” (20ft height) as the go-around attempt began, but the aircraft hit the sea.
16 April
Aeromexico
Boeing 767-200ER (XA-TOJ)
Madrid Barajas, Spain
-/-
9/154
TO
A severe tail strike on take-off from runway 36L prevented the aircraft pressurising. This left debris on the runway that was not noticed for some time and caused a nosewheel tyre failure subsequently after take-off. The 767 returned to land on runway 18R.
17 April
Lao Air
DHC Twin Otter 300 (RDPL-34180)
Sam Neua airport, Laos
-/-
2/16
TO
Jomsom airport, Nepal
3/4
3/19
L
Mong Hsat airport, Myanmar
-/2
4/51
L
Nr London Heathrow, UK
-/-
5/75
C
The aircraft hit trees at the edge of the airfield and came down 200m from the runway end.
16 May
Nepal Airlines
DHC Twin Otter (9N-ABO)
The aircraft landed with a tailwind, overran the end of runway 06 and fell down a steep embankment.
16 May
Myanma Airways
AVIC Xian MA60 (XY-AIQ)
The aircraft overran the end of runway 30 and the left main gear collapsed.
24 May
British Airways
Airbus A319 (G-EUOE)
The aircraft took off from runway 27L bound for Oslo, but the fan cowls on both engines broke away almost immediately, puncturing a fuel feed line on the right engine. The yellow hydraulic system also depressurised. The crew made a Pan call stating the intention to return, and upgraded it to a Mayday when they got a fire warning on the right engine. The fire was reduced by the fire drill, but could not be extinguished completely. The crew landed the aircraft safely using left engine power. Initial investigations indicate that the cowl fastenings were not operated correctly following routine line maintenance.
1 June
Sita Air
Dornier 228-200 (9N-AHB)
Simikot airport, Nepal
-/-
2/5
L
Davao airport, the Philippines
-/-
6/159
L
El Tari airport, Kupang, Indonesia
-/-
4/46
L
AVIC Xian MA60 (XY-AIP)
Kawthaung airport, Myanmar
-/-
4/60
L
Saab 340 (C6-SBJ)
Marsh Harbour, Bahamas
-/-
3/18
L
The aircraft landed just short of the runway and sheared off the nose and left main gear, coming to rest beside the touchdown zone.
2 June
Cebu Pacific
Airbus A320 (RP-C3266)
The aircraft veered off the runway to the side and its nose gear collapsed.
10 June
Merpati Nusantara Airlines
AVIC Xian MA60 (PK-MZO)
Touched down just short of runway 07 threshold. The nose gear collapsed and a wing failed.
10 June
Myanma Airways
Ran off the runway during landing.
13 June
Sky Bahamas
The aircraft developed a high rate of descent on short final approach in daylight, touched down hard, bounced, then ran off the left side of the runway. It came to a halt with the right wing separated at the root.
flightglobal.com
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 31
SAFETY OPERATIONS
WAKE-UP CALL FOR COCKPITS
Rex Features
In an era of ever-increasing automation, the NTSB says pilot culture must change to clarify what it means to operate a modern aircraft during all modes of flight
STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
W
hat specifically caused Asiana Airlines flight 214 to strike a sea wall and crash in San Francisco on 6 July will not be known for weeks or months. But investigators have already identified one salient fact about the incident that is likely to fuel an ongoing drive by regulators and industry groups to make pilots better monitors of automated cockpits. In the case of flight 214, the right-seat pilot – Lee Jeong-min – told the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in a post-crash interview that he was unaware his Boeing 777-200ER was flying 34kt below reference speed for approach and on the verge of stalling until it was too late. Jeong-min, as the “pilot monitoring”, said he had assumed the autothrottles were engaged, but they were not. The need to make pilots more effective monitors in the era of automation is already a common discussion among aviation safety experts. NTSB studies dating to the early 1990s document how errors by either confused or oblivious crew members often contribute to or cause
“A pilot has to have good stick and rudder skills and CRM skills… but they also have to have good monitoring skills” ROBERT SUMWALT NTSB member and speaker
32 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
fatal accidents, but progress has been slow. Now a US working group launched by the NTSB and other industry stakeholders is working on a new way to improve pilot monitoring skills. The goal is to clarify what it means to monitor a modern cockpit and assign monitoring tasks depending on whether the aircraft is in taxi, ascending and descending, or cruise mode. The group hopes the recommendations scheduled for release in December will spark broader awareness of the importance of pilot monitoring skills. NTSB member Robert Sumwalt, who has championed this cause for several years, says he believes that pilot culture must change.
PHASES OF FLIGHT Speaking to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA)’s Air Safety Forum on 17 July, Sumwalt said pilots are still judged mainly on their flying and interpersonal skills, but not on how well they monitor the aircraft’s performance in all phases of flight. “I think it’s time to have a paradigm shift,” Sumwalt says. “Yes, a pilot has to have good stick and rudder skills, and, yes, they have to have good CRM [crew resource management] skills, but they also have to have good monitoring skills.” Part of the challenge of building better monitoring skills is the design of the human brain, which is ill-suited to many of the kinds of tasks necessary to manage an automated cockpit, according to Key Dismukes, a recently retired NASA chief scientist for aerospace human factors.
Dismukes, who also spoke at the ALPA forum, described a NASA study that observed commercial pilots on 60 flights involving Airbus, Boeing and Embraer aircraft. The study discovered that pilots made an average of six monitoring “deviations” per flight. “Some of these deviations are fairly serious,” Dismukes says. “On one occasion the flying pilot was about to advance the throttles, but neither pilot had noticed that an incorrect heading was set in the FMC [flight management computer].” NASA’s researchers recorded 19 instances when there was a failure by both pilots to call out a mode change in the automation system, such as switching to vertical speed mode for making altitude changes. The study also examined the crew members on approaches that were not stabilised, meaning the aircraft has been hand-flown to land. Of the 60 flights reviewed, nine involved unstabilised approaches. All nine aircraft were required by the 1,000ft (305m) call-out to be in landing configuration and on the glide path. In each case, the pilot monitoring is expected but not always required to call out altitude marks at 1,000ft and 500ft from landing. On five of the nine unstabilised approaches, however, the pilot monitoring made no such callout. On the other four, the pilot made the callout but did not indicate a deviation from the 1,000ft gate even though the aircraft was not in final landing configuration until the 900ft mark, Dismukes says. “The big question is why do highly experiflightglobal.com
SAFETY OPERATIONS
Lee Jeong-min, right-seat pilot of flight 214, said he was unaware his 777-200ER was 34kt below reference speed until it was too late enced, motivated pilots with their lives on the line not always monitor as effectively as we expect them to,” he adds. “We need to know why because, I guarantee you, if we simply go back to the training department and tell the instructors to put more emphasis on monitoring, nothing is going to change.” Perhaps the biggest factor NASA identifies is simply how the human brain processes information. The human brain has evolved to most effectively react to stimuli, such as a master caution light appearing or a rapid decompression, Dismukes says. It is less wellequipped to monitor screens and buttons that are generally reliable to detect rare faults or situational anomalies. “So if you have checked the position of a particular switch or gauge 1,000 times over a course of 1,000 flights and it’s always been where it’s supposed to be, on that one rare occasion it’s not where it’s supposed to be you look at it and you see what you expected to see,” Dismukes says. “We look at it for a fraction of a second. That’s not long enough for the brain to process the information about where the switch is actually set.”
GENETIC COMPLICATION That fundamental, genetic complication is compounded by other sources of distraction, such as multi-tasking or rushing pilots, Dismukes says, such as when a first officer who is supposed to be looking for collision threats during taxi instead is head-down entering last-minute data into the FMC. flightglobal.com
The NTSB-sponsored working group, which includes ALPA representatives, wants to offer airlines a new template for improving pilot monitoring skills. The group was formed November and has its final meeting in October. The recommendations could be published in December, says Helena Reidemar, ALPA’s director of human factors.
“We’re not robots. We can’t sit… and stare at the instruments for hours on end” HELENA REIDEMAR Director of human factors, ALPA
Underpinning the working group’s project is a sense that pilot monitoring skills are still not emphasised enough, even despite the NTSB re-designating the “pilot not flying” as the “pilot monitoring” in official reports starting in 2003. “With this change in terminology there really wasn’t an associated training piece to go with that,” she says. The working group has clarified the term by redesignating it as “actively monitoring”. One problem is that cockpit systems are often designed for the pilots to passively monitor the aircraft. “We’re not just robots. We can’t sit in there and watch and stare at the instruments for hours on end,” Reidemar says. “We’re not wired like that.” In the absence of a sudden new shift in cockpit design philosophy, however, pilots must adjust the way they interact with the automat-
ed systems. That means one or both pilots should be “actively monitoring” by mentally flying the aircraft as if there were no automated systems engaged, she says. “Consider how active your scan is while you’re hand-flying,” Reidemar says. “Try to incorporate that mindset in other non-hand-flying situations.” Some US airlines are already developing training programmes aimed at improving monitoring skills in similar ways. ALPA’s Air Safety Forum featured a presentation by Christopher Reid, manager of the advanced qualification programme at JetBlue Airways. The carrier recently established a training module that divides a flight into three zones: red, yellow and green. In the green zone, the aircraft is in a stable cruise flight, so one pilot is supposed to be actively monitoring while the other can accomplish non-essential tasks, such as stowing an electronic flightbag or eating lunch. In the yellow zone, as the aircraft approaches a flight level change or a descent, the non-flying pilot is supposed to be fully monitoring but is allowed to complete essential tasks, such as a required radio call-out. In the red zone during final approach and taxi, both pilots must be actively monitoring the cockpit systems. “What we try to convey is that if you’re not monitoring the flight instruments exactly like you would if you were hand-flying the airplane, you’re not really monitoring the airplane,” Reid says. O Keep up to date with the issues surrounding aviation safety at our dedicated channel: flightglobal.com/safety
30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 33
STRAIGHT&LEVEL From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to murdo.morrison@flightglobal.com
Now we know why it’s the -8
Another fine Pickle Mr Sydney Pickles made another of his periodical trips across the English Channel with a Caudron biplane, and this time his passenger was his mother, who is paying a visit to the old country. It may be mentioned in passing that Mrs Pickles was the first lady to drive a car in Australia.
“On a recent visit to Frankfurt I came to understand why the latest 747 has the designation -8,” writes Hans Norman, who took the photo (right top). “It has eight engines! The An-225 is now 25% behind. The West is once more number one.”
Only Ju
She might not be clocking up as many hours as her stablemates, but Lufthansa’s Junkers Ju52 (right) nevertheless had reason to celebrate a special tech log milestone on 20 July. “Auntie Ju”, as the Germans call the corrugated metal bird, reached 10,000 flight hours since it was restored for Lufthansa’s 60th anniversary in 1986. The airline bought the 1936-vintage aircraft in the USA two years earlier. But when technicians dissembled it at the Hamburg overhaul base, they quickly realised there was a lot more work than they had banked on – just as with their current Lockheed L-1649A “Starliner” restoration project in Auburn in the USA. However, they still managed to return the Pratt & Whitneypowered trimotor to the sky on time for the jubilee and paint its original D-AQUI registration on the wrinkly skin – for history’s sake. The official registration D-CLDH can be seen, albeit smaller below the stabiliser.
“Who said there still Antonov engines?”
A French patent has recently been taken out by M Ratabel dealing with a novel cooling scheme. One more step in the campaign to reduce cooling drag, this installation provides for a combined oil and coolant radiator to be placed directly behind a vee in-line engine in the form of a bulkhead.
Altitude record Auntie Ju: despite her wrinkles, still in great shape
base its initial Airbus A380s for training at sleepy Manston. Is the world’s favourite airline on a recce to check the suitability of the ambitiouslynamed “Kent’s International Airport” for its new hub? Has Sir Richard Rogers been sighted in Ramsgate with a sketch pad and set square? Is this the latest blow for Boris Island?
Ramsgate-way
Conspiracy theorists have been wondering what is behind British Airways’ decision to
All fired up
British Airways
A white cliffs welcome for BA?
Cooling patent
We are again grateful to Ian Goold for his cuttings from aviation’s more obscure organs. This fairly indisputable advice from ICAO Document AN/198: Civil/Military Cooperation in Air Traffic Management: “…State non-aviation operations in some circumstances require access to national airspace. Often these
34 | Flight International | 30 July-5 August 2013
operations will not be compatible with other concurrent aviation activity… Operations including surface/ naval weapons firing… will normally require the use of segregated airspace…” In other words, best keep your airliner out of the way while all the loud bangs are going off.
It’s a ploy!
You couldn’t turn a newspaper page or go through your inbox last week without having to suffer rather desperate attempts to flog products on the back of the royal birth. However, we did enjoy a certain Irish low-cost airline’s offer of free infant flights on any bookings made on 23 July. The inevitable title of the promotion: “Ryan-Heir”.
Joseph Walker, the civilian NASA pilot in the X-15 programme, took one of the three research aircraft to about 350,000ft (roughly 67 miles), a new altitude record for a winged aircraft. His planned profile specified apogee of 315,000ft, and the discrepancy has yet to be explained.
Sidewinder system Elbit, of Israel, has developed a Sidewinder control system (SCS) for the US Air Force’s F-4s. Test flights are complete, and production is under way. The SCS controls the AIM-9 family of air-air missiles and gives them off-boresight capability.
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FB Heliservices is a part of the Cobham group that specialises in the provision, opera on and support of helicopters and associated services for military and governmental applica ons worldÂwide. Our Head OďŹ&#x192;ce is in Basingstoke coupled with sites in the UK; AACen Middle Wallop, RAF Shawbury and RAF Valley. We also operate out of a number of overseas bases.
PROCUREMENT MANAGER FB Heliservices are seeking a Procurement Manager to operate from their Head OďŹ&#x192;ce in Basingstoke to support the ďŹ&#x201A;eet of aircra operated worldwide. This posi on is key to the con nued success of the company and an opportunity for the successful applicant to join a company with growth plans for the future. The successful candidate will have extensive experience working in an avia on environment, speciďŹ cally associated to an EASA Part 145 opera on, with strong communica on skills and demonstrable commercial astuteness. They will be required to demonstrate a track record in nego a ng and monitoring contracts, such as Power By the Hour, and Service Level Agreements in excess of ÂŁ1 million. The Procurement Manager will be expected to con nually review, bench mark and refresh the approved Supplier base to ensure con nued value for money is being achieved. You must have strong communica on and leadership skills with a logical and process driven mindset to Procurement and will be expected to work with a ďŹ&#x201A;exible and hard working ethos. The posi on will be expected to create and analyse monthly reports and be expected to brief up to Director level. You will report to the Head of Supply Chain and will have a number of directs carrying out buying, expedi ng and shipping func ons. If you believe you have the necessary skills, drive and enthusiasm required for this role then please send your CV and a covering le er to sue.denny@ heliservices.com. Closing Date: 13th August 2013
40 | Flight International | 30 July - 5 August 2013
HELICOPTER CAPTAIN We currently have an exciting opportunity for a suitably qualiďŹ ed and experienced rotary pilot to join the JCB corporate aviation team. For further details visit www.jcbcareers.com
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RECRUITMENT HUNDREDS OF JOBS @ flightglobal.com/jobs flightglobal.com
30 July - 5 August 2013 | Flight International | 41
CTC FlexiCrew High flyers, on demand
Seeks Type Rated Pilots Locations UK & Worldwide Flexible & Permanent Positions
www.ctcaviation.com/ctcflexicrew
Contract and Permanent recruitment for the Aviation industry Tel: +353 1 669 8224 Fax: +353 1 669 8201 Email:recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.com recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.com Email: www.sigmaaviationservices.com www.sigmaaviationservices.com
David Rowe, Alastair Millar, Jodie Green, Ian Chapman
Tel: +44 (0)1737 821011 Email: aero@cbsbutler.com www.cbsbutler.com
The preferred company for Stress (Fatigue & DT), GFEM, Composites), Aeronautical Research. Business units: Contract staff, Workpackages, Innovation and New Concepts, Aeronautical Research. www.bishop-gmbh.com Contact bishop.peter@bishop-gmbh.com Tel 0049-(0)40-866-258-10 Fax 0049-(0)40-866-258-20
Flight International To advertise in this Employment Services Index
www.ryanaviation.net
call +44 (0) 20 8652 4900 fax +44 (0) 20 8261 8434 email recruitment.services@rbi.co.uk Please note that calls may be monitored for training purposes
GCT Group Worldwide specialist for Aerospace Engineering, Certification & Management Services e: yourcv@garner.de t: +49 (0) 8153 93130 w: www.garner.de
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One industry, one job site 42 | Flight International | 30 July - 5 August 2013
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WORKING WEEK WORK EXPERIENCE DIDIER MARY
No business like show business
Didier Mary is CEO of Adone Events, which started the Cannes air show seven years ago, launched the Abu Dhabi Air Expo two years ago and is now working with Ghana’s government on the first African Air Expo in Autumn 2014 How did you start working with aviation exhibitions? In 2006, Cannes International airport approached us asking if we’d be interested in organising an event for general aviation companies to exhibit their products in the south of France. They’d been approached by companies such as Cirrus, Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft looking for a platform to demonstrate their aircraft to the aviation community in the region. Although I’d not worked in the aviation sector before, this seemed a fantastic opportunity because there was nothing like it in the region. It was a steep learning curve establishing who the lead players were, what the industry politics were and how best to promote the event but seven years on, we are still growing the exhibition. We knew we were doing something right because in 2011 the event was attended by Abu Dhabi Airports Company officials who liked the formula so much that they wanted to mirror the style in Abu Dhabi and we successfully launched our first Abu Dhabi Air Expo (ADAE) in 2011. How are the exhibitions different from other air shows? Our events are a little more relaxed than some of the major shows and we really do focus on general aviation, so they encompass the full range from skydivers and microlights through to the larger manufacturers such
as Gulfstream and Bombardier. We also focus on services related to aviation such as training, which is a really big issue everywhere, especially in the Middle East and Africa where the aviation market is growing. In Abu Dhabi, our second ADAE featured not only static display and booths but also stunt pilots, air and parachute displays. Next year, we’ll be co-ordinating it with Avionics International, and we also have the exciting new African Air Expo on the horizon, which will cover the Sub-Saharan region’s future in aviation. And how do they differ from each other ? Cannes is above all an exhibition for owner pilots who want to explore the latest industry trends and aircraft types available, while I see ADAE as being of more interest to the professionals in the industry: flight operators, owners and also pilots. We hope to continue to increase the number of private pilots and owners who attend and are working in collaboration with the Middle East Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to make this a reality. Ghana will be different again as it will focus on business, general and commercial aviation, it’s the first time the region will have an expo of this kind. What is the favourite part of your working week? The most exciting part of the week is when a new exhibitor
Mary: Cannes-do attitude confirms attendance at a show, particularly one who was perhaps a little negative about the new shows when they started. We put in a lot of time and effort into widening our client base and making sure that they really do get the best quality visitors and I always appreciate it when a new client sees the value of exhibiting. I also really enjoy visiting the various aviation shows around the world, to meet new people and expand our network – plus it is always fun to see the latest aircraft models. Show attendance stimulates new ideas, too. The fact that we doubled the exhibition space at ADAE this year also makes me happy. What is the most challenging part of your role? There are always challenges when you work internationally
with different cultures, but that’s what makes it interesting too. It’s always rewarding when issues that have been predominantly cultural are resolved. The biggest challenges I have at the moment are to grow Abu Dhabi and build interest in the new Ghanaian show. Training is really important and our challenge is to open this arena to more pilots in the Middle East and focus on training for pilots, maintenance and engineering in Africa. What does your typical working week look like ? My working week has so many different facets. I have to co-ordinate the media campaigns for the shows and make sure exhibitors’ demands are being met in terms of stand design, working out where each aircraft can be on the static, or how to deal with any other difficult requests. Obviously, a lot of time is spent finding new exhibitors and introducing them to the show concept. I am constantly switching between the shows, which keeps me on my toes. O For more employee work experiences, pay a visit to flightglobal.com/workingweek
If you would like to feature in Working Week, or you know someone who does, email your pitch to murdo.morrison@ flightglobal.com
CHALLENGING PERSPECTIVES
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30 July-5 August 2013 | Flight International | 43
19
MONTHS TO GO EASA STCs: Boeing 737NG/Classic Boeing 757 Boeing 767 in process Airbus A319, A320, A321 Airbus A330 in process
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