Category: FlightBlogger

With just over twenty-four hours to go before the contracts of 26,800 machinists expire, Boeing’s beleaguered 787 is quickly running out of margin to achieve its first flight in the fourth quarter with a fresh slip in assembly completion.

According to several sources inside the 787 program and others familiar with the schedule, assembly completion of Dreamliner One is now tentatively targeted for early October, a slip of about five weeks.

Assembly completion was initially set for August 31, just four days prior to the expiration of the IAM’s three-year contract.

The change in the internal schedule is separate from the looming spectre of a potential strike.

Boeing spokesperson Yvonne Leach reaffirmed that 787 is “on track for first flight for the fourth quarter of this year.”

According to another source familiar with the schedule change, the remaining work centers largely on the installation of flight test instrumentation and cabin equipment.

The slip was necessitated by the production of long lead-time parts resulting from design changes, as well as small, but time-consuming, issues arising from systems integration.

When Boeing announced its recovery plan for the 787 program in April, the first flight of ZA001 was slated for late October. A five-week schedule slip would push first flight to early-to-mid December.

Yet anecdotally from suppliers, indications exist that first flight could slip to the early part of 2009, though these are currently unconfirmed.

787 Program Vice President and General Manager, Pat Shanahan, said in July at the Farnborough air show that he was “eating margin” built into the schedule to provide a buffer between first flight and the close of the year.

Shanahan also said at the time first flight was set for November.

A December first flight would still meet Boeing’s projected fourth quarter target for ZA001. Though the change in the schedule underscores just how tight the 787 schedule currently is, even before any impact of a potential IAM strike.

Yet with the slip, the 787 program is not without progress. Dreamliner One recently had all its movable control surfaces reinstalled and landing gear swing tests were successfully initiated.

In addition, section 43, the Kawasaki-built forward barrel of the center fuselage, was declared shop complete.

Even with the remaining work left to complete assembly of Dreamliner One, aircraft is set to move out of the factory to a slant position in Building 40-24 later this month, once the fatigue airframe is moved to the test rig.

The vacancy created by ZA001 leaving Building 40-26 allows Dreamliners Two, Three and Four to advance on the line, making way for assembly of Dreamliner Five, the first GEnx powered 787. The first four 787s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

Labor Day @ Boeing

The IAM leadership unanimously decided to recommend a strike
vote by its 28,000 strong membership. A two-thirds majority vote is
required to strike. If a two-thirds majority is not reached the
contract would be approved and a strike avoided. IAM’s video response to the “best and final” offer. Boeing expressed its “extreme disappointment” in the IAM’s recommendation of a strike.

The most visible sticking point centers on job security in the face of growing
outsourcing. A concern left unaddressed in Boeing’s “best and final”
contract presented to the Union last Thursday.

This is an unstoppable force and an immovable object on a collision course for one another.

2 days to go.

Hurricane Gustav
About five hours from the time this is posted, Hurricane Gustav will make landfall on the Gulf Coast of the United States, once again slamming New Orleans with brutal weather. We pray that the New Orleans and the Gulf Coast escape the wrath of this storm.

The storm track has it plowing a course between New Orleans and Houston, undoubtedly wreaking havoc on America’s air traffic system. As of 6:30 PM local time on August 31, “The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport has ceased commercial flight operations.”

The active TAF at 3:36 PM (8/31) for MSY has winds gusting at 5:00 AM local to 60 kts and 70 kts by 9:00 AM this morning. Not pretty.

The course also has the storm on track to hit America’s oil infrastructure. Refineries along the coast and off shore drilling platforms will undoubtedly be impacted by Gustav. The already astronomical price of oil, which had been coming down in recent weeks, could shoot back up  hitting cash strapped airlines just as the summer travel season ends and fares have historically begun to come down.

A Flightglobal Film
With last week’s news of the “shower related delay” for the second Emirate’s A380, the first A380 had quite an inaugural flight. Flight’s Lori Ranson was invited to cover the first flight from Dubai to JFK on August 1. The first revenue flight of A6-EDA was masterfully captured on film by Lori and edited by yours truly. We couldn’t get permission
to use Jet Airliner, an aviation rock classic by Steve Miller, so our European team opted for a “moody
European Cinema vibe to the piece.” Not my first choice.

Total running time for the video is 30-plus minutes, in three parts. Enjoy.

Have you ever seen “that guy” on the road? Have you even been “that guy?” You know, the one who feels compelled to text message while driving. What about while flying?

Well, starting in the fourth quarter of this year, Avidyne will begin delivering its MLX770 two-way Datalink Transceiver. For the first time, general aviation pilots will be able to send and receive SMS text messages directly through the multifunction display to mobile phones on the ground.

Avidyne says the response from customers has been “overwhelming.” The practicality – and novelty – of such a system is immediately apparent, adding a useful communication tool with people on the ground if you’re arrival is delayed.

Don’t expect long conversations though, Avidyne has limited the length of outgoing messages to 32 characters and they are entered by control knob, not keyboard.

“You wouldn’t be sitting up there chatting like you’re on a cell phone or computer,” says Tom Harper, director of marketing at Avidyne.

This feature, unlike a mobile plan, does not come with unlimited text messaging, rather each text message is expected to cost between $1 and $2 to send and receive because of the bandwidth usage on the Iridium satellites that enable the datalink. For every ten hours of flying, Avidyne expects the service to run between $70-120.

As for distracting the pilot, one would hope that we’ll see aviate, navigate, communicate (then text message) hold true. A passenger sitting in the right seat can just as easily use the system as well.

The text messaging features are not disabled during climb or descent. Avidyne emphasizes that, “the pilot will use discretion and good judgment to acknowledge the message at the appropriate time. These messages are considered low priority (cyan) so if a higher priority Traffic Alert (yellow) or Terrain Alert (red) message comes up, it will appear on top of any incoming email message.”

A email from IAM leaders:

The Union leadership unanimously recommends rejection of the Company’s
offer and ask members to reaffirm the strike sanction vote.

Dominic Gates of the Seattle Times has an expanded report.

Delivery of the second Emirates Airbus A380 has been delayed at least several weeks due to supplier issues with interior outfitting, delaying introduction of the first daily A380 service to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

According to sources in both Dubai and Hamburg, delivery has been delayed until October 20 “at the earliest.”

The second 489-seat A380, MSN013, was intended for delivery in September for introduction on the airline’s direct Dubai-New York (JFK) service on October 1. The aircraft was to replace a Boeing 777-300ER on the route to establish the first daily A380 service to the United States.

Neither Airbus nor Emirates denied the potential delivery delay.

“There may be a delay,” says an US based Emirates spokesperson. “We are awaiting further details from Dubai.”

Per company policy, Airbus declined to discuss delivery schedules of its aircraft, though the European airframer underscored it was still on track to have 12 A380s delivered before the close of 2008. Five A380s have been delivered this year.

Airbus revised its A380 delivery targets in May from 13 in 2008, citing a slow transition of staff from Wave 1 hand-wired aircraft to Wave 2 aircraft with production wiring.

Emirates’ website still shows the A380 operating the 13 hour 45 minute route daily route beginning October 1. The route is currently operated by Emirate’s first A380 (A6-EDA) with 491-seats and a Boeing 777-300ER configured with 354 or 358 seats. With the delay of entry into service of the second A380, Emirates will likely be required to boost capacity to compensate for the roughly 135-seat gap between the 777-300ER and the A380.

According to a source at the Dubai based airline, daily service is now potentially slated to commence on October 26, the same day as Qatar Airways, Emirates’ regional competitor, is set to begin its daily non-stop JFK service from Doha using a 777-300ER.

Supplier issues of key items like seats, galleys and lavatories have impacted both Airbus and Boeing customers.  

Flight reported in June that buyer-furnished-equipment had delayed Boeing 777 aircraft for both Emirates and Qatar Airways.

Airbus has been impacted as well with “roughly 8% of widebody deliveries” facing “some delay because of problems with equipment purchased directly from suppliers,” the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

Airbus had anticipated delivering three A380s during the September, though with the delay, it appears that the first for QANTAS’ and the sixth for Singapore Airlines will be the only September deliveries.

September will mark the first time Airbus delivers two A380s in the same month.

The aircraft in question first flew April 1 of this year in Toulouse and was transferred to Hamburg-Finkenwerder on April 4 where it has remained for painting, rewiring and outfitting of its custom interior, including two shower spas.

This story is part of a FlightBlogger comprehensive Airbus A380 update covering the remaining deliveries for 2008. Image courtesy of David Barrie.

On the second day of Oskhosh, I had the opportunity to see the Cessna Mustang in action. The Mustang is Cessna’s entry into the very light jet market, competing with aircraft like Embraer’s Phenom 100 and the Eclipse 500.

Along with my colleague Phil Nasskau from Flight Daily News (who was flying right seat) and Cessna’s Curt Epp (left seat) we took the Mustang out for a quick spin. Here’s the video (in four parts) of our hour long hop from Appleton up to Iron Mountain and back at 30,000 feet in N946CM.

 A very special thanks to Cessna for inviting us along for the demonstration!

First flight of the CRJ1000, the final member of Bombardier’s regional jet family, has slipped to “later this year,” the airframer tells Flight.

Bombardier did not specify a cause of the delay or if there was any impact on the late 2009 entry into service for the 100-seat aircraft.

At the Farnborough air show in July, Bombardier was quoted as saying the flight flight of C-FRJX, the first CRJ1000, would occur “very soon.”

Bombardier had previously maintained that the first flight would take place by the end of this summer.

The aircraft, the longest member of the CRJ family, is a 128-foot 4.7-inch stretch of the original 50-seat CRJ200 aircraft.

Bombardier currently offers standard, extended range, and EuroLite variants of the CRJ1000 with ranges of 1,488 nm, 1,688 nm, and 1,030 nm respectively.

To date, the CRJ1000 has earned 39 firm orders from four customers – Adria Airways, Air France subsidiary Brit Air, Italian Operator Myair and an undisclosed operator.

Flightglobal.com and Air Transport Intelligence will be reporting on this more as the day progresses.

UPDATE 7:14 PM: Bombardier has backed away from its earlier statement and significantly clarified what was meant when it said first flight is “later this year.” The Canadian airframer now says that first flight of the CRJ1000 will take place within weeks.

“We are en route to an entry-into-service date during the fourth
quarter of 2009. We have undergone engine and systems tests. Following
completion of all systems tests and safety of flight certification,
we’ll get into taxi tests followed by first flight.”

Runway Girl has a full report.

The system is back! Sorry for the delay everyone.

Farewell to Alaska’s MD-80
Yesterday, Alaska Airlines retired its final MD-80s. These MD-80s have been particularly storied and quite tragic. Tales of jackscrews and lax maintenance marked the later years of these aircraft, though more broadly its the beginning of the end for US operation of the thirsty narrow body. Delta and American can’t be far behind.

All Eyes on Boeing
The negotiations are in full swing at the Doubletree at SeaTac between Boeing and the IAM. About 50% of the contract is nailed down, 50% still in dispute. 11 days to go.

Got wings?
Wings for Dreamliner Five arrived in Everett on Saturday. They were flown through Fairbanks, AK instead of the usual Anchorage. Probably won’t see fuselage sections arriving until just before Dreamliner One is ready to roll off the line.

CRJ1000 First Flight
I’m stumped on this one. July 11:

First flight will occur “very soon”, assures a Bombardier spokesman from London,
where the airframer’s executives are currently
preparing for the Farnborough air show next week.

Anyone know what’s up?

Tanker Madness
The Air Force final RFP should be out soon (this week or next probably). If Boeing gets more time to offer a larger aircraft (767-400ER or 777) does Airbus jump ahead and either convert the KC-30 from the A330-200 (Passenger) to the A330-200F or one step further to launch the A330-300F? Speculation courtesy of Steve Trimble.

United Untied
I try not to let airlines keep me up at night, but United has been bugging me. Undercutting your premium product is NOT the way to save your airline. It’s really one of the only reliable revenue streams an airline has. I wanted to throw this one in your court: how would you save United? Does United even need saving?

A380 Production Update
Later this week I’ll be posting updates on A380 production to give a rundown on the remaining 2008 deliveries.

The last time I wrote about politics and planes on this page it was Super Tuesday and the race was still up for grabs. Well, the campaign is entering its next phase and Vice Presidential picks by both Senators Obama and McCain are right around the corner with upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions.

Obama has been flying on 757-200 N755NA (cn 30043/925) and McCain on 737-400 N802TJ (cn 24874/1936). In case you were wondering, both have American flags on them.

No doubt we’re getting close to announcements by both candidates, but McCain’s 737 is currently parked at an FBO in Phoenix and reporters traveling with the Senator tell FlightBlogger that they believe that the plane is being repainted and prepared for the eventual vice president.

McCain plans to stay in Arizona for the next few days and it’s unclear if the campaign will be seeing N802TJ before they are expected to announce a VP next Friday after the Democratic convention ends Thursday. Aides to McCain are mum on the plane right now.

In 2004, a post on an aviation forum revealed Kerry’s pick when someone at PIT spotted Kerry-Edwards decals being affixed to the chartered 757.

If anyone is at PHX and spots the 737 in the hangar, please let me know.

Planes and politics go together nicely.

UPDATE 8/22 2:36 PM: I’ve confirmed with sources familiar with the repainting of the aircraft that McCain’s fleet is going to double once the campaign announces the VP pick. The 737-400 is being prepared as the Vice Presidential charter, while Senator McCain will be adding a 757-200 to his campaign fleet.

UPDATE 8/22 5:33PM: On the other side of the aisle, and maybe I’m reading too deeply into these picks, but a flightplan was just filed to Wilmington, DE (New Casltle) from Chicago, IL (Midway) on a Netjets Hawker 800. Obama has been in Chicago all day. A Delaware departure could mean Senator Biden is his number two. I figured I’d go on record here with more speculation.

UPDATE 8/22 8:03 PM: A few additional clues here: NetJets chief shareholder is Warren Buffett who has praised Obama and CEO Richard Santuilli is a big Democratic donor. Oh, and here’s the aircraft – N863QS.

UPDATE 8/23 10:13 AM: Well it looks like this page called it correctly. I got a 3am text message which was surprisingly welcome. More on planes: A Gulfstream 4 was just dispatched from Northeast Philiadelphia Airport (KPNE) to New Castle – Wilmington (KILG). PWA444 has already filed a flight plan from Wilmington to Springfield, IL (KSPI). Here comes Biden!

UPDATE 8/24 8:37 AM: Just to circle back, N863QS aka NJA863 – the original flight from Friday – filed two flight plans this morning. The first from Wilimington, DE to Scranton, PA (where Biden was born) and the second from Scranton to Denver (Centennial) site of the Democratic National Convention.  

I took a few comments in the 767-400ER Tanker Conundrum and I felt it was necessary to expand on what I was getting at.

One reader pointed out that the -400ER has a landing gear height advantage over the -200, so my calculations (which were admittedly rough) were definitively off.

I decided to use a slightly less rough way of assessing the tail strike situation. Using data from Boeing’s 767 Airport Planning Document, I was able to find all the proper dimensions to compare the 767-200ER and 767-400ER. This allowed me to take into account both the difference in landing gear height and the slightly smaller tire radius on the -200. Using some makeshift 3D CAD modeling, I was able to link the bogey rotation to the rotation of the entire fuselage to figure out where the tail might strike.

The fuselage pieces were centered over the main landing gear and extended rearward based to the front of the bulk cargo door, which as far as I can tell, is a likely strike point on the bottom of the fuselage. The 767-200ER would strike at 9.5 degrees and the 767-400ER would strike at 6.5 degrees (estimated). Keep in mind, this is for the commercial models and doesn’t take in to account the installation of the refueling boom and other external equipment that would limit the rotation angle on the fuselage.

This may be a purely frivolous exercise, but it was good for wrapping my head around the issue a 767-400ER tanker might face.