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Our 179-page pre-Farnborough issue, affectionately known at Flight as the Farnborough Fattie, was released today and I wanted to point you to a few commercial aircraft features in there that are definitely worth a read. I penned two features, one on the 747-8 and the other on the 777. Also, Max Kingsley-Jones does an amazing A350 and A320 round up with some pretty stunning graphics and Mary Kirby, of Runway-Girl fame, delivers a fantastic analysis of the regional market and the impact of new engines like GTF.

You’ll notice the new Fanborough banner at the top of this post, it was a nice touch for Sinagpore in February and I thought I’d go for a repeat. You’ll be seeing the banner quite a bit starting this weekend.

Also, here’s a listing of the static and flying aircraft that will be on display. Boeing is bringing Air India 777-300ER VT-ALN and Airbus is bringing an A380. Lastly, take a peek at Flight’s very own Farnborough guide is a good reference for the show if you’re able to make it.

Must note the date.

July 8, 2007 + 1 year (and what a year it’s been)

London Bound
Today marks the beginning of what is likely to be the busiest two weeks of the year for aviation. Farnborough begins for me this Wednesday night when I leave for the UK.

All those little tools I’ve been trying out on the blog over the last year will be put into action to bring you a unique view of the Farnborough Air Show which kicks off one week from today. Friendfeed, flickr, and Twitter will be out in full force.

One key feature, which will really come in handy to follow the show is the ability to receive SMS updates of my Twitter feed directly to your mobile. This will also come in handy for live blogged events like 777F first flight. You’ll have to set up your device to receive the updates. Signing up for this is free, but keep your own mobile plan in mind. I’ll be updating a lot with all the latest orders, news and observations from the show.

777F First Flight Watch
My constant vigil continues into week two for WF001. Boeing targeted its window for first flight to July 9th. First engine start was during the third week of June and we should be seeing taxi tests start very soon. I’ll keep you posted.

A380 v. 747-8
At the end of last week, ANA announced it was setting up a committee to study the purchase of A380s or 747-8s. Quite surprisingly, on the same day, Nikkei English News reported that ANA was going to buy five A380s. They cited no one. This might be a game changing order as the heavy aircraft market is 100% dominated by Boeing. ANA opted for the 777-300ER to be its biggest aircraft, so a change of strategy giving Airbus a long awaited foothold in Japan would be huge. This is just as, if not more important, than the BA battle last year. Cathay, JAL, ANA and Asiana have yet to choose between the 747-8 and A380. Stay tuned.

Quiet Week
Aside from pre-show buzz and 777F first flight, this is probably going to be a relatively quiet week. Trust me, for whatever lack of news there will be this week, the next week will greatly make up for that.

Complaining about the airlines isn’t exactly breaking news, but this is good for a laugh.

New Look
You may have noticed that FlightBlogger received a facelift late last week. Think of it as our new digs. The walls have been freshly painted, but we haven’t moved the furniture back in yet. Over the next few days I’ll be getting all the widgets back in place, so bear with me as we get things up and running.

P.S. FlightBlogger crossed the million hit mark last week. Thanks to everyone for making that possible!

MULTIMEDIA EXTRA: Listen to Chief 777 Test Pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman provide an audio briefing on the 777F flight test program from May 21, 2008 – 20 minutes.

With 777F first flight just days away, Chief 777 test pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman and right seat test pilot Van Chaney are getting ready for a busy summer.

Once the Freighter takes to the sky for the first time, “The airplane will take off out of Paine Field, go up and down the Olympics several times around Mt. Rainier for some great beauty shots and into Boeing field.”

Darcy-Henneman, who was also at the controls for the 777-200LR first flight, as well as its record breaking flight, is looking forward to the moment during first flight when she and her first officer are able to catch their breath and take stock of what they have achieved. Before that, Darcy-Henneman adds, it’s all business.
 
The 777F test aircraft will be based at Boeing Field in Seattle for the remainder of the flight test campaign.

“All the rest of the takeoffs and landings will be in and out of Boeing Field.” Darcy-Henneman added.

The flight test program will consist of two aircraft, both destined for launch customer Air France Cargo. Both will be flown for total 300-350 hours and about double that number for ground testing.

Initially the first 777F, which will wear Boeing colors for the flight test program will fly six days a week, with the seventh for maintenance, with ten and a half flight crews responsible for the program. The second aircraft will fly five days a week and the sixth will be used for maintenance. Ground testing will require a minimum of two crews. Boeing expects the combined 900-1,050 test hours to last around two and a half months.

Eighty percent of the flight test program will test smoke detection and smoke penetration, which is typical of a freighter flight test program.

For testing the performance of the aircraft, maneuver load alleviation (MLA) has been built into the flight control software to reduce the need for structure that would otherwise be required to accommodate higher operating weights.

The flight control system moves the center of lift inboard to reduce the bending moment at the root of the wing. The system is activated at 44 degrees of bank and works by extending the outboard spoilers and ailerons to move to center of lift inboard. The surfaces would be slightly extended at 44 degrees and 1/3 extended in a 66 degree banked turn.

The aircraft is expected to travel to Phoenix, Arizona for high and hot testing later this summer.

As for other exotic locales Darcy-Henneman said, “The airplane would love to go to Farnborough, we would too, but we will be busy at home testing.”

Special thanks to Addison Schonland for hosting the 777F briefing.

In full:

A contractor performing work on behalf of Alenia Composite (an Alenia Aeronautica Company) at the Global Aeronautica facility in South Carolina failed to follow proper procedure.  The contractor was an experienced aviation mechanic not local to Charleston S.C.  The individual was immediately terminated. 

This error resulted in a production issue that has since been repaired. Global Aeronautica was able to continue to perform some scheduled work in parallel.  As a result of the necessary repair time, the delivery of the fuselage section to Everett has been delayed by The Boeing Company.  Global Aeronautica is currently awaiting a revised delivery date from The Boeing Company.

Delivery of the fourth 787 flight test aircraft has been delayed due to damage sustained to the center fuselage at the Global Aeronautica facility in Charleston, SC, Boeing has confirmed.

Sources in both Everett and Charleston tell FlightBlogger that the repair, which was completed this past weekend, centers around damage caused to section 44, a monolithic bonnet structure joined to the center wing box fabricated by Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica.

“An Alenia Aeronautica employee had an issue not following proper procedures, we’ve had a production issue that has resulted,” said Boeing. “The repair has been completed and the issue has been resolved.”

Boeing is currently assessing the schedule situation adding that, “we will know soon” when the center fuselage will be delivered.

Alenia North America, which holds a fifty-percent share in the Global Aeronautica joint venture with Boeing, was unable to comment on the incident by press time.

Boeing underscored that the incident was isolated and unrepresentative of the production system but declined to provide specific details about the incident.

According to sources, incorrect fasteners were improperly installed in the wrong holes causing damage to the composite structure during the join process in Charleston. When installed, each fastener “splintered out the hole” causing significant enough damage to postpone delivery of the center fuselage.

Boeing added that Global Aeronautica would have met the commitment of the completion of assembly and on-time delivery had the incident not taken place. As a result, the center fuselage is being held in Charleston for continuing assembly work to meet the level of completion originally committed to Boeing by Global Aeronautica.

Boeing does not currently have a timeline for the delivery of the center fuselage for Dreamliner Four to Everett.

Indications of the delay arose last week when the nose and center fuselage sections were removed from the delivery calendar without explanation.

Boeing and Global Aeronautica have a “zero tolerance for fiber breakout” for composite structure prompting the time-consuming repairs to section 44, says a veteran engineer familiar with the problems.

Boeing acknowledged that the follow-on impact of the delay to the flight test program and overall FAA certification, if any, is unclear.

My colleague Mary Kirby got a huge scoop today on the specifications for Bombardier’s CSeries. (initial details) The full story should be running at flightglobal.com soon. The new variant gives good indication of customer interest if Bombardier is willing to tailor a new variant around specific types of performance.

Bombardier unveils new CSeries variant; changes current specs
Mary Kirby, Philadelphia (30 Jun 08 14:17 GMT)

Bombardier plans to develop a short-range, high-thrust variant of the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF)-powered CSeries 130, should it opt this year to launch the proposed 110/130-seat aircraft programme.

The new variant, called the CSeries 130XT, was revealed as part of Bombardier’s release of new performance specifications and dimensions – including a longer wingspan and shorter external lengths – for the family of aircraft, which also comprises the CSeries 110, 110ER, 130 and 130ER.

777F to the sky!
Boeing has narrowed its 777F first flight from June 27 to July 9. The heart of that window is this week and sources point to July 3 as the likely date for the new freighter to fly for the first time. This, of course, depends on the weather. Look for the first engine start, low and high sped taxi tests ahead of first flight this week. (You really don’t want these to happen…after…first flight)

Also, I’ll be doing a preview post running through the flight test program top to bottom later this week with a briefing from 777 Chief Test Pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman. In the meantime, take a look at Boeing Unveils Radical Flight Test Reorganization by Guy Norris and North Texans Helping to Build Aviation’s Future by Bob Cox.

I’m using 777F as a test run for potential new techniques for covering 787 first flight, so keep an eye out for those.

A380 Number Five
Singapore Airlines collected MSN010 (9V-SKE), the fifth A380 delivered, this past weekend clearing the way for delivery of MSN011 to Emirates, the second A380 customer on July 28th. MSN010 will be tasked with flying Olympic traffic to Beijing during the first week of August leading up to the 08.08.08 start of the Summer games.

Oil, Oil, Oil
The entire industry is already on red alert
about the price of oil and there’s a distinct possibility we see a
price for a barrel going north to $150. (shudder)

New Look
I hit on this
a little bit last week, but the new design should be ready this week right
as this blog cross the 1,000,000 page load mark since I first joined
Flight. The new layout should bear a striking resemblance to David
Learmount’s new blog, cleverly titled Learmount.

And this…

The caption as it was sent to me:
The
attached photo was taken at the UPS first flight ceremony at Nagoya for
the start of their Anchorage to Nagoya and Nagoya to Shanghai routes.
As chance would have it, the first-ever A380 flight to Japan, a
Singapore Airlines flight from Changi to Narita, was diverted to Nagoya
because of bad weather in Tokyo. A Boeing Large Cargo Freighter made
its scheduled arrival to ferry out 787 components, just as the A380 was
departing for Narita. The result is a picture of the largest passenger
plane and largest freighter together.

Special thanks to EW for the photo

In dramatic fashion, Pratt & Whitney has produced a video previewing its upcoming flight test program for the new Geared Turbofan engine. The company graciously given FlightBlogger the trailer for its world premier here on the blog.

Some more background:

Geared Turbofan™ Engine Completes Phase II Ground Testing, Cleared for First Flight

BERLIN AIR SHOW 2008 – May 28, 2008 – Pratt
& Whitney’s Geared Turbofan demonstrator engine has completed Phase
II ground tests and has been cleared for flight testing on Pratt &
Whitney’s 747SP flying test bed mid-year.  Phase II, which began in
April at Pratt & Whitney’s advanced test facility in West Palm
Beach, Fla., focused on engine performance and ground acoustics with
the Geared Turbofan engine’s flight capable nacelle system.  The engine
completed 120 hours of testing during Phase II and has logged a total
250 hours since ground testing began in November 2007.  Pratt &
Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp.

Now, without further delay…

EXTRA: Listen to the IAG Podcast with Aviation Partners CEO Joe Clark

Imagine an improvement in aerodynamics that
might just have the potential to transform aviation.


Joe Clark, CEO of Aviation Partners, believes he’s got just the thing.

Spiroid tipped wing technology has the potential to save airlines a lot of fuel. Rather than the blended winglet, which has become the standard for all new Boeing 737s coming off the line, a Spiroid tipped wing differs by curving over to create a loop at the end of the wingtip.

According to Aviation Partners, “The Spiroid eliminates concentrated wingtip vortices, which represent nearly half the induced drag generated during cruise.”

The technology isn’t new. In fact, Dr. Louis Gratzer, Vice President of Technology for Aviation Partners has held the patent on the Spiroid tipped wings since 1992. When the winglets first flew on a Gulfstream II, Aviation Partners yielded a 10% improvement in fuel burn.

In a short-haul environment, a 10% improvement with Spiroid tipped wings could be the stepping-stone to the next-generation in fuel efficiency.

For example, the new Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan has touted a 12-15% improvement in SFC (specific fuel consumption). Pratt & Whitney has always affirmed that the 12-15% improvement is separate from whatever gains in efficiency are delivered through aerodynamic refinement of the aircraft.

The coupling of these two technologies could deliver fuel burn improvements up to 22-25%, exceeding even the most optimistic of forecasts without radical changes in engine technology or aircraft configuration that might be required with an unducted fan or blended wing body for example.

From an aerodynamic standpoint, Clark added that the Spiroids are
compatible for any swept wing aircraft. Testing on a Falcon 50 will
begin in 3-4 months to further validate the technology.

“We need to get out and do the full flight test realm. We don’t know what they are going to do in icing and in flutter,” said Clark.

Following the Falcon 50 Spiroid flight tests later this year, Clark wants to test the technology on a Boeing 777. On the longer-range 777s, this would require the removal of the raked wing tips. Boeing’s raked winglets provide a 5.5% improvement in fuel burn over the original 777-200/200ER/300 aircraft.

Boeing has estimated that for every 1% improvement in fuel burn, the 777 would gain 75 nm in range, 10 more passengers or 2,400 pounds of cargo.

A doubling in wingtip efficiency with Spiroids could open the door for new routes for airlines. The famed ‘Kangaroo Route’, the non-stop flight between Sydney and London could finally be in reach. The 777-200LR is able to make the journey one-way, but the route has never been economically viable because of the prevailing winds that limit payload capacity. A 4.5% improvement in fuel burn could, once and for all, open up the route.

I’m working on a bunch of differing things this week that will be rolled out in the coming days and weeks. We’re also working on a new design for the blog I think you’ll really like. I finished up the new header yesterday and added gave representation to all four members of the B.A.B.E.. It should be ready to roll before Farnborough, which is creeping up on us rapidly.

If I had to shake my magic 8-ball today and ask if the price of oil is going to dominate Farnborough, the answer would almost certainly be: “Signs point to yes”

I added a new widget to the blog that tells you the current painful price of crude oil. With fuel this high, I just hope there’s an industry to cover in a year. (Uncomfortable laugh)

Some important stories to take a look at:

How the Airlines Are Wasting Fuel
By Rick Seaney
ABC News

Oil Surge May Cost Jet Makers Orders
By J. Lynn Lunsford and Susan Carey
Wall Street Journal

Aerospace Notebook: MD-80 era winding down as fuel costs rise

By James Wallace
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Airlines facing shrinking pains as fuel prices surge
By Julie Johnsson
Chicago Tribune