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787 launch customer All Nippon Airways disclosed this morning in Tokyo that it plans to take delivery of ZA100 (JA801A), the first production standard aircraft, in November or December. The airline will begin Japanese domestic service for pilot training starting in January, with international routes to begin at the end of March. Neither the initial domestic nor the international routes were disclosed, however ANA says that Beijing, Shanghai, San Francisco, Paris, Munich or London are on the shortlist for the aircraft.

Even before Airplane Seven arrives in ANA’s fleet, one of the 787 test aircraft will visit Japan for maintenance and pilot training in advance of November’s first delivery. The carrier expects to take delivery of eight 787s in the first fiscal quarter of 2011 ending on March 31, which is dictated by the latest Z19 program schedule. Those aircraft are likely to be numbered 7-9 and 11-15.

What is yet unclear is whether or not ANA’s first international route will be the first for a 787, with RAM potentially launching the first overseas service with the new twin. LAN says it won’t take delivery until the second quarter of 2011, which begins in April. While RAM, whose first 787 is Airplane 17, has yet to disclosed a delivery date. However, Ethiopian Airlines, taking Airplane 44 in 2011, has always maintained that it would be the first in Africa to fly the 787.

Photo Credit SteelDreams

BROUGHTON — While it’s not yet possible to climb inside the wing of Airbus’ newest jetliner, I want to take you inside the aerodynamic backbone of the A350 XWB. In Broughton, UK about 25 miles southwest of Manchester, Airbus is rapidly expanding its wing factory to include build-up operations for its long-range composite twin. The airframer already assembles wings for the A320 and A330/A340, as well as the A380.

The A350 is the second (largely) composite wing to be built by Airbus and the first for it commercial product line. The first is the A400M which is currently in flight testing. The wing is generally made up of three major components: The top and bottom wing skins, the front and rear wing spars, made from composite, and the inter-spar ribs which are aluminum lithium. Once mated to the center wing box and winglets attached, Airbus’s new jetliner will sport a wingspan of 212ft 5.2in (64.75m).

Currently, Airbus is in the process of assembling a half-span wing box demonstrator to test manufacturing techniques, including automated drilling of the top and bottom wing skins. The “lessons learned” on the 55ft 9in (17m) test wing box will be fed back into the detailed design and manufacturing plan for the program. The demonstration box is instrumented with strain gauges to measure the changing loads on the wing during manufacturing.

Because the wing is made up of both composite and aluminum, the different materials have different coefficients of expansion, meaning that each material will expand and contract differently at a given temperature. This requires the wing design to take into account the changing shape of the varied materials. During manufacturing the jig beds that hold the wingbox are on slides that expand and contract. During the winter, Airbus heated the test facility and then let it cool to see how the wing structure would react. 

Both the front spar and fixed leading edge will be manufactured by Spirit Aeroystems in Kinston, North Carolina and Prestwick, UK, respectively. The rear spar will be manufactured by GKN in Filton, UK, while the upper and lower wing covers will be fabricated in Stade, Germany and Ilescas, Spain, respectively.

The forward and rear spars arrive in Broughton as three pieces: an inner, mid and outer. Build up of the three modules will see the front and rear spars joined to the aluminum lithium ribs. The new process is intended to save cycle time by loading each complete module into the assembly jig before joining them together, rather than doing a complete build up of a full forward and rear spar in the main area.

Once placed into the jigs, the covers will be installed on the spars and ribs. At first, the covers will be tacked, not bolted on, then moved by an automatically guided vehicle (AGV) into the drilling cell. A gantry-like system will drill the top cover and a “cartesian-like” machine will drill the lower cover. Because it is made up of a single piece cover, only 5,000 holes are drilled, compared to the much larger aluminum A380 wing requiring 750,000. The main driver for this reduction comes from the bonded, not bolted, stringers on the top and bottom skins.

For the first time on its commercial programs, Airbus will shift from a vertical wing build up to horizontal. The main driver was the ability to access the wing box once both one-piece wing covers are installed. With 19.7ft (6m) between the front and rear spar, Airbus opted to turn the wing horizontal to minimize the potential damage from falling tools, and more importantly make the underwing access holes easier to get to.

The wing will be moved again by AGV to a bolting station where the previously tacked covers will be removed, deburred, sealed then fastened to the structure. Following this stage, the wing will move again to a equipping station that is shared with the A330, where the fuel system and limited hydraulics will be installed. Each set of wings will then go on to painting, followed by loading onto the Beluga for shipping to Bremen, German for complete outfitting of the electrics, pneumatics, remaining hydraulics, external systems and control surfaces before making the trip to final assembly in Toulouse.

Photo Credit Airbus & GKN

If ever there was a route that the 787 was designed for, this is it.

At its recent Innovation Days briefings in the UK, Airbus, not known for its glowing technical assessment of the 787, touted the early 787’s range at 6,990nm with 246 passengers aboard. At that payload, Houston to Auckland is well within the reach of Continental’s first 787 with 36 business class and 192 economy seats.

Boeing says the range of the 787-8 lies between 7,650 and 8,200nm. Airplanes 7 and 20 are the earliest weight saving blockpoint changes with further enhancements planned for introduction with Airplanes 34 and 50.

A new 777 is making its way down the moving line inside Boeing’s Everett factory. That aircraft, with a painted Union Jack rudder, will be the first -300ER (G-STB_) for British Airways. The aircraft, set for a July handover, will be the first new wide-body type (variant) in the carrier’s fleet since they added their first 777-200ER (G-VIIA) in July 1997. It will be the first of six the carrier has on order. Two of the six are directly purchased from Boeing, while the balance will be leased from GECAS. British Airways holds options for a further four more. A source at the airframer says that the aircraft left final body join earlier this week and is heading to the front door at a breakneck pace of 1.6 in/min.

In the last two weeks, the world has seen air major accidents in North Africa and South Asia involving brand new airframes from both Boeing and Airbus. While the final verdict on the probable causes of these accidents are months, if not years away, the close proximity of both tragedies, prompts a distinct train of thought.
 
Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, an Airbus A330-200 built in late 2009, crashed on approach to Tripoli following a flight from Johannesburg, killing all but one of the 104 passengers on 12 May. Ten days later on May 22, Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737-800 delivered in 2008, overran a runway in Mangalore after a flight from Dubai, killing 158 of 166 on board.

While very different airlines, with very different fleets, in very different regions, these two accidents have an important link tied to each region’s common aviation future.
 

Boeing and Airbus estimate Africa will require 620-929 new aircraft over the next 20 years, a more than doubling the current continental fleet of 660, while India will require 1,032-1,093 aircraft, with the Indian passenger fleet growing four-fold.
 
Grouping an entire continent such as Africa is a common fallacy, pockets of well developed airlines and airports have expanded safety in important ways over the last half century. The same goes for India where highly developed airports in Mumbai and Delhi account for half of the air traffic in South Asia.
 
Staggering economic growth, which will outpace mature markets in the US and Europe will drive unprecedented demand for new aircraft and new routes to airports that had limited or no previous commercial service whatsoever.
 
While technology in the aircraft is further enhancing safety, such as runway overrun protection and precision navigation capability, technology on the ground has to keep pace. In developed regions, approach radar aids a pilot on descent to the runway threshold, analyzing the aircraft’s position in relation to the instrument landing system.
 

Additionally, the EMAS, or Engineered Materials Arresting System, has proven itself to be far superior than other types of runway arresting measures such as sand bed, like that available in Mangalore.
 
Though as the massive influx of new aircraft continues over the next two decades into the emerging markets, aircraft large and small will continue to put strain on an limited and often outdated airport infrastructure.
 

Flight 771 is believed to have been flying a non-precision NDB approach into the rising morning sun at the end of Runway 9 when it crashed, while early reports indicate Flight 812 approached high on the glideslope to Mangalore, resulting in a long touchdown by the 737.

Just as the airframers manage the unprecedented demand from these regions, particular focus needs to be paid by governments, international regulatory authorities and airframers, on both sides of the aircraft/airport equation.
 

The introduction of high technology cannot be limited to flying hardware. Unprecedented growth cannot be successfully accomplished without expansion of not only pavement and terminals, but the modern safety technologies that make emerging markets into developed markets.

Photos Credit Rick Schlamp & Christophe Ramos

Videos Courtesy Liz Matzelle

787 Flight Test Updates: Month
One, Month
Two & Month Three

It has been five months since ZA001 made its maiden flight on December 15, 2009 has surpassed 747 flight hours with its four Rolls-Royce powered 787s through May 18.

With five months of testing now under its belt, only Boeing knows if it is truly on track for first delivery and certification by the end of 2010, though with about 750 of the 2400 planned flight test hours (for Rolls-Royce certification) accumulated through a five months worth of testing, the goal looks tighter and tighter. While Boeing has not swayed from its projection of a year-end first delivery, ANA – launch customer for the 787 – is quietly making preparations for a further delay into 2011, with other industry sources saying the airline’s preparations angle closer to a springtime entry into service for the new composite jetliner.

On May 10, tracking by UBS Investment Research estimated that the 787 was only 20% through type certification and was as much as a month behind to a mid-September completion “due to extended downtime for both planned and unplanned maintenance on its four test aircraft.”

The most significant program milestone in the last two months was the granting of the expanded Type Inspection Authorization on April 21 which cleared the way for the certification operations with the Federal Aviation Administration. Earlier in the month, on April 7, Boeing declared the static structural tests successful following the high-blow and wing flex tests of late March. Additionally, on April 8, the 787’s Hamilton Sundstrand APS5000 APU completed ETOPS testing after logging 10,000 operating hours.

Crowded airspace, originally uploaded by ImperfectSense.

Sometimes you’re in the right place at exactly the right time to capture an image that makes you question its authenticity. This, my friends, is the crowded airspace in Seattle. The United Express CRJ700 on final to Sea-Tac as a US Air Force C-17 passes directly overhead.

Photos Credit Liz Matzelle