After a year beset with problems, predominately with the all-new 787 Dream liner, Boeing has started the New Year on a high note having resumed flight test activities on the 787 immediately before Christmas; having announced a boost to 777 production and having achieved significant progress with issues which occurred during last year with the 747-8 and thus being able to accelerate the types flight test programme.
As far as the Dream liner is concerned, Boeing has installed an interim version of updated power distribution system software and conducted a rigorous set of reviews to confirm the flight readiness of ZA004, the first of the six flight test airplanes which returned to flight on December 23. Flight testing of the 787 was suspended in November following an in-flight electrical incident on a test flight in Laredo, Texas.
"Initially, we will resume a series of tests that remain to be completed in the flight test programme. That testing will be followed later by a resumption of certification testing," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 programme when he announced the resumption of the testing.
The first items involved after the resumption of testing included an intentional deployment of the ram air turbine, which is a small turbine that is deployed when back-up power is required. Boeing and Hamilton Sundstrand completed testing of the interim software updates a few days before hand. Verification of the system included laboratory testing of stand-alone components, integration testing with other systems, flight simulator testing and ground-based testing on flight test aircraft.
While the fleet was grounded, the company continued ground testing as part of the certification programme. Additional ground testing will be done on the production version of the aircraft to further verify performance of the changes being made. "As we return to flight test and determine the pace of that activity, we remain focused on developing a new programme schedule," Fancher added. At the time Boeing expected to complete assessment of the programme schedule in January.
777 Production Rate
Meanwhile, Boeing has announced its production rate for the 777 programme will increase to 8,3 aircraft per month by the first quarter of 2013. This is the second production increase announced for the programme since March last year, the first one being that production would be increased from five to seven aircraft per month beginning in mid-2011. The 777 has a large operator base, and a track record of proven performance including, at the time of writing, 1163 orders, 907 deliveries and a backlog of more than 250aircraft.
747-8 Freighter
After the cumulative effect of design changes added six-months to the first delivery of the first 747-8 freighter, Boeing appears to have found a steady pace with the acceleration of its flight testing. As it entered the New Year, the company was nearing 1500 hours of flight testing on the fleet of four, which began testing in February last year this year. Boeing announced in September it would slide first delivery to Cargolux to the middle of 2011, following required design changes to the aircrafts inboard aileron actuators, main landing gear doors ,nose landing gear wheel well and flight control laws to dampen out an oscillation.
"We made significant progress in resolving the issues we found during the flight test programme," said Michael Teal, 747-8 chief project engineer."We have implemented fixes on the airplane and we're now driving toward all of the fundamental testing we have to complete to certify and deliver the airplane." In August, Boeing undertook additional stall testing, continuing stability and control evaluations of the aircrafts low-speed handling characteristics .In October ,the 747-8F completed ground effects testing to collect data on thelow altitude performance of the aircraft close to the runway to better refine the aircrafts autoland system.
In November, RC501, the lead freighter test aircraft completed velocity minimum unstuck testing to determine the edge of the takeoff performance envelope by dragging the aircrafts tail on the runway during its takeoff roll. Additionally, Boeing bested its own maximum take off weight record of 455860 kilograms (1005000 lbs) from June by loading the 747-8F to takeoff weight of 458128 kilograms, 15875 kilograms higher than 442252 kilograms MTOW.
During December RC501 was "in layup" preparing for its flight loads survey which was due to have been held last month. The aircraft had pressure taps and strain gauges installed throughout the airframe to compare computer assumptions against observed performance.
Aviation under Increasing Pressure to "Go Green"
Going Green has become one of the biggest global challenges to date and many aviation companies could find themselves non-compliant when it comes to new legislation. As many aviation companies are still not 100% sure exactly what is required,Worl Air news approached Angela Hobbs, an analyst with Camco, a Woodmead, Johanessburg –based global developer of emission reduction and clean energy projects, for and explanation. The following are her views on the subject.
If your aviation activities include flights to and from European Union (EU) aerodromes, as well as flights to or from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, you may appear on the European Commissions list of aircraft operators that fall under the legally binding emissions reporting scheme known as the European Unions Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
This is the world's largest emissions trading scheme and forms part of the EUs strategy to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is a major milestone in the global effort in the climate change challenge. The EU ETS is an emissions cap and trade scheme that covers the carbon dioxide emissions that are emitted as a result of specific industrial activities by installations (mobile and stationary). These activities are indicated in Annex 1 OF THE Directive.
Each member state or country participating in the EU ETS will set an overall cap or limit on the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted by all sectors covered by the system. This cap is further divided and allocated to the various installations that fall under the scheme.
For example, the aviation sector will only be allowed to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide within the cap. A number of emission "allowances ," which together add up to the overall cap, will be given out free of charge to each of the installations involved should the apply for this free allocation.
An allowance is a tradable commodity and is defined as equaling one tone of carbon dioxide. Aviation operators who fail to apply for free allowances can purchase emissions credits through project-based instruments under the Kyoto protocol, namely Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation projects.
Every year, each installation that falls under the EU ETS must measure its carbon dioxide emissions for that particular period. It will then need to surrender allowances that equal the number of tones of carbon dioxide emitted in that particular year.
In the context of aviation, if an aviation operator were to emit carbon dioxide in excess of the number of allowances received, the operator would need to purchase additional allowances on the open carbon market to balance this out. However, if the amount of carbon dioxide emissions emitted were fewer than the number of allowances received ,these spare allowances could be sold or banked.
In the event that operators fail to surrender sufficient allowances, financial penalties will prevail. The first date for operators to surrender allowances will be April 30, 2013, in respect to 2012 emissions.
Confirming Status
The first step for an operator is to confirm its status in terms of the new legislation by checking if it appears on the list. This list will be reviewed and published by the European Commission on an annual basis to account for new operators or those that are no longer in existence or have rescinded their operating license. Operators that appear on the list will need to develop a quick understanding of this new legislation as well as its requirements so as to avoid unnecessary delays and possible financial and civil penalties. Alternatively, service providers who are familiar with the legislation can carry out the procedures on behalf of the operator.
There are cases where operators are exempt from the legislation ,such as search and rescue and state flights transporting Heads of State to mention a few. A thorough understanding of the Directive is needed before further action is taken. There are two types of monitoring plans and reports that operators must submit, one of which is a mandatory plan that should have been submitted by operators towards the end of 2009. This plan describes the methodologies and responsibilities of operators when monitoring their emissions.
The EA plan, following submission to the Competent Authority, was approved in January 2010. Following approval of this plan, aircraft operators are required to put it into practice for the EU ETS reporting period which runs from January 1 to December 31 each year. For the calendar years starting from 2010, annual emissions must be monitored according to the approved plan in order to develop the AE report. Only accredited verifiers will be accepted by Competent Authorities. Verifiers must be accredited in the members state to which the operator reports.
The independent verifier will produce a verification opinion statement, which must then be sent along with the verified authority annual emissions report to the competent authority by March 31 the following year. Emissions will need to be monitored from 2010 and continues for as long as operators are part of the EU ETS. The Tonne Kilometre Monitoring (TKM) plan, also known as a benchmarking plan, is avoluntary plan that is required for the free allocation of emission allowances. Without this plan, operators will need to apply to its regulator by March 31, 2011, for free allowances.
Certain non-commercial operators are considered as small emitters. This applies to those operators that carry out less than 243 flights per year, or emit less than 10000 ones of carbo dioxides per annum. In this case small emitters are able to simplify their plans by calculating their emissions using the simplified emission calculation tool that was developed by EURO CONTROL. Angela Hobbs concluded:"The Aviation Directive is upon us and future roll-out of similar schemes is expected in locations outside of the EU."
