21 NOV 2008 _______________________________________ *Whoops! Boeing Engineers To Blame For 787 Fastener Problems *Lufthansa builds hangar in US for rare plane *South Korea Pushes for Aviation Safety Pact With EU *Chile could be first to agree to new US nationality exemption *President Bush singles out DOT for NextGen development *Airbus to certify airbags in A320s *************************************** Whoops! Boeing Engineers To Blame For 787 Fastener Problems Installation Specs Confusing; So's The Explanation Given the problematic nature of Boeing's relationship with its suppliers on the oft-stalled 787 Dreamliner program... perhaps it's understandable that many assumed the latest problem involving fasteners on the composite-bodied airliner was the fault of one of those contractors. Well, you know what they say about 'assuming' anything. According to The Seattle Times, up to 8,000 fasteners will need to be replaced on each of the first 12 Boeing 787s now in various stages of assembly at suppliers and Boeing's production line in Everett, WA. As ANN reported earlier this month, Boeing inspectors found some fasteners projecting slightly from their mounting holes, instead of lying flush with surrounding panels. Boeing made the discovery near the end of the 57-day-long strike by workers represented by the International Association of Machinists. The news followed Boeing's announcement of yet another delay for the Dreamliner's first flight, now tentatively scheduled in early 2009. The planemaker initially said the fasteners had been improperly installed... but as it turns out, the blame for the glitch lies instead in the hands of Boeing's own engineers, who wrote the specs on the proper way to fasten sections of the plane's carbon-fiber composite skin to its titanium structure. Given the groundbreaking nature of the 787's construction, Boeing had to write many series of instructions on how to join various sections of the airplane together... and one set of those specifications was apparently quite confusing. An operations manager at a Boeing supplier plant -- who asked not to be identified, out of concern for angering Boeing -- told the Times he reviewed Boeing's instructions on how to join composite materials to titanium, and found it was entirely possible to misinterpret the spec. "If I'm struggling and a 25-year design engineer is struggling, how can you expect a mechanic to understand this?" said the manager. Even the simplified explanation of the problem is confusing. In essence, Boeing's instructions on how to fasten the dissimilar components differ, depending on which side -- composite or titanium -- the fastener head would be on, and on whether the composite piece needed to be drilled. Measurements on the spec governing drilled composite pieces being fastened to titanium panels -- with the fastener head on the titanium side -- were inaccurate, as well as headache-inducing. If a machinist followed the instructions, the fastener would protrude slightly in its hole... as it wasn't made clear in the spec that a bevel needed to be drilled first. Got all that? In any case, it's fair to say workers feel slightly vindicated by the revelation. "I don't think it should be pushed on the inexperience of the mechanics," said Joy Romero, VP of the 787 program for Vought Aircraft, which assembles aft fuselage sections for the 787 in Charleston, SC. "It's more about the clarity of the specifications and the confusion of the specifications." Alas, it's a small victory... as quality control inspectors must now locate and replace the errant fasteners. In many cases, that includes ripping off insulation and interior panels already put in place. Teams will need to work about a week at a time to find and reinstall the fasteners in one aircraft. FMI: www.boeing.com, www.voughtaircraft.com aero-news.net *************** Lufthansa builds hangar in US for rare plane AUBURN, Maine: German airline Lufthansa on Thursday opened a hangar built in Auburn, Maine, for the three-year overhaul of a rare Constellation Starliner. Lufthansa bought three of the airplanes last year from local aviation enthusiast Maurice Roundy and contracted Lufthansa Technik in Germany to restore one aircraft back into flying condition using parts from the other two. A team of five former Lufthansa aircraft mechanics, along with five active mechanics and engineers from Lufthansa Technik will restore the vintage aircraft. Another 12 mechanics are being hired locally, said Martin Riecken, a Lufthansa spokesman. "For the project team, the formal opening of this hangar is an important milestone. I'm delighted that this building will now be available for this ambitious project," August Wilhelm Henningsen, chairman of Lufthansa Technik, said Thursday. Hundreds of Constellations, known affectionately as the "Connie," were produced by Lockheed in the 1940s and 1950s. But only 44 Starliners were built. Two of Roundy's were originally used by Trans World Airlines and the third was used by Lufthansa. EU governments to overhaul farm subsidiesCitigroup tries to stop the drop in its share priceAsian markets reverse course to edge higherConstellations were used by the military as transports in World War II and then by commercial airlines before passenger jets rendered them obsolete. Henningsen described the Super Star, dubbed the Starliner by Lufthansa, as "the culmination in the history of propeller driven transport aircraft." Only four L-1649A Starliners are preserved, and none of them are airworthy at present, according to Lufthansa. One of them is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C. The planes are so rare that Lufthansa jumped at the opportunity when Roundy put his planes on the market last year. Two of the planes are located in Auburn, while a third is on display in Polk City, Florida. The primary aircraft already has been stripped of some components in Auburn. The tail section was sent to a Lufthansa Technik subsidiary for overhaul, and the historic Curtiss-Wright engines have been sent to Anderson Aeromotive Inc. from Grangeville, Idaho. The other airplane in Auburn and the airplane in Florida will be used for spare parts. While the Florida plane will no longer fly, it'll remain on display at the Fantasy of Flight Museum, Riecken said. The timetable calls for the Super Star overhaul to take place over three years with a goal of making it airworthy by 2011. Eventually, it'll be repainted in Lufthansa's historic colors and returned to Germany, where it'll be used to perform vintage flights. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/20/business/NA-US-Starliner-Lufthansa .php *************** South Korea Pushes for Aviation Safety Pact With EU SEOUL, Nov 21 Asia Pulse - South Korea will push to conclude a comprehensive pact on aviation safety with the European Union (EU) in an effort to help boost exports of locally made aviation products to the economic bloc, officials said Friday. South Korean aviation product manufacturers will be able to more easily gain certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency of the EU if the pact is signed, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said in a statement. Both sides will hold talks in Seoul in the first half of next year to discuss the details of the pact, they said. http://asia.news.yahoo.com/081121/4/3sf19.html **************** Chile could be first to agree to new US nationality exemption Chile may be the first country to take advantage of a new US bilateral initiative to waive a nationality clause that would liberalise airline operations further between the two nations. US State Department deputy assistant secretary for transportation, John Byerly, says the current nationality restriction in Open Skies agreements "is a problem" and he is offering countries a chance to work with the US to waive the restriction. "I have a draft with me," he says, responding to a question by LAN CEO Enrique Cueto. Cueto says that even though Chile and the US have an Open Skies agreement, current foreign ownership limitations "make it difficult for us to work together." After an Open Skies session during the ALTA airline leaders forum in Cancun, Cueto asked for a copy of Byerly's proposal so that he could encourage Chile to explore signing it. In a hypothetical example, Byerly says if GOL would buy LAN tomorrow, the Brazilian airline would not currently be able to operate LAN in the same way: LAN would lose its carte blanche Open Skies ability to fly to any market in the US because Brazil is not an Open Skies partner with the US. If Chile signs the new agreement, it may start a trend among nations wanting to remove one of the thorniest issues in Open Skies pacts. Byerly notes that there are 3,500 air service agreements worldwide, and if nationality clauses were removed, "we could change the world fairly quickly" and that the move "would create a more competitive airline industry". European Commission director general for energy & transport, Mark Niklas, agrees with Byerly, adding that the European Union "waived the nationality clause with Chile last year". Both US and EU representatives called the first stage of the broad US-EU pact - that became effective in March 2008 - a success. Byerly notes that the pathway of future negotiations shouldn't change after US President-elect Barack Obama takes over in January. "The commitment to pursue the second stage is a legal commitment. It's in the document." Mexicana's legal vice president Javier Christlieb called for US and EU factions to "recognise the differences" in Latin countries. Byerly disagreed, saying that terms such as "balanced and holistic" also mean "protectionist." Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** President Bush singles out DOT for NextGen development In an executive order published today, the Bush administration has tasked the US Department of Transportation (DOT) with taking the lead in the rollout of the nation's next generation air transportation system (NextGen). In addition to convening quarterly status meetings, the White House is mandating that DOT build a NextGen implementation support staff for the work in 60 days and establish an advisory committee on implementation policy within six months. Also tapped are other agencies, including the Defence, Homeland Security, Commerce and NASA, to help DOT in the effort. Currently a multi-agency joint program development office (JPDO) is overseeing the introduction of NextGen. Industry observers say it is unclear how the Bush order would change the structure of JPDO, if in fact the incoming Obama administration allows the mandate to stand. Defence is called on to provide "data streams to integrate national defence capabilities" as well as to coordinate "the development of requirements and capabilities to address tracking and other activities relating to non-cooperative aircraft." The Commerce department is to assist with expertise and rulemaking regarding aviation weather and spectrum management while Homeland Security is to ensure that NextGen "includes the aviation-related security capabilities necessary to ensure the security of persons, property, and activities within the national air transportation system (NAS)". NASA is to provide to DOT with personnel and the Office of Management and Budget is given clearance to "issue such instructions as may be necessary" to aid in the deployment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************* Airbus to certify airbags in A320s Airbus has been granted special certification conditions from the US FAA to allow the airframer to certify inflatable airbags in the passenger restraint systems on A320 family aircraft. The company on 2 September asked the regulator to amend its A320 type certificate to allow the installation of AmSafe Aviation inflatable restraints for head injury protection (HIP) on passenger seats on the A319, A320 and A321. First created for the automobile industry, the aviation version of the restraint is designed to limit passenger forward motion in the event of an accident, "thus reducing the potential for head injury and head entrapment," says FAA, adding that the airbag is similar to the automobile system except that it is integrated into the passenger restraint system and inflates away from the seated passengers. Other aircraft with amended certification requirements for the seatbelts include the Boeing 777. Airframers traditionally meet HIP requirements in certain seats by requiring either a setback 35in from any bulkhead, front seat or "other rigid interior feature" or by placing padding in the collision area. While HIP is not required as part of the certification for the A320 series today, it will be included in new regulations set to go into effect on 27 October 2009, says FAA. To meet the amended certification requirements, FAA will require Airbus to show that the airbags "perform properly under foreseeable operating conditions" and will not become a hazard to other passengers or the aircraft. Of particular concern is that the airbags do not deploy inadvertently due to the effect of electronic noise or lightning on the sensors to trigger the pyrotechnic charge. Other considerations include the impacts of the belts on pregnant women and children held on a passenger's lap. Airbus says the special condition application is routine as there are no formal standards for the restraints. "Postings such as this are used simply to permit compliance with head strike protection requirements on bulkhead seats," says the company. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************