Flight Safety Information October 1, 2010 - No. 202 In This Issue US Airways pilots raise concerns about rest rule Private jet slides off Moore County Airport runway European airlines reiterate need for new ash-flight policies India will need 1,000 aircraft over 20 yrs-Airbus CEO Boeing's jumbo-jet delays worry outside engineering experts Reverse Engineering: Technology of Reinvention ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US Airways pilots raise concerns about rest rule CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) The pilots' union at US Airways says a proposed federal rule on pilot working hours could actually increase fatigue and threaten safety. The US Airline Pilots Association said Thursday the new rule would let airline managers schedule crews for one-fourth more flight time in a day and 60 percent more in a week. Mike Cleary, president of the US Airline Pilots Association, said it "simply defies common sense" to have pilots fly more hours in a short period of time. He said fatigue was a factor in many accidents. The union also complained about a proposal that pilots could work a 15-hour day then be back on the job after a 9-hour break, which it said wasn't long enough. The union said it submitted testimony about the rule to the House aviation subcommittee. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the proposed crew-rest rule on Sept. 10. It would shorten shifts for pilots who fly at night, but some who fly during the day could spend more time in the cockpit. The rule would bar airlines from scheduling pilots to be on duty -- either flying or at the airport ready to fly -- longer than 13 hours in a 24-hour period, which is three hours less than current rules. But airlines could schedule pilots to start working between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. and keep them in the cockpit for as much as 10 hours of actual flying -- two more hours than now allowed. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Private jet slides off Moore County Airport runway The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating how a small private jet slid off the Moore County Airport runway last Monday. The Beechcraft Premier 1 was landing from Raleigh to pick up some passengers. It failed to stop at the end of the runway, sliding around 200 feet off the pavement before successfully braking. Only the pilot was on board the private jet at the time of the incident. There were no injuries and the aircraft suffered minor damage only. While the runway was slightly wet and slippery due to light rain, causes for the slip are still inconclusive. http://www.privatejetdaily.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqvqzbdab&et=1103734625930&s=6053&e=001bg-aSOWmEnrJmGkTUvWnWhoLg19jTjK5qE_0vxSqSziJiwzwa73gQrPfj8tjYknzh3c0HdCNMR-YwS_YBz105Q5TB4ubpqAWQWOAuQT3aRWyrQ0xwX3d03nxW-tad6q0] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ European airlines reiterate need for new ash-flight policies European airlines have renewed calls to change the policies that govern flights through volcanic ash. The Association of European Airlines (AEA) believes that European authorities should align their practices with those of the USA, such that airlines would bear responsibility for ensuring safe operation. Speaking at the MRO Europe show in London yesterday, AEA chairman and British Airways chief Willie Walsh acknowledged that "volcanic ash, at certain levels of density, is a safety hazard", but added: "At lower levels, it ceases to be a safety hazard but it is still nonetheless an MRO issue, as operators face the possibility of increased wear-and-tear on the engines." He believes this distinction "was not well understood" by the authorities that effected the five-day closure of European airspace in April. Under the AEA's proposal, the "best possible information, from a range of sources" would be relayed to airlines to inform their decisions, under an adapted US model. "With more frequent eruptions, the US gets more practice," says Walsh. The association is also seeking changes to the European consumer protection rules. These regulations were "never designed for an extraordinary, open-ended event such as the Icelandic eruption", argues Walsh: "It turned the airlines, effectively, into insurers of last resort, for an event that was completely outside their control." Walsh says he looks forward to "sensible and reasonable changes" following consultation on the regulation. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ India will need 1,000 aircraft over 20 yrs-Airbus CEO BANGALORE Oct 1 (Reuters) - EADS' (EAD.PA) unit Airbus expects the Indian aviation market will require more than 1,000 aircraft in the next 20 years, its chief executive Tom Enders said on Friday. U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N), which sees India's expanding aviation sector needing 1,150 commercial jets valued at $130 billion over 20 years, is set to tie up a $5.8-billion defence deal with India, ahead of President Barack Obama's November visit to the country. A burgeoning middle class that is pushing up demand for air travel, rising new entrants in the country's airline sector and India's plan to overhaul its defence systems make India an attractive market for the likes of Airbus and Boeing. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Boeing's jumbo-jet delays worry outside engineering experts   Boeing on Thursday postponed initial delivery of the 747-8 by six months, as observers said the company's culture and outsourcing may have exacerbated the plane's aerodynamic and mechanical gremlins. Beset by aerodynamic and mechanical gremlins, Boeing on Thursday pushed out initial delivery of the 747-8, the new, larger version of its jumbo jet, by six months into the middle of 2011. Boeing said two separate vibration problems - one on the wing tip, the other in the mechanism that extends and retracts a hinged control surface on the wing - could not have been predicted in advance of flight tests. Spokesman Tim Bader said Boeing expects to solve the wing-tip vibration with software. It also is redesigning the device, called an actuator, that moves the wing control surface. "That is why we flight test," Bader added. "You identify issues and make the necessary refinements." Yet Boeing's struggles to surmount those problems, and the proliferation of delays in other programs - the 787 Dreamliner and the Italian Air Force tanker are way behind schedule, too - worry outside engineering experts. "Boeing just hasn't been performing up to par, if you define par as how Boeing used to perform up through the 777," said Hans Weber, president of San Diego-based technical-aviation consultancy Tecop International. Stan Sorscher, an analyst with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), the white-collar union at Boeing, said the delays point to fundamental cultural problems within Boeing, specifically the primacy of budget constraints and an unwillingness to acknowledge issues as they arise. "This is a failure of the business model and of the problem-solving culture," Sorscher said. "Outsourcing contributed to it, but the real problem is bigger than that." Boeing's Bader said engineers believe the wing-tip vibration can be solved by programming the computer that manages the flight controls to avoid certain stresses in specific circumstances. He said flight tests of the software this past weekend were encouraging. "We're still investigating it. But the preliminary results have been positive," Bader said. "We're also testing the redesign of the actuator. Those results have been promising as well." Weber, an expert on aerodynamics, agreed with Boeing that a major change to an airframe - such as the new wing on the 747-8 - can create aerodynamic vibration that is hard to predict and may only show up in flight testing. It may take the form of mild oscillation or of a more destructive and powerful vibration called flutter. "That just happens," Weber said. One major reason why the Italian tanker is about five years late is flutter caused by the addition of refueling pods near the wing tip. Providing a software fix could mean the stress limits imposed by the computer will restrict the jet's range or capacity. "What will that do to the promised performance of the airplane?" Weber said. Bader said more flight tests must be completed "before we can get a clear picture of the performance." Sorscher said he has been hearing complaints from engineers for several years about a lack of communication within the airplane-development programs and a growing reluctance to bring bad news to the attention of managers who don't want to hear it. "Boundaries have been more rigid," said Sorscher. "And the awareness that we've got a problem has come more slowly." He said unrealistic budgets and the constant demand to conserve resources and manpower have led to "wishful thinking as problem solving." Exacerbating that, he said, Boeing moved much of the early design work on the 747-8 from the Puget Sound area. It gave a major role to engineers at Boeing's Moscow Design Center and at outside suppliers. "It's a different model than we had 20 years ago, when we'd hire all the people and put them in a building in Seattle," Jeff Peace, then vice president for the 747-8 program, said in a teleconference in July 2006. "We're recognizing and utilizing the world's capability in engineering." In Moscow, Boeing hired around 1,000 engineers who worked much more cheaply than those here. In 2003, Sergei Kravchenko, president of Boeing Russia, in an e-mail subsequently obtained by The Seattle Times, had promised Boeing's leadership total labor rates "approximately 1/3 to 1/5 of the U.S. cost while meeting Boeing standards for quality and schedule." One of the outside suppliers on the 747-8 program was Stork Fokker, a Dutch firm whose engineers worked on the wing's trailing edge. That trailing edge is where the now-troublesome control surface mechanism is. But Boeing's Bader insisted that the problems discovered in flight tests "are not a result of bringing on external engineering firms to augment our design efforts." Wherever blame lies, the consequence is a financial hit. With the latest delay, initial delivery is now more than 18 months behind schedule. The 747-8 has only 109 firm orders. Boeing will have to sell many more to get back its development costs, which are soaring with the extra work to fix the problems. Yet Boeing said Thursday the delay will not affect its financial results this year. That's due to Boeing's accounting methods. The company spreads the costs of developing a new plane over an initial number of aircraft it is confident it can sell. Typically that's around 400 airplanes for a brand-new jet like the 787 Dreamliner, much less for a derivative like the 747-8. If at some point anticipated expenses exceed the expected revenue from that designated block of aircraft, the company's accountants must record charges known as "reach-forward losses." After the previous delays on the 747-8 program, Boeing recorded reach-forward losses of $1.4 billion in 2009 and $685 million in 2008. In July, Boeing said it increased the undisclosed size of the 747 accounting block by 25 airplanes, meaning it is confident it can sell that many more of the jets. Based on the market value of the jet as estimated by aviation-consultancy firm Avitas, that extension gave Boeing around $4.5 billion in extra anticipated revenue as a buffer against a further loss charge. The only previous Boeing jet in a forward-loss position was the 737NG, which recorded losses of $700 million in 1997 and $350 million in 1998 after major manufacturing snarls that halted production in Renton. That jet, also a major update to an older plane with a new wing and new engines, nevertheless went on to become a highly profitable success. Almost 3,400 have rolled out since the first 737NG delivery in 1997, and more than 2,000 more are still on order. However, the potential market for the 737 was enormous. Boeing acknowledges that the market for the 747-8 is very much smaller. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC