April 23, 2018 - No. 032 In This Issue Schumer demands FAA step up maintenance inspections after fatal accidents Historic Wins at 2018 Aerospace Maintenance Competition Patiala's aeronautical engineering college to begin classes in August New Islamabad Airport to have capacity of 25 million passengers per annum Deadliest plane crash in Algerian history kills 257 Iran Designs System to Inspect Airbus A320's Landing Gear PAL bets on 'big data,' taps Airbus Flight Hour Services for its A350-900 fleet Skyrider Airplane Stand Up Seats Allow Airlines to Pack Passenger Like Sardines EASA, FAA Issue Emergency ADs For CFM56-7B Inspections SpaceX to build BFR factory in Southern California Schumer demands FAA step up maintenance inspections after fatal accidents Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding the Federal Aviation Administration increase inspections of aircraft maintenance after his office reviewed agency records and found that enforcement and fines specifically for maintenance issues have dropped over the last several years. Schumer's office asserts that formal enforcement actions for airline maintenance issues decreased after 2014 and dropped dramatically in 2017. The data was compiled from the agency's quarterly reports on civil enforcement penalties, according to a statement from his office. The New York Democrat said the decline in maintenance enforcement raises serious concerns about whether the FAA is meeting its oversight mandates. He demanded the agency examine the data and report back on why that enforcement has decreased. "After each incident, the FAA says they're going to study that particular incident," Schumer said during a Sunday night news conference. "We want them to be proactive and not look at safety after a tragedy occurs. We don't want them to look at a particular instance of safety, maintenance, but at all of them." In response to Schumer's release, the FAA said: "We are never content with the status quo, and the FAA is continually working to enhance safety for the flying public. The FAA's comprehensive oversight system is designed to identify potential risks before they become serious problems and ensure that corrective action is taken. The process is dynamic and requires that the FAA, and the airlines we oversee, constantly strive for safety improvements." Recent accidents Schumer's release comes after an incident last week on a Southwest Airlines flight killed one passenger, a recent "60 Minutes" report detailing numerous safety problems on Allegiant Air, and a helicopter crash in New York's East River last month that killed five passengers. The Southwest Airlines incident occurred on a flight from New York to Dallas about 20 minutes after takeoff, when the jet's engine failed and shrapnel shattered a passenger window, fatally injuring 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan, a mother of two. The FAA on Friday ordered new inspection requirements for engines similar to the one that failed. The "60 Minutes" report on Allegiant Air, meanwhile, detailed more than 100 of what it described as serious mechanical incidents between the start of 2016 and October 2017, including midair engine failures, smoke and fumes in the cabin, rapid descents, flight control malfunctions, hydraulic leaks and aborted takeoffs. While Allegiant has not had a fatal crash since it began passenger flights in 1999, it reported at least 60 unscheduled landings and 46 in-flight emergencies over the past two years, the news program said. The number of serious safety problems on that airline were about 3˝ times greater than the nation's other major airlines, according to the report. Meanwhile, the helicopter crash in the East River last month that killed all five passengers prompted Schumer to call on the FAA to suspend the operating certificate of the company, Liberty Helicopters, until its safety record and the crash are fully assessed. https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/22/politics/schumer-faa-maintenance-inspections/index.html Back to Top Historic Wins at 2018 Aerospace Maintenance Competition This year's Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC) made history on multiple fronts. With 72 teams competing in a range of 28 different skills events, the competition beat last year's record of 50 teams competing in 25 events to make it the largest AMC yet. Additionally, this year's competition saw its first all-female teams. The all-female teams-Elevate Aviation, Pratt & Whitney WiseWomen and United Airlines Chix Fix- paved the way for more women competing in the future. To recognize their achievements, the AMC gave out an award for the Female Team category, which went to United Airlines Chix Fix. The team also placed second in the Airbus A320 CAT III Certification event and third in the ULTRAX Aerospace Condition Based Intelligence event. Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney WiseWomen beat out all the competition by winning first place in the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan Engine event and also tied for third place in the AMC Safety Wiring Event. In the School category, Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM) Houston won first place, beating their second-place finish from last year. The AIM competitors also placed in four other events, including a first-place finish in the Alberth Aviation Wheel and Brake Removal and Installation event. FedEx Express - Indianapolis took home first place in the MRO/OEM category, also placing first in the FedEx Turbine Engine event and placing in five other events. United Airlines - Cleveland swept the competition with an abundance of wins. The team won first place in the Commercial category and six different events. In addition, the team won the Bill O'Brien Award and placed within six other events. Team Qantas took home first place in both the International category and the Barfield Fuel Quality event. The team also placed in two other events. Phillips 66 won the General Aviation Category and placed in two other events. On the military side, the United States Coast Guard dominated with its C-27J APO and Air Station Clearwater teams winning first and second in the Military category, respectively. Its Aero Engineers team placed in two events. A number of other teams had impressive showings. Alaska Airlines' Seattle and Anchorage teams each took home a number of wins. The Seattle team won first place in four events and placed in four more. The Anchorage team won first place in two events and placed in two others. While the United Airlines Chix Fix team was getting a lot of attention this year, the airline's teams from Houston and Orlando made their mark as well. The Houston team placed third in the MRO/OEM category, took first place in three events and placed in another two events. The Orlando team also placed in four events. Broward College - Team 1, which placed third in the School category, won the United Competing with Professionalism Award. The team also won first place in the Airbus A320 CAT III Certification event and placed in three more events. American Airlines had three teams taking home honors. American Airlines - TUL won first place in the Nida Corp Power Troubleshooting event, DWH won first place in the American Airlines APU Burner Can event and third in an additional event, and DFW won third place in the Commercial category and placed second in an additional event. As a measure of good sportsmanship, teams that won events sponsored by their own company deferred the prize to the next team in line. Click here for a full list of winners from this year's AMC. AMC is held in conjunction with Aviation Week's MRO Americas event. http://www.mro-network.com/workforce/historic-wins-2018-aerospace-maintenance-competition Back to Top Patiala's aeronautical engineering college to begin classes in August Three years and two deadlines later, the Punjab State Aeronautical Engineering College (PSAEC) in Patiala is finally set to begin its maiden academic session in August. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on April 17 with Bathinda's Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University (MRSPTU) in the presence of chief minister Amarinder Singh has paved the way for this development. MRSPTU vice-chancellor (V-C) Mohan Paul Singh Ishar said the college will start functioning from the current academic session. BTech in aeronautical engineering and BSc (Hons) in aircraft maintenance classes will start from the first week of August, as the curriculum for both courses has already been finalised by the university. "The BTech (aerospace engineering) course will begin in 2019. However, all the modalities have been completed," he added. A notification regarding the admissions will soon be issued and as per the university's norms, the admissions to 60 BTech seats and 30 BSc (Hons) seats will be done on merit basis. A high-level team from the Bathinda university has also visited the state-of-art PSAEC, whose campus is located on the Patiala-Sangrur road, right next to the Patiala Aviation Club. The state government had in 2015 secured a Rs 26-crore grant from the Centre under its Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) to set up the college. The construction of the building has been completed and required equipment and infrastructure to begin the operations are in place as per the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) norms. Moreover, equipment of two aircrafts have also been procured and are being assembled. One of the senior officials, requesting anonymity, said delay on the part of the Centre in releasing funds slowed down the construction work, which further postponed the academic session. PAMEC already on revival mode The local Punjab Aircraft Maintenance Engineering College (PAMEC), the lone government-aided institute in the country, is on a revival mode after it resumed the operations in 2017, after the gap of five years. The college runs a three-year aircraft maintenance engineering (licence) course, admissions to which will open in September. https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/patiala-s-aeronautical-engineering-college-to-begin- classes-in-augu Back to Top New Islamabad Airport to have capacity of 25 million passengers per annum ISLAMABAD: the New Islamabad International Airport will become operational on May 3. The capital airport is the largest airport of country having state-of-the-art equipment and technology. Initially, nine million passengers will transit through this airport on annual basis. The airport's ultimate capacity is about 25 million passengers per annum. A senior official of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Syed Aftab Gilani disclosed this to The News on several questions regarding operationalisation of the airport. He added that this airport will be the most efficient airport from operational point of view. Aftab Gilani said the airport has two runways and largest passenger aircraft Airbus A380 can land on it. He said A380 aircraft can land only few airports in the world. Contrary to old BBIAP Airport Islamabad, he said the new airport has three rapid exit taxiways which will help the aircraft immediately vacate the runway after landing. At the old airport, large aircraft took five minutes to backtrack and vacate runway which not only caused delays in arrival and departure of succeeding aircraft, but caused extra fuel consumption. He said the old airport had only one runway, whereas the new airport has two runways. Responding to a query, the CAA official stated that if main runway is stuck due to any emergency, secondary runway can be used for the landing of aircraft up to Boeing B777. Therefore, he said, operation of the airport will not be disrupted. He said that with two runways, maintenance work can also be executed efficiently. Aftab Gilani said the old airport has 11 stands but the new airport has 33 aircraft stands which include 15 bays with state-of-the-art passenger boarding bridges facilities. Pre-conditioned air and pop up pits have also been provided at aircraft stands. The new airport has five aprons including an exclusive apron for the parking of three cargo aircraft. The new airport also has LED airfield lighting system having good brilliance in night for navigation besides reducing electricity and maintenance cost of the airport. It will also be good for environment due to conservation of energy. The CAA official said the old airport was not having this lighting system, while the new airport has latest navigation aids for the safe and efficient operation of aircraft. He said the main runway 28 L end is equipped with the most sophisticated system of landing i.e. instrument landing system (ILS) Category 3. In Pakistan, only the Lahore Airport is equipped with this system. In South East Asia region, after Delhi and Lahore Airport, Islamabad International Airport will be third airport to have this system. This system helps aircraft landing in 50-metre visibility during foggy season. Aftab Gilani said the newly installed primary and secondary radar provides better surveillance of aircraft up to 100 nautical mile and 250 nautical mile ranges respectively. He said air traffic control also houses latest air traffic management systems and facilities including 45m high ATC tower for safe and efficient operation of aircraft. Two fire stations are fully equipped with fire vehicles and other resources like three fire tenders, 32,300 litres water,1,000kg foam etc. to meet response time of two to three minutes as per international standard for the emergency of aircraft up to A380 at or in the vicinity of the airport. The new airport has 70 international check in counters and 32 domestic check in counters contrary to 25 international counters and 20 domestic counters at old airport. Baggage throughput of baggage belts in international departure is 5,500 bags per hour and in international arrival it is 6,000 bags per hour. Aftab Gilani said this baggage handling system also has latest standard three baggage scan machines as per international standards. He said the airport will also have latest perimeter intrusion detection system. Contrary to 600 car parking positions, the new airport will accommodate 2,200 car parking's with nine exit and entry points. An area of 84,365 sq m has been fixed for the future development of maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) facility at new airport. "Therefore, we can proudly say that Islamabad International Airport will be the safest, most efficient and state-of-the- art airport ensuring safe and efficient operation of aircraft and passengers," he said. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/307855-new-islamabad-airport-to-have-capacity-of-25m- passengers-per-annum Back to Top Deadliest plane crash in Algerian history kills 257 Algeria suffered its deadliest plane crash in history on April 11, killing at least 257 people and leaving few survivors, according to CNN. The aircraft came down immediately after taking off from Boufarik military airport shortly before 8 a.m., west of the nation's capital of Algiers. The Algerian Defense Ministry said that most of the passengers aboard were military personnel and their families, as well as 10 flight crewmen, according to BBC. It was scheduled to fly from Boufarik and land in the border town of Béchar, which serves as an important base for the Polisario Front, a group seeking independent territory along the Moroccan border. The Polisario Front is backed by the ruling Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) party. Among the crash victims were 26 Polisario members, according to BBC. This is the second disastrous plane crash to strike the north African nation in the last four years. In July 2014, a Hercules C-130 military jet crashed on Algeria's eastern coast, killing 77 people, according to The New York Times. The Defense Ministry has opened an inquiry into the cause of the crash, which is still unclear, according to The New York Times. Onlookers near the Boufarik military base saw intense flames spiraling out of one engine as the plane lifted off the runway. Seconds later, the plane crashed violently into the ground. "We saw bodies ... It was a catastrophe," a witness said, according to CNN. "We were afraid the plane would explode. We covered some bodies and put out some fires." Algeria's maintenance aviation record is problematic and has damaged the government's reputation, according to BBC. The government has come under intense scrutiny for its lack of transparency. There are claims that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is a figurehead for the Algerian military, according to The New York Times. Bouteflika is wheelchair-bound and rarely makes public appearances, and many Algerians worry that the public will never learn the true reasons behind the crash. "The people will resign themselves to it because there is no information," said Lahouari Addi, a prominent Algerian political scientist, according to The New York Times. "There is no transparency in Algeria, no debate. The prime minister has no power." http://www.tcnjsignal.net/2018/04/22/record-257-killed-in-algerias-deadliest-plane-crash/ Back to Top Iran Designs System to Inspect Airbus A320's Landing Gear Iranian engineers have managed to design and manufacture a homegrown system to check the landing gear of Airbus A320. CEO of Iran Air Farzaneh Sharafbafi says "it is an honour we now have the technical know-how of producing the system required for checking the landing gear in the country." "This technical knowledge is much more valuable than the production itself," she added, according to a Farsi report by Young Journalists' Club (YJC). The landing gear is the sole direct link between the airframe and tarmac and is vital to the safe conclusion of the flight. Like all other components which make up an aircraft the landing gear - often simply known as the "legs" by aircrew and ground crew - the landing gear is also checked and maintained on a daily basis, repaired as required and fully overhauled at regular intervals. A full landing gear overhaul is a task for specialists that requires the use of special tools, equipment and technology. For this reason, for some long time many airlines have sub-contracted this work to organizations with commensurate equipment and know-how, but according to Sharafbafi Iran Air is now able to do the job itself. Under the cruel sanctions, Iran could not import aviation products to the country. The sanctions also preclude non-American manufacturers from exporting plane parts to Iran if the US-made parts exceed 10 percent. The Islamic Republic's aviation industry is a sector rapidly drawing increasing attention. As evidenced by the inaugural flight of Iran's indigenously designed and manufactured Azarakhsh fighter jet to the mass production of small turboprops and passenger planes, this sector was seen to be making rapid strides. Part of the impetus for the development of this industry lay within domestic demand factors. It was for a time estimated that over 10% of total demand for passenger planes in the Asian-Pacific market was in Iran, as domestic passenger traffic was expected to top eleven million passengers by the year 2000. This massive demand also spurred private sector investment in this sector as evidenced by the establishment of 17 private airlines. Iran's aviation industry infrastructure was by and large established in the 1970s. The Iran Helicopter Support and Renewal Company (IHSRC), or Panha Company, was formed in 1969, the Iranian Aircraft Industries (IACI) in 1970, and Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation (IAMI), also known under its Farsi acronym (HESA), in 1974. Two other important companies, Iran Aviation Industries Organization of the Armed Forces (IAIO), also known as the Iranian Armed Forces Aviation Industries Organization (IAFAIO), and Quds Research Centre were formed in the early 1980s. These companies progressed from repair and maintenance facilities to larger defence enterprises with several thousand employees. Joint aircraft technology projects with Russia were supplemented by such projects as the indigenously designed and manufactured Shabaviz helicopter manufactured by the IHSRC and the S-68 turboprop trainer manufactured by Iran Aircraft Industries. The IHSRC in Tehran is a producer of the helicopter's body and maintenance of helicopters according to American standards. However, the achievements of Iran's aviation industry has not only been limited to the manufacture of planes. Iran Air had successfully and completely overhauled a number of planes in its fleet, without any foreign assistance as have other local companies such as Aseman. According to the data released by the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, Iran plans to design and manufacture 100-150-seat regional aircrafts and general aviation airplanes in accordance with national and global market demands. It also aims to design and manufacture medium and semi-heavy helicopters, and design and manufacture mini turbojet engines, light and heavy turbofan engines and gas turbine engine compressors with a capacity of 1-10 MW. http://ifpnews.com/exclusive/iran-designs-system-to-inspect-airbus-a320s-landing-gear/ Back to Top PAL bets on 'big data,' taps Airbus Flight Hour Services for its A350-900 fleet MANILA - The country's flag carrier Philippine Airlines on Monday said it has selected Airbus Flight Hour Services (FHS) to optimize and support the maintenance requirements of its A350-900 fleet. In a statement, PAL said it has signed the FHS-Components Maintenance contract, the first comprehensive maintenance solution in the Asia-Pacific region exclusive to its fleet of 6 A350-900s. Airbus FHS, powered by Skywise aviation data platform, uses data hosting and analytics to optimize fleet utilization, PAL said. It uses "big data" to "greatly enhance levels of operational performance, compared with current industry technologies," the statement said. "It will allow for a proactive component engineering, with strong engineering focus that enables operators to predict in-service issues," PAL said. Under the agreement, Airbus will handle component services, repair, warehousing and transportation for PAL, among others. The airline said the partnership will lead to reduced delays and simplified troubleshooting. The contract will also support the airline's New York and other long-haul service to North America and Europe. PAL is set to receive the first of its 6 A350-900s in July 2018. http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/23/18/pal-bets-on-big-data-taps-airbus-flight-hour-services- for-its-a350-900-fleet Back to Top Skyrider Airplane Stand Up Seats Allow Airlines to Pack Passenger Like Sardines Modern day air travel is not exactly an experience worth having, especially on long routes that make people sit on a chairs for hours on end. That soon may change, as an Italian seat designer is working on a solution which would allow people to sort of stand up. This type of seating would also allow more humans to be packed in flying cylinders with wings, as they would scrap a few feet from the space usually occupied by each passenger in today's airplanes. That's because this seating concept, called Skyrider 2.0, would have people stand on seats in a way similar to that of a rider sitting in a saddle. Aviointeriors, the company which created the seat, says that the thing that sets their concept apart is the "original bottom that ensures an increased upright passenger positon allowing installation of the seat at a reduced pitch, while maintaining an adequate comfort." The stated goal of having these seats installed is to increase passenger numbers by some 20 percent, while at the same time weighing 50 percent less than standard economy class seats. Because there are virtually no moving parts in the concept, maintenance costs are also reduced to a minimum. As you might have guessed, this seating arrangement is meant for people who love to fly low-cost airlines or tickets. For richer folks there's another solution in the works at Airbus: sleeping berths. These will be made available in the in the catalog of certified solutions starting 2020, at first for the A330. They will be fitted in the cargo hold on the airplane, in specially designed containers. The containers are highly customizable, airlines being able to opt to use them as dormitories, rest areas, conference rooms or even play areas for children. Back to the Skyrider, this concept has been previewed by Aviointeriors before. The design failed to get the US Federal Aviation Administration's approval. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/skyrider-airplane-stand-up-seats-allow-airlines-to-pack- passenger-like-sardines-125157.html Back to Top EASA, FAA Issue Emergency ADs For CFM56-7B Inspections The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the FAA late April 20 issued emergency airworthiness directives (AD) calling for inspections of fan blades on CFM56-7B engines that power Boeing 737NGs. The emergency ADs come three days after a CFM56-7B-powered Southwest Airlines 737-700 carrying 144 passengers and five crew made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after experiencing an apparent left-engine explosion. One passenger died in the incident. The directives follow a service bulletin (SB) engine manufacturer CFM International also issued April 20, recommending that fleet operators perform ultrasonic fan-blade inspections "within the next 20 days" on high-time CFM56-7B turbofans. The SB recommends inspections at different thresholds for all blades, with the highest-time blades-those with 30,000 or more cycles-needing inspections immediately. CFM also recommends repetitive inspections. EASA's AD adopts the SB, while the FAA directive only mandates one-time inspections on the highest-time blades. The FAA plans to follow up with another directive that would cover the rest of the blade population and possibly require repetitive checks. The FAA's directive describes its requirement as "a one-time ultrasonic inspection (USI) of all 24 fan blade dovetail concave and convex sides to detect cracking" within 20 days.Sout EASA's directive supersedes an AD the agency released in March, which became effective on April 2 and was in response to an August 2016 Southwest 737-700 uncontained engine failure. "Since the AD was issued, a further failure of a fan blade of a CFM56-7B engine has been reported," EASA said. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) initially found one of the 24 titanium fan blades in the engine in the April 17 Southwest incident had separated from the fan hub, where there was evidence of fatigue cracking. The safety board has said it is too early to say if the 2016 engine failure and the latest incident are directly related. CFM, the GE Aviation/Safran Aircraft Engines joint venture, said there are roughly 14,000 CFM56- 7B engines in service. The fan-blade inspections recommended within 20 days would be for engines with more than 30,000 cycles since delivered new-each cycle consisting of an engine start, takeoff and landing, and full shut down. That affects about 681 engines worldwide, of which 150 have already been inspected, CFM said. Some 352 engines would be affected in the U.S., the FAA said. CFM said it issued the recommendation in "close collaboration" with the FAA, EASA, Boeing and CFM56-7B operators. CFM recommends inspections "by the end of August" for fan blades with 20,000 cycles, and inspections of all other fan blades when they reach 20,000 cycles. After the first inspection, the manufacturer recommends operators repeat the inspection every 3,000 cycles, which represents about two years in airline service. Inspections can be conducted on-wing with an ultrasonic probe along the surface of the fan blade and take about four hours per engine, CFM said. "About 60 customers worldwide operate engines within the cyclic thresholds of the new service bulletin," CFM stated. "CFM partners GE and Safran Aircraft Engines have about 500 technicians directly involved to support customers and minimize operational disruption." http://www.mro-network.com/engines-engine-systems/easa-faa-issue-emergency-ads-cfm56-7b- inspections Back to Top SpaceX to build BFR factory in Southern California SpaceX plans to build its massive BFR rocket boosters and spaceships inside a cavernous new factory at the Port of Los Angeles, officials announced this week. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed Monday during a State of the City address that SpaceX will produce its Big Falcon Rocket at a site at the Port of Los Angeles. "This vehicle holds the promise of taking humanity deeper into the cosmos than ever before," Garcetti added on Twitter. SpaceX and port officials have discussed the aerospace company's use of a 19-acre waterfront parcel at the harbor since 2015, and the parties wrapped up lease negotiations last month. The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on Thursday approved the agreement with SpaceX. SpaceX's huge new rocket will tower nearly 350 feet (106 meters) tall and span 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter, according to information presented by company founder Elon Musk last year. The reusable vehicle will come in two pieces. A booster stage, powered by 31 methane-fueled Raptor engines will produce nearly 12 million pounds of thrust and be capable of returning to Earth for propulsive vertical landings like SpaceX's existing Falcon rockets. An upper stage that doubles as an interplanetary transporter will carry people, supplies, satellites, and huge propellant tanks that can be refilled in space. Bruce McHugh, SpaceX's director of construction and real estate, told the Board of Harbor Commissioners on Thursday that the 19-acre site at Berth 240 "is the perfect spot to build our big rocket." SpaceX examined potential factory locations in Southern California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas before settling on the Port of Los Angeles location, according to Michael DiBernardo, the port's deputy executive director of marketing and customer relations. McHugh said SpaceX needed a location with access to the water because the BFR is too big to transport on trucks, as the company currently moves its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters. A barge will pick up the BFR booster and upper stage, also known as the Big Falcon Spaceship, and transport them to their test sites and launch pad. The huge vehicle's design is still in the early stages, and SpaceX revamped the design of its mega- launcher over 2016 and 2017, ending up with a smaller rocket than Musk originally envisioned. But the BFR - in its current iteration - dwarfs all rockets currently flying in dimension and capability, and would measure roughly the same size as NASA's Saturn 5 moon rocket, while producing nearly twice as much thrust at liftoff as the Apollo-era launcher developed in the 1960s. "We don't know exactly what we're building, but we know it's big, and we know it can't be trucked," McHugh said Thursday. "So that's why this spot has enough land, it's near the water, and we know that we could produce our product there." SpaceX already leases land at the Port of Los Angeles as a base for the company's recovery fleet, which deploys into the Pacific Ocean to pick up Dragon capsules returning from the International Space Station and retrieve rocket boosters and payload fairings from Falcon 9s launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. SpaceX's headquarters and current manufacturing site is in Hawthorne, California, around 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of the port. McHugh said SpaceX intends to build an 80,000-square-foot (7,400-square-meter), 80-foot-tall (24-meter) fabrication hangar at the Berth 240 location within about a year. "When we add onto it, it'll wind up being a total of a 200,000-square-foot (18,600-square-meter) building, assuming everything works out for us," McHugh said. "We are building a ship that's never been built before. We are doing research and technology that's never been done. "We're also doing this in a parallel path. We are working on the means and methods of how we're going build this product. So far, it's going to be a composite-type rocket." McHugh said approximately 20 engineers and 20 production technicians are currently working on the BFR project. By the time the BFR is ready for full production, in roughly three-to-five years, McHugh estimated around 700 people will be working at the new factory. "Elon wants it way faster, but I think it's three-to-five years," McHugh said. Known for setting optimistic schedules, Musk set an "aspirational" goal last year to have the BFR ready for a robotic mission to Mars by 2022, and a human voyage by 2024. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, said last month the BFR could be ready for test flights into Earth orbit in 2020. McHugh said the rockets built at the Port of Los Angeles will be shipped through the Panama Canal to Cape Canaveral for launch preparations. SpaceX officials have said in recent months that early atmospheric tests of the spaceship part of the BFR could begin next year, likely at the company's launch base in South Texas, which is still under construction. "The ship part is, by far, the hardest because that's going to come in from super-orbital velocities, like interplanetary Mars transfer velocities, moon transfer velocities," Musk said last month. "These are way harder than coming from Earth orbit." The spaceship's high-speed returns will stress the craft's heat shield and structure beyond the temperatures and pressures experienced by a capsule re-entering the atmosphere from Earth orbit, or by a descending rocket stage. "Testing that ship out is the real tricky part," Musk said Feb. 6. "The booster, I think - I don't want to get too complacent - but I think we understand reusable boosters. Reusable spaceships that can land propulsively, that's harder. We're starting with the hard part first." The spaceship design Musk revealed in September had a cluster of six Raptor engines - he later said the ship could have seven engines - and methane and liquid oxygen tanks containing almost a quarter-million pounds (1,100 metric tons) of cryogenic propellants for deep space burns and landing maneuvers. The spacecraft would stretch 157 feet (48 meters) long and have an internal pressurized volume exceeding that of an Airbus A380 jumbo jet, enough room for 40 passenger cabins. Musk revealed a tool that will be used to build the BFR's interplanetary spaceship in an Instagram post April 8. SpaceX will pay the Port of Los Angeles $1.38 million per year under its lease agreement for the Berth 240 location. https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/21/spacex-to-build-bfr-factory-in-southern-california/ Curt Lewis