April 12, 2023 - No. 015 In This Issue : FAA Wants Safety Inspections For This Scary Airplane Malfunction : Safety First: A Retiring GE Aerospace Materials Engineer Made Protecting Lives His Mission Amy Merrick : Cargo jet makes successful commute on Glenn Highway : Concorde wasn’t the first Airliner to Break the Sound Barrier: how the DC-8 became the first commercial transport to go supersonic : The crash of Russian Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic transport aircraft at 1973 Paris Air Show : FAA issues AD to address potential KC-46 critical function loss : USAF suspends delivery of Boeing KC-46 tanker aircraft… again : World’s Lightest Paint Ever Created. A Boeing 747 Can Be Completely Painted With Just 1 Kg Paint FAA Wants Safety Inspections For This Scary Airplane Malfunction All Boeing 787s are affected by the agency's move. MICHAEL TEDDER APR 10, 2023 4:22 PM EDT The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is calling for inspections of all Boeing 787 jets, as regulators and experts worry that leaking bathroom faucets may damage the plane’s electronic systems. The FAA has issued a proposal for inspections of Boeing 787 jetliners, after reports have surfaces of "multiple" cases of water leaking from bathrooms into the bays where electronic equipment is stored. The agency said the leaks threatened to damage important electronic equipment, reports Fox Business, and could lead to a "loss of continued safe flight and landing." After a wet carpet was discovered in a plane’s cockpit, an inspection uncovered "multiple" planes with leaking faucets in the 787 fleet. Boeing notified airlines about the issue last year, blaming.a problem with an O-ring seal that led to a slow leak of about 8 ounces of water per hour. A new version of the seal is in the works, and Boeing is working to determine when the 787s can undergo a retrofit with the new version. The Dreamliner is a widebody passenger plane often used for long-haul and international flights. FAA Wants Safety Inspections For This Scary Airplane Malfunction Safety First: A Retiring GE Aerospace Materials Engineer Made Protecting Lives His Mission Amy Merrick April 06, 2023 Note: See photographs in the original article. Shortly after he joined GE Aerospace in 1984 as a materials engineer in Evendale, Ohio, Glenn Culbertson received some blunt advice from a senior colleague. “A lot of people will tell you that they’re your customer: your boss, your boss’s boss, the CEO,” the co-worker told him. “They’re all wrong. The customer is the engine. If you do right by the engine, you’ll do right by everybody else.” It was a message that would set the tone for his career, one that focused deeply and relentlessly on safety. It was a passion whose significance was both underscored and upended after a GE engine was part of a series of failures that led to a deadly plane crash in 1989. That tragedy became a defining moment for Culbertson, who with colleagues went on to work with renewed dedication on new jet engine materials and ways to make them even safer. “The Sioux City accident by far had the greatest impact on me,” he says. “It changed how we do business at GE, and it changed how we make the materials.” After 38 years at GE, where he worked tirelessly to uphold and enhance the safety culture at GE Aerospace, Culbertson retired last week. He plans to spend more time with his grandchildren, his two daughters — one is Shannon Thompson, a GE Aerospace communications employee — and his wife of nearly 43 years, Marianne. As he reflects on his career, Culbertson points out that he wasn’t always a materials guy. He was originally a chemical engineering major at the University of Maryland. But then a co-op position developing ceramics at the Naval Research Lab in Washington changed his mind. “I was actually touching the material and could see what we were creating,” he says. “It was less purely analytical.” He soon switched his major to materials engineering. After earning a master’s in materials engineering and spending two years in Cleveland at TRW Inc., which then made aerospace and automotive components, Culbertson came to GE Aerospace. Instead of having a handful of colleagues working on materials, he suddenly had hundreds. Culbertson knew that materials expertise was fundamental for performance and safety. Materials applications engineers like Culbertson are the primary engineers for the raw materials used to make the components of GE jet engines. Working with designers, they select what parts to make, what alloys to use, and how to process the alloys. Working with quality engineers, they choose who will make the parts, what the manufacturing process will be, and how to test the finished components. Culbertson felt the weight of these responsibilities, which can determine how well an engine works and how long it lasts. A few years into his career came the plane crash. On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232 was traveling from Denver to Chicago when the rotating fan disk in its tail-mounted CF6 engine failed catastrophically. Debris from the destroyed engine sliced through all three of the DC-10’s hydraulic lines, disabling all normal flight controls. The crew managed to use the throttles to bring the plane down for a crash landing at the airport in Sioux City, Iowa. The jet caught fire and broke into pieces. While the heroic efforts of the crew and rescue workers saved many lives, 111 of the 296 people on board died. Later, investigators discovered a half-inch crack in the fan disk that had been missed during a maintenance inspection. The crack was the result of a deviation in the process of melting titanium that allowed the metal to mix with oxygen, forming a material phase called hard alpha that is both brittle and weak. Soon, a series of changes were implemented. The biggest was adopting a different process called electron-beam cold hearth melting to melt titanium used in alloys. The updated process eliminates hard alpha and reduces defects. GE also increased its ultrasonic inspection of engine parts, using sound waves to detect cracks and defects that might be hard to see. As these changes were rolled out, Culbertson collaborated with other engineers and suppliers to ensure that they were executed well. He leaned into his previous experience as a materials applications engineer for the fan disks including the ones in the CF6. He stressed the importance of working to exacting standards to protect the safety of flight crews and passengers. Culbertson also helped develop new materials and processes to improve the strength and reliability of engine components. He worked on applying a new powder alloy called René 88DT to the GE90 engine, which made rotors less prone to breakage from anomalies inside. Later, he contributed to the development of René 65, an alloy with the same chemistry as René 88 but made with a more conventional process that allowed for higher volumes. Culbertson was on teams recognized for technical achievements for René 65 and for work on GE 1014, a high-strength steel alloy that made fan midshafts more durable. Throughout this time, Culbertson emphasized safety — not only at work but also at home. His daughter Shannon Thompson recalls that he made her wear a bike helmet before they were widespread and moved his family away from the smoking section in restaurants. Culbertson thinks he may have learned this mindset from his father, who had seat belts installed in the family car before they were mandated. “I think I always recognized the fragility of life,” he says. In 2014, Culbertson and Thompson worked with Gary Mercer, former vice president and general manager of engineering at GE Aerospace, to organize a remembrance for the 25th anniversary of the Sioux City crash. Culbertson also joined an industry group, the Jet Engine Titanium Quality Committee, which began after the accident. Representatives of equipment manufacturers like GE Aerospace, Safran, Rolls-Royce, and Pratt & Whitney gather regularly to share improvements to the process of making titanium alloys. Several years ago, Culbertson helped organize a nickel version of this committee, which is still in place. Culbertson heard Fred Herzner, former chief engineer of GE Aircraft Engines, speak about what GE had learned from Sioux City. Culbertson then organized a video recording at Herzner’s home, where Herzner revealed the impact Sioux City had on his life and career. He closed the video with a message about embedding the importance of safety into an organization’s decision-making processes — emphasizing that no one should make decisions alone. The video has been translated into several languages and is now shown to GE employees, other aerospace companies, and suppliers all over the world. “I consider that video one of my proudest accomplishments, because the message of safety is being passed along to succeeding generations,” Culbertson says. The next generation of GE Aerospace engineers has benefited from Culbertson’s example. And he has benefited from the talented engineers that surrounded him during his career, sharing their learnings, challenging and teaching one another. One of those engineers, Arturo Acosta, a GE executive engineer in engineering material systems, recalls that Culbertson always encouraged him and others to speak up. “I always liked to ask him really tough questions, and now that I’m a manager, he always encouraged my team to ask me tough questions,” Acosta says. “I’ve learned a lot from him about how we have to maintain that focus on safety at all times when it comes to our rotor materials.” As Culbertson takes down the kayak gathering dust in his garage and makes plans to backpack with retired GE colleagues in the Great Smoky Mountains, he believes the future of GE Aerospace is in good hands. “They’ve hired a really strong team of engineers in both quality and materials applications engineering who have the needed combination of technical excellence and a passion for safety,” he says. “I’m looking forward to them carrying it on.” Safety First: A Retiring GE Aerospace Materials Engineer Made Protecting Lives His Mission Amy Merrick Cargo jet makes successful commute on Glenn Highway The roughly 55-mile trip took over six hours Note: See photographs and video in the original article. The roughly 55-mile trip took over six hours By Carly Schreck Published: Apr. 8, 2023 at 12:21 AM CDT BIG LAKE, Alaska (KTUU) - A Boeing 727 cargo jet has landed at its new home in Big Lake after making a 6.5-hour commute via the Glenn Highway. Jon Kotwicki, the new owner of the airliner that previously belonged to the University of Alaska Anchorage, purchased the plane as part of a housing project at the site of his flight training school, FLY8MA — pronounced: “Fly 8 Mike Alpha.” After days of preparation that included removing the wings, nose and tail of the aircraft, a Carlile Transportation truck hauling the massive fuselage departed Merrill Field around 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, navigating through Anchorage before heading north on the Glenn. The planned move drew a number of spectators who opted to watch the process. “It was a pretty slow ride through those intersections so people got a good opportunity to see the airplane,” Kotwicki said. “Overall, great turnout — not that we were expecting a turnout — but it was a great turnout.” According to Kotwicki, it was relatively smooth sailing once the truck hit the highway, averaging speeds anywhere from 10-20 mph. Getting through the intersections near Debarr Road and Boniface Parkway was somewhat of a challenge, as crews had to manually steer the rear dolly’s wheels to swing the aircraft around. Kotwicki said they had to remove a couple of street signs, letting the aircraft pass before placing them back. “The trickiest parts were probably just the initial movement off [Merrill] Field — getting all the rigging set, making sure that the aircraft was behaving properly on the dollies and all the gear,” Kotwicki said. Kotwicki said the only reason the plane’s journey to the valley was a success was because of the village of help he received from UAA, Carlile Transportation, STR Alaska Shop, Alaska Airlines and FedEx. “All those other places that reached out and shared their knowledge with us and shared their time to make this happen,” Kotwicki said. “It takes a huge team.” Once the plane arrived on his property in the early morning hours, final repositioning took about an additional hour and a half. Kotwicki didn’t go to bed until 6:30 a.m. The 727 joins a DC-6 and DC-9 that were driven down from Fairbanks. The planes will be renovated into student housing as well as accommodation for an Airbnb, which intends to feature decks for guests on one of the wings and the high-rise tail. “That was a big undertaking but it was chapter one,” Kotwicki said about transporting the jet. “Chapter two is also a big undertaking — moving this to its final place, converting it into a fully functioning and very comfortable living space.” Now that all three planes have been moved onto the flight school’s property, Kotwicki plans to begin renovating them over the next six to eight months. However, when asked if he’d undertake the challenge of transporting a cargo jet again, he admitted that he’s always wanted a 747. “I don’t learn my lessons very easily, I would absolutely do it again,” Kotwicki laughed. “Although I promised that three was enough I’m sure there’s a fourth somewhere in the future.” Cargo jet makes successful commute on Glenn Highway Concorde wasn’t the first Airliner to Break the Sound Barrier: how the DC-8 became the first commercial transport to go supersonic By Dario Leone Apr 7 2023 The first airliner to go supersonic wasn’t the famous Concorde, which wouldn’t break the sound barrier until an October ’69 test flight, or the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, but rather a humble DC-8. The DC-8 was the first Douglas jet-powered transport. It entered service simultaneously with United Airlines and Delta Air Lines on Sep. 18, 1959. Powered by four jet turbine engines, the DC-8 was capable of speeds of more than 600 mph (966 km/h). Throughout its 14-year-long production run, the DC-8 went through seven major variants, for a total of 556 aircraft. On Aug. 21, 1961, a DC-8 even became the first airliner to go supersonic. In fact, it wasn’t the famous Concorde, which wouldn’t break the sound barrier until an October ’69 test flight, or the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, but rather a humble DC-8—no. N9604Z, to be specific. The test flight was planned by Douglas test pilot William Magruder and was set to take off from Edwards Air Force Base (AFB). As flight test engineer Richard Edwards, told to Air & Space Magazine, the idea was to “get it out there, show the airplane can survive this and not fall apart.” The DC-8, which at the time was competing with the Boeing 707, had been used by commercial carriers for about three years. Even though the DC-8 wasn’t designed to go supersonic, the bragging rights of being the first to do so were worth making the attempt. In order to reach Mach 1, the jet had to be in a dive. According to Mentalfloss.com, this meant taking it up to 52,000 feet, which was also a record for altitude. As Edwards tells Air & Space Magazine: “We took it up to 10 miles up…and put it in a half-a-G pushover. Bill maintained about 50 pounds of push. He didn’t trim it for the dive so that it would want to pull out by itself. In the dive, at about 45,000 feet, it went to Mach 1.01 for maybe 16 seconds, then he recovered. But the recovery was a little scary.” The stabilizer in fact was overloaded and the plane stalled when Magruder tried to pull it back. “What he did, because he was smart, is something that no other pilot would do,” explains Edwards. “He pushed over into the dive more, which relieved the load on the stabilizer. He was able to run the [stabilizer] motor…and he recovered at about 35,000 feet.” The crew successfully turned a mass-produced airliner into the world’s supersonic commuter jet. (Right by their side the entire time? Chuck Yeager, the first person to ever go supersonic in 1947. He escorted the DC-8 during its test in an F-104.) “That’s an unofficial supersonic record, payload record, and of course an altitude record for a commercial transport,” Edwards points out. After the test, DC-8 no. N9604Z was delivered to Canadian Pacific Air Lines and was used by the carrier for almost two decades before being retired. Sadly this piece of aviation history isn’t hanging in a museum somewhere: after it was put out of service in fact, Canadian Pacific sold DC-8 no. N9604Z for scrap. Concorde wasn’t the first Airliner to Break the Sound Barrier: how the DC-8 became the first commercial transport to go supersonic [Video] The crash of Russian Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic transport aircraft at 1973 Paris Air Show By Dario Leone Sep 7 2020 Note: See photographs and videos in the original article. On Jun. 3, 1973, at the 1973 Paris Airshow, the flight crew on a Tu-144 attempted to perform an impressive steep climb manoeuvre to wow spectators, but they overstressed the airframe while pulling their plane out of a dive and it broke up in mid-air. Taken on Jun. 3, 1973 at Paris Air Show the horrific video in this post features the crash of Russia’s Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic transport aircraft (SST). The Tu-144 (Russian: Tyполев Ту-144; NATO reporting name: Charger) is one of only two SSTs to enter commercial service, the other being the Anglo-French Concorde. The aircraft (that looked so much like the Concorde that Western observers dubbed it “the Concordski”) was conceived during the Cold War by Tupolev design bureau, headed by Alexei Tupolev, and manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh, Russia. Despite being less technologically advanced, less reliable, more fuel hungry and louder than Concorde, the Tu-144 had more powerful engines. The Tu-144 had a top speed of ≈2,500 km/h (≈1,510 mph) compared to Concorde’s ≈2,179 km/h (≈1,354 mph), making it the fastest supersonic airliner ever. The Russian jet performed its maiden flight on Dec. 31, 1968, two months earlier than Concorde, and became the first supersonic commercial airliner to take flight. On Jun. 3, 1973, at the 1973 Paris Airshow, the flight crew on a Tu-144 attempted to perform an impressive steep climb manoeuvre to wow spectators, but they overstressed the airframe while pulling their plane out of a dive and it broke up in mid-air. The crash killed all 6 crew members aboard plus 8 people on the ground, while injuring 28 others. The crash delayed the Tu-144 development. The aircraft in fact was introduced into passenger service on Nov. 1, 1977, almost two years after Concorde. In May 1978, another Tu-144 (an improved version, named Tu-144D) crashed on a test flight while being delivered, and the passenger fleet was permanently grounded after only 55 scheduled flights. The aircraft remained in use as a cargo plane until 1983. The Tu-144 was later used by the Soviet space program to train pilots of the Buran spacecraft, and by NASA for supersonic research. The crash of Russian Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic transport aircraft at 1973 Paris Air Show FAA issues AD to address potential KC-46 critical function loss BY RYTIS BERESNEVICIUS 2023-04-05 Note: See photographs in the original article. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is issuing an airworthiness directive (AD) to address a potentially unsafe condition on the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, a military aircraft based on the Boeing 767-200. The FAA said that it had “received a report of an arcing event on an electrical terminal lug in the P34 panel that caused heat and smoke damage within the panel”. Following an investigation into the matter, it was found that the arcing was caused by a “loose power feeder terminal lug connection” and the agency highlighted that the terminal lug was “not torqued to the required specifications”. After additional inspections, the FAA went on to identify “multiple findings of under-torqued terminal lugs” and determined that it “could result in arcing that may lead to loss of critical function and loss of continued safe flight and landing” if the condition was not addressed. The AD, which was published on April 4, 2023, is effective from April 20, 2023, and is a final rule. Workmanship issue The FAA noted that, since this is “a workmanship issue”, the AD will not affect the Boeing 767F, which is manufactured at the same facility in Everett, Washington. To address the condition, operators will have to visually inspect electrical terminal lugs, wires, and attached components in certain electrical power panels for electrical arcing damage, and repair or replacement of any damaged part. The FAA also mandated a “detailed inspection of each terminal lug for loose lugs in certain power panels, and retorquing each loose terminal lug”. In total, the cost of compliance is $3,655 per inspection cycle consisting of 43 work hours valued at $85 per hour. According to the regulator, there are no US-registered KC-46s affected by the AD. On-condition costs, namely the removal and replacement of terminal lugs and the torquing of the lugs, each action will take one work hour at a cost of $85 per hour. The FAA noted that operators of the KC-46 must carry out a “general visual inspection (GVI) for electrical arcing damage of electrical terminal lugs, wires, and attached components in certain power panels, and before further flight, repair any damage found”. They will also be required to complete a “detailed inspection of each terminal lug for loose lugs in power panels, and, before further flight, apply torque to each loose terminal lug”. The action must be completed within 10 months of the effective date of the directive. Boeing had previously suspended deliveries of the KC-46 and Boeing 767F due to an issue with the aircraft’s center fuel tanks when a supplier failed to follow the proper cleaning and paint adhesion procedures. This resulted in the potential clogging of the fuel filter, restricting the flow of fuel to the aircraft’s engines. The manufacturer resumed deliveries of both aircraft in March 2023, handing over one 767F to FedEx Express, registered as N283FE, and a KC-46 to the United States Air Force (USAF), registered as 19-46007. Both aircraft were delivered on March 24, 2023. FAA issues AD to address potential KC-46 critical function loss USAF suspends delivery of Boeing KC-46 tanker aircraft… again BY CLEMENT CHARPENTREAU 2019-04-03 Once again, the United States Air Force has suspended taking delivery of new Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker jets after foreign object debris (FOD) were discovered inside the aircraft. On February 28, 2019, the USAF ordered to halt KC-46A deliveries after loose tools and FOD had been found in some aircraft a week before. After inspection, a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) was issued for the delivery process, and operations eventually resumed on March 11, 2019. However, only eleven days after the resumption, inspectors found more of the debris, forcing the USAF to interrupt delivery, again, on March 23, 2019. The halt was revealed by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on defense budget on April 2, 2019. “We actually stopped the acceptance of the KC 46 because of foreign object debris that we found in some closed compartments,” Wilson said, adding “we have corrective actions in place including a 100% look in some of those closed compartments to make sure that the production line is being run the way that it needs to be run”. Answering later in the day to the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, Wilson explained more precisely what she described as a “manufacturing discipline issue”. While conducting a more in-depth review of assembled aircraft, inspectors recently opened up closed compartments, such as those inside wings, to see if they had been cleared. While they were cleaner than some open areas, “they weren’t what we would expect”. “If you drop a wrench you have to find a wrench,” Wilson said. “You have to wipe down surfaces so you don’t have pieces of aluminum that over time get in the midst of things and cause serious problems”. The USAF is reportedly working with Boeing on further CAP to receive the expected “excellence in the manufacture of our aircraft”. “As we go forward, we will continue to be tough customers,” added the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Goldfein, “but I can tell you that everything I saw on that airplane indicates […] that it will be a spectacular weapon to us”. Following the announcement, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said that even a week after this new suspension, “inspectors [still] identified additional foreign object debris and areas where Boeing did not meet quality standards”. So far, seven aircraft were delivered to the USAF. The program already costed more than $3 billion of extra charges to the manufacturer due to delay and corrections. Deficiencies discovered before the initial delivery should add to the bill, as Boeing committed to correct them at its own expense. USAF suspends delivery of Boeing KC-46 tanker aircraft… again World’s Lightest Paint Ever Created. A Boeing 747 Can Be Completely Painted With Just 1 Kg Paint BY MAHESH DARKUNDE April 5, 2023 in Aviation News, Featured, News Note: See photographs in the original article. The world’s lightest paint has been developed by scientists at the University of Central Florida. It is said to last for centuries, be energy-efficient, and moldable into any colour. Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed the world’s lightest paint, which is energy efficient, can be moulded into any colour, and is said to last for centuries. To produce colours, the plasmonic paint employs a nanoscale structural arrangement of colourless materials — aluminium and aluminium oxide — rather than traditional pigments. Debashis Chanda, a professor at UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center, led the study, which he said was inspired by butterflies. "Structural colour serves as the primary color-generating mechanism in several extremely vivid species, where the geometrical arrangement of typically two colourless materials produces all colours." In contrast, with manmade pigment, new molecules are required for each colour present," Chanda said in a statement. The paint differs from pigment colourants in that structural colourants control how light is reflected, scattered, or absorbed based solely on the geometrical arrangement of nanostructures, whereas pigment colourants control light absorption based on the electronic property of the pigmenting material, with each colour requiring a new molecule. According to the researchers, the structural colours are environmentally friendly “because they only use metals and oxides, as opposed to current pigment-based colours that use artificially synthesised molecules.” According to the study, colour engineering can be accomplished by controlling the colorant’s absorptive or reflective response to white light. “Normal colour fades as a result of pigment losing its ability to absorb photons.” That phenomenon does not apply here. “Once we apply structural colour to something, it should last for centuries,” Chanda added. The paint is designed in such a way that it keeps the surface cooler than standard commercial paint would. “The temperature difference promised by plasmonic paint would result in significant energy savings.” “Using less electricity for cooling reduces carbon dioxide emissions, which reduces global warming,” Chanda explained, adding that plasmonic paint is also extremely lightweight. Its high area-to-thickness ratio, with full coloration at a thickness of only 150 nanometers, makes it the world’s lightest paint, and the researchers claim that just one kilogramme could cover a Boeing 747, which normally requires over 400 kilogrammes of traditional paint. “I always wanted to build a butterfly as a kid,” Chanda said, adding that “colour draws my interest.” World’s Lightest Paint Ever Created. A Boeing 747 Can Be Completely Painted With Just 1 Kg Paint Curt Lewis