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Recently in Boeing Category

ana 787 trent.jpgPhoto: Rolls-Royce

All Nippon Airways has grounded five Boeing 787s powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine. Ground endurance tests by R-R showed the engine could be damaged by crown gears that corroded faster than expected. (Click here to read the full story posted earlier this morning by Flightglobal's Singapore office.)

R-R selected Hamilton Sundstrand nearly eight years ago to provide the Trent 1000 gearbox system, which was the supplier's first such placement on an R-R engine. On the rival General Electric GEnx-1B, which is not affected by the ANA grounding, Italy's Avio supplies the gearbox.

The 787 gearbox is a unique specimen. Boeing chose a "more electric aircraft" architecture, replacing bleed air-sourced pneumatic power for cabin air conditioning and wing de-icing with electric power. The same generator is also integrated with the gearbox and is used to start the engine. A recent Hamilton Sundstrand patent application for an integrated gearbox and air turbine starter illustrates the concept.

HS gearbox starter.jpg

The ANA grounding appears to be unrelated to the more-electric aspects of the gearbox that are unique to the 787. R-R has instead pointed the finger at Hamilton Sundstrand's manufacturing process. Hamilton Sundstrand has confirmed it is "of course aware of the issue", and is working with R-R and Boeing to resolve it. 




Some of our colleagues here at the show get all the fun assignments. See Graham Dunn, Airline Business managing editor, and head of web content Michael Targett explore the Qatar Airways 787 interior.
IMG_0337.jpgIMG_0351.jpg

A fuel problem in a ground support vehicle for the Qatar Airways 787 caused a minor scare on the flightline this evening, Boeing says. Emergency crews and vehicles around 17:30 swarmed the brand-new widebody, which was parked near the East Apron just aside the Farnborough runway. Emergency crews were seen removing blackened items lying on the apron near the 787's forward airstair. Boeing confirms the fuel problem did not cause any damage to the 787. Qatar Airways expects to receive the aircraft shortly after it is flown back to Seattle on 13 July. The aircraft has flown a total of seven flights since rolling off the change incorporation line on 1 July, including three flying displays during this week's air show.

UPDATE: Air show organisers have confirmed a ground power unit servicing the 787 started smoking and caught fire, triggering the emergency response. It happens sometimes. Ground power units can overheat if they run out of fuel.

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Boeing's return to the flying display circuit after a 28-year hiatus provided several crowd-pleasing moments, but that was not originally the airframer's plan. Boeing actually had intended to show off little more than two sedate fly-pasts. The steep-climbing, 2g banking, touch-and-go routine only evolved because of local restrictions on the 787's overflight footprint.

That's one of the more interesting bits of trivia we've gleaned after listening to a narrated flying display by Boeing chief pilot Mike Carriker and interviewing 787 chief pilot Randy Neville. Watch the video above for Carriker's narration, and please excuse our shaky camera work (crowded chalet balcony and tiny camcorder). Read Neville's comments below:

NEVILLE: It really started with something very simple. We wanted two passes down the runway and that was it. We wanted to keep it very benign. As we looked into it further, [we noted] the constraints of the airspace. It's a very tight, constrained airspace we have to operate in, which requires some hard turns - hard turns for a transport airplane. [But that] lends the opportunity to show off the airplane, our ability to accelerate with the airplane. So those features we added into the profile. We added in a steep climb, we added in a high-speed pass at 300kt.That's followed by a 2g turn. All of those things really allow the spectators to see the planform of the airplane, to see the nose-on view and that elegant sweep of the wings.

 

FLIGHTBLOGGER: And the touch and go?

 

NEVILLE: We added that primiarly as a way - you can clear the runway much quicker in a touch and go and land the opposite direction and just clear the runway here, and then as we started looking into it it's something unique for an airshow as well. People don't think of a transport airplane doing a touch and go, so it added an extra element as well.

Nearly 11 months after launching the programme, Boeing finally revealed the 737 Max specifications. We'll be posting video of Boeing's full presentation shortly [update: see above], but in the meantime here is a quick snapshot of the 737 Max weight and range targets. Boeing plans to deliver the first 737 Max in 2017, allowing five years after design definition for development and certification -- not bad for what Boeing calls just a re-engining programme.

MTOW (lb)Range (nm)
737-700 154,4003,400
737 Max 7159,4003,800
737-800174,2003,080
737 Max 8181,2003,620
737-900ER 187,7003,055
737 Max 9194,7003,595
 
Wingspan: 35.9m (110ft 4in) 
Height: 12.5m (41ft 2in) 
Cruise speed:M0.79 
Length33.6m (737 Max 7) 
 39.5m (737 Max 8) 
 42.1m (737 Max 9)
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No introductions necessary ...



Movie Monday subjects are sometimes tough to decide. This week, for instance. Do we go with the Collier Trophy homage, in honour of the 2012 award that is being presented on Thursday to the Boeing 787? Or do we make it about the winglet, a la the vortex-reducing airframe accessory unveiled last Wednesday for the 737 Max? Alas, nobody ever won the Collier Trophy for inventing a wingtip device.

But we have the next best thing. Richard Whitcomb developed the methodology for applying winglets. He also claimed the Collier Trophy in 1954 for inventing the area rule, which adds a pinch in the fuselage aft of the wing leading edge to minimise drag at transonic speeds. In yet another revelatory moment, Whitcomb also came up with the supercritical wing, which can hold more fuel with no drag penalty compared to a thinner wing at the same cruise speed. 

The video above unfortunately cuts off just before Whitcomb discusses winglets. But this video released shortly after Whitcomb's death provides a few more details.
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 15.46.52.png
Who came up with the dual-feather blended winglet concept that Boeing revealed earlier today?

Boeing says it owns the intellectual property on the split wingtip design for the 737 Max.

But that claim was only made because three different reporters asked about the techThumbnail image for joeclark.jpgnology's ownership in a teleconference this morning programme manager Beverly Wyse and chief engineer Michael Teal.

That's probably because the similarity with the already unveiled Aviation Partners winglet is too much to ignore. Aviation Parnters chief executive Joe Clark proudly showed off his new winglet design about six months ago at the NBAA annual convention.

Boeing's released images so far appear to show a few differences. Boeing's lower feather seems to end at a straight edge, while the Aviation Partners design curves slightly. There also seems to be more convex shaping in the upper feather of the Aviation Partners wingtip. 



sonic cruiser pic.jpgImage courtesy of Boeing

You thought the Sonic Cruiser was dead -- sacrificed more than nine years ago for the 787-yielding Super Efficient.

Maybe you also thought Boeing was never really serious about the Sonic Cruiser anyway, unveiling the M0.98 speedster in 2001 only to distract the industry from its decision to drop the 747-X Stretch.

You're probably still right.

And, yet, the Sonic Cruiser is not entirely dead.

Somewhere deep inside Boeing, a team of engineers is even now continuing to fiddle with the last decade's most high-profile conceptual aerospace flop. A new Boeing patent application, which was posted online on 19 April, reveals a new and improved Sonic Cruiser. Filing a patent application, mind you, should not be construed as a confession of even long-term corporate strategy. It's most likely just a project some engineers are fiddling around with. Still, it reveals an interesting new approach to an old and fascinating concept. 

Sonic Cruiser 2012.jpg
The new Sonic Cruiser appears to be just as fast as the original design unveiled by a beaming Alan Mullaly at the 2001 Paris Air Show. Improvements are focused on reducing the nearly supersonic aircraft's noise and heat signatures. Rather than embedding the engines under the wing, high bypass turbofans are installed on top of the fuselage. Vertical stabilizers mounted outboard of each engine shields noise generated by the exhaust, while the long aft deck blocks sound waves aimed at the ground. In addition, Boeing's engineers have proposed variable geometry chevrons on the exhaust nozzles of each engine, which soften the noisy mixing of very hot exhaust air with much cooler ambient air.

Besides the new engine locations, Boeing has also made several aerodynamic changes. The differences are clear by comparing the drawing above with the image shown below, which first appeared in a 2003 Boeing patent filing for the original Sonic Cruiser concept. Notice the differences in shaping in the fuselage, nose and wings.

Sonic Cruiser 2002.jpg

 



ana mrj.gifIn this decade's great narrowbody race, Mitsubishi became the first runner to publicly stumble -- again.

The Japanese airframer warned us in February that first flight of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) would be delayed from the second quarter this year.

This morning, the MRJ programme announced first flight is indeed postponed 15-18 months to the fourth quarter of 2014, which is the third quarter of the Japanese fiscal year. First delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airlines is delayed at least 18-24 months to between October 2015 to March 2016.

Mitsubishi_MRJ.jpgThe delays slightly reshuffle the official order of appearance of the six major narrowbodies now in development. The Bombardier CSeries still comes first in 2013, although there are growing doubts about this timeframe. The re-engined Airbus A320neo is scheduled to enter service in 2015. Then comes either the MRJ or the Russian MS-21 starting from late 2015 to 2016, respectively. Embraer has said the next generation E-Jet should appear between 2016-2018. Boeing, finally, has pegged entry into service of the re-engined 737 Max in 2017.

Although the MRJ programme is only four years old, this is actually the second major delay announcement. The first postponement came at the Asian Aerospace airshow in Singapore in February 2010. Mitsubishi pushed back first flight by a year as it dumped the carbon fibre wings for simpler aluminium alloy and unveiled a stretched 90-seater.

We don't know exactly why another programme delay was necessary. Mitsubishi reassures the Pratt & Whitney PW1127G geared turbofan development is going smoohtly, with first flight of the engine on a testbed aircraft scheduled later this month. MRJ only says cryptically that the latest delay will allow the designers to "confirm respective fabrication processes" and "provide sufficient time for technical studies".  

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