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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 1075.PDF
HEADLINES Blade failure setback hits GE90 testing BY GUY NORMS IN LOS ANGELES General Electric's GE90 turbo-fan has suffered a low-pres sure compressor (LPC) blade failure on its last test flight. Despite the setback, the com pany says that the engine will still receive certification on schedule in November. The fourth stage LPC blade failed towards the end of the 19th, and final, test flight planned for 1994. "It wasn't an uncontained failure and, although it did damage other blades in that stage, it did not damage any other parts of the engine," says the company. The incident is the latest in a series of mishaps to hit the engine during its test pro gramme, and is the third related to blade-tip clearance problems. Early mishaps included a high- pressure turbine (HPT) rub, which resulted in the module being returned to GE's Evendale plant in Ohio. HPT clearances have since been increased and drawings modified. An HPT mid-seal cracking problem was caused by high- acoustic vibration levels. These were fixed with a damper. The design of the combustor centre body was also changed when it suffered "distress". The latest problem was ini tially caused by an LPT rub which occurred in a recent test flight. After the incident, GE increased clearances in the compressor and revised the design, but a blade had been stressed in the incident. GE believes that it was this blade which probably failed on 13 April. The company says that the blade-tip rub and failure problems are an inevitable part of testing. "It's a clearance issue: we're trying to optimise the clearances and see how close you can get." Despite the problems, GE maintains that the performance of the engine has been "out standing", meeting all opera tional goals and specifications. The company claims that its fuel-consumption advantage over the Pratt & Whitney PW4084 and Rolls-Royce Trent 800 will vary from 1% to 5% depending on mission length. "We are extremely pleased with the overall-test pro gramme," says GE90 pro gramme general manager Russ Sparks, who adds that results are so good that the company is accelerating the certification of the 410kN (92,0001b)-thrust growth engine. The more pow erful engine will be certificated to "at least 90,0001b of take-off thrust" and, possibly, up to 410kN in May 1996. The accelerated programme coincides with Boeing's intro duction of the heavier "B" mar ket 777. More than 99% of parts would be common with the ini tial version, which is set to be certificated at around 375kN in November. Another series of test flights is scheduled to be made on the GE Boeing 747 testbed in early 1995. D Final pre-certification flight lest ends in blade failure FDR backs A310 crash allegations BY DAVID LEARMOUNT AND ALEXANDER VELOV1CH IN MOSCOW Evidence from the flight data recorder (FDR) of the Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines (ARIA) Airbus Industrie A310 which crashed near Novokuznetsk on 22 March supports allegations that the pilots were not at the con trols at the time of the accident. The Russian Ministry of Transport originally said that one of the pilots was instructing his children how to fly at the time of the crash. This was quickly denied by officials of the investigation committee and the airline. Sources close to the investi gation say that the flight-data recorder shows that during its descent to impact, the aircraft was being flown by "...someone who was not knowledgeable" about flying techniques. The sources say that FDR data show that at no time was the aircraft out of control, and that it always responded according to control inputs. The input rates — but not the input orientation — however, were "like a fighter pilot", say the sources, leading to an initial right bank of more than 90° and sudden nose-up attitudes of 80° selected during the rapid spiral descent, leading to stalls with stresses of 4.8g — which the aircraft still survived. Publication of the interim Russian report is now promised for 1 May at the earliest. The reason for the delay, says the official, is the existence of "uncertainties" in flight data downloaded from the FDR. The downloading has undertaken at the Bureau d'Enquetes Accidents in Paris — monitored by a Russian team — because the necessary equipment is not available in Russia. French rep resentatives visited Russia on about 20 April and, from 2 May, the Russian team will return to Paris to continue its work. Russian investigators have "questions on the functioning of the autopilot, some design features of the aircraft and char acteristics of the downloaded flight data". • Rapid growth fuels UPS fleet plans United Parcel Service (UPS) plans to add 23 aircraft to its fleet in 1994, to cope with rapidly growing express-pack age volume. For the first three months of 1994, the Atlanta, Georgia- based company reported a 20.3% growth in air volume over 1993's first quarter, to an average 1.13 million pieces a day. UPS acquired six Boeing 727-100 freighters in February, all of which are now in service. In May and June, the company's Louisville, Kentucky-based air operation will put three addi tional Boeing 747-100s and two more McDonnell Douglas DC- 8-73s into service. The first of 12 Boeing 757PFs scheduled for delivery in 1994 will be handed over in mid-year. The expansion will take the UPS fleet to 219 jet-powered freighters in service, or on order, plus another 302 leased aircraft. UPS' flies more than 1,500 segments daily to 610 air ports worldwide. First-quarter air-volume growth was headed by international operations, up by 36.7% over the same period in 1993. Domestic air volume grew by 19.3%. • United/Iberia deal U nited Airlines and Iberia have signed a marketing pact which includes schedule co-ordination and co-opera tive sales activities. The two carriers have also agreed to develop a more comprehensive agreement which would include code- sharing United operates about 200 weekly flights from the USA to Central and South America, where Iberia has extensive interests. It also offers daily round- trip service between Madrid and Washington. • FLIGHT INTERNA TI0NAL 27 April - 3 May, 1994 5
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