Boeing requests waiver to avoid 787-10 certification delay

A software bug that shut-down one engine on a GE Aviation-powered 787 last July has prompted Boeing to ask the US Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily exempt the 787-10 from a safety requirement.

Boeing plans to certificate the GEnx-1B-powered version of the 787-10 in September, but the fix for the software bug won’t be ready until 20 December 2019, Boeing says in the filing.

In a separate interview with FlightGlobal, GE says it plans to deliver the software update sooner.

Unless the FAA approves Boeing’s exemption request, the delivery schedule for the GEnx-powered version of the 787-10 could be delayed, Boeing says. Boeing delivered the first Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-TEN-powered 787-10 in March, but the first GEnx-1B-powered version is to be delivered to United Airlines in September.

GE plans to fix the software bug that caused the engine shutdown as part of a package of updates called the “B200” software version, Boeing says. It could deliver the fix that specifically addresses the engine shutdown problem earlier, but Boeing prefers to keep it packaged with several other updates..

The software bug is related to another safety problem with the GEnx-1B.

In certain, rare conditions, tiny ice crystals blown high by atmospheric convection into the stratosphere can form on blades and vanes within the GEnx-1B. R-R’s Trent engine family seems immune from the problem, but accumulated ice crystals in the GEnx engine can shed suddenly, causing an in-flight shutdown.

Two years ago, GE solved that problem by introducing a software modification. If ice crystal icing (ICI) conditions are detected, the software commands the variable inlet guide vanes – a set o interior doors used to discard foreign object debris on takeoff or landing – to open and eject the ice before it can enter the core of the engine.

That fix appears to be working, but Boeing has found a new bug in the software used for opening.

Last July, a 787 crew encountered ICI conditions at 40,000ft, so commanded the engines to provide power for two step climbs up to 42,000ft. During the climb, the left-hand engine flamed-out, causing power to roll back. The engine’s electronic controls recognized the problem and automatically activated the igniters for a relight. The combustor re-lit within 2s and thrust was restored fully within 18s, Boeing says.

“The root cause of this event is the fact that ICI accommodation logic, as it’s currently certified, is suspended with the application of climb power,” Boeing says.

GE’s software update will insert logic to extend ICI protections at engine power levels up to climb at altitudes over 35,000ft, Boeing says.

GE-powered versions of the 787-8 and 787-9 can continue flying under existing airworthiness certificates. The 787-10, however, is still wrapping up certification testing, so the non-compliance presented by the known software plug requires Boeing to request an exemption.

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Boeing delivers first 737-800BCF to West Atlantic

Boeing has delivered the first 737-800BCF, within three years of the programme's launch.

The converted freighter was handed over to programme partner GECAS on 19 April at a dedicated ceremony at East Midlands airport in the UK.

In early May, the narrowbody will enter commercial service with launch operator West Atlantic UK – a subsidiary of Sweden's West Atlantic Group – and will be used for short-haul cargo transport serving the European market.

GECAS – which has managed the aircraft (MSN 32740) throughout its service life, and has led the conversion programme with Boeing – is leasing four 737-800BCFs to the Coventry-headquartered airline, from its total orderbook with Boeing for 10 of the modified passenger aircraft.

West Atlantic UK says the remaining examples are scheduled for delivery in August and October 2018 and in January 2019. The aircraft are being converted by Boeing's Chinese maintenance and modification joint venture Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services.

The 18 737-300/400s already operated by West Atlantic UK will remain in the fleet, says company managing director Nigel Hiorns.

Mike Fleming, vice-president of commercial services for Boeing Global Services, describes the 737-800BCF as "the next generation of freighters".

He says: "For the first time, operators get one-stop-shop support throughout the lifecycle of a standard-body freighter – originally manufactured by Boeing, converted by Boeing, and supported by Boeing."

The aircraft has the capacity to carry up to 24,000kg (52,800lb) of cargo, with a range of about 2,000nm (3,700km).

Boeing says 12 pallet positions, comprising 11 standard pallets and one half-pallet, will provide 141m³ (5,000ft³) of cargo space on the main deck. There will also be two lower-lobe compartments, which will provide a further 43m³ of cargo space

The aircraft will primarily be used to carry express cargo on domestic and short-haul routes.

Boeing says it has secured 45 orders and commitments for the 737-800BCF. As well as GECAS, customers include: Hangzhou, China-based YTO Airlines; China Postal Airlines; Air Algerie; Colombia's LAS Cargo; Cargo Air, based in Bulgarian capital Sofia; and another, unidentified client.

The airframer forecasts a market for more than 1,000 narrowbody freighters "the size of the 737", with China’s domestic air freight carriers accounting for nearly one-third of the total market.

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Belavia partners Embraer for E-Jet maintenance

Embraer has won a contract from Belarusian carrier Belavia to support its E-Jet fleet.

The manufacturer says the multi-year agreement covers component exchanges and repairs, and has been customised to Belavia’s specific requirements.

Additionally, the airline will receive special tooling and ground support to “move” heavy maintenance for the E-Jet in-house, Embraer says.

It adds the deal will “streamline Belavia’s fleet support and improve aircraft availability”.

The airline’s director general, Anatoly Gusarov, states that Embraer’s component support will “help us keep those dispatch rates high and our aircraft in the sky”.

Flight Fleets Analyzer shows Belavia has three E175s and two E195s, with the latest E175 delivered from Embraer earlier this month.

Two further E195s are scheduled to arrive in May and June.

The airline has plans to expand its E-Jet fleet to 12 units by 2020.

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Azimuth picks S7 Technics for Superjet C-check

S7 Technics has completed a C-check on Sukhoi Superjet 100 for Russian start-up carrier Azimuth.

The Russian maintenance provider says the aircraft was redelivered from its facility at Moscow Domodedovo airport in early April and that it was the first heavy check for Azimuth.

S7 Technics says a “large number of labour-intensive service bulletins” from Sukhoi were implemented as part of the check.

Sales director Nikita Belykh states the MRO provider’s technical staff gains experience during every Superjet check “while performing very complicated modifications on this type”.

“We consistently expand our capabilities in airframe and component maintenance…and we keep building up the volumes and complexity of our works," he says.

S7 Technics has been servicing Superjets at its facilities in Domodedovo and Mineralnye Vody since 2016 and has completed nine heavy checks on the type to date, the company notes.

Customers include Gazpromavia, IrAero, Yamal and the Russian emergencies ministry.

Azimuth is based at Rostov's new Platov airport and the last Superjet in its initial contracted batch was delivered on 18 April.

The aircraft (RA-89095) was transferred under an agreement with Russian state lessor GTLK.

Sukhoi's civil aircraft division says the aircraft acquired through GTLK have been configured with layouts of 100 and 103 seats.

It had received its fifth Superjet – registered RA-89093 with serial number 95150 – on 12 March, the 150th example of the twinjet to be assembled by the airframer at its Komsomolsk plant.

Azimuth's latest delivery brings its overall Superjet fleet to eight.

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Volocopter explains urban mobility concept in new video

German urban air mobility pioneer Volocopter has released new details of a vision for a future network of hubs and ports for air taxis that mainly relies on re-using existing infrastructure to reduce upfront capital costs and ease the path to airspace integration over gridlocked city streets.

Volocopter in 2016 first staged manned flights of its 18-rotor, two-seat VC200 air taxi prototype in Germany, followed by public demonstrations in Dubai in September 2017 and in Las Vegas this January.

Although the company’s electric-powered, autonomous aircraft concept is well known, its concept for building up infrastructure in cities to support the launch of point-to-point air taxi flights within a decade was less understood.

A 4min, 8s documentary posted on Volocopter’s YouTube channel on 17 April marks the company’s first attempt to detail how it plans to achieve a goal of flying 100,000 passengers per hour over cities by 2028 in brief hops up 14.6nm (27km) and carrying two passengers.

“Our ambitions do not end with developing the aircraft,” says Volocopter chief executive Florian Reuter. “We are here to develop the entire ecosystem making air taxi services a reality across the world. This includes the physical and digital infrastructure to manage unmanned systems.”

Set in New York City, Volocopter’s documentary video envisions operations concentrated in enclosed “Volo-hubs”, each supporting landings every 30s. As each aircraft arrives on an exterior landing pad, it is moved by a conveyor belt inside an adjacent enclosure, where passengers can alight. Meanwhile, a robotic system replaces the vehicle’s depleted battery with a fully-charged power system.

“We expect any air taxi transport system to begin with a point to point connection and over time grow into a system of dozens of Volo-Hubs in a city,” says Volocopter co-founder Alex Zosel.

The concept includes an additional network of smaller Volo-ports. These would use mainly existing heli-pads with minimal modifications and offer direct access to major destinations, such as shopping malls, large offices and train stations.

The system also depends on a new approach to air traffic management, according to Volocopter’s video, but it offered few details about how it would be developed.

But Volocopter’s production partner isn’t waiting. DG AeroTec announced on 4 April the launch of serial production of the Volocopter 2X, featuring an improved fuselage and rotor system. The first batch of components have passed static load tests, DG AeroTec says, and the second serial aircraft is now in production。

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Trump Administration relaxes policy on armed UAV exports

The Trump Administration loosened restrictions on the marketing and sale of armed unmanned air vehicles by US aerospace manufacturers to foreign nations on 19 April.

The new export rules allow US companies to sell and market armed military drones to US allies and partner under the direct commercial sales process, eliminating the need to go through the State Department via the foreign military sales system.

The change was billed by the State Department as a means to speed up the sale and delivery of US drones to foreign countries, many of which are also considering drones manufactured by Chinese and Russian companies.

“Providing our allies and partners with greater access to American arms will also reduce their reliance not just on Chinese knockoffs, but also on Russian systems, consistent with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” says Peter Navarro, assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy. “For too long we have hamstrung ourselves and limited our ability to provide our allies and partners with the defensive capabilities they require, even when in the US interest.”

The arms sale policy will eliminate the need for manufacturers selling unarmed UAVs equipped with laser target designators to go through the Foreign Military Sales process.

Instead, it allows companies to sell such UAVs directly to foreign customers, said Tina Kaidanow, principal deputy assistant secretary for political-military affairs.

Drone sales will still be subject to review from the US government, despite the streamlined sales process, the State Department said. All potential military UAS sales will be subject to a State Department-led assessment under the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy and Department of Defense-led assessment regarding technology security.

The State Department has not changed its policies regarding its Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an international agreement which also governs fast-moving drones that could be mistaken for a cruise missile, but is looking to update the policy, Kaidanow said.

The lack of changes to the MTCR might disappoint some drone manufacturers who were looking for eased restrictions to sell their UAVs abroad. For instance, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems disclosed the pursuit of a potential sale of 90 jet-powered Predator C Avengers to an undisclosed international customer in August 2017, but said it faced hurdles from MTCR restrictions.

And though Navarro stressed that the goal of the Trump administration’s export rule changes is to promote “buy American, hire American,” deputy assistant secretary for Political-Military Affairs Kaidanow acknowledged that the State Department would allow companies to negotiate with foreign countries – for example, states in the Middle East or India – deals such as co-production, which could outsource manufacturing in order to close sales.

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Textron Aviation downplays dramatic sales backlog swing in Q1

Textron Aviation’s sales backlog for new business jets and turboprops swelled suddenly by 33% from the end of December to 1 April, reversing a long-term trend in a stagnant market.

The Wichita-based manufacturer of Cessna and Beechcraft-branded aircraft finished the first quarter with a $1.6 billion backlog, or $400 million higher than on 31 December. It was the largest increase since Cessna acquired Hawker Beechcraft in 2014 and absorbed the latter’s backlog. Since 2015, Textron Aviation’s combined backlog has hovered between $1 and $1.2 billion.

But the chief executive of parent company Textron downplayed the first quarter backlog surprise, which one analyst on an earnings call on April likened to a “dam bursting”.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a dam bursting,” Scott Donnelly replied on the call.

Despite the three-month order windfall, Donnelly remains dissatsified with the profits earned on each aircraft sold, suggesting the business aviation sector is not yet strong enough to afford manufacturers pricing power over customers.

“We’re still at price levels that we’re not very happy about,” Donnelly says. “The amount of capital and the amount of investment you make in this business warrants a better return. We have been walking away from deals that are at price levels that are just not acceptable to the business.”

Overall, Textron Aviation revenues increased by $1 billion during the quarter, a 4% increase over the same period last year. Revenues grew by about $40 million despite delivering only 36 aircraft in the first quarter, or one more than last year. Donnelly attributed $9 million of revenue growth to improved pricing, leaving about $30 million credited to a shift towards more expensive models and options.

Textron Aviation is not considering increasing business aircraft production significantly despite the jump in sales backlog, Donnelly says, adding a few deliveries for certain models is possible.

The company now plans to certificate the first super mid-size Cessna Citation Longitude in the second quarter, a slight delay from the original goal of the fourth quarter last year.

Meanwhile, development of Textron Aviation’s first large cabin jet, the Cessna Citation Hemisphere, remains suspended, Donnelly says. The Hemisphere is designed with the Safran Silvercrest engine, which is struggling to overcome a series of design flaws. Dassault canceled the Silvercrest-powered Falcon 5X in the fourth quarter last year and launched the slightly larger Falcon 6X with Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. Donnelly has said that Textron Aviation would walk away from the large cabin segment if the problems with Silvercrest cannot be resolved.

Textron Aviation is still waiting “to see how the engine plays out”, Donnelly says, without elaborating.

Internally, the company’s focus on research and development has shifted from the Longitude and Hemisphere to smaller aircraft projects, such as developing the Cessna Denali single-engined turboprop and the Cessna SkyCourier twin-engined utility turboprop.

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