Plane Nation

Dubai-based Emirates Airline has grounded its Airbus A380 plane, an online business news service reported.

According to Arabian Business, the airline said scheduled engineering on the plane was taking longer than expected.

In place of the A380, Emirates would operate a Boeing 777-300ER for a scheduled flight to New York today.

“Our teams are working hard to minimise any inconvenience caused to our passengers. Our A380 will be deployed on commercial service again as soon as possible,” Arabian Business quoted an airline official as saying.

With 58 A380 on order, Emirates is the largest customer of the super jumbo aircraft. The airline received its first A380 on July 28.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

A report released by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch reported that ice in the fuel triggered the British Airways 777 accident.

The British Air Accidents Investigation Branch warned that “immediate action” must be taken out to assess whether the problem which caused the Boeing 777 accident could affect other aircraft.

It also demanded that Boeing put in place new safety measures to ensure that planes travelling at high altitude in temperatures far below freezing do not suffer a potentially disastrous build up of ice in their fuel systems.

The recommendations were made in a report into the crash in January in which a BA 777 flying from Beijing crash landed short of the runway with 136 passengers and 16 crew on board.

One passenger suffered a broken leg and 12 others minor injuries in the worst aviation accident at Heathrow in more than 30 years.

There are nearly 700 Boeing 777s in service and they are one of the workhorses of the skies for long-haul flights.

They include 220 planes powered by the Rolls Royce Trent 800 engine involved in the Heathrow accident, currently operated by 11 airlines, including British Airways.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Picket lines went up early Saturday at Boeing airplane factories. More than 27,000 machinists are on strike after last-minute contract talks collapsed.

Boeing could lose as much as $120 million a day in lost revenue according to industry analysts. That’s mostly from revenue that will be deferred when those commercial jets that Roberts and Arias help make won’t be built or delivered because of the work stoppage. The jet-making factories in Renton and Everett will remain open, but there are no mechanics to do the work.

Perhaps worse for Boeing, the 787 Dreamliner, already some 14 months behind schedule because of production issues, may not fly for the first time until 2009 because of the strike. Customers have ordered 900 of the fuel-efficient planes, but deliveries have already fallen as much as two years behind schedule in some cases. A long strike could cause further delays and upset customers even more.

Boeing began shutting down its jet production lines at midnight, when the strike began.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

The prototype Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen regional jet took to the air on 3 September from the airframer’s plant at Mirabel, near Montreal.

During the 3h 25min maiden sortie the 100-seater reached an altitude of 30,000ft (9,150m) and a maximum speed of 260kt (480km/h).

1. 16% reduction in carbon emissions.

2. 52% below CAEP/6 limits for NOx

CAEP - ICAO Council’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection set a limit for NOx in the 6th meeting.

3. 30% smaller noise footprint

4. 16% more fuel efficient.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

The first wing spar for the 747-8F is being assembled at Boeing’s Everett, Wash. site marking the start of assembly of the new freighter model. The unit was loaded into a new automated assembly tool earlier this month following completion of the final 747-400 wing spar in a conventional jig late in July.

Final assembly of the first 747-8F is expected to begin early in 2009 with first delivery to launch customer Cargolux at the end of the year. Parts for the initial 747-8I Intercontinental passenger aircraft are due to enter assembly around September 2009.

Total orders for the 747-8 family currently stand at 105 of which 78 are freighters and 27 Intercontinental models. Of these -8Is, 20 are full passenger models while the balance will be for VIP and head of state customers.

The wing spar assembly tool for the 747-8 is the first of several new features to be inaugurated into use as part of a major revamp of the 747 production line at Everett. Other changes include upgraded hydraulic and electric power systems as well as stronger, larger overhead cranes and gantries that are required to carry the bigger sections of the 250.ft-long derivative. Boeing passed the 75% design release point on the 747-8F in the second quarter and expects to pass the 25% release point milestone for the -8I in the fourth quarter of 2008.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

The Engine Alliance is defining the scope of an improvement program for its GP7200 turbofan to help Airbus enhance performance of the A380, and put some very long-range routes within reach.

The initiative, which aims to improve fuel burn another 1-2%, is part of a larger Airbus effort to improve efficiency by taking weight out of the mega-transport. Airlines, too, are looking to do their part, with Emirates saying it is scrubbing its cabin to contribute to the goal of reducing overall aircraft empty weight by 4-5 metric tons. Emirates, the largest A380 customer, has just taken delivery of the first of its 58 aircraft. The engine enhancement and weight efforts are aimed at allowing the carrier to use the A380 more widely, with Emirates hoping it can stretch the aircraft range to allow flights to San Francisco with full passenger and freight loads. The goal is to achieve this by around 2011-12.

Eclipse Aviation officials have announced it is reducing its workforce by 38 percent in “an effort to achieve financial stability as soon as possible.” Eclipse Aviation employees at Albuquerque, N.M.; Gainesville, Fla. and Albany, N.Y. facilities are affected. The move comes just two weeks after Eclipse announced layoffs of 200 employees, most of whom were temporary production line workers. Total employment now stands at 1,100, compared with 2,000 earlier this year.

.

Boeing recently completed work on the first BBJ 3 (Boeing Business Jet). The BBJ 3 is a new, larger business jet based on the Boeing Next-Generation 737-900ER (Extended Range). The BBJ 3 has 1,120 square feet (104 square meters) of floor space, and provides 35 percent more interior space and 89 percent more luggage space than the BBJ 2. The BBJ 3’s range is between 5,435 nmi (10,066 km) and 4,725 nmi (8,751 km) depending on the number of passengers flown.

..

Here….