VMU tail strike test will be one of the first to be done next summer

Almost all pilots and aircraft geeks have seen astonishing pictures of a test aircraft taking off with the tail scraping the runway with a lot of sparks coming from the rear fuselage during the testing for development and certification. The truth is that a specific tail bumper is added to protect the tail from any damage.

The provisions for tail bumper are already installed in the A350 XWB first aircraft MSN001.

This test allows to determine speeds which are called VMU (Velocity Minimum Unstick). Airbus needs to know the VMU because the computed take off speeds incorporate some margin above VMU, just as they also do for VS (Stall speed), VMCG (Minimum control speed on the ground) and VMCA (Minimum control speed in the air). These “V” speeds therefore form the basic building blocks of take-off performance.

The optimization of take-off performance is complex. Firstly, the aircraft must be able to get airborne safely, even in the case of failure of one engine. It may also have to overfly obstacles, close or far from the runway end, with sufficient margin, still with an engine failed. The optimization has to be performed for all weights, altitudes and temperatures and obviously some compromises have to be made, as no aircraft can be perfect for all conditions.

click the image to watch a video of the A380 VMU test

Among all development and certification tests, VMU are probably the most spectacular for observers, with the small “firework” below the tail just before lift-off. For crew members, they are also one of the most stressful, as the risk of damage to the aircraft is rather high. Few pilots can say that they have performed VMU tests on several programs without damaging anything!

In the case of the A350 XWB, some structural reinforcements and metallic protection are being made during the installation of the tail bumper so that it could sustain a force up to more than 150 tons. They can be seen in orange paint.

 

The VMU tests are difficult to carry out, mainly because it has to perform a soft touch down of the tail bumper, as the structure is not designed for a strong impact.

Perfect weather conditions are needed, with no turbulence and wind less than 5 kts, to insure the precision of the measurements. For these tests, all the audio warnings are “killed” by the crew prior to the test, otherwise the crew receive a stream of continuous warnings: “Thrust not set”, then “Stall, stall” and possibly some others.

On A380, a total of 22 VMU tests were executed including both development and certification.

 

The tests will be performed at Istres Air Force Base (South of France) where there is a 5 km runway and no houses or other obstacles on the runway axis for several kilometers.

  

A teamwork of 5 in the cabin:

The left hand seat pilot is responsible for flying the pitch. His seat is in the lowest position as he does not need to see the runway. He adjusts the attitude using the horizon of the PFD, performing a smooth touch-down of the tail bumper, keeping the tail on the ground until lift-off and maintaining the pitch attitude after take-off until out of the ground effect (one wing span) or 400 ft.

The right hand seat pilot has his seat in the upper position to be able to see the runway even with a high pitch attitude. On the ground, he maintains the aircraft on the runway. When in flight, he keeps the roll close to zero using very small inputs on the rudder (induced roll), and not with ailerons and spoilers to avoid a drag increase. Finally, he is responsible for safety, which means that he can take over anytime, typically if the aircraft is not climbing in ground effect.

The Test Flight Engineer on the flight deck is in charge of setting very precisely the thrust, which is important when they are performing tests at very low ratio thrust over weight.

 

In the cabin, in front of all their screens, 2 Flight Test Engineers are monitoring the test, and thanks to the traces, they validate it (or not).

 

 

 

A350F all-cargo version will have to continue in the “development phase” and wait till 2020 although Cathay Pacific shows interest

Cathay Pacific wants Airbus to go ahead with an all-cargo version of its A350 model, which is currently in the development stage. Cathay has ordered altogether 46 A350s, which should begin to enter its fleet in 2016.

Nick Rhodes, the Hong Kong-based carrier’s director and general manager of cargo, acknowledged that in the present situation the case for an investment in freighters is well nigh hopeless. According to Rhodes, Cathay is bent on continuing to use freighters, despite the challenging situation.

The airline currently has all-Boeing fleet of 21 B747 wide-body freighters in its line-up. In the coming year it will take delivery of 2 more 747-8s, and its first of 8 B777-200F -earmarked for regional sectors- is due for delivery towards the end of 2013.

 Cathay has looked at the A330-200F, but with its 747 freighters covering regional markets and the 777F on the horizon, there is no need for an A330 freighter in the near future.

He would be more interested in a larger twin-engine cargo plane, namely a freighter version of the A350 XWB. An all-cargo variant of the A350 would give airlines an alternative to the 777 freighter and provide competition for Boeing in this wide-body freighter segment.

“There is a market niche for such an aircraft. In the future there will be more need for twin-engine freighters,” Rhodes said, adding that it would make sense for Cathay to take on an A350F, as it is in line for a sizeable number of A350s for its passenger fleet.

So far Airbus has not given any firm schedule for the production of a cargo version of the A350. The plane maker signalled that it would not begin work on this before all variants of the A350 are in production.

If A350F all-cargo version goes ahead in the future, it will have a very high conversion cost removing the CFRP floor beams to stronger Aluminium ones.

Freighters normally are the last thing OEMs develop, the market is much smaller, so is the return. The biggest competitor to new-build cargo aircraft from Airbus & Boeing's perspectives is not each other's dedicated cargo planes but the ready availability of cheap second hand passenger frames that can be converted at a fraction of the cost of a new build. But if the massive increase in fuel prices over the past few years continues for next decades, cargo airlines will require new build aircraft due their better fuel efficiency.

Last October/2012, in the TIACA held in Atlanta, Boeing presented it's new Cargo Forecast:

- World trade will expand at 6.5% per year through 2031, with air cargo traffic more than doubling, growing 5.2% in average every year.
-Fuel prices which rose dramatically since 2010, will remain being volatile, but stay moderate over the longer term.
-Regarding new freighters there is demand for 940 newly produced aircraft during this and the next decade. From these 940 entities 72% will be large freighters.
-Together with 1,820 passengers to freighter conversions this will lead to a 3.1% annual growth of the world's freighter fleet.
-Boeing sales of dedicated freighters since January 2002 (11 years) has been of around 345 aircraft (84-767, 127 777 and 135- 747)

Airbus is only offering the A330-200F to airlines, while Boeing offers a complete line of new-build models: "dirt cheap" 767-300F, vastly more capable 777 Freighter and new 747-8 Freighter. A380F was withdrew and remains in stand-by and A350F is only on the papers of a small team of experts –not even on the drawings-.

Based on article “Cathay keen on freighter version of Airbus A350” published in Cargo News Asia

Strata in Abu Dhabi supplier of SABCA for flap track fairings progresses quickly with ATR workpackages

Strata Manufacturing (Strata), Mubadala Aerospace's advanced composite aerostructures plant in Al Ain, is working with Belgian Tier1 SABCA on the manufacturing of flap track fairings for A350 XWB, that will be similar to A330/A340 and A380 flap track fairings already manufactured in the same plant.

After only 10 months, the plant was qualified and supplying flap track fairings to Airbus for their A330s and A340s. This rapid turnaround would be a remarkable feat in any country, but considering that the factory site was only desert sand just a year before, the transition is even more remarkable.

SABCA is the Belgian Tier-1 Risk Sharing Partner for the design, industrialization and manufacturing of the A350XWB Flap Support Structures and Flap Support Fairings.

Much of Strata’s success can be linked to the skills and quality of the individuals it employs. In the past 12 months, Strata has been able to raise the proportion of UAE nationals working for the company from 1% to 33% - the majority of which are women. This promising trend is the result of a well-constructed education engagement strategy designed by Mubadala Aerospace, implemented by Strata.

ATR and Boeing.

The first vertical tail fin to be built in Abu Dhabi for an ATR regional airliner has been delivered by Strata from its factory in Al Ain.

“With the first package completed for the ATR Vertical Fin programme, Strata employees have shown their commitment to supplying vital structures to the highest standards of quality," said Mr De Mitri, senior vice president Alenia. "We are now looking to extend this collaboration to other programmes.

"If the UAE selects Eurofighter, we will be working with Strata to decide which packages it would be interested in delivering. We are no longer talking about a supplier relationship, where Strata just 'builds to plans', but a full technology transfer where Strata would become a full partner."

Under the current ATR contract between Strata and Alenia Aermacchi, as well as vertical fins, Strata will go on to manufacture rudders and horizontal stabilisers for the aircraft leading to it becoming the sole supplier of the whole ATR tail section, known as the empennage, delivering up to 50 sections a year.

Mubadala's Strata Manufacturing plant in Al Ain that began operations in 2010, will initially manufacture ribs for the vertical tailplane of the 787, and full tailfin manufacture will follow once the plant and workforce have been brought on line.

Liebherr-Aerospace to provide also the A350-1000 nose landing gear

Airbus has recently selected Liebherr-Aerospace to provide the nose landing gear for the A350-1000. Thus, the airframer has extended Liebherr’s scope of supply for this aircraft, which already included the slat actuation system and flap components. This is the largest landing gear that Liebherr has ever developed and built.

Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH (Germany) will design, manufacture and service the nose landing gear using the experience gained in developing the system for the A350-900 program.

A scale model of the Airbus A350 XWB nose landing gear.

The company has chosen high-strength 300M steel for the nose landing gear and innovated cadmium-substitute coatings. Moreover, for surface-protection Liebherr-Aerospace has selected a high-strength alloy, which is produced using the HVOF (high velocity oxygenated fuel spraying) process.

For Nose Landing Gear, the workpackage remains in Germany for the new A350-1000.

A350 XWB is on its wheels

Airbus has successfully completed the main structural assembly and system connection of A350 XWB MSN1, the first flight test aircraft.

 click on the image to watch the video

As we can watch in the video, the aircraft was moved from the main assembly station (station 40) to the indoor ground test station (station 30) at the Toulouse Final Assembly Line.

 

The assembly work performed in station 40 included:

·         The wing join-up

·         The Horizontal Stabilizer installation

·         The Vertical Fin installation

·         The Rear fuselage section19.1 join-up

·         The main landing gear installation

·         The Pylons join-up

·         The successful electrical power-on of the aircraft's entire fuselage & wings

 Next step, station 30 start by filling of the aircraft's hydraulic system and leak tests.

Qatar Airways confirms the interest not only in larger A350 but in the largest A350-1000 when upgrading almost all A350-800 into A350-1000.

Launch customer Qatar will take larger A350 aircraft, but keeping total order at 80.

Qatar Airways had originally ordered 20 A350-800s, 40 A350-900s and 20 of the larger-capacity A350-1000s, but it has now dropped its order for A350-800s. The new order will comprise 43 A350-900s and 37 A350-1000s, and Qatar remains the launch customer for both variants.

"We have taken the time necessary to come to today's decision in favour of the larger A350 models, which we believe are best suited to our business model," says Qatar chief Akbar Al Baker.

“Qatar Airways has been involved in the development of the A350 XWB from the very early days. So we are truly delighted with their decision to grow their business with the two larger A350 XWB models,” said Fabrice Bregier, Airbus’ President and CEO. “This decision by Qatar Airways not only confirms the market trend towards larger A350’s but it also demonstrates the value of offering, as we do with the A350 XWB, a true family of aircraft from which our customers can select the models that best meet their individual requirements.”

The list price of original order was worth $22.43 billion. After the conversion, the order is worth $23.80 billion, although airlines typically negotiate substantial discounts or other sweeteners for bulk deals. And if you are the launch customer, the price is reduced drastically.

Qatar Airways' decision reduces to 92 the number of 250-seat A350-800s in Airbus's order book, while orders for the A350-900 now total 365 and those for the largest-capacity 350-seater A350-1000 now stand at 105.

 

It is not a surprise as Airbus is moving in this direction since some months ago investing in an improve program for the A330 announced in Farnborough in July/2012 and recently endorsed with new 242 tonne takeoff-weight capability, that  increases revenue payload on longer missions, extends market coverage -new direct flights with A330-300s between South-East Asia and Europe- and gives extra fuel capacity extending range by around 500nm at full passenger payload

A330 has been identified by Airbus as the aircraft to maintain market position versus 787 until the 2020 decade.

Meanwhile Boeing is waiting till Le Bourget next year to officially launch 787-10, 777X or both for the A350-1000 market. Engineering resources, investment required and engine capabilities are key factors for Boeing´s go ahead.

Airbus will decide in comming months (and also communicate in Le Bourget) what is the future of the smallest brother in the family; A350-800 could be postponed, cancelled or maintained. Considering that the wide body market continues growing in quantity and in size, it will make sense if Airbus postpone the A350-800.

 

Airlines decision between Boeing and Airbus usually have “government assistance” (2)

Government assistance to help Airbus or Boeing is not surprising. It just make the WTO case hypocritical as whether a company receives subsidies or get diplomatic assistance amounts to the same thing.

There are two examples of government assistance or lobby linked to A350 XWB.

The 2nd is Gulf Air order for 787 instead of A350 XWB in 2008.

Gulf Air

Flightglobal collected together all the aviation related news from the US embassy cables release by WikiLeaks.

"Beyond every-day advocacy" and communication from the US State Department's Bahrain embassy helped Boeing in January/2008 sway Gulf Air from purchasing Airbus A350s and instead order #16 787s with options for another #8, says a cable from US Ambassador Adam Ereli and released by Wikileaks, first reported in the New York Times.

Gulf Air had planned to purchase Airbus jets as the Airbus package was $400m cheaper, but US diplomats "persisted in lobbying Gulf Air management, board members, government officials and representatives of parliament" about the 787's cost advantage and reliability.

The Bahrain government was swayed in part by the opportunity to announce the order during a visit by then-President George Bush, the first sitting president to visit the country. Boeing also offered a last-minute 5% discount, further exemplifying how Boeing under-sold the 787.

"Your continued effort to touch the right leaders and remain a strong advocate for Boeing in this process made an enormous difference in the final outcome," a letter after the order from Boeing to the American ambassador in Bahrain reportedly says. "The working together activity between you, your team, and Boeing is a model that we should really aspire to replicate in other countries."

Boeing first requested US Government assistance in May 2006 when then-CEO James Hogan announced plans to replace the carrier's fleet. Hogan's plan called for Gulf Air to purchase #22 737s and #25 787s, but Hogan departed under managerial differences. His successor, Andre Dose, also left, leaving Bjorn Naff as the chief executive who after the facts also left, leaving former Royal Jordanian Airlines chief Samer Majali in charge.

Fast forward to October 2007 and Gulf Air has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing to purchase the 787s. But then it reversed itself, concerned it would not be able "to justify a decision for Boeing to the parliament in the face of a steeply discounted Airbus [sic]quotation," the cable says. The Airbus offer was reportedly $400 million less.

On 12 December Gulf Air notified Boeing it had selected Airbus's offer and would need its 787 deposits refunded.

The US embassy in Bahrain, however, told Boeing the decisions was not final as Bahrain's government--now the sole owner of Gulf Air--would need to approve the purchase and had not yet done so.

It was then "Boeing renewed its request for advocacy," the cable says, explaining:

*** The Ambassador and Econoff persisted in lobbying Gulf Air management, board members, government officials and representatives of parliament. The Ambassador made the case repeatedly that Airbus, lower up-front costs would be eclipsed by Boeing's lower operating costs and product reliability. He made much of the fact that the Airbus A-350 alternative was still on the drawing board. ****

The exact method of lobbying was not mentioned, but in other cables released by Wikileaks, Boeing turned down offers to pay agents "commissions" (bribes) for access to officials.

Gulf Air Board Chairman Mahmoud Kooheji told the US ambassador the Bahrain Crown Prince and King had rejected Gulf Air's proposal to purchase jets from Airbus and instead directed Kooheji to make a deal with Boeing in time for President Bush's visit to Bahrain on 12-13 January 2008.

"We have selected the 787 to be the core of our fleet for the next generation to meet both our passengers' and our stakeholders' expectations," Kooheji said in a statement when the order was announced.

France made a last-minute manoeuvre when French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the Bahrain King to say he would add Bahrain to his regional tour on the condition Gulf Air would purchase #21 Airbus aircraft.

On 13 January 2008 Gulf Air and Boeing signed the order for #16 787s, valued at $6 billion at list prices. France dropped Sarkozy's visit after hearing the Boeing purchase would proceed.

The cable ends with the Gulf Air chairman saying the carrier's narrow-body replenishment order was leaning towards Airbus but still open. That May Gulf Air selected the A320, but also A330s--suggesting, perhaps, France had further play.

"As Boeing's recent win illustrates, Airbus is in no position take Gulf Air's business for granted. Post will certainly continue to hail the advantages of a Boeing solution," the ambassador writes.

On the subject of legality of the US government helping, the New York Times writes that: "State Department and Boeing officials, in interviews last month, acknowledged the important role the United States government plays in helping them sell commercial airplanes, despite a trade agreement signed by the United States and European leaders three decades ago intended to remove international politics from the process."

  

 Based on article "#AvCablegate: US State Department swayed Gulf Air order from Airbus A350 to Boeing 787" published in Flightglobal