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air sicknesswhy we should worry about cockpit fumes report p38

airport delaysBerlin injects new funds to end Brandenburg wait, while developer blamed for dithering at Doha 12

support actP&W faces up to USAF decision to end its stranglehold on C-17 engine sustainment 16

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learning to fly againWhat can save Europe’s general aviation?

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23-29 April 2013 | Flight International | 3flightglobal.com

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

23-29 April 2013volume 183 number 5387

uSA

F, Ai

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US Air Force to run down Boeing C-17 engines pact with Pratt & Whitney p16. EASA details wing-rib fix timelines for A380 fleet p7

news this week 6 eurocopter waits on eASA approval7 Daimler bids eADS auf Wiedersehen8 rising tensions spur Apache order.

revised forecast casts gloom on business jet sector

news FOCUs 9 boeing for business in brazil

Air trAnspOrt 10 Indonesia in dock again over safety11 False data caused Titan Airways 737

to strike tail12 extra funding fuels sprint to finish

delayed berlin airport. Steep approach led to Dash 8’s heavy landing

13 P&W mulls simpler A320neo engine. Soaring fuel bill prompts Tarom’s efficiency drive

DeFenCe 14 AW169 emerges for army AAS battle.

boeing agrees to cut price for Chinook contract

15 F-22 helmet sight plan is shot down. Warsaw to rejoin nATO surveillance programme

16 eurofighter tries out Harpoon missiles for size

BUsiness AviAtiOn 17 Cessna hails upgrades for first production

Citation X. Phenom 100’s brake unit faces uS safety probe

ABACe shOw repOrt 18 Talks stall over assembly of Sovereign,

Latitude in China20 Harbin gets to work on first Legacy 650 for

Q4 delivery

spACeFlight 21 nASA defies critics with latest budget

request

BUsiness 22 Playing at home again

regUlArs5 Comment 41 Straight & level42 letters45 Classified 47 Jobs 51 Working Week 48 Job of the Week Global Supply Systems,

chief training captain, Stansted Airport

COver stOry25 GeNerAl AviAtioN SpeCiAl report28 the drive for diesel Heavy fuel motor

engines market remains uncertain30 lagging behind uSA europe’s light

sport aircraft rules inflexible33 rearguard action Is there an upside for

europe’s general aviation community?35 Aero keeps flying high Friedrichshafen

show preview

FeAtUres38 pilot heAlth Clearing the air engine

oil fumes pose risk to crew

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

air sicknesswhy we should worry about cockpit fumes report p38

airport delaysBerlin injects new funds to end Brandenburg wait, while developer blamed for dithering at Doha 12

support actP&W faces up to USAF decision to end its stranglehold on C-17 engine sustainment 16

aero preview

learning to fly againWhat can save Europe’s general aviation?

flightglobal.com

I S S N 0 0 1 5 - 3 7 1 0

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piC of the Week your photoGrAph here“Banking around for another landing in the dustbowl” is how AirSpace regular Lloyd H describes this shot of a UK Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook over the cross-country driving area at Salisbury Plain. Open a gallery in flightglobal.com’s AirSpace community for a chance to feature here

Lloy

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flightglobal.com/imageoftheday

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Cover imAGeThis picture of the Corvalis TTx was sourced from airframer Cessna. Launched in 2011, the TTx is the fastest commercial certificated piston-driven aircraft in production. See general aviation industry report p25

Next Week Aero report Kate Sarsfield reports from the Aero general aviation show in Friedrichshafen, Germany (above), and we have a country special on Turkey’s aerospace industry

Aero

Frie

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Download The Engine Directory.flightglobal.com/ComEngDirectory

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contents

behind the headlines the week on the web

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Vote at flightglobal.com/poll

Find all these items at flightglobal.com/wotw

Question of the week

Total votes: 1,255This week, we ask: What’s the biggest reason so few youngsters take up flying? ❑ Too expensive ❑ No nearby airfields ❑ Too much red-tape ❑ No careers at end

For a full list of reader services, editorial and advertising contacts see P44

Editorial +44 20 8652 3842 [email protected] display advErtising +44 20 8652 3315 [email protected] ClassifiEd advErtising +44 20 8652 4897 [email protected] rECruitmEnt advErtising +44 20 8652 4900 [email protected] wEbmastEr [email protected] +44 1444 475 682 [email protected] rEprints +44 20 8652 [email protected] flight daily nEws +44 20 8652 [email protected]

high fliersThe top five stories for the week just gone:1 Picture: First British Airways 787 breaks cover2 Lion Air 737-800 crashes into sea while landing at Bali3 American splits Airbus order equally between A319 and A3214 FAA reviewing 787 ETOPS certification separately from battery decision5 Boeing unveils updated F/A-XX sixth-gen fighter concept

Flightglobal reaches up to 1.3 million visitors from 220 countries viewing 7.1 million pages each month

If you think British Airways’ new Airbus A380 looks resplend-ent in this picture, you might have Lady Thatcher to thank, writes david Kaminski-morrow on the Airline Business

blog. The late iron lady famously draped her handkerchief over a model of a British Airways Boeing 747-400 bearing the carrier’s controversial new ethnic tail fins at a Conservative Party conference in 1997.

“Absolutely terrible,” she declared in front of the TV cameras. The former prime minister’s opinion was thought to be crucial in ba’s decision to abandon the assorted multi-coloured designs and revert to a version of the Union flag it still uses today. On his eponymous blog, david learmount recalls flying with a sidestick for the first time, 25 years ago, on an Airbus A300, configured as a testbed for the then-new fly-by-wire system on the A320.

China’s new political leadership may preach austerity but some of the high-net-worth visitors at-tending abaCE 2013 (P18) in Shanghai, attended by Asia man-aging editor siva govindasamy, did not appear to get the memo. “Long queues of people who made prior appointments were waiting to board aircraft, whose salesmen pointed out a newly-minted millionaire here and billionaire there keen to know more about private jets. This is the future of business avia-tion,” says Govindasamy.

in this issueCompanies listedAAR .............................................................22AgustaWestland ...........................................14AIM Aviation .................................................23Airbus ................................................7, 11, 13Air Charter ...................................................23Arianespace ................................................23Austro Engines ...............................................6AVIC .......................................................18, 30BAE Systems ...............................................16Beechcraft ...................................................17Bell Helicopter ...............................................8Boeing ...............6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 21Bombardier .....................................12, 13, 17British Airways ..............................................22CAIGA ..........................................................18Centurion Aircraft Engines ............................28Cessna ..............................................8, 17, 18CHC Scotia ....................................................6CIT .................................................................6Commercial Jet ............................................22CTS Engines .................................................23Cubcrafters ..................................................32Dassault ......................................................17DeltaHawk ...................................................29Diamond Aircraft ............................................6EADS .............................................................7Embraer .......................................9, 13, 17, 20Emirates Airlines ..........................................11Engineered Propulsion Systems ...................30Estonian Air ...................................................6Eurocopter .........................................6, 15, 17Eurofighter ...................................................16ExecuJet Europe ...........................................17First Emirates Aviation Group .......................23Garmin ........................................................17General Electric ...........................................13Gogo............................................................23Hangar 8 .....................................................17Hindustan Aeronautics .................................23Honeywell ..............................................17, 23ICBC Leasing ...............................................20Korea Aerospace Industries ............................8Lion Air ........................................................10Lockheed Martin ................................8, 15, 16Lufthansa Technik ........................................20Lycoming .....................................................30Merpati Nusantara .......................................10Metrojet .........................................................6Mistral Engines ............................................29Nakanihon Air Service ..................................17Nextant Aerospace .......................................20NH Industries ...............................................15Northrop Grumman ......................................15Pipistrel .......................................................32PPG Aerospace ............................................23Pratt & Whitney ......................................13, 16Priester Aviation ...........................................17PZL Swidnik .................................................15Qatar Airways ...............................................12Qinetiq.........................................................23Raytheon .......................................................8Rockwell Collins ...........................................20Rolls-Royce ..................................................17Sierra Nevada ..............................................21Sikorsky .........................................................6SMA ............................................................29SpaceX ........................................................21Steyr Motors ................................................28Sukhoi .........................................................10Tarom ..........................................................13Textron .........................................................23Titan Airways ................................................11Turkish Aerospace Industries ..........................8Williams International ..................................20Zhuhai Hanxing General Aviation ....................6

24% 20%

Just not enough of a market for programme

to survive

Not significant order CSeries needs

Breakthrough deal

Last week, we asked for your thoughts on the Porter CSeries order. You said:

56%

4 | Flight International | 23-29 April 2013

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comment


Operations and safety editor David Learmount reviews the safety record of Lion Air and other Indonesian carriers at flightglobal.com/lionair See Feature P38

Still in denialThings have moved on in some ways since we last

looked at the subject of contaminated cockpit and cabin air, and in other ways they have not.

More pilots are reporting more in-flight events in which engine oil fumes pollute cabin air, making crews sick and, in some cases, almost incapacitating them. Increasingly, accident investigators are confirming that following these incidents neurotoxins from engine oil have been found in pilots’ blood.

In Germany, the transport minister has recognised the problem exists and called for united action, via the European Commission and EASA. In that sense, things have moved on, driven by increasing awareness among crews about the issue and associated risks. But as for

government or industry action, there is increasing con-fusion, embarrassment and dissembling.

Government transport departments accept oil fume events happen and that they contain neurotoxins, but they insist the levels of contamination are acceptable. At the same time they admit they don’t know what the levels are and refuse to take measurements to deter-mine them. They also refuse to require installation of fume detection and warning systems.

This state of denial is enabled by the fact the burden of legal proof is on the victims. It is only a matter of time before biochemical proof is available, and the in-dustry had better know how it will react when it is. ■

Drastic action is needed following Indonesia’s latest crash to ensure the country’s abysmal safety record is improved – including, if necessary, suspending the right of airlines to operate

PA P

hoto

Broken dreams

See Air Transport P10

Sleeping Lion

Indonesia’s Lion Air would have hoped 2013 would be remembered for its order for 234 Airbus A320s in

March, and its plans to start two new subsidiaries on the way towards becoming a major pan-Asian airline. Instead, the lasting image from this year is likely to be that of a Lion Air Boeing 737-800 floating in the sea off Bali’s airport last week with a broken fuselage. Impor-tant questions are rightly being asked once more about Lion’s – and Indonesia’s – air safety standards.

Flightglobal’s Ascend database shows that during the past 10 years, there have been at least 30 hull losses and 23 other “major” incidents in Indonesia. This chronic problem led to Jakarta enlisting IATA and ICAO to help improve standards, but more can be done. The transport ministry must restructure its Directorate General of Civil Aviation, force it to confront its prob-lems, and get outside experts in. It can enlist countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, which once had simi-

larly dismal safety records. Changes require a major shift in mindsets and nothing will happen overnight, but that just makes them even more urgent.

The Indonesian airlines began improving after the EU’s 2007 ban and flag carrier Garuda Indonesia was taken off the list as it was progressively lifted from 2009. But Lion, which only began operations in 2000, remains banned for good reason. Including the latest, there have been seven major incidents involving its air-craft. One was fatal and six were hull losses. This is the

Nothing will happen overnightbut that just makes the changein mindset even more urgent

worst record of any major Indonesian airline. The focus has shifted to the weather in Bali during the latest crash and Lion’s officials will point out that their last major incident before this was in November 2010. These, however, should not matter in the bigger picture.

Indonesian airlines will operate a record number of aircraft during the next few years, and the onus is on Jakarta to impose even stricter safety standards across the board. Regulators must review ground and in-flight training standards and check if Indonesia’s airlines have enough qualified pilots, engineers and other es-sential personnel to meet their growing fleet numbers. Indonesia should also apply the EU’s safety standards, and impose stricter sanctions on its airlines. If one of them does not meet the standards within six months, it should be banned from adding new aircraft to its fleet. If it fails after a year, its AOC should be suspended. Yes, these are drastic measures but it is about time Indone-sia swallows a bitter pill. Any airline that compromises safety for expansion does not deserve to fly. ■

FIN_230413_005 5 18/4/13 17:09:03

This week

flightglobal.com6 | Flight International | 23-29 April 2013

For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multimedia content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

Eurocopter believes it has come up with an interim so-

lution to the problem afflicting its troubled EC225 that could see the type return to unrestricted flight by the third quarter at the latest.

The EC225 has effectively been grounded in the North Sea region since the October 2012 ditching of a CHC Scotia-operated Super Puma. This was the second inci-dent last year involving the large medium twin in which the heli-copter’s bevel gear vertical shaft catastrophically failed.

Lutz Bertling, who stands down as chief executive on 1 May, says Eurocopter is close to fully resolv-ing the issue: “It is more about working with the regulators, the operators, the oil companies and passengers to restart flying.”

Bertling, addressing reporters at an event in Marignane, ex-pressed his disappointment that the issue with the EC225 will not be fixed prior to his departure. Nonetheless, he is happy with the progress so far. “It is different if you leave when there is a crisis that has not been fully under-stood, but we have a clear under-standing of the root cause and the solutions,” he says.

The airframer is awaiting exter-nal validation of its findings into the issue, which it believes were caused by a combination of corro-

rotorcraft domInIc pErry mArignAne

Eurocopter waits on EaSa approvalgrounded eC225 fleet could return to flight by third quarter as airframer pitches interim fix for faulty gearbox component

euro

copt

er

oil and gas operators have been hit hard by flight restrictions

DrEamlinEr facES SEparatE EtopS rEviEwHEaring US Federal Aviation Administration chief michael Huerta has confirmed the Boeing 787’s extended operations (eTOPS) certifi-cate is being reviewed separately from the battery redesign investi-gation. Addressing a Senate Commerce committee panel on the three-month anniversary of the Boeing grounding on 16 April, Huerta’s remarks clarified for the first time that Boeing has been answering the FAA’s questions on two key fronts. Boeing not only has to prove to the FAA that the 787 battery redesign and new contain-ment system is safe enough. The company also has to satisfy the agency that the 787 is reliable enough to fly routes which take the twinjet up to 180min away from an eligible runway.

kuwait EYES SEconD gloBEmaStEracquiSition Kuwait could acquire a second Boeing C-17 strategic transport, associated equipment and support services under a deal worth a potential $371 million, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency says. in September 2010, the gulf nation requested a one-aircraft C-17 purchase valued at up to $693 million.

mEtrojEt makES movE into cHinESE mainlanDpact Hong Kong-based business aviation company metrojet is mak-ing a move into the Chinese market via a joint venture with the main-land’s Zhuhai Hanxing general Aviation. The new company, metrojet Hanxing, will offer services to business aviation clients out of the Chinese company’s base in Zhuhai, a city in the province of guangdong. The facility, at Zhuhai airport, also includes 15,000ft² (1,400m²) of hangar space, workshops and storage facilities. “China ranks as one of the world’s fastest-growing markets in business avia-tion,” says Björn näf, chief executive of metrojet, after formally sign-ing the joint venture agreement at the ABACe trade show.Show report p18

Bogata BooStS Black Hawk BuYorDEr Colombia’s army is to expand its recently-introduced fleet of Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk utility helicopters, with a further two to be delivered by October 2013. A first batch of five Polish-built aircraft arrived at the service’s Tolemaida air base on 30 January.

aDDitional ScrutinY for EStonian air loanSairlinES Scrutiny of estonia’s flag carrier by the european Commission has intensified after a loan from the national govern-ment was increased. in February, the Commission opened an in-vestigation to examine whether state aid rules had been breached by support supplied to estonian Air – including a rescue loan. Later that month, says the Commission, the loan was increased by €28.7 million ($37.5 million), of which €16.6 million has been paid to the airline.

rEtirEmEntS of YoungEr aircraft accElEratEmaintEnancE The retirement of younger aircraft and the parting out of their components is a trend likely to continue in the mrO sec-tor. This trend is particularly strong in the narrowbody market, said nicholas Pastushan, chief investment officer of lessor CiT, at the mrO Americas conference in Atlanta on 16 April. Pointing to 2012’s aircraft retirement data, Pastushan noted there were substantial numbers of 10-15-year-old aircraft in the mix. He expects this trend to accelerate as operators seek younger spare parts in the future.A report from mro Americas will appear in our 30 April issue

briefing

sion, residual stress from the man-ufacturing process and fatigue.

Its interim fix, described by Bertling as the introduction of “additional safety barriers”, is thought to refer to a modification of the type’s vibration monitoring system and the installation of warning lights in the cockpit to indicate the propagation of a crack in the vertical shaft.

EASA will have to certificate the company’s proposed changes before any agreement is reached with the Norwegian or UK civil aviation regulators to rescind op-erating restrictions on the EC225.

“We are currently talking about this with the regulator,” Bertling says. Assuming good progress, it will return to flight “not later than the third quarter”.

In the longer term, Eurocopter will redesign the faulty compo-nent, although Bertling says it will not be a “significant change”.

He adds that the problem has been the most challenging issue he has faced during his tenure at Eurocopter. “In the history of the company, we have never had a technical issue that was impact-ing our customers and their cus-tomers and passengers like the EC225 problem,” he says. ■

Keep up to date with aviation safety at our dedicated channel: flightglobal.com/safety

FIN_230413_006-007 6 18/4/13 18:45:29

This week


Revised forecast casts gloom on business jet sectorTHIS WEEK P8

restructuring DAN THISDELL LONDON

Daimler bids eADs auf WiedersehenThirteen years after helping to father European aerospace giant, German car maker nets €2.2b from sale of its stake

Europe’s safety authority has formally issued initial pro-

posals detailing modification work required on Airbus A380 wing-rib feet, intended to resolve a cracking issue.

Operators had previously been ordered to conduct repetitive in-spections of the wing structures and, if necessary, put corrective measures in place.

Airbus has since been develop-ing a permanent fix for the prob-lem, which involves introducing horizontal stiffeners in the vicin-ity of certain ribs.

It also requires modifying rib-feet booms with resized versions manufactured from a different,

more robust, grade of aluminium, and replacing two metallic ribs – numbers 48 and 49.

In its proposed directive to op-

erators, the European Aviation Safety Agency refers to 14 sepa-rate service bulletins – some is-sued in mid-December, others yet

to be issued – detailing the work to be carried out.

The document focuses on modification of hybrid rib booms to “maintain the structural integ-rity” of the type’s wings.

EASA is proposing that some of the work be carried out as early as 700 cycles. Further work must be accomplished before the aircraft logs 17,300h or 25,900h – depend-ing on whether certain modifica-tions have already been made dur-ing production – and the remainder within six years of the aircraft re-ceiving its certificate of airworthi-ness. EASA has yet to finalise the directive and is seeking comments on the proposal until 13 May. ■

Airb

us

BA’s A380s will be modified by Airbus prior to entering service

EASA details wing-rib fix timelines for A380 fleetsAFetY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Automotive giant Daimler has ended an era with the sale of

its last interest in Airbus parent EADS. The €37/share ($48/share) disposal of 61.1 million shares, or 7.5% of the company, to institu-tional investors and EADS itself as part of a share buyback scheme, grossed €2.2 billion for Daimler and left it with no residual hold-ing in a company formed a decade ago from national aerospace cham-pions of France and Germany – in-cluding Daimler’s former aero-space division, DASA.

The sale, made possible by a revolutionary new shareholding deal that shrinks French and Ger-man state ownership and ends government control over manage-ment decision-making, also ends an era of proxy holding of nation-al stakes in EADS.

Daimler, for years after the cre-ation of EADS, held the entirety of the 22.45% German stake – an amount exactly matched by France, where the state shared that holding with the media group Lagardère, which sold its own 61 million share, 7.5% stake a week ago.

Daimler has, however, main-

tained a so-called “upside posi-tion” in EADS shares, through a hedging deal with brokers Gold-man Sachs and Morgan Stanley that runs through the end of 2013 and could see the car maker ben-efit financially from an EADS share price rise.

EADS welcomed that aspect of the Daimler exit, calling it a state-ment of “confidence in the con-tinuing positive momentum of the company”.

Société Générale equities ana-lyst Zafar Khan believes Daimler is on to a winner; since it sold a

first tranche of shares in Decem-ber, when the governance deal was hammered out, EADS shares began a climb from the mid-€20s to €42, at about the time share-holders formally adopted the plan in late March.

Since then, he says, prices “start-ed to retreat on fears of too much stock coming into the market and not being fully absorbed [but] the recent placings of the stock have shown a huge appetite for the shares and most commentators, in-cluding ourselves, think we should see a good run from here”. ■

Rex

Feat

ures

Driving away from its progeny

1933-45: Daimler-Benz be-gins production of DB600 and DB601 aircraft engines1945-49: Post-war recon-struction sees a focus on road vehicle production1949-60: Vehicle business-es flourish1984-95: Oil crises, environ-mental concerns and Asian competitors spark diversifica-tion into industries such as electronics and aerospace1985: Acquires Dornier and outstanding 50% stake in engine manufacturer MTU1989: Forms DASA to control sector interests, acquires Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm1999: Merger of DASA, Spain’s CASA and Lagardère’s Aérospatiale-Matra creates company later known as EADS 1999-2012: Daimler holds 22.45% of EADS on behalf of German state. Begins stake sale in December 20122013: Exits EADS holding

HistorY

FIN_230413_006-007 7 18/4/13 18:45:34

This week


For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multimedia content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

Cessna has released a new out-look that predicts a worse

year for business jet deliveries in 2013, dashing hopes across the industry that the market for light jets would at least stabilise after a four-year recession.

The gloomy forecast means the Textron subsidiary believes de-mand has weakened for light jets, only three months after Cessna predicted that deliveries would remain even this year and begin growing again in 2014.

Cessna’s new outlook has raised fresh doubts about the light jet market’s viability.

Indeed, on 17 April Textron chief executive Scott Donnelly was asked on a conference call with analysts what the company would do if light jet demand never recovered.

“We are now in the fifth year of no growth in the business jet business,” Donnelly says.

“It’s a place that at some point needs to get back to growth. We thought surely that would hap-pen in 2013.”

Cessna changed its outlook for the year after negotiations with several customers fizzled out over pricing in the first quarter.

Such negotiations are critical as Cessna’s backlog for light jets is exhausted and deliveries are based solely on new orders as

they come in. But Cessna’s po-tential buyers are refusing to commit at a price that Textron is willing to sanction. ■

Revised forecast casts gloom on business jet sectorOUTLOOK Stephen trImble WAshington DC

boeing has won a contest to supply South Korea with 36

attack helicopters, with its AH-64E Apache having defeated the Bell AH-1Z and Turkish Aero-space Industries T129B in meet-ing Seoul’s AHX requirements.

“Boeing is pleased with the an-

nouncement that the Republic of Korea has selected the AH-64E Apache as its new heavy-attack helicopter,” the US airframer says. “We look forward to working with the US Army and the Republic of Korea Army as they finalise the Foreign Military Sales contract.”

According to US Defense Secu-rity Cooperation Agency notifica-tions made in September 2012, the Apache deal could be worth up to $3.6 billion; considerably higher than a proposed AH-1Z sale valued at $2.6 billion.

Industry sources close to the

CONTEST GreG Waldron singApoRe

Rising tensions spur Apache orderseoul commits to deal for 36 Boeing Ah-64e attack helicopters as it looks to counter threats from northern neighbour

competition had expected a deci-sion to be made in late 2012, but this was delayed by South Korea’s presidential election in December.

Confirming the selection, an official from Seoul’s Defense Ac-quisition Program Administra-tion says: “The heavily-armed at-tack helicopters will replace ageing helicopters deployed by the army to counter threats by the North Korean military’s armoured units and deter provocations.”

The Apache announcement came less than one week after South Korea had also selected the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar as part of an upgrade to 134 of its Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fighters.

With industry sources noting that heightened tensions with North Korea this year have prompted Seoul to push forward key defence purchases, South Korea is also expected to reach a decision during June on its F-X III fighter competition. The Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter are contesting the 60-aircraft deal, which will replace Republic of Korea Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms. ■

ROTORCRAFT

KAI to expand Surion range with navalised variantKorea Aerospace industries (KAi) is to develop a new variant of the surion utility helicopter for use by the south Korean marines.

seoul’s Defense Acquisition program Administration “has se-lected KAi as a primary negotiator for the development of the amphibi-ous task helicopter system”, the company says, with the marines like-ly to obtain “about 40” examples.

KAi says the development pro-gramme is worth W800 billion ($713 million) and will enhance the marines’ ability to transport troops and equipment in the littoral environ-ment. Work is expected to start in July and be complete by the end of 2015, when production of the new model will commence.

Key modifications to the existing

surion airframe will include the addi-tion of an integrated flotation system, auxiliary fuel tank and specialised radio equipment, says KAi.

the amphibious assault aircraft are likely to be operated from the south

Korean navy’s Dokdo-class assault ships, which can each carry up to 15 helicopters. the service has received two of a planned four vessels. the marines currently use sikorsky Uh-60p helicopters in the assault role. ■

modifications will include an integrated flotation system

Cessna has no backlog for light jets such as the Citation CJ2+

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FIN_230413_008-009 8 18/4/13 18:53:18


Indonesia in dock again over safetyAIR TRANSPORT P10

NEWS FOCUS

Boeing for business in BrazilSTRATEGY STEPHEN TRIMBLE RIO DE JANEIRO

Growth of economic powerhouse means US firm is keen to establish long-term commercial links with the country

Judging the depth of Boeing’s developing interest in Brazil

has been difficult. There has been much talk by top executives at the the company, yet few actions so far that seem strong enough to sur-vive, for example, an unfavourable decision for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in Brazil’s ever-ongoing F-X2 fighter competition.

But Boeing’s message for the Brazilian market is as consistent as it is clear: the company is in Brazil for the long term, even if the Super Hornet loses the F-X2 contest. No-where was that message reinforced more than at the Latin American Aerospace and Defense (LAAD) exhibition in early April.

“We’ve gotten that question since the 15 months that I’ve been here: ‘Isn’t this really about F-X?’,” says Donna Hrinak, presi-dent of Boeing Brazil. “We tried to send the message [during a 9 April press conference] that we’re here for the long haul.”

Indeed, Boeing announced at the press conference that Brazil will host the company’s sixth for-eign research and technology centre, following similar facilities opened in Australia, China, Eu-rope, India and Russia.

Such a facility has many pur-poses, ranging from developing new intellectual property that can be licensed or sold elsewhere, to supporting a new wave of Brazil-ian suppliers with keys to Boeing’s unique manufacturing methods.

But it is still a small commit-ment by Boeing’s standards. The

centre in São José dos Campos will open by 2014 with a group of 10 to 12 researchers, adding to the seven Boeing workers already based in Brazil. In the press con-ference, Boeing officials said more researchers could be added later if the centre is “wildly suc-cessful”, but other Boeing offi-cials were more optimistic.

“Who’s to say that in 10 years we don’t have [500, 600 or] 700 engineers here?” says Jeff Kohler, a Boeing vice-president of inter-national business development.

Kohler describes Brazil’s appeal to Boeing as far beyond the poten-tial contract to supply at least 36 fighters to the air force. It is instead rooted in the nation’s status as one of the BRIC countries, and one of only two – including India – where Boeing is allowed by the US government to sell both mili-tary and commercial products on a relatively unrestricted basis.

GETTinG in EARlY“Brazil is a political leader, an eco-nomic leader, whether it’s research and development... this seems like the right place to be for the com-

pany,” Kohler says. “I think if you take that 15- to 20-year look, get-ting on the ground early – which sometimes the Boeing company doesn’t do – I think this time we made the decision to get in there and let’s do it right this time. Let’s become a long-term partner.”

Boeing’s ambition in Brazil has been embraced by Embraer, Brazil’s largest and most signifi-cant aerospace company by a large margin. Hrinak, a former US ambassador in Brasilia, re-members setting up a meeting at the US embassy in 2003 between Embraer and a Boeing team working on a management benchmarking study.

“This has been a relationship a long time in the making,” Hrinak says.

The close ties extend to the very highest levels of both companies, including regular meetings be-tween Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney and Embraer chief executive Frederico Curado.

With Embraer officially neutral in the F-X2 competition, the rela-tionship has been slow to develop profits for either company.

In the commercial sphere Boe-ing and Embraer have signed agreements to jointly study biofu-els and runway safety improve-ments, and on the defence side the Brazilian firm recently selected Boeing to integrate weapons on the A-29 Super Tucano – if the US Air Force Light Air Support contract survives a protest by Beechcraft.

lEAdinG on loGiSTicSBut more tangible results of the partnership are still likely to come to fruition. Boeing is finishing a marketing study on the KC-390, but has set its sights on taking the lead for the airlifter’s global logis-tics system. Embraer has not yet revealed its plans for how it will sustain a potentially global fleet.

A still unclear aspect of the re-lationship is possible co-opera-tion in the commercial aircraft market. Thus far, Embraer has avoided encroaching on Boeing’s narrowbody market segments.

“You’ll see more updates down the road,” Kohler says. ■

For comment on US defence news, visit The DEW Line blog flightglobal.com/dewline

Boeing’s relative freedom to sell both military and commercial products in Brazil increases its allure

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“Brazil is a political leader, an economic leader… this seems like the right place to be for the company”JEff KohlER VP, international business development, Boeing

FIN_230413_008-009 9 18/4/13 18:53:21

AIR TRANSPORT


Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

The Lion Air Boeing 737-800 crash on 13 April is the third

major aviation incident in Indo-nesia within the space of a year.

The two-month-old narrow-body (PK-LKS) was on a sched-uled service from Bandung to Bali when it crashed into the sea, about 50m (164ft) ahead of run-way 09 at Ngurah Rai Internation-al airport. The impact resulted in the aircraft’s fuselage breaking in two, between the wings and the tail. All 101 passengers and seven crew survived.

With the flight data recorders

recovered investigations have commenced, but the incident again puts the spotlight on the issue of air safety in Indonesia in general and on Lion Air in partic-ular (see table).

The country’s last high-profile incident occurred in May 2012, when a Sukhoi Superjet 100, pilot-ed by a Russian crew on a demon-stration flight, crashed into Mount Salak, killing all 45 on board. Al-though not operated by a local air-line or crew, the accident highlight-ed a number of factors typical of the region, notably the challenges

of flying in mountainous terrain and poor ATC co-ordination.

A year earlier, a Xian MA60 operated by Merpati Nusantara was attempting to land at Kaima-na when it crashed, killing all 19 passengers and six crew.

BLACKLISTWhile regulations require a visibil-ity of 5km (2.7nm) for a visual ap-proach to Kaimana, the crew ig-nored this, and attempted to land with a visibility of only 2km.

Indonesia’s safety record is un-deniably poor. Research by Flightglobal’s Ascend consultan-cy records a total of 62 incidents involving Indonesian airlines during the 10 years to 13 April 2013. And statistics published by the country’s National Transpor-tation Safety Committee record 140 aviation accidents – includ-ing non-airline and rotary-wing operations – from 2007 to 2012.

Meanwhile, all but a handful of Indonesian carriers – notably Garuda and Mandala – remain on the European Union’s blacklist of banned airlines, where they have languished since the country failed an ICAO audit in 2007.

The same year, the US Federal Aviation Administration down-graded Indonesia to a category 2 safety rating, placing it in the same league as some of Africa’s poorest nations.

However, technical director at

the Association of Asia Pacific Air-lines Martin Eran-Tasker believes Indonesia is on track to get its rat-ing upgraded by the FAA this year.

This is on the back of work the country has carried out to over-haul its regulatory authority and strengthen its oversight of air-lines, he says.

Lion Air, which has mostly been in the headlines for massive orders of aircraft, has a chequered safety record. In its 13-year histo-ry, Ascend data reveals the carrier has suffered one fatal accident, five hull losses, and at least seven further classifiable accidents. It also remains on the EU blacklist.

“For any carrier that is expand-ing quickly, it will need to make sure it has the right people with the right level of experience and training,” says Tasker.

Indonesia’s elected representa-tives are also aware of the need for change. Politician Marwan Jafar, speaking after the latest Lion Air crash, said the country’s record of aviation safety points to a fundamental problem that needs to be addressed. “We’re sad, concerned and devastated by this [accident]. We feel ashamed as a nation,” he says. ■Additional reporting by Dominic Perry and David Learmount in London

AnALySIS MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

Indonesia in dock again over safetyLatest accident involving one of the nation’s blacklisted carriers highlights ongoing operational problems in country

See David Learmount’s latest take on safety at Lion Air flightglobal.com/lionair

PA

The Bali crash of a 737-800 was the latest in a series of incidents Lion Air has experienced in its 13-year history

LIon AIr ACCIdenTS In pAST 10 yeArS

date Aircraft type Location Crew/pax

13 April 2013 Boeing 737-800 Bali International airport 7/101The aircraft was on final approach to runway 09 and came down in the sea about 300m short of the runway threshold. The hull was breached aft of thewings. All passengers and crew were evacuated without serious injury

2 November 2010 Boeing 737-400 Pontianak-Supadio airport 6/169The aircraft overran the runway by about 80m, causing serious damage to itsengines and landing gear. Passengers and crew were evacuated. No casualties

9 March 2009 Boeing MD-90 Jakarta International airport 6/169The aircraft came to a halt just off the right-hand side of runway 25. There wasdamage to the gear, landing lights and wing. No casualties

24 December 2006 Boeing 737-400 Ujung Pandang airport 7/157The aircraft bounced twice on landing and came to rest with one main gear legdetached and the other protruding through the wing upper skin. No casualties

4 March 2006 Boeing MD-82 Surabaya-Juanda airport 6/138The aircraft slewed right off the runway, causing serious damage to the landinggear and the forward underside of the aircraft. There were no casualties

30 November 2004 Boeing MD-82 Solo City airport 7/156Two of the crew and 23 of the passengers were killed when the aircraftoverran runway 26 in a rainstorm

SOURCE: Ascend

FIN_230413_010-011 10 18/4/13 18:50:19

AIR TRANSPORT


Shareholders in sprint to open Berlin airportAIR TRANSPORT P12

UK investigators are advising tighter operational control of

electronic flightbags after a Titan Airways Boeing 737-300 suffered a tailstrike in France as a result of incorrect take-off calculations.

The aircraft, with 136 occu-pants, had been operating from Chambery’s runway 36 which is only 6,620ft (2,020m) long.

Because of the relatively short runway, the captain opted to use a hand-held flightbag computer to calculate take-off performance data. This hand-held computer had been used to calculate similar data for the inbound flight, but had subsequently been left in stand-by mode. As a result it had retained, unknown to the crew, the previous take-off weight of only 46.3t – a light figure because the inbound flight had been a positioning

SAFETY

Incident stresses need for long-sought technical answerUnintentional re-use of weight data from a previous flight led to the loss of a Boeing 747-200 freighter on depar-ture from Halifax in 2004, and investi-gators studying the Titan incident are reiterating the need for a technical answer to data mismatching.

“Use of computers in the calcula-tion of performance requirements has brought about improvements in

the accuracy and ease with which they can be made,” says the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch. “There remains, however, a contin-ued vulnerability to the use of incor-rect data in making these calculations, a solution to which re-mains outstanding.”

Several incidents – such as the overrun and tailstrike by an Emirates

Airbus A340-500 in Melbourne, Australia in 2009 – have drawn atten-tion to the problem. While the AAIB underlines the necessity of strict ad-herence to reliable and robust proce-dures, it says the Titan event “emphasises the need for technical solutions for take-off performance monitoring” to defend against instan-ces in which other safeguards fail. ■

INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

False data caused 737 to strike tailInquiry advises tighter electronic flightbag rules after hand-held computer’s sleep mode led to take-off calculation blunder

Keep up to date with aviation safety at our dedicated channel: flightglobal.com/safety

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Titan’s aircraft was wrongly listed as being 6.6t lighter

service with no passengers.In an analysis of the incident,

the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch says the captain “omitted” to enter the 737’s revised take-off weight from Chambery, which was 6.6t higher at 52.9t. “Both pilots stated that they would normally cross-check the performance fig-ures once they had been calculated on the [flightbag],” it adds. “How-ever, on this occasion, and for rea-sons the pilots could not recall, this was not done.”

Figures from the hand-held flightbag were entered into the flight-management computer. The calculated speeds were lower than required, and the figures al-lowed for a reduced-thrust take-off. But the inquiry says the cal-culations “did not seem unusual” to the captain, partly because

they were based on a flap setting he did not normally use. During the take-off roll the 737 rotated at 126kt (233km/h), about 13kt slower than necessary, and failed to lift off immediately. It contin-ued to pitch up, passing the 10.8˚ threshold for a tailstrike, scraping the underside of its rear fuselage.

Although the carrier’s operations

manual stated that shutting down the flightbag would wipe previ-ously-calculated data – adding that this was for safety reasons – it did not specifically instruct crews to do so.

“Pilots routinely left the [flight-bag] in stand-by mode with the [calculation] program still ac-tive,” says the inquiry into the 14 April 2012 incident.

UK regulators should update cri-teria for operational approval of flightbags, it says, to ensure carriers have appropriate procedures to handle stand-by modes and pre-vent inadvertent use of outdated data. However, it also recommends that the European Aviation Safety Agency establishes specific, de-tailed guidelines for flightbag eval-uation and approval. ■

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FIN_230413_010-011 11 18/4/13 11:26:33

AIR TRANSPORT


Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

Shareholders are to provide €650 million ($855 million)

to fund the work required to open the troubled Berlin Brandenburg airport.

The figure – of which an initial tranche of €192 million was pro-vided in January – has been dis-closed as new chief executive Hartmut Mehdorn outlined an ac-tion plan, designated Sprint, to the airport’s supervisory board.

Sprint is intended to “ensure a

AIRPORTS GHIM-LAY YEO CHICAGO

Developer blamed for Doha problemsQatar Airways has blamed the devel-oper of Doha’s new international airport for delays in gaining required regulatory approvals that led it to miss its 1 April soft opening.

The new facility, Hamad International, was not able to par-tially open at the beginning of April because the developer, Bechtel, could not obtain an occupancy per-mit for the airport, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said at a media event in Chicago.

“They are to be blamed,” says Al Baker. “They are to be blamed for [the] delay in the first place, because we were supposed to open the airport

earlier.” Qatar Airways plans to move its entire operation to Hamad by the end of this year from its current base at Doha International airport.

Al Baker declines to comment on whether the airline will seek com-pensation from Bechtel for the delay. He describes Bechtel as “compla-cent” in its attitude to the construc-tion project.

Bechtel says: “We continue to work tirelessly with our customer, contractor and the relevant agencies towards the successful opening of a world class airport.”

No revised date has been given for the opening. ■

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The opening of the new flagship Brandenburg facility has faced multiple postponements

swift and reliable opening”, the airport operator says, and will re-quire changes of processes and personnel to “accelerate” the pro-gramme. It will be run from a dedicated project office and bring together the remaining construc-tion work, approvals, trial runs and the opening plan. Sprint also involves setting up a centre of competence to oversee the tech-nical aspects of the programme.

“Remaining work at [Branden-

burg] will be divided up into 20 to 30 modules,” says Mehdorn.

“Our technical centre of compe-tence will rely on both internal and external know-how, and we will talk to everyone who can make a positive contribution to the swift opening of [the airport].”

Sprint will also incorporate all training for transfer and opera-tional readiness.

Supervisory board chairman Matthias Platzeck says the new plan is the “right decision” for the airport, which has been substan-tially delayed by last-minute problems, particularly with its safety systems. Since Mehdorn’s appointment, he says, the opera-tor is “clearly noticing that things are moving forward”.

Germany’s federal government has provided €50 million of the first tranche, with the other €142 million split equally between the local administrations of Berlin and Brandenburg. Operations at Berlin’s current airports – Tegel and Schonefeld, which is due to be succeeded by Brandenburg – will be overseen by a new head of operations, Elmar Kleinert. ■

Go to our premium news and data service for the latest news: flightglobal.com/pro

cOnSTRucTIOn DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Extra funding fuels sprint to finish delayed Berlin airportNew chief executive outlines €650m action plan to ensure “swift and reliable” conclusion

InVESTIGATIOn

Steep approach led to Dash 8’s heavy landing

Flight-data recorder information shows the aircraft descended at 2,000ft/min

P ilots of a Bombardier Dash 8-300 had initiated a steep

descent into Kabul as a precau-tionary defensive measure before the turboprop landed hard, suf-fering substantial damage.

The aircraft, operated by the US Department of State, had been approaching runway 29 at the Af-ghan capital, in visual conditions, on 17 October last year.

To counter potential threats in the airport vicinity the crew ini-tiated a “random steep ap-proach” with a flap 35 landing configuration, in accordance with the operator’s procedures, says the US National Transporta-tion Safety Board.

The pilots reduced engine power to idle and this was “not increased” prior to touchdown, the inquiry adds, the torque re-maining “at or near zero” for the final 5min of the approach.

Flight-data recorder information shows the aircraft descended at 2,000ft/min (10m/s) before reduc-ing to 1,500ft/min just before land-ing. It touched down hard at 2.7g with a nose-up pitch of 8 ,̊ exceed-ing the threshold for a tailstrike.

It sustained buckling and cracking of frames and stringers as its aft fuselage hit the runway. While the turboprop (N800AW) was damaged, the six occupants – three crew and three passengers – were not injured.

Investigators state that the crew had disengaged the ground-prox-imity warning system to avoid nuisance alerts during the steep approach, but point out that they would otherwise have been ex-pected and “unlikely” to have prompted corrective action. ■

FIN_230413_012-013 12 18/4/13 16:54:55

AIR TRANSPORT


AW169 emerges for army AAS battleDEFENCE P13

Pratt & Whitney is considering a design change as the first

PW1100G engine for the Airbus A320neo family completes ground testing. The reduction gear-equipped PW1100G is designed with a variable area fan nozzle but P&W is studying whether to re-move it, Bob Saia, P&W vice-presi-dent of the next-generation product family, said at a press event in West Palm Beach on 11 April.

Removing the component “makes the engine lighter and less complex”, says Saia. P&W believed the nozzle would be an essential feature for a low-speed inlet fan, which is enabled by the unique re-duction gear system installed in the PW1000 engine series. But in 2012, P&W discovered a similar nozzle designed for the PW1500G, which

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Ground tests are complete on the prototype PW1100G

Romanian flag carrier Tarom is reviewing its operations in

order to explore possible changes that will reduce the airline’s fuel burn. While it has yet to give de-tails, the airline plans to implement a new fuel-saving programme in June following a detailed analysis of uplift and consumption.

“Fuel accounts for the highest cost for Tarom,” says chief execu-tive Christian Heinzmann, who took charge at the airline at the

end of last year. “Based on the analysis and the findings which emerge, we believe that signifi-cant savings may be achievable, after the recommendations are implemented and followed.”

Tarom’s assessment will exam-ine the airline’s routes, ground time at airports and operational areas in which fuel is burned while the aircraft is not flying. The carrier says the review forms part of a 2013-2014 strategy. ■

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The Romanian carrier will examine its route network

Soaring fuel bill prompts Tarom’s efficiency driveOPERATIONS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

STRATEgy EDWARD RUSSELL WEST PALM BEACH

Pratt maintains focus on next-generation narrowbodiesEngine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney could not make a “good business case” to develop a power-plant to equip Boeing’s future 777X programme.

“We looked at it and we just didn’t see how we could make a good busi-ness case out of that opportunity at the time,” Todd Kallman, Pratt & Whitney president of commercial engines, said at a press event in West Palm Beach on 11 April.

Boeing selected the General Electric GE9X for its 777X develop-ment studies in March, after also considering the Rolls-Royce RB3025 turbofan. P&W opted not to bid for the requirement.

Boeing’s decision means that Pratt & Whitney powerplants will not be present on the next generation of widebodies from either Airbus or Boeing. “Our focus here has been the narrowbody [segment],” says

Kallman. “Bring this technology, this new engine architecture to market [and] make sure we do it right. We continue to look down the road for when it might make sense to look at a widebody application as well,” says Kallman.

“Not that we don’t think we can do it, we’ve just said from the very beginning we want to execute what’s on our plate correctly and successfully,” he adds. ■

PROPULSION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WEST PALM BEACH

P&W mulls simpler A320neo engineManufacturer considers design changes to reduce weight and complexity on powerplant destined for Airbus twinjet

powers the Bombardier CSeries, was not needed.

As the PW1100G prepares to enter flight tests in the next “four to five weeks”, Saia says, P&W engi-

neers are applying the same scruti-ny to its variable nozzle system. The component extends the area of the exit nozzle for the fan by up to 10% in high-speed cruise

mode. That change is intended to smooth any airflow disturbances caused by the low pressure of the engine’s slower-moving inlet fan.

So far, P&W has only tested a fixed exit nozzle on the first two PW1100G engines during ground tests. The nozzle is extended and retracted manually to simulate take-off or cruise conditions. The first automatically-moving varia-ble area fan nozzle will not arrive until the delivery of the sixth or seventh PW1100G test engine, Saia says. P&W has accumulated 120h of ground testing on the first engine and about 20h of testing on the second PW1100G. Flight tests will begin next month aboard the manufacturer’s Boeing 747SP flying testbed.

The engine is scheduled to be certificated a year later, before en-tering a flight test campaign to achieve airworthiness certifica-tion for the A320neo in 2015.

Meanwhile, P&W is aiming to gain certification for the PW1700G and PW1900G engines for Embraer’s next generation E-Jets in late 2016. This is in line with the airframer’s plan for the aircraft family to enter service in 2018, says Saia. ■Additional reporting by Edward Russell

Track the progress of develop-ment programmes at flightglobal.com/aircraft

FIN_230413_012-013 13 18/4/13 16:55:00

DEFENCE


For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter

AgustaWestland has revealed a proposed military develop-

ment of its 4.5t-class AW169 twin-engined utility helicopter to meet the US Army’s prospective Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.

Unveiled as a full-scale mock-up at the Army Aviation Association of America exposition in Fort Worth, Texas, the variant is “uniquely adaptable to support all AAS mission requirements cost ef-fectively”, AgustaWestland says.

With a glass cockpit featuring three large-panel multifunction displays and a full mission and weapon system architecture, the AW169 AAS will be able to hover at 6,000ft (1,830m) above ground level in 35˚C (95˚F) ambient tem-

perature, says Paul Elliott, vice-president, army business devel-opment for AgustaWestland North America. The type would carry an electro-optical/infrared and targeting sensor beneath its nose, and also could have a vari-ety of weapons, including rockets and a pod-housed cannon.

Elliott says the AW169’s fuse-lage dimensions will allow it to transport up to 10 passengers, in addition to two pilots. Alterna-tively, persistence could be ex-tended by adding internal auxil-iary fuel tanks, while a network-centric communication suite could support teaming with unmanned systems, he adds.

AgustaWestland says the

AW169 should achieve basic cer-tification in 2014, with one of its four prototypes based in the USA to fulfil Federal Aviation Admin-istration requirements.

“In parallel, we will continue to

mature the military configuration to satisfy the foreseen requirements of the US Army, such as infrared suppressors for the engines, in order to be ready for the AAS pro-gramme launch,” Elliott says. ■

AW169 emerges for armed aerial scout battle

The US Army and Boeing have agreed on a price for a second

multi-year production deal for the CH-47 Chinook transport hel-icopter, with a contract expected to be awarded in May.

“The good news is I’m working with Boeing. We achieved our ne-gotiating settlement in Decem-ber,” says Col Bob Marion, the ar-my’s project manager for cargo helicopters. The parties came to

debut DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

Flight testing gathers pace on RAF’s HC6-standard transportThe UK Royal Air Force’s first of 14 HC6-standard CH-47 Chinook trans-port helicopters has entered flight testing, having made a 15 March debut from Boeing’s Ridley Township facility near Philadelphia.

Noting that the first flight “con-firmed initial airworthiness” for the UK-specific variant, Boeing says the type will undergo comprehensive testing in Mesa, Arizona before being delivered for trials later in 2013. The first flight event was ahead of sched-ule, less than 20 months after the UK signed a £1 billion ($1.52 billion)

contract for the new-generation Chinooks. Equipped with a forward-looking infrared camera, the HC6 shares the same cockpit equipment

as in-service RAF aircraft being up-graded via Project Julius. Deliveries under the HC6 acquisition are ex-pected to conclude in late 2015. ■

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The new variant could carry rockets and a pod-housed cannon

an agreement that reduced costs by $810 million; equivalent to savings of about 19.2%. “We’re on schedule to award that con-tract next month,” he says.

Marion says figures in Presi-dent Barack Obama’s proposed budget match those expected for the programme, and that any im-pact potentially to be felt as a result of sequestration cuts could be smoothed by moving around

airframes contained within for-eign orders.

The second multi-year contract consists of 155 aircraft, plus op-tions for 60 more, with the latter including a combined 16 ear-marked for Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Helicopters from the expected deal will start roll-ing off Boeing’s production line in Philadelphia, in April 2015, says Lt Col Michael Hauenstein,

product manager for the CH-47F.In the meantime, the company

has a bridging contract for 15 aircraft, consisting of one for the US Army and the remainder from Foreign Military Sales purchases.

Separately, the army and Boe-ing are also considering modifica-tions to the Chinook platform for beyond the Block II acquisition. Product manager for CH-47 mod-ernisation Lt Col Joseph Hoecherl says the service would like to begin fielding advanced rotor blades and some other enhance-ments in 2016, with a fully mod-ernised variant to enter service during the 2020s.

The Chinook’s electrical system is one area the army is looking to improve, based on modifications being introduced via Canada’s acquisition of 15 CH-47Fs. Now in flight testing, Ottawa’s version has significantly boosted electrical capacity fol-lowing the installation of three 60kV generators. ■

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The UK signed a £1 billion contract for 14 new-generation aircraft

For more news and information on the rotorcraft industry, go toflightglobal.com/helicopters

ROtORCRAFt LUCA PERUZZI GENOA

AW169 emerges for army AAS battleAirframer unveils full-scale mock-up of 4.5t-class type aimed at prospective for Armed Aerial Scout requirement

Boeing agrees to cut price for Chinook contractPROduCtION DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

FIN_230413_014-015 14 18/4/13 17:00:51

DEFENCE


USAF to run down C-17 engines pactDEFENCE P16

A plan to demonstrate the Visio-nix/Gentex Scorpion helmet-

mounted cueing system on the US Air Force’s Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is among the confirmed casualties of the automatic pack-age of sequestration budget cuts imposed by the US Congress.

USAF testers had been hoping to demonstrate the full-colour paddle display on the stealthy fifth-generation fighter later this year. Such a capability will be required if pilots are to take full advantage of the Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder high off-boresight

air-to-air missile that is scheduled to be fully integrated on to the Raptor by 2017.

Confirming the cancellation of its planned technology demon-stration activity, the USAF notes: “This system had not been pro-grammed for integration into the aircraft and there are no immedi-ate plans to integrate the Scorpion system into the F-22.”

The USAF’s Nellis AFB-based 53rd Test and Evaluation Squadron had earlier this year revealed plans to flight-test the system from the Nevada site during the summer. ■

Poland has confirmed its inten-tion to formally rejoin NATO’s

Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme as a core nation, with the alliance’s managing or-ganisation now preparing the rele-vant documents for its reinclusion.

Warsaw was involved in the AGS project but in early 2009 de-cided to leave the collaborative effort, citing financial problems.

“Joining AGS will be very sig-nificant for increasing Poland’s meaning and strengthening its po-sition in NATO structures,” says Poland’s defence ministry. It ex-pects to re-enter the programme in

early 2014, contributing 4.5% of total AGS funds, roughly €71 mil-lion ($93 million), until 2017.

Polish companies are expected to participate in the programme,

providing radar equipment, com-ponent manufacturing and main-tenance activities.

The roughly €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) AGS programme will

deliver an operational fleet of five radar-equipped Northrop Grum-man Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles, plus supporting infra-structure, for operation from NAS Sigonella in Sicily.

Separately, Poland’s armament inspectorate has selected PZL Swidnik to modernise two W-3 Sokol medical evacuation heli-copters for the nation’s army.

To be performed by 30 Novem-ber 2013 for about zlotych 3.9 mil-lion ($1.2 million), the W-3AE en-hancement work will include installing external lights compati-ble with night vision goggle use. ■

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The AGS effort will deliver five radar-equipped Global Hawk UAVs

Warsaw to rejoin NATO surveillance programmeUNMANNED SYSTEMS BARTOSZ GLOWACKI WARSAW

BUDGETS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

F-22 helmet sight plan is shot downTechnology demonstration of Scorpion cueing system with Raptor falls victim of sequestration-linked spending cuts

France’s DGA defence procure-ment agency has received its

first Eurocopter Tiger in the en-hanced HAD configuration for operation by the country’s army aviation units. The delivery on 19 April follows acceptance of the type by the DGA earlier in April and certification in January 2013.

Enhancements over the previ-ous HAP air-support variant in-clude uprated MTR390 engines, the addition of Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and increased ballistic protection. France has 40 Tiger HADs on order, with a further 24 examples to be built for Spain, in-cluding the retrofitting of six pre-viously delivered aircraft.

Lutz Bertling, outgoing Euro-copter chief executive, says the airframer is in discussions for at least one further Tiger order.

Meanwhile, France continues to consider the status of an order for 34 NH Industries NH90 tacti-cal transport helicopters. “The requirement is clearly there, but the French government is in the process of deciding which re-quirements will be prioritised depending on the available budg-et,” Bertling said at a media event in Marignane on 17 April.

Nonetheless, Bertling says he remains confident the order will come through, albeit in a mod-estly reduced form: “I don’t ex-pect much deviation from 34.”

He refused to be drawn on the authenticity of a note, leaked to French media, purported to be from Eurocopter to the French government warning of conse-quences for the NH90 programme should the commitment not be forthcoming. However, Bertling points out the logic of the claims: “Any business, for whatever prod-uct, needs to make sense for a pro-duction line. Below a certain quantity it does not make such sense. Without this [French] con-tract we are facing a risk. We would anticipate export orders to have largely finished [by that point]. We would be facing a criti-cal situation on that programme.”

Eurocopter continues to eye further export opportunities for its military helicopters, with Bertling again highlighting the potential of the US Army’s as-yet-unlaunched Armed Aerial Scout programme. This comes despite the US Department of Defense’s budget request for 2014, which saw the total number of UH-72 Lakotas trimmed by 30 units. ■

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The US Air Force had planned to flight-test the system in 2013

DElivErY DOMINIC PERRY MARIGNANE

France takes Tiger HAD, but may trim NH90 deal

FIN_230413_014-015 15 18/4/13 17:00:55

DEFENCE


For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter

BAE Systems has conducted the first windtunnel tests to

assess the suitability of integrat-ing Boeing’s AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile with the Eu-rofighter Typhoon.

Work included checking the aerodynamic characteristics of carrying three weapons: one on the aircraft’s centre-fuselage stores station, which is ordinarily reserved for an external fuel tank; and two more beneath its wing.

“This testing will help to de-risk the clearance process for such weapons to be integrated on to the Typhoon,” says BAE.

The introduction of a maritime strike capability could be of inter-est to potential customers, such as Malaysia and nations in the Middle East. The Eurofighter con-sortium has also previously re-leased artwork depicting the Ty-phoon carrying Saab RBS 15 anti-ship missiles. ■

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The AGM-84 is being assessed for integration on to the Typhoon

Eurofighter tries out Harpoon missiles for sizeTESTING CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

PROPULSION

P&W proposes early multi-year sustainment deal for F-35 Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has proposed an early shift to a multi-year sustainment contract for the Lockheed Martin F-35’s F135 powerplant, in a bid to reduce pro-jected maintenance costs by a “dou-ble-digit” percentage.

The F135 is not scheduled until 2019 to enter a performance-based logistics (PBL) contract, which would tie payments and fees to metrics such as reductions in time between overhaul. However, P&W has pro-posed to the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) accelerating this to

begin in 2015, says military engines division president Bennett Croswell.

The PBL deal would establish a fixed price for annual sustainment services to cap the government’s risk, with this to be set at a level that is a double-digit percentage reduc-tion compared with the baseline es-timate outlined in selected acquisition reports, he says.

“If we came in below the [PBL] baseline we’d be willing to share the benefit with the government,” Croswell says. “I think [F-35 pro-gramme executive officer Lt] Gen

[Christopher] Bogdan is open to any-thing that will reduce the cost for the programme,” he adds.

Meanwhile, a P&W analysis has narrowed the likely cause of a crack found in a third-stage turbine blade on an F135 in February to a fault in the casting process.

The company will submit a report to the JPO at the end of June, de-tailing whether it would be more affordable to change its casting process, or discard any blades that share similar features with the ex-ample that cracked. ■

MAINTENANCE STEPHEN TRIMBLE WEST PALM BEACH

USAF to run down C-17 engines pactBidders sought for F117 sustainment services deal, as customer looks to break 18-year monopoly on global activity

Pratt & Whitney says it accepts a US Air Force decision to

break up the company’s 18-year grip on engine sustainment serv-ices for the global fleet of Boeing C-17 strategic transports.

P&W has managed all sustain-ment services for the F117 deriva-tive of its PW2000 turbofan since 1995 under a performance-based logistics (PBL) deal. This ties fees and payments to performance cri-teria, such as time-on-wing. But the USAF has issued a request for proposals seeking competitive bids to move to a conventional maintenance services model.

With the company having to compete for the new F117 supply

chain management contract against several new bidders, Ben-nett Croswell, president of P&W’s military engines division, notes that its recorded PBL contract

performance has included a sev-en-fold increase in time-on-wing since 1995, and also a 60% reduc-tion in engine removals conduct-ed since 2008.

“There’s been encouragement from Congress to have a competi-tion,” Croswell says. “It’s really hard from [the USAF] to have a PBL and compete it, because no one else has the full intellectual property that we do to be really effective in a PBL. So I can under-stand that they’re doing what they’re doing.”

Speaking at the company’s West Palm Beach site in Florida, Croswell says: “Now we’ll see how a transactional approach to maintaining this engine [works]: will that cost more or less?”

The competition has required P&W and the USAF to reach an agreement on access to some of the company’s intellectual prop-erty (IP) on the F117 installed base. This will see bidders receive the same data that it supplies to commercial airlines that operate the PW2000. “There was an IP discussion and issue for a while, but I think we’ve gotten around that,” Croswell says.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets database records the global C-17 fleet as totalling 251 aircraft, flown by Australia, Canada, India, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the USA, plus the multinational Strategic Airlift Consortium. ■

For commentary on the latest global defence news, go to flightglobal.com/dewline

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Pratt & Whitney will provide bidders with data on the F117

FIN_230413_016 16 18/4/13 11:19:46

BUSINESS AVIATION


Talks stall over China assembly of Sovereign, LatitudeSHOW REPORT P18

JAPANESE KING AIRBeechcraft has sold a King Air B200 to Japanese aviation serv-ices company Nakanihon Air Service. The twin-engined turbo-prop will be used in multiple roles such as passenger trans-portation and emergency medi-cal services when it enters service in the second quarter of 2014. Nakanihon has a fleet 60 helicopters and 20 fixed-wing aircraft including two B200s.

HANGAR 8 ADDS XRSUK business aircraft charter and management company Hangar 8 has added two Bombardier Global Express XRS business jets to its fleet. One of the long-range types – registra-tion VP-CEB – will be based at Hangar 8’s London Oxford air-port base. London Luton airport will be home to the second air-craft – registration G-SENT.

PRIESTER SWELLS FLEETUS business aviation services company Priester Aviation has added a Cessna Citation Sovereign and a Hawker 4000 to its charter fleet. The midsize jets will be based in Oklahoma City and Chicago respectively.

HELICOPTER FIRSTExecuJet Europe is adding heli-copters to its managed fleet for the first time. A privately owned Eurocopter EC155 medium twin arrived at Cambridge airport this month and is being used for VIP transfers to central London and surrounding air-ports. ExecuJet says it hopes to expand its Cambridge-based fleet and is holding talks with other helicopter owners.

FAI REVENUES SOARGerman air ambulance operator FAI rent-a-jet has seen its rev-enues climb by 40% in the first quarter compared with the same period last year. The Nuremberg-headquartered Bombardier Learjet and Challenger operator says it is expecting its 2013 rev-enues to rise by 30% to €30 million ($39 million).

IN BrIEf

Cessna has rolled out the first production unit of the new

Citation X at its Wichita, Kansas manufacturing facility. The mid-size, high-speed jet was launched in 2010 as a major upgrade of the 22-year old flagship Citation.

The new Citation X features upgraded Rolls-Royce AE3007C2 turbofan engines, elliptical win-glets and the Garmin G5000 inte-grated avionics suite – replacing the Honeywell Primus 2000/Elite units on existing Citation Xs. The

$23 million jet has had a 38cm (15in) fuselage extension aft of the cabin door. Seating up to 12, the aircraft is projected to have a maximum altitude of 51,000ft (15,600m), an increase in maxi-mum payload of 97kg (214lb) to 1,140kg, a 20kt (37km/h) boost in maximum cruise speed at 40,000ft to 527kt, a 190nm (352km) increase in range to 3,240nm, and a top speed of Mach 0.935 – making it the fastest civilian aircraft in the world, says Cessna.

More than 675 flight hours have been logged on two test air-craft. Certification is set for this year, with deliveries to begin shortly after. ■

As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Dassault has

taken the wraps off its fully re-stored first production Mystère 20 business jet – precursor of the Falcon business jet line.

The revamped Mystère 20, MSN1 – unveiled earlier this month at an airshow held at the Air and Space Museum in Le Bourget, Paris – will make its next appearance at the Paris air show, to be held at the same site from 17 to 23 June, before returning to its permanent home at the museum.

MSN1 underwent a three-year renovation programme led by a team of enthusiasts, IT Mercure, which also refurbished the last

active Mercure airliner. The project, conceived in 2010, con-sisted primarily of repairing or replacing metal parts – the wing, airbrakes, engine pylons, cowl-ings and aircraft interior – that had begun to rust away.

The Mystère 20’s first flight was on 4 May 1963. It was certifi-cated on 9 June 1965. The aircraft – renamed the Fan Jet Falcon 20 at the request of first customer, Pan American – helped usher in a new generation of executive jets designed for business aviation use. More than 2,250 Falcons have been delivered worldwide, and about 300 Falcon 20s are still in active service, says Dassault. ■

Investigators are examining a brake control unit from an Em-

braer Phenom 100 after the air-craft’s anti-skid system failed while landing.

The Phenom 100, identified as N196EC, which is owned by Del-aware-based Progressive Avia-tion, landed without damage on 5 April at Key Field Airport in Me-ridian, Mississippi, despite the brake system failure.

The twin-engined jet began sliding in a manner similar to hy-droplaning after the pilot applied the brakes, according to a report by the US National Transporta-tion Safety Board. The aircraft continued to slide 853m (2,800ft) down the runway before stop-ping, the NTSB report says.

Embraer was unable to provide further details about the incident. “Our team as well as Brazilian authorities and suppliers are pro-viding them with all needed sup-port,” Embraer says. ■

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Cessna says the Citation X is the world’s fastest civilian aircraft

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The restored aircraft will appear at the Paris air show in June

MANUFACTURING KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Cessna hails upgrades for first production Citation X Midsize business jet features new fans, elliptical winglets and Garmin G5000 avionics

INVESTIGATION

Phenom 100’s brake unit faces US safety probe

RENOVATION KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Mystère makes it for milestone

FIN_230413_017 17 18/4/13 12:28:45

SHOW REPORT


For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multi-media content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

ABACE 2013The “Asian” in the Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE) is arguably a misnomer, given the continued lack of representation from southeast Asia, Australia and India. Yet this year’s edition, held at the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Centre at Hongqiao airport, was bigger than in 2012 because of surging demand from China. Exhibitor numbers and aircraft on display both rose, and the first day of the show saw some 6,284 visitor registrations. The Shanghai Airport Authority, which hosts the show, plans to build a dedicated exhibition hall at Hongqiao. So whether it is pan-Asian or not, ABACE is likely to remain the region’s leading business aviation event. Report by Siva Govindasamy

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Although plans to assemble its Sovereign and Latitude busi-

ness jets in China have stalled, Cessna is close to commencing local production of its Citation XLS+ and Caravan aircraft.

In March 2012, the airframer signed a “framework agreement” with Chinese state-owned AVIC and the Chengdu city govern-ment, which was meant to usher in local assembly of its Sovereign and Latitude jets. But William Schultz, Cessna’s senior vice-president for business develop-ment in China, says the agree-ment has since “expired”.

Discussions are ongoing but there is “no timeframe” on when, or if, a deal will be reached. “The initial agreements were to bring together the potential partners. But the joint venture and the joint-venture partners must have aligned interests. I think these things take time,” Schultz says.

Cessna sources say the Chengdu government is the main obstacle in negotiations, but the relationship between the compa-ny and AVIC is “very good”. That strong relationship is why Cessna and AVIC subsidiary CAIGA cre-ated joint ventures to assemble

the Citation XLS+ and Caravan in 2012, without regional govern-ment involvement. The partners are awaiting Chinese government final approval for both facilities, which are expected to begin op-erations in 2013, says Schultz.

The Caravan assembly line will be in Shijiazhuang, capital of the northern province of Hebei, and work is expected to begin on the first aircraft in July. The Citation XLS+ plant will be in Zhuhai in southern Guangdong province, with activities expected to begin in the first quarter of 2014.

“We are making swift progress

toward establishing the joint-venture operations. The con-struction of facilities is complete and we expect tooling and equip-ment to be in place in Shi-jiazhuang by June and in Zhuhai before the end of the year,” says Schultz, who was unable to pro-vide details on the initial and final production rates in China for both types.

The first Caravan and Citation XLS+, however, will be assem-bled in the USA and flown to China, where only the final prep-arations before delivery will be carried out, says Schultz. ■

Shanghai’s airport operator plans to increase the availa-

bility of business aviation facili-ties at the city’s main Pudong In-ternational airport.

The Shanghai Airport Author-ity (SAA) plans to build a fixed-based operation (FBO), a dedicat-ed maintenance hangar and business jet parking bays at Pudong, once its fourth and fifth runways are completed in 2015, says Jing Yiming, the authority’s vice-president.

This will be the city’s second FBO and maintenance hangar after the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Centre at Hongqiao Airport.

The SAA is also working with central government, which con-trols air traffic, on increasing the separation times between sched-uled flights, to boost the number of slots available for business jets, says Jing.

“The Shanghai municipal gov-ernment wants to ensure that the city remains a key financial cen-tre, and it believes that the devel-opment of the business aviation market will help it to reach that goal,” he says.

“It will work to develop the fa-cilities in both Pudong and Hong-qiao airports.” ■

AIRPORTS

Pudong gears up for business aviation growth

PRODUCTION

Talks stall over assembly of Sovereign, Latitude in ChinaCessna fails to reach agreement with local government but closes deal for other types

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FIN_230413_018 18 18/4/13 11:32:12

FIN_230413_019 19 18/4/13 08:55:59

SHOW REPORT


For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multi-media content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

Embraer has begun assembly of the first Legacy 650 to be

completed at its Chinese facility in Harbin and is on track to de-liver the aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Only one example of the type will be manufactured at the plant this year, with three following in 2014, says the Brazilian airframer. These will be for Chinese lessor ICBC Leasing, which has ordered five Legacy 650s and has options for another five.

The company says that it is still working to seal more orders for the large-cabin, long-range jet to take advantage of the Harbin facility’s eventual annual capaci-ty of up to 20 Legacy 650s.

Embraer says there are no plans to assemble other business jets in the country. However, it continues to chalk up orders from Chinese customers and has just picked up another commitment for the Lineage 1000 – the Em-braer 190-based aircraft that is the largest in its family of business jets. This gives it a total orderbook of 29 business jets in China.

It also believes there is plenty of

potential in China for the in-devel-opment Legacy 500 midsize busi-ness jet, which is scheduled to enter service in the first half of 2014. This will come as customers become “educated” about what they want and can get from their business jets, says Embraer China president Guan Dongyuan.

“There is definitely a market for smaller jets in China. Big aircraft are useful for international servic-es and for companies, but more owners want the smaller aircraft

for their own use or to travel with-in China. We are now seeing a trend towards smaller aircraft in the domestic market,” says Guan.

“Many customers do not need the long-range aircraft, but they get them because their friends or competitors have them. We are working hard to promote the con-cept of a right-sized aircraft to meet their requirements.” ■

Demand from Asia continues to keep the completions divi-

sion busy at Lufthansa Technik (LHT), with its orderbook for the region stretching until 2014.

LHT delivered a total of eight Airbus Corporate Jets and Boeing Business Jets to Asian customers between January 2012 and Febru-ary 2013. A further BBJ will be handed over to China’s Nanshan Group in the second quarter of 2013, with three additional nar-rowbody completions – two BBJs and one ACJ318 – on order from Asian customers, it says.

“The Asian – especially the Chinese – VIP aircraft market is significantly increasing every year,” says Walter Heerdt, LHT senior vice-president marketing and sales. “Our current comple-tion projects give us a very good capacity utilisation until the end of 2014 and we have some prom-ising talks with potential custom-ers beyond this date.”

But despite growing demand, LHT is cool towards locating a completions centre in Asia. “Our customers want quality and the location, whether it is in Germa-ny or in China, is not an issue for them,” adds Heerdt. ■

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ICBC Leasing has ordered five aircraft with another five options

Nextant Aerospace has launched an air ambulance

conversion module at ABACE for its 400XT that enables the reman-ufactured light jet to be reconfig-ured in less than 30min.

Nextant says the platform pro-vided by Spectrum Aeromed al-lows its aircraft to be switched from VIP configuration into a fully advanced cardiovascular life support-capable critical care room with self-contained ambu-lance bed. The system costs less than $100,000 and the installa-tion work is performed at Nex-tant’s facilities in Cleveland.

“One of the most common re-quests we’re getting from fleet op-erators is for platforms that can be used to provide air ambulance services,” says Jay Heublein, ex-ecutive vice-president global sales and marketing.

“We have seen strong demand from Asia, so ABACE is the per-fect environment to announce this new programme.”

The 400XT is remanufactured from the Beechjet 400A/Hawker 400XP and features a new Rock-well Collins Pro Line 21 flight-deck and new Williams Interna-tional FJ44-3AP engines. ■

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The 400XT can be reconfigured from VIP layout in 30min or less

Assembly

Harbin gets to work on first legacy 650 for Q4 deliveryOnly one jet will be manufactured this year, with three to follow in 2014, says Embraer

Nextant launches speedy ambulance conversionCONFIGURATION

For more about China’s busi-ness aviation market, go to flightglobal.com/bizavchina

COmPleTIONs

Asian demand keeps Germany busy, says LHT

FIN_230413_020 20 18/4/13 11:33:52


Playing at home againBusiness P22

Spaceflight

In a world where bigger is usu-ally seen as better, the satellite

industry is one sector bucking the trend. For all but geosynchronous satellites, where launch costs re-main prohibitively expensive, the industry’s preference has defini-tively shifted towards the smaller end of the market.

Even the US military, a risk-averse buyer of billion-dollar-plus satellites, no longer seems inter-ested in large new payloads.

One reason is because they present large, tempting targets re-sulting in a need to spread the risk, so if one satellite is knocked out, not all critical capabilities die with it.

Another, of course, is cost. “Budget pressures are here, and

trust me when I say they will get worse,” Gen William Shelton, commander of US Air Force Space Command, told an audi-ence at the National Space Sym-posium in Colorado Springs in early April. “Our challenge, I be-lieve, is to get to the capability, to get to affordability, [and] to get resilience simultaneously.”

The way to do that, he sug-gests, is not to continue with the status quo of buying large, expen-sive satellites, but to spread its capabilities over a wider base.

“I’m not talking about lowering the capability, but if we get after concepts like disaggregation and hosted payloads we can lower the complexity,” he says.

He singles out the Advanced

Extremely High Frequency satel-lite programme – a series of com-plex and expensive satellites deemed crucial to US national se-curity – as ripe for modification. Strategic and tactical payloads could be spread across different satellites, he suggests, increasing affordability and the integrity of the system.

Hosted payloads – where mili-tary capabilities are added to a commercial satellite – could also play a future role. At its best, the concept entails symbiotic sharing of resources and lower costs for both parties. However, many prob-lems remain to make hosted pay-loads a risky bet, such as the differ-ence in tolerance to risk, schedule and cost-slippage between govern-

ment and industry, the lack of standardised interfaces, and unre-solved questions about what hap-pens in the event of failure.

Launches, often the most expen-sive part of building and orbiting a satellite, are falling in cost as new entrants come online. For commer-cial operators, expensive launches to geosynchronous orbit still mean cramming as much capability into one box as possible – more com-pact electronics largely mean an increase in capability, not a reduc-tion in size. But even this is helpful to smallsat manufacturers thanks to rideshare possibilities. If a single large payload does not completely utilise the rocket’s lifting capacity, several small satellites can hitch a ride on the way up. ■

NASA has requested a budget allocation of $17.7 billion for

its 2014 fiscal year, arguing that the sum would enable it to fully fund a number of key pro-grammes, notably encouraging commercially provided crew shuttles to the International Space Station (ISS).

The requested budget is slight-ly down from the allocation for fiscal year 2013 of $17.8 billion. NASA wants to spend $821 mil-lion on the commercial crew pro-gramme, with three companies – Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX – competing for the con-tract. However, critics say devel-opment of a single vehicle would suffice, and the uncertain future of the ISS – scheduled to be deac-tivated in 2020, although a life extension is considered likely – means the capability will be un-needed. But NASA says competi-tion is vital to maximise the programme’s cost-effectiveness.

“We are trying to develop the capability by 2017, and in NASA there is something called the de-velopment curve,” says Elizabeth

Robinson, the agency’s chief fi-nancial officer. “You need to grab hold of the resources and move forward so you can develop it in the most cost-efficient manner.”

She adds that although higher funding levels will be required for the next three fiscal years, “when you see the capability emerging [in fiscal year 2017], you’ll see the funding level go down”.

Another controversial scheme

to gain full funding under NASA’s plan is the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. This would be uti-lised in conjunction with a Lock-heed Martin Orion capsule to send astronauts on missions beyond Earth orbit, including a recently announced flight to an asteroid.

Critics have dubbed the pro-gramme the “Senate Launch Sys-tem”, alluding to powerful politi-cal backers who pushed through a

law mandating the SLS’s construc-tion, despite fierce resistance.

NASA will also focus on the ex-ploration of Mars. The budget for its 2014 fiscal year contains fund-ing for a rover to follow 2012’s suc-cessful Curiosity mission. Landing humans on the planet is not ex-pected until the 2030s. ■

Read our special report on the International Space Station at flightglobal.com/iss

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Commercial crew flights to the International Space Station are a key aim for the agency

PAYLOADS ZACH ROSENBERG COLORADO SPRINGS

Small satellites winning larger shareBudget pressures and fears over targeted attacks prompt industry and military to shrink the size of their assets

NASA defies critics with latest budget requestfunDing ZACH ROSENBERG COLORADO SPRINGS

FIN_230413_021 21 18/4/13 11:59:02

business


Good week

Bad week

Aircraft finance is among the sectors covered by our premium news and data service Flightglobal Pro: flightglobal.com/pro

Good week

Bad week

emissions traders The price of carbon fell to new lows when the European Parliament voted narrowly to reject a measure that would have restricted the flow of car-bon credits to the mar-ket. The vote was carried by those who feared in-terfering with credit sup-ply would hit confidence in Europe’s Emissions Trading System, but sup-porters hoped “back-loading” would hold prices up enough for the system to function prop-erly – and spur industry to act on emissions.

emissions tradinG The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to exempt intercontinental flights from Europe’s Emissions Trading System. The exemption, for no more than a year, is intended to support ongoing efforts within a reluctant ICAO to ham-mer out a global deal to curb aviation emissions. The EU had been threat-ened with legal action from the USA and China over its insistence that all flights to, from or with-in Europe be subject to the scheme.

maintenanCe KRISTIN MAJCHER WASHINGTON dC

Playing at home againEmerging market workshops are losing their price advantage as hourly labour rates rise

As politicians the world over are keenly and often painful-

ly aware, large-scale outsourcing of labour-intensive jobs to lower-wage regions has been a powerful theme of post-Cold War globalisa-tion. For companies in the rich world, much of the advantage of outsourcing has been cost saving, although gaining access to emerg-ing markets and diversifying tal-ent pools are also factors.

However, much evidence points to rising wage rates in emerging markets, and in avia-tion that means maintenance, re-pair and overhaul (MRO) work is set to migrate back home, particu-larly to North America.

Dave Marcontell, president of aviation consultancy Team SAI, describes MRO labour-rate growth in emerging and develop-ing regions as “substantial”. And, he adds: “It’s accelerating, hap-pening faster than expected.”

As the chart (below) shows, by 2023 the gap will have all but closed. The red line figures are an average of North American and higher Western European wages, so that while Europe-based carri-ers will still find some advantage in outsourcing maintenance in 2023, by that time North Ameri-can carriers should no longer be compelled to ferry aircraft, espe-cially narrowbodies, abroad for shop visits. “What you’re seeing is that it’s not going to make sense,” says Marcontell.

He points to two main factors

Expertise and convenience justify even London labour rates

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driving the trend. The first is an increase in air traffic in emerging regions, which is using up local workshop capacity. About 72% of maintenance work occurs in the region of an airline’s home base, he explains. So, as air traffic de-mand increases in regions such as Asia-Pacific, maintenance shops there are filling up with demand from locally-based airlines.

enGines driVe itTeam SAI’s research shows that 84% of all MRO work is out-sourced. Almost all engine main-tenance is outsourced, with as much as 33% sent to different re-gions. About 85% of component maintenance is sent to third-party MRO providers or OEMs, but only 12% goes to different regions. For heavy maintenance work, 61% is outsourced, with 17% carried out outside the region that created the demand for it.

Passenger numbers will in-crease 5.3% per year between 2012 and 2016, IATA stated in a forecast released in late 2012.

Aviation consultancy ICF SH&E also sees a pattern of migration of heavy maintenance work from countries in Asia back to North America. In a forecast presented in April 2012, the company said rising costs for ferry flights due to high fuel prices contributed to the trend when combined with a de-cline in the average labour hours per check. Meanwhile, excess fa-cility space is putting downward

pressure on North American rates, while skills shortages in Asia are causing labour rates to rise there.

Labour rates are only one factor influencing the choice of where to place work. As British Airways Engineering has told Flight Inter-national, paying even London la-bour rates to maintain extensive repair capacity at Heathrow air-port for BA and third parties makes sense because the cost of overhauling, say, a fuel pump ac-tuator is about 30% labour and 70% parts. Expertise and efficien-cy pay – increasingly so as re-gional labour rates converge.

While it is too early to say for certain how MRO labour rates will behave during the next few years, in the USA alone the civil MRO industry employs about 306,585 people and some vacant facilities are being claimed by companies which are expanding or setting up new shops, signal-ling new competition.

ICF SH&E points to AAR’s late 2012 delivery of its first aircraft from its new 17,500m2 (188,000ft2) facility in Duluth, Minnesota being developed to support narrowbody aircraft. In 2013, Miami-based Commercial Jet is moving into Pemco’s old fa-cility at Dothan regional airport in Alabama to create a 37,200m2 facility for heavy maintenance and cargo conversions. ■

*Average SOURCE: Team SAI Consulting

$/hour

LABOUR-RATE CONVERGENCE

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Michael Gubisch writes news stories for our MRO channel: flightglobal.com/mro

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business


plotting a new courseGA speciAl report p25

‘REMARKABLE YEAR’ FOR ARIANESPACESPACEFLIGHT European launch services provider Arianespace, commercial and launch operations manager for the European Space Agency’s Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega vehicles, made a 2012 net in-come of €1.7 million ($2.2 million; up 6% on 2011) on sales of €1.3 billion (up 31%), which it describes as a “remarkable year… despite contrasted market conditions”. In 2012, Arianespace signed 13 launch contracts out of its count of a total of 18 open to competition and managed 11 launches, a figure it expects to match in 2013. Shareholders include the French space agency CNES, Astrium and space companies representing 10 European countries.

AIM AvIATION SETS SIGHTS ON MIddLE EASTREPAIR Contracts with Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways have led UK-based AIM Aviation to set up a Middle East sales office and re-pair station. Abu Dhabi company First Emirates Aviation Group will hold spare parts and conduct repairs on behalf of Bournemouth Airport-headquartered AIM.

WITH NEW FINANCE, IT’S ALL GO FOR GOGO…IFEC In-flight connectivity and wireless IFE provider Gogo has se-cured a significant funding boost from its lenders which it will use to finance its global expansion. The Illinois-headquartered company has closed a $113 million increase to its existing $135 million credit facility and will use the debt financing to “fund its global expansion and for general operating purposes”. Gogo is contracted to outfit more than 400 aircraft for clients including American Airlines.

…BUT ALL STOP FOR AIRFONECONNECTIvITY Gogo business jet market in-flight connectivity equipment and services subsidiary Aircell has acquired JetBlue Airways’ voice and internet connection subsidiary Airfone. Aircell in-tends to offer subscribers special deals on its own Gogo-based serv-ices, and will decommission Airfone’s service on 31 December.

BUYOUT GROWTH ELEMENTAL FOR MATERIALS TESTERACQUISITION Amsterdam-headquartered Element Material Technology has acquired Sherry Laboratories of Daleville, Indiana. Element claims that with this “significant” transaction adding nearly 300 specialised staff and 10 facilities to its existing network of 30 laboratories, it will be America’s largest dedicated aerospace materi-als testing company. Since early 2012, Element has also acquired test labs in Cincinnati, Detroit and the UK.

PPG TO ACQUIRE AEROSPACE COATINGS SPECIALISTPAINT PPG Aerospace is to acquire Deft, a privately held specialty coatings company based in Irvine, California, for an undisclosed sum. Deft supplies structural primers and military topcoats to the North American aviation industry and has smaller architectural and industrial coatings businesses. PPG says Delft’s waterborne and chrome-free technologies complement its own coatings capabilities. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013.

SALE OF HAL STAKE EXPECTEd THIS YEARPRIvATISATION India’s government is expected to offload a 10% stake in wholly state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), finance ministry sources say. The sale, as an initial public offering, was ap-proved in November 2012. In its financial year to end-March, HAL turned in a record turnover of Rs143 billion ($2.63 billion), and pre-tax profit of Rs34.7 billion.

business briefsPeOPLe mOvesAir Charter, CTS Engines, Honeywell, Qinetiq North America

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I’m getting to the point here where I’m not going to play that game any more”SCOTT dONNELLY, chief executive of Cessna parent Textron, sees no more mileage in meeting light jet market expectations of a connection between sales and ever-lower prices

Paukkeri: CTS Engines Florida

Thompson: ACS jet charter

Northwest National Laboratory, George Washington University’s Center for International Science and Technology Policy, the US Department of Defence, where he served as deputy assistant secretary of defence for continuity and crisis management, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he led an inter-agency cyber intelligence unit. Also at Qinetiq North America, Gary Slack has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. After 10 years with Air Charter Service in London and New York, Richard Thompson is now executive VP North America.

At CTS Engines in Fort Lauderdale, Vesa Paukkeri has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. The former Finnair engine and technical services manager had been the MRO operator’s executive VP. Honeywell VP fluorine products Terrence Hahn has been promoted to replace Alex Ismail as chief executive transportation systems, effective 20 May, following an internal move for Ismail. Mark Hewitt is now executive VP and chief strategy officer at Qinetiq North America, which he joined in 2010 after working with the US Department of Energy’s Pacific

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general aviationspecial report

23-29 April 2013 | Flight International | 25

Europe’s general aviation is a paradox. Industry lobbyists describe the market as ‘dire’ and lament the fact that with rising costs and red-tape, fewer are taking up flying. Yet the region’s manufacturers are behind ground-breaking industry trends such as light sport aircraft and diesel engines. Meanwhile, the annual Aero Friedrichshafen show – held this week – is as popular as ever. In this 10-page special we assess the health and some of the most exciting developments in European GA

plotting a new course

contents28 Engines The drive for diesel 30 Light sport USA versus Europe 33 Industry health Is there an upside? 35 Aero preview Europe’s GA spectacular

(Top) Cessna’s Corvalis: can Europeans fall in love with GA again? (Above left) innova-tion continues in the diesel engine market; (above right) the Aero Friedrichshafen venue

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PROPULSION

keN waLkeR london

Several general aviation engine manufac-turers hope to reveal news of develop-

ments in their quest for new-generation die-sel engines at the Aero Friedrichshafen show, which takes place in Germany on 24-27 April. However, they caution that continuing economic headwinds are hindering develop-ment of heavy fuel motors to challenge tradi-tional avgas products.

In the two years since Flight International’s last survey of diesel engines, the market has become more crowded, with Chinese compa-nies acquiring several Western manufacturers and new entrants appearing at a time when economic doldrums, particularly in Europe, stifle GA activity.

During the past few years, the number of private pilots and the hours they have flown have dropped dramatically.

A further worry is that the baby-boomer generation of pilots is now starting to fail medicals or, worse still, die. “There are fewer upcoming youths born from the 1970s on-wards to replace them,” laments Sebastian Wentzler, head of corporate communications at Germany’s Centurion Aircraft Engines.

On the positive side, flight training schools are expanding as they try to meet a forecast requirement for more airline pilots, particu-larly in Asia. And schools, with their more intensive use of aircraft, are likely to be at-tracted by the fuel economy of diesels, typi-cally claimed to be 30-40% better than their avgas counterparts.

Centurion is searching for an investor to pump in funds that will allow it to accelerate development of its Centurion 2.0 diesel piston product line. It is currently operating in insol-vency, so funding is tight.

It manufactures 300 engines per year, pro-ducing the 2.0 in 135hp and 155hp “S” ver-sions. The 2.0 is currently certificated to 1,500h and efforts are being focused on increasing that endurance. Centurion is aware of examples in the USA and Australasia that have achieved well above 2,000h but, more modestly, it hopes the 2.0’s life can be officially extended to 1,800h within the next two years.

The Centurion 2.0 is fitted as original equipment in the Diamond Aircraft DA40, as

There are more players than ever working on new-generation heavy fuel motors, but the market for these engines remains uncertain

The drive for diesel

Centurion is looking for an investor to fund development of its 2.0 diesel piston product line

well as the Robin Ecoflyer and Remo.In late February, Austria’s Austro Engines

received an European Aviation Safety Agency times between overhaul (TBO) extension to 1,500h for its AE300 four-cylinder, 170hp tur-bocharged Jet-A1 and diesel motor.

Austro is working on an increased output option of 180hp, says head of marketing and sales Peter Lietz.

aUSTRIaN aDVaNCeSAustro is an offshoot of Diamond Aircraft and the engine is primarily fitted to members of the Diamond family. It is also working on six- and eight-cylinder models, and Lietz ex-pects to be able to provide more information at Aero.

Fellow Austrian manufacturer Steyr Mo-tors was bought by China’s Phoenix Tree HSC

FIN_230413_028-036 28 18/4/13 12:57:04



Investment (Wuhan) in September 2012. The new owners are supportive of Steyr’s arrange-ment to supply Diamond Aircraft – which manufactures aircraft in China – and see con-siderable potential when the country elimi-nates current restrictions on GA flights.

“There are a lot of entrepreneurs who would like to make medium-distance trips – around 1,000-1,500km [540-810nm] – in their own aircraft,” says Steyr chief executive Ru-dolf Mandorfer.

Steyr is continuing its collaboration with Austro to develop and reduce the weight of its M14 and M16 models, based on Steyr’s M1 monoblock marine powerplant, with an M14 four-cylinder test installation flying in a Diamond DA50. Mandorfer sees the engines being used both as OEM equipment and in retrofits.

Switzerland’s Mistral Engines is also searching for funding to complete certification of its G-300 Wankel-based rotary engine. Pres-ident Claude Geles says about Swfr 7 million ($7.5 million) is required. The G-300 runs on car fuel or avgas, but a diesel-powered version remains in development.

France’s SMA, a Snecma subsidiary, has had the benefit of Cessna choosing its ❯❯

SR305-230E 227hp four-cylinder diesel for its Turbo Skylane NXT, a decision SMA chair-man and chief executive Thierry Hurtes de-scribes as a “crucial point”.

SMA will produce about 150 SR305-230Es in 2013, with more expected in 2014. Cessna is handling certification, which should be grant-ed in the first half of this year, says Hurtes.

He sees the higher end of the GA market, such as the Cessna 206 and Beech Baron, as possible future homes for the SMA engine.

Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk is continuing to work towards US Federal Aviation Admin-istration certification of its DH-180A4 two-stroke 180hp diesel on LoPresti Aviation En-gineering’s Cirrus SR20 engine upgrade programme. “We hope to see something [on certification] this year,” says DeltaHawk presi-dent and chief executive Dennis Webb.

The company is also working on DH-160A4 and DH-200A4 versions. “The 160 and 180 use the same engine block,” says Webb. “There are different components but they are primarily the same engine.” A major plus point of the DeltaHawk design, says Webb, is its compactness and small frontal area.

Webb adds that several OEMs are develop-ing products that will use its powerplant, with announcements likely to be made as soon as certification is achieved. Non-disclosure agreements prevent him from giving details.

DeltaHawk also has a Chinese connection, with manufacturing enterprise Hunan Sun-ward becoming a joint-venture partner as the company attempts to capitalise on China’s predicted boom in private flying.

Another small US manufacturer, Wisconsin-

TURBOFANS MURDO MORRISON LONDON

PRICE INDUCTION PUTS FAITH IN PERSONAL JETS NOw might not seem to be the best time to develop an engine for very-light or person-al business jets. During the past few years, a string of high-profile programmes have hit the skids – from the Eclipse 500 to the Piper Altaire, Diamond D-Jet and Adam A700. what had been, in 2007, the next big thing in avi-ation is now seen as a niche at best in 2013.

So why does French start-up Price induction believe it can find a market for its DgEN 380, a two-spool, 560lb-thrust (2.5kN), high bypass ratio tur-bofan pitched at “the higher end of general aviation” – in other words, types with a max-imum take-off weight of be-

tween 1,400kg (3,090lb) and 2,150kg? Quite simply be-cause other engines are not designed specifically for the personal jet segment, says deputy chief executive Olivier Cheret. “we had a vision of an engine optimised for gA that was easy to fly and not too fast for pilots with a private licence, bringing them all the benefits of a turbofan. Our engine would unlock this mar-ket,” he adds.

Price induction, based in Anglet in the French Basque region, was set up 15 years ago by French entrepreneur Bernard Etcheparre with fund-ing from the French state’s Aerofund for small aerospace businesses. Engine giant

Snecma has given technical support. Although the engine has yet to have any applica-tions, Cheret says the com-pany is “in talks with manufacturers”. he adds that “the ideal scenario” would be for an airframer to develop a new jet around the engine, but Price induction is also pre-pared to discuss retro or alter-native fits.

After 1,200h of static tests, “the development stage is ending and the engine is now mature enough to enter the certification stage”, he says. “Another three years and we will be on the market.” the DgEN 390, a 730lb-thrust ver-sion with a bypass ratio of 7.6, is also being developed. ■

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“Expectations are falling in line with reality. Diesels certainly have their place… but they’re not a universal replacement”MIKE KRAFTSenior vice-president and general manager, Lycoming

The Centurion 2.0 is available for Piper PA28s

FIN_230413_028-036 29 18/4/13 12:57:12



REGULATIONS

Lagging behind USAEurope’s convoluted light sport aircraft rule is leading airframers to circumvent it by certificating within the FAA’s category insteadDAvE GRAhAm Dublin & DAllAs

In the almost two years since the European Aviation Safety Agency finalised CS-LSA, its

light sport aircraft (LSA) rule, three aircraft have been qualified through the system. Con-trast that with the 48 new aircraft qualified in the first two years of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s light sport rule.

Accounting for world economics, there is a huge difference between regimes – 60% of the 2,359 FAA-registered LSAs are produced in Europe by 52 European manufacturers. What accounts for this difference, and why has Ces-Engineered Propulsion Systems’ flat-vee engine

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based Engineered Propulsion Systems, fired up its proof-of-concept flat-vee diesel for the first time in November and is working on a second, pre-production status example. Co-founder and vice-president Steve Weinzierl believes it to be two-and-a-half to three years from certification, although this heavily de-pends on gaining sufficient funding.

FUEL AGNOSTICContinental Motors, which is also the subject of a Chinese acquisition – by AVIC Interna-tional Holding Corporation – says it is “fuel-agnostic” and will continue with avgas and heavy fuel models. Director of sales and mar-keting Mike Gifford, however, says: “We defi-nitely believe diesels are going to be the en-gine of choice.” At November’s Airshow China in Zhuhai, Continental Motors an-nounced a range of three diesel piston en-gines: the 150-180hp TD220, 200-250hp TD300 and 300-350hp TD450. The TD300 should have received certification by the time of Aero. A launch customer is ready “and sev-eral more are very close”, says Gifford. “We were already involved in diesels prior to the Chinese coming on board but… they are very interested in the expansion of diesel technol-ogy.” The TD450 and TD220 will be scaled-up and scaled-down versions respectively of the TD300.

Two years ago Lycoming, the USA’s other

major GA engine manufacturer, firmly set its face against oil-burners, describing many powerplant companies as suffering from what senior vice-president and general manager Mike Kraft described as “diesel fever”. That fever has now broken, for several reasons, he says. Much of the previous impetus behind diesels had been driven by a fear – and expec-tation by some diesel manufacturers – that 100LL fuel would become increasingly rare, or even disappear.

However, the FAA has established a rule-making committee that recommended how to migrate the North American GA fleet – still overwhelmingly powered by 100LL – from leaded to unleaded avgas. Moreover, US Con-gress has provided funding for this transition, while in Europe, Total has started to produce unleaded UL91 fuel.

Lycoming has previously developed its own diesels but has never brought them to market, says Kraft, because it could not see a return on its investment.

Interestingly, it has recently agreed a serv-ice and support contract with SMA for its SR305-230E. “In this case,” explains Kraft, “we’re dealing with an engine that’s already been brought to market and utilising our exist-ing supply and support network. So it’s a logi-cal business investment for us.”

On balance, Kraft remains wary of diesels but thinks there is a new realism in the air: “I would say that expectations are falling in line with reality. Diesels certainly have their place. They will certainly be viable on certain types of aircraft for certain types of market. But they’re not a universal replacement.” ■

“We definitely believe diesels are going to be the engine of choice”mIkE GIFFORD Director of sales and marketing, Continental Motors

❯❯

For our take on the general aviation diesel engine market from 2011, go to flightglobal.com/diesel

FIN_230413_028-036 30 18/4/13 12:57:19


with JAR-VLA and the proliferation of sepa-rate classes of UL aircraft, the FAA was keen not to repeat the same mistake. The new cate-gory had to entice UL producers, pilots and maintenance providers as a way to revitalise the lower end of the market. The system had to incorporate aircraft, gliders, gyrocopters and powered parachutes. LSAs are simple, single or two-seat aircraft, with fixed gear and piston engine, weighing no more than 600kg – 650kg for a seaplane or amphibian.

Instead of the FAA writing the standard planes had to be designed to, it chose ASTM International, formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials, as the forum to de-velop those standards. Similar to UK Stand-ards, DIN Standards or Euro Norms, ASTM is an organisation that publishes standards on everything from fuel to electrical bulbs, quali-ty systems and material classifications. ASTM’s aircraft design standard was essen-tially an improvement of JAR-VLA.

The FAA applied the same logic to manu-facturers’ quality systems and continued air-worthiness programmes. Quality system re-quirements are specified by a separate standard – instead of Airworthiness Direc-tives being issued by the FAA, manufacturers are responsible for issuing service bulletins to each aircraft owner and operator. Responsibil-ity for conformance validation lies with the manufacturer. Random conformance audits by the FAA on manufacturers keeps the sys-tem honest.

As well as introducing a new classification of aircraft in 2005, the FAA also introduced a new category of pilot. An FAA sport pilot can learn to fly in 20h but is limited to visual flight rules conditions. The FAA also eliminated the need for sport pilots to pass a medical as long as they have a valid driver’s licence. It is the same self-declaration of fitness to fly that had been operating in the glider world for several decades. Experience gained by a sport pilot carries through to more advanced licences and ratings.

Recognising the simpler nature of LSAs, the FAA also introduced a new category of air-craft maintenance technician. Upon comple-tion of a 120h course, these “light sport repair-men” are qualified to carry out maintenance on any factory-produced LSA. Again, experi-ence gained repairing LSAs carries over to li-cences to work on more advanced aircraft.

With the layer of FAA conformance

By contrast, UL regulations imposed none of these restrictions. Uncertificated parts could be used and design changes and avion-ics upgrades limited only by customers’ im-aginations and producers’ willingness to ac-commodate them. It is this flexibility that drives the innovation seen in the halls of Friedrichshafen each year. It is a thriving business – UL registrations in the Czech Re-public and Germany alone were more than the entire new registrations for LSAs in the USA during 2012.

LIGHT SPORT RULEThe term “light sport aircraft” was introduced to the world by the FAA as a way to bring the USA’s UL community under its influence and authority. Prior to the light sport rule, two-seat UL aircraft could only be used for flight train-ing, with the consequence that every flight became a training flight. Not being registered, the scale of UL flying was unknown. No standardised pilot training existed, and there was no maintenance or continued airworthi-ness standard.

Having studied what happened in Europe ❯❯

Approximately 60% of the 2,359 FAA-registered LSAs are produced in Europe by 52 European manufacturers

sna, the world’s largest general aviation pro-ducer, decided to circumvent EASA’s rule and certificate its LSA offering – C162 Skycatcher – in the FAA’s primary category.

CERTIFICATION SIMPLIFIEDIn the early 1990s, EASA’s predecessor the Joint Aviation Authorities set out to make aircraft certification easier. The result was JAR-VLA (very light aircraft). It was sup-posed to simplify and reduce the cost of get-ting an aircraft to market, but JAR-VLA could hardly be labelled a success. Fewer than 10 producers considered VLA worthwhile, with fewer than 100 VLA aircraft produced world-wide per year.

vWhy did European UL producers choose to live with the regulation mess and custom-ise their aircraft to the differing regulations in each country? In a word, flexibility.

VLA requires a DOA (design organisation approval) and POA (production organisation approval). All components used on aircraft had to be certificated, increasing cost. Each new design change or equipment variation had to be approved.

Cessna, the world’s largest GA producer, certificated its C162

Skycatcher in the USA


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Cessna announced it was applying for FAA primary category certification for its LSA of-fering, the C162 Skycatcher.

Aircraft eligible for primary category certifi-cation must weigh less than 1,225kg, be sin-gle-engined and seat a maximum of four. Tracy Leopold, Cessna’s business leader for propeller aircraft, says the airframer is work-ing with the FAA on Skycatcher primary cat-egory designation, which includes type cer-tificate and production certificate.

“The joint Cessna/FAA team included re-quirements from CS-LSA into the pro-gramme, which will allow the Skycatcher to be accepted into Europe through a simpler validation effort, following FAA approval. Cessna migrated to FAA primary category in order to be able to export the aircraft to Eu-rope,” she adds.

CUSTOMER REFUNDSCessna refunded European customer deposits in early 2012 while it was working on a solu-tion to the certification issue. It expects to complete the process and re-enter the market this year.

Randy Lervold, of fellow US-based manu-facturer Cubcrafters, thinks CS-LSA was de-signed deliberately to keep foreign producers out of the European market, by making it cost

prohibitive. Cubcrafters has one of its Carbon Cubs flying in Europe on a Permit To Fly but this option is being phased out, says Lervold, and is “not a suitable way to build a long-term business”. “We have a very close dialogue with Cessna, and await the results of its pri-mary category certification effort,” he adds. Cubcrafters is currently reviewing FAA pri-mary category certification. With an active European dealer, it conservatively estimates the European market for its top-of-the-line Cub at 10-12 aircraft per year.

Ivo Boscarol, chief executive of Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel, says: “Be-cause of the sheer fact that EASA insists these are type certified aircraft, requiring the producer to have a POA and DOA, there will be fewer manufacturers offering their prod-ucts in this category. The portfolio of products will be smaller and the aircraft will carry a higher price tag. In effect, the category is not much different from VLA, apart from the pos-sibility of using non-certified engines/propel-lers and avionics.”

When asked about the major differences

DiFFERENCE bETwEEN US AND EUROPEAN LSA REGULATiONS

FAA LSA EASA CS-LSA

Max speed 120kt No limitMax weight (land) 600kg 600kgMax weight (sea) 650kg 650kgStall speed 45kt (no flaps) 45kt (use of flaps allowed)Undercarriage Fixed only Fixed or retractablePropeller Fixed or ground adjustable Fixed, ground adjustable

or constant speed

Seats Max 2 Max 2Flight rules Day/night VFR; IFR in VMC Day VFR onlyDesign standard ASTM 2245 ASTM 2245Certification standard Manufacturer declaration

of confirmanceEASA Restricted Type Certificate

(Requires DOA and POA)vwSOURCE: FAA and EASA

checking removed and without the com-plex, time-consuming oversight traditional aircraft manufacturing is subject to, LSA sales in the USA took off.

DESiGN STANDARDWith the explosion of LSA in the USA and the success of European aircraft manufacturers serving that market, EASA faced a demand to introduce a similar system. It sensibly adopt-ed the ASTM aircraft design standard. How-ever, there are some nuances: CS-LSA allows retractable gear, constant speed propellers and does not limit the aircraft’s top speed.

This is where the similarity between regimes ends. Instead of adopting the quality, conform-ance validation, continued airworthiness and materials traceability standards written by ASTM, CS-LSA requires manufacturers to ob-tain a full type certificate (restricted).

Instead of being a declarative system such as the USA’s, CS-LSA is a fully audited type certificate system. Prior to making an applica-tion for an LSA restricted type certificate, can-didate organisations must first obtain DOA.

Tests and conformance validation must be witnessed by EASA personnel at every stage. Then, a POA must be obtained before the air-craft can be sold in volume.

Starting with an FAA compliant aircraft, CS-LSA certification costs about €500,000 ($654,500) for a European-based manufactur-er. The cost almost doubles for a manufacturer based outside Europe. Maintaining certifica-tion also costs money.

In all, CS-LSA is expensive. Under UL rules, the next-generation glass panel can be installed in the next aircraft going down the production line. Under CS-LSA, EASA will have to ap-prove the installation, after a lengthy applica-tion, test and certification process. This will keep the pool of CS-LSA-certificated aircraft small and more expensive than comparable UL aircraft coming from the same factory. The only upside to the rule is that the aircraft are certifi-cated and therefore eligible for registration worldwide under reciprocal arrangements be-tween aviation authorities.

Cessna took a full year to review CS-LSA after its publication and, at Oshkosh 2012,

“The US system allows us to react much faster with aircraft changes and upgrades”MATThiAS bETSCh Chief executive, Flight Design

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US manufacturer Cubcrafters has one of its Carbon Cubs operating

in Europe on a Permit To Fly

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between CS-LSA and the FAA’s system, Boscarol adds: “Under the FAA regime, the air-craft is accepted on base-of-consensus stand-ards with compliance declared by the manu-facturer for each aircraft produced/delivered.

“This gives flexibility to the manufacturers to produce different variants of the same air-craft – choice of avionics, optional equipment – where the EASA way is to have a type-de-fined product where all of the produced fleet is approximately the same. CS-LSA is really just for aircraft, whereas FAA recognises LSA aircraft, LSA gliders, LSA gyrocopters.” Pipis-trel is actively working on the certification of its Virus SW.

CTLS was the first CS-LSA certificated air-craft for Germany-headquartered Flight Design, and chief executive Matthias Betsch says the company enjoys a close working relationship with EASA, but the problem is “the scope of the regulation, which limits possibilities”.

“The standards themselves are reasonable,” adds Betsch. “It’s the internal organisation that has to exist for POA and DOA that makes it difficult. For a company starting without a POA and DOA, it will be very expensive.”

Flight Design has delivered 100 aircraft under CS-LSA and the interim Permit to Fly scheme that existed before CS-LSA was final-ised. Comparing CS-LSA and the FAA system, Betsch says the major difference is flexibility: “The US system allows us to react much faster with aircraft changes and upgrades, and this gives a huge advantage in time to market.”

Betsch is actively involved with the FAA’s ARC 23 committee, which is forming a rule-making framework similar to LSA for FAR 23-certificated aircraft.

ConClusionCS-LSA is effectively a reintroduction of JAR-VLA, with a 600kg airframe limit and the option to use non-certificated compo-nents. CS-LSA aircraft must be maintained to EASA Part M standards, further increasing costs and, with it, an amazing opportunity to reinvigorate European aircraft production has been lost.

EASA clearly failed to adopt FAA’s com-plete change of approach from direct over-sight (certification) to manufacturer’s declara-tion of conformance to standards.

As a result, fewer aircraft will be produced for the European LSA market, with less op-tions and higher purchase prices. CS-LSA complicates life for manufacturers.

Boscarol puts it best: “We are waiting for the day to come where LSA standards will be unified around the world, so we can focus on aircraft development and not their tailoring for each authority separately.” ■

❯❯

ouTlooK

Rearguard actionFalling numbers of new pilots, new regulations, pressure on aerodromes: is there an upside for general aviation in Europe?KATE sARsFiElD LONDON

These are tough times for Europe’s general aviation community. From airframers and

parts suppliers to maintenance providers and training schools, the industry is reeling under more than four years of economic austerity which has led its traditional base of aircraft owners, buyers and operators to shrink to cat-astrophic levels. “The situation is dire,” says Martin Robinson, senior vice-president of the International Aircraft Owners and Pilots Asso-ciation (IAOPA). “There is simply no confidence in an economic recovery any time soon and the knock-on effect is being felt across the market.”

About 155,000 people in Europe depend on general aviation for their livelihoods, with an estimated GDP value of activity of €20-30 billion ($26-39 billion), says IAOPA, which represents the interests of more than 23,000 members at regulatory bodies which include the European Commission, EASA and Eurocontrol. “The pic-ture is looking pretty bleak,” adds Robinson, who is also AOPA UK chief executive.

“Fewer people are taking up flying as the cost has become so prohibitive. This low take-up is having a knock-on effect on aircraft

For more information on the light sport aircraft market, including the main players, go to flightglobal.com/lsa

manufacturers – who are seeing their order numbers plummet – as well as training schools, support companies, airfields and aerodromes across Europe.” To illustrate his point, Robin-son points to the declining number of new pri-vate pilot’s licences issued in the UK: “In 2002, the Civil Aviation Authority issued about 4,200 PPLs. That number had fallen [in 2012] to 2,500 and only 40% of pilots are choosing to renew their licences.”

Many prospective pilots are opting for mi-crolights and motorgliders which are not sub-ject to the same stringent regulations as their certificated counterparts – regular mainte-nance checks of avionics, airframe, engines and propellers, for example – and are far cheaper to purchase and operate. “Traditional aircraft such as a Piper Cheroke will cost around £300 ($460) per hour to hire. Compare this to £100 for a microlight and £65 for a self-launching motorglider and you can see why many traditional manufacturers and training schools are struggling,” says Robinson.

sCHool RulEsThe situation for training providers is set to worsen from April 2014, when EASA will re-quire European training schools to switch from being registered facilities to Aviation Training Organisations (ATOs). Under proposals, ATOs will have to perform costly, bureaucratic risk assessments every two years, write safety man-agement manuals, and identify a compliance officer responsible for co-ordinating the safety management system. “This is simple overzeal-ous enforcement,” says Robinson. “For clubs with two or three people and one or two air-craft, this is so badly over-engineered that it risks putting them out of business.”

A local authority is seeking to build 700 homes on Panshanger aerodrome, near London

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The GA sector has been plagued by ex-amples of expensive and unnecessary EU regulations with “no safety aim”, Robinson says. “Maintenance requirements such as Part M and the continuing airworthiness manage-ment organisation system have not made the industry safer or more efficient, but have con-tributed to the decline in the number of hours flown because administration is soaking up so much of the available cash,” he says. He adds that EASA “continues to talk about accounta-ble management and safety management sys-tems, all leading to new levels of expense” for the companies involved.

IAOPA is holding discussions with EASA to create a simplified version of the ATO regula-tions. “If we do not get some alleviation we are going to lose a number of aero clubs and flight training organisations. EASA is amenable to a four-year audit cycle, but amending other pro-visions is proving sticky,” IAOPA admits.

AIRFIELDS THREATThe closure of flight training schools will im-pact heavily on the continent’s aerodromes and threaten their long-term survival. Sites across Europe are constantly under threat, be it from international airports that have largely driven out GA traffic because of low financial return; regional airports which increase landing fees to make them no longer viable for small aircraft; or from housing developers and environmental initiatives such as wind farms.

In the UK – which has about 140 licensed and 500 unlicensed airports, airfields and air-strips and a fleet of around 8,500 GA aircraft, including business jets – the pressure to build homes and wind farms is threatening the live-lihood of GA airports. For example, a local authority is seeking to build 700 homes on Panshanger aerodrome, about 40km (21nm) north of London. “Airfield owners see this as a cash cow,” says Stephen Slater, manager of UK pressure group the General Aviation Awareness Council. “Government policy is biased in favour of the developer.”

About 12 UK airfields are under threat from the increasing number of planning applica-tions for wind turbines. “The intended siting of some wind farms [such as Popham in the south of England, where there is a proposal to erect a turbine at each end of the runway] could be a safety hazard for aircraft,” says Slater.

In Germany, which has 11,000 aircraft and 500 airports and airfields, GA is being priced out of major airports including the capital’s

Berlin Brandenburg International (formerly Schönefeld) and Tegel. A lack of local support was blamed for the 2008 closure of downtown Tempelhof, where the majority of GA opera-tions for the Berlin area took place.

In Belgium, Spa-la Sauvenière airfield in the east of the country has been closed on the orders of a Belgian Green Party environment minister. IAOPA says the closure is probably illegal and will eventually be overturned by the courts. “However, it will take time and there is a serious risk that the aero club and the maintenance shop will go bankrupt in the meantime,” it adds.

Charleroi airport is to ban aircraft weighing less than 6t during peak holiday periods fol-lowing the crash of a Cessna 210 in February which closed the airfield for several hours during the Belgian school holidays. IAOPA argues that GA pays substantial amounts of fuel tax and hangarage charges at Charleroi and should not be forced out in favour of holi-day jets which, it says, receive huge taxpayer subsidies to use the airport.

“The decision is unfair, unbalanced and discriminating,” says AOPA Belgium presi-dent Ron Wullaert. “We will make the case against these restrictions with the regional politicians involved. I cannot imagine anyone deciding to close the ringway around Brussels for non-commercial traffic because a private car had a road accident.”

EASA is attempting to harmonise many avia-

❯❯“We have invited some [EU Parliament members] to come to Aero Friedrichshafen and have offered to fly them there”LUTz DommEL IAOPA lobbyist at European Parliament

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❯❯

Europe’s general aviation community will converge on the southern German town of

Friedrichshafen from 24 to 27 April for the in-dustry’s largest dedicated show outside North America – Aero.

Historical Friedrichshafen – the birthplace of the Zeppelin and Dornier Flugzeugwerke – is situated on the banks of Lake Constance near the borders with Switzerland and Aus-tria. The town has provided the backdrop for a small sector of the GA market since 1978.

Gliders and other recreational aircraft shared the forum with cars and motorbikes until 1993 when the organisers decided to sever its automotive ties in favour of a dedi-cated biennial GA event.

“Our focus was on the German market first but by 1997 the show had taken on an interna-tional flavour,” says Aero Friedrichshafen

SHOW PREVIEW

Aero keeps flying highThe GA industry’s great and good will gather in Friedrichshafen, Germany for its largest show outside North AmericaKATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Changes to EASA regulations will affect training schools from

April 2014

tion regulations and create a level playing field for GA across all member states. However, IAOPA says this initiative is fraught with prob-lems, not least because much of the aviation regulation has been developed with commercial air transport in mind. For commercial operators, it argues, there are clear benefits to harmonising national differences to stimulate competition. “However, for GA, where businesses and opera-tions are in most cases still national, the effects are rather negative,” it adds.

IMC RATINGIn the UK, for example, training for the popu-lar instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) rating is likely to be stopped as national ratings are not recognised by EASA. About 26,000 people have achieved their IMC rating since it was introduced in 1967 to teach low-time pilots how to cope with instrument me-teorological conditions and get their aircraft safely back on the ground.

Flightcrew licensing harmonisation is being felt elsewhere on the continent. In Ger-many, pilots aged 60 or above who are permit-ted to fly in single-pilot cockpits commercial-ly but restricted to German airspace fear for their jobs because of the introduction of EASA’s FCL.065 regulations. Likewise, Ger-man aero clubs will no longer be allowed to offer occasional sightseeing flights for reim-bursement.

“All these problems create a mood of disap-

proval with EASA regulations and the agen-cy’s competence is being questioned by Eu-rope’s GA community,” says Robinson. “We want the agency to be a risk-based regulator, that is to say only regulate where there is a need to.”

IAOPA believes there is a lack of under-standing within Europe’s governing bodies of the GA industry. “Rulemaking,” Robinson ar-gues, “is based more on anecdotes, rumours and stories rather than on facts or meaningful statistics.” This view is echoed by IAOPA Brussels lobbyist Lutz Dommel. “When AOPA members think of aviation they think free-dom, speed, reliability, high-tech jobs and in-novation,” he says. “When politicians think of aviation they think noise, security, protecting national carriers, strong lobby groups and big hub airports.”

Dommel is determined to change this per-ception by inviting European Members of Par-liament (MEPs) to GA aerodromes for “fly-outs” in a Diamond DA40 piston single. “Most of them had never been near a light aircraft or a hangar,” says Dommel. “We have also invit-ed some MEPs to come to Aero Friedrichshaf-en and we have offered to fly them there. The most influential ones are coming from Hano-ver, Germany. There are no direct flights, so they can see how valuable GA is.” ■

Read a 2010 special report from sister maga-zine Airline Business on untapped potential for airports at flightglobal.com/airports

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To keep up to date with all the latest news from the general aviation sector, go to flightglobal.com/ga

troduction of environmentally-led technolo-gies, such as electric-powered aircraft, more efficient engines and alternative fuels.

Manufacturers from across the aviation gamut will be also represented at the four-day event. Fixed-wing and rotorcraft show regu-lars – Cessna, Cirrus, Daher-Socata, Diamond, Embraer, Eurocopter, Pilatus and Piper – will be out in force to woo customers and bolster their dwindling order books with their array of eye catching, high-tech business jet and propeller-driven aircraft designs.

Italian light aircraft manufacturer Tecnam will mark its 65th anniversary with the un-veiling of its latest LSA design – the Astore.

Fellow LSA developer Evektor will debut its SportStar EPOS (electric-powered small aircraft) prototype less than a month after the two-seat aircraft made its maiden flight at the Czech airframer’s Prague headquarters.

Slovenian company Pipistrel will display its Panthera piston single prototype hot on the heels of its first engine and ground runs in Aj-dovscina late last month. ■

❯❯ project manager Roland Bosch. “Increas-ingly, manufacturers and suppliers viewed Aero as the showcase for Europe’s large general aviation market, and the key attraction for their target audience – the owner-pilot community,” he adds. However, the largest step in the devel-opment of the show, Bosch concedes, was the move six years later to a new exhibition site ad-jacent to Friedrichshafen airport, which it co-owns with the town council.

The revamped show has consistently drawn high numbers of exhibitors. Even the crippling economic crisis has failed to damp-en exhibitor enthusiasm for this regional event. In fact, Bosch believes the financial malaise that has gripped Europe’s GA com-munity since 2008 has been a key factor in boosting Aero’s popularity. It has forced many cash-strapped companies to slash their participation in traditional European avia-tion trade shows such as ILA Berlin, Farn-borough and Paris, he says, in favour of smaller dedicated events.

“These international shows are just too ex-pensive for many vendors,” Bosch says. “As the organiser and co-owner of the Messe exhi-bition centre, we have been able to keep our

prices low and still remain an attractive venue for exhibitors.”

Aero’s decision in 2010 to remove the fly-ing display from the show’s line-up has also boosted the show’s appeal for exhibitors and visitors alike, Bosch admits.

“The display attracted large numbers of people, but these were aviation enthusiasts rather than serious buyers. Our exhibitors are looking at the quality of the visitors not the quantity,” says Bosch.

This tactic has paid off for the organisers. Since 2010 – when the show become an an-nual fixture – exhibitor numbers have re-mained consistently buoyant. “Some sectors – the glider industry for example – only ex-hibit every other year,” Bosch says. “So our turn-out in 2011 and 2013 is around 620 ex-hibitors from across the GA spectrum. During the even years, our exhibitor numbers are a respectable 580.”

Leading figures from across the industry and trade associations will once again use the show as a platform to discuss issues affecting the community: GA infrastructure and air-fields, light sport aircraft (LSA) regulation, methods of revitalising flight training and in-

A 2010 decision to remove the flying display from the show’s line-up has boosted its appeal

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flightglobal.com

PILOT HEALTH


david learmount london

Regular reports of heated oil fumes in cockpits and cabins has led one European government to press for common standards to deal with associated health risks

ClearinG tHe air

There have been regular crew reports of airborne incidents in which cock-pit and cabin air has been contami-nated with engine oil fumes. This is

particularly true in Germany, which has a re-spected system of compulsory safety report-ing, but it is a universal issue with reports being filed by pilots in UK and US airlines, among others.

Because jet engine oil contains organophos-phates that can be harmful to human health, the German government is pressing the Euro-pean Commission to set common standards for dealing with the risk heated oil fumes pose by entering the cabin when engine oil seals leak. The fumes are introduced to the cockpit and cabin because air is continually drawn from the engine compressors for air-condi-tioning and pressurisation.

A higher level of sustained interest in cabin “fume events” by German news media com-pared with press elsewhere in Europe has contributed to a higher incidence of crew awareness there, hence increased levels of re-porting. Nevertheless, Germany’s aviation au-thority has voiced concerns that incidents of this type are still under-reported. Consistent German media interest is also likely to be a factor in the relatively high level of political involvement in the subject, up to German transport minister Peter Ramsauer, who has called for combined European action to elimi-nate or reduce the risk.

neurotoXinSNo section of the industry or the authorities deny “fume events” occur, nor do they deny they involve organophosphate neurotoxins. Al-though the issue’s existence is recognised, it has such serious implications for the air transport and aerospace industries that when the subject arises, there is a great deal of uncomfortable shuffling of feet by government ministers and civil service bureaucrats, not to mention the air-frame and engine manufacturers.

Government or agency statements issued on the subject of oil fumes in aircraft cabins generally avoid addressing it directly, using a package of dissembling techniques, the main one of which is to allege insufficient knowl-edge of the problem and to claim that more time is needed to study it. Although the chem-icals involved are known neurotoxins and carcinogens, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) – to take just one regulator into account – sidesteps this charge by claiming, without pretending to provide any evidence, that all fume events are “occasional” and “brief” and, crucially, by claiming the concentrations are so low as to be harmless.

In the same breath, however, the DfT ad-mits there is no established level for what con-

centration of these chemicals – or how much exposure to them – is medically acceptable, or beyond which they become harmful. This lack of existing standards allows the DfT to invoke the argument that there is a need for more study before conclusions can be drawn.

Meanwhile, when fume events are report-ed, the authorities keep the issue at bay by using the legal principle known as “burden of proof”, which requires the party who alleges that there is a case to answer to prove it in law, while the party who denies there is a case to answer does not have to prove anything. So if there is a fume event following which crew and/or passengers report damage to their health, the burden of proof as to the cause of the medical symptoms lies with the victims.

The DfT explains its argument on its web-site: “Some pilots who have experienced these events report a variety of short or long-term symptoms or ill health. But it is not cer-tain that these symptoms are work-related.”

The DfT can allege that pilot neurological problems following a fume event might have been caused by some other circumstance in the pilot’s life, not the fume event itself and, unless the pilot can disprove the DfT’s proposition, the department’s argument stands by default. For the crew and passengers, proving this nega-tive fact – that their symptoms were not caused by something else – is notoriously difficult.

It is not only the authorities who dissemble. Here is an extract from Airbus’s in-house tech-nical journal, talking about a specific airborne

FIN_230413_038-040 38 18/4/13 11:14:43


PILOT HEALTH

Air Berlin’s A330 fleet suffered three harmful fume incidents in 2011 which made crew sick

Cockpit fumes are a universal issue

❯❯

A group of medical scientists led by Profes-sor Clement Furlong at the University of Washington, Seattle, is not inclined to dissem-ble. This is an extract from a recent research paper they published describing the search for the biomarkers that will prove the connec-tion between aircraft fume events and human health: “On most jet turbine aircraft, unfil-tered engine bleed air is fed into the cabin, providing oxygen for those aboard. Exposure of passengers and crew to some level of triaryl phosphates [TAPs] occurs in approximately 23% of monitored flights, whereas higher lev-els of exposure can occur when engine oil seals wear or fail.

“Symptoms of aerotoxic syndrome resulting from such exposures can include extreme mental impairment, an acute flight safety issue when crew exposure to contaminated air is sig-nificant. Material safety data sheets for synthet-ic jet lubricants list TAP contents of 1-10%.”

Just one example of these fume events con-cerned a Germania Boeing 737-700 flight from Milan Malpensa to Dusseldorf on 18 Novem-ber 2011. German accident investigator BFU investigated it and reported that the co-pilot became physically sick and had to leave the flightdeck, then had to go on oxygen when he returned. After the flight, the co-pilot’s blood tested positive for tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate, a known neurotoxin and a constituent of aero-engine oil. It is universally harmful to health, but individual reactions to single events can vary markedly, as in this case.

The same year, Air Berlin’s Airbus A330 fleet suffered three harmful fume incidents which made the crew sick and, following one of the incidents, the airline made an unusual-ly complete statement containing its version of what happened: “An odour was briefly gen-erated both in the cockpit and the cabin of the Airbus A330-200 during the ascent and de-scent. The odour was also perceived by the cockpit and cabin crews before it rapidly dis-persed. A report was submitted to the BFU.

“In this particular case, however,” added

Air Berlin, “there was no ‘serious incident’ within the meaning of EU regulation 996/10, so Air Berlin, by sending this supplementary report to the BFU, is primarily signalling that the final assessment of the incident should rest with a government authority.”

The latter sentence is an appeal for the au-thorities to provide clarity on this issue, be-cause the airframe and engine suppliers are not denying fume events happen, they just deny they have any harmful results to passen-ger and crew health, so it is the airlines which are left facing the consequences.

The consequences include many pilots and cabin crew who are no longer fit to fly, and al-though, of course, they could not prove their illness was not caused by some aspect of their off-duty life, airlines have made settlements with pilots and cabin crew whose flying ca-reers have ended because of “aerotoxic syn-

drome” – not a piece of terminology the air-lines accept, but which Professor Furlong’s team has validated.

Speaking for the German pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit, Jörg Handwerg says the problem is much more common than anyone admits, estimating that on average there are about 10 fume events each week across the entire German airline fleet.

Getting down to where the problem origi-nates – jet engines and their oil – the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) had this to say about a fume event in 2006 on a Boeing 757 with Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4-37 engines: “The engine lubrication system sup-plies pressurised oil to the main shaft bear-ings. Various methods are used to ensure that the air pressure external to the bearing cham-bers exceeds the local oil pressure, to prevent the oil escaping and contaminating the com-pressor air flow.

“If this should occur, oil mist can enter the bleed air system causing odour, fumes or smoke to enter the cabin by the air-condition-ing system.” That is what happened in this case, according to the AAIB bulletin describ-ing the event, and the crew elected to carry out a diversion and emergency evacuation.

ANTI-WEAR PROPERTIESFrench aeroengine oil company Nyco has been working for some time to develop an oil with the same anti-wear properties as the one currently available, but containing chemicals that are less toxic when they do enter the

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incident involving a Germanwings A319 fume event in December 2010, quoting its own expert Dr Andreas Bezold: “[It was] very serious. For obviously the pilots were, on their own statements, almost unable to act, as this interim report… by the Federal Accident In-vestigation [BFU] shows.

“This so-called ‘incapacitation’ is of great-est concern in terms of flight safety. That some passengers, flight attendants and pilots are now feeling potentially insecure is under-standable. The fact is, currently, no-one knows the exact causes that led to this situa-tion.” In the Germanwings incident, both pi-lots suffered incapacitation and had trouble landing the aircraft safely.

In a 2010 Germanwings A319 fume event, both pilots suffered incapacitation and had trouble landing the aircraft

FIN_230413_038-040 39 18/4/13 11:14:50

flightglobal.com

PILOT HEALTH


❯❯

David Learmount comments on operational and safety issues at his eponymous blog: flightglobal.com/learmount

air-conditioning system. Nyco chief ex-ecutive Eric Piveteau says an oil under devel-opment at his company will be less volatile than existing products, reducing the risk of harm to passenger and crew health when fume events occur. He also hopes for im-proved “elastomer compatibility” in the oil, which would make engine oil seals last longer than they do at present, lowering oil con-sumption and cutting the risk of fume events.

KNOWLEDGE GAPThe UK DfT claims on its website it has been actively monitoring the consequences of fume events: “To fill the knowledge gap, the DfT put four research studies in hand. All have been completed and the department’s programme in this area has now stopped.” The argument would appear to be that the DfT’s studies have assembled the knowledge necessary to allow it to dismiss its concerns. Actually, this is not so, according to the same DfT website: “Both the Committee on Toxicity (CoT) and the House of Lords Committee on Science & Tech-nology identified a gap in the world’s knowl-edge. The independent [CoT] completed a sub-stantial review of evidence in September 2007 and concluded that the evidence available did not establish a link between cabin air and pilot ill health, but nor did it rule one out.”

So there is still a knowledge gap, the DfT admits but, despite this, it has stated its inten-tion not to examine the subject further. In fact, the only DfT attempt to investigate the issue directly came when it commissioned Cran-field University to carry out a total of 100 flights with two different jets carrying equip-ment to capture any fumes. Cranfield reported that during the trial there were no fume events, yet the DfT has included the results of the trial in its claimed “four research studies” as if it had actually proven something.

Meanwhile, the UK Health Protection Agen-cy’s comment on the situation also invokes the argument that there is insufficient information: “The currently available information suggests

that aircrew and passengers are not at addi-tional risk due to chemical exposures in air-craft cabin air, at least for the compounds for which data are available. The CoT will recon-sider this issue when a full set of measurement data are available and the Health Protection Agency will also provide advice as appropri-ate.” However, the DfT says it is not going to do any more work on the issue. To quote an old English proverb: “Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise.”

Dr Susan Michaelis, a former airline pilot who lost her aircrew medical category follow-ing fume events flying BAe 146-series aircraft in Australia, has carried out a study to PhD level at the University of New South Wales, dedicating more than 10 years to the assembly of established scientific data on the subject of cabin air contamination and its relationship to health – with her data going back to the 1950s. She said the CoT has consistently re-fused to accept her research for consideration, and it did the same for case studies submitted by the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive, a body set up in 2006. The CoT also did not ac-cept data from the Aerotoxic Association, which assembles data on individual human health issues following exposure.

Meanwhile, there is no admission by the UK government of its obligation to ensure a safe working environment for the aircrew, or a safe cabin environment for the passengers, which it is required to do at ground-based workplaces and in other forms of public trans-port. The UK civil aviation authority distances itself from the politics of the situation by argu-ing that health and safety is not its remit, only

flight safety is, and its argument is that flight safety in a fume incident is assured provided that the pilots get their oxygen masks on quickly enough.

The German government takes a different at-titude and Ramsauer has written to the Euro-pean Commission demanding action at EU level. Germany wants action but it does not want to act alone, because if German airlines were required to tackle the problem and their European competitors were not, the costs of German carriers would go up compared with those of its competitors.

SEEKING INFORMATIONThe US authorities are clearly concerned, hence it issued this 17 July 2012 Request for Information: “The Federal Aviation Adminis-tration [FAA] seeks information from industry developers, manufacturers, and the public re-lated to effective air cleaning technology and sensor technology for the engine and auxiliary power unit bleed air supplied to the passenger cabin and flightdeck of a pressurised aircraft.

The information obtained will inform the agency of potential research and development plans. Specifically, the FAA seeks informa-tion about bleed air cleaning, and contami-nant detection and cleaning technologies, which are capable of removing oil-based con-taminants from the bleed air supplied to the passenger cabin and flightdeck, and detecting and recording oil-based contaminants in the total air supplied to the cabin and flightdeck from bleed air.”

Michaelis draws attention to the FAA’s de-parture from its own precepts in this area, which the FAA is clearly aware of and is look-ing for a fix. The FAA’s rules require a warning to pilots of any unsafe condition, but there is no requirement for a device to detect and warn the crew of the presence of pyrolysed oil fumes in the cockpit or cabin of any aircraft. In 2002, an FAA report acknowledged this: “No present airplane design fulfils the intent of FAR 25.831 because no airplane design incorporates an air contaminant monitoring system to ensure that the air provided to the occupants is free of haz-ardous contaminants.”

So, like the Europeans and the rest of the world, the USA acknowledges the problem but appears to be in no hurry to do anything about it. Meanwhile, airline crew and passen-gers continue to be regularly exposed to pyro-lysed oil fumes in flight, and some of them, according to the experience of documented cases being examined by Professor Furlong’s team, will suffer harm. Only Boeing 787 pas-sengers do not have to worry, because it does not use engine bleed air for its pressurisation and air-conditioning. ■

There is still a knowledge gap but the UK’s DfT has stated its intention not to examine the subject further

Dr Susan Michaelis has gathered data on cabin air contamination dating back to the 1950s

German transport minister Peter Ramsauer calls for European action to reduce fume risk

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100/75... heading100/75/50/25 - text. style for the text for each of the four

historical arreas. The year logo sits at the beginning of the third line of

main text. The texts do not have to be the same length each week.










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23-29 April 2013 | Flight International | 41

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carried by godsVery shortly HMS Actaeon will be replaced as mother ship of

the naval wing of the Royal Flying Corps by the light cruiser Hermes,

which, if names count for anything, is surely more appropriate. When Hermes is commissioned for her new duties the officers and men of the Naval Air Service, at present home on the Actaeon, will be transferred to the Hermes.

arming canadaThe Canadian government is attempting to create a

national armaments industry, with particular

emphasis on the manu- facture of aircraft and small arms, by the establishment of branch factories of American aeroplane firms, or by the acquisition of licences.

costly insuranceFurther evidence that underwriters are pricing away

business comes with the news that BOAC are to save about £1.5m a

year by carrying all but passenger and third-party risks on their Comet 4 and Boeing 707 fleets themselves.

hijack head count The Kuwait Airways hijacking has several significant

differences from previous air piracy events, but probably the

single most significant is the large number of men in the hijacking team. According to released hostages the team numbers more than ten men.

The final roar: G-BOAG departs JFK for the last time in 2003

It nose where it’s going

Why Ba must revive concordeWith the 10th anniversary of the last Concorde service fast approaching (British Airways’ G-BOAG from JFK, together with two other Concordes on ceremonial final flights, landed at Heathrow on 24 October 2003), campaigners have not given up trying to get the old girl back in the sky.

The Save Concorde Group are banking their hopes on a BA statement in 2003 that the airline was considering retaining one of its fleet in a suitable condition for non-commercial flying.

That never happened, of course, and pledges by Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson and other luminaries to set up a heritage trust to keep it airworthy proved little more than talk.

The group’s chairman, Ben Lord, says: “We simply ask for BA to do the right thing by Concorde and the British people by looking seriously into Concorde flying in a heritage capacity.” He adds that there is “fundamentally no technical reason whatsoever” why Concorde cannot fly again, and questions claims by BA and Air France that restoring the type to flying condition would not be financially viable.

BA, suggests Lord, has “become just the same as any other airline” because it no longer has “the flagship that Concorde brought to it”. If it is not willing to entertain flying Concorde again, it should hand over the rights to an organisation that would be, he says.

BA’s hubris is highlighted, he says, by the fact the airline continues to “make good use of

Tegel good lookOn the subject of Concorde, James Wilkins sends in this picture of markings at gate 1 of Berlin Tegel (TXL), still there from when an Air France type made occasional visits to the then West German enclave in the late 1970s and 1980s.

“Just wondering if these stop-lines will be moving to BER [the new Berlin Brandenburg]?” he asks.

He adds: “Gate 1 is the only gate that was marked for Concorde, and is the “show gate” (closest to terminal, and easy to photograph from outside) in TXL. Funny thing is, it seems to have been repainted every time the other markings were redone. It’s still sitting there, maybe waiting for the happy day to come.”

Concorde” in its marketing, on its website and TV commercials. These, he suggests rather amazingly, “even today prompt calls to BA’s reservations hotline, where customers still want to book flights on Concorde”.

Burying the hatchetUnfortunate email news alert headline juxtaposition of the week: “Mrs Thatcher dies; Airbus breaks ground for new assembly line…”

Spark of geniusUnfortunate headline of the week, spotted by Ian Goold: “Boeing 787 Dreamliner Blazes Through the Testing of its New Battery System”.

Goold adds: “I thought the idea was not to.”

raising the woofCarefully look at the registration number to the left and try to fight the temptation to shout: “…let the dogs out?”A tail number worth wagging

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FIN_230413_041 41 18/4/13 13:26:22

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tems and install the engines. And, of course, they are respon-sible for the design, testing and certification. There’s a whole lot more to it than just bolting an air-frame together.

The logical companion of an airframer would be an engineer – one who makes engines – and I hope you will not propose that.

Applying a spell-check to the above message, the first word it snagged was “airframer”.John BurnettWalton-on-Thames, UK

Right rewards for researchIt is good that the UK is invest-ing in aerospace research with the creation of the Aerospace Technical Institute (ATI), and I wish them luck. However, I think there are two issues that must be resolved if the institute is to be successful.

Firstly, aerospace is no longer a “sexy” technology and does not attract creative talent. Secondly, the research system itself is stulti-fied. In the current system, re-search is proposed, applications reviewed and the outcome as-sessed by the same research com-munity. This is a recipe for un-originality; how many more times do we need to know that laminar flow can be attained by boundary layer suction?

I suggest a significant portion of the ATI funds be set aside as a form of “X-Prize(s)” for basic re-search. A researcher or organisa-tion would perform the research using their own funds. If the re-search results in a definite appli-cation or an innovative path to a future application, then they can be awarded a payment of twice the typical grant for similar activ-ity – the factor is to allow for the inevitable failures.

Such a scheme would encour-age risk-taking and could excite young, creative, researchers enough that they might consider aerospace as a suitable place for their talents. David NixonLos Altos, California

Contribute to the debate on Flightglobal’s AirSpace forum: flightglobal.com/airspace

Callsign prefix cuts confusionIn reference to the article “Incur-sion crew missed orders to abort” (Flight International, 26 March- 1 April), were those actual con-versations quoted between the controller and pilots of the Air Canada Embraer 190? If so, why was the callsign prefix “Air Can-ada” not used?

In my days, and even today when I listen to air traffic con-trol in the UK, it is standard to always use a prefix before the flight number – “United”, “Air France”, “Speedbird”, for exam-ple – never just the flight number. Apart from the practice being mandatory, I thought, the use of a prefix is aimed at pre-venting possible confusion when separate airlines with the same flight number are on the same frequency.

If the controller at Toronto was communicating using the flight number alone, surely this was wrong and a violation of air traf-fic rules?

And the excuse given by the pilot that “we thought it was someone else” is a rather lame excuse. If you think, or hear, an-other flight on the same frequen-cy with the same flight number, it is common sense – and air-manship – to check with the con-troller. Everyone would then be aware of the possibility of confu-sion and would include the air-line’s prefix identifier.Graham DinsdaleSawtry, UK

Preserve icons of British historyWe are now at the end of a gold-en age of British aviation and must act promptly to ensure its achievements are not lost forever. By that I mean preserving at least one flying example of the iconic aircraft – military and civilian – that have been withdrawn from airline/air force service in recent years. The opportunity will not present itself again.

There are a number of muse-um collections of static aircraft scattered around the country but very few aircraft of the jet-age in airworthy condition. How would you ever know what a lion was like if you had only seen a stuffed one in a static display? But as planes have become more sophisticated, the task of main-taining them has become increas-ingly difficult and expensive.

We now have the opportunity for history not to repeat itself fol-lowing the recent retirement by the RAF of the Nimrod, direct

descendant of the world’s first jet airliner, the Comet; the VC10, Britain’s iconic 1960s jet airliner; and the Harrier, the world’s first VTOL aircraft and last of a long line of all-British jet fighters.

With prompt action, one or more of each of these important pieces of British aviation history could be kept flying… while spares are available from other aircraft and flying and technical expertise and tooling still exist.Clifford HunterHampton, UK

More to industry than airframesWould you please stop using the term “airframer” in Flight Inter-national? If you mean “aircraft manufacturer”, which I think you do, then please say so.

I’m not sure there is any com-pany which only makes air-frames. Boeing, Airbus and the like build complete aeroplanes. Yes, they make the airframe but they also build into it all the sys-

AEROMEDICS

Do not dismiss air contaminationIn a letter you published last year (Flight International, 23-29 October 2012), Profes-sor Michael Bagshaw said: “The Germanwings incident [Flight International, 9 Octo-ber 2012] describes in accu-rate detail the classic symp-toms of hyperventilation.”

While I would agree with him that many of the reported symptoms are seen in patients suffering from hyperventilation, he seems to have ignored several other recorded complaints which are not seen in this condition, including intense nausea, contraction of the field of vision and what is almost certainly a cognitive defect – the first officer “could not handle all the in-formation”, the captain “reached the limit of his performance”.

After landing, the pilots were reported to have “blood oxy-gen contents significantly lower than 80%” – normal breathing air should be 96-98%. Given that hyperventilation leads to an increase in blood oxygen content, I find it curious that Prof Bag-shaw, an aeromedical advisor to Airbus, can be so certain the Germanwings incident can be completely explained by hyper-ventilation. In my view, the reported symptoms and finding of significant hypoxaemia makes illness caused by inhalation of pyrolysed engine oil almost certain, not hyperventilation. Con-taminated air events should not be so easily dismissed.Jonathan Burdon Consultant respiratory physicianEast Melbourne, Australia

Not so classic symptoms?

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NATS HOLDINGS LTDThree Non Executive DirectorsNATS is a world leader in the provision of air navigation services, minimising air traffic delays while maintaining safety as our top priority. Last year was one of the best on record for NATS, both operationally and financially. The company provides air traffic services for aircraft flying in UK airspace and over the eastern part of the North Atlantic and at most of the UK’s major airports. We also operate overseas in more than 30 countries.

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+353 1 816 [email protected]

www.parcaviation.aero

Contract and Permanent recruitmentfor the Aviation industry

David Rowe, Alastair Millar, Jodie Green, Ian Chapman

Tel: +44 (0)1737 821011Email: [email protected]

www.cbsbutler.com

RECRUITMENT FOR AVIATIONEASA E-LEARNING COURSES

Tel: +44 (0) 1284 700676Email: [email protected]

www.e-techs.co

F

Looking for on contract basis consultants withworking experience gained from aircra�

manufacturers’ customer services business,incl. maintenance & engineering, supplychain management, aircra� parts service,technical publica�ons, training, opera�on

support and supplier contract management.

Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 20 8643 3981www.3oac.com

Three Oaks Avia�on Consultancy Ltd.

Global Aviation Recruitment Solutions

Rebecca Anderson, Kelly Biggart, Holly

Sawkins, Billy McDougall, Lee Walker

Tel: +44(0)141 270 5007

E-mail:

[email protected]

www.firstpeoplesolutions.co.uk

GCT GroupWorldwide specialist for Aerospace Engineering, Certification & Management Servicese: [email protected]: +49 (0) 8153 93130w: www.garner.de

Recruiting Stress, Design and Fatigue & DT engineers for our offices in:

Amsterdam Bangalore

BristolGlasgow

HamburgSeattle

[email protected]

Global Aerospace contractpersonnel and work packagese: [email protected]

t: +44(0)20 8799 8916w: www.strongfield.com

The preferred company for Stress (Fatigue & DT), GFEM,Composites), Aeronautical Research. Business units:Contract staff, Workpackages, Innovation and New

Concepts, Aeronautical Research. www.bishop-gmbh.comContact [email protected]

Tel 0049-(0)40-866-258-10 Fax 0049-(0)40-866-258-20

FIN_090413 10/04/2013 16:33 Page 1

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If you would like to feature in Working Week, or you know someone who does, email your pitch to [email protected]

For more employee work experiences, pay a visit to flightglobal.com/workingweek

Pulling levers of policy for BoeingMikes Nunes is head of aviation policy at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, where he manages a team which deals with industry trade objectives such as the airframer’s efforts to commercialise sustainable biofuels

WORK EXPERIENCE mIKE NuNEs

Nunes: participated in negotiations at the World Trade Organisation

Where were you educated?After graduating from the Uni-versity of North Texas I lived in Costa Rica for a year before mov-ing to California to study interna-tional trade policy at the Monterey Institute of Interna-tional Studies.

How did your career start?I began as a policy analyst in the Office of Industry at the US Inter-national Trade Commission in Washington DC, analysing trade issues that impacted the US tele-communications services indus-try. My responsibilities broad-ened to include transportation and air cargo carriage. Essential-ly, the group responded to re-quests from Congress or the Ad-ministration to analyse the impact of trade policies on US industries. We were also called upon to participate in negotia-tions at the World Trade Organi-sation (WTO) in Geneva, and on free-trade agreements. After five years, I went to work for one of the Commissioners on anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases, defending US indus-tries from unfair foreign imports. When my Commissioner’s term expired in 2006, I was hired as international affairs director for the Telecommunications Indus-try Association, where I led a team that worked on market ac-cess on behalf of the association’s 500 member companies. I’ve

Mikes Nunes is leader of aviation policy at Boeing Commercial Airplanes

always been fascinated with avi-ation, but had an uncommon entry path into the industry.

You joined Boeing in 2008?My first job in aviation was work-ing on trade policy in the global marketing and strategy organisa-tion at Boeing Commercial Air-planes. I worked closely with its Washington DC team to ensure a competitive trade environment for aircraft sales and production. I spent a good portion of time working on the WTO trade case and on trade finance issues, but also on a variety of other issues, including export control, free-trade agreements, bilateral

aviation agreements such as Open Skies, and supply-chain policy issues. I manage a team of aviation policy professionals who help shape global policy and regulatory environments to support business objectives. The team works on a range of policy issues that impact our industry including trade policy, aviation safety and security, environmen-tal policy and operational effi-ciency. I get to manage a team of high-performing self-starters who are passionate about the work they do. The team gets to work on exciting issues, helping to move the needle on issues crit-ical for our industry’s future.

What is your favourite part of the job?The challenge. I came into the job with a relatively high level of comfort on trade issues but am enjoying learning the ins and outs of other issues our team works on. For example, we are at the fore-front of industry efforts to com-mercialise sustainable biofuels. Public policy engagement is an important part of our biofuels strategy. Likewise, the work we do on operational efficiency en-sures the industry won’t face in-frastructure and efficiency con-straints in the future. In a relatively short time, I’ve seen the entry into service of the 787 and 747-8. Watching them lift into the air for the first time was amazing. I’m excited to work for a company where dreams literally take flight.

Least favourite?I struggle with the sheer depth and breadth of the organisation. A big part of the challenge is knowing where to go for answers or help on projects. I’m getting there, though. n

EADS XP Campaign If any problems arise concerning this document, please contact Dawson Walker Communications on +44 (0)20 7323 2713.

Publication: Flight Int Working Week

Insert Date: 23/04/13

Copy Date: 16/04/13

Ad Size: 38x196mm

Booking Ref: EADS

Job Number: DW3073/3881

File Name: EADS_FIWW_38x196_15-04-13

Last Updated: 15/04/13

Proof Stage: 1

Approved by: Delphine Horodyski

Opportunities for Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) Managers

www.jobs.eads.com

FIN_230413_303 51 18/4/13 09:31:53

Engineeringthe future

The Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award recognizes the outstanding talent of tomorrow – both at graduate and undergraduate level. Presented at the Flightglobal Achievement Awards at the Paris Air Show in June and now in its eighth year, the Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award is the world’s leading competition to recognize students whose work shows the greatest promise, aptitude and dedication in the field of aeronautical or space technology. As well as the overall award, a special prize will be given to the best undergraduate submission, giving global recognition to those working on their first degree. The competition is open to any engineering student currently enrolled in a programme leading to a recognized academic degree.

The submission deadline is April 19 2013. Don’t miss your chance to engineer the future. For more information or to enter now go to: www.flightglobal.com/student

ENGINEERING STUDENTS. YOU COULD BE THIS YEAR’S BOEING ENGINEERING STUDENT OF THE YEAR

Submission deadline extended to May 3 2013

FIN_230413_304 304 18/4/13 08:50:30

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