 Branch Secretary : Alan V. J. Eley
46, Cricket Lane
Lichfield, Staffs
WS14 9ER
01543-264674
E-mail : avjeley@tiscali.co.uk
May 2012 Newsletter
Start of the Jet Age It is hard to believe that 60 years have passed since that momentous day (2nd May 1952) when 44 passengers climbed aboard Comet 1 G-ALYP of British Overseas Airways Corporation at London Heathrow Airport and flew to Johannesburg via Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe and Livingstone, on the world’s first passenger jet service (today’s jetliners can now fly there non-stop in 12 hours). For the next two years Britain seemed to have an unassailable lead in building jet airliners and De Havilland’s order book for the Comet was building up nicely when two of these lightly-built airframes exploded in mid-air in January and April 1954, bringing this first jet age to a shuddering halt while the cause of these disasters was found. It was soon discovered that metal fatigue was the culprit : De Havillands struggled to recover from these tragic events, but soon ten Comet 2s already being built were strengthened and supplied to the RAF, with whom they flew many millions of miles between 1956 and 1967. A single example of an enlarged and more powerful version (the Comet 3 G-ANLO) had flown in July 1954 ; after the Inquiry into the Comet crashes, it was strengthened and then exhaustively test-flown by De Havilland’s Chief Test Pilot John Cunningham, culminating in a round the world flight, reaching Sydney in a flying time of 24 hours and 24 minutes with stops at Cairo, Bombay, Singapore and Darwin (the return journey was made equally speedily via Auckland, Fiji, Honolulu, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal). With the aircraft back in the public eye for good reasons, De Havillands now set about building and marketing the definitive version of the Comet. This was the Mark 4, with which BOAC began the 2nd Jet Age in October 1958, narrowly beating Pan Am ’s smoky 707-121 jets for the honour of flying passenger-jets across the Atlantic : Comet 4s G-APDB and G-APDC took off at the same time from Heathrow and Idlewild Airport, New York (now JFK), their paths crossing in mid Atlantic). However Britain’s early lead was eroded by bigger and better 707s and then Douglas DC-8s (just 74 Comet 4s were built, while the 707 clocked up sales of 1010 airframes, and 556 DC-8s were produced). This does nothing to detract from the magnificent feat of British designers and engineers who, in a time of great austerity in post-war Britain, produced a world-beating aircraft that was universally admired. BOAC’s achievement in putting nine Comet 1s into service and thus halving journey times to far flung parts of the globe only seven years after the end of WWII cannot be denied : the national airline was a true pioneer, opening up the world to the possibilities of smooth, fast transport for business and pleasure.
Branch meetings On Tuesday 24th April we are to have a presentation by David Bareford of The British Ballooning & Airship Club, then on Tuesday 29th May aviation author Vic Flintham is to tell us about the Suez campaign in the autumn of 1956, when a British Task Force was landed in Egypt following air-raids by RAF Canberras and Valiants based in Cyprus and Malta, with close air-support by Sea Venoms and Sea Hawks of the Royal Navy carrier force sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Airport Security The usual warning to be on your guard when in and around airports.
If you have any suspicions that a terrorist act is about to happen at an airport or airfield,
use the hot-line direct to the Anti-Terrorist Squad : 0800-789-321.
Airline news - Already this year Spanair and Malev have collapsed. They have been joined by several other airlines which have been forced to cancel or suspend their flight operations. Kingfisher Airlines has seen its long-haul fleet withdrawn, and its staff threatening strike action over lack of pay. It hasn’t turned in a profit since it started up in 2005 (see the feature on airlines of India on another page). Air Zimbabwe has stopped flights and seen its aircraft impounded for non-payment of airport fees. Amazingly, its aircrew haven’t been paid for three years ! Caribbean start-up RedJet of Barbados has shut down after just 18 months’ operation of a small number of MD-82s, while in South Africa low-cost carrier Velvet Sky lasted just 12 months, unable to pay its fuel bills or landing charges for its small fleet of 737-300s and two VIP DC-9s. Cirrus Air of Germany was a more established operator with three ERJ-170s and twenty-four Dornier 328s, operating a network of services from Saarbrücken - it ceased all operations in January. At the other end of the globe, Air Australia went into voluntary administration in February, stranding passengers who had planned to fly in its three A320s or two A330s (this was known as Strategic Airlines from its setting up in 2008 to November 2011 when it was given the more recognisably Antipodean name Air Australia). In the USA charter operator Direct Air has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as its tries to sort out its finances. It flies a small fleet of 747-400s out of Myrtle Beach South Carolina. A far larger operator in trouble this winter has been American Airlines which filed for Chapter 11 protection last December as it faced a winter cash-flow situation and ever-rising fuel prices. Its parent company AMR Corporation has debts of $29.6 billion ! With an urgent need to replace its 216 thirsty MD-80s, the company has to find the means to pay for new aircraft and restructure its debts if it is to continue : a merger with US Airways has been suggested as a way out of the situation. [American Airlines is very much an American figure-head : it started up in 1934 and has become one of the world’s largest airlines with 66,500 employees. It flies to 160 cities in 44 countries world-wide with a fleet of 612 aircraft, yet even the world’s biggest airlines can succumb to market forces.]
- The first A380 for Thai Airways International (c/n 089) had its maiden flight from Toulouse on 6th March. After fitting out at the Airbus factory airfield at Hamburg/ Finkenwerder, it will be delivered in the autumn of 2012 as HS-MAR and will be flown on the company’s premier routes to Europe, including Heathrow.
- Japan Air Lines took delivery of its first two Boeing 787s on 25th March , marking the operational service entry of General Electric’s GEnx-1B engine. JA822A and JA825A were the sixth and seventh 787s to enter airline service, with JAL being the second 787 operator after All Nippon Airways. The first JAL 787 route will be from Tokyo/Narita to Boston, Massachusetts on 22nd April, to be followed by Beijing, Delhi and Moscow before the end of May, with San Diego and Helsinki being added before the end of the year. JAL has 45 Boeing 787s on order.
- After a four year delay, Air India is close to receiving its first Boeing 787. It expects to accept its first aircraft in May, another in June and seven aircraft by the end of March next year. In all Air India will take 27 of the General electric GEnx-1B-powered variants.
- British Airways/IAG has agreed to relinquish 14 pairs of Heathrow slots that it acquired following the agreed take-over of British Midland/ BMI. BMI, which was losing £3 million a week in recent months, had 56 pairs of slots at Heathrow, most of which IAG will use to increase its domination of the Heathrow scene, where 51 % of the airport’s take-offs and landings are British Airways or Iberia flights. Two pairs of slots have already been leased to the Russian airline TransAero, leaving a further 12 available for bidders. The European Commission, which controls the issue of airport slots across Europe, is insisting that seven pairs of slots have to be used between Heathrow and Scotland, leaving five for other destinations. Virgin Atlantic, which has just 3 % of all the Heathrow slots, would dearly like to gain a foothold in the UK domestic market and will be bidding in the auction to be held in the next few weeks. It is calling for all 12 slots to be on offer as a complete package to provide the most effective competition to IAG.
- Of 2,700 staff employed by BMI, around 1,100 cabin crew, pilots and engineers based at Heathrow will transfer to BA, but 1200 jobs will be lost at BMI’s headquarters at East Midlands Airport and other regional airports. The future of BMI’s Regional and BMI Baby brands is not yet known.
Industry news - The 1000th Boeing 777 was handed over on 2nd March, the aircraft being a 777-31HER for Emirates registered A6-EGO (c/n 35598). Boeing hopes to build 100 777s each year from 2013, after taking orders for 200 of the long-range twin-jet in 2011. Assembly of a 777 takes 49 days, with 3 million parts arriving from 500 different suppliers all over the USA, to be fitted in a carefully planned sequence leading up to systems testing, painting and then flight-test (it happens on a moving assembly-line, like a car production line). Boeing had invested more than $4 billion of its own money in the 777 project before major assembly of the first 777 began in January 1993 and has brought in an important series of updates to keep its creation at the forefront of commercial aviation (the 777 is now the company’s most profitable model). The proven reliability of the aircraft’s engines and systems led to the approval of ETOPS 330 for the 777 in December 2011, meaning the aircraft can in a worse-case scenario fly up to five and a half hours on a single engine to reach a diversion airfield (after an incident in mid pacific, for example). More on the next development of the 777 in the next item.
- There is news from Seattle that Boeing is planning a new version of the 777 with longer wing-span and some use of composites in its main structure, technology borrowed from the 787 design. The company is looking to launch in late 2012 a three-member 777X family in response to the larger Airbus A350-900 and -1000 series. A new carbon fibre reinforced (CFRP) plastic wing is at the heart of the new development. It will be the largest in Boeing’s history and will offer around 10% more wing area than the current 777-300ER. Allowing slower and quieter approaches. Three sizes of wingspan are being considered : from 65 metres to 68 metres and largest of all 71.1 metres (233 ft) with raked wingtips and maybe even a wing-fold device for the outer panels to allow the aircraft to access tight spaces at airports. Boeing aims to have 60% commonality with the systems and parts of the present 777. Accommodation will be ten-abreast economy seating and nine-abreast in premium economy. The 777-8X will take 353 passengers, the 777-9X will have a capacity of 407 and a maximum take-off weight of 344 tonnes. The third member of the new 777 family is likely to be the 777-8LX that will be comparable with the ultra-long range 777-200LR currently flying. It will have a range of 9480 nautical miles, sufficient to allow all the year round non-stop flights from the UK to Australia (what, no stop-over ?)
- Modern airliners are routinely tested to destruction before the aircraft has its maiden flight. In the case of the 777, Boeing tested the wing in a rig with jacks moving the wing-tips up and down more and more. The wing was able to move 24 feet above its normal position under a load of 227 tonnes before it failed, a load unheard of in actual flight operations.
- With the residual value of Airbus A340s now dropping rapidly, there may be a new life for the four engined airliner as a freighter. 218 A340-300s were built and an American firm LCF Conversions sees a place for a cargo conversion of the A340 that does away with the need to cut the fuselage open to make a large freight door. The proposal is to use the standard lower-fuselage freight doors and to install a pair of internal cargo lifts, one forward and one aft, to transfer payload between the lower and main decks. The freighter would be capable of transporting over 60 tonnes across a range exceeding 5,000 nautical miles. Suitable airframes are expected to be available for about $15 million ; add to that a cost of around $6.5 million for the conversion and you have a very affordable long-range freighter. The absence of a large freight door would limit the size of containers and pallets, but much freight is already packed in smaller loads to be carried under the floor of passenger jets, so that is no great problem.
Airport News - On 21st April Singapore Airport will see Qantas A380 VH-OQA fly out after repairs lasting 18 months : this was the aircraft that landed safely at Singapore on 4th November 2010 after a potentially fatal explosion in its number 2 Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine. So serious was the damage to the engine pylon, wing and fuselage that it was thought the aircraft might have to be written off, but Airbus engineers have now been able
to complete the repairs and get the aircraft ready for airline service again. Its value is around $250 million, so Qantas wants it back in service.
- All the difficulties of having just a single runway at Gatwick were exposed when Virgin Atlantic A330 G-VSXY made an emergency return on 16th April soon after taking off for Orlando, Florida. The cabin filled with smoke according to some on board and a quick descent and landing were called for (some reports talk of a fire in the cockpit, another report said it was in the cargo hold). All 299 passengers on board plus 13 crew members survived, although four people were injured during the evacuation from the aircraft half way down the runway. All flight operations in and out of Gatwick were stopped for over two hours until the aircraft could be towed away to a safe place for repairs. If time had allowed, it would have been better to have landed the aircraft at Birmingham, Stansted or Luton which are less busy airports, although admittedly they all have single-runway operation. Manchester might have been a better place, with its rather under-used second runway offering a better emergency landing site that wouldn’t require all flights to be stopped !
The British Isles Civil Aircraft Register Figures released by the CAA at the start of the year showed that there were 21,183 civil aircraft of all shapes and sizes on the British Register at the end of 2011. This was 373 fewer than the year before and 1276 fewer than in 2009, so the numbers have been dropping for the last few years. There are currently 1605 helicopters registered in Great Britain. It is interesting to note the success of the Isle of Man in setting up its own civil aircraft register in 2007 ; since that time over 450 registrations have been issued there, mostly for business aircraft ; the current total for active aircraft registered in the Isle of Man is 337.
New on the scene (1) - Boeing have now confirmed that Gatwick will see its first B787 arrival on Wednesday 25th April as part of a current world tour : the 787 is expected to arrive from Manchester and stay for two days (Heathrow has already had an unscheduled 787 visit when JA805A of ANA was diverted there on 2nd March due to fog at Frankfurt).
New on the scene (2) - These are the new GB airliner registrations this month, with more of the new series of 737-800s for Thomson Airways, two former Thomas Cook machines joining Monarch, further Avro RJ.85s returning after their years with Sabena/ Brussels AL and Lufthansa, not to mention a few airliners returning after their time in Canada serving Air Canada Jazz and Sunwing.
Reg.
|
Type
|
c/n
|
p.i.
|
Operator
|
Further details
|
G-CGYV
|
Avro RJ.85
|
2279
|
OO-DJO
|
Trident Leasing, Southend
| Reg. 28/ 3/ 12 |
G-CHBI
|
ERJ 170-100LR
|
006
|
D-ALIA
|
ECC Leasing Co,
Exeter
(ex Cirrus AL)
| Reg. 5/ 3/ 12 |
G-CHDG
|
Avro RJ.85
|
2293
|
D-AVRN
|
Trident Leasing, Manston
| Reg. 14/ 2/ 12 |
G-CHDO
|
Avro RJ.85
|
2289
|
OO-DJQ
|
Trident Leasing, Southend
| Reg. 8/ 3/ 12 |
G-EZUN
|
A320-214
|
5046
|
D-AXAN
|
Easy Jet
| Reg. 22/ 3/ 12 |
G-FDZG
|
737-8K5
|
35139
|
C-FRZG
|
Thomson Airways
| Re-reg. 22/ 3/ 12 |
G-GDFG
|
737-36Q
|
28658
|
LN-KKQ
EC-GMY
|
Jet 2
| Reg. 16/ 3/ 12 |
G-GDFK
|
737-36N
|
28572 N4620F
ES-ABK G-XBHX
G-STRE
|
Jet 2
| Reg. 16/ 3/ 12 |
G-JMCD
|
757-25F
|
30757
|
C-GJZK
C-FLCD
|
Thomas Cook Airlines
| Re-reg. 27/ 3/ 12 |
G-MAJK
|
Jetstream 41
|
41070
|
SX-SEB
|
Eastern Airways, Humberside
| Re-reg. 6/ 3/ 12 |
G-OCLH
|
Avro RJ.85
|
2268
|
D-AVRH
|
Trident Leasing, Manston
| Re-reg. 6/ 3/ 12 |
G-OZBW
|
A320-214
|
1571
|
G-OOPP
C-GTDG
G-OOAS
|
Monarch Airlines
| Reg. 9/ 3/ 12 |
G-OZBX
|
A320-214
|
1637
|
G-OOPU
G-OOAU
|
Monarch Airlines
| Reg. 6/ 3/ 12 |
G-TAWF
|
737-8K5
|
37244
|
-
|
Thomson Airways
| Reg. 8/ 3/ 12 |
G-TAWG
|
737-8K5
|
37266
|
-
|
Thomson Airways
| Reg. 19/ 3/ 12 |
G-VRAY
|
A330-343E
|
1296
|
-
|
Virgin Atlantic Airways, Heathrow
| Reg. 30/ 3/ 12 |
G-VROM
|
747-443
|
32339
|
CP-2603
|
Virgin Atlantic Airways, Gatwick
(ex-lease to Aerosur of Bolivia)
| Re-reg. 29/ 3/ 12 |
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