Flight International 20140204

8/13/2019 Flight International 20140204

1/68

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

CHANGI CALLING

WE SET THE SCENE

FOR THE BIGGEST

AIR SHOW IN ASIA

FEATURES P34

NOT RUSSIAN IN

Bombardier cautious onproposal to set up Q400assembly line for localmarket in Ulyanovsk 17

REACH FOR JSTARS

USAF reveals process todevelop replacement forjoint surveillance targetattack radar system 26

flightglobal.com

9 7 7 0 0 1 5 3 7 1 2 6 6

0 6

3.40

4-10 FEBRUARY 2014

SINGAPORE SPECIAL

HEAD TO HEAD787 and A350 get set to face off but which will come out on top?


2/68


3/68


4/68

MORE TO BELIEVE INSuperior performance | Lower cost of ownership | Greater reliability

Theres a lot of securit y in choosing LEAP. Not only does it yield

the very best per formance out of the box, but it will also pay

long-term dividends in the form of best-in-class fuel burn

retention. Add in CFMs legendary reliability and youve made

one savvy investment.

Go to cfmaeroengines.com

CFM International is a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran) and GE.

Lock in the best fuel efficiency


5/68

4-10 February 2014 |Flight International|5ightglobal.com

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

4-10 FEBRUARY 2014

Bombardier,USArmyIraq could be lining up a $4.8bn order for 24 Boeing AH-64E

Apache helicopters P12. Bombardier hopes a pact with

Rostec will help to swell the Q400s depleted backlog P17

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

CHANGICALLING

WESETTHE SCENE

FORTHEBIGGEST

AIRSHOWIN ASIA

FEATURESP34

NOTRUSSIANIN

BombardiercautiousonproposaltosetupQ400assemblylinefor localmarketinUlyanovsk 17

REACHFORJSTARS

USAFrevealsprocess todevelopreplacementforjointsurveillance targetattackradarsystem 26

flightglobal.com

9 7 7 0 0 1 5 3 7 1 2 6 6

0 6

3.40

4-10FEBRUARY2014

SINGAPORESPECIAL

HEAD TO HEAD787andA350getsettofaceoff

butwhichwillcome outon top?

26 USAF scans for JSTARS replacement as itreveals eight-year plan

BUSINESS AVIATION

29 Greenpoint secures patent to lift luxury ofVVIP jumbo.Cirrus makes personal Vision a reality

NEWS FOCUS

30 Safran sparks electric charge as its latestacqusition lls last gap in strategic drive

33 UAVs stay tangled in red tape as FAAoutlines strategy

COVER STORY

18 Rivals set for Singapore showdownAsias biggest air show next week willgive visitors a chance to compare thenew-generation widebodies from Airbusand Boeing the A350 and 787 inthe esh

REGULARS09 Comment

57 Straight & Level

58 Letters

60 Classified

63 Jobs

67 Working Week

NEWS

THIS WEEK

10 United Arab Emirates upgrades itsambitions for F-16

11 Boeing stock hit by earnings estimate

12 Eurocopters new identity lifts spirits.Redesigned EC225 gearbox component

ready by third quarterIraq guns for Apache purchase

14 F-35 faces familiar dogght

AIR TRANSPORT

17 Bombardier still looking for Russianrevival with Q400

20 Power asymmetry triggered fatal roll.Authorities had no oversight of carriersforeign operations

22 Crews clearance confusion precededrunway near-miss.R-R to trial new mature engine supportoption.India nally drops superjumbo ban

DEFENCE

24 Merlins go commando for UK forcesQatar eyes NH90, Tiger acquisitions.Swiss Gripen acquisition set for public vote

25 New Zealand signs $127m T-6C dealBrimstone red to success in UK Reapertrials

FEATURES34 SINGAPORE SPECIAL REPORT

Where Asia does businessSingaporeis the commercial and nancial hub ofSoutheast Asia, and its biennial airshow, which begins on 11 February,will be the focus of much activity inone of the worlds most dynamic regions

for aviation. We set the scene for theevent with features from our Singaporebureau-based journalists lookingat the local airline market, defenceprocurement, business aviation,airport capacity and indigenousaircraft programmes.

VOLUME 185 NUMBER 5425

PIC OF THE WEEKYOUR PHOTOGRAPH HEREThe US Air Force posted this shot of the

first newly upgraded operational BoeingB1-B Lancer preparing to take flight on 21January at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.The B-1B Lancer was recently upgradedwith a new Integrated Battle Station. TheIBS is a combination of three differentupgrades, including a fully integrated datalink, a vertical situation display upgradeand a central integrated system upgrade.

USAirFo

rce

flightglobal.com/imageoftheday

AirTeamImages,

Airbus

COVER IMAGE

Flightglobal designer Lauren

Mills created this composite

image of a Boeing 787 and

an Airbus A350. The rival

airliners are set to appeartogether in public for the

first time at next weeks

Singapore air show.

See Cover Story P18

NEXT WEEK TARANIS FLIESCheck out our next issue for updates onthe UKs Taranis unmanned technologydemonstrator and Voyager programmes.Plus, our latest training supplement.

BAESys

tems

Download The Engine Directory.

flightglobal.com/ComEngDirectory

Download the new Commercial Engines Reportnow updated for 2014 with enhanced data and in-depth market analysis


6/68

THE WEEK ON THE WEB

flightglobal.com

ightglobal.com6 |Flight International|4-10 February 2014

BEHIND THEHEADLINES

Flightglobal reaches up to 1.3 million visitors from 220

countries viewing 7.1 million pages each month

CONTENTS

For a full list of reader services, editorialand advertising contacts see P59

EDITORIAL

+44 20 8652 [email protected]

DISPLAY ADVERTISING


CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING


RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING


SUBSCRIPTIONS


REPRINTS


FLIGHT DAILY NEWS


Find all these items at flightglobal.com/wotw

HIGH FLIERS

The top five stories for the week just gone:

1A350 heads to Canada for cold-weather tests

2Lion Air to convert 787 order into narrowbodies3Airbus confirms A350 for Singapore Airshow

4UAE raises possible deal for Block 61 F-16

5USAF reveals plan to replace JSTARS with business jets by 2022

In the DEW Lineblog, Craig Hoyle recounts how Swiss

opposition to the proposed procurement of 22 Saab Gripenghters persuaded more than 65,000 citizensto sign a

petitionto trigger a national

referendum on the issue. A

public vote is to be held on 18

May, and a positive result is

now required if the purchase

is to go ahead. All power to

the Swiss for having such a

democratic systemin

place, says Hoyle. There might be the odd billboard and

advert from industry appearing over the next four months.

Just be sure you have your say, he adds. Arie Egozi

discusses is his Ariel Viewblog how the use of unmannedair systemsin the Israeli air forceis now at an all-time

high. As a result, the IAF is evaluating how to maintain these

systems. The aim is to decide whether the IAF should

perform the maintenance itself, or leave it in the hands of

the manufacturers, says Egozi.

Managing editor Dominic Perry

travelled to Parisfor the rst

annual brieng from the renamed

Airbus Helicopters. Meanwhile,operations and safety editor

David Learmountwas invited

byEurocontrolto moderate a

debate at its Brussels headquar-

ters on European air traffic

managementefciency.

IN THIS ISSUECompanies listedAgustaWestland ...............................12, 24, 25AirAsia .........................................................41Airbus ........................................10, 18, 22, 30Airbus Helicopters ..................................12, 24AirClub.........................................................29

Alenia Aermacchi .........................................25Alrosa ..........................................................17Amazon .......................................................33Antonov .......................................................17ATR ..............................................................17BAE Systems .........................................10, 26Beechcraft .............................................25, 29Bell Helicopter .............................................29Boeing ................. ... 11, 12, 18, 25, 26, 29, 30Bombardier .....................................17, 26, 29CAE .............................................................25Cirrus Aircraft ...............................................29Dassault ......................................................10de Havilland ................................................17Directional Aviation Capital ..........................29Eaton ...........................................................30Emirates ......................................................22Enstrom .......................................................29Fairchild .......................................................20Flexjet ..........................................................29

Flightline ......................................................20Flight Options ..............................................29Garuda Indonesia ........................................41General Atomics...............................10, 25, 33General Electric ...........................................10Germanwings...............................................22Greenpoint Technologies ..............................29Gulfstream ...................................................29Hamilton Sundstrand ................................30Heli-Union ...................................................12Ilyushin ........................................................17Irkut .............................................................12Israel Aerospace Industries ..........................12

Japan Aircraft Development Corporation .......17Kaman .........................................................25Kingsher ....................................................22Labinal ........................................................30Lion Group ...................................................10Lockheed Martin ................. 10, 12, 14, 25, 26Lufthansa ....................................................22

Malaysia Airlines ..........................................41Manx2 .........................................................20MBDA ..........................................................25NH Industries .........................................24, 25Nordzee Helikopters Vlaanderen...................12Northrop Grumman ..........................10, 12, 26Pacic Aerospace.........................................25Panavia........................................................25Pratt & Whitney ............................................30Raytheon .........................................10, 25, 26Rolls-Royce ..................................................22Rostec .........................................................17Russian Helicopters .....................................42Saab ...........................................................24Safran .........................................................30Sikorsky .......................................................30Singapore Airlines ........................................22Sukhoi .........................................................12

TAPO ............................................................17Tigerair.........................................................41

Transall ........................................................22Triumph Group .............................................30United Technologies .....................................30UTAir ............................................................12UTC Aerospace Systems...............................30Vietnam Airlines ...........................................41Westland .....................................................24WheelTug .....................................................12Williams International ..................................29

Yakutia Airlines.............................................17

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

8%

Its days are numberedOnly as long as fuelprices stay high

27%

Its here to stay

65%

Total votes: 1,735

This week, we ask: What will receive the most orders atSingapore? 777X A350 787 A320neo 737 Max

Vote at flightglobal.com/poll

Last week, we asked whether the turboprop renaissance isgoing to last:You said:


7/68

EmbraerCommercialAviation.com

Never has such a smallnumber been such big news.Announcing E-Jets E2, the second generation.

E-Jets invented the 70 to 120-seat segment. Ten years later, they still lead it. And continuous

improvements mean theyre well ahead of competitors. So what next? E2, the second generation.

Three new models, reconceived from nose to tail. Sure, the E2 series inherits all the well-loved

family traits. But E2 takes quantum leaps with uniquely efficient new high-aspect-ratio wing

designs. With ultra-high-performance P&W GTF engines. With greater seating capacities. And

with major cockpit-to-cabin innovations. So it is that the second generation promises even

higher achievement than the first. Which is obviously no small thing.


8/68


9/68

COMMENT


A Russian enigmaI

n a simpler world, Bombardier would not contem-plate a second Dash 8 Q400 assembly line in Russia.

The Canadian airframers civil turboprop is just the sortof high-technology, low-volume product demandingskilled assembly from a large number of sophisticatedcomponents that is most economically built on a singleline, to streamline logistics, minimise duplicated costsand maintain quality control.

Alas, nothing is so simple for the Q400. Thoughturboprops are enjoying a resurgence, the Q400 is notselling well, and even at the current low rate of produc-tion and delivery Bombardier will have exhausted its

backlog in a couple of years. Barring a surge of orders, itis not unreasonable to ask whether the programme will

need even one assembly line for much longer. Russia,however, is the biggest potential market for the Q400. Ifthe programme has a future, Russian demand may beto thank for it. But even then, as aircraft are easilyflown to their final destination there is no economicimperative for local production except to beat theRussian import tax on turboprops.

Perhaps that tax explains the whole affair. But it isstill hard to imagine that Russian Q400 demand will behigh enough and costs in Ulyanovsk low enough tooverturn the rationale for running just one assemblyline. Are the Russians getting an assembly line, or are

they taking over the programme?See Air Transport P17

Interested in aerospace in

Russia? You can nd our

August 2013 Russia special

and MAKS interactive magazine

at flightglobal.com/maks

Fickle friendsBoeings shareholders took the forecast of stagnant prots in 2014 badly and dumped stock,

wiping 6% off the companys value but the long-term outlook is better than investors think

See This Week P11

Not the only measure of success

RexFeatures

Shareholders are not known for their long-term per-spective, but the one-day sell-off of Boeing shares

on 29 January takes investor fickleness to a new level. Italso offers a silent rebuttal to a key element of Boeingscorporate strategy, which seems locked-in on keepinginvestors happy by making decisions that at timesappear to come at the expense of long-term priorities.

The reason for wiping nearly 6% off the value ofBoeing shares had nothing to do with the financialresults that Boeing announced the same day.

Despite enormous challenges, including a costly 787

grounding early in 2013, Boeing still delivered a greatfinancial year by any rational measure. Moreover, thefull-year and fourth-quarter results were announcedonly one month after Boeing offered investors twoChristmas gifts: a generous dividend and a $10 billionshare repurchase programme.

None of that was enough. What spooked investorswas Boeings newly-released financial outlook for2014, which anticipates stagnant profits despite risingcommercial aircraft deliveries.

The reaction by investors is revealing. Nobodyexpects Boeings stock price to soar after hearing suchnews, but neither is there any reason to overreact.

The commercial aircraft backlogs for Airbus andBoeing are the ultimate counter-point to short-term jit-ters. Never has the airline industry been more keen toacquire new aircraft to counter spiking fuel bills.

There are not enough slots in

the near-term to keep adding

four-digit orders every year

The modest expectations on order announce-ments by Airbus and Boeing in 2014 need perspective.The order binge of the last three years could not possi-bly be sustained at current production rates, even fac-toring in planned output growth. There are simply notenough available slots in the near-term to keep addingfour-digit orders to the backlog over the next two orthree years. Besides, combined orders of roughly 1,400aircraft between the two would be celebrated in mostyears, rather than regarded as modest.

Neither is the industry detecting obvious signs of anorder bubble about to burst.

It is true that Chinas economic output is flagging,but the industrys big players do not sense that the tra-ditional relationship between GDP growth and aircraftorders still applies in that market. It is more likely thatsupply is still catching up to pent-up demand for air-craft in China, keeping backlogs and orders intact.

The macro-trends still favour the aerospace indus-try, regardless of Boeing investors jangling nerves.


10/68

THIS WEEK


For a round-up of our latest online news,

feature and multimedia content visit

flightglobal.com/wotw

Aroutine disclosure by the USDepartment of Defense hasrevealed that the United ArabEmirates has increased the sizeand scope of a potential follow-on order for the Lockheed MartinF-16, to also include a mysteriousBlock 61 designation.

The UAE is continuing to ne-gotiate a direct commercial sale

with Lockheed, but the numberof fighters in discussion has in-creased from 25 to 30, accordingto a US Defense Security Cooper-ation Agency notice to Congress,posted on 24 January.

The United Arab Emirates hasrequested a possible sale of equip-ment in support of its commercialpurchase of 30 F-16 Block 61 air-craft, and to support the upgrade ofits existing F-16 Block 60 aircraft,the agency says, valuing the For-eign Military Sales element of an

order at a potential $270 million.In April 2013, a senior US de-

fence official valued a potential25-aircraft sale as worth slightlyless than $5 billion, and assum-ing that the average cost of thefighter remains at about $200 mil-lion, the additional units couldincrease this to nearly $6 billion.

Lockheed declines to commenton how the Block 61 variantwould differ from the 80 F-16E/Fspurchased by the UAE more than

COMBAT AIRCRAFT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

UAE upgrades itsambitions for F-16Gulf state boosts size of order for Lockheed Martin ghterfollowing breakdown of talks to take Euroghter Typhoons

LockheedMartin

Almost 80 Block 60 examples are flown by the nations air force

A350 CONCLUDES COLD-WEATHER TRIALS

DEVELOPMENTAirbus on 28 January announced the completion of

cold-weather tests of the prototype A350-900 at Iqaluit airport, wrap-ping up the programme in less than a week. The twinjet, MSN3, had

own to the Canadian airport on 24 January for tests covering en-

gine and auxiliary power unit start-up, system behaviour following

cold-soak, taxiing and rejected take-off. Airbus says the aircraft also

conducted a local ight.

US CUSTOMS AGENCY GROUNDS PREDATORS

MISHAPThe US Customs and Border Protection Agency has

grounded its remaining eet of nine General Atomics Aeronautical

Systems Predator Bs, while it investigates the cause of a 27 January

crash. Operators intentionally ditched the unmanned air vehicle

about 17nm (32km) off the coast of San Diego after a mechanical

failure, the agency says. The mishap is the second to have involved

one of its Predator Bs, which are used to detect smugglers.

CFM IS THE MAIN CHOICE FOR LION GROUPS A320S

PROPULSION Lion Group has picked CFM International CFM56 en-

gines for 60 of its ordered Airbus A320s, in a deal worth $1.2 billion

at list prices. However, the group has yet to make a powerplant se-

lection for the 109 re-engined A320neos and 65 A321neos it has on

order. Its rst CFM56-powered A320 aircraft will be delivered in

mid-2014. Lion says it chose the CFM engines partly because it

could see some benet in maintaining commonality with its

Boeing 737s, on which the CFM56 is the sole powerplant offered.

YAK-130 BOOST FOR BANGLADESH

ORDERBangladesh has signed a contract for 24 Irkut-built Yak-130

combat trainers, the head of Russias Rosoboronexport arms exportagency says. The deal was signed in the fourth quarter of 2013,

Anatoly Isaikin told Russias Kommersantnewspaper. Moscow last

year granted Bangladesh a $1 billion credit for an arms package also

including Mil Mi-17V5 and Mi-171 transport helicopters.

NEW-LOOK HERON TO RUFFLE FEATHERS

DEBUTIsrael Aerospace Industries will unveil a modied version of

its Heron unmanned air vehicle at the 11-16 February Singapore air

show. Modications have mainly been made to the fuselage, to allow

for the installation of a heavy fuel engine ight-tested since late last

year. The Republic of Singapore Air Forces 119 Sqn began operating

the medium-altitude, long-endurance Heron 1 UAV in 2012.

See Show Preview P34

SUKHOI SEES LONGER TIMELINE FOR SSJ STRETCH

PROGRAMMESukhois civil aircraft division is playing down the

likelihood of near-term emergence for a stretched Superjet, although

the proposal remains under examination. It says a Superjet featuring

increased passenger capacity is running through the project de-

nition study. However, it indicates that there is no pressure to

develop the aircraft.

WHEELTUG INCREASES BACKLOG WITH ORDER PAIR

DEALSElectric-taxi specialist WheelTug has received tentative or-

ders from two customers to equip 50 Boeing 737 Max aircraft and

four 737NGs with its nose-wheel drive system. The letters of intent

from the unnamed customers takes WheelTugs backlog to 781

units reserved by 14 airlines through similar preliminary deals.

BRIEFING

a decade ago. The in-service Block60 variant uses a General ElectricF110-132 engine, Northrop Grum-man APG-80 radar and a Northropelectronic warfare system.

Both Lockheed and BAE Sys-tems now offer upgraded F-16configurations with a choice ofactive electronically scannedarray radars: Northrops scaleable

agile beam radar and the Raythe-on active combat radar. It is un-clear whether such an adaptationcould form part of a deal to en-hance the UAEs capabilities.

A likely decision to expand theF-16 inventory follows the UAEsprevious interest in the DassaultRafale and then EurofighterTyphoon as potential replace-ments for its fleet of upgradedDassault Mirage 2000-9s.

Despite a spike in activityaround last Novembers Dubai air

show, BAE late last year an-nounced that discussions linkedto a potential 60-aircraft Typhoonsale had ended. The breakdownwas later attributed to the cus-tomers budget allocation fallingshort of the level required toacquire the type.

Flightglobal's MiliCAS data-base records the UAE's active in-ventory of combat aircraft as con-sisting of 78 E/F-model F-16s and51 Mirage 2000-9s.


11/68

THIS WEEK


Iraq guns forApache purchaseTHIS WEEK P12

Boeings balance sheet for2013 looked almost spotless

upon release on 29 January. Thecompany reported a healthyjump in net income, record com-mercial deliveries and a better-than-expected defence sector.

So what happened? Investorsimmediately sent Boeings stock

crashing nearly 6%, accountingfor nearly half of the 170-pointdaily drop for the Dow JonesIndustrial average. Boeings stockhas not witnessed a drop so steepsince 12 July the day a firebroke out on a parked EthiopianAirlines 787 at London Heathrowairport and sparked a mini-crisis,until it was clear the event wasnot related to previous incidentsinvolving overheating batteries.

PESSIMISTIC VIEW

What spooked investors scanningBoeings balance sheet was notpictures of fire retardant-dousedDreamliners, but the companysfinancial guidance for 2014. De-spite predicting an 11% jump incommercial aircraft deliveries,Boeing appears to have taken apessimistic outlook on 2014 earn-ings per share (EPS). The consen-sus estimate by Wall Street ana-lysts was set at $7.50 or about5% more than Boeing deliveredin 2013. Instead, Boeing estimat-

ed an EPS between $7.00 and$7.20 for 2014, which ranges

BOEING CONTRACTUAL

BACKLOG ($ BILLION)

End-2013 End-2012

CommercialAirplanes

373 317.3

Boeing MilitaryAircraft

24.8 29.2

Network &Space Systems

9.8 10.1

Global Services& Support

15 15.8

TOTAL 422.6 372.4

FINANCE STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Investors reject Boeings rosy outlookDespite a strong balance sheet and a growing order backlog, shareholders are focusing on rising costs for 787 programme

Boeing

Costs on the 787 programme are increasing

as a result of its rising production rate

from a 1% decline to a 2% im-provement over last year.

Boeings investors clearly didnot appreciate the surprise, anddumped shares. Boeing chiefexecutive James McNerney andchief financial officer Greg Smithhosted a teleconference call withanalysts, who seemed curious if

the company leaderships moodwas pessimistic, or merelyconservative.

Cai von Rumohr, aerospaceanalyst for Cowen and Company,

notes that Boeings expectationsfell considerably below, I think,where most people were.

The explanation by Smith andMcNerney reveals the key pres-sures on the company, even as ithauls in new orders and rampsup deliveries to record levels.

Despite the increasing de-mand, Boeing is dealing internal-ly with a costly transition on the787 line, which is introducing anew variant in the regular pro-duction flow at the same time

that it escalates production to 10aircraft per month. The demands

on incorporating the 787-9 haveforced Boeing to add more con-tract workers at its plant inCharleston, South Carolina, thatassembles the centre fuselage,Smith says.

The significant structuralchange in the airplane going fromthe -8 to the -9 is in the mid-

body, Smith says. So to addressthis we have applied additionalresources. We know how to dothis and we will get those jobsback to what we view as a moreacceptable level.

The costs on the 787programme are also increasing asa function of the programmesrising production rate. Boeingwill deliver at least 110 787s in2014 at the current productionrate. Among those aircraft are de-liveries to 17 new customers,

each requiring a dedicatedsupport team to help establishoperations, Smith says.

This is just all part of bringingthis programme up to a wide-body rate that obviously hasnever been done, Smith says.

COSTLY CHANGESMeanwhile, Boeing is still payingthe price for the mistakes made indeveloping the 787, which re-quired extensive modificationsfor aircraft produced during the

nearly four-year delay betweenroll-out and entry-into service.

Some of those aircraft remain inBoeings change incorporationprocess, and will be deliveredlater this year. It happens thatsuch aircraft in the pipeline thisyear require more work thanusual, Smith says. You kind ofgot to take that into considera-tion, he says.

Another moving piece inBoeings financial picture thisyear is the 767 production sys-tem. That programme is transi-tioning from a roughly 1.75 permonth rate for a commerial cus-tomer to a lower rate of one permonth as the KC-46A tanker forthe US Air Force. The 747-8 pro-gramme, meanwhile, has been awatch item for more than 12months. Boeing has reduced theoutput level twice over the pastyear, and it now stands at what

seems to be a minimum thresh-old of 1.5 per month.

Boeings expectationsfell considerablybelow where mostpeople were


12/68

THIS WEEK





ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY PARIS

Eurocopter lifted by its new identityCEO says rebranding as Airbus Helicopters and certication of new model will help it rebound from very difcult 2013

Airbus Helicopters the re-branded Eurocopter be-

lieves the launch of its new iden-tity will help to mark a reversal offortunes as the manufacturerstrives to recover from what itschief executive describes as avery difficult year.

CEO Guillaume Faury, speak-ing at a media event in Paris on28 January, said that 2013 hadseen tragic accidents involvingits products the crash of anAS332L2 off Shetland and an

EC135T2 in Glasgow and partof the [EC225] offshore fleetgrounded for a period andprogrammes which experienceddelays.

The company saw total ordersfall to 422 in 2013, from 469 theyear before, in part due to theshrinking global defence marketand multiple certification delaysto its flagship EC175 civilrotorcraft.

That slippage, says Faury, con-tributed to potential customers

for the 7.5t type playing a waitand see game with orders. In all,the manufacturer took just fivebookings for the helicopter lastyear, thought to be from lessorMilestone Aviation.

A second order from oil andgas operator Bristow Group islikely to be confirmed shortly fol-lowing the EC175 gaining EASAcertification on 27 January.

Deliveries to launch customersUTAir, Nordzee HelikoptersVlaanderen and Hli-Union will

SAFETY

Airframer works to certificate permanent EC225 gearbox fix

Certication of the redesigned bevelgear vertical shaft for the Airbus

Helicopters EC225 is expected to-

wards the end of March 2014 or in

early April, as the manufacturer

looks for a swift resolution to the

problems that have aficted the type

since May 2012.

Assuming approval from EASA

occurs as planned, the retrot of the

component to the global eet of

EC225s and military EC725s should

begin in the third quarter, says Jean-

Brice Dumont, chief technical ofcer

at the Marignane-headquarteredairframer. The majority of EC225s

were grounded in October 2012 fol-

lowing a pair of North Sea ditchings

involving the type, later found to

have been caused by cracks in the

shaft precipitated by active corro-

sion.

Airbus Helicopters introduced an

interim x for the problem in mid-

2013, and Dumont says that more

than 90% of the eet has now re-

turned to full operational status.

Dumont says the revised shaft has

yet to y but has been corroded,tortured and cracked in its test fa-

cilities, and subjected to loads 1.4

times larger than those required for

certication. While currently unable

to quantify how much the problem

has cost Airbus Helicopters, Dumont

says it has hurt the company, and

also resulted in a clear loss of con-

dence among operators.

However, he believes the manu-

facturers transparency in its sub-

sequent response has slowly won

back that trust.

follow in the second half of theyear, Faury says, althoughdeclines to give a more precisetimeline.

Overall deliveries rose year onyear to 497, up on 2012's total of475. This was largely driven by

the performance of its civil divi-sion, which increased its share ofthe global market to 46% up from44% in 2012.

It fared less well in the defencesector, however, with its marketshare dropping to 11% from 18%

USArmy

The $4.8bn deal would include 24 AH-64Es, plus 480 missiles

ACQUISITION CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Iraq guns for Apache purchase

the previous year. Faury says thefirst half of 2013 when thecompany was still being run byhis predecessor was character-ised by abnormally low ordersand deliveries.

However an action plan heinitiated enabled a second-halfrecovery to end 2013 in linewith targets.

Meanwhile, developmentwork continues on the companysX4 programme, which will be abrand-new helicopter in the 5-6t

range. The project is conceived asa response to the success of theAgustaWestland AW139 againstits AS365 and EC155 platforms.

First flight for the new type isstill targeted for 2015, with certi-fication to follow in 2017, andremains a priority for thecompany, says Faury.

Baghdad's continuing militarytransformation could be ad-vanced through a potentially $4.8billion deal for 24 BoeingAH-64E Apache helicopters.

Announcing details of thepossible deal in a notification toCongress on 27 January, the USDefense Security Cooperation

Agency says an Apache salewould provide Iraq with a

critical capability to protect itselffrom threats and reinforce Iraqisovereignty.

Twelve Northrop GrummanAPG-78 Longbow fire control ra-dars and 480 Lockheed MartinAGM-114R Hellfire air-to-surfacemissiles would be among theequipment supplied under the

deal, along with personnel train-ing and logistics support.

SOURCE: Airbus Helicopters

Military

2013 market = 803 helicopters

2013 WORLDWIDE MARKET SHARE BASED ON DELIVERIES

Civil and parapublic

2013 market = 799 helicopters

RussianHelicopters

RussianHelicopters

Sikorsky

24%

AvicopterBell

Bell

AirbusHelicopters

Airbus Helicopters

BoeingBell/

Boeing

AgustaWestland

20% 16% 11% 6% 5% 5% 5% 4% 4%

46% 21% 19% 6% 6% 2%

Others

AgustaWestlandNH

Industries

Others

Sikorsky


13/68

If you want real expertise,theres only one place to go.CAAi is the only globally recognised aviation consultancy using current

regulators professionals with up-to-date knowledge of developments in

aviation regulation. Working in co-ordination with ICAO and EASA, our experts

are involved in international policy and rulemaking on a daily basis. And with

everyone moving seamlessly in the same direction, its our clients who benefit.

As a subsidiary of the UK CAA, the informed delivery of our services is matched

by our total commitment to raising global aviation safety standards and protecting

consumers. At CAAi, we support the aviation of today, while always seeking to

go above and beyond in ensuring a safer aviation world for tomorrow.

To find out how CAAi are making the sky a safer place, please visit ourstand at the Singapore Air Show Booth #B35, Singapore Pavilion.

www.caainternational.comA wholly owned subsidiary of the UK CAA


14/68





NEWS FOCUS

The US Marine Corps maintains it will hit its 2015 target with the F-35B

COMBAT AIRCRAFT STEPHEN TRIMBLEWASHINGTON

F-35 faces familiar dogfightGovernment evaluators anticipate further delay to Joint Strike Fighters entry into service due to software maturity issues

More than 12 years afterlaunching development, a

now-familiar scenario for theLockheed Martin F-35 pro-gramme is playing out again: ateam of outside government eval-uators predict a major new delayfor entry into operational service,while programme insiders insistthat no such thing will happen.

Only time will tell which

sides predictions prove most ac-curate, but the history of theF-35s thrice-delayed operationaldebut favours the federal team.

The latest debate focuses on thenewly-released annual assess-ment by the office of Michael Gil-more, director of the office of testand evaluation (DOT&E).

Last July, Gilmore told Con-gress that he expects the Block 2Bsoftware required for the US Ma-rine Corps to declare the F-35Boperational will be delivered eight

months late. His latest assessmentextends the delay by another fourmonths until July 2016: one fullyear behind the USMCs schedule.

The Marine Corps, however,says the programme remains ontrack to declare initial operationalcapability with the short take-offand vertical landing (STOVL) var-iant of the F-35 in July 2015. TheUS Air Force and US Navy havedecided to wait at least anotheryear for the Block 3F software re-lease before declaring IOC.

Lockheed, meanwhile, criticis-es the DOT&Es assessment of aone-year delay as being based onan inflated test point growth rate.

Block 2B development testingexperienced a 120% increase in

test point growth in 2013, and theDOT&E assumed the same ratewill be required this year. Lock-heed, however, points out that41% of the test point growth wasblamed on re-testing fixes for theF-35s glitch-prone helmet-mounted display system. Curi-ously, the DOT&E report claimsthat the helmet caused only 22%of the extra test points in 2013.The document also points outthat the one-year delay predic-tion is based on a growth rate that

excludes re-testing activity forthe helmet-mounted display.

Getting the F-35s impressivehelmet to work, however, remainsa problem, according to the report.The F-35 test team dedicated 42

flights to investigating and ad-dressing problems with the sys-tem and the bugs are not new.The joint programme office threat-ened last year to switch suppliers,but ultimately decided to stickwith Vision Systems Internation-al, a joint venture between ElbitSystems and Rockwell Collins.

Some problems will require theF-35s long-unrequited customersto spend more money to fix them.The DOT&E report concludes thatnight vision acuity on the helmet

display will only improve if theprogramme decides to upgrade toa third-generation version of thesame helmet, which features a bet-ter night vision camera.

But the F-35s developmentproblems have always been broad-er than any single system. Softwareto manage the F-35s flight controlsand mission systems has been aparticular issue.

While the USMC waits for theBlock 2B software, Lockheed isrunning months behind schedule

on the preceding Block 2A pack-age. Despite being installed on doz-

ens of aircraft procured in the pro-gramme's fourth and fifth lots oflow-rate initial production, Lock-heed delivered the Block 2A soft-ware with nearly half of the con-tractually required softwarefunctions incomplete, the reportsays. Even as Lockheed continuedworking on Block 2A, the compa-ny handed over the initial incre-ment of Block 2B software on time

last February.A second increment of Block 2B

software arrived in October 2013,but the initial results did not seemencouraging. The software still hasfunction problems with fusing sen-sor information and operating theF-35s many sensors - including itsAPG-81 radar, ASQ-236 Barracudaelectronic warfare systems, electro-optic targeting system and the dis-tributed aperture system.

Three more increments of theBlock 2B software will be released

this year, with each one expectedto gradually improve the maturityof the software and fix the bugs.

More promising has been thepace of testing intended to clearthe F-35s flight envelope. TheDOT&E report shows that all threevariants remained generally ontrack in 2013 despite a variety ofdistractions, ranging from aweeks-long government shut-down and temporary fleet-widegroundings caused by componentfailures on the F-35A and F-35B.

Although the teams are mak-ing progress, the F-35s engineersare still struggling with overcom-ing the aircrafts tendency fortransonic roll-off and buffet, ac-cording to the report. The condi-tion affects all supersonic fightersto some degree, but has appearedparticularly acute on the carriervariant F-35C. Programme engi-neers have exhausted options foraltering the flight control laws tocompensate. Testing is still underway to decide if using leading

edge spoilers on the F-35C will benecessary, the report says.

F-35 TEST PROGRESS

Fleet 2010 2011 2012 2013

Total test flights 282 915 1,092 993

Mission systems flights 28 189 222 302

F-35A flight sciences flights 111 264 263 226

F-35B flight sciences flights 130 308 374 284

F-35C flight sciences flights 14 154 233 181

Mission systems test points 174 299 1,425 2,149

F-35A flight sciences points 963 1,710 2,334 1,906

F-35B flight sciences points 1,467 1,972 2,359 1,916

F-35C flight sciences points 344 1355 2,209 1,643

Other 743 423 346

Total test points 2,948 6,079 8,750 7,960SOURCE: DOT&E

LockheedMartin


15/68

Its quiet, its clean,

its MTU.15 % less fuel, 15 % less CO2 emissions and noise levels cut in half the Geared

TurbofanTM engine is the technology of the future. And of course it features

MTUs unique high-speed low-pressure turbine. Just some of the reasons why the

PurePower PW1000G is the engine of choice also for the A320neo.

www.mtu.de

Seeusat

SingaporeAir

show

February11

16,2014

BoothJ65


16/68

DEPARTURE TIME: 00:00:01 DEPARTURE DATE: 01/01/2014 DESTINATION:AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

BOARDING PASS

DEPARTURE TIME:00:00:01

DEPARTURE DATE:01/01/2014

DESTINATION:AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

WELCOME ON BOARD

We design helicopters with the highest levels of quality, safety andavailability to ensure mission success. Lets build the future together,

inspired by Airbus excellence.

Enjoy your flight.


17/68

AIR TRANSPORT

ightglobal.com

Power asymmetrytriggered fatal rollAIR TRANSPORT P20

4-10 February 2014 |Flight International|17

PROGRAMME STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Q400 still looking for Russian revivalBombardier hopes pact with Rostec over localised production of turboprop will help to swell the types depleted backlog

Rostec chief executive AlexeiFederov sounded quite con-fident recently about securing adeal to assemble the 70-seatBombardier Q400 turboprop inUlyanovsk, Russia.

Bombardier agreed to discusssuch an arrangement five monthsago at the MAKS air show out-side Moscow, but Federov waswidely quoted by Russian mediasaying that assembly is alreadyset to begin this August, with lo-cally-built Q400s delivered to

Russian airlines in 2015.In Montreal, however, the

Q400s still-lone manufacturer isunable to muster the same opti-mism for the rapid conclusion ofthe deal. Instead, Bombardier re-leased a statement contradictingtheir potential new strategic part-ner, while carefully phrasing it toavoid causing offence.

I can confirm that discussionsare going very well between Bom-bardier and Rostec, says Bombar-dier. We are both working to-

wards a conclusion of thedefinitive agreement. As of today[we are] not prepared to commenton any of these dates and details.

In reality, the process oflaunching a second assembly lineis a complicated and even riskyproposition and not one Bom-bardier will march into withoutcareful planning.

There are several models forduplicating final assembly linesin other countries. Airbus, forexample, established a third

A320 final assembly line inTianjin, China, but retained fullownership and control inside anexclusive economic zone.

The negotiations betweenBombardier and Rostec may offermore complications. If the Rus-sians, for example, seek to savecosts by establishing the secondQ400 assembly line using Bom-bardiers original production cer-

tificate, any quality issues thatarise from the Ulyanovsk plantcould put the entire fleet at risk,including aircraft delivered fromBombardiers facility in Toronto.

Such risks presented too manychallenges for Bombardiers chiefcompetitor ATR. Rostec report-edly had discussed a similaropportunity to build the ATR72-600 at Ulyanovsk. But ATRchief executive Filippo Bagnatodismissed the offer. A finalassembly joint venture in the

SOURCE: Bombardier Note: *Bombardier changed quarterly reporting period from December 2011

Number of aircraft

BOMBARDIER Q400 BACKLOG

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Q2

2009

Q3

Q4

Q1

2010

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

2011

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q

4*

Q1

2012

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

2013

Q2

Q3

Q4

middle of nowhere is very hardto do successfully, because finalassembly is the final [quality]filter before the aircraft reachesthe customer, Bagnato says.

SHIFTING DEMAND

Toronto has been the home of re-gional turboprops spawned bythe de Havilland Canada Dash 7and Dash 8 series for more than

40 years. The Q400 model of theDash 8 series arrived about a dec-ade after de Havilland Canadawas acquired by Bombardier in1992. It enjoyed a decade ofsteady sales support, with morethan 1,100 deliveries since 2001.

But demand in the turbopropmarket has shifted to the slowerand cheaper ATR 72-600, leavingBombardier currently with a de-pleted backlog of only 26 aircraft,according to Flightglobals As-cend Online database (see chart).

Meanwhile, Russia has pre-sented itself as a tempting marketfor Bombardiers sales team forseveral years. First, Russia sharesan undeniable geographic andclimatic symmetry with Bombar-diers homeland.

Russian regional carriers alsohave hundreds of ageing regionalturboprops of Soviet vintage thatare ripe for replacement.

In some market forecasts, suchas the Japan Aircraft Develop-ment Corporations 20-year out-

look to 2032, Russia alone ranksas the third-largest market for

new turboprops in the world,falling only behind the entireregions of the Asia-Pacific andLatin America.

Potential regional rivals withinRussia to the Q400, such as theAntonov An-140 and IlyushinIl-114, are deemed unsuitable orsimply unavailable.

Uzbekistans Tashkent Avia-tion Production Organisation

(TAPO) has vowed to restartIl-114 production after emergingfrom bankruptcy in November,but its viability has long been inquestion.

In 2012, Bombardier gainedRussian type certification for theQ400, which was hoped to quick-ly attract sales. But regional tur-boprops are subject to an importtax in Russia.

The solution to this dilemmaappeared to arise at MAKS, whenBombardier agreed to negotiate

local assembly of the Q400 inexchange for a three-digit firmorder by two Russian lessors.

If the particulars of the sharedQ400 assembly system can beagreed, Bombardier would un-doubtedly gain orders for itsdwindling backlog.

Fedorov has named Siberiancarriers Yakutia and Alrosa as po-tential launch customers, amongabout 20 Russian airlines heclaims have expressed interest.Additional reporting by Dan

Thisdell in Paris and Tom Zaitsev

in Moscow

Bo

mbardier

A former mainstay of the Canadian airframers business, the Dash 8 has seen sales steadily slide


18/68


Check out our collection of online dynamic

aircraft proles for the latest news, images

and information on civil and military

programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

COVER STORY

There have been some memora-

ble face-offs between competitor

aircraft at air shows.

Paris 1969

A new era dawns as Europes ris-

ing supersonic star Concorde

squares up with the USAs just-

own jumbo, the Boeing 747

Paris 1971

A return for Concorde a chance

to compare it with its Russian

counterpart, the Tupolev Tu-144

Paris 1973

Airbus emerges on the scene with

the A300B. Not to be outdone,

Lockheeds L1011 TriStar joins it

for one day

Farnborough 1986

Regional rivalry between the BAe

146 and the Fokker 100

Paris 1995

Widebody war as Airbus shows

its A330 and A340, and Boeing

its 777-200

Farnborough 2004

Boeing and Northrop Grumman

unveil mock-ups of their compet-

ing Joint Unmanned Combat Air

System (J-UCAS) demonstrators

Paris 2011

Battle of the big boys, with the

Airbus A380 in the ying display

and the Boeing 747-8 in the static

CONTEST MURDO MORRISON LONDON

Rivals set for Singapore showdownAirbus A350 and Boeing 787 prepare to face-off as Southeast Asias biggest air show becomes key battleground

The latest-generation widebod-ies from Airbus and Boeingwill go head to head at an airshow for the first time inSingapore next week.

Southeast Asia is a key battle-ground for the contest betweenthe A350 and the 787, with theAsia-Pacific region accountingfor one-third of all sales of thetwo twinjets.

It will be the first full appear-ance at an air show by theA350-900. The aircrafts last pub-

lic appearance was a fly-past to-wards the end of the 2013 Parisair show, a week after making itsmaiden flight.

While the A350 MSN3 willtake part in the flying display, itis not certain whether it will bejoined by the 787. Boeing willonly confirm that the Qatar Air-ways-liveried Dreamliner will beon the static display, although theUS manufacturer did memorablyreturn to air show flying at Farn-borough 2012 after a 30-year hia-

tus with a Qatar 787.All eyes will be on whether the

airframers can secure furtherdeals for their new types.

Singapore Airlines has alreadysplit its loyalties. The city-statesflag carrier has firm orders for 70A350-900s, while it is alsolaunch customer for the 787-10,with 30 on order.

Indonesias Garuda and Philip-

Historic head to heads

Speedy: Russias Tu-144

Flying foes: 777 and A340

787

321

A350

261

SOURCE: Flightglobals Ascend Online databaseNote: Data for rm orders (including delivered aircraft)

A350/787 ASIA-PACIFICMARKET SHARE

Total Asia-Pacific orders = 582

pine Airlines are looking to theA350 or 787 as a possible replace-

ment for A330s, while MalaysiaAirlines is evaluating the A350and 787 to replace 777-200ERs,although it may plump for thehigh gross weight version of theA330, according to FlightglobalsAscend advisory service.

While the Singapore show held at the Changi ExhibitionCentre near the islands interna-tional airport, from 11-16 Febru-

ary is unlikely to see the sort ofmega orders witnessed at Dubaiin November, the continuedbuoyancy of the Southeast Asianmarket is likely to see plenty ofactivity for the main airframers.

Singapore Airlines may choosethe show to announce an orderfor the Boeing 777X. Also, wemight see confirmation of anorder for 20 A380s from new kidon the leasing block, Doric Air-bus expects the contract to besigned in the first quarter.

On the defence side, Singa-pore has requested a major up-grade for its 60 F-16s. If the gov-ernment decides to compete it, itcould prompt a battle betweenoriginal equipment manufactur-er Lockheed Martin and BAESystems to be lead contractor.

The island state is also a se-curity co-operation participantin the F-35 programme, and itsdefence minister recently wit-nessed a flight demonstration ofthe short take-off and vertical

landing B variant in the USA.Meanwhile, Singapores airliftrequirements should also be in-teresting, with reports that thegovernment is interested in theAirbus A330 MRTT and Boe-ings C-17.See Feature P41

The Dreamliner will be in Qatar

livery (above), while MSN3

will join the flying display

Airbus/RexFeatures

To follow the Singapore air

show go to our landing page:

flightglobal.com/singapore

RexFeatures

RexFeatures


19/68

A welcome arrivalthats a true departure.

YOU R V I S I O N TAKES FL I GHT.

Congratulations, Airbus, on the extraordinary A350 XWB.With the A350 XWB,Airbus arrives at a new destination in commercial aircraft. And takes air travel to a new level.

Spirit AeroSystems is proud to be on board, with innovative carbon composite fuselage and wing construction.

Visit us at spiritaero.com.


20/68

AIR TRANSPORT






SAFETYDAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Power asymmetry triggered fatal rollIrish inquiry concludes torque split between Fairchild Metros throttle levers contributed to loss of control at Cork airport

Significant torque split be-tween the throttle levers of aFairchild Metro contributed tothe pilots losing control of the air-craft during a low-visibility ap-proach to Cork, a fatal accidentinquiry has disclosed.

Although the first officer wasthe flying pilot, the captain tookcontrol of the throttle levers onthe final approach to runway 17

the crews third landing at-tempt. He then retarded the le-vers below flight-idle, againstnormal procedures, and the IrishAir Accident Investigation Unitbelieves this would have beenunexpected by the first officer.

Such was the power asymme-try that the left-hand engine en-tered a negative torque regime normally only used duringground manoeuvring and thepropellers automatic featheringmechanism began to activate.

The aircraft suddenly rolled40 to the left and the crew beganto execute a go-around at about100ft (30m).

As the throttle levers wereadvanced, the aircraft rolledquickly to the right.

The investigation could notdetermine whether the first offic-er had turned the control wheelto counter the initial left roll, butstates that the rapid increase inpower probably contributed tothe subsequent roll to the right.

The Metros right wing-tipstruck the runway and the

INVESTIGATION

Authorities had no oversight of carriers foreign operations

Investigations into the Cork crash

have revealed several lapses in

operational procedures before the

fatal accident.

Although the service had been

operated by a Spanish carrier,

Flightline, the inquiry found that

there was no oversight of its UK

and Ireland operations by Spanish

authorities.

Cockpit-voice recordings showed

there were deviations from stand-

ard operating procedures during the

ight, says the Irish Air Accident

Investigation Unit.

It found that the newly-promoted

captain was inadequately trained

for his position, and ill-prepared to

deal with the situation. His pairing

with a rst ofcer who had recently

joined the carrier was contrary to

European operational standards, it

adds, and the at cockpit gradient

meant decision-making was

ineffective.

No evidence was found of the

effective employment of crew re-

source management principles, the

investigation states.

The weather at Cork was below

minima, but the aircraft neverthe-

less made three approaches to the

airport. On each approach the

Fairchild Metro descended below the

decision height without suitable

visual contact.

Although the weather conditions

at Cork required two alternates, the

ightplan only included a single

alternate at Waterford.

Investigators concluded that the

pilots workload meant neither had

sufcient rest before the fatal ight,

in which both were killed.

The rst ofcer had even exceed-

ed ight-duty limits two days before

the 10 February 2011 crash.

The arrangement of the service

was also found to be relatively com-

plex. It was marketed by Manx2

which sold the tickets but carried

out by Flightline which, in turn, sub-

leased the aircraft from Spanish

entity Air Lada. Manx2s marketing

activities were such that it was

portraying itself as an airline, the

inquiry says, while both Air Lada and

Manx2 were inappropriately

exercising some of Flightlines

operational responsibilities.

aircraft inverted, coming to restoff the right side of the runway.

Examination of flight-data re-cordings revealed that the torquefrom the right-hand engine hadconsistently been exceeding thatdelivered by the left-hand engine,by about 5%, for more than 100h.This was traced to a defectivesensor, but the fault had not beenrecorded in the technical log.

Investigators found that crewson the aircraft had been adjustingthe throttle levers in flight tocompensate for the difference intorque from the engines. Under

normal conditions the leversshould not be misaligned bymore than 1.27mm (0.05in).

Although the split conditiondid not materially affect thenormal operation of the aircraft,says the inquiry, it becamesignificant after the Metro en-tered a prohibited flight regime,caused when the throttles werebrought below flight-idle.

The inquiry says that movingthe throttles below flight-idleduring flight can generate un-controllable roll rates as a resultof sudden airspeed loss, drag and

power asymmetry. It adds thatthe fatal approach, on 10 Febru-ary 2011, had been continued de-spite not having the requiredminima, and that the pilots pro-ceeded below decision heightwithout adequate visual refer-ences. The low height left nomargin to recover from the loss ofcontrol.

Six of the 12 occupants sur-

vived the accident, but both pi-lots were among the fatalities.The aircraft had been operated bySpanish carrier Flightline onbehalf of Manx2.

RexFeaturesSix of the 12 occupants survived the accident,

but both pilots were among the fatalities


21/68

Civil Aviation

May 2025, 2014

Berlin ExpoCenter Airport

www.ila-berlin.com I m a g e : E A D S

Check-in for

sustainable aviation

Eco-efficient Air Transport Systems

From aircraft production to life cycle management

Latest Research & Technology

Hosted by


22/68

AIR TRANSPORT






POWERPLANTS

MURDO MORRISON LONDON

R-R to trial newmature engine

support option

Pilots of a Transall C-160 trans-port misunderstood a taxiclearance before lining up on arunway on which an AirbusA319 was departing in the oppo-site direction.

Investigators state that, al-though the German air forceTransall had been given special

approval for the runway 21 de-parture from Zweibrucken, it hadonly been cleared to a holdingpoint.

Around the same time, aGermanwings A319 bound forBerlin, having backtracked, wascommencing its take-off rollalong the opposite runway 03.

The A319 had already passedthe V1 decision speed when anair traffic controller ordered itscrew to break up, in a bid toabort the departure.

But the pilots did not under-stand the instruction and, afterseeing the Transall positionedahead on the runway, elected to

continue the take-off. The A319flew over the military transport atabout 400ft (120m), says Germaninvestigation authority BFU.

While cockpit-voice record-ings were unavailable, BFU statesthat the Transall crew misinter-preted an instruction to taxi tothe holding point as an instruc-

tion to line up. Although thecrew believed a line-up clearancehad been given, investigators sug-gest there was confusion arisingfrom the initial taxi instruction aswell as similar instructions givento the Germanwings aircraft.

BFU says that vagueness inthe communications led the

Transall crew to line up. It wasnot a single error but small inad-equacies which added up, itstates. In its inquiry report intothe 14 May 2008 event only justreleased despite occurring nearlysix years ago BFU says a highrisk of collision existed, pre-vented by a close call.

Rolls-Royce is piloting a newaftermarket support productto appeal to owners of aircraftwith Trent and RB211 enginescoming to the end of their life.

The service, which is beingbranded TotalCare Flex, will betrialled with a number of airlineand lessor customers over thenext few months and, ifsuccessful, will become part ofour portfolio of offerings, saysLouise Donaghey, TotalCare

product director.

The UK engine maker has beenoffering TotalCare for 15 yearsand about seven years ago intro-duced a new version called Total-Care Life in an attempt to protectasset values for the entire life ofthe engine, making it easier for anoperator to sell its aircraft.

However, with an increasingnumber of Trent engines reachingtheir mature phase, the enginemanufacturer is keen to offer aversion of TotalCare suited totheir operators.

We recognise that these cus-tomers requirements are chang-ing, says Donaghey.

With Life we are protectingasset value. With Flex we are of-fering a flexed structure to workwith the owner to facilitate assetrelease, she says.

She adds: If youre anoperator and you want to retireyour engine, you dont want tosend that to the desert with lots ofasset value. If the next locationfor your engine-aircraft combina-

tion is the desert, then Flex willbe right.

If youre an operator

and you want to retire

your engine, you dont

want to send that to

the desert with lots

of asset valueLOUISE DONAGHEYTotalCare product director, Rolls-Royce

SAFETYDAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Crews clearance confusion

preceded runway near-missDeparting Germanwings A319 missed erroneously-positioned air force transport by 400ft

India nally drops superjumbo ban

REGULATION

India has dropped its ban onAirbus A380s operating flightsto the country, but will limit theiroperations to only four airports.

Superjumbos will be permittedto fly to Delhi, Hyderabad, Mum-bai and Bangalore where there issufficient infrastructure to handlethe double-deck aircraft, saysIndias ministry of civil aviation.

Other airports would requirecertification from the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation before

they can accept A380 flights. Theministry adds that A380 opera-

tions would be subject to the ex-isting traffic entitlements under

Indias bilateral air service agree-ments with other nations.

Singapore Airlines, Emiratesand Lufthansa have expressed

interest in using their A380s onservices to India.

AirTeamImages

German investigators say a high risk

of collision existed in the incident at

Zweibrucken in May 2008

Airbus

Grounded Indian carrier was the nations sole A380 customer


23/68

So quiet you might wonderis this thing on?

Power People Depend On.

The PurePowerGeared Turbofanengine is by design the quietest in its class. We reduced thenoise footprint by 75%, or as much as 20 decibels below todays strictest standards. Where jets are concerned,

thats practically a whisper. But the message? Loud and clear: lower noise fees, access to more airports, happier

airport neighbors, shorter flight tracks and extended curfew operation. Simply a better, quieter engine at its core.

(But you didnt hear that from us.) Learn more about the PurePowerPW1000G engine atPurePowerEngines.com.


24/68

DEFENCE


For free access to Flightglobals Defence

e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/

defencenewsletter

Gulf state Qatar has emerged asa likely new customer for the

NH Industries (NHI) NH90, withits armed forces also interested inpotentially acquiring AirbusHelicopters armed Tiger.

A 22-aircraft order for a mix-ture of both the TTH troop trans-port and NFH naval variants ofthe NH90 could emerge, alongwith 20 attack helicopters, says

Dominique Maudet, Airbus Heli-copters executive vice-presidentfor global business and services.Qatar conducted technical evalu-ations of the types last year.

Speaking in Paris on 28January, Guillaume Faury, chiefexecutive of NHI consortium ma-jority stakeholder Airbus Heli-copters, said the NH90 has nowovercome the difficulties of thebeginning of the programme,and entered the industrialisa-tion and fast delivery phase. The

eventual target is to produce 60 ofthe aircraft per year, including

those manufactured by partnercompany AgustaWestland; risingfrom nearly 50 in 2013.

The NH90 programme is closeto delivering its 200th aircraftand has a current order backlog

for over 300 more. Faury says hiscompany is continuing to

"actively promote" it to otherpotential customers.

Although the NH90 pro-gramme secured a deal in June2013 to build 34 helicopters forthe French army, this was the

only such commitment in the lasttwo years. Meanwhile, a German

plan to reduce its NH90 orderfrom 122 TTH examples to a totalof 100 aircraft, including 18 inthe NFH variant, and to trim itsTiger purchase from 80 units to57, is now in the hands of thecontracting agencies [OCCARand NAHEMA], and Maudet an-ticipates the revised deal to besigned off during 2014.

Portugal is still in talks with

NAHEMA over the cancellationof its 10-aircraft deal, and is likelyto incur a financial penalty.

And although Spain will takedelivery of its first NH90 TTHthis year, it has yet to finalise aproposal to trim its contract from45 aircraft to 22, but with theaddition of a logistics supportpackage of a similar value.

Airbus Helicopters alsoremains in negotiations withNew Zealand over penalties forthe late delivery of its eight

NH90s, originally due to havearrived by 2011.

Seven of the UK's AgustaWest-land AW101 Merlin rotorcraft

will receive an initial set of modi-fications by early 2016, to ensurethat the Royal Navys CommandoHelicopter Force does not face acapability gap on the retirementof its last Westland Sea KingHC4/4+ transports.

To be delivered from next year,the aircraft will be among aneventual 25 HC3/3As to be trans-ferred from the Royal Air Force.

Phase 1 adaptations willinclude the integration of a pow-ered folding main rotor head,

AgustaWestland says.Initial operational capability in

a full HC4/4A configurationshould occur in mid-2018, withall aircraft to be adapted to thisstandard by 2020. Key elementsof this "Phase 2" work will in-clude replacing the aircraft's

avionics to replicate the cockpitof the RN's upgraded Merlin

HM2 multi-mission helicopters.Worth 330 million ($546 mil-

lion), the upgrade will cover air-craft modifications to be per-formed at AgustaWestland'sYeovil site in Somerset. Theairframer will also manage acompetition to provide a synthet-

ic training system to support op-erations from nearby RNAS Yeo-

vilton. The MoD also awardedthe company a five-year contractextension worth around 430million to provide continuedmaintenance and support servic-es for the British Army's 66Apache AH1 attack helicoptersuntil 31 March 2019.

AirbusHelicopters

A deal is expected to include a mix of TTH and NFH variants

The planned purchase of 22Saab Gripen E fighters forSwitzerland will face a publicvote on 18 May, the nation's Fed-eral Council has confirmed.

Despite having been approvedby Swiss parliamentarians latelast year, the Gripen Fund Lawwill now be the subject of a refer-endum, after almost 65,400 citi-zens signed a petition opposingthe proposed acquisition. Some50,000 signatures had been re-quired to trigger the step.

Due to be delivered after 2018,the Swiss air force's new aircraftwould serve as replacements forthe countrys current NorthropF-5 interceptors.

SALESDOMINIC PERRY PARIS

Qatar eyes NH90, Tiger acquisitionsAirbus Helicopters details potential 42-aircraft deal with Gulf state, as contract amendment discussions run on in Europe

Merlins go commando for UK forcesCONVERSIONSCRAIG HOYLE LONDONREFERENDUM

Swiss Gripenacquisition set

for public vote

CrownCopyright

An eventual 25 AW101s will be adapted for maritime deployment

To comment on the Gripen vote,

visit our The DEW Line blog:

flightglobal.com/dewline


25/68

DEFENCE


USAF scansfor JSTARSreplacement

DEFENCE P26

Apotential alternative weaponfor the UK Royal Air ForcesGeneral Atomics AeronauticalSystems Reaper remotely pilotedair systems has undergone initialfiring trials, in co-operation with

the US Air Forces Big Safariprogramme office.

The Ministry of Defence, withMBDA, General Atomics and Big

ORDER JIM WINCHESTERWELLINGTON

New Zealand signs $127m T-6C dealBeechcraft wins contract to supply nations air force with 11 new-generation trainers, for delivery by middle of 2015

The New Zealand DefenceForce is to acquire 11Beechcraft T-6Cs to meet its pilottraining requirements. WorthNZ$154 million ($127 million),its order also includes simulators,additional ground instructionequipment, maintenance supportand spare parts.

New Zealand had been search-ing for an intermediate trainerthat will enable it to take studentsfrom the Pacific Aerospace CT-4EAirtrainer to the Lockheed

Martin P-3K2 Orion maritime pa-trol aircraft, Boeing 757 and up-graded Lockheed C-130H trans-ports, plus the AgustaWestlandAW109, NH Industries NH90 andfuture Kaman SH-2G(I) Seaspritehelicopters.

The Pilot Training Capabilityproject was announced in a De-fence White Paper in 2010, with arequest for information issued toindustry in October 2011.

In this, the government saidthat it was open to either a pur-

chase or lease arrangement, oreven to contracting a complete

training package from a commer-cial provider. A number of RoyalNew Zealand Air Force officerswere flown in Beechcrafts T-6Cdemonstrator during a regionaltour in 2012.

New Zealands T-6Cs will beoperated by the air forces 14 Sqnfrom Ohakea air base. The same

unit previously flew the AleniaAermacchi MB-339CB in the

advanced training and lightattack roles, until the disband-ment of the nations air combatforce in 2001.

Beechcraft says four aircraftwill be delivered from its Wichitafacility in Kansas in November2014, with the rest to follow bymid-2015. Two flight simulators

and related training equipment,to be supported by CAE Austral-

ia, should be in place by the sametime, enabling the air force tolaunch its first qualified flying in-structor course.

The new system is expectedto be operational for the firsttrainee intake in early 2016, saysdefence minister Jonathan Cole-man. It is estimated it will pro-duce up to 15 graduate pilots and12 qualified flying instructors peryear over the next 30 years.

The same aircraft will also beused by the air forces aerobatic

display team, Beechcraft says.Announced on 27 January, the

deal also includes the provisionof maintenance support by NewZealand company Safe Air,which the defence ministry saysshould create around 21 new jobsat Ohakea.

The air forces current leasedCT-4E basic trainers are due toreach the end of their servicelives in 2018. A deal to useBeechcraft King Air 200s in thedelivery of advanced and twin-

engined instruction will expireduring the same year.

Beechcraft

The turboprops will be operated from Ohakea air base by 14 Sqn

No decision has been made on whether to field the combination

Brimstone red to success in UK Reaper trialsASSESSMENTCRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Safari support, conducted the[Brimstone] firing trials betweenDecember 2013 and January 2014at the test range at China Lake inthe USA, the MoD says. A seriesof successful firings were per-

formed at the California site, ona range of static and high-speedmanoeuvring targets, it adds.

Interest in the Reaper/

minimise any risk of collateraldamage.

Trial data is being analysed andwill be fully evaluated, the MoDsays. No decision has been takento integrate Brimstone on to [the]

UK Reaper, it tells Flight Interna-tional, adding that no decision onfuture trials has been made.

MBDA, which also in October2013 supported UK trials in theUSA with a Brimstone 2 versionof its missile described as offer-ing a more than 200% increasein engagement range declined tocomment on the recent activity.

The RAF plans to continueoperating its soon to be increasedfleet of 10 Reaper air vehiclesbeyond the end of combat

operations in Afghanistan latethis year.

Brimstone combination stemsfrom the dual-mode seeker andmillimetre-wave radar-equippedtype's performance from theRAFs Panavia Tornado GR4 plat-form in Afghanistan and Libya,

and the weapons ability to en-gage moving ground vehicles.

During 54,000 flight hourslogged over Afghanistan sincelate 2007 by the RAFs 13 and 39squadrons, a combined 459Lockheed Martin AGM-114Hellfire air-to-surface missilesand Raytheon GBU-12 226kg(500lb) laser-guided bombs hadbeen released by early this year.

The majority of the weaponsemployed from the Reaper havebeen Hellfire missiles, the air

force says, noting that itsrelatively small warhead helps


26/68

DEFENCE


For free access to Flightglobals Defence

e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/

defencenewsletter

The US Air Force has taken thefirst step in a newly revealed,eight-year process to develop andfield a business jet-sized replace-ment for the Northrop GrummanE-8C joint surveillance target at-tack radar system (JSTARS), al-though the project still has no ap-proved funding.

Named the JSTARS Recapitali-sation, or Recap programme, theprocess seeks to achieve an initialoperational capability in 2022with a "more efficient airframe" in

the business jet class. It will beacquired using separate contractsfor developing the aircraft, air-borne sensor, battle managementcommand and control (BMC2)system and a communicationssubsystem. The USAF revealedits strategy in a request for infor-mation to suppliers interested inbidding for the BMC2 system,which was posted on 23 Januaryby the Air Force Lifecycle Man-agement Center's electronic sys-tems division at Hanscom AFB,

Massachusetts.Missing from the document is

any indication of the pro-gramme's funding status. The airforces request for the fiscal year2014 budget did not include anyline items entitled "JSTARSRecap", nor did Congress addfunding for such a project in theapproved FY2014 omnibus ap-propriations bill that was passedin January.

But the release of the requestfor information on the new

BMC2 system may indicate thatthe USAF intends to requestfunding to launch the overallJSTARS Recap programme inFY2015.

If funded, this would create arare opportunity for the aero-space industry to win a develop-mental contract, with severalpotential candidates available tocompete.

In the last decade, Boeing andRaytheon have each challengedNorthrop's position, by propos-

ing or fielding aircraft withground moving target indication

(GMTI) capability: the heart ofthe JSTARS mission. Raytheondelivered five Sentinel R1 sur-veillance aircraft to the UK,which modify the BombardierGlobal Express business jet tocarry a Raytheon/BAE Systemssynthetic aperture radar with aGMTI mode. Boeing, meanwhile,

proposed an aerial ground sur-veillance variant of the 737-basedP-8A anti-submarine and mari-time patrol aircraft with a similar,Raytheon-built radar.

DESERT STORM

The JSTARS fleets mission of de-tecting ground targets at longrange, including at night and inpoor weather conditions, evolvedin the late 1980s. Northrop sup-plied recently modified Boeing707s, which then played a star-

ring role in Operation DesertStorm in 1991, where the aircraftdetected a major Iraqi troopmovement in the midst of a seem-ingly blinding sandstorm.

Replacing or upgrading themore than 40 year-old airframeswhich comprise the USAFs ac-tive fleet of 16 E-8Cs and oneTE-8C trainer has been debatedsince the service cancelled theNorthrop E-10A multi-sensorcommand and control aircraftprogramme in 2007.

Northrop proposed to re-en-gine the Pratt & Whitney JT3D-

REQUIREMENTSTEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

USAF scans for JSTARS replacementService reveals eight-year plan to eld business jet-sized successor for ground surveillance eet, despite funding gap

NorthropGrummanAn earlier proposal to

re-engine the 707-based

type failed to advance

powered E-8Cs with the samecompanys JT8D-219 turbofan, inaddition to performing sensorand structural upgrades. Boeingcountered this by offering a P-8A

development. But a 2011 analysisof alternatives funded by theUSAF recommended a differentstrategy. The study urged replac-ing the E-8C with a mix of busi-ness jet-sized sensor platforms,augmented by the Northrop RQ-4Block 40 Global Hawk un-manned air system, which carriesthe multi-platform radar technol-ogy insertion programme radar.

In 2012, Gen Norton Schwartz the USAF's then-chief of staff said in Congressional testimony

that the service could not afford tocarry out the recommendations

from the analysis of alternatives, orfund the suggested modernisationprogramme for its E-8Cs.

A 30-year forecast of airpowercapability released by the USDepartment of Defense last yearassumed that the existingJSTARS fleet would remain inplace over the next three decades,

although the USAF acknowl-edged that the aircraft wouldneed several upgrades to be keptflying beyond 2025.

HIGH PRIORITY

The USAF's stance appeared toshift dramatically last September,however. Gen Mark Welsh, whosucceeded Schwartz, signalledthat replacing the E-8C is now apriority. In comments to report-ers at the Air Force Association'sannual convention, he identified

a business jet-sized replacementas being the service's next-highestpriority, after acquiring the Lock-heed Martin F-35A, BoeingKC-46 tanker and developing afuture long-range strike bomber.

But Welsh has so far not dis-closed how the E-8C replacementproject will be funded. TheFY2015 budget request, which isstill being assembled, is likely tohave a lower total than this year'senacted level, meaning that theUSAF will have to pay for any

such programme by taking fund-ing away from another one.

SOURCE: Flightglobals AscendOnline Fleets database

45

50,000average airframe

flight hours

average airframeage (years)

US Air Force E-8CJSTARS fleet


27/68

Anyway you lookat it, youre aheadon all fronts

Delivering operational excellence

in the most challengingscenarios. Equipping countlesscustomers with total solutionsto accomplish diverse missions.Customizing systems thatachieve far-reaching goals.Performance-proven time and

time again in space, air, on landand at sea. No matter what,when or where.

When results matter,you can count on IAI.

WhenResultsMatter

[email protected]

SINGAPORE AIR SHOW 14

SEE US AT

Israel Pavilion, Stand P39


28/68

BELLHELICOPTER.COM

WHEN MINUTES COUNT,

RELY ON SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE

When minutes count, depend on the power and performance of the

Bell 429 for your critical care operations. At Bell Helicopter, we

understand and share your dedication and commitment to air medical

critical care. That is why the Bell 429 stands ready to serve your

operation by delivering power and performance. When your patient is

critical, depend on the smooth, rapid ride and superior handling of

the Bell 429 to get your patient and crew safely to their destination.

Visit us at Singapore Airshow, Booth Q01 | Chalet CD15

2

014BELLHELICOPTER

TEXTRONI

NC.


29/68

BUSINESS AVIATION


UAVs stay tangled

in red tape

NEWS FOCUS P33

GULFSTREAM INTERIORS

Gulfstream has launched a

bespoke label for its cabin in-

terior furnishings, in an effort

to shorten the lead time andoverall cost of interior refur-

bishment. The Gulfstream

Portfolio Collection, the air-

framer says, is a rst-rate col-

lection of fabrics, carpets and

leathers that are readily avail-

able when the most utilised

features in the cabin such as

the seating and ooring need

refurbishing.

FLEXJET FLOURISHES

US fractional ownership opera-

tor Flexjet reported a 10% in-crease in sales of fractional

shares in 2013, compared with

the year before. Jet card sales

rose by nearly 30% during the

period. The 19-year-old com-

pany was sold by Bombardier in

December to Directional

Aviation Capital owner of fel-

low fractional operator Flight

Options. Flexjet currently has

orders and options for 265

Bombardier business jets.

429WLG APPROVALBell Helicopter has clinched

Canadian and Brazilian certi-

cation for its 429WLG, three

months after the wheeled land-

ing gear variant of the normally

skid-equipped medium twin

was launched. The seven-seat

WLG also features a high-spec

VIP interior. Flightglobals

Ascend Online database re-

cords a global eet of 113

429s with 52 on order.

ENSTROM SWITCHChinese-owned light helicopter

maker Enstrom has appointed

Tracy Biegler, current vice-presi-

dent at the company, to the

post of president and chief ex-

ecutive to replace the outgoing

Jerry Mullins. The company has

additionally expanded its pro-

duction capacity and plans to

increase its workforce, it says.

Enstrom was acquired by

Chongqing Helicopter

Investment Group in January

2013 for an undisclosed fee.

IN BRIEFINTERIORSKATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Greenpoint secures patentto lift luxury of VVIP jumboCompletions rm now seeking rst order for ground-to-main-deck elevator in BBJ 747-8

US-based engineering and VIPcompletions company Green-

point Technologies has secured apatent for the first ground-to-main-deck elevator for the BoeingBBJ 747-8.

The Aerolift provides a uniqueentry and exit to the widebodyairliner, says Kirkland, Washing-ton-based Greenpoint, by trans-porting up to four passengers

from the tarmac to the main deckvia the cargo hold.

Greenpoint provides theAerolift as a complete installationfor the BBJ 747-8, which com-prises a lift carriage, an automaticdoor on the fuselage, a powerunit and lift structure, as well asstructural modifications to themain, lower and upper decks.

The Aerolift eliminates reli-ance on traditional ground-basedboarding and deplaning meth-ods, says Greenpoint chief exec-

utive Scott Goodey. The elevatorwill be particularly beneficial forcustomers travelling to remotelocations where access toairstairs can be challenging,while its enclosed carriage designwill appeal to passengers seekingprivacy and security, he says.

Boeing has sold nine BBJ 747-8sto date, eight of which have been

delivered to completion centres.The first BBJ 747-8 has been ear-marked for handover to a customerin the second quarter. All theaircraft are destined for heads of

state eight in the Middle East andone in Asia, says Boeing.

Cirrus makes personal Vision a reality

DEVELOPMENTKATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Cirrus Aircrafts ambition to bethe first to market with a

single-engined personal jet looksset to become a reality, as it pre-pares to fly the first Vision SF50prototype this month.

The certification aircraft,C-Zero, will be used for flight per-formance verification. The tworemaining test aircraft C-Oneand C-Two are scheduled toenter service in the second and

fourth quarters and will be usedsystems verification and para-

chute testing respectively. Anearlier configuration technologydemonstrator V1 has accu-mulated around 800 flying hoursand 1,000 engine runs since itwas built in 2008, but the newprototypes are more reflective ofthe production jet, says ToddSimmons, Cirrus executive vice-president of sales and marketing.

The Vision has been a keyfocus for Cirrus since its launch

over seven years ago, while theacquisition of Cirrus in 2011 by

China Aviation Industry GeneralAircraft gave the programme newmomentum.

The $1.96 million Vision isequipped with Garmin G3000cockpit, and an emergency para-chute system. Powered by a Wil-liams International FJ33 turbofan,the aircraft has a range of 1,200nm(2,220km) a stall speed of 61kt(113km/h) and a cruise speed of300kt. Cirrus has secured 550 or-

ders for the Vision to date eachwith a $100,000 deposit.

See a video of the Greenpoint

Technologies Aerolift in action:

flightglobal.com/aerolift

Up to four passengers can ride the carriage up from the tarmac

GreenpointTech

nologies


30/68

NEWS FOCUS

ightglobal.com30|Flight International |4-10 February 2014




No-one should be surprisedthat United Technologies, the

parent company of Pratt & Whit-ney, Sikorsky and HamiltonSundstrand, redrew the aero-space industry competitive land-scape when it bought Goodrichin 2012 for $18 billion.

The largest acquisition in aero-space industry history couldhardly have gone without reper-

cussions, and naturally many ri-vals were keen to benefit fro

Documents

Flight International 20140204