Video: Dassault Falcon 7X tri-jet business aircraft

French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Falcon's newest business jet is the Falcon 7X. The 7X is the largest Falcon tri-jet business aircraft produced, and is the first business jet with a fly-by-wire interface. Configured to carry eight passengers and four crew (three pilots and a flight attendant), the Falcon 7X is capable of cruising at a speed of mach .9, and has a range of 5,950 nautical miles.

The Falcon 7X went into service in June of 2007. As of the end of 2007, over 200 of the new aircraft type had been sold. The price tag? A mere $40 million. If you're not ready to commit that kind of money to a Falcon 7X of your own, you can book a flight on one through NetJets Europe.

Here's a video about the Dassault Falcon 7X, presented by AVweb.com on YouTube:



(If the video does not display or play properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.)

Cabin features on Delta's new Boeing 777-200LR

Last week, Delta Air Lines took delivery of a new Boeing 777-200LR, the first of its type delivered to a U.S.-based carrier. The aircraft will be known as "The Delta Spirit."

The new aircraft will be the flagship aircraft for Delta’s new BusinessElite® global product, according to a Delta news release. The BusinessElite® cabin (see photo at right) includes the following features:

• Reclining seats that adjust to multiple comfortable positions, including a completely flat 6-foot 3-inch bed
• Privacy screens incorporating pull-out meal table, fold-out 10.6-inch personal video screen, integrated footrest and personal stowage compartment for bags, shoes or blankets
• Immediate access to the aisle so customers do not have to disturb another passenger when exiting their seat
• USB ports offering charging ability for personal MP3 players

The airline plans to have similar sleeper suites installed on all of the B-777 aircraft in its fleet by 2010.

Economy passengers flying on the new B777-200LR aircraft will enjoy comfortable new all leather slim-line seats, manufactured by Weber Aircraft LP. The Weber seats have ergonomically designed cushions, and provide additional under-seat storage. Each seat has on-demand music, movies, games and television on individual 9-inch video monitors.

The aircraft is set to begin scheduled service tomorrow (March 8, 2008) with a flight between Atlanta and Los Angeles. The first international run for Delta's new B777-200LR, will be on March 9 when it flies from Atlanta to Tokyo.

[Photo Source]

NTSB concerned about defects in GE engines for regional jets

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transport Canada regarding safety concerns arising from engine failures on two separate Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200 aircraft. According to an NTSB news release issued yesterday, the NTSB has concluded that "a flaw during the manufacturing process for fan blades led to the two engine failures, and the Board wants procedures set up to remove these blades before another incident occurs."

Regarding the incidents which prompted the current recommendations, the NTSB says:

In both instances - a July 27, 2006 engine failure on an Air Nostrum CRJ shortly after takeoff from Barcelona, Spain, and a May 24, 2007 engine failure on an Atlantic Southeast airlines CRJ while in cruise flight from Syracuse to Atlanta - a fan blade on a General Electric CF34-3B1 turbofan engine fractured, causing a loud bang, severe vibration and in one case an engine fire. Both flight crews declared emergencies and landed safely with no injuries.

Examination of the blades showed that they failed due to a material defect introduced during the manufacturing process. The fan blades were manufactured by Teleflex Aerospace Manufacturing Group, located in Mexico. Teleflex has manufactured more than 28,000 of these blades.

"We are issuing this recommendation because we consider the safety risk associated with this condition to be unacceptably high," NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said.

The ASA fan blade failed very early in its service life -- after only 4,717 cycles and 5,845 hours. Among its recommendations, the NTSB has asked the FAA to require the following of GE Aviation, the manufacturer of the engines:

• to define a reasonable maximum time frame below 4,717 cycles since new for these Teleflex fan blades and require that the blades be removed from service before that limit is exceeded
• to include additional testing in the manufacturing process for those blades
• to make modifications in its CF34-1/-3 engine design to ensure that high engine vibrations (such as can happen when a fan blade fractures) will not cause the engine to catch fire

In its recommendations to Transport Canada, the NTSB requested that Bombardier, the manufacturer of the CRJ-200 aircraft, be required "to redesign the retention feature of the CRJ 100/-200 engine throttle gearbox to ensure that it can withstand the loads generated by a fan blade separation or similar event."

Here are links to the full-text versions of the NTSB's recommendations regarding GE engines for regional jets:

NTSB Safety Recommendations to the FAA, A-08-04 through -09 - March 5, 2008 (7-page 'pdf' file)

NTSB Safety Recommendation to Transport Canada, A-08-03 - March 5, 2008 (3-page 'pdf file)

Scandinavian airline SAS on trial over Asian cabin crew

An article on Forbes.com, the business news website, reports that "Scandinavian airline SAS went on trial in Copenhagen for allegedly hiring Chinese and Japanese flight attendants without Danish work permits." The airline is said to have paid sub-standard wages to the 34 Chinese and 31 Japanese cabin crew hired since 2005.

The news article says:

The prosecution is calling for SAS to pay a fine of 2 mln dkr and for an additional 5 mln dkr it says the airline saved by paying the flight attendants sub-standard wages, to be confiscated from the company.

Following pressure from the unions, the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs decided in 2006 to file suit against SAS, which is partially state-owned, for violating Danish labour laws.

SAS explained at the time that it needed the Asian air hostesses to attend to the needs of passengers flying between Europe and Asia, insisting that the women were only in Danish air space for the few minutes it took to fly over the small Scandinavian country.

I think the claim that the women were only briefly in Danish airspace is only a cover for the true issue: money. This sounds like just one more instance of a two-tiered pay scheme in which work is outsourced to 'foreign nationals' who are paid a lesser amount to do the same work as citizens of the carrier's home country. Last I knew, this was called exploitation.

The final day of the trial is scheduled for March 17, with a verdict expected about a week later, a judicial source told the news media.

Delta takes delivery of first Boeing 777-200LR

Delta Air Lines recently took delivery of a Boeing 777-200LR (longer range) aircraft -- the first of its type delivered to a U.S.-based carrier. The official delivery ceremony took place at Boeing Field on February 29, 2008, with 150 Delta employees in attendance.

According to a Boeing news release, this is the first of eight aircraft of this type ordered by Delta.

In tribute to employees and to the original "Spirit of Delta" - a Boeing 767-200 given to the airline in 1982 by employees, retirees and friends - the new Boeing 777-200LR, Ship 7101, will be called "The Delta Spirit" in gratitude to the many accomplishments of Delta's employees worldwide. The aircraft will be officially dedicated to Delta employees in a celebration March 6 in Atlanta.

A Delta Airlines news release about the new aircraft designates the new Boeing 777-200LR as "the flagship aircraft for Delta’s new global product, including fully horizontal personal sleeper suites in BusinessElite®, next-generation, more comfortable seats in coach, and Delta’s on-demand entertainment system on larger screens at every seat."

It was announced that the aircraft is scheduled to enter scheduled service March 8 flying between Atlanta and Los Angeles, and will fly on March 9 from Atlanta to Tokyo.

[Photo Source]

Video: Lufthansa Airbus A320 in dramatic crosswind landing attempt

You may have seen this video, or stills captured from it, on a news broadcast. Shot by an amateur at Hamburg, Germany, the video shows a dramatic landing attempt on Fuhlsbuettel Airport's Runway 23 in strong and gusty crosswinds. (Various news reports about the incident mentioned gusts with windspeeds of up to approximately 150 mph.)

At one point the tip of the left wing of the Lufthansa Airlines A320 briefly touches the ground, just before the crew initiates a go-around. According to various news reports, the aircraft later landed safely, but minus one winglet. A story about the incident on CNN.com quoted a Lufhthansa spokesman who said that the plane "is already back in service."

The incident happened on Saturday (March 1, 2008) as the aircraft was arriving on a scheduled flight from Munich with more than 130 people on board. The weather conditions were caused by a powerful winter storm that swept across Europe over the past weekend. The weather disrupted air traffic at Hamburg, and several other locations, causing many flight delays, and several diversions.



(If the video does not display or play properly above, you can view it here on LiveLeak.com.)

UK's AAIB issues safety recommendation for Boeing 777 aircraft

The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) recently released a Special Bulletin in regard to the investigation of the British Airways Boeing 777 accident at London's Heathrow Airport last month. Included in the latest Bulletin is a safety recommendation for all operators of the Boeing 777 type aircraft.

Here's the link to the full text of AAIB Bulletin S1/2008 Special on the AAIB website. (It's a 6-page 'pdf' file.)

AAIB Safety Recommendation 2008-009 states:

Boeing should notify all Boeing 777 operators of the necessity to operate the fuel control switch to cut-off prior to operation of the fire handle, for both the fire drill and the evacuation drill, and ensure that all versions of its checklists, including electronic and placarded versions of the drill, are consistent with this procedure.

The new safety recommendation arose from the finding during the AAIB's post-accident investigation that the spar valves on both engines of the accident aircraft (a B777-236ER, registration number G-YMMM) were found to be open. The function of the spar valves is to cut off the fuel flow to the engine in the event of an engine fire or an accident. The AAIB Bulletin notes that, while this was not in any way causal to the accident, it "could have had serious consequences in the event of a fire during the evacuation."

The AAIB Bulletin gives considerable attention to the open spar valves (see pages 5 and 6 of the Bulletin), concluding that the the fire handles had been operated prior to the fuel control switches. This is contrary to the sequence recommended by Boeing. Quoting from the Special Bulletin:

Boeing had issued a Service Bulletin (SB 777-28-0025) which advised the splicing together of the wires for the fuel control switches and the fire handles to avoid the need to sequence their operation. An FAA airworthiness directive requires this SB to be completed by July 2010. This had not yet been incorporated on G-YMMM; however, had it been incorporated, the right spar valve should have closed when the fuel control switch was operated.

The evacuation checklist for the Boeing 777, issued by Boeing, shows operation of the fuel control switches to cut-off prior to operation of the fire handles. This sequence allows for both CLOSE paths to the spar valve to be exploited and increases the likelihood that the spar valves close before electrical power to the spar valves is isolated. However, if the fire handle is operated first, then only a single path is available.

The operator’s evacuation checklist, for which Boeing had raised no technical objection, required the commander to operate the fuel control switches whilst the first officer operated the fire handles, this was in order to reduce the time required to action the checklist. These actions were carried out independently, with no measure in place to ensure the correct sequencing. The evacuation drill was placarded on the face of the control column boss, directly in front of each pilot.

An evacuation checklist with the division of independent tasks between the crew leaves a possibility that the fire handles could be operated before the fuel control switches which, with fire handle to spar valve wire damage, could leave the engine fuel spar shut-off valves in an OPEN position. This occurred in this accident, and resulted in the loss of fuel from the aircraft.

Here are the links to all three reports related to this accident investigation that have been issued to date by the AAIB:

• AAIB Ref: EW/C2008/01/01 (Initial report)
• Initial Report Update - 23 January 2008
• AAIB Special Bulletin: 1/2008 - February, 2008

Related:  Click here to view all posts on Aircrew Buzz about British Airways Flt 038.

AAIB: Special Bulletin on last month's British Airways accident in London

A Special Bulletin has been issued by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) of the U.K. Department for Transport regarding its investigation of the crash landing of a British Airways B777 at London's Heathrow Airport last month. The bulletin updates and adds to information released previously by the AAIB. The bulletin stops short of stating any conclusions about the cause of the accident, but it does imply that a partial interruption of fuel flow is the current focus of the investigation.

The latest report, AAIB Bulletin S1/2008 Special, is a 6-page 'pdf' document. Here are some highlights of information presented in the bulletin.

Weather: Temperature conditions during the flight were described in the report as "unusually cold," but remained above the freezing point for the fuel samples taken from the aircraft.

Recorded Data: The AAIB successfully retrieved data from the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), and the Quick Access Recorder (QAR) from the accident aircraft. The Bulletin states:

The recorded data indicates that there were no anomalies in the major aircraft systems. The autopilot and the autothrottle systems behaved correctly and the engine control systems were providing the correct commands prior to, during, and after, the reduction in thrust.

Engineering Examination: There were no indications of any pre-existing problems with any of the aircraft systems.

• Examination of the engines indicated no evidence of a mechanical defect or ingestion of birds or ice.
• Examination of the high pressure fuel pumps for both engines "revealed signs of abnormal cavitation on the pressure-side bearings and the outlet ports" suggesting "either a restriction in the fuel supply to the pumps or excessive aeration of the fuel," however both pumps were assessed as being still able to deliver full fuel flow.
• Fuel samples taken from the aircraft conformed with Jet A-1 specifications and "there were no signs of contamination or unusual levels of water content."
• "Small items of debris" were found in the right-main fuel tank, the left-main tank water scavenger inlet, the right-center tank override pump, and the left center tank water scavenge jet pump. The AAIB states that "the relevance of this debris is still being considered."

The accident investigation is ongoing. Quoting from the Special Bulletin:

Investigations are now underway in an attempt to replicate the damage seen to the engine high pressure fuel pumps, and to match this to the data recorded on the accident flight. In addition, comprehensive examination and analysis is to be conducted on the entire aircraft and engine fuel system; including the modelling of fuel flows taking account of the environmental and aerodynamic effects.

Here are the links to the three reports relating to this accident investigation that have been issued to date by the AAIB:

• AAIB Ref: EW/C2008/01/01 (Initial report)
• Initial Report Update - 23 January 2008
• AAIB Special Bulletin: 1/2008 - February, 2008

Related:  Click here to view all posts on Aircrew Buzz about British Airways Flt 038.