F-22 Pilots are busy even when grounded

Since early May, pilots at Langley Air Force Base have been living life at less than supersonic speeds.

The Air Force ordered a stand-down of its F-22 Raptor fleet on May 3 after reports of potential malfunctions in the oxygen system. The investigation has since expanded to include all aspects of the aircraft, according to Air Combat Command, which is headquartered at Langley.

Just like that, the familiar, twin-tailed silhouette disappeared from the skies over the Peninsula.

But Raptor pilots at Langley are not exactly twiddling their thumbs waiting for the all-clear.

They’ve ramped up training in a high-tech simulator and are spending more time in the classroom. Maintenance crews are handling more ambitious projects – work they could never do during the normal flight cycle.

And time in the gym? It’s on the rise. Fighter pilots are not exactly low-energy individuals.

“The guys are getting antsy,” said Lt. Col. Jason Hinds, director of operations for the 27^th Fighter Squadron.

The F-22 simulator at Langley has become a popular place — not just with Langley pilots, but throughout the Air Force. It is only one of two F-22 simulators in the service; the other is at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

Since the stand down, pilots from Hawaii, New Mexico and elsewhere have come to Langley to train, said Capt. Travis Passey, training flight commander in the Operational Support Squadron. This past week, pilots from Alaska were at the base.

“For the next three months, we’ve got people booked to come here to operate in our simulators,” Passey said.

The clam shell-like simulator gives pilots a 360-degree view of their virtual surroundings. Around 6 feet in diameter, it sits inside a building about the size of a four-car, two-story garage, and is ringed by cameras.

Simulators have some advantages. It is easier to practice against multiple adversaries in the virtual world than in the real one. Pilots can simulate emergency conditions and flying through bad weather.

But it can’t do everything. ”You can’t simulate the environment of flying with the Gs and some of the stresses that you have on your body, the heat, things like that,” Passey said.

Another difference involves taking chances. ”The risk isn’t there,” said Lt. Col. Pete Fesler, commander of the 27^th Fighter Squadron. “That risk equates to stress. You can’t really hit the ground in a simulator. Obviously, you can in a real airplane, so you tend to take risks that are a little bit higher when you fly the simulator because there’s no threat to you or the airplane.”

But it does help, the pilots say, as does increased classroom time. Pilots are going through weapons and tactics briefings and receiving intelligence updates on relevant situations from around the world, said Hinds.

“We’re keeping our brains engaged with the … numbers they have memorized,” Hinds said. “I guarantee you, these guys can tell you everything about the Raptor and everything about the primary-threat airplanes we fly against.”

Maintenance during the stand-down is a multi-sided issue. On the positive side, the aircraft are not experiencing wear and tear. But in a way, that’s also a down side for crew chiefs and maintainers.

“Because we’re not flying those airplanes and breaking them, they’re not necessarily getting the level of training that they would typically get to fix some of the things that break,” said Fesler.

The crews have adapted. Master Sgt. Leroy Higgs, a crew chief and production superintendent for the 94^thAircraft Maintenance Unit, said his crews have taken on more advanced “high interest” projects. It might be removing and reinstalling a major component of the F-22 – something never practiced because they’ve never had a major breakdown.

Langley also plans to ramp up activity on its flight line in the near future. They will prepare the Raptor as if to fly. Pilots will don their equipment. Traffic controllers and weather forecasters will do their jobs.

Then the Raptor will taxi to the end of the runway and return. That doesn’t sound like much, but that short trip will enable the pilots and maintenance crews to get a lot more data about the condition of the airplane, and fix potential problems.

Fesler said Langley should emerge from the stand down – whenever that is – with a stronger maintenance capability.

And while they’re anxious to return to the sky, the pilots will do it step by step, gradually increasing activity and the complexity of their missions. Residents of Hampton shouldn’t expect crowded skies right away.

“We proposed the shotgun start,” joked Fesler. “Fire off the air horn, everyone rushes to the airplane and flies it, but figured that might not probably be the most effective way.”

 

-dailypress.com

Week of Dreamliner Tests Wraps Up

As it gets closer to delivering the first 787 Dreamliner, Boeing Co. said late Tuesday it had completed a week of testing the aircraft with Japan’s All Nippon Airways Co.

The testing process, designed to mimic operating conditions for the Dreamliner—minus the passengers—allowed Boeing and the airline to fly the plane on routes throughout Japan, and gave ANA’s pilots and operations and maintenance personnel the chance to put it through its paces.

Tasks included baggage and cargo loading, parking at gates and simulated maintenance procedures, the companies said.

“Giving our team a chance to work with the airplane prior to entry into service was very valuable,” Katsunori Shimazaki, ANA’s corporate planning senior manager, said in a statement. “Our crews are excited to begin operating the first 787 revenue flights later this year.”

Boeing is expected to deliver the first Dreamliner to ANA sometime in August or September, more than three years behind schedule.

ANA has said it will begin using the new twin-engine wide-body on domestic routes before launching it into international service sometime next year.

Last month, ANA officials said the first Dreamliner route would be from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to either Okayama or Hiroshima. The company has 55 of the planes on order, all powered by engines from Rolls-Royce Group PLC.

Made largely with carbon-fiber composite material, the Dreamliner is a long-range, fuel-efficient jet that Boeing says will provide airlines with significant noise reduction and maintenance-cost savings. It is intended to replace the U.S. plane maker’s popular 767 commercial jet.

Before the deliveries can begin, however, the Dreamliner must be certified for passenger use in the U.S. by the Federal Aviation Administration. The 787s destined for ANA require certification from Japan’s aviation regulators.

Separately, Boeing acknowledged Monday that it was halting final assembly of Dreamliners at its factory in Everett, Washington, for about a month to address supply-chain issues.

Last year, Boeing temporarily held up the assembly line on four separate occasions to correct problems along its global supply chain and to allow some suppliers time to catch up. Boeing declined to identify the root cause of this month’s production delay—the year’s first—but said it wouldn’t affect the timing of the first customer delivery of the jet.

Unlike other Boeing airplane programs, the Dreamliner is heavily dependent on far-flung primary suppliers in Japan, Italy, Kansas and South Carolina to provide major sections of the planes, which are assembled in Washington state.

Boeing’s second final-assembly line for the 787 opened last month in South Carolina, but is mired in a labor dispute. The production pause comes as Boeing is preparing to increase production rates to 2.5 Dreamliners a month by the end of the year from the current two a month.

The company expects to build 10 Dreamliners a month—seven in Washington and three in South Carolina—by late 2013. It has nearly 830 Dreamliners on order.

 

-online.wsj.com

Korean Attack Helicopter Chosen

BEIJING — Korea Aerospace Industries will move ahead with preliminary development of South Korea’s proposed light attack helicopter, following the Defense Ministry’s decision to contract with the company for concept definition.

The work, estimated at 19.2 billion won ($18.2 million), reinforces Korea Aerospace’s position as the national rotary-wing specialist. The ministry rejected a competing bid from Korean Air Aerospace, the manufacturing division of the country’s largest airline. The move also increases the likelihood that South Korea will finally put the Korean Attack Helicopter (KAH) into production, with more than 200 units required.

Along the way, the program could create an important new civilian helicopter. With an eye on civil sales, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy has insisted that the aircraft have a cabin with six-eight seats, instead of the traditional skinny two-seat body that minimizes the weight and drag of an attack helicopter and maximizes its agility. The ministry is the government’s main economic coordinating agency, running an industry policy based on the Asian tradition of trying to pick winning projects.

One picture of a Korea Aerospace design study shows the KAH with a sensor turret and four missiles that look like Hellfires, two under each stub wing. The mission is close support.

Eurocopter, Korea Aerospace’s partner in developing the larger Surion utility helicopter, appears to be well-placed to take part in the KAH, too, especially if it thinks the 40-year-old Dauphin series should be replaced. With a gross weight of about 4.5 tons, the KAH would be comparable to the Dauphin, AgustaWestland Super Lynx and Bell AH-1 Cobra, but without the latter’s specialized attack configuration.

Concept definition of the KAH is planned to run until the end of 2012, at which time the government should decide whether to undertake full-scale development from 2013-18 at a cost estimated at 570.8 billion won. The cost of development, apparently including concept definition, was previously quoted at 700 billion won; it is unclear why the estimate has fallen, contrary to the usual trend in aerospace programs.

According to earlier estimates based on building 260 KAHs, production would cost 3 trillion won, which at current exchange rates works out to about $11 million per helicopter. The total program value is now forecast at about 12 trillion won, including running costs. The army’s official newspaper now states the required number as more than 200. It was once as high as 274.

Two years ago the concept-definition phase was supposed to begin in 2010 to support the Defense Ministry’s demand for the KAH to enter service in 2018 and begin to replace about 70 Cobras and 270 Hughes 500s. Since the ministry is still aiming to complete development in 2018, the schedule appears to have been compressed.

The current KAH has emerged from twice splitting what was originally a single huge helicopter development effort. At one point the aircraft was to be part of the Korean Multipurpose Helicopter program, with 477 units proposed. In 2005 that effort was reduced to focus on the Korean Utility Helicopter, now Surion, with the attack helicopter, expected to be a variant, left for later. In 2008 the attack requirement was itself split between heavy helicopters – almost certainly Boeing AH-64 Apaches that the army has wanted since the 1990s – and smaller rotorcraft that could be developed domestically under the KAH program. The KAH might still have been a fairly large aircraft had the ministry accepted proposals to adapt the Surion. The current proposal calls for a much smaller helicopter.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said in April that it planned to order heavy attack helicopters by October 2012. The long-standing requirement is for 36 units.

 

-aviationweek.com

Russian An-24 crash could result to An-24 ban

Russia is considering phasing out the Antonov An-24 turboprop fleet in the immediate wake of a July 11 crash of an Angara Airlines An-24 aircraft in which five passengers were killed.

The An-24 aircraft was on a domestic flight from Tomsk to Surgut Airport. The pilot reported an engine fire and was attempting an emergency landing when the aircraft went down into the Ob River 14 km southwest of Strezhevov Airport. The accident occurred at 8:55 Moscow time.

Russian aviation officials say 37 persons were onboard, 33 passengers and four crew.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has instructed safety authorities to study whether the An-24 should be removed from service. It is the second such examination in Russia this year. Medvedev also pushed for the fleet retirement of Tu-154Bs following the crash of one of the airliners on Jan. 1.

 

-aviationweek.com

Modified Delta 767 Cabins On Schedule

Delta Air Lines is slightly behind schedule on delivering its newly modified Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, but it says that the first aircraft in this, “the mother of all modifications,” underwent flight tests last week.

The airline needs to do some more work on plumbing and laying up laminates, but it expects the first delivery of the new cabin by Aug. 1. The whole program upgrade, however, is on schedule for its 2013 deadline.

The airline is matching the 767-300ERs to the 767-400ERs. The project entails installing flat-bed seats in the new first-class equivalent of Business Elite, personal inflight entertainment throughout the cabin and adding Economy Comfort, a bridge between Business Elite and regular economy. Chris Babb, product manager of customer experience, says that joint-venture partners Air France-KLM and Alitalia played a role in developing Delta’s economy comfort class.

“Since we announced the joint venture with our partners Air France and subsequently KLM and Alitalia, we had quarterly meetings that rotate around the different hub cities of those airlines,” says Babb.

“And actually one of the reasons that we launched economy comfort was because of our conversations with KLM, who really heavily influenced our decision to roll out this product,” he says.

 

-aviationweek.com

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Lakehurst

LAKEHURST — The first F-35C Joint Strike Fighter to land at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst arrived June 25 for a round of testing required before the naval version of the multi-role aircraft can go to sea in 2013.

The test aircraft was flown by Lt. Cmdr. Eric “Magic” Buus from Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland, the base of the Navy’s F-35 integrated test team, according to officials with Naval Air Systems Command.

At Lakehurst, jet-blast deflector tests will be conducted to evaluate how the new aircraft performs with those sections of movable deck plate that shift the heat and blast of engine exhaust away from the aircraft carrier flight deck. The team must learn how the aircraft may be affected by vibration, acoustics, heat and ingesting hot gases, NAVAIR officials say. Plans call for shipboard testing of F-35s on aircraft carriers in 2013.

 

-app.com

All Nippon finally receives Boeing 787 order

Boeing’s 787 landed in Japan early July 3 to start a weeklong dress rehearsal with All Nippon Airways Co., signaling the end is near on a delay of more than three years for the world’s first composite-plastic jet.

The Dreamliner, which landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, will make test flights on ANA’s normal domestic routes, with pilots and mechanics from both companies working alongside each other. The exercise will ensure the plane can fit into airport parking slots and use boarding bridges and fuel hoses, said Megumi Tezuka, an airline spokeswoman.

“It’s been a long wait,” said Hidetaka Sakai, an ANA spokesman who watched today’s landing. “We want to compete with global air companies with this plane.”

The trip is one of the final validations ahead of the 787’s entry into service as soon as next month. Boeing missed the original May 2008 delivery target, stalling its ability to book profit from a model with an average list price of $202 million and forcing customers to reshuffle their plans.

“People are going to be happy to see the plane arrive in Japan,” saidRyota Himeno, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The key will be when demand for air travel rebounds.”

ANA, Asia’s largest listed airline by sales, suffered a 20 percent drop in domestic travel in April, the month after a record earthquake and tsunami disrupted air service in the country and led to the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

The Tokyo-based carrier is counting on the twin-engine Dreamliner to help add flights to China, Europe and the U.S. while paring fuel costs. Japan Airlines Co., which has 35 of the 787s on order, has said it will start service to Boston from Tokyo with the jet next year, the first direct link between the city and Asia.

For Boeing, getting the Dreamliner into service this quarter would end a series of seven postponements that led to late penalties and analysts dubbing the company’s fastest- selling plane the “7-Late-7.” Boeing’s 27 percent slide from the initial, October 2007 delay through June 30 was almost twice the drop for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

 

-bloomberg.com

Latest Chinese UAV Emerges

The latest unmanned aircraft pictures from China show a reconnaissance truck with a joined wing and tail that could considerably increase range and payload and produce better handling at high altitudes.

U.S. analysts already are suggesting that the new Chinese UAV design — with its 60,000-ft. cruising altitude, 300-mi. radar surveillance range and low radar reflectivity if it uses the right composite structure — could serve as the targeting node for China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles. The ASBM threat against carriers finally has U.S. Navy officials worried.

Photographs emerging from Chinese Internet sources, depicting the aircraft on what is likely Chengdu Aircraft Corporation’s (CAC) ramp, show a new design featuring a novel joined-wing layout. In the same size class as the General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Inc. Avenger, and powered by a single turbofan engine, the new UAV is the most advanced Chinese design seen to date and the largest joined-wing aircraft known to have been built.

The company also makes the J-10 strike fighter, the J-20 stealth fighter prototype and a Global Hawk-like maritime reconnaissance UAV called the Xianglong, or Soaring Dragon, which flew in December 2009. CAC officials say it has a wingspan of 75 ft., length of 45 ft. and a cruise altitude of 55,000-to-60,000 ft. Chinese sources credited it with a 7,500-kg (16,500-lb.) takeoff weight and 3,800 nm range. The forebody is bulged to accommodate a high-data-rate satcom antenna.

Joined wings — a subset of closed-wing systems — comprise a sweptback forward wing and a forward-swept aft wing.

In the new Chinese UAV (as in many such configurations) the rear wing is higher than the forward wing to reduce the effect of the forward wing’s downwash on the rear wing’s lifting qualities. The rear wing has a shorter span than the front wing and its downturned tips meet the front wing at a part-span point.

Advocates of the joined wing claim that its advantages stem from the fact that the front and rear wings are structurally cross-braced.

This allows a higher aspect ratio while keeping down weight and staying within flutter limits. A higher aspect ratio reduces drag due to lift, and because the wings are both slender and short-span (relative to a single wing with equivalent lift) the wing chords are short, which makes it easier to achieve laminar flow. The joined wing also can reduce trim drag.

Studies of joined wings go back to the earliest years of aviation, but modern work is traceable to Julian Wolkovitch, a California aerodynamicist.

Wolkovitch worked with Burt Rutan on an early design study, the Model 58 Predator agricultural airplane, and drew up plans to develop a flight demonstrator based on the fuselage of the Ames-Dryden AD-1 skewed-wing aircraft. However, the project was still unfunded when Wolkovitch died in 1991. (Rutan went on to build a different Predator design.)

More recently, Boeing used a joined-wing configuration in its contribution to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) SensorCraft project, aimed at developing an aircraft capable of carrying an airframe-integrated, 360-deg.-coverage, high-resolution radar and remaining on station for 30 hr. at 2,000 nm range.

A small, low-speed free-flight model known as VA-1, with a 14-ft. wingspan, was completed by AFRL in 2003 and test flown.

A model of Boeing’s Joined Wing SensorCraft was tested last year in NASA Langley’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel under the Air Force’s Aerodynamic Efficiency Improvement program.

 

-aviationweek.com

Israel, U.S. Strike F-35 Technology Deal

A major obstacle blocking Israel’s purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been cleared, perhaps signaling that the U.S. is relaxing its hard-line approach to exporting JSF technologies that may be crucial to securing additional foreign sales.

The U.S. has been cautious about sharing sensitive technologies for the stealth fighter, but existing program partners and international competitions—­such as in Japan—are increasing pressure on it to do so. The breakthrough comes as more international JSF partners near buying decisions. However, the added numbers will likely have only little impact on the debate about the F-35 unit cost, since initial procurement numbers for non-U.S. buyers are relatively small compared to the Pentagon’s purchases.

By far the most contentious fight over F-35 technology has centered on Israel, which wants to adapt the aircraft to use indigenously developed electronic warfare (EW) equipment. After strongly resisting this for some time, Washington now has agreed to allow Israeli F-35s to be rewired so that Israeli EW systems can be installed on the aircraft. That would allow Israel to gradually add indigenous EW sensors and countermeasures on its fighters once it receives its first squadron.

With that deal in hand, officials for both the Israeli air force and Lockheed Martin expect the $2.7 billion contract for the procurement of 19 or 20 F-35As will be signed by early next year.

“I believe that Israel could receive its first F-35s in late 2016,” Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin’s general manager of the F-35 program, tells Aviation Week. A senior Israeli air force official, who until recently was concerned about delays in the program, says the schedule agreed upon is “very satisfactory.”

The Israeli air force initially presented a long list of unique and costly requirements for the JSF, but it has accepted that its first F-35s will be almost identical to those of the U.S. Air Force, with only Israeli command, control, computers, communications and intelligence (C4I) systems installed in them. The plans to add Israeli EW systems, air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions as well as an external fuel tank, were approved in principle but will be deferred in order to protect the budgetary framework and delivery schedule.

Until recently, Israel insisted that only its own EW systems would be suitable to meet the developing anti-aircraft threat in the region, such as the deployment of SA-17 and SA-22 air defense systems in Syria. But now, claims the Israeli air force official, “the F-35s we will receive will be more than ready to meet those threats.”

According to the program schedule, Israeli F-35s will be manufactured within the seventh and eighth low-rate initial production (LRIP) lot. The LRIP 5 cost is being negotiated by the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin. “Israel could still be the first international customer to receive the JSF,” says Burbage.

One issue that remains to be settled between the two countries is when Israeli air force crews will begin training on the F-35s and on whose platforms. Burbage says training could commence in 2016, but it is for the Pentagon to decide which aircraft will be made available for Israeli training.

Facing a series of tectonic shifts in the region, some perceived as threatening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are drafting a new work plan for 2013-17. The underlying assumption of the plan is that the dramatic changes in the Middle East could turn peaceful neighbors to the country’s south, such as Egypt, and to the east, such as Jordan, more hostile to Israel. The IDF consequently aim to build a larger, more flexible force that will be capable of dealing with more than the traditional northern front of Syria and Lebanon. The Israeli air force claims to be the only service with that flexibility, and it calls for accelerating the plan to procure 75 F-35s by 2030.

In the coming years, the air force will begin decommissioning dozens of its aging fighters, such as F-16A/Bs and F-15A/Bs, and with only 20 new F-35s, its fighter fleet will reach its lowest point ever.

However, there is strong competition for funding. Israeli ground commanders argue that because of the potential threat that the giant and modern Egyptian army would be turned against Israel, it is necessary to establish an additional mechanized division, equipped with Merkava tanks and the new Namer armored personnel carrier. The production of the Merkava-based Namer was moved to General Dynamics Land Systems in the U.S. in order to enable Israel to procure them using U.S. military aid funding, the same funding source used to acquire the F-35s.

Still unclear is whether the U.S.-Israeli deal means Washington is recognizing that it needs to be more pragmatic in terms of JSF technology controls to secure international deals. Program officials do note that any foreign buyer will have the same level of stealth with which the U.S. will operate.

A key test of how much the technology transfer approach has changed will come in Japan, which recently issued a request for proposals for new fighters. Japan has specified a high degree of technology transfer and work on the program, with an expressed interest in a domestic assembly line. U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. C.D. Moore, deputy director of the JSF program, says the government is working closely with Lockheed Martin and engine provider Pratt & Whitney to put together an attractive deal. However, he also points out that Japan has ranked capabilities as the most important source selection criteria, even ahead of industrial participation and life-cycle cost.

Australia and Italy are expected to be among the next countries ready to commit to buying JSFs, likely placing their first contracts as part of next year’s LRIP 6 package. Turkey is expected to come soon after. Although the Norwegian government recently put forward a proposal to buy the first four F-35s of its larger procurement, the actual contract for that deal may not be signed for another three years.

Meanwhile, Denmark is planning a fighter competition and is expected to make a choice quickly. Pending elections in Copenhagen could even see an acceleration of the competitive time line. The F-35 would face stiff competition from the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Saab Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon.

 

-aviationweek.com

Chinese Acquisition of Cirrus Completed

The Chinese have continued their expansion into the general aviation market with the completion of China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company’s (CAIGA) acquisition of Cirrus Aircraft. Terms of the transaction were not released.

Cirrus announced the planned acquisition in late February, saying, “This transaction will have a positive impact on our business and our customers because we share a common vision with CAIGA to grow our general aviation enterprise worldwide.”

Cirrus President and CEO Brent Wouters today reiterated that, “CAIGA has the resources that will allow us to expedite our aircraft development programs and accelerate our global expansion.” Wouters has been optimistic that the acquisition also will help Cirrus bring to market its single-engine Vision Jet.

He also believes it will help the company infiltrate the Chinese market, where less than two dozen of the Cirrus aircraft had been based earlier this year.

Wouters reemphasizes that plans calls for Cirrus to continue production at its plant in Grand Forks, N.D., which employs 500 workers, as well as Duluth, Minn., where the final assembly plant is located. “Our partners at CAIGA understand the strength and the talent of Cirrus’s workforce,” he says.

Cirrus is one of the most dominant single-engine plane-makers, typically competing with Cessna Aircraft in terms of units sold. The company delivered 264 of its single pistons last year, in addition to 130 used models.

CAIGA President Meng Xiangkai, says Cirrus has “has a very strong record of consistent product excellence, comprehensive safety features, an outstanding management team and a highly skilled workforce who operate from advanced production facilities.”

CAIGA will work with the Cirrus management team to expand production volume, Xiangkai adds.

The acquisition was completed over the concerns of Minnesota politicians, who questioned whether the state-owned CAIGA would adapt some of the technologies for weapons systems and/or transfer work to China.

The acquisition, in the works for nearly two years before the deal was finalized, is the latest step the Chinese have taken to increase its reach into the general aviation market. Last year the Chinese purchased Teledyne Industries’ Continental Engine Co., along with the rights bankrupt kit plane producer Epic Aircraft.

 

-aviationweek.com