China eyes the airline market

China unveils jetliner in bid to compete with Boeing and Airbus

Report from Paul Traynor, Associated Press:

 Comac C919

A state-owned manufacturer has unveiled the first plane produced by a Chinese initiative to compete in the market for large passenger jetliners.

China is one of the biggest aviation markets but relies on Boeing and Airbus aircraft. The multibillion-dollar effort to create the homegrown C919 jetliner is aimed at clawing back some of the commercial benefits that flow to foreign suppliers.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) showed off the first of the twin-engine planes in a ceremony attended by some 4,000 government officials and other guests at a hangar near Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.

"It's a major push for the country, as they want to be known as a major player" in airplane manufacturing, said Mavis Toh, Asia air transport editor for Flightglobal magazine.

The C919 is one of several initiatives launched by the ruling Communist Party to transform China from the world's low-cost factory into a creator of profitable technology in aviation, clean energy and other fields.

The C919, which can seat up to 168 passengers, is meant to compete in the market for single-aisle jets dominated by Airbus Industrie's A320 and Boeing Co.'s 737.

Its manufacturer, known as COMAC, says it has received orders from 21 customers for a total of 517 aircraft, mostly from Chinese carriers but also from GE Capital Aviation Services.

A separate state-owned company also has developed a smaller regional jet, the ARJ-21, to compete in the market dominated by Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. The first two ARJ-21s were delivered last year to a Chinese airline:

Most of the C919's critical systems including engines and avionics are being supplied by Western companies or foreign-Chinese joint ventures:

Boeing forecasts China's total demand for civilian jetliners over the next two decades at 5,580 planes worth a total of US$780 billion.

China's major airlines are state-owned, which gives the Communist Party a captive pool of potential customers that can be ordered to buy the C919.

"China offers a terrific market, superb engineering talent and reasonably low costs. Developing a national aircraft industry makes a lot of sense," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis of Teal Group Corp., an industry consultant, in a report in July.

However, the C919 is hampered by official requirements that its manufacturer favour components produced in China, unlike competitors who source parts globally, according to Aboulafia.

"This means Western suppliers need to give away technology to play on this jet," said Aboulafia. "It also means that this aircraft is designed by people whose hands have been tied."

Development of the C919 began in 2008. Plans called for a first flight in 2014 and for it to enter service in 2016, but those targets were pushed back due to production delays. The C919 now is due to fly next year and enter service in about 2019.

One of the biggest components, the core processing and display system, is being supplied by a joint venture between GE Aviation Systems and AVIC, a state-owned Chinese military contractor.

Boeing Dreamliner 787-9 takes to the skies: Air NZ the first customer

Dreamliner 787-9

A longer version of Boeing's Dreamliner made its first flight, passing a key milestone for a plane that should be more profitable both for Boeing to sell and for its customers to operate than the current production model.

Orders have been places by several carriers, Air New Zealand being the first, also Canada, Japan, KLM, Air France, Virgin, and others

The 787-9 jet, which left the ground at 11.02 am local time has room for 290 passengers, 40 more than the original 787-8 jetliner, and has about 300 more nautical miles (555km) of range.

That means Boeing can charge US$37.7 million ($45.8 million) more for the plane at list price, and airlines can sell more seats on longer routes.

Boeing has unfilled orders for 936 Dreamliners, worth about US$217 billion at list prices, or nearly eight years worth of production at its target construction rate of 10 per month, which it aims to hit by year's end.

About 41 per cent of the orders, or 388 planes, are for the 787-9.

Boeing began selling an even longer version of the jet, the 787-10, in June. It has garnered 50 orders so far. The rest of the orders are for the 787-8.

In its maiden voyage on Tuesday, the 787-9 will fly for about five hours, running detailed tests of its flight controls, part of a nine-month testing program.

The aircraft used for the tests will eventually be delivered to Air New Zealand in mid-2014, Boeing said.

An hour behind schedule, in overcast weather, the jet rose smoothly before TV crews, reporters and thousands of Boeing employees, who watched from an adjacent runway. The flight began at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, near Boeing's main 787 assembly lines, and is due to end at Boeing Field south of Seattle, near Boeing's 737 factory.

The jet was scheduled to fly at a speed of up to 250 knots and altitude of 16,000 feet if the two test pilots aboard feel it is safe, Boeing said.

The jet will fly over Puget Sound and then head inland to Moses Lake, Washington.                                 (Reuters)

Airbus A350 Takes to the skies

Airbus A350 First Flight

(Reuters) - After the Dreamliner, the Hushliner?

Europe's latest extra wide-body passenger jet, the Airbus A350, made its maiden flight on Friday and its chief salesman, opening a new front in a battle with U.S. rival Boeing declared it so quiet that airport residents won't even notice it.

The lightweight carbon-plastic jet flew over the Airbus plant in Toulouse to salute production workers before wrapping up a four-hour inaugural flight that Airbus officials said had achieved more than expected.

Watched by 10,000 staff and spectators, the aircraft's curled wingtips sliced into clouds above the factory in southwestern France and flew over the Pyrenees.

The sortie caps eight years of designing and development costing an estimated $15 billion.

Airbus's ebullient New York-born sales chief, John Leahy, lost no time in talking up the plane's benefits moments after its two Roll-Royce (RR.L) engines hoisted the A350 from the same runway where the supersonic Concorde took its first ground-shaking run 44 years ago.

"Did you hear how quiet it was? We are going to set new standards ... People round airports won't even know we are taking off," Leahy said.

It is a milestone for the EADS (EAD.PA) unit as it seeks to catch Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in sales of a generation of lightweight jets designed to save fuel and do less harm to the environment.

Boeing was first off the mark with the use of revolutionary carbon-composite materials and its Dreamliner has so far outsold the A350, with sales reaching 833 aircraft to 57 customers.

With sales of 613 planes to 33 customers, Airbus hopes to catch up and also mount a challenge to the U.S. manufacturer's larger, metallic 777, thanks in part to the A350's low noise.

"READY TO FLY"

British test pilot Peter Chandler, who commanded a crew of six pilots and test engineers wearing helmets and parachutes over orange jumpsuits, was elated about the plane.

"It was ready to fly and it wanted to fly. It was clearly much happier in the air," Chandler said.

French co-pilot Guy Magrin, a former air force pilot, took the controls for the take-off at 10:01 local time

Competition for wide-bodied jets is expected to dominate next week's Paris Airshow, where the A350 has its sights on another fly-by when French President Francois Hollande visits the event on Friday, if tests continue to go well.

"I am talking to airlines about placing orders in the very new future. I think you may see some announcements very soon," sales chief Leahy told Reuters.

Airbus is finalizing orders from Singapore Airlines  , Kuwait Airways and Air France  and hopes to add a new customer at the June 17-23 show, analysts say.

Boeing sees a market worth $1 trillion for one category of mid-sized long-haul passenger airplanes over the next 20 years and the A350 and 787 are chasing the lion's share of that.

More expensive than other aircraft at about $300 million apiece at list prices, the A350's business case relies on fuel savings of some 25 percent compared with ordinary airliners.

But aerospace manufacturers are also under pressure to cut emissions and noise to comply with tougher global regulations.

EDGE ON NOISE

Airbus and Boeing both claim the edge on noise levels, which remain politically explosive at airports like London's Heathrow.

Airbus said the A350 is up to 16 decibels below international requirements. Boeing said its 787 has a smaller noise footprint than other widebody aircraft, and is equivalent to the sounds of heavy traffic when standing at a roadside.

"We welcome any moves towards quieter planes, but let's not run away with the idea that the A350 is a quiet plane. It is simply less noisy than its predecessors," said John Stewart, chair of a residents' group opposing the expansion of Heathrow.

The A350's maiden flight is the start of a 12 to 13 month test program that will include putting it through the harshest possible conditions around the globe.

Airbus says it is on track to put the aircraft into service with Qatar Airways in the second half of 2014, but the timetable remains "challenging".

Project leader Didier Evrard, a former missiles boss credited with preventing a repeat of the disarray on recent Airbus programs, has a major job to produce four more test aircraft and could not relax during the flight.

"I will still be nervous until it comes back. I'm an engineer so I have to be connected to the ground and make sure everything is fine," he told reporters.

Evrard said Airbus would soon add a customer in the United States, where industry sources say United Airlines is negotiating to expand an order for 25 jets.

Airbus initially dismissed new mid-sized aircraft like the 787 as it focused on building the world's largest airliner, the A380 superjumbo, in the last decade.

But faced with burgeoning Dreamliner sales, it changed tack and overhauled the design of the 270- to 350-seat A350 by adopting similar composites technology in 2006.

To boost sales, Boeing is expected to soon confirm plans to build a larger version of its Dreamliner. It is also overhauling its 777 with new engines and wings.

Igor Sikorsky and Helicopters: Anniversary of the first successful chopper flight

Igor Sikorsky and the helicopter: Happy birthday today ?
The Aircraft genius at work:

Heard on the radio today that it was the anniversary of Sikorsky's first successful helicopter flight. I've had a look at this extraordinary gentleman's history, and the history of the helicopter in general

                                                


The Russian-born scientist, engineer, pilot and entrepreneur made fixed and rotary wing aviation history with a mix of genius, determination and humanity. An established Russian aviation pioneer, arrived in New York or March 1919. His passport revealed he entered America to "construct aircraft". He made several attempts to re-enter aviation in his new country without success.

Airplanes and engines built for World War I were available at extremely low prices and aviation was described to him by some as a "dying industry". Soon his money was running out and he resorted to teaching Russian immigrants mathematics; later, astronomy and aviation lessons were included.

He also started to lecture to various groups which brought him in contact with people who shared his enthusiasm for aviation and convinced him to start his own aeronautical enterprise. March 5,1923, saw the creation of the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation.

The company was dedicated to building the S-29A (Sikorsky type 29, America) and was based at fellow immigrant Victor Utgoff s farm near Roosevelt Field on Long Island, N.Y.

One biographer summarized that  Igor Sikorsky had three careers in aviation:

• Constructing and flying fixed-wing aircraft in Russia, 
• Constructing and flying fixed wing aircraft , including seaplanes in America, 
• and helicopters, actually his first love. 
• 
  

                                

He was fascinated by science in general, and in many ways was a classical philosopher. It has been said that he was initially inspired by a Jules Verne novel as a very young boy

He passed away peacefully in his sleep in 1972 at the age of 83 after putting in a typical day at his office at Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky Aircraft has a proud and rich history of aircraft design and construction dating to the early part of the last century, making it one of America's pioneering aerospace companies.

A list of Sikorsky's firsts:

In Russia:

1909 H-1, Constructed his First helicopter "This machine was a failure to the extent that it could not fly. In other respects it was a very important and necessary stepping stone."

1910 S-2, Igor Sikorsky Flew for the First time

1911 S-5, Igor's First pilot license issued from the Imperial Aero Club of Russia

1912 S-6A won First place in the Moscow Aircraft Competition, pilot Igor Sikorsky

1913 S-9 First monocoque fuselage constructed in Russia

1913 S-10 establish a Russian Aviation Record flying 500 kilometers in 4 hrs and 56 min

1913 S-12 First Russian aircraft capable of a loop

1913 S-12 Established a Russian Altitude Record of 3,680m

1913 Igor Sikorsky flew the S-21 "Grand" the World's First successful four-engine plane

1913 S-21 set a World's Record for duration and literally set one World's Record after another for a four-engine plane with each fligh

1913 S-10 & S-11 won First and Second place in the Petrograd Military Competition

1914 S-27 set two World Records for payload and flight duration

1914 S-27 with pontoons was the largest seaplane built in the World

1916 S-27G with 880 horsepower was the largest plane produced in the World

LAUNCHING THE FLYING-BOAT IN THE US

1923 Igor founded Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation

1924 S-29A First twin-engine airplane capable of flying on one engine and First all metal aircraft

1925 S-29A World's First airplane to broadcast a radio musical program in-flight

1926 S-29A World's First airplane to show a motion picture in-flight

1929 S-37 First airplane to fly over the Andes Mountains

1929 S-38 Used in pioneering Central and South American air routes by Pan American Airways

1929 S-38 Piloted by Charles Lindbergh inaugurated air mail service between the US and Panama

1931 S-40 "American Clipper" was the Worlds largest airliner produced

1934 S-42 First production aircraft with wing flaps: allowed high flight speeds and low landing speeds.

1934 S-42 Established ten World Records, of which eight were set on one flight. This flight of August 1st vaulted the United States into First place holder of World Aviation Records

1935 S-42 First transoceanic air service, flying the first airmail from Honolulu to the mainland.

1937 S-42 made the First regular airline crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean and pioneered the transpacific route to Asia

1936 S-43 Established four World Altitude Records

1937 S-44 (XPBS-1) long range bomber first flown August 13, 1937. It had a max range of 4,000 miles and superior performance but lost out to a lower cost competitor.

1942 VS-44 Civilian version of the S-44 first flew in January 1942. It was the wold's longest range commercial aircraft and the only aircraft to have flown commercial scheduled non-stop across the north and south Atlantic. This was the last fixed wing aircraft built by Sikorsky.