Sky Talk

Helicopter sale to Iraq planned

Reuters reports that the Bush administration has proposed the sale of $2.4 billion worth of military helicopters, rockets, missiles, other supplies and services to the government of Iraq.

The sale would include either 24 armed version of the Bell 407 civil helicopter, similar to the Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and the planned ARH-70 armed reconnaissance helicopter, or an armed version of Boeing's AH-6 Little Bird, a version of an MD Helicopters civil aircraft.

The deal would also include large supplies of weapons and ammunition as well as support equipment, technical advice and training for the Iraqi Air Force. The details are included in this release from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

-- Bob Cox

Obama and the Osprey

Here it is, video of Democratic prez candidate Barack Obama and entourage exiting a V-22 Osprey in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday. Posted on Chicago Tribune web site. You can't buy this kind of PR and advertising.

-- Bob Cox

Winglets for American 767s

American Airlines has begun retrofitting its Boeing 767-300 jets with winglets, a form of wing extension that has been shown to help squeeze a few more miles out of every gallon of that precious commodity jet fuel. Flightblogger has the item and a picture of the first "wingletted" 767.

-- Bob Cox

Marines: V-22 is great, debates are over

FARNBOROUGH, England – As far as the Marines are concerned, it’s time for the debates and controversy about the V-22 Osprey to end.

“This program is now normalized,” Marine Gen. George Troutman, deputy commandant for aviation, told a press conference Tuesday at the Farnborough Air Show in England.

After nine months of military operations in Iraq, with only a few reported close calls due to mechanical failures and no combat losses, the Marines say the V-22 is an unquestionable success and all the critics have been proven wrong.

“We’re done talking about the V-22 as if the skeptics, the urban legends, the people that don’t know what they’re talking about are carrying the day,” Troutman said at the briefing held by Bell Helicopter and Boeing, which jointly build the V-22.

See the story in Wednesday's Star-Telegram.

-- Bob Cox

Aviation writers preview Farnborough

Or better known as my very first podcast. Yours truly participated in a round-table discussion with three other journalists of what to expect at the Farnborough Air Show. Take a listen, critiques welcome.

Fellow podcasters were Steve Trimble, writer at blogger for Flight, Colin Clark, reporter and blogger for Military.com and DoDBuzz.com, with Christian Lowe of Military.com and DefenseTech.com moderating.

-- Bob Cox

More V-22 engine problems

FARNBOROUGH,England -- The Bell Helicopter-Boeing team that builds the V-22 Osprey will hold a press conference Tuesday at the Farnborough Air Show with a number of senior Marine corps officers playing the starring roles, presumably to extol the virtues of the V-22 and its performance in Iraq.

They might not want to volunteer the following recent incident so we'll do it for them. It just so happens that on June 21 a Marine V-22 crew had a serious engine problem forced the crew to quickly find a place to land.

 An internal Marine memorandum sent to us by a source describes the problem delicately.

WHILE IN FLIGHT, PILOTS NOTICED THAT THE R/H ENGINE TORQUE WOULD NOT
GO ABOVE 66 PERCENT. THE AIRCRAFT WAS UNABLE TO HOLD ALTITUDE, AND HAD TO
MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN THE FIELD. AFTER REPLACEMENT OF THE ENGINE, A
BOROSCOPE INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED TO INSPECT THE ENGINE INTERNALLY. IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT COMPRESSOR BLADES WERE DAMAGED FROM POSSIBLE FOD INGESTION. A BOROSCOPE INSPECTION OF THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER SHOWED THAT THE LINER HAD BROKEN INTO PIECES. THESE PIECES ENTERED INTO THE GAS GENERATOR, CAUSING SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE.

INTERNAL FAILURE OF THE ENGINE CAUSED FOR A LOSS OF ALTITUDE CONTROL. THE AIRCRAFT WAS UNABLE TO STABILIZE OR HOLD AN ALTITUDE, AND WAS FORCED TO LAND. THIS COULD BE FATAL TO PERSONNEL ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT, AND CAUSE DETRIMENTAL DAMAGE TO THE AIRCRAFT. THE MISSION WAS ABORTED DUE TO THE FAILURE.

In other words, the engine was breaking up. Not a good thing. But what’s more interesting is the indication that the troubled engine was still putting out considerable thrust, but the aircraft couldn’t maintain altitude. The V-22 is supposed to be able to fly at least some distance and land on just one engine, but in this case it was unable to hold altitude while still getting significant power from the damaged engine.

 We asked the Marines for comment on this incident and this is what they said:

An MV-22 Osprey executed a precautionary landing June 21 in al Anbar province due to mechanical problems. Shortly after departing a forward operating base, engine problems prompted the crew to land the aircraft.

No personal injury or damage to the aircraft was sustained.  The aircraft was repaired onsite and flew back to Al Asad Air Base without incident. Hostile fire was not involved.

The cause of the mechanical problem is currently being investigated.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 is currently in their third month of deployment here at Al Asad Air Base.  This is the first incident of its kind involving the MV-22 Osprey in Iraq.

The aircraft continues to complete its mission as designed and prove its value as an essential asset to the Marine Corps' mission in Iraq.

"This environment is challenging for every aircraft here in Iraq," said Lt. Col. Karsten Heckl, commanding officer, VMM-162.  "The maintenance Marines of VMM-162 have done an outstanding job keeping the Osprey in the fight through preventative and routine maintenance."

We should point out a couple of things. One, it may have been the first precautionary (can you say emergency) landing due to an engine failure, there have been a number of incidents of rapid, unscheduled stops due to failed gearbox oil cooling systems, as reported in March by the Star-Telegram.

Second, the Marines have acknowledged publicly that they're wearing out V-22 engines far faster than anyone expected, both in the desert sands of Iraq and the far milder climes of the US.

-- Bob Cox

Bend it until it breaks

Alenia Aeronautica, the Italian aircraft manufacturer that is partnered with Boeing on the 787 Dreamliner program, said it successfully completed destructive testing on the airplane's horizontal stabilizer.

Earlier structural testing had shown the horizontal stabilizer could meet the design requirement of withstanding stresses up to 150 percent of those ever expected to occur in flight. Alenia engineers then tested the horizontal stabilizer to see just how much stress it could withstand before breaking, which proved to be well in excess of the 150 percent requirement, the company said in a press release.

The testing took place at Alenia's plant in Naples with Boeing engineers and representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency in attendance.

Boeing has said it plans to conduct similar testing on the 787 wings to see how far beyond the 150 percent mark they can be bent before breaking.

-- Bob Cox

More C-17s, more work for Vought

President Bush signed a $162 billion supplemental defense spending bill Monday, providing money to continue military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress also appropriated funds for some big ticket items not requested by Bush or the Pentagon, including $4 billion for C-17 large transport aircraft built by Boeing and $3 billion, $800 million more than requested, for additional Lockheed martin C-130J transports.

The added C-17 funding comes at a crucial time for Boeing and its C-17 contractors, in particular Vought Aircraft Industries of Dallas. Production of C-17 components at Vought will now continue into 2010. The line had been due to stop in mid-2009 if no further C-17s were ordered.

-- Bob Cox

It's human to err ... and one did on 787

After weeks of generally good reports on progress on the 787 program, it seems there's now a setback. A worker at the Global Aeronautica plant in Charleston, S.C. last week installed the wrong "fasteners" -- that's generally rivets in the airplane world -- in the wrong places and did some damage to the composite structure of the fuselage of flight test aircraft #4.

Jon Ostrower of Flight reported it first on his blog. The Seattle Times has its own version.

The damage caused by the mistake, which Boeing says has now been repaired, delayed delivery of the fourth aircraft fuselage to Boeing on Monday. So far Boeing hasn't said what impact the mishap will have on its test flight schedule.

Global Aeronautica is a joint venture of Boeing and Alenia Aeronautica of Italy that assembles several major structures of the 787 and installs electrical and hydraulic systems. Boeing recently purchased the share of the operation formally held by Vought Aircraft Industries of Dallas.

See the Star-Telegram story, graphics and online presentation from Sunday on the 787 and particularly Vought's role in building the largely composite airplane.

-- Bob Cox

A step forward for the Dreamliner

Boeing says it has completed the "power-on" sequence for the first 787 Dreamliner flight test airplane, a major milestone in bringing the world's most advanced airliner closer to its first flight. Boeing's press release says

Power On is a complex series of tasks and tests that bring electrical power onto the airplane and begin to exercise the use of the electrical systems. The 787 is a more-electric airplane ith the pneumatic, or bleed air, system being totally replaced by electronics.

"The team has made great progress in bringing the bold innovation of the 787 to reality," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "There is plenty of work to be done between now and first flight, but with every step forward we grow more and more confident."

The Power On sequence began in early June with a series of pretest continuity checks to verify that the wiring installed in the airplane had been connected properly. Upon completion of those checks, the Boeing team plugged in an external power cart and slowly began to bring full power into each segment of the system, beginning with the flight deck displays. From that point forward, the pilot's controls were used to direct the addition of new systems to the power grid.

At each step of the testing, power is allowed to flow into one additional area and gauges are used to verify that the right level of electrical power reached the intended area. "We are very methodical in ensuring the integrity of the airplane's systems," said Shanahan. "In completing the Power On sequence, we have verified both that the electrical power distribution system is installed as designed and that it functions as intended."

An inside look at the Power On testing sequence will be featured on www.boeing.com and newairplane.com beginning Monday at 5 a.m. PDT.