Boeing to resume 787 Dreamliner deliveries

Boeing Co. received preliminary US regulatory clearance to restart deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, paving the way for the end of a drought that drained cash and dented the planemaker’s reputation for quality. 

The Federal Aviation Administration approved Boeing’s plans to inspect and repair tiny manufacturing flaws in the Dreamliner’s carbon-composite frame. The jet manufacturer had largely halted deliveries since late 2020 as its engineers found improperly filled gaps in about 20 locations.

The jet manufacturer had largely halted deliveries since late 2020.

The FAA agreement is a milestone for the company, but it won’t immediately resume sales. Boeing must still make required fixes and get FAA inspectors to approve each aircraft, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information hasn’t been publicly announced. While the timing of delivery resumptions remains unclear, the company is aiming to begin in the week of August 8.

A total of 120 of the jets, which retail for as much as USD 338 million, had been constructed but were parked and waiting for the FAA’s approval to resume sales to customers such as American Airlines Group Inc., according to Boeing.  

"We will continue to work transparently with the FAA and our customers towards resuming 787 deliveries."Boeing said in an e-mailed statement. 

The chief problem for the 787 had been how the plane’s carbon-fibre fuselage sections were joined, which didn’t meet Boeing’s design specifications but wasn’t deemed to be a safety hazard.

The resumption of shipments will mark a financial turnaround for Boeing.

The locations where parts of the plane are joined must meet precise standards down to a small fraction of an inch. There are questions about the inspection process used to check that work.

The company said it has been working with the FAA on the problem and identified a way to fix the 787s that haven't yet been delivered to customers. Boeing said 787 planes already in service do not need to be grounded.

The FAA agreed, saying it is aware of a manufacturing quality issue, and it "poses no immediate threat to flight safety."

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Akasa Air seems to have piqued the interest of many customers who are willing to give the airline a try for their upcoming travel plans. A quick scan of its official website reveals that only one of two flights (with a 14:05 departure time) between Mumbai and Ahmedabad on August 7th is available for booking. The inaugural flight, which departs at 10:05 in the morning, is completely booked.

The airline seems to have no trouble selling tickets for its initial flights.

Akasa’s first flight being sold out is not entirely surprising, given its marketing campaign of providing a different product, an uptick in travel, and a general curiosity among the flying public to try a different airline.

We won’t be surprised if the first few flights are also taken by general aviation enthusiasts and aviation vloggers, given the hype Akasa has generated over the last few months.

It looks like the airline is establishing its presence in primarily big cities as of now and will start deploying planes to tier-2 and 3 towns once it settles down on these key routes.

 If Akasa can sustain enough buzz, it could achieve decent load factors for its first few days of flying.

It is also waiting for more planes to join its fleet as the two Boeing 737 MAX planes currently can only take on so much. But all that should change once it starts receiving 2 planes a month in the coming weeks.

India’s startup airline is off to a good start, generating enough interest from potential customers for good first-week bookings. The airline will take the plunge on August 7th, entering into the highly competitive Indian aviation sector, competing with established players such as IndiGo.

"We kick-start operations with flights between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, with the brand-new Boeing 737 Max aircraft.We will adopt a phased approach to support our network expansion plans, progressively connecting more cities, as we add two aircraft to our fleet each month, in our first year."Praveen Iyer, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air

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The carrier received its air operator certificate (AOC) from aviation regulator DGCA on July 7. With the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) giving green light to Max planes in August 2021, Akasa Air signed a deal with Boeing on November 26 last year to purchase 72 Max aircraft. 

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The maiden flight trials of the LCA Tejas MK-1A (Light Combat Aircraft Mark-1A) have been started from the first week of May, said sources in the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) associated with the project. LCA Mk-1A is an upgraded version of the LCA Mk-1. LCA Mk-1 reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) in 2020.

The LCA Tejas is a fly-by-wire (FBW) fighter with the ability to refuel in the air. It has a glass cockpit and a satellite-assisted inertial navigation system, making it a fourth-generation fighter.

HAL will try to deliver all 10 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas aircraft by this year.

It can transport air-to-ground bombs and attack systems that can be used to strike targets on land or at sea. It’s a supersonic combat jet with a 50,000-foot service ceiling. Its wingspan is 8.20 meters, its length is 13.20 meters, and its height is 4.40 meters.

HAL had earlier agreed to pay USD 716 million to GE Aviation for 99 F404 aircraft engines and related services to power the indigenous Tejas LCA Mk-1A. Furthermore, it is now developing its indigenous engine, which will be used to power both Tejas and AMCA aircraft.

“We will be attempting at least 6-8 aircraft (LCA) this year. All 10 aircraft are already ready, there are some systems to be delivered from Israel. If that happens in time, we can deliver all 10. “By June this year we should start flying the LCA MK-1A configuration. Once flying starts, we have about 20 to 24 months of testing. Once that is done, we will be ready for deliveries as expected.”R. Madhavan, Chief Managing Director, HAL.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) expects to deliver all Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) variant to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2022 while the LCA MK-1A, with specific enhancements, will take flight by the middle of this year, said R. Madhavan, Chief Managing Director, HAL.

A larger aircraft LCA MK-2 to roll out by year-end or early 2023, says HAL MD.

Last February the Defence Ministry signed a ?48,000 crore deal with HAL to supply 83 LCA MK-1A to the IAF. HAL will be delivering the first three aircraft in 2024 and 16 aircraft per year for the subsequent five years, the Defence Ministry had stated earlier.

We will start manufacturing activities parallel with the testing, Mr. Madhavan said on the LCA MK-1A schedule. With COVID-19 cases surging again, there could be some delays if the work schedule is disrupted.

To ramp up production, HAL has already set up two additional assembly lines. Stating that all three LCA assembly lines are operational now, Mr. Madhavan said the back end of the lines is what they are finishing now including the supply of sub-assemblies by vendors.

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 The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Mumbai Suburban District Collector to demolish 48 high-rise buildings near the Mumbai International Airport for violation of height norms. The HC order came in compliance with the orders of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik also pulled up the collector for trying to shift the responsibility of demolition to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and said the collector has to do something about this “menace” (obstacles near the airport).

The Bombay High Court asked the Mumbai Suburban District Collector to demolish 48 high-rise buildings near the Mumbai International Airport for violation of height norms.

The collector (suburbs), in response to a Bombay high court poser on obstacles to the city airport approach area on July 25 2022, said the BMC should carry out the demolition in Mumbai as it is the planning authority under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. The BMC pointed out that under the Aircraft Rules 1994, it is the collector’s responsibility.

The judges agreed and said the 1994 rules empower the district collector to remove obstructions. Friday’s HC instruction to the collector was passed after a 2019 PIL by advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy on the danger highrises near the airport pose to aircraft. Ironically, the Airports Authority of India’s guesthouse is among them.

The orange path is called the FUNNEL ZONE or APPROACH PATH.

It is an imaginary area that extends outwards and upwards conically from a runway end. The cone-shaped area must be free of obstacles for the safe passage of jets to/from a runway.

There are 48 obstacles in total. Most of them are in the funnel zone and can be divided into two categories. The first one includes the top portions of buildings in Vile parle (E) and Santacruz (W). And the second one includes Shanties houses built on top of hills in Kurla, Ghatkopar.

The illegal portion of most buildings is between 0.5-6 m high. Many are water tanks, TV antennas, iron pipes, hoardings, etc. On hilltops, entire shanties are illegal. Among them are the minar of a mosque in Kurla, a mosque and a temple in Narayan Nagar, Ghatkopar, shaties in Asalpha, huts and a mosque on JarinMari hill.

HC seeks a flight path demolition plan.

Other obstacles include a 4.2m portion of a footbridge in Sambhaji Nagar on WEH, apart from an antenna and a light on a hoarding. Parts of erstwhile Kingfisher House on the highway, including antenna and hoarding, are illegal. AAI Guest House at New Airport Colony, Vile Parle (East). It is 3.3m illegal, which means an entire floor.

The focus now is on the 48 structures that will be cut to size, but the PIL about the safety of aircraft has brought back nightmares for all residents who live under the shadow of flights operating from the airport. The HC has asked the BMC and the police to render necessary assistance to the Collector.

The court will pass appropriate orders about the other obstacles identified by the MIAL from 2010 till now after the reply affidavit of the Collector is filed on August 22.

Chief Executive Arun Kumar from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), says will hire 100-150 people over the next 6-8 months to bolster air safety oversight through night checks as India’s airline fleet expands.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has rolled out a surveillance mechanism to identify non–compliance with flight safety standards and alert the authorities concerned for taking urgent corrective action to resolve the deficiencies.

The air safety issue has come into focus over the past month after several incidents of technical glitches were reported at airlines including SpiceJet, GoFIRST, IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and Air India Express related to glitches.

The regulator regularly monitors Indian airlines through an annual monitoring plan.

Engine damage, windshield cracks, smoke in the cabin, and equipment malfunction among others. As part of the annual surveillance plan for 2022, the DGCA will carry out 3,700 checks.

Based on the violations found during surveillance, spot checks, and night surveillance carried out during 2021-22, enforcement action has been taken by DGCA against responsible personnel of an airline in 21 instances of violations.

The primary focus of the initiative is to find any significant non–compliance with the applicable requirement which lowers the safety standard and affects seriously the flight safety.

A total of 177 surveillances, 497 spot checks and 169-night surveillances were carried out by the DGCA.

Such deficiencies would be conveyed in a standardised “Deficiency Reporting Form” that would explain the issue and specify the reference of the regulatory provision against which the observation was made.

"Aircraft is a complex sturdy machine with lakhs of components and its usage is very rigorous. India has a very young fleet and their flight dispatch reliability is one of the best in the world. Once in a while, technical snags are possible and a standard operating procedure as per globally approved norms is followed in case of any technical snag.Passengers affected via flight diversions or delays won't be happy but safe navigation is our priority. As per last year's data, one aircraft sees 0.6 snags in a year. There may be 1-2 technical incidents in a day across 6,000 flight movements. A pilot has to be alert and attentive when it comes to any sign of technical snags. Many times, an indicator for a technical snag may be false but a pilot has to respond to that as well as per SOP. At DGCA, we want to say that business and safety are non-negotiable.”Arun Kumar, DGCA

The direction comes as the DGCA has made a detailed surveillance programme focusing on passengers’ safety. Organisations such as scheduled airlines, non-scheduled operators, aircraft maintenance firms, design and manufacturing organisations, flying training institutes, and maintenance training institutes have been included in the programme.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed requiring a second barrier to the flight deck on certain commercial airplanes.

Interestingly, the decision comes at a time when there has been an increase in unruly passenger incidents in the industry.

Representative | Business Insider

Flight crews keep us safe when we travel to visit loved ones, explore new places and conduct business. They, too, deserve to be protected, and this rulemaking is an important step forwardU.S. Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg said

Apparently, the FAA was supposed to have adopted rules by 2019 under a 2018 federal law but said that procedural rules were to be followed before new regulations could be imposed.

Pete Buttigieg | Yahoo Finance

Last year, the Biden-Harris Administration put the secondary flight deck barrier on its priority rulemaking list. During 2019 and 2020, the FAA worked with aircraft manufacturers, labour partners and others to gather recommendations that are included in today’s proposal.

The Administrative Procedures Act requires FAA to follow the full rule-making process for this mandate that Congress included in the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act.

From the vault- the cockpit door

The FAA mandated a new standard for cockpit doors just months after the 9/11 attacks in which terrorists took control of four commercial jetliners, in a move it said was made to better protect the cockpit from "intrusion and small arms fire or fragmentation devices, such as grenades.

The World Trade Center south tower (L) burst into flames after being struck by hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 as the north tower burns following an earlier attack by a hijacked airliner in New York City on September 11, 2001 | AARP

According to FAA estimates from 2002, the upgraded cockpit door would cost airlines between $12,000 and $17,000 each, or between $92.3 million and $120.7 million over 10 years. By April 2003, all airlines had completed the new FAA requirement to reinforce the flight deck doors on their entire fleets.

The cockpit systems today, keep the door locked unless opened by a pilot or requested by the flight attendant, which is often via a keypad on some jets, the Airbus A320 for instance- a request which can be denied by the flight crew inside. This is in contrast to before 9/11 when the flight deck door would lock but could typically be accessed by flight attendants with a key.

Representative | Business Insider

The proposed rule requires aircraft manufacturers to install a second physical barrier on airplanes produced after the rule goes into effect and is used in commercial passenger service in the United States.

The public has a 60-day window to comment on the proposed rule once it is published in the Federal Register following which, the final rule will be published by the FAA.

Source(s)

COVER: Fox Business