Bharat Rakshak

Delhi: Captain Amol Yadav, a pilot who has built a six seater indigenous experimental aircraft, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today.

Toulouse – India’s IndiGo has placed a firm order for 300 A320neo Family aircraft. This marks one of Airbus’ largest aircraft orders ever with a single airline operator.

This latest IndiGo order comprises a mix of A320neo, A321neo and A321XLR aircraft. This will take IndiGo’s total number of A320neo Family aircraft orders to 730.

Zynda wrote:So this guy seems to have finally did it. I will admit, I was really skeptical about his success, but he probably surprised the nation through his efforts.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1185885615927095297

Delhi: Captain Amol Yadav, a pilot who has built a six seater indigenous experimental aircraft, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today.

[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHUcq-BU0AAKmaY.png[img]
[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHUcq-BVUAE7jOI.png[img]
[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHUcq-DVAAAMXEs.png[img]

Funny thing is, I wonder where he is getting the talent from (probably through contacts) but I have never come across any job postings from this entity. I do admit, its been a while since I last checked.

Good for these guys. Hope they really take-off further...

Zynda wrote:So just one prototype? Any clue on what his endgame might be? Did he want to just prove that he could build an aircraft or is he seriously looking for funding to take his project farther? Probably, he would be hoping for the latter but just trying to know about the real ground scenario.

Not that I know people regarding funding or I am in any position to help him...but just curious.

IndiGo and Go Airlines India Ltd. use the same type of engine made by Pratt & Whitney that’s susceptible to mid-flight shutdowns. Yet IndiGo, one of Airbus SE’s biggest customers, is the only one to encounter turbine failures this year, drawing heavy scrutiny from the aviation regulator.

Boeing got an unexpected jolt in September when engineers in Everett put the new 777X airframe through an extreme test of its structural strength. Just as the test approached its target stress level, an explosive depressurization tore through the fuselage.

Boeing has kept the details secret, but photos obtained by the Seattle Times show that the extent of the damage was greater than previously disclosed and earlier reports were wrong about crucial details.

The test plane is a complete write-off, its fuselage skin ripped wide open just behind the wing. A passenger door that blew out and fell to the factory floor was a secondary impact of the initial rupture, which was located far below the door.

The relatively good news for Boeing is that because the test failed so explosively at just 1% shy of meeting federal requirements, it will almost certainly not have to do a retest. Regulators will likely allow it to prove by analysis that it’s enough to reinforce the fuselage in the localized area where it failed.

Asked for comment, Boeing said in a statement Tuesday that while it has not yet completed a detailed analysis of the incident, “what we’ve seen to date reinforces our prior assessment that this will not have a significant impact on the design or our preparations for first flight.”

Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman said the test result won’t add to the program delays already caused by problems in development of the jet’s GE9X engine. He said the 777X should still fly for the first time in early 2020 and the first will be delivered to an airline in 2021.

Wings bent up, fuselage bent down[b/]
The test conducted that day was the final test of this airplane, which was fixed in a test rig inside the Everett factory specifically to be stressed close to destruction. The jet was surrounded by scaffolding and multiple orange weights hung from the airframe. Wires were hooked to instrumentation that studded the surface to measure every stress and deflection, the data monitored in real time by engineers sitting at control room computers.

As the test neared its climax, weighted pulleys had bent the jet’s giant carbon composite wings upward more than 28 feet from their resting position. That’s far beyond the expected maximum deflection in normal flight of about 9 feet, according to a person familiar with the details. {777X Wing Span is 235 ft...9 ft of max deflection means around 4%...In our indigenous platforms, the max deflection allowed is a lot lower...interesting}

At the same time, the fuselage was bent downward at the extreme front and aft ends with millions of pounds of force. And the interior of the plane was pressurized beyond normal levels to about 10 pounds per square inch — not typically a requirement for this test, but something Boeing chose to do.

All this simulated the loads in a flight maneuver where a pilot would experience a force of 3.75 G, compared to the maximum of 1.3 G in normal flight.

But as Boeing personnel along with six FAA observers watched from the windows of a control room, at 1.48 times limit load — 99% of ultimate load — the structure gave way. Under the center fuselage, just aft of the wing and the well where the landing gear wheels are stowed, the extreme compression load caused the plane’s aluminum skin to buckle and rupture, according to the person familiar with the details.

The resulting depressurization was explosive enough that workers in the next bay heard it clearly. One worker said he heard “a loud boom, and the ground shook.”

That then caused secondary damage: The photos show that the fuselage skin split part of the way up the side of the airplane, along with areas of bent and twisted structure that extended through the area around a passenger door.

A day after the incident, based on incomplete information, The Seattle Times and other media outlets incorrectly reported that a cargo door had blown out.

Unlike the plane’s cargo doors, which hinge outward, the passenger doors on airliners are plug-type doors that only open inward and are larger than the hole they close. But the structure around that passenger door just aft of the 777X wing was so damaged that the pressure blew the door out and it fell to the floor.

These secondary damage sites — the rip up the side of the fuselage, the door blown out — alarming as they might seem, are not a concern to air safety engineers. “The doors were not a precipitating factor,” said the person familiar with the details.

It’s the initiating failure, the weakness in that localized area of the keel, that Boeing must now fix.

Yet the fix is very unlikely to require a retest.

A safety engineer at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), speaking anonymously without permission from the agency, said that because the blowout happened so close to the target load, it barely counts as a failure.

Boeing will have so much data gathered on the way to the 99% stage that it can now compare with its computer models to analyze the failure precisely, the FAA engineer said. It can then reinforce the weak area, and prove by analysis that that’s sufficient to cover the extra 1%.

The engineer said it’s not that unusual to find a vulnerability when taking an airplane structure to the edge of destruction.

“The good news is they found it and can address it,” the FAA engineer said. “They found a problem they can fix. They can beef up the structure based on analysis.”

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the safety agency is continuing conversations with Boeing about how the 777X can meet requirements after the test failure.

“The FAA requires manufacturers to meet design and certification standards,” Lunsford said. “How they choose to do that is up to them.”

pgbhat wrote:Pilots revving engines too hard led to IndiGo’s Airbus woes

IndiGo and Go Airlines India Ltd. use the same type of engine made by Pratt & Whitney that’s susceptible to mid-flight shutdowns. Yet IndiGo, one of Airbus SE’s biggest customers, is the only one to encounter turbine failures this year, drawing heavy scrutiny from the aviation regulator.

An Airbus spokesman said the planes are designed to handle full thrust, but it is established best practice for pilots to lower the thrust while climbing to reduce stress on the engine.

Zynda wrote:Boeing 777X’s fuselage split dramatically during September stress test



A company with so much of commercial aircraft development experience can still be surprised once a while!

Zynda wrote: As the test neared its climax, weighted pulleys had bent the jet’s giant carbon composite wings upward more than 28 feet from their resting position. That’s far beyond the expected maximum deflection in normal flight of about 9 feet, according to a person familiar with the details. {777X Wing Span is 235 ft...9 ft of max deflection means around 4%...In our indigenous platforms, the max deflection allowed is a lot lower...interesting}

Zynda wrote:Dileep saar, the 777x fuselage is still aluminum...

nachiket wrote:HAL success with the HTT-40 has got me thinking. If they have the bandwidth for a civilian project (admittedly a big IF) they should consider working on a HTT-40 derived 6 passenger turboprop in the same category as the TBM-900, Epic E1000 and Pilatus PC-12 etc. (latter is a bit larger I think).

They can use the same Garrett engine (perhaps not derated to 950 shp from the 1100 shp max rating if needed) and the airframe can be derived from the basic HTT-40 design.

It is very difficult for a new entrant into commercial aviation space even with all certifications. But it should be easier to do in General aviation sector.

Vips wrote:Zurich Airport wins bid to design, develop and operate the new airport near Delhi in Jewar.

This airport will be the largest in India and i just hope the team at Zurich Airport uses better imagination and comes up with a world class airport. They won the bid for the Bangalore airport earlier but their design for the Bangalore airport was below par and match box style. It was such low standard that even our sarkari babus criticized it.

nachiket wrote:Do-228 already exists as a passenger aircraft. Not much design experience to be gained from merely tinkering with it. Also it is much bigger, in a different class possibly better suited for commercial/charter market. HTT 40 based design would be fully indigenous and the experience gained from it could be vital in the future.

Supratik wrote:Sandeep the airport is actually in UP about 80 kms from Delhi not in Delhi. Delhi airport will saturate by 2024.

saip wrote:Anyone go through Jeddah? My sisters and BiL transited and their experience is terrible. Hundreds of peacefools, no place to sit, no lounge they could use (travelling in business class), dirty bathrooms, no one speaks English, they were warned to hide any liquor or even books. They were bused to and from the planes. What do they do with all the money they are fleecing from the peacefools?

The government needs to be the “launch customer” to make Saras Mk2 commercially viable, the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL), which has developed the first indigenous light transport aircraft, told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology.

The 19-seater aircraft, developed with a target cost of ₹50 crore, is at least 20-25% lower in cost than other aircraft in the similar category.

The aircraft has been in the making for long. The first prototype flew in 2004. But without the initial push from the government, the manufacturing capacity required for commercial production could not be set up, the NAL said.

On a five-day tour of ISRO facilities from December 25 to 30, the committee members visited the NAL on December 28 and were briefed about the aircraft. Later, NAL Director Jitendra J. Jadhav sent a report on the plan for commercial production. Committee chairperson and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh forwarded the report to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.

“Our job is to study and recommend. We cannot and should not step into the domain of the executive,” Mr. Ramesh said, explaining why he forwarded the report to Mr. Naidu.

Presently, the NAL has only one order from the Indian Air Force for 15 aircraft.

Connectivity plans

The NAL has been pitching SARAS Mk-2 for the government’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), since it has the capacity to operate in “ill-equipped”, “semi-prepared” and “unpaved airstrips”. The scheme, launched in October 2016, is aimed at linking up areas that have no air connectivity.

The NAL has said in its report to Mr. Ramesh that the government should be the “launch customer” and place an order for at least 50-60 aircraft, which can be used for VIP services or tackling emergencies in times of natural calamities.

“With the firm commitment for procurement from the government, industries will come forward to set up manufacturing infrastructure. This will also push the growth of the micro, small and medium enterprises and allied service sector,” Mr. Jadhav said in his report.

Boeing has uncovered a new potential design flaw with its troubled 737 Max that could lead the aircraft to crash if pilots do not respond correctly, according to a report in The New York Times.

At the request of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing conducted an internal audit in December to determine whether it had accurately assessed the dangers of key systems given new assumptions about how long it might take pilots to respond to emergencies, the newspaper said, citing a senior engineer at Boeing and three people familiar with the matter.

Among the most pressing issues discovered were previously unreported concerns with the wiring that helps control the tail of the Max, the report added. The company is looking at whether two bundles of critical wiring are too close together and could cause a short circuit.

Sandeep the airport is actually in UP about 80 kms from Delhi not in Delhi. Delhi airport will saturate by 2024.

Rakesh wrote:Boeing executives called DGCA 'fools', 'stupid' during 737 Max plane's approval process in 2017: Documents
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 194416.cms
11 January 2020

Click on the link below to read the text messages between the Boeing executives and Boeing's subsequent apology...

https://twitter.com/Ashoke_Raj/status/1 ... 0632489984 ---> Boeing apologizes to India’s aviation regulator DGCA, after Boeing executives used terms ‘Stupid’ & ‘Fool’ for the DGCA according to Boeing documents, on the issues of 737 Max aircraft.