Flight International - August 18, 2015

THIS WEEK

10 | Flight International | 18-31 August 2015 flightglobal.com

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AIRBUS EVALUATES IMPACT OF TIANJIN BLASTS

MANUFACTURING Airbus is investigating the “potential impact” on

component deliveries through the port of Tianjin to its nearby

Chinese final assembly line, following a series of explosions in the

coastal city on 12 August. Although its facility is located “far beyond”

the radius of the blasts, the company is assessing possible supply

chain disruption from any closure or restrictions at the port. Major

aircraft assemblies are shipped from Airbus’s Hamburg plant to

Tianjin, and then transported by road to the final assembly line.

STEEPER APPROACHES COULD HUSH HEATHROW

TRIAL London Heathrow airport is to conduct a six-month trial of

slightly steeper glidepaths from 14 September, raising the approach

angle from 3 ̊ to 3.2 ̊. The test is part of an assessment that could

ultimately involve approaches of 3.5 ̊, supporting noise abatement.

JORDAN TO FIELD PILATUS TRAINERS

ORDER Pilatus will supply the Royal Jordanian Air Force with nine

PC-9M turboprops to meet the service’s basic and advanced training

requirements from January 2017. The deal also includes a flight

simulator, associated training equipment and in-service support.

Flightglobal’s Fleets Analyzer database lists the nation as currently

operating 13 Airbus Defence & Space C-101 jet trainers.

TUI GROUP SETS SAVINGS TARGET

STRATEGY Tour operator TUI Group aims to save €50 million ($

million) by 2018-2019 through a strategic plan to explore common

purchasing avenues for its five carriers. “We will act as one wherever

it makes sense to do so, maintaining local differences where the

benefit of that differentiation is greater than that of harmonisation,”

TUI says. It has already enhanced its long-haul fleet with five Boeing

787-8s this year – bringing its total to 13 – and expects to receive

four -9-model examples by the summer of 2019.

PLANS IN PLACE FOR SKYMARK SUPERJUMBOS

DELIVERIES Airbus Group has set a reallocation plan for a pair of

undelivered A380s, chief financial officer Harald Wilhelm said during

a first-half results briefing on 31 July, adding: “I would not wish to get

more specific on this.” The airframer had assembled two A380s for

Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines before it cancelled a six-unit order,

leaving the superjumbos as ‘white tails’ in Toulouse. ANA, which is

part of Skymark’s rescue plan, denies interest in taking the A380s.

IMPROVED ANTARES ROCKET TO FLY IN EARLY 2016

SPACEFLIGHT Orbital ATK reports “excellent progress” in resuming

its NASA-contracted delivery flights to the International Space

Station, following the 28 October 2014 explosion at Wallops Island,

Virginia that destroyed one of its Antares rockets and Cygnus cargo

capsules seconds after lift-off. Launch pad repairs should conclude

in September, while an Antares rocket with upgraded RD-181 engines

will replace the ill-fated AJ-26 and fly in “early 2016”. Meanwhile, a

Cygnus spacecraft is set for launch by Atlas V rocket in December.

ISRAEL NEARS INFANTRY UAV CONTEST LAUNCH

REQUIREMENT Israel’s defence ministry will in the coming months

issue a request for proposals to acquire a “personal” unmanned air

vehicle to be carried by infantry soldiers within its battalion-level

units. Israeli sources suggest that the micro-UAV design should

weigh approximately 2kg (4.4lb) and have a 20-30min endurance.

BRIEFING

I

nvestigators have determined

that an Embraer Phenom 300

landed long and overran the

runway at Blackbushe in the UK

after an unstable high-speed

approach that involved a conflict

with a microlight.

The Saudi-registered jet

(HZ-IBN) was two-thirds of the

way down the 1,059m (3,470ft)

runway 25 before it touched down,

travelling at 134kt (248km/h).

UK Air Accidents Investigation

Branch analysis indicates that the

aircraft would have needed at

least 616m to stop, but had landed

with just 438m of paved surface

remaining – of which only 349m

was part of the declared available

landing distance.

The aircraft overran and struck

an earth bank, which sheared off

the nose-gear, before the jet brief-

ly became airborne and collided

with several parked cars about

70m beyond the runway end.

None of the four occupants – a

pilot and three passengers,

members of the Bin Laden family

• survived the impact and subse-
  quent fire.
  Investigators have released
  only preliminary information
  about the 31 July accident, but
  the data indicates that the aircraft

continued with a fast and unsta-

ble approach, at a high rate of de-

scent, despite a series of ground-

proximity warnings.

The initial inquiry found that

the Phenom had encountered a

microlight as it flew the down-

wind leg of the approach at about

1,000ft. It climbed slightly to over-

take the microlight, and the crew

received a collision-avoidance ad-

visory ordering the Phenom to de-

scend. The jet then descended at a

rate of up to 3,000ft/min towards

the threshold of runway 25.

Investigators have determined

that the aircraft was still at 1,200ft

while just 1.1nm from the thresh-

old, far above a typical 3°

glideslope. Its rapid descent

meant it crossed the threshold at

50ft but still travelling at 150kt –

more than 40kt above the calcu-

lated target airspeed of 108kt.

Six ground-proximity warn-

ings, ordering the pilot to “pull

up”, had been generated during

the approach, but the pilot did

not execute a missed approach.

Investigators are continuing

with their analysis of the accident

and have yet to reach any conclu-

sions. The approach had been

conducted in daylight and good

weather. ■

Reuters

The aircraft collided with parked cars beyond the runway’s end

INCIDENT DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Bin Laden Phenom

overran on landing

Saudi-registered jet landed long and crashed at Blackbushe

after high-speed approach involving conflict with microlight