Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 51. Wrap up

By Bjorn Fehrm

March 22, 2024, ©. Leeham News: Last week we did the first part of the Wrap-up of our 50 article series about the New Aircraft Technologies that can be used when replacing our present single-aisle airliners.

Now, we summarize the last 25 articles in the series, which covered how to develop, produce, and support a new airliner.

Figure 1. The Program Plan for a new airliner. Source: Leeham Co.

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Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 50. Wrap up.

By Bjorn Fehrm

March 15, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We started the series a year ago about the New Aircraft Technologies that can be used when replacing our present single-aisle airliners.

We have covered a lot, including the typical development phases, from initial studies to preparing for the aircraft’s in-service phase.

Let’s make a resume of what we have discussed.

Figure 1. Boeing’s Truss Braced Wing X-66A demonstrator based on the MD-90. Source: Boeing.

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Bjorn’ s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 49. Engine Maintenance

By Bjorn Fehrm

March 8, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering the Design and Production, we now look at the Operational phase of a new airliner family.

For the operational phase, the airplane must pass scrutiny for Continued Airworthiness. The biggest item in a regulator’s Instructions for Continued Airworthiness is the required Maintenance program to keep an airliner airworthy. We discussed airframe maintenance in the last article. Now, we look at engine maintenance.

Figure 1. The CFM56-7 engine for the Boeing 737NG. Source: CFM.

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Bjorn’ s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 47. MSG-3 Maintenance

By Bjorn Fehrm

February 2, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering the Design and Production, we now look at the Operational phase of a new airliner family.

For the operational phase, the airplane must pass scrutiny for Continued Airworthiness. The biggest item in a regulator’s Instructions for Continued Airworthiness is the required Maintenance program to keep an airliner airworthy. We started last week with how maintenance went from ad-hoc to a Hard Timed maintenance program in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Figure 1. The maintenance manual for the Boeing 747. Source: Boeing.

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Bjorn’ s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 46. Maintenance Program

By Bjorn Fehrm

January 19, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering the Design and Production, we now look at the Operational phase of a new airliner family.

For the operational phase, the airplane must pass scrutiny for Continued Airworthiness. Today, we discuss the biggest item in a regulator’s Instructions for Continued Airworthiness: the required Maintenance to keep an airliner airworthy.

Figure 1. A typical maintenance program for an airliner. Source: ATR.

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Bjorn’ s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 45. Continued Airworthiness

By Bjorn Fehrm

January 12, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering the Design and Production, we now look at the Operational phase of a new airliner family.

For the operational phase, the airplane must pass scrutiny for Continued Airworthiness. Today, we discuss the different means available to the Regulator, such as Airworthiness Directives ( ADs) and System Bulletins (SBs) to the OEM to make sure any detected issues get noticed and corrected.

Figure 1. The Boeing MAX 9 Door Plug Emergency AD issued last week. Source: FAA.

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Bjorn’ s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 44. Operation and Continued Airworthiness

By Bjorn Fehrm

January 5, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering the Design and Production, we now look at the Operational phase of a new airliner family.

For the customer, the design and production are exciting and interesting, but it’s the information and services around the operational phase (Fleet Support in Figure 1) of the airliner that are most important to the airline customer.

Figure 1. The development plan for a new airliner. Source: Leeham Co.

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Bjorn’ s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 43. Delivery

By Bjorn Fehrm

December 22, 2023, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering the Design, Prototype phase, and Production, we now look at the first deliveries.

After about seven to nine years of development and production preparation, it’s finally time for the first delivery of the new aircraft.

Figure 1. The development plan for a new airliner. Source: Leeham Co.

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Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 42. Improving the learning curve

By Bjorn Fehrm

December 15, 2023, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of a new airliner program. After covering Conceptual, Preliminary, and Detailed design, the manufacturing of prototypes, and their roles in flight tests, we now look at the production phase.

Last week, we discussed why production costs vary over time and why they can be up to 500% higher for the first units than for units past 400 to 500 aircraft produced. Now we go deeper into the reasons behind this and what can be done to improve the situation.

Figure 1. The program plan for a new airliner. Source: Leeham Co.

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Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 41. Production learning curve

By Bjorn Fehrm

December 08, 2023, ©. Leeham News: We are discussing the different phases of an airliner development program. After covering Conceptual, Preliminary, and Detailed design, the manufacturing of prototypes, and their roles in Flight Tests, we now look at Production.

Last week, we explained why aircraft projects often fail 100 to 200 aircraft into production. What’s not well understood is the effects of production learning on product cost.

Figure 1. The development plan for a new airliner. Source: Leeham Co.

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