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FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR FAIRCHILD DORNIER 728JET

The market for 70- to 110-seat aircraft is an alluring prospect. According to the forecasts, up to 2,500 70-seat aircraft and over 2,000 100-seat aircraft will be required by the airlines over the next 20 years. To succeed in this market, an airframe manufacturer must tie its products in with a complete aircraft family or else produce a complete family of its own. The airlines which are its customers require flexibility as to what spare parts they need to hold and how they draw up their flight schedules in order themselves to hold their own in a highly competitive market. Only an aircraft family in which all members have a high degree of commonality of design and which can all be flown under a common type rating can offer them this.

A fleet which combines several types is too expensive in terms of training and numbers of spare parts that need to be held. Dornier's new 728JET family, comprising the 70-80-seat 728JET and the 95-110-seat 928JET plus a planned 55-65-seat variant, will be up against stiff competition. Embraer from Brazil (see FLUG REVUE 9/2000), BAE Systems from the United Kingdom and Bombardier Aerospace from Canada are also keen to win a substantial share of this market with their own products.

In the design of the aircraft family, Fairchild Dornier has gone for a fuselage diameter of 3.25m and hence for a 5-abreast seating configuration. Crossair, having publicly shown early interest in the 728JET, decided against Fairchild Dornier after learning of the proposed cabin layout. Instead it has ordered the Embraer ERJ-170 and ERJ-190, which have a 2+2 seating configuration and hence avoid any centre seats, but their cabins are significantly narrower as a result. Fairchild Dornier argues that the 5-abreast seating arrangement will not result in any reduction in comfort, as the centre seats will only be occupied when the aircraft over 80% of seating capacity is utilised. This argument has convinced Lufthansa CityLine, which has confirmed its decision to be the launch customer and is helping Fairchild Dornier with the design of the aircraft.

Most of the outside suppliers have already been announced. The 728JET will be powered by General Electric's CF34-8D engine. The CF34 has proved extremely reliable and is used, for example, on the Canadair RJ. The CF34-8D will be a new version of the engine, to incorporate new mountings and a new cowling as well as improved blades in the high-pressure turbine.

Honeywell is supplying the cockpit. Pilots of the 728JET should be thrilled with its Primus Epic avionics suite. With six large colour displays that incorporate new symbology and cursor-like data entry, the avionics will ensure a pleasant working environment in the cockpit.

Other innovations on the 728JET include fly-by-wire controlled actuation of the flaps, leading edge slats, rudder and spoilers. The undercarriage is to be supplied by BFGoodrich, the auxiliary power unit (APU) by Honeywell and the hydraulics system by Parker, while the wings and empennage will be built by CASA.

Development of the 728JET family is taking place in a fully digital environment. Around 700 engineers are currently working on the 728JET. Robert Stangarone, Fairchild Dornier, said, "We are currently in the transition phase between development and the start of production. The first metal part for the 728JET should be machined at the end of September." The engineers are using the CATIA design program developed by Dassault Electronique. Building a full-scale wooden model, as was done, for example, for the turboprop version of the Dornier 328 in Friedrichshafen, in order to check that all the systems and components fit into the aircraft as intended by the designers, is no longer necessary for the 728JET, and these days the idea is inconceivable. It would simply take too long.

The CATIA data is used to check during the design phase whether there are any instances where two engineers are planning to use the same space in the aircraft to install their systems. If any such clashes are detected by the software, the two engineers receive an e-mail in which they are asked to resolve the conflict.

The program does not only automatically detect design conflicts, but it also helps check whether all the components in the aircraft allow proper access to the mechanics. In the software, a virtual figure - known as George - has to put his hands into every hand hole on the aircraft in order to prove virtually that maintenance is feasible as planned. Bumps and grazes do not hurt the virtual George but are noted by the developers who must then change their designs so that the aircraft is built in a "maintenance-friendly" manner.

The digital environment is also being used in production at Fairchild Dornier for the first time. "Digital manufacturing" will ensure that costs are kept down during production and final assembly and that the highest quality is achieved. According to Fairchild Dornier, the company is the first manufacturer to use such production methods.

As well as launch customer Lufthansa CityLine, which has signed up for 60 firm orders and 60 options, the US leasing company General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) has committed to 50 aircraft and issued letters of intent for a further 100. Bavaria Leasing has issued two firm orders and two options for the 728JET and will also be the launch customer for the 928JET, for which it has placed four firm orders and taken options on a further two. Fairchild Dornier's orderbook also includes two orders from SolAir of Italy.

There are currently 28 orders for the business jet variant of the 728, the Envoy 7, 25 of these from the American fractional ownership company Flight Options of Cleveland, Ohio.

Development of the 728JET family has undergone a number of setbacks in the past, as a result of which the originally planned timescale has slipped by almost a year. The maiden flight is now planned to take place in March 2002, and in July 2003 the 728JET should enter service with Lufthansa CityLine.

From page 32 of FLUG REVUE 11/2000