American Airlines has decided against hushkitting its Boeing 727-200s and will instead switch to an aerodynamic modification developed by Raisbeck, which will enable the aircraft to meet Stage 3 noise limits.
Jeffrey Lown, vice-president for the Raisbeck Commercial Air Group's Stage 3 system, says the company persuaded American away from a deal to fit hushkits received from FedEx as part of an agreement to transfer McDonnell Douglas DC-10s to the package carrier.
He adds that the Raisbeck wing modification costs around $1.1 million and can be installed overnight, while the FedEx hushkit costs some $3 million and takes 21 days to install.
He says that American was persuaded to change by the loss of revenue from the downtime required to install the hushkits.
American has purchased 52 kits for 727-200s with the basic 80,700kg (178,000lb) take-off gross weight. Another 26 will be modified when Seattle-based Raisbeck has certificated Stage 3 kits for -200s which have gross weights of up to 89,400kg.
Lown estimates that between 200 and 250 727-200s have yet to be hushkitted, and says that orders have been placed by other, as yet unannounced, US airlines.
Raisbeck's modification repositions the leading-edge slats to work with a new 25° take-off and landing flap setting. Lown says the company is now looking a potential aerodynamic modifications to the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 to enable it to meet Stage 3 limits.
Source: Flight International
