Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE
Indonesian aerospace company IPTN has started work on an advanced product development (PD) study for Boeing, which is evaluating new, simpler, fuselage structures.
"We have contracted them for some preliminary design studies for a different structural approach to how you do a fuselage," says Ron Bengelink, director for international programmes for Boeing engineering.
The fuselage design builds on preliminary advances which are already under way on Boeing programmes, including those of the 747-400, 757-200/300 and the 767-400ER. Starting with the 757-300, the fuselage assembly improvement team (FAIT) began digitising original design drawings. That data was used to programme computerised numerical control machines which can drill and prepare major fuselage assemblies more accurately.
These then fit together so precisely that the old jigs are no longer needed, and the pieces require fewer adjustments and shims before final assembly. Boeing has already achieved quality improvements and reductions in assembly time because of the FAIT initiative, which is subsequently to be expanded to other lines, such as that of the 747-400.
Under its initial six-month contract, IPTN will design a test rig on which to begin evaluating the new fuselage panels and the way in which they are attached to the frames. "We want to understand with this test how these parts behave when you fit them closely together," says Bengelink, who adds that the new design approach "has great potential for weight savings and is much simpler".
The early tests will be on panels from "a generic fuselage" with loads imposed gradually in several directions. The tests could continue for up to two years if the contract is extended beyond the initial six month period.
The Boeing work will provide a morale booster for the financially troubled Indonesian manufacturer. IPTN's main aircraft development programmes have halted since the International Monetary Fund insisted that the government withdraw the soft loans with which they had been financed. The Bandung-based company is still scrabbling for alternative funding to keep its main projects going.
At the same time, it will reduce its 15,000 workforce by at least one-third (Flight International, 10-16 February 1999).
The N250 turboprop, aircraft number PA3, is still under construction, a year after it was due to start flying. IPTN executive vice-president Ilham Habibie says that it should be completed by the end of the year. Everything is moving slowly, he says
The overall certification approval, which was delayed from 1997 to 1999, has slipped even more drastically. Indonesian certification and first deliveries are due in 2002, and US Federal Aviation Administration and European Joint Airworthiness Authorities certificates are expected in 2003.The aircraft first flew in 1995.
Habibie says that IPTN has retained an order from Air Venezuela for four aircraft, with a further four options, by facilitating a stopgap lease of four CN-235 turboprops from Indonesian regional carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines. Three of the aircraft are to be handed over to the Venezuelan airline in April to replace some of the carrier's ageing Convair 580s, he says.
IPTN is still looking for industrial partners or venture capital to help fund the N250 and the proposed N2130 100-seat regional jet. Habibie says that efforts are focusing on companies in Asia, especially India and Taiwan, and some European companies.
Source: Flight International
