August 10, 2023 - No. 033 In This Issue : Pratt & Whitney Says More Frequent Geared Turbofan Disk Inspections Needed : Boeing Redesigning 737 MAX Nacelle Part Following Anti-Ice Testing Discovery : (Airframe) Ice be gone : 10 MORE movies risk managers should watch to understand risk based decision making, based on the social comments : Air Force wants to rely less on Northrop for B-21 sustainment : The men who built the largest piston engine in the world : Continental Jet-A piston engine certified : Turbines at Dallas Love Field are turning plane exhaust into energy to charge electric vehicles : Beechcraft King Air turboprops to have CoolView windows Pratt & Whitney Says More Frequent Geared Turbofan Disk Inspections Needed Sean Broderick July 25, 2023 A fresh look at data gleaned from shop visits has led Pratt & Whitney to consider shortening inspection intervals on more than 1,000 PW1100G-JM engines with a suspected manufacturing problem, setting affected operators up for potentially significant fleet disruptions well into 2024. Inspections of high-pressure turbine stage 1 and stage 2 disks made from late 2015 through early 2021 and flying on Pratt-powered Airbus A320neos have been mandated since late 2022. Pratt’s previous analysis concluded the checks—which require removal and disassembly of the engine—could wait until scheduled maintenance shop visits. But updated analysis from recent inspections led Pratt to conclude more frequent checks are needed, the company revealed July 25. The process will start with a surge of checks in the next few months. “Based on the current assessment, Pratt anticipates by mid-September that approximately 200 PW1100 engines will be removed for enhanced inspection,” Chris Calio, President and COO of Pratt parent RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, said on an earnings call. Results from those checks will help determine the next steps, including any inspection interval revisions. Pratt is anticipating that another 1,000 engines will require inspections by mid-2024, “but the exact number of engines and the timing of those removals is not yet finalized,” Calio added. The affected engines have one of some 2,070 PW1000G-JM stage 1 and 2 disks flagged by Pratt as containing contaminated powder metal (PM) that can reduce a part’s service lift. The problem was discovered during the probe of a March 2020 engine failure on a Vietnam Airlines A321ceo. In that case, a contaminated IAE V2500 HPT stage 1 disk failed. Pratt’s initial analysis flagged a small subset of legacy engine parts with contaminated PM. It later broadened its root-cause analysis and found more affected parts, including some on current-generation PW1000G geared turbofan (GTF) family engines. The findings prompted regulatory mandates, but they affected only a handful of parts on V2500s and several PW1000G variants. Further analysis flagged the 2,070 disk serial numbers listed in a July 2022 service bulletin that also spelled out Pratt’s recommended inspection protocol. The FAA and other regulators mandated the checks, setting the interval as the next scheduled shop visit. Every inspection yields new data, which Pratt incorporates into its service-life model for the parts. “Based upon everything that we knew until very recently, we believed that the life of the turbine disk was such that we would see these disks in the shop and be able to inspect them before we ever had an issue,” RTX Chairman and CEO Greg Hayes said. “As we looked at the data again over the last couple of months, our safety risk assessment [experts] went through their process of updating the data based on all the recent findings. And they said, ‘You know what, we’re not absolutely positive that the lifing model is accurate. We want to take a look at these disks at a much-accelerated basis.’” Potential Disruptiveness The near-term ramifications for affected operators is unclear. Some of the inspections can be done during already scheduled shop visits, while others may lead to slight changes in airline maintenance schedules. But many are expected to take place well before airlines had planned them, which could lead to significant fleet disruptions. “Right now, we’ve got to now work through how we define the work scope and the turnaround time that’s required,” Calio said. “GTF is going to have a lot of shop visits here in the back half of 2023 and into 2024. We need to figure out how many of those are incremental and what the true impact of the fleet is, but that’s ongoing.” The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows about 920 A320neos were delivered from late 2015 to early 2021, the time period when the suspect disks were made. Indian LCC IndiGo has the largest potentially affected fleet by far, at 135 aircraft. Others with sizable numbers include Air China (46), Go First (45), Volaris (44), and Spirit Airlines (43). See BAR GRAPHIC in the original article. Volaris extended leases on six aircraft that were supposed to exit the fleet in 2023, in part to help offset both new aircraft delivery delays and engine availability issues. Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranena said it was too early to calculate the real impact of the latest issue with the PW1000G engines, “but I think [Pratt] has the provisions and has been working on an accelerated way to try to control the impact.” The new wave of inspections will add complexity for some airlines that have seen their GTF fleets plagued with durability issues and premature engine removals for years. An Aviation Week analysis of Tracked Aircraft Utilization data in April found 11% of all PW1000G-powered aircraft, mostly A320neos and A220s, were either grounded or flying less than once per week. In many cases, airlines were waiting for Pratt to provide needed spares or free up slots in engine shops to make needed repairs. Pratt has been adding GTF overhaul capacity to its network as part of a planned ramp-up to meet both scheduled overhauls and address the long-running durability issues. Pratt has 13 GTF overhaul shops and planned to add six more by 2025. That timeline and near-term support strategies are shifting, however. “We’re going to have to accelerate some of the tooling,” Hayes said. “We’re going to have to dedicate some spares to a rotable pool of engines to support some customers.” Pratt also is developing a “project” shop visit to handle the new checks that minimizes the required work and related engine downtime, Calio said. “When you think about that 2024 shop visit population, we’re going to take a look at the utilization on those ... and working with our customers making a decision, a mutual decision on ‘is this the right candidate for a project visit? Or should that work scope increase to take on additional work, which will benefit the time on wing and the interval of that engine moving forward several years?’” Calio said. “That is a conversation that we will have once we better understand again how many of these visits are truly incremental in 2024 and then [what are] the related fleet impacts.” “We’ve got this,” Hayes added. “It’s going to be expensive. We’re going to make the airlines whole as a result of the disruption we’re going to cause them.” The PM issue, linked to material supplied by a Raytheon-owned plant and processed at Pratt’s Columbus, Georgia, manufacturing facility, was corrected on the production line in 2021, so recently delivered engines are not affected. “New engine families do have reliability issues, whilst the aero supply chain problems are well known—the fact that this latest issue is all internal arguably makes it worse,” wrote Vertical Research Partners analyst Robert Stallard. “But at least it has been spotted and should be addressed over the next year or so.” Among the few slivers of positive news is that Pratt’s inspections have yielded few disks—less than 1% of the 3,000-plus examined from multiple Pratt and IAE engines—that needed immediate replacement. “Of course, if we had to replace the turbines, then we’d factor that into the turnaround time,” Calio said. “But our assumption, based on everything that we’ve seen thus far, is that the fallout rate [on the new inspections] will be very low.” Boeing Redesigning 737 MAX Nacelle Part Following Anti-Ice Testing Discovery Sean Broderick August 08, 2023 Boeing is redesigning a 737 MAX engine nacelle component after discovering that operating the anti-ice system in certain conditions can damage the part and operators will be required to adhere to certain limits until the fix is complete. The issue involves using engine anti-ice (EAI) in dry conditions, says an FAA airworthiness directive (AD) set for publication Aug. 10. Recent “flight testing and analysis” revealed that running EAI in dry air for at least 5 min. combined with certain altitude, total air temperature, and engine N1 settings can push inlet temperatures beyond design limits. “Excessive heat buildup can cause overheating of the engine inlet inner barrel beyond the material design limit, resulting in failure of the engine inlet inner barrel and severe engine inlet cowl damage,” the directive says. That, in turn, could lead to airframe damage caused by pieces of the nacelle breaking away. No in-service incidents have been linked to the problem, the FAA says. The “direct final rule” AD, meaning it was deemed important enough for the agency to bypass inviting public input on a draft version, will require operators of U.S.-registered 737 MAXs to update flight manuals within 15 days. Under the update, the use of EAI will be prohibited “when not in actual or anticipated icing conditions,” the FAA says. Also prohibited will be dispatch of any 737 MAX with an EAI valve locked open. The current master minimum equipment list (MMEL) permits dispatch with this condition, but the FAA says an updated MMEL will mean dispatch will be prohibited until more is learned about the failure condition. “Further analysis of this item is necessary to determine whether continued use will cause failure of the engine inlet inner barrel,” the FAA says. Similar directives likely are to be adopted by other regulators. Meanwhile, Boeing is developing a modification to address the issue. Boeing designed and produces 737 MAX inlets at its North Charleston, South Carolina, engine propulsion facility. The AD does not provide details on the modification or its timeline and Boeing declined to answer specific questions. “Boeing has identified measures to mitigate the potential issue and are working with our customers to deploy those measures while a permanent fix is developed,” the company said. “We will continue coordinating closely with the FAA.” The risk of nacelle damage is being scrutinized carefully following a series of occurrences involving 737s and 777s in recent years, including one fatal accident. Boeing is redesigning the 737 Next Generation nacelle as a result—a process that began in 2019. The company recently told the FAA it expects to need another seven years to validate the required changes and provide enough time for operators to retrofit their fleets. (Airframe) Ice be gone By Ben Sclair · August 3, 2023 · 12 Comments Some of the coolest technology is created — or re-created in this case — in some of the smallest labs. James Wiebe from Radiant Instruments has been working on an aircraft deicing project in cooperation with Comp Air Aviation. The company’s model 6.2 single-engine six-seat composite aircraft (pictured above) is designed to go high, where ice sometimes lives, and company officials tapped James to solve that issue. Rather than use de-icing boots or fluid leaked onto the wings and tail surfaces, Wiebe is updating a system using an electromagnetic pulse to “deform the skin” of an airplane to shed ice. Hmm. While deforming the skin of an aircraft doesn’t sound like a good thing, James is much smarter than I am, so I suppose he and Comp Air will work out the details. From James’ video on the subject: Using a capacitor to store the energy, roughly 1,000 volts can be discharged through a coil at a peak current of roughly 1,000 amps. As James says in the video, “do the math.” OK. Well, he helps. 1,000 volts times 1,000 amps equals 1,000,000 watts hitting the aluminum, or any conducive surface, over the period of one ten-thousandth of a second. That’ll pack quite a punch. “Think of a rubber mallet hitting a large flat surface,” James suggested during a telephone call. It doesn’t permanently deform the surface, but creates quite a blow or shock to the surface. In another example, if you’ve ever played with magnets, you know what it is like to try to hold two positive ends together. That’s kind of what this system is doing — except the magnets in this example only come to life when energy is applied. The watts hit the magnets and they want to get away from each other, quickly and forcefully. Raytheon’s Premier I was certified with an electro-magnetic system on its tail. “Jolted with electrical energy pulses that last .0005 seconds, the coils deliver impact accelerations of over 10,000 Gs to the airfoil skin once a minute, shedding ice as thin as .06 inch,” wrote Tim Wright in a March 2004 Smithsonian Magazine article. “Despite the high G-load, the impact amplitude — the amount of movement of the aircraft skin — is only about .025 inch. The skin accelerates so rapidly, though, that ice de-bonds as if hit with a hammer.” What I really enjoyed about James’ video was his anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of this system as shown in his tests. He turns the camera toward the ceiling where we can see it pock-marked with numerous dents. Beyond the anecdotal evidence, he demonstrates the basics of the system on a variety of products including a pan with a layer of frozen water. That example at the 6:45-minute mark, near the end of the video, shatters the ice. I imagine those sheets of ice then falling away from my aircraft. Sweet relief. Of course there is more work and testing to come. After all, James is still at the R&D stage, as noted in the video. Bringing this technology to the lighter end of aviation will improve safety and the utility of aircraft. 10 MORE movies risk managers should watch to understand risk based decision making, based on the social comments August 6, 2023 Posted in Hot, Risk management Note: See Video Clips in the original article. When you think of movies, the genres of action, romance, or perhaps drama might come to mind. But what if I told you that some of the most compelling tales of risk management, decision science, and behavioural economics come packaged in the very films we cherish? This isn’t just about Wall Street dramas or high-stakes heist thrillers. Sometimes, the most profound lessons about risk lurk in unsuspected corners, from a romantic comedy to a sci-fi classic. In this article, I’ve created a list of movies that, knowingly or not, offer a masterclass on risk based decision making or what I call RM2. Movies hit us all differently, just like risks do. Check out my list and let me know which ones speak to you or if there’s a film that’s got you thinking about risk based decision making in a whole new light. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Wall Street Lesson: The cutthroat world of finance depicted in “Wall Street” highlights the complex interplay between greed, ambition, and ethics. The film explores how a culture of risk-taking can lead to destructive behavior if left unchecked. It also illustrates the importance of long-term vision and ethical grounding in making sustainable financial decisions. Boiler Room Lesson: Providing a glimpse into the high-stress environment of investment sales, “Boiler Room” teaches the necessity of transparency and integrity in business. The film emphasizes the dangers of short-term gains pursued without regard for ethics, legal compliance, or the well-being of clients. It’s a powerful warning against creating a business culture where ends justify means. The Founder Lesson: Chronicling the rise of a fast-food giant, “The Founder” focuses on innovation, strategy, and entrepreneurship. It delves into the challenges of taking calculated risks and the potential perils of opportunistic decision-making. The story underscores the value of vision and determination but also warns of the risks in stepping over ethical boundaries. Apollo 13 Lesson: The harrowing account of a failed lunar mission, “Apollo 13,” teaches critical lessons in teamwork, leadership, and crisis management. It illustrates how complex problems can be tackled through collaboration, creative problem-solving, and the ability to make informed decisions under uncertainty. The success in handling the crisis emphasizes the importance of preparedness, contingency planning, and adaptability. Sully Lesson: “Sully” showcases the remarkable emergency landing on the Hudson River, emphasizing the vital role of human judgment and intuition in managing risk. Despite technological advancements and automated systems, the film shows that there’s no substitute for experience, intuition, and the ability to make rapid yet thoughtful decisions under intense pressure. Unstoppable Lesson: In this thrilling tale of a runaway train, “Unstoppable” explores the urgency of rapid decision-making and the importance of coordination and teamwork. It demonstrates how unforeseen challenges require adaptability, clear communication, and understanding the potential risks and rewards of various strategies. The Mercy Lesson: “The Mercy” portrays an ill-fated yacht race, offering a sobering lesson in the importance of self-awareness, realistic goal-setting, and proper preparation. It highlights how over-ambition without adequately understanding and quantifying risks can lead to catastrophic failure. The film’s tragic outcome stresses the importance of humility and prudent risk assessment in pursuing any significant endeavour. Air (2015), not the Nike one Lesson: Post-apocalyptic thriller, “Air” is a study in human behaviour, resource management, and ethical decision-making under extreme scarcity. The film underscores the importance of strategic planning and highlights how poor risk assessment can have severe consequences. It’s a compelling exploration of how we prioritize and act when everything is on the line. Air Force wants to rely less on Northrop for B-21 sustainment Stealth-bomber plans are part of a general effort to reduce costs by managing maintenance and upgrades. BY AUDREY DECKER STAFF WRITER AUGUST 3, 2023 DAYTON, Ohio—Air Force officials hope to keep the new B-21 stealth bomber affordable by depending less on builder Northrop Grumman to fix and update it. The Raider program won't repeat a mistake it made on the B-2 Spirit program: relying too heavily on the contractor for sustainment, Brig. Gen. William Rogers, program executive officer for bombers, told reporters Monday. “The way we initially were really contractor-focused for the B-2 and rely heavily on industry for the B-2—what were some of those things we could see that would have been better done [in] maybe an even more affordable way, if we did it organically?” Rogers said. This approach to the B-21 Raider reflects a Pentagon-wide push for “organic sustainment”—essentially, handling more of the maintenance-and-upgrade work that had been handed to defense contractors on aircraft programs such as the B-2 and F-35. The service is sharing “some of our lessons learned from B-2” so that “the B-21 doesn't repeat history in some of those areas,” he said. Unveiled in December, the B-21 is expected to make its first flight later this year. Northrop said the B-21 achieved a “power-on milestone” in its second-quarter earnings call last week. In March, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that the Raider program still remains “within baseline,” but the schedule has slipped “by a few months.” He continued, “I hope we can hold that schedule.” Meanwhile, Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said the company is expecting potential losses on the B-21 up to $1.2 billion due to inflation and pandemic-related economic pressures and will pull “every lever” to minimize the impact. Out of the service’s $185.1 billion 2024 spending request, nearly $3 billion will go to the B-21 program. Service officials said the budget procures “more than one” B-21, but declined to say the exact number. The Air Force envisions a future two-bomber force made up of B-21s and B-52 Stratofortess with new engines. The service plans to start cutting its B-1 and B-2 in the early 2030s, but there is “no hard set determined retirement date” for the programs, Rogers said. “We’re still planning at some point they will retire somewhere once the B-21 is up and operational and my job as a PEO is to make sure that we keep them available, relevant, and give the Air Force senior leadership and our nation’s decision makers the flexibility to retire them gracefully if need be,” Rogers said. Obsolescence and diminishing manufacturing sources is a major concern with the Air Force's aging bomber planes, he said, as the industrial base has “disappeared” for some of the B-52’s parts. The Air Force is undergoing a massive B-52 re-engining effort, called the Commercial Engine Replacement Program, or CERP, which will replace the current Pratt & Whitney engine TF33, with new F130 Rolls Royce engines. Rogers said the program is still on track to begin engineering and manufacturing development this fall and said the service aims to deliver the first test aircraft with the new engine in 2028. Beyond the engine, CERP will bring other upgrades that will position the B-52 better to operate in the Pacific, Rogers said. The program will give the B-52’s radar more processing power and upgrade its communications systems—as well as improve weapons integration, Rogers said. “There is a lot of opportunity from the weapons perspective. We do have hypersonics. It is one of those platforms that is intended to carry hypersonic weapons, so that's where some of your anti-ship capabilities would come in along with the radar and additional range and additional power for the B-52,” he said. The men who built the largest piston engine in the world By Paul McBride · August 6, 2023 Question for Paul McBride, the General Aviation News engines expert: My grandfather, Russell Leuck, worked at Avco Lycoming Engines in 1943. I found a picture of him with a group of men with the XR-7755-3 (that’s how it’s labeled). My grandfather is pictured bottom row, third from right. He was a self-taught mechanic and I never heard the full story of his role at Avco. I was wondering if you would possibly have any thoughts in regards to how he would have been helping with this project? Joy Hobbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Answer from Paul, who retired after almost 40 years with Lycoming: Joy, thank you so much for your letter and picture from the past at Lycoming. From looking at the photograph you sent, my best guess is that those in the picture are the engineers and the mechanics who actually ran the XR-7755 engine in the test stands. I recognize some of the faces of those in this picture and, as a matter of fact, I had the privilege of actually working with some of these men during my years at Lycoming. Again, it was so nice of you to write and send this information to me — this is what makes our lives so interesting. A bit of history The Lycoming XR-7755-3 is the largest, most powerful reciprocating aircraft engine in the world, with 36 cylinders and a power output of 5,000 horsepower. During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces requested an engine with high takeoff power and low fuel consumption for a yet-to-be designed long-range bomber and transport. Lycoming began designing the engine in early 1944 and it was ready for testing by mid-1946. It featured nine dual-lobe overhead camshafts, which shifted axially for takeoff and cruising efficiency, and a two-speed, geared, dual-rotation propeller drive. The Lycoming XR-7755-3 on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (Photo by Sanjay Acharya via Wikipedia) Lycoming built two XR-7755-3 prototypes. The company and the Army successfully tested them, but neither engine ever flew in an airframe. The reliability of new gas turbine engines introduced after World War II made the XR-7755-3 obsolete before it could be fully developed. The sole surviving engine is on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Continental Jet-A piston engine certified By General Aviation News Staff · August 3, 2023 Continental reports it has received an FAA Validated Type Certificate (VTC) for its CD-300 Jet-A piston engine. The certification “validates the engine’s compliance with the FAA’s strict airworthiness and safety standards,” according to company officials. Since the CD-300 received its Type Certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in 2017, the engine has celebrated numerous milestones, including being named the powerplant for the Diamond Aircraft DA50 RG, according to Continental officials. Over the years, Continental has extended the Time Between Replacement (TBR) to 2,000 hours, they added. The engine also powered the Diamondo Earthrounding flight around the world to promote sustainable aviation, showcasing the 6-cylinder engine’s fuel efficiency, company officials said. Turbines at Dallas Love Field are turning plane exhaust into energy to charge electric vehicles "Wouldn’t it be cool if we could capture some of this wind, exhaust, and make electricity out of it?" Dr. T. O. Souryal told WFAA. Author: Sydney Persing Published: 10:40 PM CDT August 7, 2023 Updated: 10:40 PM CDT August 7, 2023 DALLAS — When planes take off, exhaust comes out and wind whips around the tarmac. At most airports, that's the end of the story. But not at Dallas Love Field. "I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if we could capture some of this wind, exhaust, and make electricity out of it?" Dr. T. O. Souryal told WFAA. Souryal said he got the idea as a passenger on a plane years ago to start a company called "Jetwind," which produces turbines that turn plane exhaust into clean energy. "I don’t know why nobody’s done it!" he said. "It’s too simple." Souryal is testing his prototype at Love Field right now. When a plane pulls off, his turbines spin like crazy, produce electricity and charge batteries. Those batteries then charge electric vehicles owned by the air traffic controllers. "We’re always looking at our energy management, looking to reduce our carbon footprint," Isaac Ellison, Love Field's interim environmental manager, told WFAA. "We’re surrounded by communities all around the airport we just want to make sure we’re doing our part," he added. If Jetwind's pod stands the test of time and holds up through 12 months of Texas heat and hail, the plan is to install more -- and not just at Love Field. "Assuming we get through this stage where it does hold up in the elements for a year, then I see this being placed in every airport on the planet," Souryal said. Before they get that far, the next step is to soon install phone-charging kiosks in the terminal that passengers can use as they wait to board, powered by the exhaust that the aircraft produces. Beechcraft King Air turboprops to have CoolView windows BY IZZY KINGTON ON 27TH JULY 2023 Textron Aviation has announced an upgrade for the Beechcraft King Air 260 and 360 turboprops – new CoolView windows manufactured by Lee Aerospace. Beginning in early 2024, all new King Air aircraft will be equipped with the windows. According to Lee Aerospace’s independent testing, the addition of a thin metallic inner layer allows the windows to significantly reduce the amount of infrared light entering the cabin, for a cooler and more comfortable environment during ramp operations. “At Textron Aviation, we’re committed to incorporating the latest technology and customer feedback into our aircraft to deliver the best customer experience for owners, pilots and passengers,” said Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice president, sales and flight operations. “The inclusion of CoolView windows in the Beechcraft King Air turboprops is a testament to our commitment to passenger comfort and our responsiveness to their ideas.” The CoolView windows also feature a frost pane with an integrated window tint, to enhance visibility while reducing unwanted sunlight and glare. Textron Aviation also noted the frost pane helps reduce or eliminate unwanted ice build-up during long flights. The King Air 360’s cabin environment also benefits from Textron Aviation’s standard Electric Air Conditioning System with Ground Cooling. The CoolView windows are also now available as an aftermarket upgrade for Beechcraft King Air turboprops at Textron Aviation service centres or for purchase exclusively from Textron Aviation’s parts website. Curt Lewis