Emirates airline sees progress soon on A380 engine upgrade

Dubai's Emirates airline, the largest customer for the Airbus A380, said on Monday it hoped to achieve progress soon on its call to upgrade the world's biggest passenger jet with new engines.

Emirates has expressed interest in applying the lessons of other Airbus re-engining projects - nicknamed 'neo' or new engine option - to the four-engined superjumbo.

"There is a distinct possibility that if the neo is built it will give a 10-12 percent performance improvement, so it is definitely worth having and we are hoping to move on that pretty soon," Chief Executive Tim Clark told reporters.

Such a project would involve an upgraded engine from Rolls-Royce, as well as some weight reduction and better aerodynamics on the aircraft, he said on the sidelines of an IATA airline industry meeting in Doha. Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, competes with Rolls-Royce to supply engines on the current version of the A380.

It supplies the engines for the current A380s operated by the Dubai carrier but is not expected to take part in any engine upgrade as its shareholders focus on other projects.

Emirates increased its order for A380s in November, adding 50 aircraft to bring the total on order to 140. The first 25 Engine Alliance-powered aircraft are due to be delivered in 2016 and 2017, Clark said.

The second batch will be delivered after 2020 and could be fitted with upgraded Rolls-Royce engines, if that project goes ahead, he added. Emirates will however take delivery even if there is no decision to upgrade the double-decker jet.

"If they don’t produce it we will take it under the old version. There is nothing out there that resembles what the A380 can do."

Emirates is not interested in Boeing's 467-seat 747-8, Clark said, despite a report of talks between Boeing and the airline.

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'Can you smell roast chicken?': What Thomson pilot asked passengers after seagulls were sucked into airliner's engine forcing it to return to Britain

An airline pilot asked his passengers if they could 'smell roast chicken' after a flock of seagulls flew into the aircraft's engine. The Thomson holiday jet had just left Cardiff airport when it hit dozens of gulls over the South Wales coast. One hour later the pilot announced to passengers over the tannoy that the plane had been involved in a bird strike.

The announcement was made while the airliner was flying over Switzerland. The plane immediately turned back to Gatwick Airport in London as a 'precaution', a spokesman for Thomson said. Holidaymaker Dan Tyte was one of 300 passengers on the plane headed for Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Mr Tyte, who was travelling with his girlfriend Rebecca, said: 'The captain came on and said: "I don’t know if you can smell what seems to be like roast chicken.

'"We have looked into it and it turns out as we were leaving Cardiff, some seagulls flew into the engine".'

Mr Tyte, who was travelling with his girlfriend Rebecca, said: 'From that it seems like it was quite a dramatic situation.

'But it was handled with such calm assurance by the captain and his crew everyone handled it well. 'The flight itself was really smooth so I suppose safety must come first.'

A spokeswoman from Gatwick said the passengers got off safely and were transferred to another aircraft. A spokesman for Thomson said: 'Thomson Airways is sorry for the delay caused to passengers on board flight TOM532 from Cardiff to Sharm el-Sheikh, which diverted to Gatwick airport as a precautionary measure. 'The decision was taken to divert the plane due to a suspected bird strike. 'The plane landed safely at Gatwick airport where passengers were transferred onto an alternative aircraft to continue their journey to Sharm el-Sheikh. 'Our team at Thomson Airways did everything possible to minimise the disruption to customers holidays and get them on their way as soon as possible.

'The safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance and we would like to reassure customers that issues of this nature are very rare.'

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Older 172s Finding New Life Through A Diesel Upgrade

A diesel upgrade for older model Cessna 172s is now available through Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Premier Aircraft Sales, which includes a Centurion 2.0 diesel engine and Garmin 500 glass.

Art Spengler, vice president for operations at Premier, said that the upgrade will improve efficiency, value, and safety of the nearly ubiquitous airplane.

Included in the package is a zero-time Centurion 2.0 turbo diesel engine with FADEC controls and a three-blade Hartzell constant speed prop. Spengler said that the diesel engine will burn about 5.2 gph of Jet-A per hour, compared to about 9.2 gph of 100LL consumed by the legacy Lycoming engine. With Jet-A generally costing less than 100LL avgas, Spengler says the upgrade can result in significant savings in operating costs.

The upgrade also includes Garmin GDL88 ADS-B receiver with weather and traffic, a fresh annual inspection, full-airframe anti-corrosion application, a two-year factory warranty from Centurion/Continental and Garmin, and other features.

Premier can either convert  a 172 owned by a private individual, or locate an airframe for a customer and make the upgrades. If Premier locates the airframe, Spengler said that the cost would be about half that of a new 172. The demonstrator that is currently in production would cost about $289,500, he said.

Premier has already received inquiries from 13 countries about the conversion. The company is also planning a conversion program for Piper Warrior II and Warrior III airplanes once the Cessna demonstrator is completed. An STC is already available for the Warrior conversion, and the goal is to have two of each airplane being manufactured at any given time.

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