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Into the supersonic transport era

Into the supersonic transport era Aircraft Engineering THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING HE next decade will sec without doubt the use of supersonic trans­ sixteen customer airlines. The manufacturers' faith in their product by ports in commercial operation. Concorde will be the first SST making it available at such an early stage was vindicated by the pilots' aircraft in the Western world to enter service and should have a report: 'For all the flight conditions flown in this first phase the aircraft healthy lead of five years over the American Boeing 2707-300. Although was pleasant and easy to fly. It imposed no excessive work load on the the Russian Tu-144 is quite likely to claim the honours for the first pilot, even in simulated failure conditions. There should be no problem commercial SST flight, it is improbable that it will be successful in pene­ in training airline pilots and engineers to operate the aircraft.' trating Western markets and once Concorde enters service few of the The crucial test for Concorde will be next summer when it is scheduled major airlines with suitable route structures will be able to wait for the to explore the critical cruise envelope. It is on the results of its s.f.c. U.S. SST before introducing supersonic services on their routes. Although performance that the airlines will come to a decision as to whether or the investment of public money in Concorde is huge and may well be not they will place firm orders. The commodity they have to market is never fully recovered, it has the tremendous asset of being way out in the saving of time and this is such a lure to the travelling public, six front of the field and the experience that it will generate should make million of whom cross the Atlantic annually, that no major airline can the Super Concorde a potent rival to the Boeing 2707-300. afford to let its rivals steal a march on them in this respect. This will particularly apply to the introduction of the SST with its dramatic The flight test programme of the two Concorde prototypes 001 and 002 has up to the present date been remarkable for progress made and improvement in block times on intercontinental routes. The seat mile for the serviceability and reliability of the two aircraft. 001 has made costs of the Concorde will be higher than other long range transports nearly eighty flights and has already flown at Mach 1·53 and 500 kts. but on the other hand its capital cost will be about half that of a Boeing IAS, thus extending the flight envelope well beyond the Mach 1·3 that SST. Another factor will be that the airlines that first put it into service was originally scheduled for this phase of the development. The Olympus will be assured of high load factors that may well enable the aircraft to 593 engines were giving more power than expected, according to M pay for itself in three to four years. In the past passenger preference has always been for speed and it is unlikely that the advent of wide-body Turcat, and relights were easy even during supersonic flight. The British transports will alter this. Their main armour against the SST will be in prototype 002 is expected to resume its flying programme next month after a period in the hangar for the fitting of uprated engines, fully auto­ the field of low fares. matic variable air intakes, modifications to the flying controls and the Concorde is an outstanding example of a collaborative project being installation of flutter test equipment. It had completed 24 flights before worth while. It would never have started if it had not been a partnership. going in for the modification refit and is now scheduled to continue the It would never have continued if it had not been for our partner. If the flight test programme up to Mach 2. best use is made of the lead time available it should give the Anglo/ Another instance of the smooth path of Concorde development to French aircraft industries an important stake in the supply of long range date is the evaluation flights made by four airline pilots representing the transports for many years to come. THEM AND US NE of the most productive of the plethora of reports produced on the numbers, the collection and collation of information on the progress of industry in recent years was that resulting from a committee appoint­ work in the factory was still carried out manually although a computer ed by the Minister of Technology and the President of the S.B.A.C. was used for planning. "Three or four clerks on the night shift" compiled under the chairmanship of Mr St. John Elstub with the title Productivity the records of each day's achievement in a very large assembly shop and of the National Aircraft Effort. The committee felt that they might learn a summary of the performance against target of every work station, which a good deal from visiting the United States and comparing their manu­ was available the following morning to the shop manager, foremen and facturing methods with those of the U.K. Accordingly a group of them charge hands. spent some time in the U.S. with the object learning what the Americans 'In addition to establishing target times and carefully monitoring actual thought about British production methods and to study the way in which performance against them, the firms we visited took great care to ensure they approached the special problems of aircraft manufacture. Some that operatives were kept continuously employed and that waiting time of the points that struck the investigating committee as being of signi­ was kept to a minimum. For example, in two of the factories many ficance are given in the extracts from the Report that follow. components were kept in racks at the actual work station, so that opera­ tives did not have to go to a central store to draw them. Moreover the 'Their criticisms were remarkable for their unanimity and for being stock was immediately and continuously visible to operatives and their concentrated virtually on a single point. They had a high regard in supervisors who were thus soon aware of any impending shortages. general for the quality and performance of the products of the British air­ 'The operatives in the American factories we visited were all paid at a craft industry, but little faith in its ability to deliver them on time. Their flat hourly rate which varied only according to their grade or length of experience had shown this to be true whether the product they were buying experience. None of them received any incentive payment for higher was a complete aircraft or a small piece of equipment. They believed that output, and we were given to understand that this was true of the American British firms were insufficiently aware of the importance customers aircraft industry in general. It was the middle levels of management who attached to timely delivery and therefore did not plan their production were rewarded for high output in the companies where this was done at all. with the care and thoroughness which the increasing complexity of 'All the firms we visited employed basically similar methods to ensure a modern aircraft demanded. In the United States however it is treated steady and sustained reduction in the time taken for each job. They set almost as a religion. We saw abundant evidence of this in the effort they target manhours for each job as part of the production planning task. devoted to ensuring that work flowed smoothly and continuously so that From week to week, or some similar interval, these are progressively expensive labour was kept fully employed and the competitive disadvan­ reduced in accordance with the expected rate of learning. These targets tage of its high cost kept to a minimum. are given to the foremen and chargehands and it is their responsibility 'It was in fact the most significant difference which we found between to see that the time allowed is not exceeded even though the number of the American and British approach to airframe manufacture. In general, men they are allotted for the job is progressively reduced as time goes by. aeroplanes are put together in very much the same way in the United 'Although there are works and external inspectors in American fac­ States as they are here. Despite the very large numbers in which some tories, the basic responsibility for quality is placed firmly on the man of the aircraft were being turned out, the manufacturing processes were who makes the article. Detailed records are kept of the incidence of generally neither more automated nor even more mechanised than in defects in the work of each small group or even individuals, who are British factories, nor were they always performed by a particularly [rewarded for good results] by a public presentation by a senior execu­ elegant or refined method. tive, perhaps the company president himself, of some small token such as 'The emphasis on production control was equally marked in all the a badge or a tic-clip. The presentation as well as the scheme itself is plants we visited whether they were making aircraft at the rate of two a publicised by normal public relations techniques. All the companies were day or two a month. We were therefore surprised to find that in one enthusiastic about the improvement in quality this approach had pro­ large enterprise which was producing advanced military aircraft in large duced and the response which it had aroused, especially on the shop floor.' http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology Emerald Publishing

Into the supersonic transport era

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology , Volume 42 (1): 1 – Jan 1, 1970
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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0002-2667
DOI
10.1108/eb034588
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Abstract

Aircraft Engineering THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING HE next decade will sec without doubt the use of supersonic trans­ sixteen customer airlines. The manufacturers' faith in their product by ports in commercial operation. Concorde will be the first SST making it available at such an early stage was vindicated by the pilots' aircraft in the Western world to enter service and should have a report: 'For all the flight conditions flown in this first phase the aircraft healthy lead of five years over the American Boeing 2707-300. Although was pleasant and easy to fly. It imposed no excessive work load on the the Russian Tu-144 is quite likely to claim the honours for the first pilot, even in simulated failure conditions. There should be no problem commercial SST flight, it is improbable that it will be successful in pene­ in training airline pilots and engineers to operate the aircraft.' trating Western markets and once Concorde enters service few of the The crucial test for Concorde will be next summer when it is scheduled major airlines with suitable route structures will be able to wait for the to explore the critical cruise envelope. It is on the results of its s.f.c. U.S. SST before introducing supersonic services on their routes. Although performance that the airlines will come to a decision as to whether or the investment of public money in Concorde is huge and may well be not they will place firm orders. The commodity they have to market is never fully recovered, it has the tremendous asset of being way out in the saving of time and this is such a lure to the travelling public, six front of the field and the experience that it will generate should make million of whom cross the Atlantic annually, that no major airline can the Super Concorde a potent rival to the Boeing 2707-300. afford to let its rivals steal a march on them in this respect. This will particularly apply to the introduction of the SST with its dramatic The flight test programme of the two Concorde prototypes 001 and 002 has up to the present date been remarkable for progress made and improvement in block times on intercontinental routes. The seat mile for the serviceability and reliability of the two aircraft. 001 has made costs of the Concorde will be higher than other long range transports nearly eighty flights and has already flown at Mach 1·53 and 500 kts. but on the other hand its capital cost will be about half that of a Boeing IAS, thus extending the flight envelope well beyond the Mach 1·3 that SST. Another factor will be that the airlines that first put it into service was originally scheduled for this phase of the development. The Olympus will be assured of high load factors that may well enable the aircraft to 593 engines were giving more power than expected, according to M pay for itself in three to four years. In the past passenger preference has always been for speed and it is unlikely that the advent of wide-body Turcat, and relights were easy even during supersonic flight. The British transports will alter this. Their main armour against the SST will be in prototype 002 is expected to resume its flying programme next month after a period in the hangar for the fitting of uprated engines, fully auto­ the field of low fares. matic variable air intakes, modifications to the flying controls and the Concorde is an outstanding example of a collaborative project being installation of flutter test equipment. It had completed 24 flights before worth while. It would never have started if it had not been a partnership. going in for the modification refit and is now scheduled to continue the It would never have continued if it had not been for our partner. If the flight test programme up to Mach 2. best use is made of the lead time available it should give the Anglo/ Another instance of the smooth path of Concorde development to French aircraft industries an important stake in the supply of long range date is the evaluation flights made by four airline pilots representing the transports for many years to come. THEM AND US NE of the most productive of the plethora of reports produced on the numbers, the collection and collation of information on the progress of industry in recent years was that resulting from a committee appoint­ work in the factory was still carried out manually although a computer ed by the Minister of Technology and the President of the S.B.A.C. was used for planning. "Three or four clerks on the night shift" compiled under the chairmanship of Mr St. John Elstub with the title Productivity the records of each day's achievement in a very large assembly shop and of the National Aircraft Effort. The committee felt that they might learn a summary of the performance against target of every work station, which a good deal from visiting the United States and comparing their manu­ was available the following morning to the shop manager, foremen and facturing methods with those of the U.K. Accordingly a group of them charge hands. spent some time in the U.S. with the object learning what the Americans 'In addition to establishing target times and carefully monitoring actual thought about British production methods and to study the way in which performance against them, the firms we visited took great care to ensure they approached the special problems of aircraft manufacture. Some that operatives were kept continuously employed and that waiting time of the points that struck the investigating committee as being of signi­ was kept to a minimum. For example, in two of the factories many ficance are given in the extracts from the Report that follow. components were kept in racks at the actual work station, so that opera­ tives did not have to go to a central store to draw them. Moreover the 'Their criticisms were remarkable for their unanimity and for being stock was immediately and continuously visible to operatives and their concentrated virtually on a single point. They had a high regard in supervisors who were thus soon aware of any impending shortages. general for the quality and performance of the products of the British air­ 'The operatives in the American factories we visited were all paid at a craft industry, but little faith in its ability to deliver them on time. Their flat hourly rate which varied only according to their grade or length of experience had shown this to be true whether the product they were buying experience. None of them received any incentive payment for higher was a complete aircraft or a small piece of equipment. They believed that output, and we were given to understand that this was true of the American British firms were insufficiently aware of the importance customers aircraft industry in general. It was the middle levels of management who attached to timely delivery and therefore did not plan their production were rewarded for high output in the companies where this was done at all. with the care and thoroughness which the increasing complexity of 'All the firms we visited employed basically similar methods to ensure a modern aircraft demanded. In the United States however it is treated steady and sustained reduction in the time taken for each job. They set almost as a religion. We saw abundant evidence of this in the effort they target manhours for each job as part of the production planning task. devoted to ensuring that work flowed smoothly and continuously so that From week to week, or some similar interval, these are progressively expensive labour was kept fully employed and the competitive disadvan­ reduced in accordance with the expected rate of learning. These targets tage of its high cost kept to a minimum. are given to the foremen and chargehands and it is their responsibility 'It was in fact the most significant difference which we found between to see that the time allowed is not exceeded even though the number of the American and British approach to airframe manufacture. In general, men they are allotted for the job is progressively reduced as time goes by. aeroplanes are put together in very much the same way in the United 'Although there are works and external inspectors in American fac­ States as they are here. Despite the very large numbers in which some tories, the basic responsibility for quality is placed firmly on the man of the aircraft were being turned out, the manufacturing processes were who makes the article. Detailed records are kept of the incidence of generally neither more automated nor even more mechanised than in defects in the work of each small group or even individuals, who are British factories, nor were they always performed by a particularly [rewarded for good results] by a public presentation by a senior execu­ elegant or refined method. tive, perhaps the company president himself, of some small token such as 'The emphasis on production control was equally marked in all the a badge or a tic-clip. The presentation as well as the scheme itself is plants we visited whether they were making aircraft at the rate of two a publicised by normal public relations techniques. All the companies were day or two a month. We were therefore surprised to find that in one enthusiastic about the improvement in quality this approach had pro­ large enterprise which was producing advanced military aircraft in large duced and the response which it had aroused, especially on the shop floor.'

Journal

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jan 1, 1970

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