Chinese Aviation Industry

Recently, AVIC Aerospace Life-support Industries, LTD. has successfully completed a static strength airworthiness verification test on HO300 amphibious planes, the most important of its kind for main general aircraft units.

Struggling for three full days, Aerospace Life-support Industries,LTD. has finished the tests of 8 conditions and more than 300 test channels.

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The new JV has a registered capital of CNY2.7 billion ($426 million). Pudong Development Bank is the controlling stakeholder with a 66.67% stake, COMAC holds 22.22% stake and Shanghai International Group holds 11.11% ownership.

Industry analysts say the new venture is expected to pave the way for COMAC to sell its C919 as the Chinese manufacturer explores the fast-growing domestic aircraft leasing market.

The C919 has won some orders from domestic banks’ finance lease companies. Last year the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC Leasing) placed a firm order for 45 C919s (ATW Daily News, Oct. 21, 2011) and the Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co. ordered 30 C919s.

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2005, MA60 first flied out of China to Zimbabwe, which symbolized the Chinese civil aircraft had opened the door to the world. Over the past 7 years, MA60 has won a very important position in the regional aviation market of the world, form the first step to the international development of airplanes, to the successful implementation of the global strategic layout.

During the time of Xi’an Aircraft International Corporation’s 15th anniversary, both the total flight hours, times of taking off and landing of MA60 air fleet has amounted to more than 150,000. To create the brand of Chinese civil airplanes is the dream of AVIC Xi’an Aircraft Industry (Group) Company LTD.. After several generations of unremitting exploration and continuous pursuit, MA60 airplane has been accepted by customers at home and abroad for its features of safety, convenience and reasonable price, and it has also expanded its marketing share constantly.

At present, MA60 has more than 20 clients, 70 delivery airplanes, 187 orders and intended orders, and over 200 air routes which spread the regions of Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Commonwealth of the Independent States, etc.

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On May 9th, the Chairman of AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) Lin Zuoming led a research team to Zhongjian Technology Development Company Limited., located in Changzhou National Hi-tech Zone. And he also visited the production sites of scientific research in the company of Yang Yonggang, the general manager of Zhongjian Tech.

During the visit, Lin Zuoming showed his great interest to the future application of carbon fiber in the field of aviation manufacture. Lin emphasized that AVIC would never rely on those who had restricted the development of our country’s aviation industry in the world. So AVIC fully supported the development of domestic carbon fiber products and explicitly stated that the participating members must use the qualified domestic carbon fiber products. He said AVIC would fully support the development of Zhongjian Tech, and serve as a bridge between the application of carbon fiber and aviation manufacture.

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Accident description

Status: Final
Date: 07 MAY 2011
Time: 14.05
Type: Xian MA60
Operator: Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Registration: PK-MZK
C/n / msn: 603
First flight: 2007
Total airframe hrs: 615
Cycles: 764
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127J
Crew: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Passengers: Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 19
Total: Fatalities: 25 / Occupants: 25
Airplane damage: Destroyed
Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: 0,8 km (0.5 mls) SW off Kaimana-Utarom Airport (KNG) (Indonesia)
Phase: Approach (APR)
Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Sorong-Dominique Edward Osok Airport (SOQ) (SOQ/WAXX), Indonesia
Destination airport: Kaimana-Utarom Airport (KNG) (KNG/WASK), Indonesia
Flightnumber: 8968

Narrative:
A Xian MA60 passenger plane, PK-MZK, was destroyed in an accident near Kaimana Airport (KNG), Indonesia. The airplane carried 19 passengers and six crew members. All on board were killed in the accident.
The airplane operated on Merpati flight MZ8968 from Sorong (SOQ) to Kaimana (KNG), Nabire (NBX), and Biak (BIK). The flight took off from Sorong at 12:50 for the one hour and four minutes flight to Kaimana. Cruising altitude was 15.500 feet and weather forecast for Kaimana indicated rain with a visibility of 8 km, half of the sky covered with clouds with cloud base at 1400 ft, winds from the southeast at 6 mph (5.2 kts) and temperature of 29°C.
At 13:25 the crew received updated weather information, indicating that visibility had decreased to 3-8 km, with cumulonimbus clouds at 1500 ft.
At about 13:37, MZ 8968 reported at 7 nautical miles from the airport, descending through an altitude of 8000 ft.
Five minutes later the Kaimana AFIS (Aerodrome Flight Information Service) officer informed the crew that it was still raining at the airport and the ground visibility was 2 kilometers.
During the approach to Kaimana, the flight crew flew to the south of the airport in an attempt to make a visual approach. The auto-pilot was disengaged at 960 feet pressure altitude. At 376 feet pressure altitude, the crew decided to discontinue the approach and climbed, turning to the left. Engine power was increased and flaps were retracted from 15 to 5 and subsequently to 0 degrees. The landing gear was also retracted. The aircraft rolled to the left with a bank angle of 11° and continuously increased up to 38°. The rate of descend increased significantly up to about 3000 feet per minute and the airplane finally impacted into the shallow sea.

Kaimana Airport has a single runway, 01/19 (asphalt, length 5249 feet / 1600 m) which runs parallel to the coast with the sea to the west and mountains to the east. The airplane crashed into the sea about 800 m southwest of the runway 01 threshold and 550 m from the beach. It broke up and sank to a depth of about 15 metres.
The airplane had been manufacturer in 2008. It was stored at the factory in Xian until it was delivered to Merpati in december 2010.

Factors contributed to the accident are as follows:
1. The flight was conducted in VFR in condition that was not suitable for visual approach when the visibility was 2 km. In such a situation a visual approach should not have been attempted.
2. There was no checklist reading and crew briefing.
3. The flight crew had lack of situation awareness when tried to find the runway, and discontinued the approach.
4. The missed approach was initiated at altitude 376 feet pressure altitude (250 feet radio altitude), the pilot open power to 70% and 82% torque followed by flap retracted to 5 and subsequently to 0. The rapid descent was mainly caused by continuously increase of roll angle up to 38 degree to the left and the retraction of flaps from 15 to 0 position.
5. Both crew had low experience/flying time on type.
6. Inadequacy/ineffectivity in the training program may lead to actions that deviated from the standard procedure and regression to the previous type.
Follow-up / safety actions:
From 13-15 May 2011 the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation conducted a special safety audit of the Merpati Nusantara.

Following the audit, it was concluded that the MA-60 met airworthiness standards and was safe to be operated. Also, the aircraft were maintained in accordance with the maintenance programme.
However, the Ministry of Transportation recommended to no longer operate the MA-60 to Ende (ENE/WATE), Waingapu (WGP/WADW) and Ruteng (RTG/WATG). Approaches into these airports are considered difficult.

The audit further revealed a certain level of indiscipline in cases were pilots for instance carried out approaches and landings in below-minima weather conditions. The Ministry recommended additional training for 77 MA-60 flight crew members.

On May 7, 2012, as a result of the investigation, the National Transportation Safety Committee issued the following recommendations:
The National Transportation safety Committee recommends that the PT. Merpati Nusantara Airlines should:
a. Review the training management system to meet the standard requirements.
b. Improve the aircraft acceptance including documentation and manuals, related to the CASR requirements.
The National Transportation safety Committee recommends that the Directorate General Civil Aviation should:
a. Emphasis the aircraft inspection including documentation and manuals, prior to issuance of an initial airworthiness certificate related to the CASR 121 requirements including the DFDR parameters.
b. Review the adequacy of training syllabus in order to meet the qualification requirements.
c. Review the crew pairing policy.
d. Review implementation of the Safety Management System (SMS) to all operators.


Sources:
» Ministry of Transportation Indonesia


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Equation said:

Pretty nice concept, but the concentrated load on the wheel/blade would've broke it (unless it's made of titanium steel). Imagine if that car/helicopter ran into a pot hole on a rainy day. But it's a nice way to get away from a traffic congestion.

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asif iqbal said:

has the improved version of the MA-60 the MA-600 bagged any export orders?

there is also a MA-700 under development also

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usaf0314 said:

sorry to pop your bubble, but it wouldn't matter what the wheel/blades are made of, there simply won't be enough thrust considering how small the motor is, and even if the motor is powerful enough, there won't be any compartment to store the necessary fuel.

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Equation said:

Damn...does that mean owner would still be stuck in traffic...LOL. Jokes aside, what if the fuel is replaced by an electric motor powered by a highly charge battery? Of course the concern goes back to making smaller, more powerful and efficient packages, by then it would still be too expensive to mass produce.

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IT MAY well turn out that pilot error, or something other than a fault in the aircraft, made a Russian-built Sukhoi Superjet crash into a mountain in Indonesia on May 9th, killing all on board. But the disaster, on top of recent reports of unreliability among the first Superjets to go into service, is bound to hinder Russia’s ambition to become a big exporter of modern commercial aircraft. And the Russians are not the only ones trying, and struggling, to do so.

The Chinese, like the Russians, have spent years working on planes that, they hope, will muscle in on the two near-duopolies in the world airliner market. Russia’s Superjet, and its Chinese equivalent, the ARJ21, are smaller “regional” jets, the market for which is dominated by Embraer of Brazil and Bombardier of Canada. The much juicier market for full-sized airliners is currently divided between America’s Boeing and the Franco-German Airbus. Russia’s MC-21 and China’s C919, also under development, are potential competitors to Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320.

The Superjet, which has been certified by the European union ’s air-safety agency, was beginning to gather some interest outside the former Soviet sphere, encouraging Sukhoi to hope for sales of perhaps 40 a year by 2014. However, the first four planes delivered to Aeroflot of Russia have suffered repeatedly from breakdowns, leading to flight cancellations.

China’s ARJ21 had its maiden flight in 2008 and its maker, Comac, was due to start deliveries last year. But the plane’s certification by the Chinese and American authorities may slip into next year. China’s C919 is supposed to have its first test flight in 2014 but that too may slip. Comac is vague about how many firm orders it has. At the Dubai air show in November, Irkut, the Russian company making the MC-21, said it had 235 orders, mostly from former Soviet countries. It too is aiming for a maiden test flight in 2014, but an Irkut executive acknowledged that his firm was still seeking an international partner to help it market the plane.

Then there are the Japanese: Mitsubishi makes some chunky bits for planes but aspires to sell a complete flying machine of its own. However, its MRJ, yet another contender for the regional-jet market, has just been delayed. Its maiden flight, which had been due around now, has been put back to late next year. The MRJ is said to be technically a good plane, but like the other new contenders it has failed so far to get a critical mass of orders.

A similar fate, its rivals hope, may befall Bombardier, which wants to move up from regional jets to full-sized airliners with its CSeries. Last month the company said it was still on course to deliver the first CSeries to airlines in late 2013. It has more than 300 firm or tentative orders, and hopes to make 120 of them a year by 2016. However, two early customers—Republic Airways Holdings of America, and Korean Air—have expressed fears that it is not selling well enough to guarantee its success. Partly to assuage such worries, Bombardier has agreed with China’s Comac that the two will seek to make their planes’ cockpits and other systems similar, to encourage airlines to order both together.

Delays, breakdowns and even accidents are not unknown when the established makers launch new planes. But they have a record of getting them right eventually, whereas the new entrants cannot offer potential buyers such reassurance. Moreover, the industry’s dominant firms are not just sitting back watching their rivals struggle. Boeing and Airbus have launched, to great success, re-engined versions of the 737 and A320, and Embraer is likewise re-engining its E-Jet regional aircraft.

So will any of the new contenders ever pose a serious threat to the established order? Although they are behind the Russians on producing a regional jet, and lag the Canadians in turning out a full-sized airliner, the betting is on the Chinese, in the long term. Their government seems determined to succeed, however long it takes, and undoubtedly has the money to make its dreams take wing.

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China's leading airports are on the cusp of strong international growth, with several new routes to be launched in the coming 12 to 24 months. Growth will be driven by foreign and local needs: countries will have greater needs to further link with China while locally there will be an increasing propensity to travel among the Chinese population as incomes rise, while high-speed rail expansion will push Chinese airlines to grow internationally, at the same time providing feed opportunities for foreign carriers at the main Chinese gateways.

But growth is not only expected at the main Chinese hubs. Second tier airports can also look forward to increasing air services as the Government supports expansion from these hubs and as the LCC revolution takes hold in North Asia. New carriers across the region will be looking for new route opportunities, fuelling rapid growth at non-congested Chinese gateways. China's own second tier airlines are also looking to expand abroad, mainly within the Asia Pacific region, which will spur development at the provincial capitals across China's vast interior and economic zones.

The opening of secondary airports in China, such as Chongqing and Chengdu, is also of interest to foreign and local carriers, opening up new slot opportunities. Finnair commenced services to Chongqing in May-2012 while Air France in Apr-2012 opened a route to Wuhan. Both carriers already had services to China's main two entry points, Beijing and Shanghai, while many other international carriers only serve one or none, making them more likely to first enter Beijing or Shanghai before branching into smaller destinations.

China can offer numerous hubs: west (Urumqi) for Russia/CIS traffic, northeast (Beijing) to Japan and Korea, southwest (Chengdu/Chongqing) to the Indian Subcontinent and southeast (Guangzhou) to Asia and Australia.

Meanwhile, the Middle East carriers continue to expand aggressively into China, providing extensive linkages to other parts of the world. Notable emerging market linkages are to Africa, where China is significantly boosting trade and investment, as well as the high-growth economies of South America. African carriers are also expanding to China, while the European major carriers are expected to continue to cherry pick key Western Chinese cities with new routes from their hubs, especially as new generation aircraft enter their fleets.

China's airport sector recorded a very positive 2011, particularly among the second tier airports, where growth rates of 15%+ were commonplace. Guangzhou led the big three Chinese hubs in terms of growth rates, while Beijing edged closer to Atlanta as the world's busiest airport....

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