The FAA has issued an emergency order addressing the risk that faulty angle-of-attack inputs could cause Boeing 737 Max horizontal stabilisers to put the aircraft into a difficult-to-control dive. "Possible erroneous angle-of-attack inputs on Boeing 737 Max aircraft… can potentially make the horizontal stabilisers repeatedly pitch the nose of the airplane downward, making the aircraft difficult to control," says the FAA in a Nov 7 emergency airworthiness directive. Effective immediately, the FAA orders US operators to revise flight manuals "to give the flight crew horizontal stabiliser trim procedures to follow under certain conditions", the order says. The FAA gives operators 3 days to make the updates. The FAA's order targets the latest generation of Boeing's best-selling 737. <br/>
general
ATR has released its first-ever market forecast focused on China, estimating the thus-far-non-existent market for regional turboprops will need 1,100 aircraft, worth US$25.6b, by 2037. The airframer calculates 25 passenger turboprops were in service in 2017. Last year, ATR signed letters of intent with Chinese customers for a combined 13 ATR 42-600s, but has yet to deliver the first one. Regional aircraft account for 2% of the country’s fleet, compared to a global average of 25%, and large aircraft being used on thin regional routes require subsidies, ATR said. Although hopes for massive sales in China have long failed to materialise, ATR predicts that, “in 2037, 87% of the regional and general aviation activity will come from newly created routes, calculated at a total of close to 2,200.” <br/>
Airbus has forecast that China’s aviation market will need over 7,400 new aircraft over the next 20 years. The Global Market Forecast from Airbus says the single aisle market will need 6,180 new passenger and freight aircraft between 2018 and 2037. In the mid-range market, comprising smaller wide-bodies and longer-range single-aisle aircraft, Airbus sees the need for 870 additional passenger and freight aircraft. In the large and extra-large segments demand is forecast to be 240 and 130 aircraft respectively. Large aircraft are defined as A350-size planes, with the extra-large segment comprising the A350-1000 and the A380 superjumbo. The growth in the number of Chinese flying will more than triple by 2037, with China becoming the top country for passenger air traffic in both domestic and international markets. <br/>
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp is working on improvements to the MRJ70, which will be the second version of the MRJ regional jet to enter service, and is looking increasingly important. The company has hinted at improvements in operating efficiency for the 76-seat version, although it is not moving delivery targets. The MRJ program is 80% through flight testing of the initial version, the MRJ90, which is designed to seat 88 passengers in an all-economy arrangement. So far, there have been no major surprises. Since the company flight testing phase is almost finished, there is not much time now for any to appear. The next phase is type-certification flight testing under the eye of the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. After 5 delays, launch customer ANA is scheduled to receive its first aircraft in mid-2020, about 6.75 years later than was intended. <br/>