|
The Fairchild Dornier 728/928 family was Fairchild Dornier GmbH's ambitious bid to develop a range of large (50-110-seat) regional jet airliners to supplement the smaller 328JET series. Although the aircraft was a modern design and attracted strong airline interest when launched, the program ended with the insolvency of Fairchild Dornier soon after the official roll-out of the first 728. The 728/928 family is a monoplane design with fixed wings in low wing configuration and two engines mounted under the wings. It has a retractable undercarriage (or landing gear) in tricycle configuration. ==Development== Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, which was acquired by Fairchild in 1996 and was renamed Fairchild Dornier in 2000, announced the project, which had begun as the X28JET project and later introduced publicly as the 728JET, in October 1997 at the Dubai Airshow. The new family of regional jets, the 528JET, 728JET and 928JET, seating from 55 to 100 passengers was launched at the ILA Berlin Aerospace Show (International Aviation and Space Flight Exhibition) in Berlin on May 19, 1998 after earlier receiving provisional launch orders from Lufthansa (60 firm orders and 60 options) and Crossair. Crossair later cancelled as a result of the fuselage layout.〔 〕 To prevent Low-cost carriers from equipping the 728 with six-abreast seating, instead of Cityline's five-abreast seating, Lufthansa made Fairchild Dornier reduce the fuselage diameter. It shrunk from the original 3.40 m (11 ft 2 in) to 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in). The reduction also lowered the weight of the aircraft, but brought Crossair to choose the Embraer ERJ-170 family instead. In June 2001, GECAS ordered 50 aircraft firm and additional options up to 100 aircraft. October 2000 saw the beginning of testing of the "Iron Bird" (a mechanical/hydraulic - test rig in 1:1 scale). In March 2001 came the start of the final assembly of the first prototype. In April 2001, General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) began test flights of the CF34-8 engine. Fairchild Dornier completed the first fuselage in December 2001. In January 2002 the first prototype moved on its own landing gear. With the official roll out of "TAC 01" (Test Aircraft 01 - the first prototype) in March 2002, the 728 was presented to the public for the first time. In March 2002 TAC 03 was transported to IABG in Ottobrunn for structural testing. In total, eight customers, among them Lufthansa Cityline, GECAS, Bavaria Leasing, CSA-Czech Airlines, Atlantic Coast Airlines, and SolAir, had (by March 2002) placed firm orders for 125 aircraft and signed options for an additional 164. The lead aircraft in the program was the 70 to 85 seat 728 (previously named 728JET), which made its official roll-out on March 21, 2002, and was scheduled to make its first flight in the summer of 2002. Deliveries were expected to start in mid-2003 to Lufthansa Cityline.〔(Fairchild Dornier 728 Single Aisle Jet Airliner, USA/Germany ), Aerospace Technology. Retrieved 2008-01-03.〕 However, before the first flight of the 728 had been made, Fairchild Dornier filed for insolvency on 2 April 2002, and the whole program came to an end, due to Lufthansa and GECAS cancelling their orders shortly after. Without the backup of the programs biggest customers the program paused, and the search for new investors began. In July 2003, D'Long International Strategic Investment Group of Xinjiang, China showed an interest in buying the project. A new firm, Fairchild Dornier Aeroindustries, was formed to develop the aircraft but filed for bankruptcy in 2004.〔 No aircraft were produced although structural tests in Dresden were launched in 2003. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fairchild Dornier 728 family」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|