Posted on 05/31/2010 5:15:40 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
A Boeing 737 Wedgetail will enter heavy maintenance for the first time in July, six months before the Royal Australian Air Force will receive its first example with full capability.
Boeing delivered the service's first of six Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system aircraft in 2003, but the programme fell three years behind schedule because of problems with structural modifications and radar performance.
Last November the RAAF accepted the first two Wedgetails with limited capability. Another aircraft will be delivered with full capability by the end of the year, with the remainder scheduled to follow in 2011. Meanwhile, the first test aircraft will enter a heavy maintenance interval in July termed R7, which includes elements of a C and D check in commercial service.
The depot service will include intensive inspections to structural modifications in the cabin, and particularly of Section 46, which supports the 3,180kg (7,000lb) Northrop Grumman multi-role electronically scanned array (MESA).
However, the R7 inspections will not require Boeing to remove the MESA antenna from the aircraft.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
Ping
/johnny
Sidewinds must be a bitch.
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