Fairchild Dornier 728 family

TheFairchild Dornier 728/928 familyis a series ofjet-poweredregional airlinersthat was being developed by German-American aviation conglomerateFairchild Dornier.

Fairchild Dornier 528 / 728 / 928
Fairchild Dornier 728 prototype TAC 01
General information
Type	Regional jetAirliner
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	FairchildDornier GmbH
Status	Programme cancelled
Number built	3 prototypes built to various stages of completion

It was a relatively ambitious bid to develop a group of aircraft that would have seated between 50 and 110 passengers, supplementing the existing328JET series,a smaller regional jet. The 728/928 family is amonoplanedesign withfixed wingsin lowwing configurationand two engines mounted under thewings.It has aretractable undercarriage(or landing gear) intricycleconfiguration. On 21 March 2002, the roll-out of the first 728 took place. The company planned itsmaiden flightto occur during the summer of 2002 and for deliveries to commence during mid-2003 to the launch customerLufthansa Cityline.

The 728 family benefitted from a modern design while the company attracted considerable interest from variousairlinesupon the programme's launch. By March 2002, a total of eight customers had altogether placed 125 firm orders in addition to signed options for an additional 164 aircraft. However, the programme was derailed at a late stage by theinsolvencyof Fairchild Dornier, which occurred shortly after the official roll-out of the first 728.Despite attempts to revive the programme, including the establishment ofFairchild Dornier Aeroindustries,customers opted to cancel their orders and no aircraft actually ever flew. The three prototypes that were completed have been sold on for other purposes.

Development

Origins

During the mid-1990s, German aircraft manufacturerDornier Luftfahrt GmbHexperienced considerable financial difficulties; these heavily contributed to the company's acquisition by theAmericanaerospace firmFairchild Aircraft,after which the organisation becameFairchild Dornier.Shortly thereafter, the company began reorganising itself and examined possibilities for altering its product lineup. The first new aircraft to make it to market, theFairchild Dornier 328JET,was a relatively straightforward reengining of theturboprop-poweredDornier 328;however, even prior to its first flight, the company had grander ambitions of producing a range of larger regional airliners.

During October 1997, Fairchild Dornier announced what would become the 728 programme, which was initially known as theX28JETproject and later publicly rebranded as the728JET,at theDubai 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 19 May 1998; prior to this, Fairchild Dornier had received provisional launch orders from Germanflag carrierLufthansa,who placed 60 firm orders along with 60 options, andSwissairlineCrossair.

The total investment in the programme, which was sourced from Fairchild Dornier's own funds and from its risk-sharing partners, was reported as being $850 million. According to company President Jim Robinson, $220 million alone was fronted by the suppliers of the wing, fuselage andempennage,while efforts to secure further launch aid from both vendors and the German federal government were also underway.One option explored was to take the companypublic.Various partnership arrangements were explored; at one stage, Fairchild Dornier were holding discussions withFranko-Italianregional aircraft manufacturerATRon the topic of collaborating on the 728.At the time of launch, the company anticipated delivery of the initial production aircraft to take place during mid-2001, withtype certificationbeing achieved in the same year.

Testing phase

During October 2000, testing of the "Iron Bird", a mechanical/hydraulicfull-scale test rig of the 728, commenced. According to the company, this rig was intended to help the company to reduce the development and certification processes by between 150 and 200 hours; it was also envisaged the rebuilding of the iron bird to represent the larger 928 to similarly support its development.Similarly, Fairchild Dornier heavily invested computer simulations of the production and assembly procedures at Oberpfaffenhofen, which were intended to yield major savings in terms of both cost and manpower and costs; this effort was reportedly responsible for reducing theman-hoursinvolved in the 728's manufacture by 60%.Advanced manufacturing equipment was also procured for similar reasons.

During mid-2001, Fairchild Dornier commenced construction of the firstprototype,the majority of structural assemblies having been delivered by September 2001.During December 2001, Fairchild Dornier reportedly completed the firstfuselage.By January 2002, the first prototype was sufficiently complete to begin taxiing on its ownlanding gear.During March 2002, the official roll out of "TAC 01" (Test Aircraft 01) - the first prototype - occurred, at which point it was presented to thepublicfor the first time. That same month, TAC 03 was transported to IABG inOttobrunnfor structural testing.

During June 2001, it was reported that leasing firmGECASplaced a firm order for 50 aircraft, as well as additional options up to 100 aircraft. By March 2002, a total of eight customers, among them Lufthansa Cityline, GECAS, Bavaria Leasing,CSA-Czech Airlines,Atlantic Coast Airlines, and SolAir, had reportedly placed a cumulative 125 firm orders for the type, as well as signed options for an additional 164 aircraft.According to Fairchild Dornier, it needed to sell 200 aircraft to reach the programme'sbreak-evenpoint.

The lead aircraft of the programme was the 70-to-85 seat 728, which was referred to as the728JETearly on. Assembly of the aircraft was performed at Fairchild Dornier's facility inOberpfaffenhofen,Germany.On 21 March 2002, the first 728 conducted its official roll-out; it was scheduled to perform itsmaiden flightduring the summer of 2002. Furthermore, deliveries of the type were expected to commence during mid-2003, the launch customer beingLufthansa Cityline.However, only two days before the roll-out, it was announced that the programme would be set back by two months due to a shortage of available funds.A week later, reports emerged that the company was in talks with four potential new strategic partners, and that securing at least one was of "critical and crucial" importance.

Termination

Prior to the intended date of the 728's first flight being performed, Fairchild Dornier was renderedinsolventand forced to declarebankruptcyon 2 April 2002.One consequence of this was the whole programme being immediately brought to a standstill; shortly thereafter, both Lufthansa and GECAS chose to cancel their orders for the type. The withdrawal of the 728's two biggest customers was a considerable blow to the programme, potentially putting offinvestorsand partners that were being sought out at this time.

During July 2003, D'Long International Strategic Investment Group ofXin gian g,China showed an interest in purchasing a stake the project. A new entity,Fairchild Dornier Aeroindustries,was formed with the aim of completing development of the aircraft, however, this company also filed forbankruptcyduring 2004.During this brief revival, no additional aircraft were produced, although structural tests in Dresden were commenced during 2003.

Design

The Fairchild Dornier 728 is a relatively conventional airliner in terms of its design, being equipped with a low-mounted wing and powered by a pair ofturbofanengines that were mounted inunderwing podsbeneath the wings. Common to most airliners, it has amonoplaneconfiguration and is furnished with aretractable undercarriagein a tricycle configuration. Theflight control surfacesare located at thetrailing edgeof the wings, such as theAilerons,and at itsempennage,such as thestabilizers.

The wing of the 728 was a derivative of the "Tragflügel Neuer Technologie" (TNT) (English: Wing of New Technology) wing configuration that had been originally developed by Dornier for their earlierDornier 228utility aircraft. While much of the wing design is a straightforward, if scaled-up, implementation of TNT, it was furnished with novel "Super Shark" blendedwinglets,which were developed and incorporated into the wing around 2001/2002.The low-mounted position of the wing was uncommon amongst Dornier-built aircraft; prior aircraft designs, including theDo 28,Dornier 228 and Dornier 328, had all featured wings that were mounted in a high position relative to the fuselage.

As a means of preventinglow-cost carriersfrom equipping the 728 with six-abreast seating, instead of Cityline's five-abreast seating, Lufthansa pressured Fairchild Dornier to reduce the diameter of the fuselage; this was 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 motivated Crossair to move towards the rivalEmbraer E-Jet familyinstead; Crossair eventually cancelled their order for the 728, attributing this decision to have been a result of the revised fuselage layout.

During August 1998, Fairchild Dornier announced it had selectedGeneral Electric'sFADEC-equippedCF34-8D(which has 87% parts commonality with the CF34-8C1 selected to power the competingBombardier CRJ700 series), ahead of theSNECMA/Pratt & Whitney CanadaSPW-14 to power the 728.During September 1998, further 728 suppliers were announced, includingHoneywellfor its Primus Epic integratedEFISavionicssuite with flat panelLCDs,AlliedSignalto provide theauxiliary power unit(APU) andenvironmental control system,Lucas Aerospace for thefly-by-wireflight control system,BFGoodrichmanufactured elements such as thelanding gear,wheels,tyres,brakes and fuel system,Hamilton Sundstrandfor the integrated electric system, and Parker Aerospace for thehydraulicsystems. Spanish aircraft manufacturerConstrucciones Aeronáuticas SA(CASA) wassubcontractedto manufacture the wings and empennage of the 728.

The basic version of the 728, referred to as the728-100,would have been followed around the end of 2003 by the 728–200, which would have featured an extended range capability along with a higherpayloadcapacity. In the weeks prior to the company's insolvency, reports emerged that work on the 728-100 had been abandoned in favour of the more capable 728–200.Development and marketing of the stretched 928 model also continued. However, the 528 ultimately received little interest from the airlines, leading to it being quietly removed from the family plan.

Operational history

Fuselage of TAC 02 atBerlin Tempelhof Airport.

Cockpit module for what was intended to be the 6th aircraft.

Three prototypes, TAC 01 - TAC 03 (Test aircraft) were built. TAC 01 was completed with equipment, the second prototype was a complete fuselage in an unfinished stage of installation. TAC 03 was just a fuselage for structural tests. It was brought to Dresden before the insolvency of Fairchild Dornier.

The auction sold (besides many other things) also the prototypes.

• TheGerman Aerospace Center(DLR) inGöttingenpurchased TAC 01 for€19,000. It was sought for cabin testing,which meant the DLR only required the fuselage. After deciding it was too complicated to remove the wings correctly, they were cut off. Therefore, the fuselage went to the DLR research facilities with "stubby wings" of 6 m span.
• TAC 02 belongs toDeutsches Technikmuseum Berlinnow owns the fuselage.
• TAC 03 remained inTechnik Museum Speyer.

Variants

All of the variants planned a high degree of commonality, including engine type, and flightdeck, which would have allowed for a common pilot type rating.

728

The 728-100 was to have a passenger capacity of 70 to 85. The 728 had the largest cabin in its class, being 0.51 m wider than the Embraer 170/190, and 0.70 m wider than the CRJ-700) with five-abreast seating. The 200 was planned to have a 3,000 kg (6615 lbs) higherMTOWand a 750 km (400 NM) increase in range. Uprated CF34-8D3 engines were to be used on the 728–200, in place of the CF34-8D1 engines used in the 728–100.

928

Planned to follow the 728 into service, the 928 had a stretched fuselage that would have enabled the aircraft to achieve a passenger capacity of 95 to 110 seats. The first flight was scheduled for late 2003 with entry into service in 2005. The 928 featured an increased wing span and more powerful GE CF-34-10 engines. A 928-100 version, as well as a 928-200 version that had an increasedmaximum takeoff weight(MTOW), was planned.

1128

The 1128, sometimes referred to as 1128JET, was an envisaged further stretch of the 928 to accommodate roughly 110 to 120 passengers.

528

The 528 was to have a shortened 23.38 m (76 ft 9 in) fuselage length and 15.84 m (52 ft 0 in) cabin length would have followed the 928. Passenger capacity was envisioned to be 55 to 65 seats.

Envoy 7

Fairchild Dornier also launched acorporate jetversion of the 728, referred to as theEnvoy 7,which was foreseen to enter service around 2004. The Envoy 7 would have featuredintercontinentalrange and would be equipped with Fairchild Dornier's "Super Shark"winglets.Corporate versions of the 528 and 928, marketed as theEnvoy 5andEnvoy 9respectively, were also planned for.

Airborne Early Warning

Fairchild Dornier unveiled anairborne early warning and control(AEW&C) variant of the 728 during mid-2001. The company proposed developing the aircraft in conjunction with American defense firmNorthrop Grumman,outfitted it with theradarand other systems of theE-2 Hawkeye;it also envisioned the development of further special mission variants, such asmaritime patrol aircraftand anaerial refuellingtanker.

Specifications

	528	728	928
Wingspan	27.12 m (89 ft 0 in)		28.81 m (94 ft 6 in)
Wing sweep	23.5 degrees
Length	23.80 m (78 ft 1 in)	27.04 m (88 ft 9 in)	30.96 m (101 ft 7 in)
Height	9.05 m (29 ft 8 in)		9.77 m (32 ft 1 in)
Cabin width	3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)
Typical cruise speed		Mach 0.81	Mach 0.8
Maximum cruise speed		Mach 0.82
Operating range	2,963 km (1,600 nmi)	3,300 km (1,800 nmi)	3,565 km (1,925 nmi)
Empty Weight		20,435 kg (45,051 lb)	28,530 kg (62,900 lb)
Max Takeoff Weight	30,990 kg (68,320 lb)	35,200 kg (77,600 lb)	44,500 kg (98,100 lb)
Service Ceiling	11,280 m (37,010 ft)
Engine Options (2x)	GE CF34-8D1 52.8 kN (11,900 lbf)	GE CF34-8D3 55.6 kN (12,500 lbf)	GE CF34-10D 75.6 kN (17,000 lbf)
Passengers (max)	55-65	70-80	95-110
Cockpit Crew	2

(Performance data is estimated as the aircraft was not flight tested when the program was cancelled.)

References:

See also

Related development

• Fairchild Dornier 328JET
• Fairchild Dornier 428JET

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Airbus A320 family
• Antonov An-148/158
• British Aerospace 146
• Boeing 737
• Bombardier CRJ
• Embraer E-Jet family
• Fokker 70/100
• Sukhoi Superjet 100

References

External links

• 728 Jet Engineering Simulator
• Transport pictures to the IABG facility in Dresden
• Data sheet about the 728 via Airliners.net