Page 11 - Aircraft Interiors India -April-may 2024-fn

COVER STORY

Another important phase is modifications which had
the Digital Mock-Up (DMU) been implemented by a third
for the entire structure, in- party using their own Sup-
cluding the cabin. The DMU plemental Type Certificate
describes the entire aircraft (STC), and moreover, these
design in 3D throughout its mods were not incorpo-
lifecycle, including for design rated into Airbus’ own DMU
upgrades and modifications. for that aircraft. Therefore,
It shows the airlines their before Airbus could upgrade
proposed new cabin layout the affected zone, a prereq-
looks in 3D, allows the uisite is that it would first
engineers to explore within need to be brought back to
the structures, below the The A350 has evolved seat cabling routings and the original configuration –
floor or in the ceiling crown over the years in successive sidewalls etc. are physically ie. ‘As delivered’ by Airbus.
area so they can define best production batches, Airbus different for both the old and For this reason, when
routing for pipes or cables calls them as ‘Steps’. These new A350s. an airline comes to Airbus
to avoid clashing with sur- include enhancements to the The general term govern- enquiring about a potential
rounding structures. cabin, avionics, aerodynam- ing which modifications are upgrade, often the first thing
For the subsequent Service ics, the airframe structure, needed as a prerequisite they are asked is whether
Bulletin (SB) the 3D output weight savings, and so on. is called ‘mod-stacking’. they have applied any STCs
from the DMU is converted Now if an airline buys A350 Overall, as more and more by third-parties on their air-
into 2D for design certifi- at Step-7, the aircraft might upgrade ‘mods’ are certified, craft. This is because Airbus
cation and for the MRO to feature a slightly longer and they are re-enriched back cannot certify nor provide
plan the embodiment and wider cabin, as well im- into the DMU for subsequent support for somebody else’s
produce the job cards. proved aircraft performance A350 production standards. STC to perform a mod on top
DMU also helps to manage thanks to a new aerodynam- They are also added to the of it. Nevertheless, Airbus
the updating of the aircraft’s ics package and also weight ‘ready-made’ bank of design is ready to support if the
technical documentation in savings to the fuselage and solutions to be available as customer has a qualified ‘de-
the digital domain includ- wings. required for future upgrades sign-organisation-approval’
ing all the manuals like the This operator might have of in-service aircraft. (DOA), by sharing its techni-
structural repair manual older A350s in its fleet and cal data and IP on a case-by-
(SRM), aircraft maintenance may want to harmonise Third-party STC modifi- case basis – which would be
manual (AMM), illustrated the cabins across its entire cation impact in OEM Up- a chargeable service.
parts catalogue (IPC), etc. A350 fleet. In this case, it grade Service Bulletins
is not the case of simple Additional complications Lead-time consider-
The evolution of A230 copy-paste of same seats can arise if the aircraft on ations
designs and mod-stack- and monuments as the cabin which the new mod is to be One of the most important
ing’ implications floor, seat tracks, seat-to- applied contains any prior parts of cabin retrofit is lead-

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