Fairchild Dornier 728 family

The 728 family was Fairchild-Dornier's ambitious bid to develop a range of regional jet airliners to supplement the smaller 328JET series, and attracted strong airline interest when launched. Although the aircraft was a modern design, the program ended with the insolvency of Fairchild Dornier.

Plans

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.

Following the 728 into service, the stretched 95 to 110 seat 928, with its first flight scheduled for late 2003, and then entry into service in 2005. Apart from the stretched fuselage (allowing seating for 95 to 110 passengers), it would also have featured an increased wing span. The shortened 55 to 65 seat 528 23.38 m (76 ft 9 in) fuselage length and 15.84 m (52 ft 0 in) cabin length would have followed the 928. The three types were to feature a high degree of commonality, including engine type, and flightdeck, allowing a common pilot type rating.

Fairchild Dornier also launched a corporate jet version of the 728, the Envoy 7, which was foreseen to enter service in 2004. The Envoy 7 had intercontinental range and would be equipped with Fairchild Dornier's "Super Shark" winglets.

Corporate versions of the 528 and 928, the Envoy 5 and Envoy 9 respectively, were also planned.

Development

Fairchild Dornier (at the time, Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH) announced the project in November 1997 at the Dubai Airshow. Dornier launched this new family of regional jets seating from 55 to 100 passengers on May 19 1998, with provisional launch orders from Lufthansa (60 firm orders and 60 options) and Crossair. Crossair later cancelled it's orders after learning of modifications that were made after recommendations by Lufthansa. To prevent Low-cost carriers from equipping the 728 with six-abreast seating, instead of the Cityline's five-abreast seating, Lufthansa made Fairchild Dornier reduce the fuselage diameter. It shrinked from 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 August 1998 Fairchild Dornier announced it had selected General Electric's FADEC equipped CF34-8D (which has 87% parts commonality with the CF34-8C1 selected to power the competing CRJ-700) ahead of the SNECMA/Pratt & Whitney Canada SPW-14 to power the 728. In September '98 further 728 suppliers were announced, including Honeywell for its Primus Epic integrated EFIS avionics suite with flat panel LCDs, AlliedSignal (APU and environmental control system), Lucas Aerospace (fly-by-wire flight control system), BFGoodrich (landing gear, wheels, tyres, brakes and fuel system), Hamilton Sundstrand (integrated electric system), and Parker Aerospace (hydraulics). CASA would build the wings and empennage.

The basic version of the 728 (728-100), would have been followed at the end of 2003 by the extended range and higher payload 728-200. The 200 would have had a 3,000 kg (6615 lbs) higher MTOW and a 750 km (400 NM) range increase. The 728 had the largest cabin in its class (0.51 cm wider than the Embraer 170/190, and 0.70 cm wider than the CRJ-700) with five-abreast seating.

In June 2000 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 Dresden for structural testing.

Overall eight customers, among them Lufthansa Cityline, GECAS, Bavaria Leasing, CSA-Czech Airlines, and SolAir, had (by March 2002) placed firm orders for 125 aircraft and signed options for an additional 164.

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 & 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 the summer of 2003 the D'Long investment group showed an interest in buying the project and a new firm was established to take on the project. Therefore in July 2003 the structural tests in Dresden were launched.

But in 2004 the new firm also went bankrupt. So in February 2005 the bankrupt's estate was auctioned.

Prototypes

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 (beneath many other things) also the prototypes.

• The DLR (the German aerospace center) bought TAC 01 for €19,000. It was needed for cabin testing, which meant the DLR just needed 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 6m span.
• A former Fairchild Dornier employee bought TAC 02 for €6,000, but had problems with transporting to a new location. The prototype currently still stands on the former firm area of Dornier in Oberpfaffenhofen.
• TAC 03 remained in Dresden.

Specifications

	528	728	928
Wingspan	26.26 m (86 ft 2 in)	27.12 m (87 ft 4 in)	28.81 m (94 ft 6 in)
Wing sweep		23.5 degrees	23.7 degrees
Length	23.10 m (76 ft 8 in)	27.40 m (89 ft 9 in)	31.01 m (101 ft 8 in)
Height	9.05 m (29 ft 8 in)		9.97 m (32 ft 8 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 nm	3,300 km 1,781 nm	3,565 km 1,925 nm
Empty Weight		20,435 kg (44,957 lb)	28,530 kg (62,766 lb)
Service Ceiling	11,280 m 37,000 ft
Engine Options (2x)	General Electric CF34	General Electric CF34-8D1 (55.6 kN)	General Electric CF34-10D (75.6 kN)
Passengers (max)	63	80	110
Cockpit Crew	2

(Performance data is estimated, as it was never was proven in flight tests.)

External links

• Flugrevue Data sheet about the 728
• Airliners.net Data sheet about the 728
• Aerospace technology article
• Article about the "iron bird" (mechanical/hydraulical test rig) for the 728
• 728 Jet Engineering Simulator
• Transport pictures to the IABG facility in Dresden

Related content

Related development

• Fairchild-Dornier 328 family

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet
• Bombardier CSeries
• Embraer E-Jets
• Boeing 737