Widebody charter seat reconfiguration

[OverRun]

Most European charter airlines have got the seats configured to a seat pitch of 73-78cms (29"-31" if they're British) for good economics.

Has anyone a feel for how many man-hours it would take to reconfigure a widebody (such as a B767) to a seat pitch of 102-114cm for a series of long distance charters?

Anything thing else major or hard to change?

Thanks

OverRun

[morroccomole]

How about all night? You may have to move psu's as well if they do not line up, then manufacture infills for the gaps left behind. Could be very messy without prior planning.

[jetfueldrinker]

What Moroccomole says is quite correct in regare to infils and the repositioning of psu's. At our place, we reconfig from 290 to 344 annually on 767-300's, and usually align this with 'A' checks or 'C' chechs; nothing is as straight forward as it seems, so don't forget new carpets too. Usually allow at least one whole days downtime for reconfig. It quite often runs to two or three. Hope this is of some help

JFD

[Molly1]

I agree with both previous posts regarding PSUs etc but I think your biggest problem will be the IFE system, due to having to remove cables put in different lengths ect and reloading the system for each seat depending on what system you are running.
Also the oxygen dropout system can be a bit of a ****** to sort out. Good luck anyway.

[OverRun]

Thanks for the information everyone - that covers all the issues nicely for me. It's complex, do-able, and needs (like most things) a good deal of careful pre-planning. Elegant touch that one - to tie it into the 'A' or 'C' check.

[Blacksheep]

I'd warn you not to overlook the certification factor. Changing the configuration layout of an aircraft requires a new LOPA to be produced and cleared with the airworthiness authority. If you are reducing the number of seats, don't move any bulkheads and leave interwiring alone this is usually no problem. If you move a class divider bulkhead by so much as an inch or put a seat where none has gone before, then you may need to redo the load interface data through the aircraft constructor (exact deatils depend upon the local regulatory body.) Can the cabin crew see every passenger location from their seats? Can you prove it? Changing the IFE or PSS wiring? Oh dear! Do take care...

We do lots of reconfigurations on our own aircraft but we have a pile of previously certified LOPAs on file to work from, and contingency spares ready in stock. Doing a change thus takes about 10 hours. Reckon on three days working from scratch and check the regulatory requirements and issues with your local regulator well in advance.

**********************************
THrough difficulties to the cinema