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APPLICATION BY PEEL WIND FARMS (FRODSHAM) LTD

S.36 ELECTRICITY ACT 1989

PROPOSED WIND FARM ON AND ADJACENT TO THE FRODSHAM CANAL DEPOSIT GROUNDS

AIRBUS OPERATIONS LIMITED

PROOF OF EVIDENCE OF PAUL BASTOCK

DECC Reference 01.08.10.04/466C

Cheshire West and Chester Reference 10/000597/DECC

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Qualifications and Experience

1.2 My name is Paul Bastock. I am the Aerodrome Licence Holder for Hawarden Airfield and

Airport Manager for Airbus at their Broughton site. As Licence Holder, I am responsible

for all airside operations and safety, in doing so I am personally accountable to the Civil

Aviation Authority.

1.3 I hold an Aeronautical Engineering qualification obtained following a 4 year British

Aerospace (BAe) apprenticeship at Deeside Aeronautical College. I worked for 4 years

on various aircraft types undertaking inline maintenance, including airframe structural re-

life, fuel systems, engines and associated components.

1.4 I have held various posts with Airbus since joining as an Engineering apprentice in 1979.

For the last 15 years I have been engaged in the Airfield Operations, starting as a

Senior Airport Fire Officer. Since 2000 I have been the Airport Operations Manager and

subsequently Airport Manager.

1.5 Scope of my Evidence

My evidence will describe:

(i) The operations at Broughton and Hawarden Airfield, and its importance

to the wider Airbus manufacturing process;

(ii) The extent of the manufacturing that takes place at Broughton, in

particular how it operates as a hub for the production and despatch of

all wings for the A320 family / A330 / A340 and A350XWB;

(iii) The delivery of these wings by the specially adapted fleet of Airbus

Beluga cargo planes, and the nature of the European wide, "just in time

logistics" exercise that these flights form part of;

(iv) The inability to accommodate interference in that supply cycle;

(v) Other users of Hawarden Airport, such as Airbus's third party strategic

partners.

2 EVIDENCE

2.1 Operations at Broughton and Hawarden

2.2 The airfield at Hawarden has been at this location for over 70 years. Manufacturing on

site has been ongoing since 1939, initially as a shadow factory for Vickers-Armstrong

Limited, producing over 5500 Vickers Wellingtons and over 230 Avro Lancasters. The

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site continued its military use after the end of WWII. It was taken over by De Havilland

Aircraft Company in 1948 producing a series of aircraft from the Mosquito to the Heron.

In the 1960's the Company became part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation and the HS 125

business jet became the main aircraft type produced at the factory for nearly 40 years.

2.3 Hawker Beechcraft Limited still continues its business from the site providing

maintenance services for the Hawker jets and employing circa 300 people.

2.4 In 1977 British Aerospace was formed as a merger between Hawker Siddley and British

Aircraft Corporation, leading to the first Airbus project, being the Airbus A300.

2.5 The site and the airport is owned by BAE Systems but operated by Airbus Operations

Limited who hold a long term tenancy agreement and rights as the sole operator of the

site.

2.6 Today the site at Broughton has changed beyond recognition from that in 1939,

producing all the wings for the Airbus family from A320 to A380 and adding the latest

A350XWB North factory to its manufacturing facilities. This development makes

Broughton the UK's largest single manufacturing site.

2.7 The manufacturing complex at Broughton is now located in an area of 700 acres with

manufacturing buildings of over 450,000 sq. metres with 28000 sq. metres of office

space inside these factories. This is proposed to increase in the coming years with new

planned facilities of over 15000 sq. metres.

2.8 Over £1.8 billion has been invested into the site in the past decade ensuring it is one of

the most modern manufacturing facilities in the world. The Broughton site produces all

the wings for the Airbus aircraft apart from the military A400M aircraft and A320 wings

manufactured solely for Chinese market at Airbus' factory in Tianjin, China.

2.9 Extent of Manufacturing Process at Broughton

2.10 Broughton is home to the Airbus headquarters of the Wing Centre of Excellence and is

responsible for the sub-assembly and manufacturing of large components and wing final

assembly for the entire Airbus family. Activities include wing skin milling, stringer

manufacture, full wing equipping and wing box assembly.

2.11 Figure 1 shows a cross sectional diagram illustrating the key parts of a modern aircraft

wing. This is a typical design of a modern aircraft wing manufactured by Airbus. The

stringers, top and bottom skin panels are made at Broughton, whilst the ribs and spars

come from other suppliers. The wing skins, stiffened with rows of stringers cover the ribs

and spars to form the overall structure known as the ‘wingbox’. Wings are manufactured

in pairs, known together as 'wing sets'.

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2.12 Today Airbus produces over 500 wing sets a year at the Broughton site including the

single aisle family A320, the long range aircraft A330-340 family, the double-decker

A380 and the future A350XWB.

2.13 Once produced the wings will be delivered to the final assembly lines in Hamburg and

Toulouse. With the new A350XWB programme the new composite covers will be flown

in to Broughton via the Beluga, onto site from two sites in Europe: Stade in Germany

and Getafe in Spain.

2.14 Arrangement of the Broughton Site

2.15 The Broughton site is made up of several substantial factory buildings whose layout are

shown within Figure 2 and Figure 3. The principle manufacturing facilities are as follows;

a) Main Airbus factory which incorporates the initial factory building on site and has

had various extensions over the years. This building accommodates the Stage

01 & 02 jigs for manufacturing wings for single aisle and long range aircraft.

When the wing box is created, the Stage 03 – equipping (finishing with all

electrical and ancillary systems) for the single aisle takes place on the "Flowline"

in this building. The Flowline is a similar concept to the production lines in the

automotive industry where production team members remain at their

workstations and the wings move along tracks at set times. After this Stage,

wing sets are dispatched to the apron, where they are stored held for delivery on

the Beluga transport aircraft. Figure 4 illustrates the "Flowline" for the A320

wings.

The long range equipping is undertaking in building 141 – Site 5, next to the

North Factory. From here the wing sets are dispatched to the apron prior to

loading on the Beluga.

b) The West Factory is a separate facility which produces the wings for the A380

aircraft from Stage 01 to Stage 03, from which they are dispatched to the load-

out facility by the River Dee. From here they are loaded on a barge, one at a

time, and are transported to the Port of Mostyn. They are then loaded on to a

purpose built ship and are transported to Bordeaux and onto final A380

assembly in Toulouse.

c) The North Factory was opened in October 2011, for production of a new family

of aircraft being the A350XWB. Manufacturing has just commenced in this new

facility which was built at a cost of €400 million.

The North Factory covers an area of over 46000 sq. metres, which makes it

larger than Wembley stadium; it will employ over 650 people out of the 6000

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people employed by Airbus at this site. It is also supported by a large UK and

Worldwide supply chain which employs in excess of 5000 people.

The plant will be making carbon-fibre wings for Airbus's new A350 wide body

aircraft. The wing covers (instead of skins) are manufactured in Airbus' sister

sites in Getafe, Spain and Stade, Germany and will be imported to Broughton

for final assembly.

d) With the exception of the A380 wings, wings produced at Broughton are then

transported on the Beluga aircraft to various sites across Europe including

Toulouse, Hamburg Finkenwerder and Bremen.

2.16 The Airfield

2.17 The airfield is a vital part of this substantial manufacturing site and key to delivering the

product to its Final Assembly Lines (FAL's) in Toulouse and Hamburg on time. The

airfield's runway of 2043m puts this aerodrome in the medium category airfields with

over 24,000 movements a year. It is capable of taking large aircraft such as the Beluga

(155 tonnes) and has a CAA Ordinary licence allowing public transport or flying

instruction to take place.

2.18 The airfield has its own Air Traffic Control Tower on site providing a service for the

airfield including radar service. A new primary radar is currently being installed at

Hawarden aerodrome to replace an older model AR15 radar.

2.19 The predominant runway in use is runway 22 which caters for 85% of the total traffic at

Hawarden. The landing procedures for runway 22 place the aircraft in close proximity of

the proposed wind farm site and within instrument landing system establishment of 9

nautical miles. Aircraft when at this location are configured for the landing phase.

2.20 Out of the total movements between September 2010 and 2011 there were 633 Beluga

movements, 972 Airbus Embraer shuttle service movements, 823 Hawker Beechcraft

movements, 8224 movements for general aviation (flying school), 3362 private flights,

2401 business flights, 735 military flights, 1101 North West Police flights plus other

miscellaneous flights.

2.21 Delivery of Wings by Beluga Aircraft

2.22 Airbus has developed its own transportation system to airlift the large, pre-assembled

sections of its jetliners from their production locations to the final assembly lines in

Toulouse and Hamburg. This service is performed by a fleet of five A300-600ST Super

Transporters’, called ‘Beluga’ due to their resemblance to the whale of the same name.

Figures 5, 6 & 7 illustrate the Beluga in flight and loading cargo. These modified A300-

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600s have a bulbous main-deck cargo area which enables the loading of complete

fuselage sections and wings of single aisle, long range and future A350XWB aircraft.

2.23 The deliveries of various wing sets from Broughton take place daily, every week with up

to 3 Belugas taking off and landing in each day. The landing and also the loading

activity are weather dependant and Beluga is limited by 30 knots winds when landing

and 35 knots winds when opening the cargo door for the loading activity.

2.24 The process of loading and unloading takes between 1hr 45min and 2hr with each

Beluga currently flies 5000 hours per year. Due to the increased production rates a new

project Fly 10000 will start implementing a program of 10000 hours of flying per aircraft

per year. The turnaround time for the aircraft will be reduced to an optimum time of 1hr

30 min across all Airbus sites. To reduce the effects of weather conditions on the loading

process and improve the turnaround time, a new Beluga integrated line station will be

built by 2014 where loading will take place inside a purpose built hangar.

2.25 This will ensure a ‘just in time’ program for the deliveries of various aircraft components

to the FAL. Any delays in this process will have a detrimental effect on the FALs and will

not be accepted by the Airbus management. This could have a knock on effect on the

FALs and subsequently on customer deliveries.

2.26 Handling Characteristics of the Beluga Aircraft and Approach to Hawarden

2.27 The Beluga is a large, heavy freight aircraft weighing approximately 150 tonnes. The

aircraft's considerable cross section makes it a unique and challenging aircraft to fly.

This is reflected by only the handful of Pilots who are sufficiently experienced to fly the

Beluga. The large surface area of the cargo hold makes the aircraft particularly

susceptible to crosswinds (which are frequent at Hawarden especially during winter

operations) which means it requires a long and stabilised approach to ensure landing

accuracy.

2.28 In preparation for landing at Hawarden, the flight crew will be configuring the aircraft for

the approach phase, lowering the flaps and landing gear, reducing air speed and

trimming the aircraft ready for landing. Uninterrupted radar coverage is essential in

vectoring the Beluga onto the Instrument Landing System, also ensuring safe aircraft

separation which is a requirement under the Beluga's Air Operating Certificate "AOC"

(the Beluga must be secured by Radar).

2.29 The Beluga would be in close proximity to the proposed wind farm approximately 4

minutes before landing on the approach to runway 22. At this point the work load of the

flight crew increases dramatically due to landing phase preparation and Air Traffic

Control landing clearance. During this segment of flight it is essential that full aircraft

stabilisation is achieved as this directly effects landing accuracy.

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2.30 Due to its size, the Beluga creates a substantial vortex wake which will cause difficult

flying conditions for any other air traffic within the airspace. Therefore it is a priority to

land the Beluga at Hawarden at the first instance, causing minimal interference to any

other commercial or other aircraft in its vicinity.

2.31 Other airport users at Hawarden

2.32 There are other operators at Hawarden Aerodrome such as Hawker Beechcraft Limted,

Raytheon Systems Limited and Aviation Park Group. They make up around two thirds of

the total number of movements at the aerodrome. They are all using the aerodrome

facilities provided by Airbus.

2.33 Hawker Beechcraft Limited (a division of Hawker Beechcraft) operates from two hangars

on site, with Hawarden as their European sales centre and maintenance operation.

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation is a world-leading manufacturer of business, special-

mission and trainer aircraft, designing, marketing and supporting aviation products and

services for businesses, governments and individuals worldwide. The company’s

headquarters and major facilities are located in Wichita, Kansas, with operations also in

Salina, Kansas and Little Rock, Arkansas. The company leads their industry with a

global network of more than 100 factory-owned and authorized service centres.

2.34 The Raytheon Broughton facility was developed to undertake systems integration work,

in particular for the ASTOR (Airborne Stand-Off Radar) programme. Broughton is

carrying out the modification and integration of the Royal Air Force Sentinel R Mk 1

aircraft and the integration of the Ground Stations. In addition to utilising the site's own

indigenous capability and skills in specialised airframe modification work, Broughton

benefits from technology transfer from the United States.

2.35 Planning Condition and Radar Mitigation

2.36 As stated by Barry Hawkins in his proof, he is not satisfied that Air Traffic Controllers at

Hawarden Airport could fulfil their obligations effectively and efficiently, in a safe

environment in the absence of any suitable effective mitigation being offered by the

developer. The developer has proposed generic solutions, but the lack of a defined

proposal supported by a legal agreement is of great concern to Airbus.

2.37 In terms of a proposed planning condition, Airbus would also face a period of uncertainty

from the point of which planning permission was granted to the point by which a

mitigation scheme was approved.

2.38 As has been set out in this proof and that of Steve Thomas, Airbus operates a global

manufacturing operation, investing heavily in its manufacturing plants to provide a

product which has secured advance orders and will run alongside 25 year project

programmes.

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2.39 As part of this global operation, Hawarden Airport requires a clutter free radar to allow

for the safe operation of the Beluga aircraft, for receipt of materials and deliveries of

components to FAL's in France and Germany.

2.40 Airbus will require the security of an immediate shut down requirement for the Wind

Farm, if mitigation is not in place. This will mean that any clutter appearing on the

Primary Surveillance Radar caused by the proposed development will result in the Wind

Farm immediately ceasing operation, with turbine blades locked in a fixed position.

2.41 Without certainty on the mitigation scheme at an early stage, this could present a

potential threat to the future operation of Broughton. As stated by Steve Thomas, this

would be an unnecessary detractor when management takes future investment

decisions on the ability of Airbus UK.

2.42 As set out by Steve Thomas, Airbus is a multi-billion pound business providing a high

quality product. It will be necessary to have securities which cannot be provided by a

planning condition, such as security for the whole life cost of the development. This

would need to be given for any equipment that the developer may be required to provide

and transfer, along with ongoing financial guarantees.

2.43 Objection to this development

2.44 Airbus' maintains their objection to the proposed development in default of adequate

mitigation being described and appropriately secured at this stage, prior to any consent

being granted.

Paul Bastock 24 October 2011

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FIGURE 1

Wing Cross Section Diagram

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FIGURE 2

Layout of Broughton and Chester Hawarden Airport

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FIGURE 3

Aerial Photograph of Broughton and Chester Hawarden Airport

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FIGURE 4

A320 "Flowline"

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FIGURE 5

Beluga Aircraft in flight

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FIGURE 6

Beluga Aircraft Loading (1)

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FIGURE 7

Beluga Aircraft Loading (2)