昔日巨無霸飛機 今成巨無霸垃圾
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【聯合晚報／編譯彭淮棟/綜合報導】 | 2006.10.01 08:26 pm | |
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花謝落土，人老退休，凡事到頭都有個去處，飛機老了變廢機，何處去？ 38年前，第一批波音747在美國華盛頓州出廠升空，人稱jumbo jet(巨無霸)，從此凡是超大的東西，都喜歡冠上「巨無霸」。巨無霸出生，其實是「時代造飛機」：波音公司預料1970年代空中旅遊業將會大行其道，因此推出巨型客機因應需求。747因此統治天空數十寒暑，但機器也會老，光陰飛速，747的晚年轉眼就到。 商用客機的壽命大多是30年左右。於是，一如1970年代飛機生產爆炸，現在老不堪用的飛機數目大量增加。未來十年預計可能有八千架飛機退休。 退休飛機怎麼處理？飛機的機體包含有毒物質，找個偏僻機場棄置或丟進海裡，都行不通。但波音公司「商用飛機環保績效部」主任葛洛維說，很多業者正是這麼幹。他表示，有些海域發現客機殘骸，明顯是業者丟的，他不便指出是哪家公司，但問題的確值得關切。 波音公司看準這問題會愈來愈嚴重，於是繫鈴人自己當解鈴人，成立「機隊回收協會」 (Afra)，使用兩個機場處理廢機，一個在法國中部夏特洛市，一個在亞利桑納州。 廢機場是令人心驚肉跳的景象，看多了會不敢上飛機。在夏特洛，客機裂解成兩半，讓你看出機殼多薄多脆弱，而每天無數人坐在裡面，在一萬公尺高空以九百公里時速飛行。 回收場上，廢鐵堆積如山，電線滿目糾纏，工人忙著拆機回收。還能用的零件載走出售，金屬分開再利用。 今天愈來愈多飛機使用碳纖製造，波音最新的787型客機有50%使用碳纖，會比較方便處理。在新式回收場，碳纖回收只需20分鐘，回收再製效果甚佳，好到可以拿回去做飛機。 美國有一套「載具生命終結管制法」，規定廢車拆解的成本由汽車製造廠負責，飛機目前尚無類似管制，但政府和國會有朝一日一定會管到廢機處理，波音自己是飛機玩家，先發制人，帶頭研發一套既合乎經濟算盤，又符合環保標準的回收辦法，到時和當局協商立法，利己利人，這是「搞飛機」的高招。 【2006/10/01 聯合晚報】 |
Where old aeroplanes go to die
| By Chris Ledgard
BBC News, Chateauroux, France |
Manufacturers are thinking now about the whole lifecycle of their products
It was 38 years ago this weekend that the 747, the "jumbo jet", first rolled out of a factory in Everett, Washington State. It was famous for one thing - being big - and phrases like "the size of a jumbo" soon became commonplace. And it was big for a reason: Boeing, like everyone else, foresaw a surge in air travel in the 70s, and to meet a huge demand it helps to have a huge plane.
For many people, the jumbo ruled the skies, but time is now up for the early 747s.
The life span of most commercial aeroplanes is said to be around 30 years; and so, just as there was a 1970s explosion in aircraft production, now there's a big jump in the number of planes beyond use.
What's to be done with them? Aircraft contain toxic materials, so dumping them at a far-off airfield or throwing them in the sea is clearly unacceptable. But that's just what has been happening, according to Bill Glover, Boeing's director of environmental performance for commercial aeroplanes.
"There were some specific instances - I won't say they were widespread by any means - of bits of planes found in waterways. That obviously raised a flag for everyone concerned."
Concerned by this and aware that getting rid of aeroplanes was only going to become more of an issue, Boeing set up the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (Afra). It's a union of recycling companies with two airports - Chateauroux in central France and Evergreen Air Centre in Arizona.
Separated scrap
A visit to Chateauroux is slightly unnerving. The airport is run by Martin Fraissignes (also the executive director of Afra), who estimates as many as 8,000 aircraft may be retired in the next decade.
As we examine a plane which has been sliced in half, he points out the thinness and apparent fragility of the shell and chuckles: "You're flying 900km per hour at 30,000ft... in this!"
 Old planes are dismantled on Chateauroux's concrete surface |
Only half-joking, he says it's good this is a freight airport which doesn't take passengers - the sight of these smashed up planes would do nothing for their nerves.
Heaps of metal and tangled wire litter Chateauroux's concrete surface on which all the dismantling and recycling takes place.
Parts that still work are taken away for re-sale. Metals are separated for re-use. But in years to come, plane recycling will become less of an exercise in processing scrap metal.
Increasingly, aircraft are being made of carbon fibre - the substance makes up 50% of Boeing's 787. And this, says the company's Bill Glover, presents a new recycling challenge.
"We realised that we needed to take some steps to address the ability to recycle that material at end of life. So we set out to find that technology." And how happy are Boeing with what they've found? "We're just tickled pink," says Glover.
Moulding change
At the Milled Carbon factory in West Bromwich you can see what's tickling him.
Here, carbon fibre is recycled in a process taking just 20 minutes. The quality of the end product is so good, say Boeing, they're confident it can go back into planes.
Milled Carbon is run by John Davidson. He's a founder member and director of Afra and gives an insight into why it was set up.
 Thousands of aircraft will have to go this way |
On top of the concern about dumped planes and a desire to develop best practice, there was a political motive, he says.
Aircraft aren't covered by the End of Life Vehicles Regulations that pass the cost of dismantling cars onto manufacturers; but that could change and Afra, says Mr Davidson, is keen to pre-empt new laws:
"There are no set rules for doing this. So if we sit down and talk about what are the best ways - the most environmental and economical ways of doing this - and then present that as a set of rules for the legislators to work with, so much the better."
'Our business'
Another founding member of Afra agrees. Jim Toomey runs the Evergreen Air Centre in Arizona, the US counterpart of Chateauroux.
"Why is Afra going to be great? Number one, it's going to get the best practices established. Number two, it's going to keep us at the cutting edge of recycling technology. And number three, it's going to do it without government regulation and interference.
"We're going to do it before they tell us to do it, and we're going to come up with practices we can live with and which are better than maybe they can enforce because this is our business."
 The latest planes use carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic composites |
Observers of the aviation world won't be surprised to hear that while Boeing pursue the Afra project, Airbus have a similar scheme called Pamela - Process for Advanced Management of End of Life Aircraft.
The programme is also based in France, and Airbus says it differs from Afra in being a research tool rather than an industrialised process. Three-point-two million euros are being invested in this research. Some of the money has come from the European Union.
So both major manufacturers are clearly concerned about this issue. Each is drawing up a code of good practice and maybe environmental legislators will reward their efforts. And, after all those years of service, surely those jumbos deserve a decent end.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5394070.stm
At the moment there's very little that works 
