NEWS OUTSIDE INSIDE M-D FILE PEOPLE HISTORY Economy, Customers & Competitors,Low cost carriers, a differentHappy market? birthday Messier-DowtyWelcome to !CSD / CSM - Right at the heartThe Messier of the action… experimental aircraft Programmes, In short Developing Skills at Bidos

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Ten years already! Without a doubt, 2004 was a year of relentless work rewarded with some great victories (A400M contract, first delivery of Falcon 7X landing gear system, our selection for Boeing 7E7 landing gear), to which we all contributed and 2005 promises to be just as good.

It will be a pivotal year in many respects:

> A year to hand over the torch - in 2005, Messier-Dowty welcomes its fourth Chief Executive Officer, Christian Knapp, who succeeds Tony Edwards, Dominique and more recently, Louis Le Portz. > A year of historic importance - 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the Snecma and TI group joint-venture which lead to the creation of Messier-Dowty, the Global Landing gear Company. > A year of strategic importance - 2005 will be a year of achievements confirming our position as a global leader. Indeed, if the challenge in 2004 involved winning new programmes, the challenge in 2005 and the following years will involve delivering The One Team Editorial Committee: these programmes successfully, while at the same time satisfying our customers on all the other existing programmes. Top row, from left to right : Hervé Nachbaur, Stephan > A year of belonging - the merger between the Snecma group and the company Sagem heralds the arrival in 2005 of new Schwarz, Louise Simmonds; middle row, from left to shareholders, a new identity and of course new opportunities to challenge our competitors in the markets. right: Heidi Beal, Cécile Kaberry, Jeanette Stone; front row, from left to right: Florence Baumassy, Laurence So Happy Birthday Messier-Dowty and Happy New Year to one and all! It promises to be a very exciting and challenging year in Lysimaque, Anouk Rivard, Lynda Deliège. Were not which we all have a role to play. available for the picture: Tommy Fei, Peter Hall and Susan Lam. To open this year with a flourish, we propose to take you back over the past ten years and try to help you understand why low cost companies are so successful, show you some of our locations and activities and tell you about one of the ancestors of modern-day landing gear. We hope you enjoy reading this second issue of our One Team Mag!

The Editorial Committee

PAGE 03 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE 03. PROGRAMMES > A380 JANUARY 18: official presentation of the plane in the presence of the French President Jacques Chirac and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. > A400M THE PROGRAMME has finally got an export customer: South Africa has just signed a declaration of intention for the purchase of 8 to 14 planes. AIRBUS has set up a working group to improve the plane’s mass balance; Messier-Dowty is contributing to this effort by proposing parts made of composite materials > 7E7 ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS has just placed an order for 15 planes with an option for 15 more. First ever participation of our Toronto site to the Snecma sailing challenge: (from left to right) Rob ORDERS for raw parts of landing gear will be placed at the end of January 2005. Crayford, Chris Bryant, Dave Thompson, Reena Katarya, Kyle Schmidt, Ron Stones, Bob Lascar A WORLD FIRST FOR MESSIER-DOWTY: to help Boeing reduce the plane’s basic January 18th : A380 reveal ceremony in Toulouse empty weight, Messier-Dowty is offering a sliding rod made of titanium for the main landing gear. Boeing’s decision is still to be confirmed however. > FALCON 7X THE FIRST PLANE will be released on 15 February and the first flight will take place a month later on 15 March. 04. IN SHORT MESSIER-DOWTY, together with its suppliers, is working hard to ensure that all the 01. ECONOMY tests authorising the first flight are conducted in good time. > LEAN • Lean Platform: a key stage in our effort to make improvements is the introduction > OIL, RAW MATERIALS, DOLLAR: THE TRIPLE WHAMMY! > RRJ at all sites, as from now, of a toolbox, bilingual training modules and the associated SUKHOI has changed its focus and wants a plane with a capacity of 90 passengers. simulations. Available on the M-D Intranet. Oil prices have finally gone down from over 50 dollars a barrel to about 40 dollars at the time even obliged to temporarily close a plant through lack of sheet metal! Ever increasing demand OUR TEAMS are working with the aircraft manufacturer on specifications and 4 people • Value chain mapping: a basic tool for diagnosing how an activity is really carried of writing this article. from China has only made the situation worse. from Messier-Dowty are permanently based in Moscow. out in the field and identifying improvements in order to hunt down wasteful As for the US Dollar, it is at an all-time low with one euro worth 1.35 dollars! With no central practices. In 2004, most sites used this tool for various fields and processes. Prices of other raw materials like steel, which is of particular interest to Messier-Dowty, have bank intending to intervene, the prospect of a euro-dollar parity of 1.5 is becoming more and • Pilot Project in Montreal - Lean Accounting: It is one of the cornerstone of all soared however. Despite the historic production record being broken this year (over one more likely. This is a source of concern for large industrial groups like Snecma who are successful Lean transformations. To better understand the advantages, a pilot billion tonnes), industry is facing a real shortage – the Japanese car manufacturer Nissan was mainly paid in dollars. project has been launched in Montreal. The results are being studied to decide whether to deploy it at other sites.

> ACTION V 02. CUSTOMERS AND COMPETITORS • Programme Management: the Steering Committee is setting up a “Programme Management Unit” to follow through and support the implementation of best practices. > AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS • TDI: deployment of PDMV3 at Vélizy, Gloucester and Toronto. Deployment of Smarteam, the CATIA V5 data management tool, at all sites. THE A350 IS A SIGN OF OUTRIGHT WAR aircraft, the CSeries, which should have a capacity of between 110 and 135 passengers. This • GS&OP: successful implementation in August. Since then, regular process reviews new Bombardier family will be in direct competition with the Airbus A318 and the Boeing have lead to further improvements. BETWEEN AIRBUS AND BOEING B737-700: we can imagine that sales campaigns on this segment of the market are likely to be • EASA Quality: M-D SA and M-D Ltd obtained the Production and Repair Certification On 10 December 2004, Airbus received authorisation from its shareholders, EADS and BAE particularly arduous!! issued by the new official European Aeronautic Authority, EASA (European Aviation Systems to officially launch its new aircraft, the A350, a direct riposte to the Boeing 7E7. The Safety Agency.) A350, which will be motorised by a General Electric GENX engine, is not a totally new concept. Designed as an improved version of the long-range A330, it will use the technological advances EADS: THE MAKO LAUNCHING POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN of the A380. The new aircraft will be commissioned in 2010, two years after its rival. Given the lack of enthusiasm of European air forces who would prefer to renovate their > EVENTS present aircraft and keep them, EADS has decided to think about the matter for another year Therefore, as from 2009, each of the American aircraft manufacturer’s product lines will be Creativity 2004: before deciding whether to launch this new trainer aircraft. • 105 dossiers presented, 156 participants. This year the Messier- in direct competition with one of the European consortium’s aircraft. However, Airbus will be Dowty prize was won by Gloucester for the project: Landing gear overload the only manufacturer to offer companies super-jumbo A380, with 20% more capacity than the detection device. largest of Boeing’s aircraft...... > COMPANIES • Snecma Open Days 2004: 750 participants, 80 of whom were from M-D. • And also: first inter-site forum on Maintenance at Montreal (Nov.); health and BOMBARDIER: GOING THROUGH A DIFFICULT PATCH TIDAL WAVE: ANOTHER BLOW FOR followed by the SARS epidemic in 2003. This year, just as accounts and traffic were starting to safety week at Montreal (Nov.); paintball at Vélizy (Oct.) The end of 2004 was particularly difficult for the Canadian aircraft manufacturer. Indeed, at Thanks to an increase in inter-regional traffic (+ 25.3%) and Europe-Asia traffic, Asian airline improve, the risk of attacks combined with an explosion in the price of kerosene have thrown the beginning of December it was announced that 2,200 jobs were to be axed as a result of net companies were in much better form than their European or American counterparts but the many companies into the red. When are things going to calm down? profits that were ten times lower than those of the previous year. A few days later Mr. Theillier, recent tidal wave that hit in the Pacific region will certainly affect the whole region’s tourist > SPORTS the CEO, handed in his notice because he did not agree with the family owners on the strategy industry. – KLM: THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT PULLS OUT • This year, the 5th Snecma Sailing Regatta reunited 52 boats representing to adopt. The sector has been going through a great deal of turbulence ever since the attacks in the At the beginning of December, the French government sold off 17.7% of its share in Air 15 companies of the Group, 30 sites and 353 participants. The event took place For Bombardier, the main challenge in 2005 will be to successfully launch its new family of USA in September 2001. After 11 September, it underwent the consequences of war in Iraq France-KLM for 14.30 euros, thereby making 682 million euros from the sale. A further 7% to in early October at La Baule in France. Seven boats with teams from 8% will be sold to Air France employees in February 2005. Thus, the government’s stake in the Gloucester, Vélizy, Suzhou, Bidos and Toronto were representing company will fall from 44.1% to 18.35%. The employees’ stake will be brought to 17.4%. From Messier-Dowty. Hats off to the Bidos team who ranked 5th in this year’s now on, the world’s third largest airline company will have to look after itself. This marks the winners list (vs 9th last year) ! DID YOU KNOW? beginning of the consolidation process for the skies of Europe. Observers are already talking • Golf in Montreal: annual Bernard-Trahan Classical Golf tournament. HATS OFF TO SPACESHIPONE! about mergers between Swiss Air and Lufthansa and Iberia and British Airways. • Good luck Ian! Ian Hook, Senior Production Manager at Gloucester, will be one of the ’s four representatives to race in the first world dragster championships to be held in March 2005 in New Orleans, USA. The first privately funded spaceship has carried out four space flights, the last of which took place on 4 September 2004. LOW COST CARRIERS / CHARTERS: THE FIGHT IS ON! It rocketed to an altitude of over 114 km carrying its pilot and the equivalent weight of two passengers. The spaceship was This is what Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryan Air declared and this is what seems to be happening: taken to an altitude of 14 km by its mother aircraft, the White Knight. It then ignited its solid propellant rocket engine for there is not enough room in the skies for all these new low cost companies. Thus, Volare, an > ONLINE 80 seconds, tearing into space at more than Mach 3, the space frontier usually being located at an altitude of 100 km. It Italian low cost company, has just gone bankrupt (it became famous by offering a Paris-Venice FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOUR BUs, FUNCTIONS AND PROJECTS ON THE MESSIER- then glided back to earth with the engine off. flight for 1 euro!). A few weeks earlier, it was announced that the charter company Air Bourbon DOWTY INTRANET. Perhaps a new era of space tourism is born: Virgin Atlantic’s CEO, Sir Richard Branson, always on the lookout for new had collapsed, leaving hundreds of tourists grounded on sunny Reunion island. At the end of ideas, has just ordered a fleet of spaceships capable of carrying 7 passengers. 7,000 “space freaks” have already reserved October, it was ATA’s turn to file for Chapter 11, the first low cost airline company in the USA to their seats for the sum of 100,000 Dollars. The name of this future transport company: Virgin Galactic! go bankrupt . Whose turn is it next?

MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 04 PAGE 05 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE > THE PIONEER OF LOW COST AIRLINES: “SOUTHWEST”

Although low cost travel only came to enabled them to attract the attention, then the clientele, of Europe in 1995, the economic model people with modest incomes. Up until then, those people had has existed since the early 1970s. It first considered air travel as too expensive for them and only to be «What has been said» appeared in the United States when undertaken in exceptional circumstances. … on the different ways M-D can help Southwest, whose first fleet consisted traditional companies compete with of three Boeing 737, was launched. Southwest also showed a great deal of innovation in its hu- low cost companies. Created when US skies were liberalised, man resources policy. Indeed, to motivate staff who had to “We should continue to be innovative Southwest gained an equal footing with endure a very demanding pace of work with little flexibility, in the support we give aircraft manu- America’s biggest airline companies wi- the company set out to promote very participative manage- facturers and airline companies. In thin 30 years and in 2004 carried more ment methods and a high profit-sharing policy. The staff now order to measure up to low cost companies, traditional than 65 million passengers, made a have a 10% share in the capital. companies should reduce their costs along the whole turnover of nearly 6 billion dollars and a Southwest’s growth was very gradual. First of all, the com- value chain. We also have a role to play in searching out profit of 442 million dollars for a fleet of 415 Boeing 737s. pany concentrated on increasing the frequency of flights on wasteful practices and making our operating and manu- routes that were already established (to capture a large part facturing processes leaner. For us, this means better A very simple but revolutionary marketing principle was of the traffic this was essential). Then it set out to capture quality control, a policy of continuous improvement, behind Southwest’s success: “to offer customers extremely other routes (in-depth studies on their profitability potential better relations with our suppliers and the implemen- attractive fares, Southwest will provide transport but only were carried out beforehand). tation of new technologies. We all have a role to play in transport”. helping our customers reduce their costs and thereby “We are not competing with other airline increasing their profitability». LOW COST CARRIERS, A DIFFERENT MARKET? All the operating principles mentioned above (a single, always identical, product, a simplified sales policy, etc.) were intro- companies, we are competing with ground Grant Skinner, GVP Boeing & Military BU duced by Southwest, which at the same time was developing transport”. 1995, the year of Messier-Dowty’s creation, signalled the arrival in the skies of Europe of a swarm a revolutionary brand image: « Flying is Fun ». This image Herb Kelleher, Chairman of Southwest -1996 of orange B737 marked with a simple logo – EASYJET. The arrival of low cost airline companies may have been anecdotal for some but it was a real turning point in the history of air transport. > EASYJET, THE NEW KING OF LOW COST EUROPEAN TRAFFIC With an economic model based on reduced profit margins, low cost airlines order their planes EasyJet has become the leading low cost airline company in Europe in terms of passenger traffic. With over 20 million customers in 2003, the British carrier now outstrips its Irish rival, in large quantities, demand significant price reductions and very high levels of service support. Ryanair, which attracted 18 million customers. Its seat occupancy rate averages about 82%. A new market is developing for all those in the industry who succeed in satisfying their expecta- A PHENOMENON TAKES SHAPE – principal shareholder in the company. Its head office is > October 2003 : the first Airbus A319 comes into service in tions. In these two pages, we will present the great opportunities offered to M-D. moved to Geneva. Geneva. This is part of an order for 120 planes. THE KEY STAGES: > February 1999 – avril 1999: Liverpool and Geneva become > Since november 2003 : work continues to expand the > March 1995 : the Haji-Ioannou family sets up easyJet. Their the second and third operating bases after Luton. network to Germany, Spain, Central and Eastern Europe. > OPERATING PRINCIPLES OF LOW COST COMPANIES objective was to first offer regular low cost flights in Great > From July 1999 : expansion to France and Spain. Britain and then gradually open up to include Europe. The > October 1999 : more than one million seats are sold on the NOW, EASYJET openly declares its desire to distance Although Ryanair was set up in 1991, it was actually in 1995, the year of easyJet’s creation, that a real network of low cost company opens its head office at Luton airport, . Internet (the first seat was sold online in April 1998). itself from the low cost model introduced by Southwest and airline companies started to develop in Europe. In 2003, their numbers reached 106! While the majority of traditional airline >November 1995 : leased planes make inaugural flights > December 1999 : the magazine Marketing lists the launch to capture a “business” clientele. Therefore, on some routes companies struggle to resist the crisis that has dogged air transport since 11 September, low cost companies show a steady from Luton in London to Edinburgh and Glasgow, backed of easyJet as “one of the 100 great marketing moments of the company is putting itself in direct competition with tradi- annual growth of about 20%. What is the secret of their success? by an advertising campaign offering “a trip for the price of the twentieth century”. tional companies with an aggressive pricing strategy. When a pair of jeans – 29 euros return” > March 2000 : a new order for Boeing 737s is placed, brin- > April 1996 : in 2003, easyJet announced its purchase of 120 Airbus A319, it takes delivery of its first self-owned plane, ging the fleet to 48 planes. Traditional companies base their performance 1. INSTALLING MORE SEATS IN PLANES opens a service to Amsterdam and makes its first interna- it broke away from the principle of single model fleets and > November 2000 : easyJet shares are officially floated on this was an important sign of its change of policy. By adop- on their ability to provide customers with a global service By doing away with business class and reducing the space tional flight. Other routes open in the following years. the at 310 pence each. > April 1997 : ting this strategy, easyJet accepts an increase in all its costs allowing them to travel all over the world with journey between two rows of seats, easyJet manages to seat 25 more easyJet.com is launched on the net to provide > February 2001 : easyJet wins the “best value for money” times that are kept to a minimum. Their model is based on a passengers in a B737 than a traditional airline company. information on the company. The first online reservations which up until now were its main source of savings. Will it be category in the competition organised by Visa. able to absorb increased costs? Will it have to compensate by structured network organised around one or several hubs, on are not made until a year later. > July 2001 : 10 million seats are sold online. > September 1997 : increasing fares? Southwest always aimed for a very steady differentiated pricing and on a multitude of services aimed at 2. USING THE PLANES MORE an order is placed for 12 new Boeing > March 2002 : Paris Orly becomes the fourth operating 737-300s and in July 1998 for 15 B737-700s. growth (of about 10%) and this was the basis of its success. securing the loyalty of those segments of clientele that make Thanks to shorter stopovers, the planes of low cost compa- base. 5. SELLING DIRECTLY > October 1997 : the company receives its own certificate of By wanting to get ahead faster and aiming for an annual the biggest contribution. For these companies, long haul nies fly 11 hours per day on average. Several factors explain > October 2002 : easyJet chooses Airbus as its main airline VIA CALL-CENTRES OR INTERNET airworthiness and thus becomes recognised as a finan- growth of 30%, easyJet may become a victim of its own suc- flights are the core of the activity and service is the guiding these shorter stopover times: less congested airports are supplier. By selling directly, they can avoid transaction costs related cially viable company. cess, especially since it has more and more competitors. We principle, even if efforts are made to control costs. used rather than hubs; less time or even no time at all is > March 2003 : easyJet and Go (a low cost airline company to the use of traditional reservation systems and travel agent > March 1998 : it makes a 40% buyout of the Swiss charter should not forget that in the USA, the long-term success of a spent cleaning planes because fewer services are offered founded by British Airways and bought out by easyJet) fly commissions. By using e-tickets, not allocating seats and company TEA Basel AG which becomes easyJet Switzer- low cost model has only been seen once, and this was with The economic model of low cost companies is on board; faster boarding time (seats are not allocated) and under the same name for the first time. not having connection services (baggage transit, passenger land. Gradually easyJet increases its capital and becomes Southwest. the opposite of that of traditional companies. For customers finally staff are given incentives to make productivity gains. transfer) they make savings. wishing to keep their transport expenses to a minimum, they offer regular, low cost, direct flights on medium and short 3. REDUCING FIXED COSTS: 6. SIMPLIFYING FARES: ONE SIMPLE FARE hauls. Generally speaking, high utilisation rates of planes, seat den- THE RISE OF FOR ONE PARTICULAR TIME sification and air staff productivity allow low cost companies EASYJET The key to success of this model is based on to optimise their costs. Operating with one single type of Traditional companies offer many different fares based on plane fleet also offers many advantages, firstly in terms of place of departure and destination and segmentation of the company’s ability to maintain unit costs 1. CA (Millions/£) maintenance (compared with traditional companies they have clientele but low cost companies work on the principle of one 2. Profit (Millions/£) by adopting seven fundamental operating lower costs for spare part inventory management, licences fare for one particular time for one particular flight. This 3. Passagers transportés principles: and training of technicians), but also in terms of staff training. fare is regularly revised. However, once the ticket has been purchased, it is often non-refundable and customers have to 4. Flotte As meals are not served on board, there are fewer staff in ca- Airbus A319 bins and planes usually return to base at the end of the day so pay an additional charge for the slightest modification. In the company does not have to pay mission-related expenses. this way, low cost companies discourage their clientele from Boeing 737 modifying their tickets and make further savings. «What has been said» 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 ... on the impact of low cost compa- 4. USING SECONDARY AIRPORTS nies’ on M-D Priority is given to using secondary airports and this leads 7. SIMPLIFYING THE ACCOUNTING SYSTEM 1. 2. 3. 4. “The low cost carriers have different to considerable savings. Costs at these airports are lower. With one particular fare for one particular flight at one parti- drivers for aircraft acquisition and are Moreover, local authorities are aware that traffic generated cular time, the accounting system for each flight is extremely typically looking for low cost supply in by low cost flights at their airports can represent a source of simple. The strategy involves offering the lowest fares at > THE FUTURE OF LOW COST CARRIERS addition to greater after-market support of the fleet. additional revenue and are prepared to provide subsidies to the opening of flight reservations then gradually increasing These requirements are being passed on by the airfra- encourage it. Finally, as ground services offered by low cost the fares as the departure date approaches. Therefore, on According to the experts, low cost European companies Low cost carriers have made air transport accessible to mers to the major system suppliers on the program and companies are minimal (no lounges, simplified boarding and average, low cost companies have a fare range that includes should see their market share of passenger traffic increase segments of the population that traditional companies had require us to look at changing our business model in or- checking-in procedures), the costs of airport infrastructures about ten different prices. This enables them to earn a much from 7% in 2001 to 14% in 2007, i.e. an annual increase of till then ignored, thus increasing the overall volume of traffic. der to effectively compete. Life cycle cost models – com- are reduced. higher average revenue per passenger than the first bottom- 20%. During the same period, growth in the market share of Nowadays, the only real threat comes from companies like mercially competitive, flexibility in finance arrangements, of-the-range fares. traditional companies is not expected to exceed 4.5%. After easyJet: if their transition is successful and they get a hold balance between operators’ revenue stream and opera- 2007, low cost company growth is expected to become stable. on business class markets while retaining their pricing ting costs are likely to evolve over the next few years.” However, contrary to popular belief, low cost carriers do not practices, traditional companies will be justified in feeling represent a real threat to traditional companies and both threatened. Colin Fernie, GVP Regional & Business Aircraft BU models can operate perfectly at the same time.

MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 06 PAGE 07 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE HAPPY BIRTHDAY MESSIER-DOWTY! INTERVIEW WITH DOMINIQUE PARIS CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF MDI: 1998 - 2000 January 1st 2005 marks the 10th anniversary of Messier-Dowty’s creation. During these ten years, there have been four Chief Executive Officers: Tony Edwards, Dominique Paris, Louis Le China, thus gaining a better commercial and strategic posi- Portz and, since December 13th 2004, Christian Knapp. We met them in turn to ask about their tion in this vast country and getting access to a very competi- DOMINIQUE PARIS ANSWERS chairmanship and discuss the path taken since 1995 by the company known in the aeronautics tive source of activity. THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE industry as: the global landing gear company. 3. Dominique Paris, on January 1st Messier-Dowty In- ternational will be celebrating its tenth anniversary. > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE VIRTUE? What is your view of the company’s progress in the Honesty last 10 years? > WHAT IS YOUR MAIN CHARACTERISTIC? I’m too nice I see a successful but unfinished integration. > WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU PREFER IN A MAN? There are still a lot of differences in the in- Sincerity INTERVIEW WITH TONY EDWARDS formation systems and not enough mobility > AND IN A WOMAN? Cheerfulness However, in terms of market share, the between sites. > WHAT IS YOUR MAIN FAULT OF CHARACTER? CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF MDI: 1995 - 1998 company has made a lot of progress, the most striking exam- Laziness ple being the 7E7. M-D had been trying to get onto a Boeing > WHAT QUALITY DO YOU APPRECIATE MOST IN YOUR commercial programme for 12 years. This is really a funda- 4. What were the main challenges during your time as 7. What is your best memory of the time spent with FRIENDS? mental milestone in the company’s life. chairman? M-D? Loyalty and sincerity The main challenge was to maintain company stability. In- I remember the Management Committee meetings They Dominique Paris with his Executive Committee > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE OCCUPATION? deed, over time, the objectives of each company started to were all held in France and there was usually a very pleasant 4. What future challenges are facing M-D? Being with my family diverge and it became very difficult to meet both entity’s ex- meal afterwards organised by Dominique Paris (Chairman 1. After holding several positions with M-D, you be- Successfully completing the five major programmes (7E7, > WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIEST? pectations. The British owners became convinced that aero- and CEO of M-D SA at the time). He had the knack of choosing came Chairman and CEO of MDI in 1998. How was the A400M, A380, 7X and RRJ) and increasing the pace for the Having more grandchildren nautics was a very risky activity, given the “unlimited respon- wonderful dishes and wines! It was a good way of celebrating landing gear market faring at the time? What were Airbus family. > WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE? sibility” borne by manufacturers. Moreover, they feared that our success. your objectives for the company? A great physicist the heavy dependency of M-D on one single customer was a In 1998, the landing gear market was faring quite well We had 5. Do you have a message for MD employees? > WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? problem. They had been told that Airbus had very little future come out of the crisis and were enjoying a period of growth The five years I spent with M-D are among the most rewar- A place in the faced with the giant Boeing. This finally lead to them selling with high delivery rates for Airbus. It was at this time (1998) ding, intense and happiest of my career. The teams are of a > WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE FLOWERS? 1. Tony, you were the first Chairman and CEO of Mes- their M-D shares to Snecma. With the French government’s that Goodrich bought up Menasco. From that moment on, very high quality but each of them still has some way to go to Daffodils sier-Dowty International. You lived through the mer- backing, Snecma immediately seized the chance to become there were two number ones in the market. Liebherr was help integrate the different sites. > WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE BIRDS? ger as it was happening. In your opinion, what were its Europe’s leading mechanical engineering company. number 3 but still a long way behind the others in the race. Wild geese main objectives? This was also a period of victories – winning the F-18 contract Commercial aspects aside, when I arrived my main objective 6. What do you think of the Sagem-Snecma merger > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLANE? The initial objective was to combine the assets of Europe’s with M-D Toronto for example. was to make a successful transition from a 50/50 owned com- plan? A340 two landing gear manufacturers, Dowty and Messier-Bugatti pany to a company wholly owned by Snecma. We had to reas- There is a lot of sense in this association. Indeed, we need > WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE WRITER? (together, they supplied Airbus with all its landing gear). This 5. What do you think of Messier-Dowty’s 7E7 victory? sure the British Ministry of Defence, concerning the Eurofigh- to strengthen our skills in electronics because, given our Jules Verne merger also fulfilled the strategic need to pursue consolida- I was particularly impressed by this victory. Not only is it ter in particular, and convince employees at Gloucester that size, we are having difficulty maintaining an optimal of > WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE FICTIONAL HERO? tion of the aeronautic industry. Indeed, with only two major the first time Boeing has asked a manufacturer to carry out we would not let them down. knowledge in this field. This merger results from a real need Robinson Crusoé aircraft manufacturers in the global civil market, the industry the complete design and production of landing gear, what is and holds great promise for Snecma et Sagem. > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK AND DISH? hardly needed more than two landing gear suppliers. more, it has chosen a European supplier! This achievement is 2. What were the milestones during your time as Scotch whiskey and coq au vin. As both companies had similar objectives at the time, a joint the result of a great deal of effort over a long period of time by chairman? What was the main challenge? > WHAT TALENT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE? venture was set up to give concrete expression to this opera- Dowty, Messier-Bugatti then Messier-Dowty. All these years There were several important milestones but I will mention A talent for music of effort and investment have finally paid off! Naturally, the Tony Edwards and Dominique Paris, 1995 tion (50% TI and 50% Snecma). which would allow just a few. As far as programmes are concerned, the JSF > HOW WOULD YOU PREFER TO DIE? work carried out with Boeing on the JSF played a great role in Dowty and Messier-Bugatti to become the world leader. From 8. What have you done since leaving Messier-Dowty? programme allowed M-D to make itself known to Boeing As old as possible and in good health this selection. We were able to prove ourselves to the Ameri- TI Aerospace’s point of view, this operation was also a way of Following the sale of the English Messier-Dowty shares to which had selected us as their partner for the whole system. > WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT STATE OF MIND? can aircraft manufacturer and win over their trust. preventing a transatlantic alliance between Messier and Me- Snecma, I was transferred to the British Ministry of Defence Although the aircraft contract was finally won by the- Loc Optimistic and happy nasco, which would have pushed Dowty to the sidelines. to manage the Export Service (DESO – Defence Export Servi- kheed-Martin partnership – Menasco in 2001 – we ran a very > WHAT FAULT INSPIRES YOU WITH THE MOST 6. What challenges does the future hold, in your opinion? ce). Unfortunately, a very serious liver problem (related to the good course with Boeing and this played an important role INDULGENCE? 2. How did the market react to this merger? At the moment, I think the greatest challenge fact that I drank a lot of unpasteurized milk as a child), obli- later in the race for the 7E7 contract. As far as organisation Something that starts off as a good intention The market looked very favourably upon it. Both Airbus and facing M-D is successfully satisfying both ged me to leave this job prematurely. Doctors told me I had is concerned, a project that was launched and finished after > WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Boeing had a very high opinion of M-B and Dowty’s abilities. 3 months to live but after 10 weeks, I had a liver transplant I left was the concentration of a large landing gear tes- Age Quod Agis (whatever you do, do it well) Boeing and Airbus at a time when competition which saved my life. I recovered faster than all the other Moreover, Boeing was intrigued by the supply philosophy ting at Gloucester. This project required a lot of renovation adopted by Airbus which preferred signing contracts for com- transplant patients in the United kingdom in 2000! between these two giants is mounting. work. There was also the joint venture with Singapore plete systems rather than system components. Since then, I have been involved in a lot of charity work. I also Aerospace Manufacturing (SAM) which later became Of course, our two American competitors, Goodrich and Me- hold various positions: Chairman of the Air League, Chair- Messier-Dowty Singapore Pte Ltd. The initial challenge was < October 27th, 1999 : official ceremony to mark the signing nasco looked less favourably upon the merger (they themsel- man of the Commission on Conservation of British Aircraft, to form an alliance with Singapore and then move towards of the joint venture between SAM and Messier-Dowty ves ended up merging in 1998.) Associate Professor at the Royal Military School of Science, Shrivenham. During my spare time, I also run a small farm 3. What difficulties were encountered at the -begin and manage a small company that restores old cars and ma- ...... ning of the merger? (differences between English nufactures scale models – Toylanders. and French culture and their working methods, etc.) HIGH POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF MESSIER-DOWTY A lot of thought and preparation went into the first stages of the merger. It wasn’t easy to find the right balance. The En- glish owners felt an exaggerated need to control everything 1995 1996 1997 but fortunately Snecma was more pragmatic. Luckily, the company’s top managers had very compatible views on how to run the company and this served as an exam- ple for the rest of the organisation. I don’t remember being TONY EDWARDS ANSWERS THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE: UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF TONY EDWARDS unprepared or faced with an unanticipated problem. We had > enough time to anticipate all potential problems relating to the pooling of administrative systems, procedures and dif- > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE OCCUPATION? > WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT? - Snecma and TI group joint-venture leading to the - BA609 Bell / Augusta contract - Airbus 340-500/600 contract ferent managerial methods. The inevitable problem of lan- Being in the company of interesting people. Surviving my liver transplant. guage was addressed in various ways – English and French > WHO IS YOUR HERO IN REAL LIFE? > WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? creation of Messier-Dowty, the Global Landing - Nimrod contract courses were organised where necessary. Dowty already had I am a great admirer of Winston Churchill. Where I am living at the moment. gear Company - T45 contract French-speaking teams in Montreal and French staff were > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DESTINATION? > WHAT DO YOU HATE MOST? very understanding towards their English colleagues. There Boston where I lived when I was working for GE and Governments that pretend they are serving the people. were hundreds of obvious cultural differences of course, but teaching at Harvard Business School. rather than letting them hold us back, we were able to turn them to our advantage......

MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 08 PAGE 09 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS LE PORTZ INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN KNAPP SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF MDI: 2000 - 2005 CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF MDI: 2005 - CHRISTIAN KNAPP

between entities in Messier-Dowty; launching the manage- nacelle manufacturer and the creation of Hurel Hispano in Graduate in Aerospace Engineering from Ecole Na- ment programme; resolving the MSN 14 affair in good con- LOUIS LE PORTZ ANSWERS 2001. Thus, in five years, the company has gone from being tionale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace ditions; strengthening the engineering department and crea- THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE a supplier of thrust reversers to a “major equipment manu- (SupAéro), he joined Snecma in 1973. Up until 1986, ting an R&T team which enabled us to kick-start research; > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE VIRTUE? facturer”, and now competes on an equal footing with the he took part in the M53 programme motorising the winning the 7E7 and A400M contracts. Tolerance world’s leading market players like Goodrich and Boeing. Its Mirage 2000. Promoted to Chief Engineer for Snec- > WHAT IS YOUR MAIN CHARACTERISTIC? turnover quadrupled between 1996 and 2003. ma’s share of work in the GE 36 engine, he directed 5. What is your best memory of MD? Did you have any Optimism. I believe in life. the development of the HP compressor and the com- amusing experiences? > WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU PREFER IN A MAN? 2. What is your present view of Messier-Dowty? bustion chamber. In 1988, he joined the CFM56 pro- In fact, I only have good memories of M-D. I will remember it Loyalty My current view of M-D results from what I understand of the gramme and successfully managed the development as five years of happiness (he smiles). > AND IN A WOMAN? customers perception of M-D. I think there are four basic and certification of the CFM56-5C for the Airbus A340. Sincerity lines of progress: He also took part in the launching of the CFM56-5B > WHAT IS YOUR MAIN FAULT OF CHARACTER? 6. How would you describe Messier-Dowty now? What 1. satisfying operators by improving technical support and in for the Aibus A321. In 1993, he was promoted Director I’ve got lots of big faults. opportunities does the future hold? What are the chal- particular solving service problems. of CFM56 Programmes at Snecma and Vice-Chairman > WHAT IS YOUR QUALITY? 1. Louis Le Portz, you joined Messier-Dowty in Janua- lenges? 2. improving technical skills to ensure the job is done pro- of CFMI. In 1996, he joined Hispano-Suiza where he I’m attentive to others was appointed Director of the Nacelle and Reversers ry 2000 so you are not a pure Snecma product - what Messier-Dowty is a mature company that has not yet com- perly first time round > WHAT QUALITY DO YOU APPRECIATE MOST IN YOUR pletely attained its objective of becoming the “global landing 3. improving programme management to ensure we are Division in Le Havre . At the end of 1997, when the sub- was your opinion of the group before joining? What is FRIENDS? gear company”. To date, the company has won a lot of major capable of fulfilling our commitments in terms of cost, sidiary, Hispano-Suiza Aerostructures, was set up, he your view of Messier-Dowty? Their friendship precisely programmes and the real challenge in the future is to carry deadlines and quality . was appointed Deputy Managing Director and in March When Jean-Paul Béchat, the Chairman, offered me the posi- > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE OCCUPATION? out these programmes successfully. That is no small task! 4. Like all those involved in the industry, we are dependent 1998 he became its Chairman and CEO. In March 2001, tion of CEO of Messier-Dowty, I imagined that Snecma’s high Observing things and surprising myself on our suppliers and we need to have a reinforced supply following the merger with Hurel-Dubois, he became technology was purely mechanics-orientated. Coming from a > WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIEST? 7. What message would you like to pass on to MD em- chain so that our suppliers can ensure an increased rate Chairman and CEO of Hurel-Hispano. world of electro-mechanics and electronics, I thought it was Flying like a bird and reduced costs. The son of a diplomat, Christian Knapp spent ten years an opportunity and moving from one to the other did not scare ployees? > THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU? These improvements are essential if we are to satisfy our in Scandinavia, four of which he attended a Norwegian me. I now realise, in fact, that these are two closely related That they are lucky to work for a company that has Losing my life 1. Could you summarise your career for us please. customers and our shareholders. primary school. This experience gave him a taste for and complementary worlds. a portfolio of programmes and therefore a good > WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE? I joined the Snecma group in 1973 straight after I finished Sup travel and adventure, a passion he shares with his As for Messier-Dowty, my knowledge of the aeronautics and work load. However, they should remember that A pianist and composer Aéro (aeronautical engineering school). I spent the first part Italian wife and their two sons. 3. What opportunities and challenges does the future specific equipment lead me to consider Messier-Dowty as to attain these objectives of profitability and > WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? of my career working on M53 engines and thus became trai- Christian Knapp has been Chairman and CEO of Mes- hold for our company? the leading landing gear specialist. I was very attracted by competitiveness, so important to its sustai- Everywhere ned in performance, thermodynamics and testing, especially sier-Dowty since 13 December 2004. the company’s international situation, with its English and > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR? in relation to technical brands. M-D was extremely fortunate in winning some significant Canadian parts. I had become familiar with this sort of set-up nability, M-D must be adaptable, flexible and The blue of old Breton chapels After that, I started working on commercial engines. First of contracts which gave it the opportunity to hold on to its posi- during previous jobs and had particularly liked this aspect. manoeuvrable. > WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE BIRDS? all the GE36 for which I was chief engineer. This was a non- tion as the global landing gear company. Seagulls because they wheel and fly between land streamlined, turbofan, engine. The project was developed by The challenge will be to complete all these 5. Do you have a message for MD employees? GE and Snecma produced the chamber and the HP compres- 2. In what sort of condition was MD when you 8. What do you think of the Sagem-Snecma merger and sea laughing all the way I am confident that M-D has the potential required to meet the sor. This engine had the advantage of being very economical. new programmes successfully while ensuring arrived? plan? > WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLANE? challenges facing us. I then became technical manager on the CFM 56 5C for the the satisfaction of existing operators. In very good condition. My predecessors had done a remar- It is a very good thing because it confirms Snecma’s position The glider A340 then on all the CFM 56 engines, before becoming Direc- kable job. There were just a few adjustments to be made. as a major European aeronautics manufacturer. > WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE FICTIONAL HERO? «To achieve such a transformation, we nee- Gaston Lagaffe tor of CFM Programmes and Vice-Chairman of CFMI. 4. What action do you intend to take first in this 3. What was the most stressful time during your five > WHO IS YOUR HERO IN REAL LIFE? In 1996, I was appointed manager of the plant in Le Havre new role? ded a leader. Christian Knapp demonstrated 9. What do you intend to do in the coming months? where thrust reversers and nacelles were manufactured, a years with MD? My friend Pierre Closterman (hero of the Free First of all, I intend to visit the whole company to get to know how to transform an ambition into an indus- Lots of things but I certainly won’t be buying a pair of slip- large part of which we supplied to Goodrich. We have had There was nothing particularly “stressful”. Indeed, I was luc- French Forces, pilot in the battle of , cham- it. Then, I would like to make sure that plans of action have pers!! several important milestones, i.e. winning the A340-500/600 trial reality” ky to be surrounded by a team of very open and skilful people pion of big game fishing and author of bestsellers) been implemented and that they are equal to the challenges nacelle contract, founding Aircelle with Airbus, buying up Hu- Dominique Hédon, deputy managing director of who, when things got difficult, pursued the same objective > WHAT DO YOU HATE MOST? facing the company now Finally, I wish to ensure that the rel-Dubois in 2000, winning the A380 nacelle contract, buying Snecma in charge of the Equipments division. with a great deal of passion, ardour and solidarity. Intolerance action is implemented correctly so that economic results up Airbus’s shares in Aircelle to become the world’s leading Thanks to all these skills, combined with everyone’s enthu- 2000 : Messier-Dowty > WHAT TALENT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE? remain satisfactory and company sustainability is secured. siasm and professionalism, we were able to win difficult first Programme An artistic flair competitions like the 7E7 contract which led to us being Managers > HOW WOULD YOU PREFER TO DIE? considered an important international landing gear company. Full of life THE CHALLENGE OF THE COMING YEARS : DELIVERING THE NEW PROGRAMMES It was absolutely essential that we become suppliers to the > WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT STATE OF MIND? two major aircraft manufacturers if we wanted to become I’m in a hurry to move on! recognised. > WHAT FAULT INSPIRES YOU WITH THE MOST INDUGENCE? 4. During your time with Messier-Dowty, what were Faults that are freely admitted the most important events? > WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Full steam ahead! I will cite five of them: implementing the matrix organisation chosen because it seemed to erase old national borders

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HIGH POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF MESSIER-DOWTY HIGH POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF MESSIER-DOWTY

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

> UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF DOMINIQUE PARIS > UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF LOUIS LE PORTZ > UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF LOUIS LE PORTZ

- SNECMA buys up TI group’s shares in Messier-Dowty. Mes- - Contract for T50 landing gear system - A global corporate identity is created (new logo for Messier- - Contract for Airbus A380 nose landing gear - Selected for Bombardier Global 5000 lan- - Selected for Sukhoi Russian Regional air- - Contract for A400M landing gear system sier-Dowty becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Snecma - Contract for Challenger 300 landing gear system Dowty and the Snecma group, new corporate identity etc.) - Contract for Dassault Falcon 7X landing ding gear system craft landing gear system - Selected for Boeing 7E7 landing gear group. - Delivery of the 1,000th single corridor Airbus landing gear gear system - Messier-Dowty buys up SAM’s shares in - Delivery of the first A380 nose landing gear - First delivery of Falcon 7X landing gear - Contract signed with CEAT to build the biggest drop test - Opening of Seattle research department Messier-Dowty Singapore. - Production of the T50 is launched system bench in Europe. - 50/50 Messier-Dowty and SAM joint-venture (Singapore Ae- - Messier-Dowty starts operations at the - Delivery of the 2,000th single corridor Air- rospace Manufacturing) leading to the creation of Messier- Suzhou site in China. bus landing gear Dowty Singapore Pte Ltd. - Opening of the Landing Gear Test Centre in Gloucester

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MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 10 PAGE 11 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE > THE AVIATION INDUSTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IN GLOUCESTER

In 1917, the Aircraft Company was foun- ded and produced the DH2 scout aircraft. These aeroplanes were built in and had to be towed more than 10 km to Hucclecote for test flights. It was very quickly realised that the journey could lead to ove- rheating of the wheel bearings on the undercarriage, and it was decided that this technical problem called for a break en route at the Oddfellows Inn, Shurdington! In 1926, the company changed its name from «Gloucestershire» which overseas clients found unpronounceable to the phonetically simpler «Gloster». It was as the « Les Docks de Gloucester et la cathédrale that the firm manufactured the Gloster E28/39, the first jet plane to fly in the skies over Great Britain equipped with Sir ’s engine. > M-D GLOUCESTER: The Gloster Aircraft Company has left its mark on the region. IMPORTANT MILESTONES SINCE 1995 This is borne out by the large number of Gloucestershire- based companies connected with avionics. Smiths, which WELCOME TO GLOUCESTER ! The M-D site in Gloucester now employs over 930 people, started out manufacturing flying instruments, now produces For more than a century and a half, Great Bri- 570 of whom work in manufacturing and 360 in design propellers and electronic equipment. tain has been at the forefront of the aviation industry and has and after-sales. There have been many high points over Located in the west of England on the River Severn, the city of Gloucester is the county town of played an important part in the history of aviation. the past 10 years: Gloucestershire. It stands on the ruins of the Roman town of Glevum and, in Saxon times, was the In 1921, a very young man called Dowty from the region of • 1995 In 1853, for the first time, Sir George Cayley managed to , started out in the aeronautics industry when he joi- Joint venture between TI Aerospace and the Snecma capital of the kingdom of Mercia, which is now the Midlands. get a heavier-than-air machine to fly, carrying a full-grown ned the company AV Roe as a landing gear expert. In 1924, he group man who was his own coachman. Although this experiment joined Gloucestershire Aircraft Company. In his spare time in • 1995 Gloucestershire is blessed with some of the most beautiful countryside in England with the was revolutionary for the time, it was apparently not to the the evenings, he worked on the design of new undercarriages. Gloucester receives the “Queens Award for Technological Cotswolds Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty in the east of the county, the fertile Severn liking of the coachman who is reported to have resigned from It was in this way that he designed and machined new landing Achievement” his job with the words: «I was hired to drive, not to fly». gear arms that were 50% smaller and 30% lighter than those • 1998 valley in the centre and, to the west, the Welsh Marches, the Wye valley and Forest of Dean. Read that were currently in use. He eventually set up his own firm TI pulls out and from this point on M-D Gloucester is and began producing undercarriages for the Gloster Gladia- In 1866, the Royal Aeronautical Society, or RAS, was for- wholly owned by a French company. on to learn a little more about this region which is unlike any other in the United Kingdom. tor. When his business proved successful, he bought the Arle med to promote research into powered flight. This was some • 2000 site and based his company’s head office there. 37 years before the historic first flight by the Wright brothers Louis Le Portz is appointed CEO and the matrix who received the first gold medal to be awarded by the RAS. organisation is implemented. When customers start to Other famous people to receive this medal included Sir Frank The company founded by con- perceive M-D as a global company, national barriers > KEY POINTS OF GEOGRAPHY AND ECONOMY: Whittle for his invention of the jet engine. tinued to prosper and soon became one of (English – French) start to fall. • 2000 the River Severn are often affected by flooding during long the industry’s leaders. The company’s HQ AREA AND POPULATION: GROSS PRODUCT PER HEAD: Aviation really began to take off in Great Britain from 1903 “Queens Award for Enterprise International Trade” periods of rainfall). > County of Gloucestershire: • $US 21,500 In 2003 (compared with a GDP per head of $US with, in particular, the flying exhibitions of the American avia- remained in Gloucestershire. In 1995, Dowty • 2003 • Mean temperatures vary between 0°C and 20°C over the • 561,900 inhabitants (38% in urban districts) in a total area 27,700 for the whole UK in 2003) tor, Samuel Cody, at Farnborough and the aeroplanes built Delivery of the 2,000 single corridor landing gear for year. Aerospace merged with French firm Messier of 2,655 sq. km. and flown by A.V. Roe at Brooklands. Airbus. An important milestone for Gloucester which • Active population: 237 000 to become Messier-Dowty, world leader in mainly works on Airbus programmes. MAIN BUSINESS SECTORS: • 2003 • Main towns: Gloucester, Cheltenham,Cirencester,Tewkes BREAKDOWN OF EMPLOYMENT MARKET • Agriculture and food industries: crop farming, livestock landing gear. “Investors in People Award” renewed bury et Stroud. rearing. Phil Spiers, M-D Gloucester • 2004 > City of Gloucester: • Industry: Aviation, light industries, mechanical engineering A400M Contract – the nose gear is entrusted to the • 110,000 inhabitants (in approximately 46,000 homes) in an Agriculture (1,6%) Others (1,4%) industries, telecommunications. Gloucester teams area of 4,050 hectares (making 213 inhabitants per sq. km) • Services : Insurance, banking, services to companies, tour- • 2004 • 32% of the population are aged under 25 and 15% are ism (more than 2 million tourists a year). Selected for Boeing 7E7 programme. (NB: During the over 65. > FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: Industry (27,7%) last twelve years, the Gloucester teams have greatly OTHER MAJOR ADVANTAGES: Airbus is one of Messier-Dowty’s principal contributed to developing our relations with Boeing. CLIMATE: • Abundant reserves of technical skills and highly qualified First of all on the JSF project, then on projects that did • Temperate, typically British climate, moderated by south- customers and has taken delivery of more labour. not materialise like the B747-500/600, the B747X and westerly North Atlantic winds. Services (69,3%) • Goods means of communication (particularly the M5 and than 4,000 sets of landing gear since the the sonic cruiser). • Sky overcast for more than half the time with a mean annual M4 motorways) and easy access to Bristol and Birmingham rainfall of 64 mm. (Towns and villages along the banks of company was founded. airports. An exchange programme was initiated in England in order to optimise working relations between the two companies. This programme started up last February with the arrival of two Airbus engineers at Messier-Dowty Gloucester (two M-D em- ployees having been sent to Airbus’s Filton plant). GLOUCESTER THROUGH THE AGES: FROM 43 AD TO THE PRESENT DAY > GLOUCESTER... DID YOU KNOW? > Between 43 AD and 577: • In 1216, Henry III was crowned in Gloucester. • In 1714, Robert Raikes, the pioneer of Sunday schools, FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT • During Roman times, the town of Glevum was given • In 1485, Richard III gave the city the right to manage its was born in Gloucester. Nick Phillips, Airbus Stress Engineer Gloucester, land of sorcerers … the title of «Colonia Nerviana Glevensis», the highest own affairs by forming a council. • John Stafford Smith, born in Gloucester in 1750, com- In the last four years, Gloucester Cathedral has become status that could be bestowed on a Roman provincial > 1485 to 1603: posed the tune that would later be used for the Ameri- something of a cult location. This has nothing to do with can national anthem. town. • In 1580, Gloucester was officially recognised as a port «I’m a stress engineer at Airbus and I work «During the months I spent there, I witnessed the efforts its long history (it was built in 1089) or the fact that Edward > 577 to 1155: town by Elizabeth I. This status led to the development > 1837 to1901: made by Messier-Dowty to supply Airbus with high-quality II was buried there but, rather, with a fictional school for • Queen Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great, of the docks, which was continued during the Victorian • With the boom in the corn trade, more and more ships mainly on the landing gear for the A340 and landing gear for their entire range of aircraft. I also became sorcerers: namely Hogwarts School whose pupils include revived the fortunes of the town (by then known as era. The docks can still be admired today and are one of called at the port of Gloucester. The port’s modernisa- the A380. When I was asked if I wanted to acquainted with other products, such as narrow-bodied air- the most famous sorcerer’s apprentice of our century, Gloucester) by founding the royal palace at Kingsholm the city’s greatest sources of pride. tion was then begun with the construction of warehou- spend a year at Messier-Dowty in Gloucester, craft and the A400M. And this experience gave me the chance Harry Potter. It is on this location that the first two of and a church to house the relics of St Oswald. > 1603 to 1700: ses large enough to store many shiploads. to work in fields I was much less familiar with, such as in- Harry’s adventures were filmed. • EIn 1817, Beatrix Potter sketched the first pictures for I jumped at the chance. I knew it would give me the • King Edward the Confessor used to hold court in Glou- • During the Civil War, the city’s heroic resistance under service and in-process repair concessions.» … and rugby stronghold her children’s stories, «The Tailor of Gloucester». opportunity to experiment and to understand the entire lan- cester over the Christmas period and this custom was siege was perhaps its finest hour. More even than George Dowty and long before Harry ding gear design and manufacturing process. I would also be later upheld by William the Conqueror. • During the Restoration, Charles II ordered the city walls > From 1901 onwards: You can read the whole of Nick Phillips’s account and learn Potter, it was rugby that brought fame to Gloucestershire going to the other side of the looking-glass and so would be >1155 to 1485: to be demolished. • The city of Gloucester has become industrialised since more about this exchange programme on the intranet site: at Gloucester Rugby Club’s stronghold of Kingsholm. able to see how the client’s needs and expectations are per- • In 1155, Henry II granted the city a royal charter, so ac- > 1714 to 1837: the beginning of the 20th century, with the development http://md-intranet/communications/newsletters/index.jsp Gloucester Rugby Club has produced a number of great ceived by the supplier. What is more, I would be able to see knowledging its equal status with the cities of London • During this period, the city become renowned for pin of a wide range of skills, especially in aircraft manufac- players for the England team over the years with Phil Vic- what problems are encountered in satisfying those needs and and Winchester. manufacturing and bell founding. ture, railway rolling stock and agricultural equipment. kery, Trevor Woodman and Andy Gomersall just some of expectations. Heidi Beal, M-D Gloucester the recent representatives. Go the Gloucester Boys!

MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 12 PAGE 13 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE A DAY IN THE LIFE... OF ALEXANDRE LANG M-D VÉLIZY Alexandre Lang, aged 33, is CSD – Airlines, Central Europe & Middle East. A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Strasbourg (IECS), he joined Messier-Dowty in December 2001, after working as Avionics System Sales Manager Europe with Goodrich Aerospace.

Alexandre has had a passion for aeronautics since the age When there are routine problems like documents to be ap- understanding of different cultures. He has noticed that in of 5 and had always wanted to work in this sector of activity. proved, quotation requests or even delayed parts, the custo- Europe, meetings are more organised, more concentrated However, as he did not train to be an engineer, he had to be mer contacts the CSC directly. For more common problems and often very long while in the Middle East, you have to be extremely motivated and obstinate to earn his place. Alexan- or those requiring the implementation of a specific process, more flexible and able to find other sources of information dre has found a balance and complete professional fulfilment he contacts the CSD directly. Therefore, Alexandre is respon- than the one initially planned… at Messier-Dowty, where he can combine his two great cen- sible for finding and providing the best possible solution to his tres of interest: aeronautics and human relations. customer’s problem. At lunch time, Alexandre has the chance to deal with in- He usually leaves Vélizy at about 7pm. When he gets home, Alexandre gets down to revising for his motor When he is not visiting one of his customers, house problems. He sometimes finds colleagues from other departments at the restaurant and this helps him boat licence or devotes himself to his passions: writing a no- Alexandre leaves home at about 8am and arrives at Vélizy a vel based on military aviation and drawing portraits or lands- few minutes later. The first thing he does in his day is check understand the company better, feel the atmosphere of the moment or simply chat tirelessly with other capes with Asian themes. At the weekend, he visits museums his emails. This allows him to plan his day according to the or practices sports with his Korean wife. These moments are urgent matters to be dealt with. What he dreads most, of aeronautics enthusiasts. They talk to each other about the history of aviation or model aeroplanes. These indispensable for Alexandre who likes to refocus on his family CUSTOMER SUPPORT DIRECTOR/CUSTOMER SUPPORT MANAGER: course, is a grounded aircraft with faulty parts that have to which is a veritable source of equilibrium before starting back be replaced fast. Depending on the nature of the problem, conversations, which are often fascinating, give Alexandre the energy he needs to return to the course of his day. at work for another week that he always hopes will be full of Alexandre will contact either the ILS (Integrated Logistic human contacts. RIGHT AT THE HEART OF THE ACTION… Support) or Messier-Dowty’s Customer Support teams, or Messier Services’ CSC (Customer Support Centres). On average, Alexandre goes away on business In this complex matrix organisation with its trips once a week. Whether these business trips take Interviewed by Laurence Lysimaque Messier-Dowty’s CSD / CSM network comprises 7 CSD and 3 CSM. The world is divided into three him to Europe or the Middle East, they allow him to take stock multitude of players, Alexandre acts as a focal of current projects and to assess the quality of relations with main areas (Europe, Asia, the Americas) and the CSD / CSM provide after-sales services for point, like the conductor of an orchestra. the customer. These trips are also personally rewarding our products in these regions. They are like carrier pigeons, guarding our company image and for Alexandre, allowing him to improve his knowledge and passing it on to the end customer, i.e. the operator......

> THE MISSION OF A CSD / CSM – THE 10 COMMANDMENTS: A DAY IN THE LIFE...

...... OF CHOON KIN PUNG Be the focal point for the airline companies which they are in charge of in 06 Help improve the quality of Messier-Dowty’s products and services 01 internally. their area. M-D SINGAPORE Be responsible for satisfying their customers and maintaining the trusting 07 Be in charge of managing all after-sales activities that could affect the custo- 02 relations needed to develop sales. mer’s level of satisfaction. In 1995, Choon kin Pung started to work in the landing gear sector when he joined Defend the operators’ interests vis-à-vis Messier-Dowty and Messier Know how to anticipate customer needs and pass them on to Messier-Dowty Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing (SAM) as Manager of coating operations. In 03 08 and Messier Services. Services and Messier-Dowty’s interests vis-à-vis the operator. 1996, he was appointed Marketing & Sales Manager. In 2000, SAM and Messier- Define, implement and manage a Product Global Support Plan for eachof 09 Help build Messier-Dowty’s image as a world-class equipment supplier and Dowty merged their shared activities through a 50-50 joint venture to form Mes- 04 their operators with technical and commercial teams in the region and with help improve the ratings of Airbus and other aircraft manufacturers. Messier-Dowty’s ILS / ISS managers. sier-Dowty (Singapore) Pte Ltd. In 2002, SAM decided to opt out and sold its shares Develop and maintain good relations with the customer, including all the to Messier-Dowty. Maintain a high level of communication with aircraft manufacturers and know 10 05 how to detect any change of mood or atmosphere with the client upstream, in staff likely to interact with Messier-Dowty, regardless of their hierarchal Choon Kin is now CSM for the Asia-Pacific region and lives in Singapore with his order to adopt a pro-active approach. position. wife and two children, Merlisa, aged 15 and Théodore, aged 12.

...... In ChoonKin Pung’s house, there prevails an atmos- immediate consequences on air traffic and therefore on our When he leaves the office at about 6pm, Choon phere of order and well-being. When he first gets up in the industry. The technical managers and sales ma- Kin has a half-hour journey ahead of him before arriving morning at about 6.30am, he drinks two glasses of water to nagers meet twice a week to take stock of the home. He sometimes picks his son up from school when his purify his body and soul. He then has a simple breakfast of son finishes late. When he gets home, he has a quick meal, SCORECARD AND RAIL: TWO TOOLS TO GAUGE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION bread and coffee. Some mornings, he allows himself a treat activities of airline companies and operators but not before seeing to his aquarium. This is his great pas- of ham and sausages or a bowl of Chinese noodles. in the region. There is a time difference of more than 12 sion. Sometimes, when it is not too late, he goes swimming The company has developed two tools, the Scorecard and the Rolling Action Item List or RAIL, to measure customer satis- hours with the American continent, so the morning is the only with his son. At the weekends, the “men” often go fishing, faction on a daily basis and globally: Choon Kin and his family live in a large flat, in a 12-storey time Choon Kin can discuss problems he shares with his col- and are very proud to bring their catch home to the women building to the north of Singapore in the district of Woodland, leagues in North America. of the family. The other evenings of the week, he watches a > The Scorecard (or result card) enables us to access the level of satisfaction. It is based on four criteria: very close to the Malaysian border. ChoonKin’s flat is thirty film with his children and goes to bed at about 11pm, tired but kilometres from his place of work. To get there, he takes happy with his full day! 1 - security / quality; 2 – economic performance; 3 – operational performance and 4 – customer support. For each of these As he is often away on business, his days at the expressway and the journey usually goes without a hitch. criteria, the CSD / CSM establishes, together with each customer, the personal result objectives. By regularly reviewing the office are usually very busy. In the afternoon, written these objectives, it is possible to highlight the areas in which Messier-Dowty fails to achieve the level of service required by reports and business trip schedules go back and forth, Interviewed by Gaëlle Busvel the customer. When he arrives at the site at about 8am, Choon exchanges are made with customers, suppliers, Euro- Kin settles into his chair and deals with his emails. He then pean colleagues and local teams. It’s a real marathon! > The RAILs (or revisable lists of priority actions): reads the news headlines which, as everyone knows, can have Suite à l’analyse de la scorecard, des listes d’actions prioritaires sont établies conjointement par le CSD/CSM et le client pour résoudre les difficultés identifiées. Ce sont les RAILs. Ces listes sont modifiables après chaque revue.

MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 14 PAGE 15 . JANUARY2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE A DAY IN THE LIFE... A DAY IN THE LIFE... OF CARL SOMMERFELDT OF MURRAY WYVILLE M-D STERLING M-D TORONTO Carl Sommerfeldt joined Messier-Dowty two years ago, after twelve years of good and faithful service as Maintenance Manager with United Airlines. Carl is an Murray, an engineer specialised in aircraft maintenance, joined Messier-Dowty expert in his field, after serving ten years in the US Air Force and running his own about 20 years ago. He has worked at the / East Coast of North America company. Customer Support Centre for 18 years. He lives to the east of Ajax with his wife Carl lives with his wife and son in a small country town, 30 kilometres to the east of and two children, Justin aged five and Cassandra, aged three. San Francisco.

Therefore, a typical day for Carl starts at 5am when he phones room for his legs (that’s a handy tip!)… Even when he is away France and England where the offices are about to close for on business, Carl manages to stay in contact with his family At 6.15am, Murray is ready to attack his day. After complex questions, like a rough landing that requires a lan- question, Murray was very surprised when the operator told the day. At the beginning of the morning, he also deals with everyday and to learn about his son’s football feats, thanks to downing a high-vitamin orange juice, he whisks the chil- ding gear inspection. him he’d been grounded since 4am but hadn’t called earlier business on the east coast where it is almost lunchtime. He the mobile phone, MMS and emails. dren off to the nanny. His daughter was born on the same However, answering the telephone is only part of the work because he didn’t wanted to wake him up. usually calls Singapore at the start of the evening. For Carl, day as her mother, much to the satisfaction of Murray who and every day is different for Murray. For example, when he getting up so early offers certain advantages. For example, It is not always easy being physically far from the rest of his has always had problems remembering his family and arrived at the office one day, he discovered that an operator “It’s a pleasure to work with some operators!” Carl’s counterparts are all based at Messier-Dowty sites or at he can take a short break in the afternoon to pick his son up colleagues and Messier-Dowty. However, the experience is friends’ birthdays. He can still remember his wife tel- based in Dallas, Texas, had encountered towing problems Customer Support Centres (CSC) but Carl’s situation is very from school. When he worked for United, Carl never got home no less rewarding and fulfilling for Carl who, little by little, ling him “I don’t want to be in hospital on my birthday…” with a CL601. The operator asked Murray to go to the site The family’s leisure activities change with the seasons. In the different. He is in charge of South America, Latin America early enough to do this. sees our customer service network developing worldwide: but apparently baby Cassie didn’t hear the same thing… immediately – his plane ticket had even been reserved! No summer, baseball is the favourite sport but in winter all the and the centre and west of North America. He spends part of time to get himself organised or go back home. Just what the family go snowmobiling! Murray is considered rather eccen- his time in an office located on the premises of United Airli- it is “By establishing trusting relations with our customer wanted... tric by his colleagues who, during the cold season, tend to nes and another part in his Messier-Dowty office set up at his As far as travelling is concerned, Murray gets to the site at 7.30. Murray gets to the difficult to beat Carl – he is in charge of an area stretching as customers on a daily basis, we are giving our- site at 7.30. After a coffee to get him going and heat him up, escape to the south to soak up the sun in Florida or Mexico. home. Welcome to the era of e-Working! Other operators can be more understanding. Murray remem- far as the south of Brazil. Thanks to his extensive knowledge he is ready for his working day, which will probably go on till Indeed, Murray’s life is far from ordinary! selves the means to expand our service acti- bers one Saturday morning when he was on duty for AOG calls of air traffic and airports, he is in complete control of his trip about 5 pm. (Aircraft on the Ground). One of the greatest challenges facing the schedules. He conscientiously avoids very congested hubs vity and consolidate the professional image The first thing he does is check his emails and deal with CSD everyday is time and time-zone management. When they like Chicago or those airports affected by bad weather at cer- we project to aircraft manufacturers.” urgent matters. The second thing he does is use his second Interviewed by Florence Baumassy have finished their day in Singapore, they are in the middle tain times of the year (Denver airport in January for example). He was woken by his pager at 8am. He called work tool - the telephone. There is usually a chain of different of their day in Europe, arriving at work on the east coast of He avoids connections that leave him very little time to chan- the operator who explained the problem (he needed spare calls from operators, ranging from very simple questions the United States and still sleeping on the west coast! It is ge planes, forcing him to rush to the boarding gate carrying parts). Of course, this kind of call is common but in the case in (solved by referring the caller to the user guide) to more difficult for all these people to get together for a telephone suitcase, portable and attaché case. As he is rather tall, he Interviewed by Jeanette Stone conference…! reserves seats near emergency exits because there is more ...... A DAY IN THE LIFE... OF JANE GEE BIDOS : DEVELOPING EMPLOYEE SKILLS M-D GLOUCESTER TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Our CSDs are not exclusively responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction. It is the responsibility of one Jane Gee has been in the job for about 10 months. She is in charge of managing and all, whatever position they hold in the product life cycle. Therefore, management at Messier-Dowty difficulties encountered by operators based in Spain, Greece, Egypt, Switzerland, Bidos has chosen to focus its progress plan on customer satisfaction, fully aware that a production site Austria, Belgium, and also Portugal and the Netherlands. This is a difficult task has a role to play in achieving this objective. because she has to visit each operator twice a year on average! When she is not travelling, Jane lives near Gloucester with her husband Phil and This plan is based on three 3. Developing skills: to identify and select skills that their daughter Harriet. main themes: developing pro- need to be developed or recruited, and implement suitable ducts, improving performance training sessions to help develop islands of independent When her alarm clock goes on at 6.15am, Jane realises that Back in England, she picks up her hired car and drives home, At home… and developing employee production. her night is well and truly over and that she has to get up. arriving late at night. Jane is lucky to have a husband who supports her in her job skills. The Human Resources After breakfast, she checks Harriet’s satchel for the last time With the Scorecard at hand, Jane and her customer assess and stands in for her at home with their young daughter. department at Bidos has implemented three initiatives to The Operator Training Plan, launched in September and in no time at all, they are in the car and off to school! Messier-Dowty’s performance in relation to problems identi- The three of them form a very united trio. At the moment, promote this last theme. 2004, is in line with this last initiative. It aims to develop the Jane then heads for Messier Services’ offices (opposite Mes- fied during the previous visits and recent problems. Once the the whole family is taking skiing lessons in preparation for flexibility of operators or their ability to specialise inone sier-Dowty’s) where she has her office, near the Customer assessment is over, Jane and her customer review the RAIL a winter sports holiday planned for next January. It will be a 1. Safety at work: by keeping ISO14001 certification and sector of activity. This plan involves operators assessing Support department. together, i.e. the revisable list of priority action to be taken. well-deserved holiday! establishing a preventive approach involving risk analysis and their technical skills themselves and then building individual When Jane gets back to the office, she sends a copy of her treatment. Like all CSMs, Jane leads a double or even triple life and it assessment to all those concerned in-house. Above all, she training courses. Eventually, it should improve the structure takes a lot of organisation to manage all that successfully.This sends it to the customer who will use it as a basis for work in “I am very pleased to belong to the CSD/CSM of the training courses available to them through the 2. Working together better: to optimise interaction is how she does it. future exchanges with Messier-Dowty or Messier Services. team. I like the idea of building and maintai- introduction of new instruments. between players at the site and give them a sense of indi- ning relations with customers. It’s very ful- Workshop session “Working together better” vidual and collective responsibility. For the past two years, Training courses currently available are: On the road… At the office… filling to help them solve their problems. It “Working Together Better” training sessions have been held - behavioural or organisational courses Jane’s main mission is to maintain her customers’ satisfaction Before doing anything else, Jane checks her emails. She has regularly at the site. They have helped everyone identify mis- makes you feel really useful.” - technical training courses aimed at increasing flexibility or This operator plan, which should end in at the highest level possible. many exchanges with Integrated Logistic Support teams (ILS) sions and responsibilities and lead to different sectors esta- specialisation For each visit, she usually arrives the evening before and puts during the day. Together, they study the results of the RAILs blishing service contracts with each other. 2006, is wholly in line with the industrial - training courses that should develop multi-skills within one the finishing touches to her dossier. This preparation time is and the tendencies they highlight. She also works a lot with “Tool Box” training sessions deal with management practices Interviewed by Heidi Beal single activity. vision adopted by the site in accordance very important for Jane. It enables her to get into condition the CSC on the technical and commercial aspects of each and are intended for managers. Their purpose is to teach for the following day that will be very long: The day kicks off contract she manages. These contacts with the ILS and the them how to galvanise their teams and lead them towards with the 2008-2010 Bidos plan. at 9am and goes on till 4 or 5pm non-stop. She then goes to CSC are very enriching and it would be difficult to satisfy the a shared goal while ensuring the personal fulfilment of each the airport and types out her notes while waiting for her flight. customer without this collaboration. individual. Hervé Nachbaur

MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE . JANUARY 2005 . PAGE 16 PAGE 17 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE Specifications of the Messier single-seater «laboratory» aeroplane

Engine: Hispano-Suiza 6Mb, 250 h.p. at 2,000 rpm Wing span: 9,56 m Length: 8,10 m Height: 2,25 m Total weigh: 1200 kg Maximum speed: 318 km/h, i.e. 50 km/h faster than the tricycle l/g version Ceiling: 6 500 m

HISTORY OF LANDING GEAR MAIDEN FLIGHT OF THE MESSIER EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT – BIRTH OF RETRACTABLE LANDING GEAR After the Wright brothers’ historic flight in 1903 and the beginnings of civil aviation in 1914, it was during the 1920s that aeronautical engineers started carefully studying the technique of landing gear. They had realised that the air resistance of the landing gear in flight considerably reduced aircraft’s performances in terms of speed and control. So if the aeroplane was to seriously compete with the train, improvements would have to be made to its landing gear.

At that time, the landing gear (a simple set of wheels enabling and taxiing on the ground. (This was a forerunner of the nose two outriggers under the wings and a prop under the tail, it the aeroplane to move along the runway during takeoff and wheel of modern tricycle landing gear comprising of nose certainly had everything it needed to stay on the ground! To landing phases) was attached to the aircraft in a permanently gear and two main landing gear units).In addition, two fixed compensate for takeoff runs that were thought to be too long extended position and so generated high air resistance. Two outriggers were positioned under the wings to balance the (owing to the weight of the aircraft and its numerous sets main ideas were put forward to reduce this phenomenon: aircraft when stationary. In May that year, bicycle gear was of landing gear!) an oleo-pneumatic variable-pitch three- retract the landing gear inside the fuselage during flying blade propeller was to be developed. And, what is more, that phases or build landing gear that would remain extended but «During the 1930s, aeronautical engineers operating principle was then copied on many other aircraft. cause less drag. debated the advantages and drawbacks of George Messier, the French inventor of hydraulic The aircraft had only one breakdown in flight during its retractable landing gear. Although this definitely service life. That incident occurred at an altitude of 5,000 suspension, was the first to suggest retractable landing reduced aircrafts’ air resistance, it also made gear . In 1928, he obtained a grant of 520,000 francs from the metres above Rambouillet, near Paris, when the engine French Government to build a prototype. Five years later, in them heavier and more expensive to run. However, suddenly cut out owing to the freezing up of the carburettor. November 1933, the experimental aircraft was ready for its the faster aircraft flew, the clearer the advantages The pilot glided towards Villacoublay in the hope of saving the first flight tests. It was fitted with conventional fixed landing of retractable landing gear became.» aeroplane in spite of the drag generated by the premature gear and a tail prop, but all this equipment made the aircraft’s lowering of the landing gear. Narrowly missing aircraft tail too heavy and the pilot could not get it off the ground. It hangars, he successfully alighted on land adjoining the was not until April 21st, 1934, that pilot and engineer Pierre installed. However, for safety reasons, the fixed landing gear airfield. Lallemant managed to take off in the aircraft. On that occasion, was retained. At the time, of course, simulators had not been There was then a succession of many test flights until the it was equipped with retracting landing gear consisting of invented so pilots did not discover the characteristics and aeroplane’s story comes to an end in 1937, when it was two wheels in tandem which could be raised rearwards by defects of aeroplanes until they were in the air …. probably dumped in a scrap yard. But this «laboratory» a hydraulic system and retracted into the fuselage through Fitted out like that, the aeroplane would have made an ideal aircraft led to the Messier company’s success in winning automatically opening doors. Under the aircraft’s nose, there exhibit in a gallery of the monsters of aviation history. With industrial markets and played an important role as forerunner was a steerable nose wheel linked to the rudder for steering two wheels in tandem under the fuselage, two side wheels, of all modern aeroplanes. > GEORGE MESSIER (1896 – 1933) DID YOU KNOW? Taken in the fullest sense covering all its It was in 1921 that George Messier, absorbers, wheels, , irreversible controls and oleo- functions, the term «landing gear» has the a trained chemical engineer, began pneumatic suspension systems. All these devices were true following meanings: abandoning his research into the technical and commercial successes. The Messier laboratory - A structural assembly securely mounted on an manufacture of explosives to devote aeroplane or «CT 001», designed in 1929, served as a flying aircraft, with the specific characteristic of being of his energy to the study of shock- testbed for all these inventions. variable geometry so that its shock absorbers can absorbing pneumatic and oleo- Business was booming when George Messier died on 23 damp the aircraft’s residual vertical force on landing, pneumatic devices. January 1933 after a horse-riding accident. His company, while also being retractable in flight. It is made up of under the management of his widow and his partner, its component landing gear units. When he saw that his work was not continued to prosper and became one of the great successes - A set of systems and equipment which fulfils various proving the commercial success of the French aviation industry. requirements during taxiing and the aircraft’s ground- he had hoped for, he turned his to-flight and flight-to-ground transitions. It comprises attention to aeronautics. He was the tyres, wheels and brakes, the control and quick to realise that, to improve the performances of their actuation system (which, with the wheels and bra- aircraft and compete with the other transport industries, kes, constitutes the brake system), the nose wheel aeroplane manufacturers needed specialists like himself. steering system (and, in some case, main gear wheel So, in 1927, he and his associate, René Lucien Lévy, founded steering system), as well as the landing gear and door their aviation equipment company, Société Française de operating and locking system actuated during retrac- Matériel d’Aviation (which was renamed Société Messier tion and extension. in 1933). From then on, the two partners made a success of whatever they turned their hands to, including shock Alain Valez, M-D Vélizy

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