FAIRCHILD-DONIER AIRCRAFT
It is ironic that in 1998, we would document with time-lapse the
building of a Fairchild-Donier aircraft when, Sherman Mills Fairchild
got his start in the aviation industry by designing his own aerial
cameras. His outstanding contributions to the aviation industry began
after WW1 with the development of a remarkable between-the-lens shutter
aerial camera. It later became the standard for the army and navy and
was the true beginning of the aerial mapping industry when he formed
Fairchild Aerial surveys. He soon realized that his biplanes are
inadequate for accurate mapping and forms Fairchild Airplane
Manufacturing corporation to develop a better plane. Over the next 50
years his contributions to aeronautics and astronautics through his
various companies include everything from, midget submarines, jet
powered helicopters, missile jet engines, anti-aircraft and
anti-submarine missiles to meteoroid detection satellites for NASA and
cameras that provide the first precise photography of the moon's surface
on the Apollo missions.
In 1996 Fairchild Aerospace acquired Donrnier Luftfahrt GmbH to form
Fairchild Dornier. The Fairchild-Dornier 328JET is a commuter airliner
based upon the turboprop-powered Dornier 328. A market survey of 50
regional airlines worldwide was launched which confirmed their customer
driven preference for jet equipment. Armed with this information,
Fairchild launched the 328JET in February 1997. The 328JET is a
jet-engined development of the Dornier 328 turboprop. While the Dornier
328 turboprop and the Fairchild-Dornier 328Jet share the same cabin
layout, the 328Jet is equipped with two P&s;W 306B turbofan engines. Used
as a regional aircraft, the 328Jet can fly 32-34 passengers up to 1000
miles.
Beginning in September of 1998, TimeFilx documented one 328Jet's
progress from a bare fuselage through the complete build at the
Fairchild Dornier Airplane factory in Munich, Germany. It was a
challenging project that meant flying to Muinch at least once a month to
move the camera to its next location and shoot and ground footage
(short-time time-lapse) while there....and hope that someone did not
move the camera before we could get back.
The language barrier made for some potentially disastrous mistakes when
the workers thought the camera was set up to spy on them. They turned
the camera away from the plane which essentially set us back one month.
Fortunately, there was another plane in the assembly line and we were
able to pick up the footage, something that would not be possible on
construction of a building.
Another potential problem was shooting inside the paint booth. Not only
could overspray ruin our camera equipment, but because paint is highly
flammable, any spark from static could, in theory, cause a large
explosion endangering everyone involved.
Solving issues like these and getting the job done are what makes us
experts. No time-lapse job is the same and each carries it's own set of
problems. We learn from every project and that experience gives us
better judgement on how to work out the next set of problems on your job.
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