November 2009 Archives

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 5 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Curufinwe. After the A330-200F took off, Airbus brought the photographer and others to the side of the runway. When the A330-200F came in to land, it ended up performing a touch-and-go, enabling this shot.

During the Dubai Air Show Flightglobal's Barbara Cockburn got to fly in an Alenia Aeronautica Spartan C-27J that was following a Eurofighter Typhoon over Dubai for an air-to-air photo shoot. Watch Barbara's video of the event here.

A United Arab Emirates company making an ultra-long-range unmanned air vehicle plans to achieve first flight in three months.

Ali Al Dhaheri, general designer and chief executive of Abu Dhabi-based Adcom Systems, says the Smart Eye medium-altitude UAV has completed all component level tests on the all-composite structure and engine. Read more...

(Photo: Jon Ostrower/Flightglobal)

Recent wins for L-3 include a $68 million contract from the US Air Force in January for 20 four-ship F-16 mission training centre simulators for basic and advanced pilot mission training, tactics validation and mission rehearsal. L-3 also recently won upgrades to its Predator mission aircrew training system (PMATS) first ordered by the USAF in 2005. Enhancements to the Predator system include low-level light TV simulation, high-resolution databases of the Kabul and Bagram airfields in Afghanistan, as well as the addition of L-3's physics-based environment generator (PBEG) into the simulator. PBEG includes software from the gaming world that predicts human behaviour based on certain stimuli. Where the gaming industry pales compared with what is needed for military exercises is in the scale of the game, however. "We have to go across a city that might be 100 square miles large," says Rockwell Collins' Statler. Read more...

Boeing has confirmed that it downed six unmanned manned air vehicles at various ranges with two developmental portable laser beam systems during tests at the Naval Air Warfare Centre at China Lake, California in May. Read more...

Airbus Military's A330-based multi-role tanker/transport (MRTT) has for the first time conducted the simultaneous in-flight refuelling of two aircraft, by hooking up with a pair of Spanish air force Boeing EF-18A fighters.

Conducted using the first of five tankers on order for the Royal Australian Air Force, the milestone follows other recent firsts with "wet" and night-time contacts involving the type. The modified airliner is equipped with a tail refuelling boom and two Cobham 905E under-wing hose-and-drogue pods. Read more...

This week Flight International features the news from the 2009 Dubai Air Show.

We also look at:

• Military simulators: Full immersion in the crosshairs
• The winners of the Flightglobal achievement awards
  

And don't forget about our cover competition, where YOUR photograph can be on the cover of Flight International.

You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 5 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Planet Aircraft. The image is of a LAN A340 on approach to Germany's Frankfurt airport in front of storm clouds.

Here is the layout of the courier area on the new A330-200F.

In other A330-200F news:

Airbus is on track to deliver the first A330-200 Freighter to launch customer Etihad Crystal Cargo next summer following the first flight of the development aircraft earlier this month.

The A330-200F took to the air on 5 November. This aircraft (MSN 1004), which is Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered, will fly the 180h flight-test programme. The first aircraft for Etihad (MSN 1032), which is Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered, is in build and will be used for final checks ahead of delivery in August. Read more...

Economy of scale for business jets takes on new dimensions when the subject is Bombardier's Challenger 850 executive jet, a forward fit 14-passenger version of the venerable 50-seat CRJ200 regional jet.

Along with a couple dozen "corporatised" CRJs completed before Bombardier launched the formal Challenger 850 programme in 2005, the 55 "official" 850s share manufacturer and PMA parts, service centres, mechanic expertise, an already-trained pilot pool and other money-saving elements with about 1,000 CRJ200s and CRJ100s still in service around the world. Read more...

(Photo: Bombardier)

Airbus Military's delayed A400M transport has been edged closer towards its planned flight debut before year-end, with the type having run all four of its engines simultaneously for the first time. Read more...

The Dubai Air Show may have wrapped up, but you can still catch all the news, photos, videos and even Tweets at our special Dubai Air Show page.

Today's image is from AirSpace user Chipmunker. The Flightglobal team has been reporting on the news pouring out from the Dubai Air Show, but there is also a huge static display of aircraft, which Chipmunker snapped one part of.

This week Flight International takes a look at Germany relishing Baltic duty: the Eurofighter's deployment to Lithuania draws Russian visitors.

We also look at:

• Why Italian aerospace is making steady inroads into the US industry
• Bombardier's Challenger 850 comes with support network and pilots

And don't forget about our cover competition, where YOUR photograph can be on the cover of Flight International.

You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 5 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Nir Ben-Yosef (his website is http://www.xnir.com/). The image is of an IAF F-15C Eagle "BAZ" taken on operational activity during the Second Lebanon War.


Start a gallery on AirSpace for your chance at having your photograph featured as our Image of the Week. Also don't forget about our third annual cover competition that gives you a chance to have your photograph featured on the cover of Flight International and win cool prizes.

A futuristic-looking heliport design that could transform VIP travel around the Middle East has been unveiled by international design consultancy Design Q.

The blueprints, being unveiled exclusively by Flight Daily News at the Dubai air show, are for a modular heliport, with all facilities fully integrated. Read more here and see more photos here.

(Image: Design Q)

The Gulf's embryonic low-cost airline sector received an injection from Dubai this year with the launch of the emirate's state-owned operation FlyDubai. And its arrival might just push major airlines from other parts of the region into a response.

Conceived to operate from the all-new airport at Jebel Ali, which had been due to open this year, the airline launched operations on 1 June from Terminal 2 at Dubai's existing international airport, just over 12 months after being established with a start-up capital of 250 million dirhams ($68 million). Read more...

For Flightglobal's latest news from the Dubai air show, go here.

(Photo: FlyDubai)

The Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky MH-60R and NH Industries NH90 remain as potential replacements for the Royal Australian Navy's Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawks and cancelled Kaman Aerospace SH-2G(A) Super Seasprites, the nation's Department of Defence says. Read more...

(Australian Department of Defence)

By popular request from yesterday's Image of the Day comparing the A380 cabins of Singapore Airlines, Qantas, and Emirates, here is the cabin layout for Air France.

Two years on from its service debut, operators have told Flight International that the Airbus A380 has proved itself to be a crowd pleaser from a passenger point of view but suffers some frustrating technical problems.

In our exclusive in-service report, launch customers Emirates, Qantas and Singapore Airlines provide no-holds-barred overviews of the double-decker's performance, while Airbus, Engine Alliance and Rolls-Royce give feedback on their experiences. Read more...

Here, we compare the cabin layouts the three operators have chosen.

On behalf of Flight International, Peter Collins became the first UK test pilot to evaluate the Rafale in its current F3 production standard. You can read his exclusive article here.

Other lead stories in this edition is that JetSet is pondering the launch of a stretched Paris Jet.

This time also marks the two year anniversary of the A380's entry-into-service. View our special report here.

With the Dubai Air Show next week, Flight International presents its pre-show coverage, Visions of Arabia: Can the Middle East help pull the aerospace industry from its malaise? This year's Dubai air show takes place against a very different backdrop from the runaway economic growth of two years ago. But despite Dubai's financial problems, buoyant oil and gas revenues have fuelled the ambitions of Abu Dhabi and Qatar to create global carriers and the region to bolster its defence capabilities. In this special, we assess the fortunes of the region's airlines and business aviation community, as well as whether big state-led projects will create an aerospace infrastructure in the Gulf. We visit Jordan - short of natural resources but with an aviation industry built on its reputation as a regional commercial crossroads. We also see how government warchests make the Middle East a key target for defence aviation manufacturers.

• Overview and show preview: Middle East sets course for economic recovery
• Business aviation bounces back: Joining the new jet set
• Dubai's expanding airports: The sky's the limit
• Jordan aims high: Oasis of enterprise
• Royal Jordanian's strategy: Linking the Levant
• A low-cost spy in the sky: Security on a budget
• Training the region: Alya Aviation Academy takes off at Aqba
• Gulf's ambitious network carriers: Flying the flags
• Budget carriers cause a ripple: Low-cost challenge
• Bahrain and Oman fly solo: Out of the shadows
• UAE stockpiles weapon systems: Building an arsenal
• Saudi Arabia's military muscle: Robust Riyadh
• Iraq gathers arms for 2012: Starting from scratch
• NATO-like coalition takes shape: Fractious friends
• US aid for Israel's neighbours: Border security

• All the latest news, images and video from the Dubai Air Show

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user runlikehell. The image is of a B-2 stealth bomber at Edwards Air Force Base.

Start a gallery on AirSpace for your chance at having your photograph featured as our Image of the Week.

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is to replace part of its aerial firefighting fleet with four new Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft, to be delivered from the second quarter of 2010 through 2011. Read more...

Michimasa Fujino's peers could be excused for wondering what planet he lives on. While the chief executives of most business jet makers have watched the economic world crash around their ears, Fujino has been busy doubling his workforce to 420 over the past year. Many of those hired by his HondaJet operation have been cut loose by established rivals. Read more...

The US Federal Aviation Administration plans issue an airworthiness directive calling on Sikorsky S-92 operators to repetitively inspect the helicopter's main gearbox mounting feet for cracks, defects that could lead to gearbox detachment and loss of control of the helicopter. More...

Pakistan's first of five Saab 2000-based airborne early warning and control aircraft has entered final system testing in Sweden, with the work having already demonstrated the capabilities of its integrated self-protection equipment.

Islamabad became the launch - and so far only - military customer for a Saab 2000 derivative when it signed a deal for the Saab Microwave Systems Erieye radar-equipped type in June 2006. Its first example made its flight debut from Saab's Linköping site in mid-2008. Read more...

From the resurrected Twin Otter to Mitsubishi's MRJ, part two of Flight International's restyled annual appraisal of airliner programmes scrutinises major developments in the regional sector. Leading data for each type is provided in tabular form with information on prices, performance, and orders/deliveries to 30 September.

• Regional jets: Regional revolution
• STOL twin-props: Turning back time
• New generation turboprops: Plans for the future
• Russian/Chinese regional types: Slow burners
• Small regional types: Niche benefits
• Cargo conversions: Finding a new role

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Mike Rivett, known as Photomotion (his website is http://www.fotomotion.org). The image is of an AgustaWestland Merlin at RIAT to mark the 100th anniversary of naval aviation.


Start a gallery on AirSpace for your chance at having your photograph featured as our Image of the Week.

An era ended at United Airlines on 28 October as the carrier operated its last Boeing 737 passenger flight, more than 40 years after introducing the twinjet.

Flight 737, operated by 737-300 N331UA, took off from Washington Dulles and made what amounted to a farewell tour with stops at all the carrier's hubs - Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, with the final touchdown at its San Francisco maintenance base. (Pictured) Read more...

(United Airlines)