February 2011 Archives

AirSpace user apgphoto has captured this photo of a WDL Aviation BAe 146 climbing out of Toulouse.

In recent news of the aircraft type, BAE Systems is not intending to continue with speculative conversions of 146 regional jets into freighters, after poor take-up in the market.

The manufacturer relaunched a conversion programme for the type, as the BAe 146QT, in early 2007 on the back of perceived interest from freight operators. Read more...

Korean Air has released these photos showing its first fully-painted Airbus A380.

Yannick Delamarre took this photo of a 'green' Lufthansa A380 departing Toulouse on a flight test 22 January last year. The A380-841, s/n 041, carries test registration F-WWAF and was re-registerd for Lufthansa as D-AIMB, Yannick says. In recent Lufthansa news, Lufthansa has been forced to postpone its planned commercial biofuel flights by at least a month because the fuel will not be certified in time by regulators.

The German carrier was originally planning to begin a six-month trial in April, in which it aims to operate its Frankfurt-Hamburg route using an International Aero Engine-powered Airbus A321 with one of its engines running on a 50/50 blend of biofuel derived from vegetable oil and traditional kerosene. Read more...

Today's image of the day is an Anadolujet 737-400 photographed by AirSpace user dream.

In recent 737-400 news, A June 2008 uncommanded pitch-up of a Boeing 737-400 operated by Tailwind Airlines has resulted in five recommendations by the US National Transportation Safety Board to the Federal Aviation Administration focusing on elevator system redesign for 737-300/400/500 models. Read more...

This week Boeing's first 747-8 Intercontinental, unveiled in a surprise 'sunrise' livery that pays tribute to the first 747, City of Everett, is featured on the cover of Flightglobal publication Flight International. We look at how Boeing is for the first time in its history is tackling three simultaneous aircraft certifications. With much work to do, it's certainly sleepless in Seattle.

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Keith Gaskell. His photo depicts a South African Airways A340-600 flanked with two SAAF Silver Falcons on each side. Keith took the photo at Africa Aerospace & Defence 2008 at SAAF AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town.

"One of the highlights on the two public days was the display by a South African Airways A340-600 which made two passes in formation with 4 PC-7 Astras of the SAAF Silver Falcons display team followed by a solo display which culminated in a steep spiraling climbout," Keith says.

Airbus Military's A400M development aircraft "Grizzly 1" has begun in-flight refuelling receiver trials behind a Vickers VC10 tanker flown by the UK Royal Air Force.

The new test campaign started at Toulouse, France on 15 February, when MSN1 "performed a series of dry contacts with the VC10's under-wing hose-and-drogue pod system", says Airbus. However, the released image shows the K3-standard tanker - ZA149 - also deployed its centreline refuelling hose during the sortie. Read more...

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International features on the cover India's Tejas light combat aircraft, photographed by Billypix at the Aero India show in Bangalore. You can read all the news and see all the video, photos, blogs, Tweets, and more here.

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user illuminati (Abhishek Singh). His photo depicts a Eurocopter EC130B at the Singapore airshow.

"This helicopter was projected as one of the most luxurious helicopter produced till date during the show and yes it is indeed one of the most beautiful looking rotary bird I saw in any air show. It has got the 'Military' look but yet gives you corporate business class feel from inside and hence I decided to capture this 'black beauty'," Abhishek says.

The Bloodhound supersonic car moved a step closer to reality today as its designers handed over the first set of drawings to aerospace component manufacturer Hampson Industries, which will produce the rear of the car.

Powered by a Eurofighter Typhoon EJ200 jet engine and a hybrid rocket, the British team hopes to break the current land speed record of 763mph by taking the car to over 1,000mph in South Africa next year. Continue reading....

Related article:

• 20 July 2010 VIDEO & PICTURES - FARNBOROUGH: Bloodhound car sniffs out Hampson 
• Bloodhound SSC 
• EJ200 jet engine

A Fairchild Metroliner operated by Flightline BCN on behalf of Manx2 which crashed at Cork airport this morning has been identified as bearing the registration number EC-ITP. Continue reading...

 

Pictures courtesy: PA Photos

Pictured is Airbus Military's second A400M development aircraft undergoing cold weather trials earlier this month in Kiruna, northern Sweden.

The aircraft - Grizzly 2 - experienced temperatures as low as -21ºC ... continue reading

 

Today's image of the day--by yours truly--is of the advanced Super Hornet upgrade options announced today at the Aero India show in Bangalore. The upgrades are mock-ups that have been placed on a real Super Hornet.

See more photos, including close-ups, of the upgrade options. Below the photo we have a video featuring Boeing's Super Hornet Chief Test Pilot, Ricardo Traven, explaining the upgrades.

This week's Valentine's Day-themed Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International 8-14 Feb), is taken by AirSpace user lammet67. His photo depicts a heart contrail formed by four aircraft from Team 60, the Swedish Air Force's acrobatic team. Team 60 made the heart in 2006 during the 80th anniversary celebrations for the Swedish Air Force.

You can see two of the aircraft in the lower right hand corner (click on the photo for a larger view).

Dassault has completed a flight test using a new FLIR Systems infrared camera (photos below) designed to differentiate between laminar flows and the more typical turbulent flows on a wing.

Part of the "Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft" effort under the European Clean Sky research programme, the equipment and analyses are precursors to planned "smart laminar wing" flight tests in 2014 on specially modified Airbus A340-300 by Airbus, Dassault and other partners.

In the recent test at Dassault's flight test centre in Istres, France, the company modified the right horizontal stabilizer of a Falcon 7X with a black covering and mounted the IR camera, which senses minute changes in temperature in the flow, to look down on the surface from the top of the horizontal tail. Read more...

Swedish regional carrier Amapola is testing a new electronic flight-bag cockpit installation, based on the portable Apple iPad, for its Fokker 50 turboprop fleet.

Initial installation of the touchscreen iPad technology took place on the first aircraft in November, and the carrier has secured Swedish civil aviation authority clearance for the Class 2B fit. Read more...

This beautiful contrail photo of a Lufthansa MD-11F was taken by AirSpace photographer erwan_ei.

Lufthansa Cargo VP Americas Achim Martinka says the carrier aims to add six "Boeing MD-11 equivalent" freighters by 2015. He says Lufthansa Cargo is now reviewing new and converted freighter options and expects to decide on which aircraft type to acquire within the next couple of months. Read more...

Korea Aerospace Industries has rolled out the first production T/A-50, the light-attack variant of the T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer.

The South Korean air force has ordered 22 T/A-50s for lead-in fighter and ground-attack training, says an industry source. These will be delivered by the end of 2012. Read more...

AirSpace photographer simacc1sd snapped this photo of Emirates A380 A6-EDI on final approach to Manchester airport. Emirates will not struggle to find enough economically viable routes on which to deploy the 90 Airbus A380s it has on order, and its 2020 fleet will be "modest" compared with airlines such as Air France-KLM and United Continental.

These are the main conclusions of a research note from Royal Bank of Scotland, which sees the Dubai-based carrier placing yet more aircraft orders in the second half of the current decade and into the following decade. Read more...

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International sports an air-to-air photo of the G120TP, supplied by Grob Aircraft, to mark our flight test report of the G120TP by pilot Peter Collins.

Also featured this week are: