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Cessna's latest jet - the Longitude

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Fresh from its EBACE launch, here's an image released by Cessna of its latest offering, the Citation Longitude. Very nice, if you like that sort of a thing.

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Credit: Cessna

NBAA: Comlux orders Sukhoi's Superjet 100

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Comlux_Superjet.jpg Swiss heavyweight Comlux has snubbed the industry's big brands to become launch customer for the VIP version of Sukhoi's Superjet 100 airliner - just four months after the variant was announced at the Paris air show.

The order for two Sukhoi Business Jets, plus two options, was unveiled today by SuperJet International, the joint venture between Alenia Aeronautica and the Russian manufacturer, which is responsible for marketing the jet outside the former Soviet Union and Asia.

EBACE: New interior design for 787 bizjet

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As our correspondent Mary Kirby reports on her Runway Girl blog, Gore Design Completions is showcasing a radical business aircraft interior design concept for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at #EBACE11 in Geneva.

The design, which features an open floor plan, "is about movement and how it reflects its environment", says Core Design Completions. 

"Swirling patterns in the headliners, creative ceiling fans and the furniture construction and placement are meant to fall in line with the air currents on the aircraft creating a fluid environment that wraps itself around the passengers."

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Airbus ACJ320 three quarter front IAE.jpgAirbus has introduced new names, branding and colours for its corporate jets, in a move aimed at reflecting commonality throughout the family and the modernity of the jetliners.

The words "Airbus ACJ" will now precede the model of the airliner from which each corporate jet is derived, with the A318 Elite becoming the Airbus ACJ318; the A319 Corporate becoming the Airbus ACJ319; the A320 Prestige becoming the Airbus ACJ320 and so on throughout the family, including the forthcoming Airbus ACJ350 widebody.

The new colours comprise metallic-blue shading on most of the fuselage and tail, highlighted by flowing curves "that echo the colour schemes often chosen by Airbus corporate jet customers", and are accompanied by a new "Airbus Corporate Jets" logo, said Airbus. Read more...

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TAG Aviation has invested more than £100 million ($148 million) upgrading Farnborough airport since it became leaseholder of the site - home to the biennial Farnborough air show - in 2001.

Building work on three new hangars (artist's rendering, below) is scheduled for completion in September, giving the airport a further 11,150m2 (120,000ft2) of enclosed space.

The expansion supports TAG Farnborough's victory in its protracted and acrimonious battle with the local community to double the number of aircraft movements at the UK's only dedicated business aviation airport. Read more...

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(Image: TAG Farnborough)

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...

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7X at Zurich_Dassault Falcon.JPGA 7X Falcon approaching Davos. Photo: Dassault

By Dan Thisdell

In any business it's wise to follow the money, but the good people at Dassault Falcon business jets must be on to a particular winner, having sent a dedicated team to Zurich airport to provide customer support during the World Economic Forum at Davos. Dassault, whose Falcon range stretches from the 2000LX to the super long-range, three-engine 7X, reckon the world leaders' confab will lead to an influx of approximately 350 business jets, including over 60 Falcons.

The Zurich operation is being supported by Dassault's three Swiss service centres, and spare parts are just three hours away from its Paris-Le Bourget distribution centre.

Dassault Falcon will also provide support for other world events this year such as the Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas as well as the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Gulfstream 650.jpg Gulfstream says its test pilots and engineers invoked a "safe mode" control actuation system on a G650 prototype for more than 2h on 21 December, demonstrating the viability of the electrically powered backup technology. Continue reading....
This week Flightglobal publication Flight International reports the show news from last week's National Business Aviation Association show where NetJets' mega order for up to 125 Phenom 300s indicate the biz aviation sector is pointing the way to recovery. There's more NBAA news here. The cover photograph shows a Phenom 300 at the NBAA static display park. The photo was taken by Liam Ritson of BillyPix.

26 October - 1 November 2010.jpgAlso featured this week are:
  • World airliners part one: Our airliner programme appraisal takes temperatures in the regional sector. With Russian and Japanese projects progressing, competition is heating up for jet manufacturers Bombardier and Embraer. Smaller emergent types have met cool receptions, notwithstanding STOL twin-prop revivals. Elsewhere, conversions are giving ageing aircraft an Indian summer, but it is unclear what turboprop revamps will bring. Read more here.
  • Cutting verdict: Belt-tightening UK axes Nimrod and Harrier as long-awaited defence review is finalised
  • Dawn of raider: Silkorsky looks to woo armed forces with light tactical S-97 helicopter based on X2 technology
Ever wanted to see your photograph on our cover? Well here's your chance! Between now and 1 December submit your photos to our cover competition. More info here.

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

First Piaggio P180 medevac in USA

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Air Ambulance Worldwide has become the first operator in the USA to use a Piaggio P180 Avanti II for medical evacuation missions. The air ambulance-configured twin turboprop - which is based in Palm Harbor, Florida - is used to transport patients to hospitals or other care facilities across the USA and beyond.

"The unobstructed space available within the P180 stand-up cabin and the very low ambient noise levels of the aircraft, were key factors in Air Ambulance Worldwide's decision to purchase the aircraft," says Piaggio. Original article here

Piaggio P180 Medevac.jpg(Photo: Piaggio)