December 2011 Archives

Flightglobal travels to all the major air shows all year, every year to bring you the news and industry gossip. The team works round the clock to share the news with you on the web with our dedicated show pages whioch showcase videos, blogs, twitter, images and news as well as the iFlight the interactive daily which features heatmapped cutaways and videos.

Asian Aerospace - Asian Aerospace returned to Hong Kong's Asia World Expo from 8-10 March , reflecting the region's booming market in civil aviation and commercial aerospace.

 

Heli Expo - Organised by the Helicopter Association International and held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.Heli Expo is the world's largest trade show dedicated to the international helicopter community, with more than 500 exhibitors displaying their wares to over 17,500 industry professionals throughout.

 

Aero Friedrichschafen

This niche regional show is located on the German shore of Lake Constance. Aero as it's known showcases the great and the good in the range of general aviation products and services including private and light aircraft, gliders, kit planes, helicopters and parachutes, air sports equipment, cockpit and onboard avionics systems and other pilot equipment.

See video interviews from AOPA's president and CEO and see demonstrations of newly launched avionics suites . 

EBACE - European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition - the show where a zany new interior design for a Boeing 787 business aircraft was showcased by Gore Design Completions.

 

Paris Air Show

Flightglobal launched the Paris Power Tweeter Award and its My Paris campaign where you could sign up to get the news that matters most to you.

It was also the show where the Airbus A380 damaged its wing tip and was unable to perform in the flying displays. Korean Air's A380 on static display valiantly stepped in. See videos, images, the iFlight and so much more.

AUVSI

See Flightglobal's collection of Unmanned Daily News in digital format from the North American AUVSI conference. There are videos; watch an interview with Lockheed Martin's Kingsley Fregene talking about the design challenges of its Samurai monocopterand take a look at the Insitu Integrator. There are blogs, twitter and of course images and news from our team of journalists.

MAKS

Routes World Development Forum

NBAA 2011

Air Show China at Zhuhai

At this show AVIC International signed an agreement with the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac) to purchase 100 ARJ21 regional jets to market to international customers.

Watch a video of Flightglobal journalist Ghim-Lay Yeo taking a tour inside the aircraft. See an interview about aircraft manufacturer Cessna's views of the Chinese market.

Dubai Air Show

Related content

Shows 2010

Singapore Air show - February 2-7 2010

Farnborough Air show - July 19-25 2010 

Air show China - November 16-21 2010

1. A380 hits CRJ while taxiing at JFK

Video footage emerged showing an Air France Airbus A380 colliding with a Comair Bombardier CRJ700 during taxiing at New York JFK back in April. The A380 "clipped the tail fin" of the parked Comair jet, causing only "material damage".

2. Tu 154 struggles against in-flight oscillation

The video clips below show a TU-154 departing from an air base in Moscow before it appears to encounter problems in lateral and longitudinal control.

It eventually returns to the airfield to land.

 

 

3. Sendai airport deluged as earthquake strikes

 

 

 

4. ANA 737 rolled near inverted after rudder trim blunder

Japanese investigators have detailed the extraordinary in-flight upset involving an All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 which resulted in the aircraft banking to a near-inverted attitude.

Flight NH140 from Naha had been cruising at 41,000ft, en route to Tokyo on 6 September, and had been some 43km south of Hamamatsu when the incident occurred.

5. ANA unveils first 787 configuration

All Nippon Airways has unveiled the long-awaited configuration of the first 787 to enter service, outfitting its first 787s with 264 seats for regional and domestic operations, with later regionally-configured aircraft to have 222 seats as the carrier ramps up its initial pilot and cabin crew training.

The aircraft, painted in bespoke white and blue colours highlighting Boeing's Dreamliner brand and ANA's service goals - innovation, uniqueness and the inspiration of Japan - is the eighth 787 built. It is also known as ZA101 and has been registered JA801A.

6. PICTURES & VIDEO: F-35B critical tests

With the beginning of at-sea trials for the Lockheed Martin F-35B, the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant had entered the most critical phase in a year-long campaign to overcome probation and be spared cancellation.

7. An-12 rolled inverted before Congo crash

Video evidence of an aircraft crash in Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo in March identified the type as an Antonov An-12 freighter, and showed it rolling inverted moments before impact.

Images of the aircraft's last seconds show it diving steeply and rolling to starboard, crashing inverted.

8. No viable all new single aisle before 2030

Airbus believes that a viable all-new single-aisle airliner will not arrive before 2030, due to the timing of the necessary advances in powerplant technology.

John Leahy, Airbus' chief operating officer, spoke to Flightglobal on video.

9. Boeing poised for crucial phase in 747-8 test effort

Boeing underwent a crucial phase in the 747-8 flight-test effort as it prepares to start trials of the -8I passenger variant including maximum-brake-energy demonstration on the freighter version, plus an analysis of back-to-back wake vortex testing to determine whether the stretched 747 will be approved in the same separation category as the smaller 747-400. Four 747-8Fs were engaged in the flight-test programme, which began in February 2010.

 

 

10. Test pilots extract stranded Alrosa Tu-154

Pilots in Russia extracted an Alrosa Tupolev Tu-154 from a remote military airfield, six months after an in-flight power loss and emergency landing left the aircraft stranded.

The landing damaged the trijet, when it overran the 1,300m runway at Izhma in the Komi republic, and the short field meant that it could not easily be flown out again.

Passengers flying with KLM can select who to sit next to on flights using social media such as Facebook.

The airline believes that your air travel experience can be affected by the person you are seated next to and is proposing that passengers can opt to select their seat mate using tools like Facebook.

The airline says the "meet and seat" programme can be used for networking or to find passengers who share similar interests.

See this Taiwanese animation (by Next Media Animation) showing how the concept might work.

My colleague Stephen Trimble today blogged over on The Dew Line that Iran plans to reverse-engineer its very own Lockheed Martin RQ-170 from the example of the US stealth drone its forces apparently shot down earlier this month. As Stephen suggests, good luck to them.
Your correspondent back in October joined Boeing for a tour of European 787 suppliers, and was treated to a memorable presentation by Dassault Systemes chief executive Bernard Charles. Making the point that modern 3D digital design software has transformed our concept of reality, Charles observed that if Chinese counterfeiters were to buy a 787 and attempt to copy it, they would never succeed - but if they got ahold of the digital plans, they could do it.
That remark left one programme insider none too bemused; working from digital plans would clearly be miles better than trying to measure up all the parts with a pair of calipers, but still doesn't take into account the fact that the machine's measurements are only one aspect of its true essence, which arguably resides in its 18 million lines of computer code as much as its shape and size.
The incident brought to mind a real example of Chinese reverse engineering, which followed president Nixon's opening of the door to "Red China" back in 1972. One early goodwill gesture, Flight is told, was the sale to Beijing of three Boeing 727s. On a subsequent visit, Boeing legend Joe "father of the 747" Sutter was shown a fourth aircraft, which certainly looked like a 727.
But, on inspecting the machine, Sutter found such incongruities as a control yoke that would have taken the strength of three gorillas to move and urged the Chinese not to attempt a flight. Thankfully they heeded his advice.

Breaking news:

American Airlines, which earlier this week succumbed to high fuel prices and a dodgy economy and filed for Chapter 11 - to protect itself from creditors and pave the way for a slashing of wages, benefits and headcount - is joining with fellow-bankrupt and oneworld alliance partner Japan Air Lines to sponsor the 11 December Honolulu Marathon.

As American puts it:

"American's sponsorship of the Honolulu Marathon means that its partnership with JAL now extends beyond the terminal and through the streets of Honolulu to reach the sandy shores and warm surf of Waikiki."
American's and JAL's corporate generosity extends beyond the race, too. The evening before, their "Sunset on the Beach" spectacular will transform Waikiki Kuhio "into a stage for some of the best entertainment and food available on the island".

American employees worried about their jobs or salaries might want to do some quick training and run the race. First prize is $40,0000, with an extra $15,000 for breaking the race record, of 2hr 11min 12sec for men and 2hr 27min 19sec for women.