FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1988
1988 - 1019.PDF
Gulf flares up WASHINGTON D.C. _ Following the US Navy's attack on two Iranian oil plat forms on April 18, the Iranian Navy retaliated the same day hy firing at three Grumman A-6 Intruders on patrol in the Gulf. Missiles from the Iranian frigate A.shand missed, and the A-6s struck back with Harpoon air-to-surface anti- ship missiles and laser-guided bombs, leaving the ship ablaze. At 0100 eastern daily time on April 18, the men of the Sirri and Sassan oil platforms were given five minutes to vacate the rigs before six US Navy ships started shelling. The attack was in retaliation for the new minelaving in the Gulf, which the "USA has blamed on Iran. The USS Samuel B. Roberts hit a mine on April 14. Soviets fly on liquid hydrogen MOSCOW Soviet scientists claim to have succeeded in their pioneering work on cryogenic fuels, following the first flight on April 15 of a "modified Tu- 155" (presumably meaning Tu-154). The aircraft is reported by Soviet news agency Tass to have been fuelled by a frozen mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquified natural gas, although the report has yet to be clarified; and it is possible that only one of these fuels was used but that the aircraft can utilise either. The new fuel is likely to be more expensive to produce than oil-based fuels, but this disadvantage could be offset by reduced emissions of damaging pollutants. Soviet claims that work has begun on extending the use of such fuels to scheduled flights seem opti mistic because of handling and storage problems with cryogenic liquids. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 23 April 1988 A320s go into service Air France launched the world's first working Airbus Indus trie A320 when the airliner took off full for Dusseldorf and Berlin on time on April 18. British Airways says it will have its first A320 working within a fortnight, and Air Inter receives its first in June. Soviets launch first Foton BAIKONUR The Soviet Union launched its first Cosmos satellite with a new designation, Foton, on April 14. Foton will conduct a 14-day materials processing mission, after which its Vostok-type capsule will be recovered. Experiments on board Foton are dedicated to the manufacture of semi conductor and extra-pure biologically active materials. Similar missions have been flown under the Cosmos label, but since then the Soviets have offered commercial flights of these capsules to Western experimenters, under the project name Foton. The first Western customer, in 1989, is Keyser Threde of West Germany. 0 Nasa administrator James Fletcher has recommended that the Soviet Union and the United States should co operate on a manned Moon mission, as a precursor to manned expeditions to Mars, and that this should proceed only after several unmanned joint science missions, citing timing, co-operative experi ence, and technical readiness as crucial. WORLD NEWS Jets move in on London city LONDON British Aerospace 146s are to carry out demonstration land ings, taxiing, and take-offs at London City Airport on May 15, to demonstrate to local people that its noise level is acceptably low. One of the aircraft (a -200) belongs to manufacturer BAe, the other, a -100, to Manx Airlines, of the Airlines of Britain Group. The Group also owns London City Airways, which operates from the airport in competition with Brymon Airways. Michael Bishop, chairman of Airlines of Britain, says: "People around the airport will be able to confirm our view that the noise level is little different from that of the Dash 7 [the only type currently allowed to operate there], and that the level of intrusion locally will not be greater." He is confident of over coming other obstacles in the way of his plan to run 146 services out of London City Airport; some, like the nearby Canary Wharf Tower and a planned suspension bridge, are physical obstacles (Flight, April 16, page 7). The 146/London City project has gained some momentum, Bishop says, and the demon stration day will give it more. Brymon Airways, until recently quiet on the possi bility of using the 146 in any part of its operations, last week announced that it was looking seriously at plans to include the four-jet airliner in its flights from its Plymouth base, as well as from London City Airport. Your Farnborough entry Compa. • ', -ing at the Fa? • . are reminded by the organisers that their entries for the oft Karnlxuough Trade Cata logue mii.-i be returned by post hefore May 21. using the correct SBAC fort*'-, or fa'A-rdto rvlikoIiB Gmsberi' on +44 (0)707 46936.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
