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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0070.PDF
INDUSTRY Boeing to evaluate frozen smoke' gel Boeing is to evaluate an ultra light insulation material devel oped by the USA's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and produced by California- based Aerojet. The material, aerogel, nicknamed "frozen smoke", is the lowest-density transparent solid ever made, says Aerojet, although the com pany has not released figures. Aerojet has a 15-month, $2.3 million US Advanced Research Projects Agency contract to demonstrate commercial pilot- production of aerogel. The agreement with Boeing allows for the aircraft manufacturer to evaluate aerogel as a thermal and acoustic insulator in air liner cabin interiors. The US Federal Aviation Ad ministration will perform fire- safety testing on the material, which Aerojet says is environ mentally safe, with "significant sound and thermal insulation properties" and the ability to support more than 1,000 times its own weight. Air-to-ground network planned for Mexico GTE Airfone has signed its first agreement to expand its air-to- ground telephone network out side the USA and Canada. Aerocomunicaciones, a joint venture between GTE and Tele- fonos de Mexico, is building a network of ground stations throughout Mexico for use with the Airfone passenger- communications system. GTE is responding to in creasing international-airline interest in passenger tele phones. Competitor In-Flight Phone is establishing a world wide network of FlightLink ground stations as a cheaper alternative to satellite commu nications for international air lines. In-Flight Phone has i f THE NEWS ARRIVES EVEN FASTER WHEN YOU BOOK YOUR OWN FLIGHT Make sure you receive your own copy of FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, every week and save as much as 40% - the equivalent of 61 FREE issues. Subscribe to FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL today. Complete the form inside this issue and return it to: FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL Subscriptions, Central House, 27 Park Street. Croydon CRO 1 YD, UK. Alternatively, fax it to us on +44 81 681 0753. If there is no form in this issue, please ring our subscription office on +44 81 649 7271. They will send you a form to complete. mfimm * A 11 the more reason to subscri l> $ J^L formed joint ventures to estab lish ground networks in Europe, Russia. South America, the Middle East and Asia. Claircom Communications has signed agreements to estab lish ground networks in Mex ico and Canada in 1994, supporting its AirOne digital passenger-communications sys tem now operational in the USA. The company is part of the European Jetphone terres trial flight-telephone system consortium and is in talks on establishing an Asian presence. GTE says that it is talking with potential partners in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Mexico is the company's first international venture, and the initial four analogue ground-stations will be up graded to digital technology this year and additional digital ground-stations will be built to support GTE's new GenStar pas senger-communications system. The company is also upgrad ing its Canadian ground net work to support the GenStar digital system, which becomes operational early this year. Rolls-Royce succeeds with Trent containment Rolls-Royce has completed a successful first fan-blade containment test on its Trent high-thrust turbofan. For the test, one of the Trent 700's 0.9m-long titanium wide- chord fan blades was deliber ately released at the root, by means of an explosive charge, while the engine was running at maximum speed. R-R says: "The blade and all other debris was fully con tained within the engine, and with its throttle left on full setting for a mandatory 15s, the Trent demonstrated a safe, in-balance shutdown with no fuel or hydraulic leaks." The test was carried out at R-R's Hucknall site in the UK. Eight Trent 700s have been involved in the development programme to date. The first pair of flight engines is now installed on an Airbus A330 in Toulouse, ready for the air craft's maiden flight with R-R power early this year. Textron begins MMLS production for USAF Textron Defense Systems has begun production of 37 mobile microwave-landing systems (MMLS) for the US Air Force. Deliveries of the rapidly de- ployable landing-guidance sys tems are scheduled to begin in mid-1995. The MMLS is a portable Cat egory I microwave-landing sys tem, weighing 390kg and consisting of nine lightweight modules which can be assem bled by three people in less than lh. The generator-, or battery-, powered system is designed to provide reduced-visibility land ing capability at newly con structed airbases, or at those which have lost their landing- guidance systems. INTO THE FIRE A new multi-purpose fire-lraining rig has been inaugurated at the UK Civil Aviation Authority's International Fire Training Centre at Teesside Airport. The rig consists of a representative full-size Boeing 747 front-end section and an offshore helideck. During training, fires can be fuelled either by oil, to produce the large quanlities of black smoke expected in a real-life fire, or by liquid propane, producing a smokeless fire. 20 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 January, 1994
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