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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1763.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT The Matrix movie scenes were filmed on the modified 727-200 SERVICES Zero-gravity flights ready for take-off Consumer zero-gravity flights are scheduled to begin next month after US company Zero-G completes a six-city promotional tour with its modified Boeing 727-200. The company has received US Federal Aviation Administration approval to pro vide commercial zero-gravity flights using an aircraft operated by cargo charter specialist Amerijet International. Flights are available for $2,950 per person, and Ft Lauderdale, Florida-based Zero- G is also offering the charter aircraft to corporations for team- building or customer-reward flights. As well as the public, the company is targeting the enter tainment industry-scenes for The Matrix movies were filmed on the aircraft - as well as research applications. The modified 727-200C con vertible, G-Force One, has a palletised interior that can be loaded and unloaded via the cargo door. The standard layout provides seating for 27 passen gers and six crew and an 18.3m (60ft)-long "floating zone" with energy-absorbing floor padding. The interior can be configured for filming or research. The aircraft is dedicated to zero-g flights and has accelerom- eters in the cockpit and a modified hydraulic system provid ing continuous pressure during reduced-gravity parabolic flight. Each 2h commercial zero-g flight, conducted between 22,000ft and 32,000ft (6,700-9,700m) in reserved airspace over the Gulf of Mexico, will include parabolas producing Martian (one-third g), lunar (one-sixth g) and zero-grav ity conditions. STUDY GRAHAM DUNN / NEW YORK KLM and Northwest ponder joint purchase of Boeing 7E7 New SkyTeam members seek replacement for MD-11s and DC-10s on transatlantic routes KLM and long-standing US partner Northwest Airlines have marked their official membership of the SkyTeam alliance by launching a study into the viability of jointly purchasing Boeing 7E7s. Speaking in New York at the offi cial SkyTeam welcoming ceremony for former Wings Alliance mem bers Continental Airlines, KLM and Northwest, KLM chief executive Leo van Wijk said the airline had agreed to work with Northwest on a programme studying joint speci fications for the 7E7. "We have decided to jointly work on it and see if we can come up with a joint specification if we do decide to go with this aircraft," he said. The twinjet is a possible replacement for KLM's MD-1 Is and Northwest's McDonnell Douglas DC-lOs on transatlantic routes. No specific timetable has been set for KLM's renewal programme, which could happen any time between 2007 and 2012. The rival Star Alliance has already formed a group to study possible joint specification of the 7E7, and members All Nippon Airways and Air New Zealand have announced orders for the aircraft. DELIVERIES JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON Airbus grapples with runway ruling Airbus is considering shifting deliv eries of all higher-gross-weight vari ants of the A380 ultra-large airliner to Toulouse as it reviews the impact of a court ruling blocking a runway extension at its Hamburg Finken- werder facility. Airbus Deutschland failed in its bid to apply compulsory purchase orders on 10 of around 30 proper ties in the nearby village of Neuenfelde (Flight International, 17- 23 August). The company says it will challenge the ruling, mainly on the grounds of flawed logic. The 590m (1,950ft) runway extension is required only for heav ier-gross-weight variants of the air craft, of which the A380-800F is the first to be launched. Hamburg will be the delivery base for A380s destined for European and Middle Eastern customers and Airbus says the court took into account only the two freighters ordered by Middle East airline Emirates. "The judge argues the destruc tion of 10 houses is not worth the value of only two aircraft," it says. This fails to take into account future orders for the freighter as well as potential stretch and heav ier -800 passenger aircraft, which will also require the extra tarmac. Airbus Deutschland says it is in "ongoing talks" with its suppliers, the Hamburg state government and labour groups to thrash out a solution, in parallel with the legal challenge. "One point of specula tion is moving all the delivery of heavier A380s to Toulouse," it adds. Any shift would require re-work ing of the workshare agreement between the two sites. A380 sections set sail for structural testing Airbus has begun transport ing by ship five sections of the A380 ultra-large airliner from its Finkenwerder site in Hamburg to Dresden for structural tests. The first fuselage section was moved upstream by barge on the river Elbe last week and will be followed soon by two more fuselage sections and a wing shipset. The structure will be assembled at lABG's test facility by mid-2005 where 47,500 flights will be simulated to test the fatigue MfeoftheA380(F//g/jf International, 18-24 May). Fatigue tests will start in September 2005 and will last nearly 26 months. 12 21-27 SEPTEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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