All aerospace news – Page 1746
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Japan suffers another launch failure
Japan's space programme has suffered another severe blow with the failure of an M-5 rocket launch and the loss of the Astro-E astronomical observation satellite on 10 January. The failure is being attributed to a first-stage nozzle malfunction, and comes three months after the ¥34.3 billion ($320 million) in-flight ...
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WAAS delayed as safety tests run into difficulties
Raytheon and US Federal Aviation Administration officials have held the first of a series of meetings to determine the impact of problems uncovered during acceptance testing of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). A 60-day stability test of the key satellite-based navigation system, intended to improve the accuracy, availability ...
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SAS studies candidates for 70-seat regional jet order
Andrew Doyle/COPENHAGEN SAS expects to launch a competition early next year to select a 70-90-seat regional jet family. The carrier requires around 20 aircraft for use on long thin routes, mainly from Stockholm and Oslo. The Scandinavian carrier, which does not operate regional jets, plans to complete a ...
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Workshop
Britannia Airways has contracted Lufthansa Technik to provide component support for its planned five Boeing 737-800s, the first of which was delivered in mid-January. The contract runs for an initial five years. The new CASA-AISA Maintenance Centre has opened at Madrid Barajas Airport. Operators at the airport, such as Aeronova, ...
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Air Canada tackles part of Canadian's debts
Air Canada has restructured part of the C$3.5 billion ($2.4 billion) debt owed by Canadian Airlines, with which it is merging, after reaching agreement with GE Capital Aviation Services. The deal, worth "tens of millions of dollars" according to Air Canada chief executive Robert Milton, covers the lease of a ...
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Mergers
The board of American Airlines' parent AMR has approved the spin-off of its 83% stake in Sabre Holdings to AMR shareholders on 1 March, making the computer reservations system specialist fully independent. The European Commission has approved Saab's acquisition of fellow Swedish company Celsius, while Saab has sold its Combitech ...
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Soloy reclaims STC
Soloy has re-acquired from Rocky Mountain Helicopters the supplemental type certificate (STC) to re-engine LTS101-powered Eurocopter AS350s with Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C30Ms. The Olympia, Washington-based company developed the conversion in the mid-1980s. Source: Flight International
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Engine upgrade
The US Coast Guard is to spend $40 million upgrading Honeywell (formerly Allied-Signal) LTS101 engines powering its 93 Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphins. Phased improvements to the full-authority digital engine control and other components will increase power by 23%. Source: Flight International
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Schweizer boost
Schweizer Aircraft hopes that the delivery in April of its first three/four-seat Model 333 will help boost deliveries, which slumped to 40 330s, 300Cs and 300CBs last year. The Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C20W-powered helicopter offers a 90kg (200lb) increase in useful payload over the 330. Source: Flight International
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Alliance takes the fast track in race to launch new regional jet family
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Alliance Aircraft has unveiled a fast-track programme launch and development schedule for the 70- and 90-seat baseline members of a planned new family of regional jets. It claims to have letters of intent for up to 30 aircraft from two unidentified European and Asian carriers (Flight International, ...
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US majors feel the squeeze, but profit from the sale of assets
Chris Jasper/LONDON On first sight, recently published financial figures for the USA's major airlines appear to point to a successful year in 1999. Most of the top 10 reported healthy net profits and exhibited increases in passengers boarded and group turnover. All this indicates that the air transport market they ...
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Hope X engine tests completed as Japan freezes funding
US company Aerojet has completed verification testing of the Orbital Manoeuvring Engine (OME) intended to power the Japanese HOPE-X orbiter. Aerojet has been developing the OME under contract from Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI), the vehicle's propulsion system contractor. The testing was completed shortly after the Japanese National Space Development ...
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BA steps up the class war
Chris Jasper/LONDON British Airways has launched a radical overhaul of its premium cabins, introducing aft-facing and flat-bed seats in business class and a new "upper economy" product. The move is aimed at increasing the proportion of business travellers on BA's long haul services, and cements its strategy of targeting high-yield ...
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777X crew rest plans advance
Boeing is working with an advisory group of 14 airlines towards the final configuration for upper-lobe crew-rest areas for its planned ultra-long range 777-200X/300X family. An advanced flightcrew rest area in the forward upper lobe has been finalised, which will free four first or business class seats, or provide extra ...
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New delay for Endeavour flight
Tim Furniss/LONDON New attempts to launch Space Shuttle Endeavour STS99 on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) have been further delayed to at least 11 February because of launch-related commitments at adjoining Cape Canaveral. A possible STS99 launch on 9 February has been ...
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SpaceDev/Boeing link for exploration
SpaceDev and Boeing have agreed a teaming arrangement to investigate opportunities of "mutual strategic interest" in commercial deep-space exploration and exploitation. They will use as the basis for the study a variety of small low-cost missions formulated by SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration company. The two firms ...
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SeaStar pictures US winter storm
The extent of the intense winter storm that struck much of the eastern USA recently can be seen in this image, which was captured by NASA's sea viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWifs) on board the Orbital Sciences SeaStar satellite. The SeaWifs was built by Hughes. Source: Flight International
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Inflatable heatshield tests set for Fregat
Tim Furniss/LONDON A Soyuz booster is scheduled to test the new Fregat upper stage for Franco-Russian venture Starsem. The test will be carried out after its launch on 9 February. The mission will also test new inflatable re-entry technology heatshields developed by Lavochkin and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. The Fregat will ...
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Minotaur is multiple success
The US Air Force Orbital Suborbital programme was inaugurated on 27 January when the Minotaur booster was launched for the first time, from Vandenberg AFB's commercial launch pad, operated by Spaceport International. The Minotaur carried the Jawsat multipayload adaptor holding the USAF Falconsat; the Arizona University Asusat; the Stanford University ...
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Mir makes Progress with docking success
A Soyuz booster was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 1 February, carrying a Progress M tanker that docked with the Mir space station on 3 February. The tanker will raise the Mir's orbit to 400km. The Russian Government has approved a proposed 750 million rouble ($26.2 million) programme to ...