All aerospace news – Page 1770
-
News
Air France closes on new allies
Chris Jasper/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France is moving closer to enlisting new airline allies to launch a global grouping alongside Delta Air Lines. Austrian Airlines is thought to be close to defecting from the Swissair-led Qualiflyer alliance and British Midland (BM) is being targeted as part of the recruitment offensive. ...
-
News
Sikorsky widens Shares offer
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON Sikorsky plans to extend its Sikorsky Shares fractional ownership programme to California and Florida next year and to Europe in 2001, as the concept of helicopter sharing gains acceptance. "We hope to have sold our first S-76C+ by the end of the year and to have three ...
-
News
NASA reveals close-up images of moons
NASA has released images of the earth's moon (above) and Io - the volcanic moon of Jupiter (below). The moon image was taken during the close flyby of the earth-moon system last month by the Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn, proving the quality of the craft's imaging system in ...
-
News
Russia restarts Baikonur Proton services with launch of Yamals
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia launched two Yamal communications satellites on a Proton K booster from Baikonur on 6 September, marking the first launch of a Proton booster since launches from Baikonur were banned by Kazakhstan after the Proton M failure on 5 July. The launch was also the first by ...
-
News
US delays could keep Mir station in orbit
Russia's Energia company has suggested that, if funding can be found, a new crew could inhabit the Mir space station for six months next year, rather than the short visit planned to prepare the station for de-orbiting. The Russian move is in response to US delays to the International ...
-
News
DC-9 detection
Securaplane has received US Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certification for its wireless smoke detection system on McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. Arizona-based Securaplane's wireless fire detection system has been cleared for "D" and "E" class lower cargo compartments. Source: Flight International
-
News
Malaysia Airlines offers first class helicopter chauffeur service
To attract premium-class passengers, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will introduce a helicopter chauffeur service next month for its first class passengers flying from London Heathrow. Helicopter pick-ups can be made within a 60-mile (95km) radius of the airport. The service is free for passengers holding full-fare first class tickets for flights ...
-
News
Swissair files against IFE firms
Swissair has filed a legal complaint against in-flight entertainment (IFE) system manufacturer Interactive Flight Technologies (IFT) relating to the crash of a Boeing MD-11 last September off the Canadian coast. The carrier says that, while there are "no new findings" on the cause of the accident to flight SR111, ...
-
News
ACA orders 328JETS for new subsidiary
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) Holdings has ordered a further 25 Fairchild Aerospace 328JET regional aircraft to equip a planned new subsidiary carrier to partner Delta Air Lines on north-east USA services. Under a newly concluded 10-year partnership, the new airline will operate as a Delta ...
-
News
Budapest maintenance venture sparks fresh Malév speculation
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Lufthansa and Hungary's Malév have announced the formation of a maintenance joint venture to be sited in Budapest. It adds to speculation that the German flag carrier may be winning the race to invest in the soon-to-be privatised east European airline. The move will also further expand the ...
-
News
Embraer to develop armed RJ-145 jet
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Embraer plans to develop an armed maritime patrol (MPA) version of its RJ-145 regional jet on the back of an expected launch order from the Mexico for six aircraft. The proposed EMB-145 MPA would be closely modelled on the modified airframe of the remote sensing ...
-
News
UK approves merger of BAe and MES
The UK Government has approved the merger of British Aerospace and GEC's Marconi Electronic Systems (MES) division, imposing conditions that BAe says are acceptable. The merger will create the world's third largest aerospace player, with a turnover of over $20 billion. Concerns were raised over the merger's impact in ...
-
News
MD-11 wiring to be tested for arcing
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSBC) is devising tests to find out whether cockpit ceiling wiring from the crashed Swissair Boeing MD-11 suffered from electrical arcing before or after it was exposed to fire. "Tests are under way to assess the significance of arcing found on 14 segments ...
-
News
USA limits chemical tank numbers
The US Department of Transportation has put into force new restrictions on the transport of chemical oxidisers and compressed oxygen aboard commercial air transports. The regulations bar carriage of chemical oxidisers in an inaccessible aircraft cargo compartment that does not have a fire or smoke detection and fire suppression ...
-
News
Dasa tests fly-by-wire system
A VFW 614 twinjet equipped with a newly developed fly-by-wire-system, the electronic flight control system (EFCS), has flown for the first time, from Bremen Airport in Germany. The system has been in development at DaimlerChrysler Aerospace Airbus' (Dasa Airbus) Bremen division since 1995. Flight tests will take place for the ...
-
News
Boeing focuses on cargo with conversion programme
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing Airplane Services (BAS) plans to launch 757-200SF (special freighter) and 767-200SF passenger to freighter conversion programmes by the end of the year as part of plans to mount a broad attack on the cargo conversion market. It estimates the market could be worth up to $15 ...
-
News
ISS leaves a headache
Astronauts are trying to play down the bouts of sickness they experienced during their visit to the International Space Station in May Tim Furniss/LONDON Several crew members of the Space Shuttle STS96 Discovery became ill during a logistics supply mission and docking with the International Space Shuttle (ISS) in May ...
-
News
Airbus flies towards FANS approval
Airbus is expecting certification of its FANS-A (future air navigation system) avionics next spring following extensive in-flight trials of the system and the first tests in an operational environment. The system, developed for the A330/A340, supports satellite communications (satcoms), datalink communications and automatic dependent surveillance (ADS). The first operational trial ...
-
News
Mergers
Thomson-CSF subsidiary Sextant has become the sole owner of in-flight entertainment provider Sextant In-Flight Systems after acquiring the 49% of shares held by B/E Aerospace. Sextant took an initial 51% stake when the joint venture was created in January. The European Commission's review of the proposed AlliedSignal-Honeywell merger has entered ...
-
News
Police label SilkAir investigation as 'suicide cum murder'
The Singapore Police Force has classified its investigation into the crash of the SilkAir Boeing 737-300 in Sumatra on 19 December 1997 as "suicide cum murder". The police stress that the label has been adopted "solely to assist us in our investigation. It is not an indication of our ...