All aerospace news – Page 1794
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The 747 factfile
The statistics surrounding the 747 go on forever. Here are a few to mull over: * The world's 747 fleet has flown roughly 32 billion km (2.03 billion nm) - equal to flying to the moon and back 42,000 times. * That same fleet has flown 2.2 billion ...
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Bell ponders launch of improved 412+
Paul Derby Bell Helicopter is still pondering whether it makes sense to launch an improved Model 412+ helicopter and says it will announce its plans by the end of the year. If the go-ahead is given, the project would be a Bell Agusta-driven programme, adding to the BA609 ...
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More bite for Jaguars with upgraded Adour
Geoff Thomas The current upgrade programme for RAF Sepecat Jaguars has received a shot in the arm, as the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk106 engine has successfully completed altitude testing at Saclay in France. This moves the latest standard of engine a step closer to reaching qualification and entering ...
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Surfing to buy
Buy your aircraft on-line - that's the deal being offered by Gulfstream, allowing potential customers to preview pre-owned aircraft from the comfort of their own homes. By accessing the web site www.gulfstreampreowned.com visitors will be able to obtain photographs, aircraft specifications, features and maintenance history. The site will ...
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Pan-European orders boost Embraer order book
Karen Walker European regional airline chief executives lined up at an Embraer press conference yesterday to announce a string of regional jet orders with a value that totalled $1.5 billion. This latest collection of sales brings Embraer's Paris air show firm and option orders' total to date to ...
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Proteus takes delivery of another Agusta helicopter
French helicopter operator Proteus yesterday took delivery of an Agusta A109 Power and lodged options for four more aircraft with the Italian manufacturer. Proteus already operates a fleet of four A109s from several bases in France and intends to use this aircraft in an EMS role. Agusta says its ...
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Meggitt starts show with multi-million bid
Meggitt laid out its stall on the eve of the show with a $380million bid for the Whittaker Group. UK-based Meggitt has followed a strategic acquisition policy to exploit niche markets in the aerospace industry. Whittaker's aircraft fire and smoke detection systems will make a good fit with its ...
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Raytheon team celebrates astor contract success
Tim Ripley Yesterday's success for the Raytheon airborne stand-off radar (ASTOR) bid will provide a major boost for its 18 partners as they push to get the revolutionary system into operation over the next six years. At the centre of the programme is Raytheon System (RSL), the UK ...
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Augmented GPS signal offers greater accuracy
Don Ormand, Raytheon's director of operations, is at Paris to enthuse about the company's wide area augmentation system (WAAS). This is the North America-wide project to "augment" GPS signals, making them more accurate, reliable and suitable for precision navigation and approaches. "The hardware was installed last summer, ...
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Starsem wins Mars Express launch contract
Tim Furniss The European Space Agency (ESA) has formally contracted Starsem to launch the Mars Express spacecraft in June 2003 aboard a Soyuz booster from Baikonur. Starsem is a consortium operated by Russian company, Samara, which manufactures the Soyuz, the Russian Space Agency and Europe's Arianespace and Aerospatiale. ...
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NASA orders hybrid Delta for SIRTF launch
NASA has contracted Boeing to supply a hybrid Delta booster to launch its Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The booster is a Delta II with the nine large strap-on boosters from the Delta III. This booster is also available to commercial customers for launches of 2,030kg (4,400lb) payloads ...
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Science still the 'pillar' of ESA: Rodota
Tim Furniss Science is still "the pillar" of the European Space Agency (ESA), director general Antonio Rodota said at a press breakfast yesterday. In the "shaping and sharing of the future of European space," science hasn't always received such bullish support but Rodota emphasised its importance when he ...
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MAN develops heat resistant parts for X-38
MAN Technologie is developing high-temperature resistant, ceramics-based, lightweight materials for the NASA X-38 International Space Station emergency return spacecraft. MAN will supply the body flaps and wing leading edges for the X-38, key components in steering the lifting-body craft during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The material is ...
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Socata spots niche in freight market
Mark Hannant Socata is to check the viability of the single turboprop TBM 700 as a freight carrier through a partnership agreement with French airline Air Open Sky, it announced at the show. The TBM 700 has previously only been used as a pressurized, six or seven-seat business ...
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Cocooned in your own little piece of heaven
Tamzin Hindmarch The Cocoon is not just a seat, it's a business traveller's dream. But will it catch on with the airlines? That is the $64,000 question. At a price a little above that, Avio Interiors' new super seat, which reclines to become a bed at the press ...
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Passenger comfort from the bottom up
Mark Hannant The way to a man's heart may traditionally be through his stomach, but when it comes to the hearts and minds of business travellers it seems it's their bottoms that hold the key. The battle to hold position in the business- and first-class travel markets has ...
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Logging on to English language
The Internet is playing a vital role in helping pilots and navigators whose first language is not English get to grips with the universal language of aviation. Virtual Languages, an American company based in Boca Raton, Florida, has launched an Internet site where students can learn aviation English ...
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FAA prepares for millennium countdown with confidence
Tamzin Hindmarch Mission impossible or mission accomplished? Just how confident is the US Federal Aviation Administration about beating the Millennium Bug? In this year's Aviation System Capital Investment Plan, prepared for the US Congress in January, the FAA committed itself to ensuring all its systems would be certified ...
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Merger partners eager to walk down the aisle
Karen Walker "Less of a merger and more of a marriage," is how AlliedSignal Aerospace president Bob Johnson views the proposed deal with Honeywell. And, in his opinion the sooner the wedding ceremony, the better. Speaking in Paris on the eve of the required "quiet time", during ...
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Honeywell unveils Primus Epic avionics system
Steve Nichols You would think that Mike Smith, president of Honeywell's Commercial Aviation Systems, would be too preoccupied with the AlliedSignal Aerospace merger to talk about business. But he's philosophical. "We've had a lot excitement over the last two weeks, but one constant in any business nowadays is ...