All aerospace news – Page 1810
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Rockwell focuses on enhanced weather AWAREness for pilots
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES An enhanced weather briefing and reporting tool for general aviation (GA) pilots is to be demonstrated to US flight schools and fixed base operators in California, Iowa and Maryland. The Advanced Weather and Reporting Enhancements (AWARE) tool is being developed by the Rockwell Science Centre, Rockwell ...
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Accidents put brake on 407
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DCCertification authorities in Canada and the USA have issued a priority airworthiness directive (AD) requiring Bell 407 operators to install a left pedal stop and limit never-exceed speed (Vne) in a bid to prevent the tail rotor cutting through the tailboom. This move to make mandatory an earlier ...
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German firm begins A320 shuttle service
Car manufacturer DaimlerChrysler has begun operating an Airbus A320 corporate shuttle between its headquarters cities of Stuttgart, Germany, and Detroit, Michigan. Operated by DaimlerChrysler Pentastar Aviation, the A320 is flying four scheduled round trips a week between Stuttgart International and Oakland County International airports. The aircraft, dubbed the Transatlantic ...
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Helicopter flat-panel displays get video and maps
Rogerson Kratos is upgrading its helicopter flat-panel display systems to handle video and moving maps. The improvements are being developed for the Bell 412 and will be incorporated later in the 427. Video input capability will allow the company's integrated instrument display systems (IIDS) to handle forward-looking infrared images, ...
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Elusive image
Tim Furniss/LONDON Images of the earth's entire magnetosphere will be obtained for the first time next yearA new NASA spacecraft will next year capture the first image of the earth's entire magnetosphere - the region surrounding the planet in which the behaviour of charged particles is dominated by the world's ...
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SR Technics targets Thai joint venture
SR Technics of Switzerland is talking to Thai Airways International about creating an aircraft maintenance joint venture, and hopes to wrap up a deal by the end of the year. This would be a major step towards globalising SAirGroup's overhaul business, following similar moves by its rivals, including Lufthansa ...
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Predator Feed
Boeing has tested combined operations with an E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar system (JSTARS) battlefield surveillance aircraft and a Predator unmanned air vehicle (UAV) using the company's Aviation Information Service antenna. The system fed the video information from the UAV via a satellite to the E-8 to enhance JSTARS ...
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Escape route
Reducing the number of cabin exits to accelerate emergency passenger evacuation sounds like a contradiction in terms. That is, however, what Airbus Industrie is arguing as it tries to persuade European and US regulators to change the certification rules which affect the exit layout for its stretched A340, the -600 ...
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Tailboom launch
Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters is the launch customer for performance-enhancing tailboom strakes, developed by Boundary Layer Research for the Bell 206 series. The Las Vegas, Nevada-based air tour operator has ordered 22 shipsets for delivery as soon as they are certificated. Flight tests have begun on the 206BJetRanger and 206L ...
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C-295 avionics
CASA has selected Sextant Avionique's Topdeck avionics for its new C-295 light tactical transport aircraft. Topdeck consists of four liquid crystal displays and control units, an integrated standby instrument, flight management system module, two multifunction control and display units and two attitude and heading reference systems. The new avionics suite ...
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Satellite lost after gas escape
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA's Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) satellite was lost on 8 March, four days after launch. The spacecraft entered orbit safely aboard an Orbital Sciences (OSC) Pegasus booster after an air launch on 4 March, but soon went into a 60rpm spin. The $73 million WIRE, ...
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Peruvian domestic carrier reaches into Chilean market
Peruvian domestic carrier Aero Continente is investing $10 million in setting up an airline in Chile. The company will take a 49% stake in the airline - the maximum permitted under Chilean law. The remaining stake will be held by a group of Chilean investors led by airline pilot ...
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IATA outlines Y2K plans
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE David Learmount/LONDON Fear of year 2000 (Y2K) "bugs" in air traffic services (ATS) computers is almost certain to cause flight delays and cancellations to varying degrees, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has calculated. Plans revealed for Asia-Pacific assume the need to reduce the capacity of ...
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Iberia examines 747 replacements
Max Kingsley-Jones/MADRID Iberia is finalising the last element of its fleet renewal programme to enable it to begin phasing out its Boeing 747-200s in three-four years' time. Last year, the Spanish flag carrier signed deals with Airbus Industrie covering orders for up to 76 Airbus A320 family aircraft ...
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KLM completes testing of 747 cockpit upgrade
KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Canadian Marconi have completed flight tests of a Boeing 747 Classic cockpit upgrade, and have achieved supplemental type certification. The upgrade will extend the life of KLM's fleet of 13 747-200/300s beyond 2010. The cockpit upgrade is built around three Canadian Marconi CMA-900 flight management ...
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Can or should?
An appeal from Boeing has put extended range twin-engined operations (ETOPS) in the headlines again. It does not take much to regenerate heated ETOPS debate among those within the airline industry or those outside. For some time now Boeing, and Pacific route operators of its 777, have been pressing ...
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Getting a head start
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Looking like a huge airborne spaniel with its ears outstretched, Boeing's 757 flying testbed (FTB) is destined to become a distinctive sight across US skies this year. The FTB was the first 757 to be built, and has been extensively modified internally and externally to test the ...
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Martian gliders
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA hopes to deploy a fleet of small gliders to explore parts of Mars that other spacecraft cannot reachSwooping through Mars' own grand canyon, the Valles Marineris, would be the ultimate hang-gliding trip. The first aircraft to make that tantalising journey could be the $40 million Mars ...
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Eurocopter boosts its sales in USA
Eurocopter's US arm has announced a clutch of helicopter sales to North American air medical operators and law enforcement agencies. Corporate Jets, which operates 36 emergency medical service (EMS) bases across the USA, has taken delivery of its first EC135. Five more will be delivered over the next five ...
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PW4000 operators face surge inspection
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Operators of more than 560 Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Airbus A300/ A310s, Boeing 747s, 767s and MD-11s are starting inspections for potential surge problems. The problems are restricted only to 2.37m (94in)-diameter fan versions of the PW4000. The move follows a suspected double surge event ...