All aerospace news – Page 1953
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News
Kurs docking system fails again
The Russian Soyuz TM25 manned ferry vehicle - launched on 10 February - was docked manually to the Mir space station on 12 February, after the latest failure of the Kurs automatic docking system. The erratic system, which has failed several times previously, is being phased out, and ...
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Fairchild cools down Longbow Apache
FAIRCHILDCONTROLS is to supply the environmental-control system for the upgraded AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopter under a $73 million contract from McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems. Frederick, Maryland-based Fairchild will supply the Improved Environmental Control System, a distributed vapour-cycle cooling and heating unit consisting of two redundant systems with ...
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Tiny aircraft come under study
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is considering funding research into so-called micro air vehicles - aircraft with wingspans which measure just 150mm - which scientists believe could be used for tasks such as surveillance and detection of toxic chemicals on the battlefield. The aim is ...
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Maintenance needs stepping up-...
Sir - You attribute to maintenance error three aircraft accidents and 260 fatalities in the Airline Safety Review for 1996 (Flight International, 15-21 January, P31). Engineering departments/ organisations must act now, to prevent an increase in this statistic. I suggest replacing accountant types with professional engineers at management ...
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A340 switches: re-active or pro-active reaction?
Sir - In the article "Airbus fits switch guards after A340 hydraulic incident" (Flight International, 12-18 February, P16), Airbus Industrie describes the move to install guards as part of its "pro-active" stance on cockpit safety. If that stance were really pro-active, would not the A340 switch guards have ...
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Manx Airlines selects EMB-145
Manx Airlines has finalised its long-awaited regional-jet order with a contract for up to five Embraer EMB-145s, the first of which will be delivered in June for operation on the airline's British Airways Express franchise services. The airline selected the Brazilian regional jet after a three-way fight involving ...
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Brit'Air order launches Canadair stretched CRJ
FRENCH REGIONAL airline Brit'Air is the launch customer for the stretched, 70-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ)Series 700, with a firm order for four aircraft. The Canadian company says that it has options and conditional orders for a further 28 aircraft, plus memoranda of understanding for another 35, ...
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Fokker hopes focus on Malaysian rescue
Fokker's assembly lines face final closure in May, unless administrators running the bankrupt Dutch manufacturer succeed in pulling off a last-ditch rescue plan. Hopes of saving the company centre on talks with a coalition of Malaysian and Dutch investment groups. The latest report from the Fokker administrators says ...
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Loral books Delta 3 launches
Space Systems/Loral has booked five launches of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) Delta 3 booster from 1999 to 2001, to ensure that it can meet the demands of its communications-satellite customers. Loral has also reserved 16 launches on Arianespace, US/Russian ILS International Launch Services Proton and Japanese H2A boosters in addition ...
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NASA pays Russia $20 million
Amid concerns about Russian delays in the production of hardware for the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has paid Moscow an additional $20 million to support further joint missions aboard the Mir 1 space station in 1998. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin has called the funding "seed money" to ...
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Embraer focuses on Asian market for Brasilia business
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer is exploring risk-sharing and licence-production deals with companies in several Asian countries as part of a push to improve sales in the region of the 30-seat EMB-120 Brasilia regional turboprop aircraft. Ex-Fokker salesman Peter Obeysekere, Embraer's new vice-president for Asia, the Far East and South ...
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Greenwich absorbs UNC to create overhaul giant
Greenwich Air Services is poised to make its biggest acquisition to date with agreement to take over UNC. The combined group will become the world's largest independent engine-services operation, with annual sales of around $1.8 billion and more than 10,000 employees. Greenwich chairman Eugene Conese says that the ...
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Litton smartens UH-60
Litton's Guidance and Control Systems division is to retrofit an initial four US National Guard Sikorsky UH-60A helicopters with cockpit smart multi-function displays (SMFDs). Woodland Hills, California-based Litton says that the SMFDs could be fitted to up to 83 more aircraft, with the aircraft reconfigured as UH-60Qs for battlefield medical- ...
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New skids from Dart
Canada-based Dart Aerospace has developed a new helicopter-skid design which is up to seven times stronger than the conventional unit, according to the company. The Round-I-Beam skidtube is strengthened with a central web which runs through the centre of the tube. The skidtube has been designed to fit several Bell ...
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Falcon 20-B retrofit
Garrett Aviation and AlliedSignal have formed an exclusive partnership under which the latter will continue to market the TFE731 engine retrofit to CF700-powered Falcon 20 operators. Garrett will put its own Falcon 20s into the programme, retrofit and refurbish them, and offer the re-engined -20Bs for sale to non-Falcon 20 ...
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Gore Commission pushes for user fees
The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, being led by vice-president Al Gore, has come out in favour of replacing the US ticket tax with user charges as the best way to fund the new satellite-based National Airspace System (NAS), which it says should be brought in seven ...
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Fokker Aviation bolsters Asian sales support
Fokker Aviation is to take over LAB Asia Pacific's airframe-maintenance site in Singapore, in an effort to bolster flagging after-sales support for airlines in the region which are continuing to operate Fokker aircraft. The Dutch company has reached an accord with LAB to take over the running of ...
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NASA again curbs funding request-
NASA has kept its budget request for 1998 down to $13.5 billion as it continues to seek lower, but more stable, funding over the next five years. The space agency, which has agreed this approach with the White House, has asked for a $13.7 billion budget this year ...
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-while Russia pledges fresh cash for the ISS
Better news has emerged for Russia's space industry, with the Russian Government pledging an immediate $100 million to pay overdue funds to the International Space Station (ISS) project, and the Khrunichev space-manufacturing concern securing a $36 million loan to support its Proton booster production work. The new cash ...