All aerospace news – Page 1960
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News
Infracstructure deterrent to growth
Lack of infrastructure could be an important deterrent to growth unless a rapid and comprehensive expansion of airports and air-traffic- control equipment is put in place. Air Transport Action Group director Thomas Windmuller, speaking recently at a conference in Bangalore on infrastructure, said that at least $5 billion is expected ...
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HAESL poised to open its doors
Rolls-Royce and Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (HAECO) are planning to open their new joint-venture engine-test and overhaul site at Tseung Kwan O at the end of February. Phase one of the new $120 million Hong Kong Aero Engine Services (HAESL) centre is now virtually complete. Its 580kN (130,000lb)-thrust ...
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Rockwell-Collins wins tilt-rotor avionics
BELL BOEING HAS selected Rockwell-Collins to supply avionics for its Model 609 civil tilt-rotor. The team has chosen Collins' Pro Line 21 integrated digital avionics, already selected for Raytheon's Premier 1 business jet. The cockpit of the six- to nine-passenger 609 will have three 250 x 200mm, liquid-crystal ...
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FAA demands total 737 rudder-retrofit programme
The US Federal Aviation Administration is to order airlines to retrofit four newly developed rudder-system components in 2,800 Boeing 737s. US Vice President Al Gore revealed the move in a speech on commercial aviation security and safety. The updated components will be incorporated in new-build 737-300, -400 and -500 series ...
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IASL installs EFIS
International Aviation Services (IASL) is undertaking a major overhaul and upgrade of an ex-airline Boeing 747SP for an undisclosed Middle-Eastern head-of-state customer. The work includes the installation of a five-tube Honeywell EFIS-85 electronic flight instrumentation system (EFIS), dual navigation-management systems, dual global-positioning system and satellite communications. The supplemental type certificate ...
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Safety defeated
THE YEAR 1996 SAW the largest number both of airline fatal accidents and of fatalities on record. Other serious worries for the air-transport community highlighted by 1996 include the number of deaths on the ground caused by crashes - also the worst ever - and some compelling trends indicating that ...
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Five UK police forces opt for Skyquest moving-map systems
Five UK Police helicopter-support units have ordered Skyquest Aviation's EuroNav III moving-map system, for use during airborne-surveillance missions. Using the EuroNav III, an onboard police observer is able to pinpoint a location such as a house address, and provide the pilot with instant navigation data to reach the ...
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Rada orders
Rada Electronic Industries has secured orders worth $5.4 million for its CATS, ACE and maintenance simulator products. The CATS orders came from the UK and China, while a weapons-system trainer has been ordered by the Israeli ministry of defence. Source: Flight International
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Augsburg considers expansion with Dash 8-400
Augsburg Airways, which recently became the first "Team Lufthansa" franchise partner, is considering further fleet expansion with the de Havilland Dash 8-400. While no firm purchase decision has been taken, the southern Germany-based regional airline says that its partnership with Lufthansa opens the possibility of future operations on ...
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Fokker will make selection of F28 retrofit engine in February
Plans to launch a re-engineing programme for the Fokker F28 Fellowship are gathering momentum, with a final engine selection expected in February. Programme partners Fokker Services and Perry Group plan a launch decision in April, depending on market response. Lion Boenders, product marketing manager at Woensdrecht, Holland-based Fokker ...
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Comsat picked on WAAS
COMSAT Mobile Communications has been selected by the US Federal Aviation Administration to provide satellite-communications services for the Hughes Aircraft Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), ex -pected to begin operations in December 1998. Under a contract potentially worth $100 million if all options are exercised, COMSAT will furnish satellite and ...
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Arianespace 'record' boosted by Ariane 4
Arianespace is claiming an "absolute record" for launch operations during 1996, despite the loss of the first of the European Space Agency's (ESA) new Ariane 5 heavy launchers on a mid-year maiden flight. The Ariane 4 operation involved an unbroken string of ten successful launches, placing 15 satellites ...
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Iridium programme to kick off
The first three of Motorola's Iridium satellites were scheduled to be launched by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 10 January. A total of 66 operational satellites to be launched into low-Earth-orbit constellations by 1999 will provide the world's first global telecommunications network, providing a worldwide ...
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Mercury could be target for fifth Discovery
NASA will make a final decision in April whether to launch the Hermes Global Orbiter spacecraft to map the planet Mercury as the fifth mission in the Discovery series. The Hermes has been proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California and spacecraft-builder Spectrum Astro in Arizona. The ...
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EELV engine passes key test
Full-scale propellant injector and thrust-chamber tests of the first-stage engine of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) candidate vehicle have been completed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, marking a major milestone in the programme. The 2,850kN (640,500lb)-thrust RS-68 liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen (LOX/LH) cryogenic main engine ...
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Russia details 1997 launch programme
Funding permitting, Russia plans to launch 28 boosters in 1997, carrying a variety of satellites into orbit. These will include three manned Soyuz TM and four unmanned Progress M tankers to the Mir 1 space station. At least three commercial Proton launches are scheduled, starting with the flight ...
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Joint endeavours
Col Ben Robinson, commander of the USAir Force's 93rd Air Expeditionary Group (Provisional) says: "We shoot no missiles; we carry no cargo; our only product is information; and information dominance is the key to success." The system which brings so much to the modern battlefield without firing a shot is ...
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Icy irony
NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft, to be launched in October, has been given a "real" mission, thanks to the military. The plan for the Prospector to be used to map the chemical composition of the Moon has been made all the more tantalising by the apparent discovery of an "ice lake" ...
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Bond begins Shannon SAR contract
Bond Helicopters has taken over the Shannon, Ireland-based search and rescue (SAR) contract operated on behalf of the Irish Marine Emergency Service. The company is operating a Sikorsky S.61N, which replaces a similar aircraft flown on the SAR contract for the last five years by Irish Helicopters. A second S.61N ...
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Airbus issues hydraulic pump warning after A330/340 fires
Airbus Industrie has instructed all A330 and A340 operators to de-activate the aircraft's electrically driven hydraulic pumps, following a series of fires which has left at least two aircraft badly damaged. In the latest incident, an auxiliary pump is suspected of having overheated on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS)A330-300 ...