All aerospace news – Page 1964
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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 ...
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Airbus closes in on AE-100 development agreement
Airbus Industrie is expected to announce shortly its team to head Europe's participation in the joint development of the proposed Air Express AE-100 regional passenger aircraft in partnership with China and Singapore. The new Airbus team will assume responsibility for the programme from Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)), which ...
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Airbus selects two vendors for advanced FMS
Airbus INDUSTRIE has selected Honeywell and Sextant Avionique/Smiths Industries to supply future air navigation system (FANS)-capable flight-management systems (FMS)on its aircraft from 1998. Honeywell plans to gain certification for its upgraded FMSon the A330 and A340 in April 1998, with A319/320/321 approval following six months later. Sextant/Smiths has ...
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STAe will expand leasing business
Singapore Technologies Aerospace (STAe) plans to acquire a leasing fleet of up to 20 aircraft over the next five years as part of a wider effort to expand the commercial side of its business. STAe, together with its parent holding company Singapore Technologies, has already established a joint-venture ...
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Sabena revives study of off-shore contracts
Sabena has confirmed that it has resurrected cost-saving plans to employ flying personnel on out-of-country contracts. The proposal, which is still under study, would see pilots and cabin crew continue to be based in Brussels, but paid in Switzerland, probably via Sabena's partner Swissair, with the transaction made through a ...
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Engine plant
Construction has begun of a new Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing building next to the Orbiter Processing building at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The engine-processing building is scheduled to be opened in July 1998. Source: Flight International