All aerospace news – Page 1965
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News
Fairchild Dornier may move 328 wing to HAL
Fairchild Dornier and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) are in negotiation to move wing production for the 328 turboprop from Germany to India. The Indian company has also been earmarked to build the aircraft's fuselage shell, now fabricated by Daewoo in South Korea. In a separate move, ...
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TAAL stakes claim to corporate aircraft niche
Taneja Aerospace and Aviation (TAAL) has launched what is believed to be India's first fractional-ownership scheme aimed at the corporate-aviation market. The company, a subsidiary of engineering company Indian Seamless, has set up the Netair scheme based on three of its own P68s - built locally under licence ...
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NASA's XAF moves
NASA's Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), designed to be the world's most powerful X-ray observatory, is taking shape, with Eastman Kodak delivering the high-resolution mirror assembly. It has also delivered the optical-bench structure to spacecraft prime contractor TRW. The AXAF project is the third of NASA's Great Observatory series, after ...
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MSG solar panel problem 'will not hinder NASA's Mars goals'
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA says that the partially unfurled solar panel on the Mars Global Surveyor (MSG) spacecraft, launched on 7 November, will "-not significantly impair" the craft's ability to aerobrake into its orbit around the planet or "-affect its performance" during the cruise and science elements of ...
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Moon ice
The US Department of Defense said on 2 December that its Clementine research satellite, which went into orbit around the Moon in 1993, returned data which indicate the likelihood that ice "-makes up part of the Moon's surface layer near the south pole". The Pentagon has speculated that the water ...
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Airbus and Boeing vie to modernise Indian Airlines
State-owned Indian Airlines has take the first step towards a massive overhaul of its fleet by informing manufacturers in late November that it is to replace its ageing fleet of Boeing 737-200 and A300B2/B4s. The 15 737s are operated by the recently created Indian Airlines subsidiary, Alliance ...
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Aerospace trade shows
The US Regional Airlines Association Annual Convention is now due to be held on 12-14 May, at Reno, Nevada, rather than on 6-8 May, as listed in the Flight International Aerospace Trade Show Calendar (27 November-3 December). The details for Aerospace India 96 were inadvertently published as being ...
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USAF invites industry spaceplane ideas
Industry has been invited to brief the USAir Force on concepts for a military "spaceplane" capable of being operated in the upper atmosphere and in low-Earth orbit. An integrated concept team (ICT) formed by the USAF to evaluate spaceplane concepts invited interested companies to present their ideas on ...
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JDAM success
Two successful test launches were made of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) at Eglin AFB, Florida, on 25-26 November from two Lockheed Martin F-16s. The first was a fully guided flight, using the global-positioning system to navigate the boom to a hit on target. The second ...
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Derlan gears up
Sino Swearingen Aircraft has selected a Californian-based unit of Canada's Derlan Industries group to manufacture landing-gear systems for the SJ30-2 business jet. The contract is estimated to be worth around C$16 million ($12 million) over the life of the aircraft programme. Meanwhile, Derlan Aerospace Canada has received a letter of ...
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Chinese spares
CFM International has opened a spares service centre at Beijing Capital Airport in co-operation with China Aviation Supplies. The 500m2 centre will provide line maintenance for more than 350 CFM56-3 power plants in service with 19 Chinese carriers. It will initially stock 600 parts, increasing to 1,500 line items with ...
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Lufthansa maintains
SAS has awarded an engine maintenance and overhaul contract to Germany's Lufthansa Technik (LHT). The contract, which was signed on 22 November, covers the International Aero Engines V2500-D5 engine, which powers SAS' McDonnell Douglas MD-90 fleet. Source: Flight International
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Turkey kills Cobra
Turkey has abandoned plans to purchase an additional ten Bell Helicopter AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters from the US Department of Defense. Concluding the acquisition had been hampered by US politicians concerned that the helicopters might be used against Kurdish "rebels" in the south-east of the country. Turkey's pulling out of ...
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BAAS
British Aerospace Aviation Services has appointed Robin Loader (above) business director for Airbus maintenance, responsible for marketing, maintenance labour sales and business development; Paul Jones, director operations, responsible for maintenance and conversion production at Filton; and Stuart Schofield, director of technical services and sales. Source: Flight ...
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Let manufacturers make the checks
Sir - With reference to your editorial and items about recent accidents and poor crew standards ("Admit it", Flight International, 13-19 November, P3,14, 30 and 31) why not build into the aircraft-operating system the facility for the aircraft manufacturer to make checks? During the pre-flight checklist, the aircraft ...
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UK NATS trials raise fears over GPS reliability
Data from global-positioning-system (GPS) receivers are too unreliable to be used for sole-means navigation by aircraft, according to a study undertaken by the UK Civil Aviation Authority's National Air Traffic Services (NATS). NATS made the claim after its own trials revealed problems with GPS "outages", availability and integrity, ...
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ATP offers electronic logbook
Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP) has introduced an electronic logbook system that will enable repair stations to schedule, track and record aircraft maintenance activities. The ATP Maintenance Director is designed to run on networked personal computers, replaces paperwork with single-entry updates and supports proposed electronic record-keeping requirements. "The ATP ...
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Sextant Avionique pins hopes on its ATM business
Julian Moxon/Paris Sextant Avionique expects its fast-growing air-traffic-management (ATM)-systems business to net more than a one-third share of the market and add nearly Fr500 million ($100 million) in sales by the end of the century. Sextant and its parent, Thomson-CSF, launched a major initiative at ...
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Virgin Express plans 25-aircraft order
Virgin Express has opened talks with manufacturers over its fleet-renewal plans, which could see the European low-fares airline take up to 25 new aircraft over the next five years. The Brussels-based airline is looking at options to acquire Boeing 737-700s, Airbus A319/ 320s or McDonnell Douglas MD-80/95s, says ...
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Near enough?
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has investigated the reliability of the global- positioning system (GPS), and found it wanting. GPS, it says, is not reliable enough, in its current form, to be used as a sole means of navigation. In this, the CAA is at odds with the single most ...