All aerospace news – Page 1967
-
News
Inmarsat launch
An ILS International Launch Services Atlas 2A booster lofted the Lockheed Martin Astro Space/Matra Marconi Space-built Inmarsat 3F3 mobile communications satellite into geostationary-transfer orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 17 December. The new satellite will serve the Pacific Ocean region, complementing the first two satellites over the Indian and Atlantic ...
-
News
Indonesian orders boost Space Systems/Loral
Indonesia's PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, of Jakarta has ordered one M2A satellite from Space Systems/Loral for its Multi Media Satellite System, plus long-lead parts for a second craft, and options for a further five satellites in a deal worth $350 million (Flight International, 2-8 October, 1996). Loral will ...
-
News
The disadvantages of supersonic travel
Sir - A 350t, 250-seat supersonic transport (SST), more than twice the size of the Aerospatiale/ British Aerospace Concorde was mentioned in an advertisement (Flight International, 4-10 September). You reported a similar concept from NASA of the USA (Flight International, 17-23 April). Could I place these concepts in relation to ...
-
News
Columbia returns with new record
The Space Shuttle Columbia's extended STS80 mission was completed with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 7 December. The mission duration of 17 days 15h was a new Shuttle record. The prime objectives of the mission were completed successfully. These were to deploy and retrieve ...
-
News
Launcher proposals
EUROPE Aerospatiale, SEP and BPD of France and Italy are discussing the development of the Ariane Complementary Launcher (ACL). The company-funded ACL would place 1,000kg into 800km LEO. ITALY Vega. Italy's proposed solid-propellant satellite launcher, formerly the San Marco Scout. It comprises two Zefiro ...
-
News
Screw loose
A loose 6mm screw caused the jamming of the outer-airlock door of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS80 mission, leading to cancellation of two space-walks scheduled to practise International Space Station assembly procedures. The screw was found embedded in the door's gearbox. ...
-
News
Eurocopter France
Eurocopter France (ECF) has been awarded ISO 9001 certification by the German Association for Certificating Management Systems. The certification comes after 18 months of work by ECF, setting up a quality system complying with ISO 9001 standards in design, manufacture and after-sales support. Source: Flight International
-
News
New 737 launch stresses technology and low cost
Max Kingsley-Jones/SEATTLE Boeing CLAIMs that it has put itself "ten years ahead" of Airbus Industrie in the short-haul, jet-powered-airliner technology/low-cost stakes with the official unveiling of its first next-generation 737 (a -700) at its Renton plant, near Seattle, Washington, on 8 December. Sales of next-generation 737s ...
-
News
Emergency-exit changes foreshadowed
David Learmount/LONDON Emergency escape hatches on commercial aircraft used in Europe may have to be modified to make them easier and quicker to open, if the findings from a new UK study are implemented. This could lead to fleet retrofit requirements as well as new-build changes if the ...
-
News
HAL considers taking over assembly of Fokker 50
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is considering an approach to the Dutch receivers of Fokker Aircraft to acquire the design, marketing rights, tools and jigs for the Fokker 50 turboprop airliner. The Indian aerospace company's chairman R N Sharma says that an earlier approach to buy the programme was rebuffed ...
-
News
Kato launches Sirocco to lead R-R-powered Tu-204 effort
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Sirocco Aerospace International has been launched in Moscow by Egypt's Kato Aromatic and its partners, to spearhead marketing for the re-engined Tupolev Tu-204-120. A list price for the aircraft, which is powered by Rolls-Royce RB.211-535s, has been set at around $36 million. The ...
-
News
High resolution
Space Imaging plans to launch its first high-resolution satellite. Tim Furniss/LONDON The race to market high-resolution satellite imagary is on, and the Lockheed Martin-led Space Imaging company, of Thornton, Colorado, aims to win it. With partners Raytheon E-Systems, Mitsubishi and Eastman Kodak, Lockheed Martin is ...
-
News
Flying a legend
Despite being more than six decades old, the Junkers Ju-52 is still going strong. Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS How long do aircraft last? The legendary Junkers Ju-52/3m tri-motor transport is 60 years old and still extremely popular - especially for pleasure-trips. One airworthy example is operated in Lufthansa ...
-
News
Blindness in its sights
A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 has been made into a well-equipped eye hospital. Eryl Crump/MANCHESTER THE FATE OF AN AGEING airliner is usually either to decline towards the scrap yard via a series of increasingly lower level airlines, or to be turned into a freighter. For one McDonnell ...
-
News
Supersonic resurrection
It seemed as if the Tupolev Tu-144was bound for the scrapheap, but things have now changed. Paul Duffy/MOSCOW When Marshal Boris Bugaev, the Soviet minister of civil aviation, ordered the termination of Aeroflot's Moscow-to-Alma Ata supersonic service in May 1978, it looked like the end of the line ...
-
News
Airbus achieves two firsts with delivery of A319 to Air Canada
Kevin O'Toole/Toulouse Airbus INDUSTRIE handed over the first A319 to Air Canada on 12 December, the first of the type to go into operation in North America and also the first Airbus aircraft to be delivered on a nine-month production lead time. Airbus and Boeing have ...
-
News
Oryx claim rejected
A Paris commercial court has rejected a claim against Eurocopter by a Portuguese businessman, who was claiming substantial commission relating to an estimated $2 billion sale of helicopter kits to South Africa during the period of the UN arms embargo against the country. The businessman claimed that Aerospatiale ( the ...
-
News
Boeing targets Delta for stretched 767
Paul Lewis and Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing is close to launching the stretched 767-400ERX on the back of an anticipated order from Delta Airlines for a complete fleet of passenger aircraft. Interest in the 767 derivative has been revived after years of inactivity, during which time ...
-
News
Harris' WINGS adds weather to flight-planning system
HARRIS HAS introduced a general-aviation flight-planning system, which allows routes to be overlaid on real-time weather graphics. The company's Weather Information and Navigational Graphics System (WINGS) consists of Windows-compatible software for Pentium-class personal computers (PCs). The system provides dial-up access to Melbourne, Florida-based Harris Information Systems' flight- and ...