All air transport news – Page 2534
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Swearingen
Paul Bartles has been appointed vice-president of manufacturing at SJ30 business-jet manufacturer Sino Swearingen Aircraft, of San Antonio, Texas. Bartles, who was most recently president and general manager of Morrison Knudsen Rail Systems of Argentina, has also held senior positions with Fairchild, Shaw Aero Devices and Mooney Aircraft. ...
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Philippine air force considers twin-engined fighter solution
The Philippine air force is leaning towards a twin-engine solution to its fighter requirement, following flight evaluations of a McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18C/D and Mikoyan MiG-29. According to local sources, the Philippines' new armed forces chief-of-staff and former air force commander, General Arnulfo Acedera, has come out in ...
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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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Fighting the accountant
CRITICS OF THE McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18E/F argue that the aircraft does not represent enough of an advance over the current F-18C/D to justify the $63 billion programme cost. The US Navy , however, believes that the E/F structural upgrade restarts the growth cycle and prepares the aircraft to replace ...
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FAA orders FJ44 turbine solution
The US Federal Aviation Administration is requiring immediate inspection and replacement of high-pressure turbine disks used in Williams Rolls-Royce FJ44 turbofans which have twice failed on Cessna CitationJets. The airworthiness directive (AD) affects the early-model FJ44-1A turbofan engines which power some CitationJets. The Directive orders immediate and recurring ...
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FAA softens order on Lycoming crankshaft
A PROPOSED airworthiness directive(AD) requiring repetitive inspection, and possible replacement, of crankshafts in certain Textron Lycoming engines has been modified to reduce its potentially serious impact on operators. The AD was prompted by failures of hollow-end crankshafts caused by corrosion-induced cracking. The original notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) ...
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1996 spawns worst-ever accident totals
Three grim airline accident records were set in 1996. Commercial passenger and cargo airlines worldwide suffered more fatal accidents, more onboard fatalities and, by a massive margin, more crash-caused deaths on the ground than ever before. This has established an already-emerging upward trend for the 1990s in the numbers of ...
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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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The boom returns for airliner orders
Airbus, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (MDC)saw jet-airliner orders climb comfortably above the 1,000 mark in 1996, giving the big three aircraft builders their best year since the bonanza of the late 1980s. Production rates are also on the rise and due to hit record levels within the next two to ...
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AMRAI works to salvage N250 schedule
American Regional Aircraft Industries (AMRAI) is to form a joint task force with IPTN in an attempt to get the N250 flight-test and certification programme back on schedule. The Indonesian manufacturer and its US-based subsidiary agreed to the recovery effort in mid-December, shortly after the much-delayed maiden flight ...
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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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An-140 nears completion
Assembly of the first An-140 twin turboprop at Antonov's Kiev, Ukraine, factory is almost completed. The Klimov TV7-powered 50-seater, which is the successor to the ubiquitous An-24, is expected to be rolled out in March. A Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127-powered version has also been proposed. Reports have linked Antonov ...
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Bombardier beats Embraer to ASA deal
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) has followed its fellow Delta Connection carriers Comair and Skywest with the selection of the Canadair Regional Jet for its regional-jet needs, after a competition which also involved the Embraer EMB-145 (Flight International, 8-14 January, P10). The Atlanta, Georgia-based regional says that it will ...
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SIA's Indian airline investment clears another major hurdle
Singapore Airlines' (SIA) long-running plan to establish a new domestic Indian airline in partnership with the TATA Group has cleared one major hurdle, with approval from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The deal could still be derailed by the country's civil-aviation ministry, however, which plans to ban foreign equity ...
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British Aerospace AMJ sees BAe 146 sales rise as markets harden
British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets(AMJ) is targeting further sales from among its 107-strong fleet of leased BAe 146s this year, as the market for regional jets strengthens. AMJ general manager Andrew Davies says that, over the past four years, the organisation has completed its initial aim of re-establishing the ...
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Raytheon's TI purchase leaves options open for Hughes bid
RAYTHEON IS TO purchase the Texas Instruments (TI) defence electronics business for $2.95 billion, in a cash deal which is seen as leaving the group's options open for a possible take-over of Hughes Electronics. Northrop Grumman, which itself bid unsuccessfully for TI, is also understood to be sharpening up for ...
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Dragonair APS 3200
Hong Kong-based Dragonair has selected the Auxiliary Power International APS 3200 auxiliary power unit (APU) to equip two new and five optioned Airbus A320-200s. In addition, Dragonair has started to replace the AlliedSignal APU in seven A320s with the APS 3200. The retrofit programme started in November 1996. New deliveries ...
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Airbus V2500 approved
The International Aero Engines (IAE) V2524-powered version of the Airbus A319 has been given European Joint Aviation Authorities certification. United Airlines and International Lease Finance are launch customers for the IAE-powered A319. It has also been certificated with IAE and CFMInternational powerplants by the Interstate Aviation Committee of the CIS. ...