All news – Page 6622
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The Manufacturer's view
Max Kingsley-Jones/LUTON Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Roger Lecomte, Airbus Industrie's vice-president of engineering support, says: "The introduction of the A330-200 was like that of the A321 [after the A320] for us. We were able to benefit from the lessons we learned with the introduction of the A330-300 and A340." ...
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Boeing looks at 757 slowdown
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Falling order backlogs are forcing Boeing to study a production slowdown of the 757 earlier than expected next year. Boeing plans to deliver 53 757s next year, and has been preparing to cut the rate from the present five per month to around 4.5. But now ...
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Hyper-X test date put back to May
Flight testing of the first hypersonic X-43A air-breathing free-flight vehicle has slipped by around three months to the end of next May. The delay follows the later-than-expected arrival of the experimental craft at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California. The 3.6m (12ft)-long X-43A is a key part ...
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Lockheed Martin wins FAME contract
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) has been awarded a $37 million NASA contract. It will provide the optical scientific instrument for NASA's $162 million Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer (FAME), to be launched in 2004. The instrument will determine, with unprecedented accuracy, the positions, distances ...
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Starsem is cleared for Baikonur
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Franco-Russian venture Starsem has been cleared to launch a Soyuz booster from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, this month. The launch had been jeopardised when the Kazakh Government banned all launches from Baikonur after the 27 October Proton booster failure - the second recently. Starsem president Jean-Yves ...
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X-33's first flight may be delayed until 2001
The maiden flight of the Lockheed Martin/NASA X-33 sub-orbital technology demonstrator for future single-stage-to-orbit vehicles is likely to be delayed from next July until early 2001. The hold-up is due to damage to the demonstrator's liquid hydrogen (LH) tanks. The outer wall of one of the X-33's two ...
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Long-range workout
How has the latest long-range A330 performed since its entry into service? Andrew Doyle/ZURICH Max Kingsley-Jones/LUTON Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC In its latest market forecast, Airbus Industrie predicts that 210/250-seaters like the A330-200 will make up one-fifth of the 14,800 new aircraft to be delivered over the next 20 years. The ...
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City Bird moves to short-haul as Branson deal expires
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS City Bird is undertaking a strategic change in direction early next year when the low-cost, long-haul airline begins short-haul charter operations with a fleet of Boeing 737s. The move was signalled when Brussels-based City Bird signed a lease deal with Boullioun Aviation Services for two Boeing ...
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Airports
All 565 US airports regulated by the US Federal Aviation Administration have passed millennium bug safety and security system compliance tests. The US Department of Transportation says it has achieved Y2K compliance objectives for its mission critical systems, including the FAA's air traffic control system. A $70 million upgrade of ...
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Beagle 2 Mars lander gets ESA go ahead
The European Space Agency (ESA) has given the go-ahead for the UK to build the Beagle 2 lander, which is scheduled to ride aboard the space agency's Mars Express orbiter when it launches in June 2003. The UK Beagle team, which is led by the country's Open University and ...
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Italian order launches C-27J
Andy Nativi/TURINThe Italian air force has ordered 12 Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS) C-27J Spartans, becoming launch customer for the upgraded G222. Deliveries are to start in 2001 and last until 2004. LMATTS has not finalised the deal with the Italian air force but it will include an ...
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UK set to outsource RAF Eurofighter support with 'power by the hour'
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH The UK Government is expected to approve by the end of the year plans to hand the Eurofighter industrial consortium responsibility for long-term maintenance support of the Eurofighter being acquired by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The deal could be worth more than £10 billion to British Aerospace ...
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Industry is warned over Wall St
US Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre has warned that Wall St demands for strong quarterly returns could undermine the long-term health of the defence industry. At the same time, British Aerospace has been elevated to the status of a US company, opening the door to further transatlantic tie-ups. Hamre ...
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Leasing merger
Indigo Aviation and the AerFi Group are to merge. Together the Swedish and Irish-based companies will become one of the world's largest independent leasing companies. Source: Flight International
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Maintenance venture
GE Engine Services has signed a memorandum of intent with All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) to acquire a controlling interest in engine maintenance house ANA-IHI Aero-Engines. Source: Flight International
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Cold may cripple Mars Lander's engine
Tim Furniss/LONDON The NASA panel investigating the loss of the $327 million Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) has uncovered a potential problem with the Mars Polar Lander (MPL), which is due to touch down on 3 December. NASA has found that temperatures as low as -20°C could affect the performance of ...
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Hubble mission aims for December
Space Shuttle mission STS 103/Discovery has been cleared for launch on 6 December, to complete the third service of the Hubble Space Telescope. The spacecraft stack was scheduled to be rolled to launch pad 39B on 13 November. NASA replaced the orbiter's main engine number three in the Vehicle ...
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ATC tiptoes to normality
Five months after the Kosovo air campaign ended, European air traffic is still feeling the effects with flights rerouted and certain air space still avoided. "It's still not over yet. Undoing it is quite lengthy and complicated," says Eurocontrol's Ian Jones. Moves toward a partial return to normality will ...
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A place in the sky
Military and civil traffic vie for European airspace DeeDee Doke/RAMSTEIN AB It doesn't take a war for military and civil air traffic to be in conflict. Each side is vying for its own piece of valuable - and crowded - European airspace. With 80-100 air movements a day in Europe, ...
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Comet chaser
Europe's Rosetta mission will be the first to land a craft on a comet Tim Furniss/LONDON The European Space Agency (ESA) will make history in 2012 when its 100kg Rosetta makes the first soft landing of a spacecraft on a comet. The Rosetta mission launch is due in January 2003, ...