All news – Page 6969
-
News
Qantas warns on competition
Paul Phelan/SYDNEY Qantas has warned that increasingly desperate competition from rivals in the region will make it difficult for the Australian airline to sustain the record profits it has just declared for the 1997/8 financial year. Operating profit was up 13.6% on the previous year at US$282 million, ...
-
News
Mounting losses spin World Airways into turmoil
World Airways has reported a second quarter of heavy losses amid continuing concern among investors over the viability of parent company WorldCorp. Second quarter net losses of $3.2 million were only slightly worse than those for the previous period, but they amounted together to a $6.2 million loss for the ...
-
News
Get Lean
Everyone who considers dieting needs a compelling reason, be it physical or more intangible. The same applies for the aerospace industry. The drive to eliminate wasted time and effort which currently has the industry in its grip, and which is at the heart of lean manufacturing, has gained its urgency ...
-
News
Dasa/MAPO to work on Bulgarian MiGs
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) is in discussions with Bulgaria to provide an upgrade for 22 MiG-29 Fulcrums through its MiG Aircraft Production Support (MAPS) joint venture with MAPO of Russia. The upgrade includes bringing the cockpit avionics up to NATO standards, and possibly improving the maintenance procedures for the engines, ...
-
News
Northrop system flies UAVs in test
Northrop system flies UAVs in test Northrop Grumman has demonstrated a new control system which allows autonomous control of several unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) to be undertaken by a single operator. The capability of the firm's Co-operative Aggregate Mission Management System (CAMMS) was demonstrated in a company-funded flight ...
-
News
UK forces examine combat rescue approaches
Howard Gethin/LONDON The UK armed services are investigating possible solutions to a requirement for a combat search and rescue capability (CSAR) as a result of experience in the Bosnia conflict and the priority being given to out-of-area operations in the recent defence review. The Royal Navy Commando helicopter ...
-
News
S Korean air force considers stopgap fighter
The South Korean air force is considering leasing interim fighter aircraft to make up for a two-year delay in its future F-X programme. Samsung Aerospace is lobbying to sell more Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds to make up the shortfall and keep its Sachon licence production line open beyond 2000. South ...
-
News
USA picks civil boosters for intercept role
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Department of Defense has selected a booster originally developed for civil use as the launcher for the proposed National Missile Defense (NMD) ground-based interceptor, in preference to refurbished surplus Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. The launcher will be assembled by Boeing in association ...
-
News
TRW delivers crucial F-22 avionics suite
TRW has delivered the first communications, navigation and identification (CNI) avionics system to the US Air Force for installation in the Lockheed Martin F-22A. The CNI is a vital element of the integrated avionics architecture, allowing pilots to navigate to and from targets reliably, detect and avoid threats and ...
-
News
Failed tests threaten future of Outrider unmanned air vehicle
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The future of the Alliant Techsystems Outrider tactical unmanned air vehicle (TUAV) is under new threat after a US Department of Defense report criticised the system for failing to meet several key flight test requirements and exceeding the promised purchase price by 50%. The damning ...
-
News
AlliedSignal wins new IHPTET work
AlliedSignal has won a $7.4 million award from the US Department of Defense under the Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine technology (IHPTET) programme. The deal is the second advanced military engine research and development contract for AlliedSignal in four months. The contract covers the demonstration of technologies for expendable ...
-
News
Rotor blade collision is blamed for Ka-50 crash
A collision between the co-axial main rotor blades caused the fatal crash of a Russian army Kamov Ka-50 attack helicopter in June 1998, says an official investigation into the accident. The helicopter's pilot Maj Gen Boris Vorobyev, commander of the Army Aviation centre at Torzhok in the Tver region, ...
-
News
Slimming down
Assembly times are under attack on British Aerospace's regional airliner production line Ian Sheppard/Woodford While Boeing struggles to stay profitable producing hundreds of airliners a year, British Aerospace Regional Aircraft (BARA) faces a different challenge - how to make money producing a handful of aircraft each year. Based at Woodford, ...
-
News
Lean machines
BAe is relying on lean manufacturing to meet cost goals for the Eurofighter Ian Sheppard/Samlesbury Recession and restructuring can have their benefits, as is the case for British Aerospace's Samlesbury site in the north of England. With the closure in the early 1990s of the nearby Preston plant, then the ...
-
News
Thinking thin
Ian Sheppard/London Launched in April, the UK Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI) is a 50:50 Government/industry-funded programme co-ordinated by the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) as part of its Competitiveness Challenge. Donald Craig, seconded from Rolls-Royce as SBAC LAI programme manager, believes that the UK is leading the ...
-
News
Boeing burgers
Boeing is reshaping the way it produces airliners to reduce costs and speed up deliveries Guy Norris/Seattle To most, burgers and airliners do not readily mix. Yet, as Boeing fights hard to reduce costs, cycle times and defects, the fast-food production concept is exactly the sort of philosophy it is ...
-
News
Managing safely
Australasia hopes to lead by example with its candid approach to safety measures in the cockpit Paul Phelan/CAIRNS Has cockpit resource management (CRM) delivered the safety outcomes projected when the concept was launched in the early 1980s? Not universally, admit specialists such as Robert Helmreich, Ashleigh Merit and John ...
-
News
Skynet 5 goes national
European military space integration has been ditched by the UKTim Furniss/LONDON The UK is to develop a new generation of military communications satellites rather than enter the Trimilsatcom collaborative programme with France and Germany (Flight International, 19-25 August). When he announced the Ministry of Defence decision on 12 August, Lord ...
-
News
AlliedSignal studies enhanced ground proximity warning
Guy Norris/Redmond An advanced ground proximity warning system for general aviation applications is under study by AlliedSignal and could be given the go-ahead by the end of the year. The system would take advantage of packaging features of the Mk VI enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) now ...
-
News
Commander offers trade-up scheme
Commander Aircraft has introduced a factory-direct trade-up programme. The company hopes this will boost sales of new and used Commander 114B/TC piston singles by making it easier for owners of Beech, Cessna, Mooney and Piper piston singles to trade-in their aircraft. "We offer prospective customers a fair market value for ...