All news – Page 7058
-
News
Dassault in pre-merger moves
Julian Moxon/Paris Dassault Aviation is studying the separation of its military and civil businesses in a move which is seen as preparing the company for a merger with Aerospatiale and eventual integration of the military business into a greater European alliance. The move came as a further two ...
-
News
Fishbed flight test
The Lahav division of Israel Aircraft Industries has completed a series of test flights of an upgraded Mikoyan MiG-21Bis Fishbed. The MIG-21-2000 includes an Elta EL/M-2032 advanced multimode radar, two multifunction liquid crystal colour displays and other new avionics. The upgrade is being offered to several MIG-21Bis operators. ...
-
News
May deadline looms for South African helicopter contests
Douglas Barrie/London South Africa has set a May deadline for bids in its Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) contest to replace Aerospatiale Alouette IIIs and for maritime helicopters for its planned 3,000t corvettes. Eurocopter and GKN Westland are shortlisted for the six maritime helicopters, while Agusta, Bell Canada and ...
-
News
Alenia chief vents anger at Airbus
Julian Moxon/Rome The president of Alenia's aerospace division, Georgio Zappa, has criticised France, Germany and the UK for their continued failure to define the future shape of the European aerospace industry. Zappa also attacks Aerospatiale, British Aerospace and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) for not including Alenia Aerospazio in the ...
-
News
PAL probe finds faulty reverser
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Asymmetrical thrust is emerging as the most likely cause for the crash of a Philippine Air Lines' (PAL) Airbus Industrie A320 at Bacolod, after the pilot attempted to land with only one of the aircraft's two engine thrust reversers serviceable. Flight International understands from investigators in ...
-
News
P&W recalls blades after cleaning blip
Pratt & Whitney has been forced to recall thousands of high pressure turbine (HPT) blades and remove eight engines from service after a new ultrasonic cleaning device caused microscopic cracking of the blades. The company declines to comment on the cost of the problem, but it is known to ...
-
News
Loss of control
Often it is unfair to blame only the pilot for colliding with objects near a helipad. Some sites are unnecessarily cluttered with objects waiting to be hit Helicopters cannot afford malfunctions, because when they happen loss of control is frequently the result David Learmount/london Fixed ...
-
News
Price cutting 'harms' airline industry
The world airline industry is continuing to underperform because of price cutting, warns Pierre Jeanniot, director general International Air Transport Association (IATA), forecasting a sharp fall in profits this year. Preliminary figures from IATA suggest that international airlines earned net profits of around $5 billion last year, despite a ...
-
News
Germany finances development of Taurus stand-off missile
GermanY's defence procurement office (BWB) has awarded Daimler-Benz Aerospace missile subsidiary LFK a contract for the development of the MAW Taurus modular stand-off missile. The missile, in its basic KEPD 350 version, is armed with a TDW Mephisto kinetic energy penetrator to allow attacks on hardened targets, and is ...
-
News
US Army Hueys face grounding for at least a month
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Army hopes to begin returning some Bell UH-1s to flight by the end of April, after grounding the helicopters on 28 March. All Army and National Guard UH-1s - 907 in all - have been grounded because of failures of a spur gear on ...
-
News
US Navy aims for cut-price T-45s
The US Navy hopes to buy the remaining Boeing T-45 Goshawk jet trainers on order under a multi-year procurement that would increase the production rate and reduce the aircraft's cost. Production is now running at 12 aircraft a year, with some 70 aircraft still to be delivered. The proposed ...
-
News
US Coast Guard starts replacement programme
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The USCoast Guard has launched a programme to replace its fleets of aircraft and surface vessels. A request for proposals for the Integrated Deepwater System programme was released in March, and up to three teams will be awarded concept development contracts in July. The Coast ...
-
News
US Navy hopes F/A-18E/F wing solution will clear order block
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Navy hoped to gain clearance to order additional Boeing F/A-18E/Fs after briefing US Department of Defense officials last week on its solution to the manoeuvre wing-drop problem. A porous wing-fold fairing has been demonstrated to eliminate the problem, a Navy official says. US defence secretary ...
-
News
Arbitrator will rule on AH-64 fuselage production dispute
A legal dispute between Boeing and Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical over production of the Boeing AH-64 Apache fuselages is expected to move to arbitration after a US district judge recommended the case should be settled out of court. The move follows the filing of a law suit by Teledyne Ryan ...
-
News
UCAV bids arrive
Bids for the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstration were submitted in late March. Northrop Grumman is one of four bidders - with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Systems - and is proposing this flying wing design resembling its B-2 stealth bomber. Bidders ...
-
News
Toyota stops work on petrol engine project
Toyota has halted development of its FV4000-2TC petrol engine, five years after the project began, blaming the powerplant's lack of "commercial viability" as the reason behind the 19 March announcement. The project was set up in January 1993 by the Tokyo, Japan-based car manufacturer and Hamilton Standard in the ...
-
News
Shell shocks British International Helicopters
British International Helicopters (BIH) faces an uncertain future after Shell UK Exploration and Production (Shell Expro) awarded a vital £175 million ($289 million) North Sea support contract to rival UK operator Bristow Helicopters. Aberdeen, Scotland-based BIH has held the Shell Expro contract for the past 30 years. It will ...
-
News
Reorganised Qatar prepares to revamp short haul fleet
Qatar Airways is in negotiations to acquire a fleet of modern narrowbodied aircraft to replace its Boeing 727s as it prepares to take on the role as designated national carrier. The airline underwent a re-organisation early in 1997 which saw it boosting its long haul operations from Doha and ...
-
News
Lack of European unity may limit ATM strategy
THE Eurocontrol ATM2000+ future air traffic management (ATM) strategy is expected to achieve considerable capacity growth, but the lack of integration of European airports has emerged as a potential major limitation. According to the Brussels based Airports Council International, the development of a common tool for analysing available airport ...
-
News
Air France introduces Boeing 777 between Paris and New York
Air France is introducing the first of 10 270-seat, General Electric GE90-powered Boeing 777-200ERs between Paris and New York, replacing Boeing 767-300ERs. The aircraft are among the first to have the "ER" (extended range) designation, rather than the "IGW" (increased gross weight) suffix. The 777 also has the new increased ...