All news – Page 7127
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Cessna singles owners must replace silencers
Owners of more than 300 Cessna 172R Skyhawks delivered since shipments restarted in January 1997 have been ordered to replace the exhaust silencers. The US Federal Aviation Administration issued an airworthiness directive (AD) on 13 January mandating replacement of the silencers, made by Aeroquip, because of leaking welds. The ...
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Turbine-helicopter deliveries increase
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Deliveries of turbine-powered helicopters increased in 1997, buoyed by sales of new light single- and twin-engined aircraft. Bell shipped no fewer than 140 of its new single-turbine Model 407s in 1997, while Eurocopter delivered 28 of its new EC135 light twins. Bell led deliveries in 1997, shipping ...
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Airbus urges AE31X speed-up to compete with Boeing 717
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Airbus Industrie and its Chinese and Singapore partners are discussing speeding up development of the proposed smaller AE316 member of the planned AE31X family of regional aircraft, in response to Boeing's relaunch of the former MD-95 twinjet as the 717-200. It is understood that Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA) ...
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British Airways is ready to Go with no-frills contender
British Airways is to launch its London Stansted based "no-frills" division under the name Go. The launch is set for early in the second quarter of 1998. Go's chief executive Barbara Cassani denies that the new airline's remit is to eliminate new low-cost entrants such as easyJet, but warns that ...
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US Air Force places Capricorn in orbit
The US Air Force has launched a prototype of a new-generation National Reconnaissance Office satellite data-system (SDS) spacecraft, called the Capricorn, on 29 January, aboard an ILS International Launch Services Atlas 2A booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SDS spacecraft, which are operated in highly elliptical, 38,400 x 320km, orbits, ...
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Engine change delays Stationair deliveries
Cessna has announced nearly a year-long delay in initial customer deliveries of its 206 Stationair and Turbo Stationair six-seat utility aircraft, following its decision to replace the Textron Lycoming IO- and TIO-580 engines with IO- and TIO-540 variants because of reliability and service life issues. The setback came to ...
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Northwest and Continental tie-up raises Alitalia/KLM hopes
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS The tie-up between Northwest and Continental Airlines has been welcomed by European partners Alitalia and KLM, offering the prospect of a global alliance within five years. "The deal opens the door to a much wider co-operation," says Fausto Cereti, chairman of Alitalia, which already ...
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FAA starts search for systems to back up GPS
Potential back-ups to the global-positioning system (GPS) are being considered by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which is backing away from sole-means use of GPS for navigation because of concerns over signal interference. Although the FAA says that "-no decision has been made", it is now likely to approve ...
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Latin carriers link for A320 deal
Three major Latin American carriers, TAM of Brazil, TACA Group of El Salvador and LanChile, are in final negotiations with Airbus Industrie to place a joint order for up to 130 A320-family aircraft. The deal should be concluded by March. LanChile confirms that it has already signed a letter ...
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Insurers threaten to withdraw cover unless airlines tackle computer bug
Aviation insurers have challenged airlines to prove that their fleet avionics are free of the "millennium bug" which threatens to disrupt computer software, or lose their cover for any incidents which result from it. The issue, says a major Lloyds insurance-market underwriter, is what may happen to embedded computer ...
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Bosses mull Airbus merger ideas
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Airbus Industrie presidents were due to meet on 2 February to hear new proposals from a high-level working party tasked with finding an acceptable solution for a merger of Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, and Daimler-Benz Aerospace into a single European aerospace giant. It is hoped that the ...
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New crew launched to Mir on Soyuz
A Soyuz U booster was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 29 January carrying the three-man Soyuz TM27 to dock at the Russian Mir space station. The TM27 crew, Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin will inhabit the Mir until August. French mission specialist Leopold Eyharts, who was also ...
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Wexford agrees to acquire US regional
US Airways Express carrier Chautauqua Airlines is to be acquired by US investment firm Wexford Aviation, which plans to place some of its recently ordered Embraer RJ-135 and RJ-145 regional jets with the Indianapolis-based airline. Greenwich, Connecticut-based Wexford has agreed to acquire 100% of privately held Chautauqua, which had ...
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American/BA may give up Gatwick slots
Alan George/LONDON The proposed British Airways/American Airlines alliance may be allowed to include London Gatwick Airport slots among the concessions it needs to make to gain approval from the European Commission for the tie-up. Previously, it was thought that all of the slots to be sacrificed would be at ...
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Radiant de-icing system launched
Prior Aviation Services has installed the first Infratek de-icing system at Buffalo Niagara Airport, New York. Its developer Radiant Energy says that de-icing a Learjet 35A costs only $139 and it uses "clean" natural gas fuel. The infra-red radiation melts ice while not harming the aircraft. Source: Flight International
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American chooses GEC HUD
Ian Sheppard/LONDON American Airlines has selected GEC-Marconi Avionics to supply its HUD 2022 head-up-display (HUDs) system for 75 new Boeing 737-800s the carrier has on order. The contract secures the UK company's place as a leading supplier of civil HUD systems for the Next Generation 737 family alongside ...
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AVIC will make Boeing composite parts in China
Boeing is to team with aerospace-materials specialist Hexcel and Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) to establish a joint-venture composite-parts factory in the city of Tianjin, 120km (75 miles) south-east of Beijing. The three companies are reported to have spent the past two years considering the move, which will create ...
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Nearer Infra-red
Sensors Unlimited of the USA has launched the SU320 infra-red camera, which it claims is the first to be based on a 320 x 340-element indium gallium-arsenide array. Source: Flight International
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Regional brinkmanship
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Brazil and Canada have been brought to the brink of a trade war by a dispute between Bombardier and Embraer over alleged Government subsidies for regional-jet development and sales. Now, representatives of the two countries have until the end of February to resolve the dispute, which threatens ...
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Full control transfers to Russian Agency
The Russian Space Agency (RSA) is to take control of Russia's space industry, including the supply of missiles and other military hardware, according to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The agency's previous role has been confined to controlling the civil space industry. The decision to extend its remit into the ...