All news – Page 7135
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Spacehab wins new NASA contract
Spacehab of Vienna, Virginia, which leases pressurised Spacehab modules to NASA for missions on the Space Shuttle, has been awarded a $42 million contract from the US space agency to provide modules for three Shuttle missions to support the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). A further $19 ...
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Mir inspection has to be abandoned
The remote-controlled flight of the Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) Inspector free-flying satellite around the Russian Mir 1 space station on 17 December had to be abandoned on safety grounds after the vehicle suffered a suspected star-sensor failure. The 1m-long, 72kg Inspector was unable to point towards its planned targets of ...
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First Boeings delivered to Saudi Arabian
Saudi Arabian Airlines received its first Boeing 747-400, 777-200, MD-11F and MD-90 during a ceremony in Seattle on 22 December. The $7.5 billion order, placed in 1995, for up to 61 aircraft, includes 23 777-200s, five 747-400s, four MD-11Fs and 29 MD-90s. Delivery has been delayed by several months while ...
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Crossair bases new sister in France
Andrzej Jeziorski/Basle Crossair has launched a new Alsace, France-based carrier aimed at avoiding European Union (EU) rules which have denied the Swiss airline access to a variety of destinations. Switzerland is not a member of the EU and cannot operate under its liberalised internal traffic arrangements. The Crossair-dominated ...
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Airbus loses as El Al takes cut-price 737s
El Al will introduce the first of five Boeing Next Generation 737s on its services to Europe in early 1999, following the airline's selection of the 737 over the rival Airbus A320 family. Although the Israeli airline's traditional preference has been for Boeing aircraft, the Airbus A319 and A320 ...
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MD-10 conversions for FedEx remain on track
The McDonnell Douglas (MDC) DC-10 freighter/upgrade programme for FedEx is on schedule, according to the carrier's chairman, Frederick Smith. The project to rework the aircraft, known as the MD-10, has been unaffected by Boeing's recent take-over of MDC. The two-phase programme, which first involves the freighter conversion, and later ...
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Boeing 'goes basic' on MMR
Boeing is to make the newly developed multi-mode receiver (MMR) a basic feature on all its commercial aircraft. The company was expected to certificate the 757, the first type to be fitted with the system without an MMR, by the start of the year. "We have decided to move ...
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Look both ways
The trouble with forecasting is that it is rarely as accurate as hindsight - although hindsight is rarely as optimistic as forecasting can be. Elsewhere in this issue are recorded this magazine's best forecasts of what will happen in 1998, Laid down here, however, are the best expressions of what ...
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Lockheed Martin to support USAF A-10s
Lockheed Martin has won a $488 million multi-year contract to provide the US Air Force with long-term contractor support for the Fairchild A-10 attack/observation aircraft. The company beat Northrop Grumman to the contract. The competition started before the planned merger of the two firms was disclosed. So-called "firewalls" were ...
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Boeing and the US Navy identify F/A-18E/F wing-drop solutions
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing and the US Navy are testing three solutions to the wing-drop problem encountered during flight testing of the F/A-18E/F. The Navy is now "extremely confident" that an expensive wing redesign will not be required, says a US Department of Defense official. Wing drops of ...
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Mixing fire and water
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Most of the world's aviation industry abandoned development of flying boats in the 1940s, when the increased range of land-based aircraft, plus the birth of turbine engines, seemed to indicate the end of an era. A few manufacturers stayed with the flying boat - Canadair has continued to ...
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Forecasts 98': Airlines
Paul Lewis/Singapore Kevin O'Toole/London For the world airline industry, 1998 begins much as 1997 ended, with two issues on top of the agenda: the fall-out from Asia's economic woes and the next step in the industry's increasingly rapid consolidation. Both issues should make 1998 a busy one for airline ...
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Forecasts 98': Aerospace
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON While the US aerospace/defence industry will spend 1998 largely preoccupied with consolidating on its mammoth restructuring effort, the real will be focused across the Atlantic, on how Europe plans to respond. Boeing's mid-1997 acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, and the political furore it raised from the European ...
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Forecasts 98': Defence
Douglas Barrie/LONDON While 1998 may hold little excitement for European and US combat-aircraft manufacturers at home, the year promises some interesting battles in what are increasingly becoming crucial export markets. By the end of 1998, Lockheed Martin may have a clear-cut view of the limits of the export ...
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Forecasts 98': Space
Tim Furniss/LONDON At long last, assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to start in 1998. Six years later than originally planned, the first component is to be launched in June, marking the beginning the realisation of a programme initiated by USPresident Ronald Reagan in 1984. Reagan could ...
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Forecasts 98': Safety
David Learmount/LONDON The official ackknowleging by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that the airline world is split geographically and economically into sectors with vastly different levels of safety achievement was 1997's safety triumph. The coming year will give the first test of political and industrial will to enact ...
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Quick-change artist
Peter Gray/ARLINGTON The tilt-rotor concept has been around for many years, but only recently has the first military application (the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey) received production approval from the US Department of Defense. Even more recently, Bell and Boeing have launched the Model 609 civil tilt-rotor which is scheduled to fly ...
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CMC completes preliminaries for Leopard business jet
Chichester Miles Consultants (CMC) has completed preliminary flight trials of its Leopard four-seat business jet. The Williams FJX-1-powered aircraft, conceived in 1982, was tested for its handling and performance capabilities at speeds of around 260kt (485km/h). The aircraft was first flown in 1988 with Noel Penny turbojets, but has ...
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Executive Jet Aviation sets sights on additional Falcon 2000s
Executive Jet Aviation (EJA) could more than double its Dassault Falcon 2000 fleet by early in the next century, says the world's leading fractional-ownership company. Dassault's $500 million sale of 24 Falcon 2000 business jets to EJA is the single largest order for the transcontinental widebody aircraft to date. ...
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Sikorsky sees S-76 fractional-ownership market emerging
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Sikorsky believes that at least one fractional-ownership programme using its S-76 helicopter will be launched in early 1998. Interest in helicopter fractional-ownership "has exploded", says director, commercial programmes, Mike Moran, and the company is talking to "several" potential operators. Richard Santulli, chairman of Executive Jet ...