All news – Page 7154
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Lycoming inspection
The US National Transportation Safety Board has requested that all Textron Lycoming IO-320-B1A engines with older-style, thinner, propeller-mounting flanges be inspected for cracks after aerobatic manoeuvres, following the 1996 fatal crash of a Lancair 320. Source: Flight International
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Boeing slows 777-200X/300X product-development work
Boeing has switched the emphasis of product-development work on the proposed 777-200X/300X ultra-long-haul and stretch derivatives for at least three months. The 300 staff working on the two planned variants are understood to have been switched from new-product development to focusing on reducing programme costs. Sources in Seattle say ...
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CASA joins in negotiations on European regional restructure
Julian Moxon/PARIS CASA of Spain has joined the negotiations on the future of Europe's regional-aircraft industry as a launch decision on the planned Aero International (Regional) (AI(R))Airjet regional jet seems likely to be delayed beyond the original end-of-year deadline. Talks between AI(R) president Patrick Gavin and new CASA ...
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BA prepares for massive tender
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Airways is preparing to issue a tender to Airbus and Boeing early in the new year for up to 160 narrow- and widebodied aircraft as it gears up for its long-term fleet-renewal programme. The airline is understood to be finalising an outline of its requirements ...
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MAPO MiG-29s head for Ecuador
MIG MAPO is close to signing a contract to deliver an unspecified number of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters to Ecuador. Neighbour Peru already operates MiG-29s, which it bought from Belarus.The Latin American country may be looking at the MiG-29SMT version, which started flight trials in November. The aircraft, which has upgraded ...
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EC moves closer to setting up new air safety authority
The European Commission (EC) will present plans to a meeting of European Union (EU) transport ministers this month aimed at creating a European aviation-safety authority. The new agency could be operational as early as 2000, says a well-placed EC official. Detailed work on pulling together recommendations on the role ...
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Air France 'must spend more money' on new aircraft
Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France must invest at least Fr40 billion ($6 billion) on new aircraft over the next five years if it is to remain competitive, the airline's new president Jean-Cyril Spinetta told a French Senate committee on 20 November. Aircraft-renewal plans centre on the need to replace ...
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Third MD-95 comes together
Boeing has begun final assembly of the third MD-95 test airframe, called the T-3, with the fuselage barrel mated to the wing on 24 November. The first MD-95 is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, with a first flight due to take place in early 1998. ...
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Spacewalk capture
Two STS87/Columbia astronauts captured the Spartan free-flying solar observatory satellite during a spacewalk on 24 November after the satellite had been deployed without receiving a computer command to switch from an idle mode. Source: Flight International
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SAS Commuter looks to Dash 8-300X to replace Saab 2000s
Ramon Lopez/TORONTO SAS Commuter underlined plans to standardise on the Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8 family for its regional-fleet needs at the unveiling ceremony of the new 70-seat Series 400, when it revealed that it will dispose of its 50-seat Saab 2000s when their leases expire early in the ...
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SIA is set to become star in the East
The Star Alliance looks set to gain a seventh member as Singapore Airlines (SIA) officially broke away from its long-standing alliance with Swissair and Delta Air Lines on 25 November in favour of a wide-ranging partnership with Star-founder Lufthansa. Lufthansa chairman Jurgen Weber, speaking after the signing in Singapore ...
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Airbus ponders its A3XX systems role
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Airbus Industrie is considering passing responsibility for the integration of avionics on the proposed A3XX to a specialist, allowing companies outside the consortium to bid for the work. Speaking at the 1997 ERA Avionics Conference in London on 19 November, Michel Comes, director of systems at ...
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Soloy Dual Pac receives FAA STC
The US Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Soloy a supplementary type certificate (STC) for its 1,330shp (1,000kW) Dual Pac, which uses two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engines to drive a single propeller. A special condition specifies that the powerplant should continue to run if one side loses power, which ...
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Dow-UT improves resin-transfer moulding process
Dow-United Technologies Composite Products (Dow-UT) has improved its advanced resin-transfer moulding (AdvRTM) process to enable production of more complex carbonfibre parts. The improved process uses shaped unidirectional-fibre preforms to fill the gaps where two or more sections are moulded together. When using conventional RTM, these gaps would fill ...
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Future avionics architecture is proven
A group of major European avionics manufacturers has designed an avionics architecture for future aircraft which will vastly reduce development and support costs and improve interoperability between aircraft and systems. The Industrial Avionics Working Group (IAWG) has completed a risk-reduction study into software techniques for integrated modular avionics (IMA) ...
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Europe's FAA?
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Commission (EC) is preparing to push radical new proposals to set up a European AviationSafety Authority (EASA) at a meeting of transport ministers later this month. The new agency, which will have sweeping powers, could be operational by 2000 according to well-placed sources in Brussels. ...
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Dasa plans commercial Eureca
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) is planning to launch a commercially funded industrial-applications mission using the free-flying, retrievable Eureca space platform from the US Space Shuttle in 2000. A European Space Agency-funded flight of the German-built Eureca, equipped with 71 different experiments, was conducted in 1992-3 after deployment ...
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NASA millennium
NASA has chosen the second Earth-orbiting mission in its New Millennium project to develop and demonstrate new technologies. The $15 million Space-Readiness Coherent Lidar Experiment (Sparcle) will be flown aboard the Space Shuttle in 2001 to give precise measurement of wind speed, direction and vertical profile. Source: Flight International
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WRC agrees Ka-band frequencies for Teledesic, Skybridge, Celestri
The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 1997 in Geneva has agreed to allocate Ka-band frequencies to the Teledesic, Skybridge and Celestri high-speed multi-media satellite systems. The decision to allow the Skybridge and Celestri to compete with the $9 billion US Teledesic multi-satellite system planned by Microsoft's Bill Gates and entrepreneur ...
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X-38 orbital and re-entry test planned for 2001
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA's X-38 crew-emergency-return vehicle (CERV) for the International Space Station (ISS) will have its first orbital and re-entry flight test in 2001. The vehicle prototype is undergoing atmospheric flight tests from a NASA Boeing B-52 operating from Edwards AFB, California, (Flight International, 18-24 June). Glide flights ...