All news – Page 7395
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GOES IS GO...
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, the GOES K, will be launched on the last Atlas 1-series booster operated by ILS International Launch Services from Cape Canaveral, on 24 April. It is the third of a $1 billion fleet of five new-series satellites. ...
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Kapustin Yar is revived for launches
Russia's launch base at Kapustin Yar, in the sparsely populated area close to the Caspian Sea, will end 12 years of retirement when it is used again as a satellite-launch station in 1999. The base was first used for a missile launch in 1947 and its first orbital ...
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British Midland selects Airbus A320 family for fleet renewal
British Midland Airways (BM) expects to sign a $1 billion firm order with Airbus Industrie for A320s and A321s in May, having concluded an initial memorandum of understanding in early April for up to 20 aircraft. The airline, which selected the Airbus single-aisle family over Boeing's 737-800 and ...
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Southwest's 737-700 enters flight-test...
The second Boeing 737-700 is now flying in the colours of launch customer Southwest Airlines. The aircraft, which was unpainted for its maiden 2h 4min flight from Renton on 27 February, achieved an altitude of 41,000ft (12,500m) on 15 March, setting a new record for the type (Flight International, 26 ...
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Belgium's CityBird takes to the...
New Belgian low-cost airline CityBird (formed by the City Hotels Group, ex-owner of Euro Belgian Airlines) began operations on 27 March, when its first McDonnell Douglas MD-11 took off for Mexico. On 30 March, scheduled services to Miami and Orlando in Florida began, and from June more scheduled US routes ...
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MDC talks up MD-80 freighter for China
McDonnell Douglas (MDC) remains optimistic that its MD-80 cargo conversion plan proposed to Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) earlier this year will receive the go-ahead before the end of 1997, despite uncertainty caused by the planned merger with Boeing. A key aspect of the plan is the supply ...
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Euro liberalisation could still cause problems
The final stage of European air-transport liberalisation came into effect on 1 April, to the accompaniment of predictions that airlines will be unlikely to take full advantage of the increased market access contained within the legislation. "In most important respects, the European market has been fully liberalised since ...
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Gulf Air reactivates TriStars following disposal of 767s
Gulf Air is planning to return up to three of its five stored L-1011 TriStar 200s to service, for operation on services within the Gulf, and to the Indian sub-continent. The move comes in the wake of the sale of six Boeing 767-300ERs to Delta Air Lines. One ...
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Indian carriers receive aircraft import...
India's Civil Aviation Ministry has given the go-ahead for three domestic private airlines to increase their fleets by importing more aircraft. The approval, announced by the ministry's Aircraft Acquisition Committee (AAC), affects Skyline NEPC, JVG Group and Bengal Air. Bombay-based NEPC Skyline will add two Boeing 737-200s to ...
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Egypt's AMC orders launch MD-90-30ER
AMC Aviation of Egypt has placed the launch order for the McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30ER (extended range), with a contract for two aircraft. The MD-90ER features increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) and additional fuel tanks, to boost range to over 4,000km (2,200nm). Compared to the standard MD-90, ...
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norfolk island route...
A new Australasian start-up will contest the potentially lucrative tourism route between Australia and Norfolk Island, an Australian territory in the Southwest Pacific recently vacated by Ansett Australia. Norfolk Jet Express (NJE) will operate a British Aerospace BAe146-100 from the island on wet-lease from National Jet Systems (NJS), which runs ...
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NATS bargain...
Air-traffic-control (ATC) user charges have dropped by 18% on North Atlantic routes within UK oceanic-control areas. Also cut by 7% are UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) ATC user charges at UK operator BAA's three London airports. Charges are cut by 13-16% at Scotland's main airports. ...
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NASAselects two satellites to study...
NASA has selected two small, low-cost, satellites to study the distribution of the Earth's forests and the variability of its gravity field under a new Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Earth System Science Pathfinders, programme. The vegetation-canopy lidar (VCL) mission will use a multibeam laser-ranging device to ...
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Engineering dominance
LOOK AT FIGHTER evolution in 25-year steps, and the technological advance which can occur in a quarter-century is obvious. The 1915 Fokker DVII, 1940 North American P-51 and 1965 McDonnell Douglas F-4 were each the dominant fighters of their age, and illustrate the advances that have been achieved. Another 25 ...
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Challenging evolution
WHEN THE US Air Force began defining its requirement for an air-superiority fighter to replace the McDonnell Douglas F-15, the world was a very different place. The Soviet Union still existed and Iraq was just a minor Middle Eastern power. The major regional conflict had not yet replaced superpower confrontation ...
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Integrating information
LOW-OBSERVABLE AIR superiority places severe requirements on avionics that can only be met by the degree of integration evident in the F-22, says Marty Broadwell, deputy avionics team-leader. "We are collecting snippets of information, with minimum illumination, pencil beams, sensors that are passive or barely on. Alone, ...
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Arming from the inside
CHALLENGING WEIGHT and cost goals have been met by the F-22's armament-system design team while ensuring that the aircraft ultimately will be able to perform missions other than air superiority. The first of those extra missions, near-precision strike using the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), already has been added to ...
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Painting by numbers
BUILDING L-64 AT Marietta is not a paint shop, although it is here that F-22s will be finished before being towed across the road for radar cross-section verification ready for first flight. Each F-22 is expected to spend about 20 days in this building, where the elaborate, ...
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Testing for combat
DEMONSTRATING THAT he F-22 is at least twice as effective in combat as the F-15, as required by contract, will require a combination of wargaming, simulation and flight testing. Computer modelling is being used to develop a statistical basis for the comparison, with almost 1 million simulated engagements already ...
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Supplying a total system
DEVELOPING SUPPORT and training systems concurrently with the aircraft and engine has allowed designers to take advantage of the capabilities of the F-22's integrated avionics. The aircraft has extensive onboard diagnostics, required for sensor fusion and fault tolerance, which can be used to eliminate ground-support equipment, while the flight software ...