All news – Page 7441

  • News

    Weight saver

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    A new Space Shuttle external tank (ET) will be used for the first time in December 1997, fitted to the STS88/ Endeavour, the first assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The tank will be 3,400kg lighter than the original ET, adding an equivalent weight to the amount of ...

  • News

    Moving on up

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    The word "rebuilding" is likely to crop up frequently in conversations at the Helicopter Association International's Heli-Expo '97 (2-4 February, Anaheim, California). Manufacturers will be talking about rebuilding business post-recession, while the HAI itself will be addressing the problem of "phoenix", or rebuilt, aircraft. According to HAI president ...

  • News

    Record airline results

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    The US airline industry appears to be on course for net profits of around $2.5 billion, making 1996 the best year in its history. American Airlines is leading so far with $854 million, although Delta Air Lines has come close with $754 million before special charges, and Northwest Airlines notched ...

  • News

    Over to you, Airbus

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Surprise and, in some cases, relief, have greeted Boeing's sudden decision to drop its 747-500X and -600X programme. Despite signs of back-pedalling by Boeing, the airlines and engine makers appear to have been caught off-guard, although it was the carriers' indifference which put paid to the project. Rival ...

  • News

    Nimrod updates: political gain?

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Sir - I read that "-[Royal Air Force] British Aerospace Nimrod submarine hunters are being stripped down-[to] be transformed into Nimrod 2000s" (The Times, London, 27 December, 1996). Fuselages which are a quarter of a century old are being refurbished, allegedly to save a couple of million pounds ...

  • News

    India's rotary club

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is within months of scoring an Asian first by becoming the region's only company to develop and produce its own helicopter by assembling, as it expects to later this year, a utility version of its Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) for the Indian Army. HAL is ...

  • News

    Emery

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Kerry Fielden has been appointed to the newly created position of sales manager for the UK, Ireland and southern Africa by the UK division of international aviation-services company Emery Worldwide, of Redwood City, California. He was most recently business-development director for UPS, based in London, UK. Source: Flight ...

  • News

    Winning number

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    WITH 95 AIRCRAFT delivered in the first year, production running at 10-12 a month and the orderbook full for the next year, Bell Helicopter Textron has a success on its hands, the scale of which the helicopter industry has not seen for some years. By offering a ...

  • News

    Sabena denies Swissair rumours

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Sabena chief executive Paul Reutlinger has denied growing speculation that Swissair is preparing to pull out from the alliance with its struggling Belgian partner if the carrier's unions fail to agree on new working conditions and wage structures. Rumours of a possible pull-out were revived by confirmation that ...

  • News

    Cathay will launch FANS 747 flights by year's end

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Cathay Pacific Airways plans to finish equipping its entire fleet of Boeing 747-400s with future-air-navigation system (FANS-1) equipment by March and hopes to be operating on the first communications, navigation and surveillance/air-traffic-management (CNS/ATM) route across the northern Pacific Ocean by the end of the year. The Hong Kong ...

  • News

    UCI works on shock treatment

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    A new technique for reducing the exhaust noise of jet engines for supersonic aircraft is being developed by a team at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), led by the concept's inventor, Professor Dimitri Papamoschou. Work on the noise-suppression concept, known as the Mach Wave Eliminator, is being ...

  • News

    The big issue

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    BOEING'S REVELATION that it will not be competing in the very-large-airliner market with a derivative of the 747, thus apparently leaving Airbus Industrie's A3XX with a clear run, has certainly raised more questions than answers. While attention has focused on Boeing's doubts about lack of "sufficient market demand" ...

  • News

    Belgium provides for more F-16 upgrades

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    The Belgian air force has been given Government clearance to upgrade a further 24 Lockheed Martin F-16s to the mid-life update (MLU) standard in addition to the 48 fighters already earmarked for the upgrade. The Government is providing BFr 3.5 billion ($105 million) for the additional work. It ...

  • News

    P&W proposes Asian F-16 engine upgrade

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Pratt & Whitney is pushing its further improved F100-229 Increased Performance Engine (IPE) (Plus) to Asian air forces as an upgrade option for the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D, with Singapore and South Korea likely candidates for the upgrade. The engine, which has also been designated as the -229A, is ...

  • News

    Corporate Chinese

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    The Chinese Government has ordered five Canadair Corporate JetLiners from Bombardier in a deal valued at $116 million. The aircraft, a corporate version of the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet, will be operated by the military-run China United Airlines and used as government VIP transports. The first three are due for ...

  • News

    R-R and airlines wrangle over cost of -524G/H problems

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Rolls-Royce is facing demands that it bear the brunt of the massive costs airlines are incurring because of reliability and performance shortfalls of their RB.211-524G/H engines. The problems, which affect more than 100 RB.211-powered Boeing 747-400s and 767-300s, are estimated already to have cost the airlines more than $200 million ...

  • News

    New Piper launches Seneca V

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    TWO YEARS AFTER starting work on the aircraft, New Piper Aircraft has unveiled its Seneca V cabin-class piston twin, its first new product since emerging from the bankruptcy of the former Piper Aircraft (Flight International, 8-14 January). "We look at the Seneca V as a dual-purpose aircraft, with ...

  • News

    Raytheon E-Systems picks A310 for Australian AEWcompetition

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Raytheon E-Systems will offer the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) four modified Airbus Industrie A310s to meet the RAAF's airborne early warning and Control (AEW&C) System requirement, "Project Wedgetail". The four A310s are being provided by Airbus Industrie, the aircraft are likely to be second hand aircraft held ...

  • News

    MDC lines up MD-80 freighters

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    McDonnell Douglas (MDC) has had "informal" talks with China Eastern Airlines about the setting up of a cargo-modification line for MD-80s in Asia, and particularly China. Although freighter versions of the DC-9 were built, MDC has never delivered a main-deck cargo-door-equipped MD-80. The talks are believed to have ...

  • News

    Fairchild Dornier selects P&WC for new turbofan-powered 328

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Fairchild Dornier has selected Pratt &Whitney Canada to supply a powerplant for the proposed turbofan-powered derivative of its 328 regional turboprop aircraft. According to North American sources, the companies were poised to sign a contract at the time of going to press, once a final offset question had ...