All news – Page 7486
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Cessna gives Citation Excel its first public outing
Cessna says that it will deliver the first Citation Excel widebody light business-jet in November 1997. Two are now being flown, and the aircraft had its public debut at the NBAA show. A third aircraft, the first production Excel, will be flown in July 1997. Cessna says that ...
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Stability modification
Avcon Industries has won a $2.5 million contract from courier AirNet for Avcon Fins stability modifications to more than 20 Learjets. The initial $500,000 deal is to modify three aircraft for completion in the second quarter of 1997. Source: Flight International
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Global-range stakes increase
Improved range for the Global Express will put pressure on Gulfstream Bombardier has increased the range of its Global Express business jet by 370km (200nm), to 12,400km at Mach 0.8, following initial flight-testing of the first aircraft. The move increases pressure on Gulfstream, which admits that its ...
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Universal Avionics offers fivefold improved GPS/Glonass system
A new satellite-navigation system, promising a fivefold improvement in accuracy, has been unveiled by Universal Avionics. The GNSS-2400 uses the US global-positioning system (GPS) and its Russian equivalent, the Glonass. The working prototype was proven during a flight from Switzerland to Florida, and demonstrated at the show. ...
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Dual pac changes
Soloy has renamed its twin-turbine, single-propeller conversion of the Cessna Caravan, the "Pathfinder 21", and has increased the gross weight to 5,700kg to offer additional payload. The revisions have delayed production by 12 months, with US approval now expected in May 1998. Source: Flight International
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Rockwell renaissance
Twin Commander Aircraft has extended its Grand Renaissance refurbishment programme to include piston-powered versions of the Rockwell-built aircraft, beginning with the Shrike 500S. Eight 690A/B/C Twin Commander turbine-powered aircraft have already been scheduled for restoration. Source: Flight International
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Orenda puts off piston approval
Orenda Aerospace has delayed certification of its 370-560kW (500-750hp) piston-engine family after testing was halted by crankshaft manufacturing defects. The Canadian firm now expects to certificate the engine in the second quarter of 1997, rather than by the end of 1996. Orenda says that the final 150h endurance ...
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New part-share scheme is set
A new business-jet fractional-ownership programme has been launched to meet demand for what the founders describe as "the future of corporate aviation". Prime Fleet is a joint venture between US bank-owned leasing company Fleet Capital Leasing and Prime Airborne, an aircraft management and charter firm. Initially, the New ...
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Pilatus heads west for sales
Swiss manufacturer Pilatus Aircraft has established a permanent base at Jeffco Airport in Broomfield, Colorado, for the US sales and support of its PC-12 single turboprop. In addition to marketing and maintenance work, the company plans to begin interior-completion work at Jeffco in January 1997, and avionics fitments ...
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Swearingen SJ30-2 prototype has its first flight
Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 has taken to the air for the first time Sino Swearingen Aircraft's prototype SJ30-2 has been flown for the first time. President Jack Braly says that the aircraft is on course for US certification by the last quarter of 1998. Customer deliveries will follow immediately ...
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Bell Boeing takes the wraps off the BB609 civil tilt-rotor
Bell Boeing are aiming for a mid-1999 first flight of the civil tilt-rotor The six- to nine-passenger civil tilt-rotor (CTR) aircraft which Bell Helicopter Textron (BHT) and Boeing Helicopters have agreed to produce jointly is set to have its maiden flight in mid-1999, says the joint-venture company. ...
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VisionAire kicks off Vantage testing
VisionAire flew its Vantage for the first time on 16 November VisionAire has begun flight-testing its single-engined Vantage business jet with a first flight on 16 November at Scaled Composites in Mojave, California. Test pilot and director of operations at Scaled Composites, Doug Shane, says that the aircraft ...
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McDonnell Douglas loses JSF contest
The role MDC and partners Northrop Grumman and British Aerospace will play in JSF in the future is unclear- Stonecipher contemplates loss What next for the USA's former first fighter house Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON To Harry Stonecipher, president and chief executive of ...
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The contenders
MDC's JSF failed to get off the deck Lockheed Martin's "low-risk" design Boeing's bid is a far cry from a widebodied aircraft Guy Norris/LOSANGELES Boeing and Lockheed Martin have begun final detailed design work on their respective Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) demonstrator ...
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Aerospatiale reveals FLA design
Aerospatiale's proposed design for the flight-deck of the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) military transport strongly reflects its Airbus Industrie heritage, with two crew members (for most missions), a "dark" cockpit based around five head-down displays and fly-by-wire side-stick controls. Specific to the FLA will be a pair of head-up displays ...
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Red Arrows
The new leader of the Royal Air Force Red Arrows aerobatics team is Sqn Ldr Simon Meade. He flew gliders with the Air Training Corps' (ATC) 618 Volunteer Gliding School before joining the RAF in 1979. Meade takes over from Sqn Ldr John Rands, another former ATC Cadet. ...
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NASA schedules X-38 'lifeboat' tests
This X-38 International Space Station Crew Return Vehicle may result from a NASA research project. NASA will conduct atmospheric glide flights of a full-scale prototype of a potential International Space Station (ISS) Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) in 1997. Two models of the test article, designated the X-38, are being ...
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PP7 accident forces programme rejig
Accident places Merlin in programme hover Douglas Barrie/LONDON EH Industries is being forced to re-arrange its EH101 military utility/anti-submarine-warfare helicopter development and flight-test programme in an attempt to avoid a service-entry delay following an accident involving the PP7 prototype in August. EH Industries members, ...
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SW-4 takes off
After years of false starts and delays, Polish industry is moving into the light helicopter market. Andrzej Jeziorski/WARSAW On a blustery Tuesday, 29 October, the Polish press and selected guests gathered at helicopter manufacturer PZL-Swidnik's factory near Lublin to watch an event crucial to the future of the ...
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Chinese AAM aspirations may build on Alenia Aspide
Aspide translates to Chinese LY-60 family on show at Zhouhai Douglas Barrie/LONDON Andrea Spinelli/GENOA China appears to be continuing to use the Alenia Aspide medium-range air-to-air missile (AAM) airframe as the basis for a family of weapons, despite the collapse of a "highly sensitive" deal to ...