All news – Page 7676
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Military aptitude tests for civil pilots
PILOT-APTITUDE testing is being made available by the Royal Air Force to self-financing pilots anxious to find out whether it is worth spending up to £50,000 ($77,000) to train for a civil airline-transport pilot's licence. The RAF is allowing the use of its own computer-based aptitude-testing systems ...
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Honeywell wins deal for SJ30 avionics
Sino Swearingen Aircraft has selected Honeywell's Primus 1000 integrated-avionics system for its SJ30-2 light business-jet. Honeywell equipment will include a two-tube electronic flight-instrument system (EFIS) with 200 x 180mm cathode-ray-tube displays. Dual IC-600 integrated-avionics computers will combine the EFIS, flight-director and autopilot functions. Other elements of ...
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Upgrade impetus
ISRAELI COMPANIES HAVE succeeded in turning into actual business the much-mooted upgrade market for both the Northrop F-5 and Soviet-era combat aircraft. Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI) Lahav division implemented an avionics and weapons-system upgrade on the Chilean air force's F-5E/F. This included a variant of the Elta ...
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SABCA profits
Belgian aerospace-components manufacturer SABCA says that the demise of Dutch manufacturer Fokker, which is its joint owner together with Dassault Aviation, is having little impact on profits. The company ended 1995 with net profits up by nearly 13%, to BFr132 million ($4.4 million), on sales of BFr8.3 billion. Fokker represents ...
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GAO/DoD differ on SEAD future
The US GENERAL Accounting Office (GAO) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are at odds over future US military requirements for suppression of enemy air-defences (SEAD). The investigative arm of the US Congress has recommended postponing retirement of the McDonnell Douglas F-4G Wild Weasel and Grumman EF-111 Raven ...
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Looking ahead
Since the end of the Cold War, some officials complain that Germany's defence budget has been used as a "gold mine" for other state financial needs. Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH BETWEEN 1991 AND 1994 Germany's defence budget shrank from DM54 billion ($36 billion) to DM 47 billion, ...
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Malaysian island will get own airline
THE MALAYSIAN island of Langkawi is to have its own airline under proposals revealed by Langkawi Helicopter Services (LHS) and Amanah Saham Anak Langkawi (ASAL), a subsidiary of the Kedah State Development Authority. The plan, backed by Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is aimed at helping boost ...
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Eurocopter pitches EC135 at South African Air Force
Forbes Mutch/JOHANNESBURG EUROCOPTER IS LIKELY to offer a military version of its EC135 twin-engined light helicopter to the South African Air Force (SAAF) as a replacement for the ageing Aerospatiale Alouette III. A formal requirement to replace up to 50 SAAF SA316Bs Alouette, used in air-support ...
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SME to build four-seat MD3
Terry Hardeman/KUALA LUMPUR SME AVIATION, the Malaysian manufacturer of the MD3 single-engined two-seat trainer, plans to launch fully aerobatic and four-seat versions of the Swiss-designed (by Max Datwyler) aircraft. Powered by a 120kW (160hp) Lycoming 0-320-D2A piston engine, the aircraft is already aerobatic and stressed ...
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Asiana chooses IAE power for its A321s
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Asiana Airlines of South Korea has chosen the International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500-A5 to power its planned new fleet of Airbus Industrie A321 narrowbodies. The engine is understood to have been selected over the competing CFM56-5B after an intensive pricing and technical battle ...
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Air France Europe 'may disappear', says Blanc
Julian Moxon/PARIS AIR FRANCE Group president Christian Blanc has threatened the workforce of Air France Europe with the "disappearance" of the airline if Draconian measures to restore performance are not under- taken in the next two years. At a board meeting on 25 April, Blanc ...
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ANZ optimistic over Ansett buy-out
Air New Zealand (ANZ) has set a 30 June target date to complete its stalled NZ$350 million ($241 million) buy-out of TNT's 50% stake in Ansett. In April, the New Zealand Commerce Commission blocked ANZ's bid because it would have resulted in the carrier also acquiring 50% of domestic competitor ...
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Strong foreign interest boosts Kenya float
THE KENYA AIRWAYS share offer has been heavily oversubscribed, helped by strong interest from foreign institutions. The offer, which was closed on 19 April, was virtually twice oversubscribed, marking a success for what is Africa's first major privatisation of a national flag carrier. In total, 48% ...
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Bombardier shows Australian maritime-patrol Dash 8s
BOMBARDIER is conducting a 12-country demonstration tour with the first of three de Havilland Dash 8-200 maritime-patrol aircraft for Surveillance Australia. The tour began in Scandinavia, and is continuing through the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia, with the aircraft due to arrive in Australia in June and enter service in ...
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Priroda docking completes the Mir 1 space station
THE CONSTRUCTION of the Russian Mir 1 space station was completed on 26 April when the Priroda Earth-observation module was docked to the orbital space base after launch aboard a Proton SL-13 on 23 April. The 19,700kg Priroda - originally scheduled to have been launched in 1990 ...
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Delta 2 launches MSX
The Midcourse Space Experiment satellite (MSX) was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 two-stage model on 25 April. The 2,760kg spacecraft, which was built by the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, is equipped with an array of ...
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China wins control of Hong Kong airlines
Paul Lewis/HONG KONG SWIRE PACIFIC has ceded control of Dragonair and lost to China its absolute majority interest in Cathay Pacific Airways, in a far- reaching settlement ending a year-long battle for control of Hong Kong's airlines. Under a deal struck just 14 months before ...
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Airbus bids to slash A310 costs to rival Boeing 757
Paul Lewis/TOULOUSE AIRBUS INDUSTRIE is studying ways of cutting the cost of its A310 aircraft, in an effort to revive sales and counter proposed higher-gross-weight developments of the Boeing 757. According to Adam Brown, Airbus vice-president for strategic planning, the company is looking at a ...
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Flight Dynamics plans HUDs for more 737s
FLIGHT DYNAMICS plans to increase its dominance of the market for head-up displays (HUDs) on civil transports by certificating its system for Category III operations on five Boeing 737 models by mid-1999. The schedule calls for certification of the 737-400 and -500 to Cat IIIa by the end ...
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AST becomes the first victim of UK training policy
David Learmount/LONDON THE UK'S OLDEST flying training school has become the first victim of a Government policy loophole enabling UK pilots to gain UK commercial pilot's licences in foreign training establishments. The 60-year-old Air Services Training (AST) at Perth, Scotland, announced on 26 April that ...