All news – Page 7788
-
News
USA blocks Thai AMRAAM sale
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE THE US DEPARTMENT of State is withholding clearance for the sale of the Hughes AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) to Thailand and is instead promising to supply the system in the event of the country's security coming under threat. Thailand has been ...
-
News
The Viscount: still darting about
Harry Hopkins, who flew Vickers Viscounts in the 1960s, renews his acquaintance with one of the last passenger versions. IT WAS ALL THERE, in black and white. The cockpit instruments lacked colour coding, or pastel panels - but then I was going back 30 years. Vickers Viscounts were once flown ...
-
News
Thrust team finds key to cheaper patterns
Andrew Doyle/BIRMINGHAM A LOW COST FIBREBOARD used in the production of kitchen worktops, can be used as a substitute for high density aerospace foam, in the production of patterns for composite components, says UK aerospace engineers involved in the design of a jet-powered supersonic car (SSC), in ...
-
News
Expanding the propulsion-control envelope
DESPITE A PCA DESIGN envelope of about 150-250kt (280-460km/h), limited to 10,000ft (3,000m) and below, the thrust-only system has been explored well beyond the original flight envelope. The guest-pilot demonstration flights were focused appropriately around the landing pattern, but test results gathered well away from the original design envelope suggest ...
-
News
The Dart
THE ROLLS-ROYCE Dart engine made Sir George Edward's Viscount (a name politically changed from "Viceroy") a front-runner in propeller turbine-powered airliners. The Dart is a comparatively simple engine, with a two-stage centrifugal compressor (the geometry of which was derived from that of the supercharger of the mighty ...
-
News
From Brabazon to Viscount
VICKERS TURNED the 1942 Brabazon Committee's requirement for a postwar Brabazon IIB into the winning VC2 design. Originally, it was to have Napier Naiad, Armstrong Siddeley Mamba or Rolls-Royce Dart engines, but it went into service with the Dart. The prototype V630 was flown on 16 July 1948, and was ...
-
News
British World's Viscounts soldier on
BRITISH WORLD AIRLINES (BWA) is now the largest operator of Viscounts, with eight active at the end of 1995. At one stage, BWA and its predecessors operated 18 of the aircraft. Of the eight left, five have been converted to freighters and three soldiers on in passenger guise, ...
-
News
Northwest to fit EIDS to 747s
NORTHWEST AIRLINES IS TO RETROFIT its fleet of Boeing 747-100/-200s with B&D Instruments' cockpit engine-instrument display system (EIDS), replacing electro-mechanical indicators. The unit displays engine parameters on two active-matrix liquid-crystal display screens and is designed to improve despatch reliability and reduce maintenance costs, compared with existing instruments. A "snapshot" feature ...
-
News
Fair comparisons are needed on Airbus aircraft
Sir - I read the article "Battle of the big twins" (Flight International, 22-28 November, P16), which contains a number of errors and misleading comments. The airliners competing for the 300- to 350-seat market are the Airbus Industrie A330 and A340, the Boeing 777-200A, -200B and -300, ...
-
News
Cheaper composites under study
RESEARCHERS AT THE Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta are developing "laminated-matrix" composites, which, they believe, will be tougher, stronger and cheaper than conventional fibre-reinforced materials and which could replace metals in aircraft and engines, for reduced weight and increased efficiency. Jack Lackey, a scientist at the Georgia ...
-
News
Design network
Boeing has selected Concentra's ICAD System software to automate the design of wire harnesses for its commercial aircraft. The software will be used to codify and distribute electrical-routing design expertise between Boeing groups, says Massachusetts-based Concentra. Source: Flight International
-
News
Judgement on pilot details could have far-reaching results
Sir - A recent judgement, which was made in the USA, that a pilot's personal file, along with his training records from previous employers, should be made available to prospective employers throughout his career will have enormous implications for the UK's pilot workforce should this ruling be adopted. ...
-
News
USAF considers radar upgrades
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES A MAJOR UPGRADE OF front-line fighter radar with active-radar arrays is being evaluated by the US Air Force. A prototype system could be ready for tests by 1998. Initial contracts have been issued to Hughes and Westinghouse under the radar-system aperture-technology effort ...
-
News
Avatar eyes bigger logistics role
AIRCRAFT-PARTS reseller Avatar Alliance, formed earlier this year to acquire the Delta Air Lines surplus-parts inventory, is restructuring to offer logistics services to new low-cost airlines. Avatar says that it plans a full set of services, from parts sales through to spares provisioning and management, potentially offering start-up ...
-
News
Citation X changes confirmed by Cessna
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA CESSNA AIRCRAFT PLANS to deliver the first Citation X high-speed business jet in June 1996, a delay of two months, following full US certification of the aircraft with an increased payload. The US manufacturer had been aiming for basic US certification of the Mach 0.92 aircraft ...
-
News
Nimble Trimble
Trimble is supplying 800 Centurion portable global-positioning-system (GPS) receivers, with an option for another 200, for US Army helicopters. The six-channel, precision-code units are replacing Trimble Trim-pack commercial GPS receivers. Source: Flight International
-
News
Seat certification
Negotiation on whether cabin seats in the Astra SPX should meet new 16g crashworthiness standards is delaying US certification of Israel Aircraft Industries' upgraded business jet, and holding up delivery of the first aircraft to a US customer. Israel has already certificated the Astra SPX using seat rules applied to ...
-
News
Five operators compete for 1996 Atlanta Olympics service
Karen Walker/ATLANTA FIVE US HELICOPTER operators have submitted bids to provide a short-haul transport service in the Atlanta, Georgia, area when the city hosts the 1996 Olympic Games. Organisers are not revealing the names of bidders for the project, known as the Atlanta Short-Haul Transportation ...
-
News
Golf lease
Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services has sold a new Boeing 737-300, specially configured by Zurich, Switzerland-based Jet Aviation, to Malaysian golf resort Country Heights. The company has also announced the lease of a new 737-300 to Yunnan Airlines of China from early 1996, increasing its fleet to nine aircraft. Silk Air ...