All news – Page 8007
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News
Keeping in touch
Air-to-ground telephones for airline passengers are becoming more commonplace. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA Passengers on certain British Airways flights are the first in the UK to enjoy something US air travelers have come to expect - air-to-ground telephones on aircraft. BA is the first airline to put ...
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PW530 passes birdstrike test on second attempt
PRATT & WHITNEY Canada's PW530 turbofan has passed a new birdstrike test after failing the first in mid-1994, necessitating a redesign of the engine's integrally bladed rotor (IBR) fan. The 12kN (2,600lb)-thrust PW530 will power the Cessna Citation Bravo light business-jet, with a first flight scheduled for next ...
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Erickson praises K-MAX, but returns aircraft
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA KAMAN AEROSPACE'S lead customer for the K-MAX external-lift helicopter, Erickson Air-Crane, has returned its leased aircraft to the manufacturer, citing a change in company philosophy. Kaman says that Erickson never voiced any dissatisfaction with the aircraft, on which it had accumulated 225h. Oregon-based Erickson ...
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Cessna sticks with Textron for singles
Ramon Lopez/NEW YORK NEW-PRODUCTION Cessna Aircraft 172 Skyhawks, 182 Skylanes and Model 206s are to be powered by up-rated Textron Lycoming piston engines, according to Russ Meyer, the company's chairman. Revealing new information about the company's plans to revive its single-engine general-aviation operations, Meyer says ...
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Eurocopter launches effort to expand civil-design limits
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH EUROCOPTER Deutschland, the Daimler-Benz Aerospace part of the bi-national helicopter group, which includes Aerospatiale of France, is pulling together a four-year research programme aimed at achieving significant operational, environ- mental and safety improvements. The DM120 million ($80 million) civil-helicopter research-and-development programme will ...
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R-R signs S Korea deal
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE ROLLS-ROYCE HAS signed two aerospace-technology co-operation agreements with South Korea, as competition with Pratt & Whitney and General Electric intensifies for a Korean Air (KAL) order for engines to power its future fleet of Boeing 777s. The two agreements call for the establishment ...
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France pushes for early Tiger go-ahead
Julian Moxon/PARIS FRENCH DEFENCE minister Francois Leotard is pushing his Government for a decision to bring forward the delivery date of the first Eurocopter Tiger battlefield helicopters by two years. In a letter to a Government deputy on 14 March, Leotard says that he wants ...
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IHI takes up CF34 share
ISHIKAWAJIMA-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) of Japan is to take a 25% stake in the development and production of the up-rated General Electric CF34-8C turbofan engine. IHI's work-share has yet to be finalised, but it is understood that it will centre on the engine's accessory gearbox, low-pressure turbine and ...
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Paradise found by Navcom Aviation
NAVCOM AVIATION is attempting to launch a scheduled airline called Paradise Air, using the assets and certificate of the former UltrAir. Scheduled and charter services are due to begin soon using one Boeing 727, possibly flown by ex-UltrAir pilots, linking Washington Dulles and New York Kennedy airports. Houston-based ...
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Wake analysis shows little hope of growing capacity
LASER-BASED ANALYSIS of aircraft wake-vortices at London Heathrow Airport suggests that there is little hope of increasing runway capacity by reducing separations. Researchers believe that real-time provision of vortex information to controllers could sometimes assist with tactical air-traffic control (ATC), but few, if any, strategic gains are realisable. ...
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Qantas profit clears the way for privatisation
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE QANTAS AIRWAYS reports a profit increase of nearly 80% over the first half of its financial year, clearing the way for the Australian Government to sell its remaining 75% stake. The results, likely to be the last before the long-awaited share flotation, shows ...
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Human error blamed in An-70 crash
THE UKRAINIAN-LED commission investigating the crash on 10 February of the Antonov An-70 four-prop-fan prototype has ruled that the main cause of the accident was "human error", despite continuing allegations of technical problems with the aircraft. The commission says that the mid-air collision of the An-70 with ...
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IAI offers Sukhoi Su-22 upgrade
ISRAEL AIRCRAFT Industries (IAI) is offering an upgrade package for the Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter variable-geometry ground-attack fighter. Negotiations are under way with two unnamed air forces, which operate the aircraft. IAI's Lahav military-aircraft division has so far concentrated on upgrading the Mikoyan MiG-21 Fishbed. The design of an ...
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Russian missile's nuclear near-miss
A KH-25ML (AS-10 KAREN) laser-guided air-to-surface missile, fired from a Russian air force Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft in February, deviated from its aiming point at Pogonovo firing range in Southern Russia and narrowly missed Novovoronezh nuclear-power station. The missiles live explosive-fragmentation 90kg warhead detonated on impact, causing extensive ...
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Hughes wins PanAmSat 5 with new version of HS-601
HUGHES SPACE and Communications is to build the PanAmSat (PAS) 5, the 43rd HS-601 model to be supplied by the company and the third enhanced high-power version, the HS-601 HP (Flight International, 15-21 March). The HS-601 HP features gallium-arsenide solar cells and advanced-battery technology, as well as a ...
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Helicopter fall destroys Foton
THE 2,000kg RUSSIAN Foton recoverable micro-gravity capsule, carrying European Space Agency (ESA), French and German experiments worth over $3 million, was destroyed after it was dropped about 100m (330ft) from a recovery helicopter on 3 March. ESA says that its on-board Biobox container is "...irreparably wrecked" and that ...
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First American flies to board the Mir
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA ASTRONAUT Norman Thagard became the first American to board a Russian space station on 16 March after the docking of the Soyuz TM21 spacecraft in which he and two Russian colleagues were launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome two days earlier. Thagard, commander ...
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European ministers discuss open skies policy
Julian Moxon/PARIS European transport ministers have reached a tentative agreement to develop a common policy on open skies following the spate of recent agreements between individual countries and the USA. Within a 15-day period, six European Union countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden) ...