All articles by Dan Thisdell – Page 3
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News
PARIS: DA62 makes budget ISR platform for Leonardo
Leonardo and Diamond Aircraft have teamed up to pack much of the Italian aerospace champion’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission management system – normally flown on ATR turboprops – into a smaller, budget package.
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NewsPARIS: Are UAVs the new investment frontier?
For investors looking to put money into start-up companies with a good shot at making the transition from technology development to scale production, green lights should come on in business sectors where the market is inefficient – and where the technology might provide a way to cut costs and boost ...
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NewsPARIS: Moon is a mission for all of us – NASA chief
NASA rocketed into the Paris air show in grand style yesterday, with a passionate call for European and other international partners to get on board its fast-track project to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.
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NewsESA presses on with missions to Mars
Is there life on Mars? Europe and Russia are scrambling to launch a mission determined to find out
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NewsAerospace squirming in technology grip
While visitors to the Paris air show naturally focus much of their attention on aircraft – big and shiny or black and stealthy, thundering, manoeuvrable and headline-grabbing – much of that attention is misplaced, at least in the realm of military aviation. In short – and it’s an argument that ...
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Paid contentReaching for the stars
Airbus is setting the pace in space, from manufacturing the satellites that provide mobile communications networks to developing the rockets that launch exploratory missions
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Rolls-Royce's vision of a hybrid future
Short of a revolution in battery technology, electric flight is going to be a mixed affair
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Electric flight rules in cruise
Rolls-Royce (R-R) is not alone in anticipating the advent of practicable electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) – transportation. In this vision, small quadcopter or tiltrotor aircraft able to carry one to four people may bring benefits of speed and even reduced emissions to local or regional transport, supplementing and ...
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AnalysisStratolaunch makes first step to space
A notable aviation record fell earlier this month, with the maiden flight of what is now the world’s largest aircraft – the Scaled Composites-built twin-fuselage Stratolaunch, whose 117m (385ft) wingspan outstrips even the 97.5m (321ft) of the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat, better known as the Spruce Goose. As a more useful comparison, Stratolaunch also outstrips the 80m wingspan of an Airbus A380.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Zephyr soars high despite Australia crash
An Airbus flight-test campaign to prove its solar-powered, stratosphere-cruising Zephyr aircraft and payloads it will carry for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) got off to an inauspicious start last month, when a bout of "severe adverse weather" caused the delicate aircraft – with a 25m (82ft) wingspan but a ...
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NewsAIX: Gentex to supply third-generation dimmable windows
Dimmable windows to feature as 777X option and for the 787
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NewsAIX: Avio Interiors pioneers slim seat design
Avio Interiors is pushing the limits of slim seat design with its ESP offering
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News
AIX: Cobalt Aerospace looks to innovate cabin floor lighting
The photoluminescent floor strips that guide a cabin evacuation may not seem like a promising target for innovation, but UK cabin lighting maker Cobalt Aerospace saw an opportunity – to bring a standard product up-to-date with modern materials and manufacturing processes to improve durability and slash two-thirds off the price
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News
AIX: Stratasys looks to print 'low-hanging fruit'
3D printing specialists Stratasys are pushing the boundaries of additive layer manufacturing economics by moving into visible cabin parts like business class seating.
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NewsAIX: TT speeds to flexi lighting solution
Flexible LED lighting strips have been promising to transform cabin ambience for some years now, but UK electronics specialist TT is now ahead of the curve – and able to bend around a 75mm radius with a “power efficient, robust and certifiable” solution in white or RGB multi-coloured options.
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News
AIX: Airbus counting on digital cabin
Aircraft may be driven by Jet-A, but the cabin will be driven by data. That, at least, was the vision outlined by Airbus at AIX 2019 today.
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News
AIX: Bombardier prioritises accessibility and 'ease of travel'
Air travel, observes Patrick Baudis, is still a stressful experience for many people. So Bombardier’s head of marketing wants – indeed expects – to see “ease of travel” become a priority for the aviation industry over the coming years.
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News
AIX: All-round view makes aircraft a high-visibility zone
Passengers familiar with the view-from-outside delivered by external-mounted cameras are in for a surprise when they get a look through Latecoere’s new “360” system. Mounted either on the belly or roof, the 360 is a small 4k resolution camera with bubble-view anamorphic lens and modern processing power to deliver – ...
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NewsAIX: Celestica carves a niche in legacy aircraft
For Canadian electronics wizards Celestica, the path to the future joins legacy hardware with sophisticated stock control systems and careful technology selection to slash the cost of supporting out-of-production aircraft.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Airbus offers ab initio training
Airbus is taking a bottom-up approach to filling a looming airline pilot shortage – by expanding its own training system to include ab-initio schooling. By starting with raw beginners, Airbus hopes to help meet the expected demand for more than 540,000 new pilots – including some 94,000 in Europe – ...