All articles by Dan Thisdell – Page 4
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News
AIX: Brussels Airlines contracts ABC for A330 cabin branding
Brussels Airlines' retrofit programme for its fleet of Airbus A330 long-haul twinjets is set to feature cabin branding elements from ABC International.
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NewsUK start-up promises hybrid-electric regional flight by 2025
A UK start-up has declared its intention to fly by 2022 an 18-seat hybrid-electric aircraft – with certification following by 2025.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Electric air taxis will transform aviation - one day
A memorable scene from the 1967 coming-of-age cinema classic, The Graduate, has Benjamin Braddock – played by a fresh-faced Dustin Hoffman – taken aside for “one word” in private by a middle-aged guest at a party thrown by his parents to mark the eponymous university graduation. That one word, of ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: In the space business, Crew Dragon has bite
NASA and SpaceX made the news this month – and a bit of history, by sending a US-made space capsule to the International Space Station and bringing it home to an Atlantic Ocean splashdown.
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News
Brexit fears fail to trouble Airbus space business in the UK
While the long-term future of Airbus wing manufacturing in the UK may hang in the balance of Brexit, bosses at the company's UK Defence & Space unit are more sanguine about their prospects outside the EU.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Cosmic Girl ready for a new 747 era
Boeing 747-400s may be in the twilight of their service lives, but one pristine example is being readied for what promises to be a distinguished second career. Seen here in late January at Long Beach airport, this ex-Virgin Atlantic example will soon be carrying LauncherOne rockets built just up the ...
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AnalysisMegatrends and the future of aviation
We asked several experts to consider how the future of aviation might be shaped by huge forces transforming the world today
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News
Space debris poses threat to UK and French air force operations
Modern armed forces could cope with the loss of some space-based capabilities, but disabling orbiting assets would be a "game-changer" in the areas of imaging, positioning and ballistic missiles.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Hackers present a constantly evolving threat
In June, some 900 European cybersecurity specialists from 30 countries sprang into action when an ordinary day at the airport turned into mayhem: automated check-in machines displayed "system failure", check-in counter computers packed up, smartphone travel apps stopped working, baggage claim shut down, departure boards read all flights "cancelled". Queues, ...
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News
PICTURES: The far side of the Moon and a new space race?
For those who wonder at the cosmos, this has been a week for awe. NASA opened the year with a close fly-by of the most distant object yet visited by a spacecraft. China followed suit with an audacious, and successful, soft landing on the far side of the Moon.
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NewsTHE YEAR AHEAD: 2019 aerospace outlook
All we ever know for sure about the future is that it will look a lot like the past, only different – or maybe very different, depending on the timescale and interim events. That makes forecasting a black art best left to fortune tellers, charlatans and consultants. But in the ...
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: For Thales, drone air traffic control is a long game
Thales's acquisition of a start-up with novel radar technology underscores its commitment to safe operation of unmanned systems
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NewsVIDEO: Virgin Galactic tourism close as it edges nearer to space?
Virgin Galactic's epic journey to the edge of space looks to be at least ending its preliminary testing phase. Flying from its base at Mojave, California, the company's SpaceShipTwo rocket-powered glider reached a top speed of Mach 2.9 and altitude of 271,268ft – or 82.7km (51.4 miles) – with a ...
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News
NBAA: Supersonic flight may be feasible – but can Earth stand it?
The dream of bringing back supersonic commercial air travel is closer to reality than it has been since the Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde was retired in 2003.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: As Trent reaches limits, R-R sees need for succession
Rolls-Royce Trent has been synonymous with advanced aero engines for nearly three decades. Indeed, the series has been successful enough for this namesake of British engineering to claim that gas turbines named after the mighty waterway flowing past its Derby home power a market-leading 40% share of the new generation ...
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AnalysisWorld airliner census shows China growth is driving global fleet evolution
For a one-word summary of the megatrend shaping the world’s commercial airliner fleet, read simply “China”. Our annual World Airliner Census, built on Flight Fleets Analyzer data, reveals that during the past year the distribution of the global fleet crossed a milestone. A year ago, North America – always the biggest fleet region – led the in-service jet table with 30% of the global total, ahead of Asia-Pacific and China, with 29%. This year those percentages are reversed.
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News
Airbus sets flight endurance record with Zephyr UAV
Airbus Defence & Space looks to have earned a new world record for aerial endurance by keeping its Zephyr S solar-powered unmanned aircraft aloft for just minutes shy of 26 days. At 25 days 23h 57min, the maiden flight in Arizona lasted nearly twice the duration of the previous record-breaking ...
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News
FARNBOROUGH: On Mars, exploration is a job for robots - and humans
Farnborough air show visitors to the Space Zone in Hall 1 were treated to a good show – an Airbus Defence & Space-developed six-wheeled Mars rover named “Brian”, trundling back and forth over a big square of orange indoor-outdoor carpet and few hand-placed rocks.
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News
FARNBOROUGH: UK rocket launch programme to draw on Lockheed Martin-linked Electron
Lockheed Martin fleshed out its UK Space Agency-backed plans to bring a space launch capability to Scotland from 2020 – with a US-developed rocket now blasting off from New Zealand.