All articles by Dan Thisdell – Page 5
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News
FARNBOROUGH: For Airbus, sky's the limit with Zephyr
For Airbus and its Zephyr S, the sky really is the limit – because any higher and this "high-altitude pseudo satellite" would have to be a spacecraft.
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News
FARNBOROUGH: UK hits green button in push for rocket launch capability
A long-anticipated plan to launch rockets from the UK has finally been fleshed out, with £31.5 million in UK Space Agency grants provided to start flights to orbit from Sutherland, Scotland from the “early 2020s”.
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News
FARNBOROUGH: Europe eyes united place in space
As the aerospace industry gathers in Farnborough to talk business, assess its achievements and scan its horizons, one notable point to mark is that the very distant horizon of Mars is getting closer.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Cyber threat to aviation is real – and urgent
Can an aircraft be hacked? The answer would appear to be yes. It emerged last year that, in 2016, US Department of Homeland Security cyber experts had hacked into the avionics of a Boeing 757 obtained by the agency for testing.
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News
AIX: Cobalt shines with new LED mood lighting
For Cobalt Aerospace, the challenge of 2018 is keeping up with what is turning into an “amazing year of growth” for the five-year-old company, with six flag carriers opting for its LED full colour mood lighting system as a drop-in replacement for traditional white fluorescent cabin illumination systems.
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News
AIX: Sekisui launches KYDEX light brigade
Interior designers looking to lighten up a bit will be looking carefully at a literally bright new idea in cabin panel materials. KYDEX plastic panels – in any colour, printable with infused images for durability and thermoformable to most any shape – are a familiar tool for the design community, ...
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News
AIX: Recaro makes the WOW factor
Recaro is to supply Icelandic budget carrier WOW air with around 100 of its CL4400 business class seats. Seats for three aircraft have already been delivered, and a retrofit programme to convert seats on another 12 aircraft will be completed by year-end.
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News
AIX: Style makes the grade for Skylights VR glasses
Business class passengers on Air France’s three A340s will in the next two months be offered a virtual reality cinema experience, care of a second generation headset from Skylights. Compared to the company’s first generation headset that is flying on 17 aircraft today, the latest version – modelled here by ...
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News
AIX: Stratasys promises 3D printing the 'easy way'
For 3D printing systems master Stratasys, the key to getting customers airborne is getting them through the certification process. An Airbus A350 flies with about 1,000 parts printed from Stratasys materials – but as product leader and vice president Jim Orrock puts it, while smaller companies like aircraft interiors suppliers ...
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News
NASA partners with Thales in push for drone airspace management
NASA has formally brought Thales on board in its effort to develop an unmanned air systems traffic management (UTM) system that can be handed over to the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2019. Under this Space Act Agreement, Thales will collaborate with NASA to research, develop, test and evaluate low-altitude ...
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News
Brexit throws Anglo-French FCAS programme into doubt
A three-year-old Anglo-French bid to define the future of unmanned combat aircraft looks to be falling foul of Brexit, as “political and budgetary uncertainty” in London have left the launch of a demonstrator programme in doubt.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Surging economies lifting air cargo demand
Of all the signs that the global economy is recovering after a prolonged post-crisis slump – rising employment, rising business confidence and even inflation – one sure indicator of better times can be found in air freight. Indeed, 2017 was an exceptional year for air freight demand, with industry-wide freight ...
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News
Dassault launches 6X as it bids to put 5X nightmare behind it
Dassault has closed the book on its unhappy experience with its Safran Silvercrest-powered 5X by launching a replacement model that is essentially a 5X but optimised around a variant of Pratt & Whitney's PW800 geared turbofan engine.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: New discipline, new drive at Leonardo Helicopters
Helicopters account for a short third of Leonardo annual revenue, so the group is taking strict action to reverse a 2017 downturn
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Leonardo marks another new beginning
Are new beginnings becoming a habit for Leonardo? The Italian aerospace champion formerly known as Finmeccanica has set the scene for disappointment with its 2017 results, due to be published on 14 March, by unveiling a “new industrial plan” designed for a return to “steady, sustainable growth”.
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News
ATR parent Leonardo rules out 100-seat turboprop
Talk of ATR launching a new programme to extend the regional turboprop maker's range to a 100-seater has been formally brought to a close.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: 787 stars in annual airliner census
A year ago, our annual census of the world’s airliner fleets noted that Boeing’s 787 was becoming a star performer, clearly putting behind it the painful memories of a protracted and troublesome development, certification and entry-into-service. This year, Flight Fleets Analyzer data confirms that star status; while the 787’s July 2016 to July 2017 in-service fleet growth slowed to “just” a third – from nearly 50% the year before – the advanced technology widebody is far and away the star performer among mainliners.
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Reusability just one factor in cutting launch costs
Europe’s bid to slash the cost of access to space has received a boost in the form of a reusable rocket engine intended to cost just €1 million ($1.1 million) – compared with the €10 million cost of the disposable Vulcain2 that powers the Ariane 5 heavy lifter.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Surrey Satellites dodges Brexit bullet
One prominent British aerospace champion looks to have dodged a Brexit bullet, with Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) seeing off “fierce competition” to build the payloads for Europe’s next batch of navigation satellites.