Editorial opinion – Page 8
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OpinionSafran must take blame for Silvercrest failure
To lose one flagship aircraft programme may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. It may be unfair to aim that paraphrasing of Oscar Wilde at Textron Aviation which has suspended the large-cabin Citation Hemisphere 10 years after ending its last attempt to break into unfamiliar territory, with the Columbus.
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OpinionHow the Airbus effect transformed A220 sales
Back when the Airbus A220 was still the Bombardier-owned CSeries, there was always the sense that the twinjet was a good product whose potential was hamstrung by, well, everything else.
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OpinionSaratov and the spectre of fatal fixation
There can be fewer more frustrating accidents than those involving an aircraft that would have been perfectly capable of remaining airborne, if only the crew had concentrated on flying it at the time.
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OpinionPiaggio must spell out role to secure future
If anyone requires a wonderful example of short- versus long-term planning - or tactics versus strategy, perhaps - then they could do worse than study the €700 million ($800 million) lifeline thrown to Piaggio Aerospace by the Italian government.
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OpinionWinning the loser's game of Indian defence procurement
What is worse than losing a military aircraft competition in India? Winning one, say cynics about New Delhi’s dysfunctional procurement system.
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OpinionHow price and convenience will dictate supersonic travel
Decades ago, test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the rocket-powered Bell X-1. Now, Lockheed Martin is building a new supersonic aircraft for NASA designed to reduce the noise from a sonic boom.
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OpinionBoeing should yield to pressure and rename the 737 Max
What’s in a name? For Boeing, that question could become increasingly pertinent as it seeks to rehabilitate the 737 Max.
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OpinionHow will Boeing respond to A321XLR launch?
Ask Airbus about the Boeing NMA and you might start to believe the acronym stands for No More Argument.
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OpinionEnvironmental concerns powering electric shift
Twenty years ago, electric or hybrid-electric cars seemed unlikely to catch on. Worries about their performance and reliability, high prices, and a lack of charging infrastructure slowed take-up even among the environmentally concerned.
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Opinion
Will bigger mean better for merged Raytheon/UTC?
The argument for combining disparate businesses under a corporate umbrella may seem compelling. Operations exposed to a variety of markets buffer a parent company from boom-bust cycles. While industry-expert leaders of the subsidiaries get on with running their businesses, professional managers in head office look after strategy, with access to far greater financial resources.
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Opinion
How superior skills saved the day for E190 crew
Apollo 8 astronaut and former Eastern Air Lines chief Frank Borman once defined a superior pilot as one who used their superior judgement to avoid situations that require the use of their superior skills.
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OpinionNext generation of fighters offers new opportunities
The Paris air show serves many purposes, but none so much as an arms bazaar – expect Le Bourget to be crowded with spangly generals shopping for new fighters.
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OpinionWhy Mitsubishi's pursuit of the CRJ makes sense
Embraer probably views the CRJ as a competitor that just will not go away.
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OpinionBoeing needs a stronger production system post-slowdown
A creaking supply chain unable to keep pace with ever-more-demanding output rates meant that even before the grounding of the 737 Max, Boeing’s narrowbody line was enduring some form of crisis.
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OpinionWhy the LM-100J is a low-risk bet
Cynics might point to the LM-100J – Lockheed Martin’s in-development civil freighter – and conclude that all the manufacturer has done is give a Super Hercules a lick of white and blue paint.
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Opinion
Why aviation should look to cars for cockpit commonality
Do you regularly drive, say, a Volkswagen car and worry about going on holiday and hiring a Ford? Of course not – you just jump in and drive away. Cars are not really quite so simple – you may need a minute to find the rear-screen wiper switch – but the basic operating and safety functions all translate near enough directly between types and makes. Automobiles benefit from an impressive degree of standardisation.
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Opinion
Rolls-Royce may rue missed NMA opportunity
The race to deliver the next step in commercial engine technology is being dictated by Boeing’s requirements for its New Mid-market Airplane project. And it looks like there can only be one winner, if Seattle decides to stick with its recent policy of a sole-source deal.
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Opinion
Electric power must spark widespread change
Most machinery improves with electrification. Compared to internal combustion, electric motors are smaller, lighter, more powerful, smoother-running and easier to cool. They start instantly, waste no fuel idling, respond fluidly and deliver full torque at any speed.
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OpinionSala tragedy should spur crackdown on illegal charter
The charter industry has been battling the scourge of illegal public transport for some time, and its attempts to raise awareness of the practice – where aircraft that have not been approved for paying passengers are used for air taxi services – had been largely fruitless until the tragic death in January of footballer Emiliano Sala.
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OpinionWhy ADS-B technology could drive air traffic revolution
There is a revolution under way in civil aviation – and it has nothing to do with new engines, supersonics, ultra-long-haul or in-flight wi-fi. What is about to save time, fuel and lives is an invisible knitting together of existing technologies into an air traffic management system fit for the 21st century.