Editorial opinion – Page 9
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OpinionWho will buy Bombardier Belfast?
News that Bombardier plans to divest its Belfast aerostructures plant, along with a smaller operation in Morocco, as it consolidates its remaining aerospace activities into Bombardier Aviation, was not surprising.
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OpinionBoeing chief can find no escape from tough questions
The difficult position of Boeing’s chief executive – and the delicate balancing act he must perform – became particularly evident during the annual shareholder meeting on 29 April.
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OpinionCan US Navy maintain carrier aviation edge?
Anyone who knows the US Navy (USN) is aware that the service is very proud of its heritage. But observers also know this justifiable pride runs extremely close to worship. And, as any secular observer knows well, worship is blind.
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Opinion
737 Max airmanship needs as much scrutiny as MCAS
There is an uncomfortable aspect of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max accident that complicates an investigation whose narrative has been dictated by debate over the controversial Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System.
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Opinion
No winners if Airbus-Boeing WTO saga carries on
The current sparring between Europe and the USA over subsidies paid to airframers Airbus and Boeing drags on.
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OpinionStratolaunch hopes to avoid Spruce Goose's fate
Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose – more formally known as the H-4 Hercules – was until 13 April this year the largest aircraft ever to have flown. Conceived as a WWII transatlantic troop carrier, the fighting had, mercifully, ended before the flying boat finally flew, for just a few seconds, in 1947. Retirement followed.
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OpinionAutonomous lethal drones a legal challenge
Are they lethal autonomous weapons systems, with the tidy acronym “LAWS” – or killer robots? Either way, politicians, soldiers, society and the aerospace industry that serves them must grapple with the question: how far should we go in marrying artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned air systems – or, to use their more emotive name, drones?
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OpinionOPINION: Should Washington eject Ankara from F-35 project?
Never say never. Sound advice, but probably not words that will be well received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His refusal to cancel Ankara’s order for Almaz-Antey S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missiles creates the real possibility that his country will lose something even more valuable: participation in the Joint Strike ...
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OpinionAirbus in control of interiors with own cabin centre
The opening by Airbus – on the eve of the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg – of an expanded cabin customisation facility at its local production plant is a clear signal to airlines, suppliers and competitors that the airframer wants to be in control of the interior completion process.
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Opinion
E-7 purchase is good news for UK
Confirming one of the worst-kept secrets in UK defence procurement, late March’s £1.5 billion ($1.96 billion) order for five Boeing 737NG-based E-7 airborne early warning and control system aircraft was nevertheless a welcome development for the Royal Air Force (RAF).
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Opinion
OPINION: UTC's electric dreams are achievable
United Technologies (UTC) has become the latest major aerospace supplier to unveil its strategy for a more-electric powertrain, pursuing the goal under its Project 804 initiative.
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Opinion
OPINION: Hard work for Safran in making Zodiac's stars align
When it announced it was in talks to buy fellow French company Zodiac Aerospace back in January 2017, Safran probably did not have a complete picture of its target's woes.
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Opinion
OPINION: Response to Max crashes will define Boeing's reputation
Bilateral arrangements in aviation safety rely on the assumption that the rules and practices across different jurisdictions are largely interchangeable.
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Opinion
OPINION: The F-15's unlikely renaissance
Not too long ago, the Boeing F-15’s days looked numbered.
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OpinionOPINION: Confidence threatened by polarised Max response
Partial suspension of Boeing 737 Max operations exposed an extraordinary regulatory disparity, with European and US authorities – normally fixated on procedural harmonisation and alignment – entrenched in opposing positions on the matter.
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Opinion
OPINION: Bidding a fond farewell to RAF's mighty Tonka
Out with the old, as the saying goes. This week, we mark the Royal Air Force’s retirement of its last Tornado strike aircraft, a half-century after it was conceived by the three-nation Panavia consortium, and 40 years after it entered UK service.
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OpinionOPINION: Industry should seize on end of Farnborough public days
Many in the industry recall the first time they visited an air show as a formative experience that stirred their passion for aviation and set them on course for a career as a pilot, engineer, or even aerospace journalist.
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OpinionOPINION: Concorde still sets the pace, 50 years from first flight
"From the beginning of time until about 1840, the distance a man could travel between getting up and going to bed was about 75 miles… then technology produced the aeroplane, and today a man can travel 7,000 miles in his waking hours. When the supersonic era is inaugurated this 12h ...
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Opinion
OPINION: Only luck saved lives in Durango's unqualified disaster
On an August day in the Alps last year, a teenage enthusiast on a pleasure flight aboard a single-engined Piper was offered the opportunity to take the controls, even though he had no experience and the pilot had no instructor qualification.
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OpinionOPINION: Lockheed's F-21 reveal: marketing or masterstroke?
What’s in a name – particularly when your product seemingly already has more than enough of them to choose from?