All air transport news – Page 2559
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How green is a hushkit?
Sir - The article in Flight International, 23-29 August, on hushkit fitment to European Aviation's 20 BAC One-Elevens highlights the fact that, even 12 years after the first One-Eleven Tay re-engining proposals (Weybridge, 1983), the "thinking" operator prefers a re-engined aircraft to one fitted with hushkits. A similar pronouncement, was ...
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AirTran spin-off
AirTran shareholders have approved the spin-off of the company's fast growing AirTran Airways (ATA) charter subsidiary. Formed in October 1994 with two Boeing 737-200s, Orlando, Florida-based ATA will operate eight 737-200s by the end of 1995. AirTran also owns Meseba. Source: Flight International
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Airbus flight-tests longer range A340
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE HAS flown the first high gross-weight version of the four-engine A340-300. Delivery of the first of 17 aircraft ordered by Singapore Airlines (SIA) is due in April 1996. Maximum take-off weight of the modified aircraft, termed the A340-300E by SIA, is increased to 271t from the ...
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Safety board seeks FAA AD for CF6 fatigue-crack inspections
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON, DC THE US NATIONAL Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for an airworthiness directive (AD) to be issued requiring fatigue-crack checks on General Electric CF6 engine high-pressure compressor (HPC) spools. The US Federal Aviation Administration says that an AD is imminent - only ...
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The race is on to hit BA 777 delivery date
BOEING IS confident that it can deliver the first General Electric GE90-powered 777 to British Airways on schedule, on 28 September, despite the grounding of a flight-test aircraft for compressor-blade repairs. Certification flight-testing continues with the first GE90-powered 777, and ground runs have begun on the first production ...
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Boeing drops Japanese from regional-jet talks
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE BOEING HAS DROPPED Japan from its proposed partnership with China and South Korea to develop a new 100-seat passenger aircraft, in the face of intense competition from European manufacturers. Boeing is understood to have abandoned hopes of including Japanese industry in the programme, as ...
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MDC delays MD-95 engine selection
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE MCDONNELL Douglas (MDC) has not renewed its exclusivity agreement with BMW Rolls Royce, leaving the choice of power plant open for the yet-to-be launched MD-95 twinjet. The way is now open for the MTU/Pratt & Whitney Mid-Thrust Family Engine (MTFE). An agreement between MDC ...
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KHI and IHI in engine talks
KAWASAKI HEAVY Industries (KHI) is negotiating with Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) and General Electric for a in the production share of the planned CF34-8C turbine engine. According to KHI, discussions centre mainly on production of the auxiliary gearbox and do not include Kawasaki taking a stake in the ...
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NASA engine-thrust landing successful
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA NASA HAS successfully landed a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 using only engine-thrust for flight control. The propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA) tests at Edwards AFB, California on 29 August follow similar flights in April 1993 with a McDonnell Douglas F-15. Further PCA tests are planned using a McDonnell Douglas ...
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Airlines are checking Hamilton propellers propeller checks follow EMB-120 crash
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA AIRLINES ARE inspecting Hamilton Standard propellers on several regional-turboprop types after the 21 August fatal crash of an Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia following blade failure (Flight International, 30 August-5 September, P12). On 25 August, the US Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ...
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Smiths and Collins link up to offer CNS/ATM upgrade
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON SMITHS INDUSTRIES IS licensing its flight-management-system (FMS) software to Rockwell-Collins, allowing the firms to offer an integrated cockpit-upgrade which could be fitted as standard across an airline fleet. By combining the Smiths FMS, already fitted on Boeing 737s, with Collins AVSAT satellite-based avionics ...
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Share dividend
With relatively little fanfare, the laboratory directors of the USA's five aerospace giants have signed a landmark agreement giving each easy access to the others' laboratories - not for industrial espionage, but for research and development testing when time-critical projects overload one company's laboratory capacity. It began as ...
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USAfrica returns
USAfrica plans to resume operations later this year, flying Boeing 747-200s or McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s from New York Newark to South Africa via Dakar, Senegal. Launched in June 1994, flying McDonnell Douglas MD-11s from Washington Dulles, USAfrica suspended operations in February 1995 when it ran out of money. The company ...
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Cityhopper fleet
KLM Cityhopper will be replacing its four aging Fokker F28-4000 Fellowships with an equal number of new Fokker 70s from January 1996. A special-purpose company, to be owned by an independent foundation, will be set up to lease the 80-seat aircraft to Cityhopper for an initial period of three years. ...
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Extra extreme
Photographing the Firebird Extra 300's aerobatic capabilities is nothing if not dramatic. Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICHMark Wagner/LONDON Flight International photographer Mark Wagner, enthusing about his passenger-seat introduction to the Extra 300, says: "I was taking a couple of shots from the front cockpit, when we went completely berserk. ...
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Computer-aided washing system
LUFTHANSA ENGINEERING and Operational Services (LEOS), of Frankfurt-Main Airport, Germany, will put the first production Skywash automated aircraft washing system into operation before the end of September. Lufthansa Technik subsidiary LEOS claims that the Skywash will slash the time taken to wash a Boeing 747 from 10h to just 3h. ...
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Avro emerges the winner in Sabena regional contest
SABENA HAS SELECTED the Avro RJ85 to replace its regional-jet fleet, in a 23-aircraft order, which marks another major coup for the UK manufacturer among Europe's flag carriers. The first four aircraft will be delivered at the end of the year, with the remainder arriving by the end ...
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Five US firms sign agreement to share laboratory resources
FIVE US AEROSPACE companies have signed an informal agreement enabling them to use each other's laboratories at short notice. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman and Rockwell have signed a letter of intent to share laboratory resources without the need for lengthy contractual negotiations. The Boeing-initiated alliance ...
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US aerospace figures on track for first half
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON FIRST-HALF figures from the US aerospace industry hold few major surprises, but signs of recovery are showing through, helped by early gains from consolidation. Financial results for the top ten aerospace companies are largely steady, with most of them posting improvements in ...
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Boeing homes in on carbon- composite production costs
Guy Norris/Los Angeles BOEING IS gearing up to attack the cost of manufacturing carbonfibre-composite structures as part of a new phase of NASA's Advanced Composites Technology (ACT) programme. "The biggest thing we need to do is to reduce manufacturing costs," says Boeing director of aircraft-structures ...