All news – Page 6260
-
News
Data overload
Current flightdecks can reduce pilot situational awareness David Learmount/LONDON Flightdeck avionics are supposed to give pilots "situational awareness", but there is evidence that modern systems can reduce it. Situational awareness is the pilot's mental picture of the aircraft relative to its three-dimensional operational environment, including navigation and terrain, the ...
-
News
Flying smart
The spread of technology such as laptop computers is pushing cockpit advances Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Flitting like shadows from between the trees, wandering deer slowly cross the lonely country road in the night. Around a curve, a Cadillac approaches, its tired driver anxious to get home. Although she has ...
-
News
Jet power
The potential for Indian air transport has never been greater Julian Moxon/MUMBAIWith a population of close to 1 billion people, most of whom travel by train, India offers immense potential for air transport. That potential was unlocked with the Indian Government's liberalisation of the domestic civil aviation industry in 1990. ...
-
News
Prototype airship preliminary design finalised
Lockheed Martin has completed preliminary design of the prototype for a large, long-endurance, unmanned airship that would maintain a geostationary position in the stratosphere to act as a platform for telecommunications relay, resources management or military surveillance. The company's plant in Akron, Ohio, has a long history of airship ...
-
News
Corporate boom predicted
More than 10,000 corporate and general aviation aircraft, valued at $84.6 billion, will be produced over the next decade, says a study released by market research company Forecast/DNS. The review - World Market for Business Aircraft and Rotorcraft - 2000-2009 - predicts deliveries of around 5,600 corporate jets, 1,600 turboprops, ...
-
News
USA extends life of Loran-C
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Administration has decided to continue operating the Loran-C navigation network "in the short term" while the US Department of Transportation (DoT) evaluates the long-term need for the system. Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard (USCG) has initiated development of a dual-mode Loran-C/global positioning system ...
-
News
Early date set for BRJ-X launch
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DCBombardier plans to move ahead with the BRJ-X large regional jet as early as mid-year. The company is also set to make a launch decision by the end of the month for the proposed CRJ900 stretch of the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). Bombardier says there is "no overlap" ...
-
News
On-time software keeps FAA datalink on track
Key software for the US Federal Aviation Administration's controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC) programme has been delivered to prime contractor Computer Sciences (CSC). The on-time delivery of router software for the aeronautical telecommunications network (ATN) keeps the CPDLC programme on track as the FAA struggles with budget and schedule problems ...
-
News
Hard landing
Egyptair has suffered its second serious Boeing 767-300ER accident in six months. A 767 (SU-GAO) landing at Harare, Zimbabwe, touched down hard in windy conditions. The port wing touched the ground, causing the engine to separate. The aircraft left the runway and came to rest with serious damage to its ...
-
News
India acts to attract more private sector investment
Julian Moxon/PARIS Mehar Singh/DELHI The Indian Government has released a draft civil aviation policy that promises to increase private sector involvement in the country's air transport industry, if the plan is approved. Among the more important recommendations of the report are the creation of an autonomous civil aviation ...
-
News
Joint STARS set for lift with leased powerplant refit
Ramon Lopez/MELBOURNE, FLORIDA Northrop Grumman and the US Air Force plan to replace the ageing powerplants of the E-8C Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft with modern leased engines from 2002. USAF deputy system programme director Ron Mason says Congress has designated Joint STARS "a pilot ...
-
News
USAF takes datalink option for KC-135
The US Air Force has exercised options to demonstrate commercial datalink operations as part of Rockwell Collins' contract for the Boeing KC-135 global air traffic management (GATM) upgrade. The demonstrations will evaluate the military utility of the airline operational-control datalink and VHF datalink (VDL) capabilities inherent in the GATM ...
-
News
Link 16 delivery
Rockwell Collins has delivered the first production Link 16 low-volume terminal to the UK Ministry of Defence, under a contract to produce 65 datalink terminals for Royal Navy BAE Systems Sea Harrier F/A2s and GKN Westland SeaKingAEW7s. Source: Flight International
-
News
Sikorsky creates heavier Seahawk for Asia-Pacific
Sikorsky is adapting the S-70/SH-60 Seahawk to use the external stores support system (ESSS) normally employed on UH-60 utility machines. At last month's Asian Aerospace show, a model was displayed of a helicopter with the additional fuselage stores pylons as well as the US Navy's SH-60R sensor suite, including a ...
-
News
e-commerce drives USA on airspace redesign
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration have begun to define the airspace system that needs to be in place in the USA by the middle of this century. The "aviation system after next" is expected to be influenced heavily by the demands that e-commerce ...
-
News
UK MoD brings forward meeting to decide on key RAF competitions
Stewart Penney/LONDON The key government committee meeting destined to decide the outcome of three critical UK Royal Air Force competitions - Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), Short Term Tactical Airlifter (STSA) and Future Tactical Airlifter(FTA) - has been moved forward a week to 8 March. Industry sources say the ...
-
News
More EchoStars on the way
DISH EchoStar communications has ordered three new satellites for its US DISH Network direct-broadcast system. Two craft will be built by Space Systems/Loral and one by Lockheed Martin. EchoStar operates five satellites, with a sixth to be launched in the second quarter. Of the new satellites, the Lockheed Martin-built ...
-
News
USAF to restructure EELV programme
The US Air Force is to restructure its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) programme. Lockheed Martin, which with Boeing has a contract to develop modular EELVs, has been told to hold off on the production of the heavylift version of the Atlas V and not complete assembly of an ...
-
News
France and Italy near satellite agreement
France and Italy are near to signing a deal to co-operate on studies of a new generation of small civil/military observation satellites. According to French space agency CNES, the talks could lead to a programme launch by mid-year. France and Italy have been working on their own small observation ...
-
News
Sea Launch gets ready to kick off ICO satellite programme
The Boeing-led international Sea Launch consortium will launch ICO Global Communications' first satellite, the ICO F1, aboard its Zenit 3SL booster from the Odyssey offshore launch platform on 12 March. It will be the third Sea Launch flight and its second fully commercial mission from the platform, which is ...