All news – Page 6528
-
News
US Navy is considering upgrade options for 'Future Hawkeye'
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC The US Navy is evaluating a range of sensor and avionic enhancements to further extend the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye's operational life, as plans for a replacement Common Support Aircraft (CSA) remain stalled. "Future Hawkeye" is a follow-on package of proposed improvements to the latest Hawkeye ...
-
News
Austria launches night border surveillance patrols
Rene Van Woezik/UTRECHT The Austrian Air Force has begun night border surveillance missions with specially equipped Aerospatiale Alouette III and Bell OH-58B helicopters. Codenamed Owl, the missions to step up border protection, which began in February, result from the demands of the Schengen agreement on frontier controls. ...
-
News
RAM strike
The improved Raytheon Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1 is to begin operational tests, following the recent successful intercept of a supersonic Vandal target. The Vandal was launched against a decommissioned warship fitted with a remote-controlled Mk 1 ship self-defence system. The target was engaged by the Mk 31 RAM guided-missile ...
-
News
National Air Services to enter Middle East charter market
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON National Air Services (NAS) is launching a business aircraft charter operation in the Middle East, to complement its NetJets Middle East fractional ownership venture. The two programmes are scheduled to start up simultaneously in July. "This will offer a tremendous advantage to our [fractional ownership] customers ...
-
News
New avionics and engines for Bonanzas
Raytheon Aircraft has introduced new engines and upgraded avionics for its three general aviation piston aircraft, following two years of development. New Beech Bonanzas and Barons will be equipped with Raytheon Special Edition engines, built by Teledyne Continental of Alabama. The powerplant features internal mass balancing of all reciprocating ...
-
News
Airtruck threatened by order drought
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) is struggling to launch its planned Airtruck cargo turboprop project, having failed to secure any firm orders for the aircraft. IAI developed the Airtruck to a FedEx requirement for a new turboprop cargo aircraft to replace its Fokker F27 turboprop freighters (Flight International, 20-27 August, ...
-
News
Eurocontrol to present Mode S business case
Eurocontrol will present the business case for Mode S enhanced surveillance to airlines at a workshop later this month. European Mode S requirements call for the carriage and operation of Mode S transponders for new aircraft from January 2001, with all aircraft to be equipped by 2005. Europe ...
-
News
F28 lightning
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the Fokker F28 is vulnerable to lightning strikes and is recommending modifications to increase protection. This comes after an incident last year when a US Airways F28 suffered a dual hydraulic system failure after being struck by lightning. The NTSB urges a ...
-
News
Protests swell over 'too high' Hong Kong Airport landing fees
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE British Airways and DHL have added their voices to a rising chorus of disapproval over landing charges at the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok. According to Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways, the 60-plus airlines which operate into Chek Lap Kok are lobbying ...
-
News
France copes with greatest air traffic levels as delays creep up
Average flight delays in France increased by a minute, to 16.1min, last year, as the country experienced the biggest jump in air traffic for 10 years, according to its civil aviation authority, the DGAC. Compared with 9.4% a year earlier, 10.1% of flights were delayed during the year by more ...
-
News
Aerospatiale Matra faces $300m charge
Chris Jasper/LONDON The new Aerospatiale Matra will take a charge of $300 million in its 1999 accounts as a result of a failed hedging strategy designed to protect it against fluctuations in value of the US dollar. The timing of the hit nevertheless represents something of a victory for ...
-
News
BWA is to begin fleet renewal with 737-300 operating lease
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDONBritish World Airlines expects to begin replacing its BAC One-Elevens later this year, as it moves to standardise on a two-type fleet of Boeing 737-300s and British Aerospace ATPs (above). The UK independent airline plans to introduce its first 737-300, a second-hand aircraft on operating lease, by the middle ...
-
News
Sting in the tail
After years of economic woes, at least one of Brazil's airlines could disappear by the end of the year. For the survivors, however, long term prospects look brighter Brian Homewood/RIO DE JANEIROBrazilian airlines have survived major financial troubles over the past 15 years, but officials and analysts fear that ...
-
News
Virtual solution
A new type of orbit could help avoid signal interference between spacecraft in low, medium and geostationary earth orbits Tim Furniss/LONDON A NEW WASHINGTON-based company is urging the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make compulsory the use of "virtual geostationary orbits" (VGSOs). This would avoid anticipated future ...
-
News
Trainers' market
Demand for training is fuelling growth among independent simulator centres Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Training is a competency close to the core of most airlines, an expensive necessity that is not willingly outsourced. But increasingly the tools of pilot training - commercial flight simulators - are becoming commodities to which ...
-
News
Airbus offers model mix to El Al
Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV Airbus is offering El Al up to 10 A330/A340s as the Israeli national carrier finalises its long-haul fleet renewal plans. A Boeing offer of various widebody twinjets is also being studied, and the airline expects to finalise its selection within the next two months. The Airbus ...
-
News
FAA to increase limit for ageing aircraft checks
The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would extend the mandate for "ageing" aircraft inspections to newer transport category aircraft. The inspection programme was created after a 1988 accident in which the top of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 ripped off during ...
-
News
Cirrus resumes SR20 assembly despite demonstrator crash
Dave Higdon/WICHITA Cirrus Design has resumed production of the SR20 single-engined four-seat business aircraft, as the investigation continues into the crash of the first demonstrator. The first production SR20 crashed on 23 March, killing Cirrus Design's chief test pilot, Scott Anderson (Flight International, 31 March-6 April). Despite the crash, ...
-
News
LoPresti's SwiftFury prototype makes first flight
The prototype SwiftFury made its first flight earlier this month, after LoPresti Speed Merchants founder and president Roy LoPresti secured the rights to the design of the two-seat sports aircraft earlier this year. The SwiftFury is based on Globe Aircraft's Globe Swift design of the 1940s. In the late ...
-
News
Cessna tackles 172R and 172S stabilisers
Cessna Aircraft has issued its third mandatory service bulletin in less than a month, requiring a new round of inspections of 172R Skyhawks and 172S Skyhawk SP singles delivered during the past two years. The latest bulletin requires the inspection of the aircraft's vertical stabiliser aft spar, and rivets ...