All news – Page 6597
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End of an era?
The traditional look for commercial aircraft may be ending. This century's airliners could look radically different Airbus Industrie's planned A3XX will be the ultimate expression of the classic airliner configuration, representing the end of the road for the layout of cylindrical fuselage, swept wing and podded engines so familiar ...
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Supersonic boom
The new century will see the first flight of a supersonic STOVL fighter, the JSF - but history is littered with other, failed, efforts It has been more than half a century since Chuck Yeager rocketed through the sound barrier and almost 40 years since the Hawker P1127, forerunner ...
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Rotorcraft revivals
As helicopters near the edge of their performance envelope, radical designs such as tiltrotor and tiltwing are coming into their own What goes around comes around and that is the case for the rotorcraft industry, which is seeing the re-emergence of radical concepts from the 1950s and 1960s. With ...
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The sky's...the limit
UAVs will not be able to fill their potential unless the regulations governing their use in civil airspace change Proponents of the unmanned air vehicle (UAV) are keen to describe a future in which pilotless aircraft deliver mail overnight, monitor political troublespots, patrol borders in search of drug smugglers ...
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Getting personal
A jet in every garage is still a dream, but entry-level business aircraft are becoming more affordable Over the years, a crop of start-up companies has sought to captivate the general aviation aircraft buyer with innovative personal jet designs. Few of those companies, however, have successfully crossed the threshold from ...
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Supersonic business
It is 7.00pm when the supersonic business jet returns to New York after another normal working day for its passengers. They had left just 12h earlier for a 2h meeting in Moscow and are returning in time to have dinner with their families. Tomorrow it will be Tokyo… Supersonic flight ...
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Our wacky world
Innovation is alive in Australia but some unusual designs have been confined to the drawing board Australia, the nation which brought you a flying farm-tractor called the Airtruk and a stagger-wing trainer called the Eagle, is at it again. Innovation is alive and well down under, despite market conditions ...
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Study claims NTSB is 'stretched to limit'
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is "stretched to the limit", says a study published by independent consultancy Rand. Rand was referring particularly to a shortage of personnel. NTSB chairman Jim Hall has accused the US Office of Management and Budget of risking "the safety of the American people" ...
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USAF launches uprated weather satellite
The US Air Force launched a Titan II booster from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 12 December, carrying a Defense Meteorological Satellite Programme (DMSP) Block 5D3 satellite into orbit. The satellite is the first of a new generation of Lockheed Martin-built craft with larger sensors, more power, longer battery life ...
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First Hughes 702 will be largest in orbit
Hughes Space and Communications' first HS-702 satellite was due to be launched on 21 December aboard an Ariane 4. The HS-702, which will be PanAmSat's Galaxy XI satellite, will be the largest commercial communications satellite deployed in orbit - equipped with 64 transponders (40 Ku-band and 24 C-band) and ...
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Indian rocket engine test scheduled
India will take a major step towards a fully autonomous space programme next month with the 1,200s static test-firing of a fully indigenous 7.5t (73.5kN)-thrust cryogenic engine designed to be used on later versions of the country's Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The first GSLV missions will use a ...
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IAI adds power to Shavit launcher
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) is developing a more powerful version of its Shavit launcher to carry new Israeli intelligence satellites and to compete in the international launcher market. The current Shavit launcher was first used in 1988 to put the Offeq-1 satellite into orbit. The Offeq-3 now in orbit ...
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'Real estate in space' for ISS
Spacehab and Russia's Energia plan to build the first privatised commercial module for the International Space Station (ISS). Called Enterprise, the module will be used for commercial microgravity experiments and to host a studio for television and Internet broadcasts. The latter is expected to be in conjunction with an established ...
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Custom eyes TriStar conversions
Custom Air Transport is confident it can find customers to allow 10 of the 16 Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 200s it acquired from Saudi Arabian Airlines to be converted into either commercial freighters or military tankers. Custom Air believes it could place some aircraft with passenger airlines. The Fort Lauderdale-based ...
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EC plans next step in US hushkitting row
The European Council of Ministers has approved further European Commission (EC) efforts to head off draconian US measures to block Europe's get-tough policy on hushkits. The council says the EC can continue negotiating, but only on condition that Washington "makes real overtures to negotiation and renounces all retaliatory measures against ...
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Marketplace
Air Seychelles has signed a 10-year lease deal with ILFC for a General Electric CF6-80C2-powered Boeing 767-300ER, for delivery in April 2001. Swiss charter carrier Edelweiss Air has agreed to lease a new Airbus A330-200 from CIT Group from the fourth quarter of 2000. The Rolls-Royce Trent 772B-powered A330-200 is ...
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Forecasts for 2000 - Safety
Global pressures will force airlines to improve David Learmount/LONDON During 1999, new global forces for aviation safety kicked in for the first time in the form of sanctions. Where carrots failed, the stick was applied, and Korean Air felt the effect. Powerful global safety forces have recently come into ...
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Lynton receives EC155
Lynton Aviation has taken delivery of the first corporate-configured Eurocopter EC155 twin-engined helicopter for a private customer. The aircraft, an enhanced version of the AS365 Dauphin, will be completed at Lynton's base at Blackbushe Airport, UK. Orders for the EC155 stand at more than 20. Source: Flight International
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Belgian air force acquires Falcon 900
The Belgian air force will take a second Dassault Falcon 900 business jet this month. The aircraft will be deployed by 15 Wing's No 21 (VIP) squadron at Melsbroek airbase in Brussels. The Falcon 900s were chosen to standardise the fleet and keep the spares inventory to a minimum. ...
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TAS prepares GeoSAR to gather geological data
A Gulfstream II-mounted GeoSAR (geographic synthetic aperture radar) system is being prepared for operations during January by Total Aircraft Services (TAS) of Van Nuys, California. TAS had expected to have US Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certification for the system by November, but this was delayed by electromagnetic interference ...