All news – Page 6752
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Visionaire plans for Vantage demand
VisionAire officially opened its Ames, Iowa, production plant on 26 May, to house the company's Vantage single turbofan business jet assembly line. Although the factory will have the capacity to produce up to 230 aircraft a year, the company is planning to expand the site and to establish further ...
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Air France calculates the cost of pilots' strike action
The pilots' strike at Air France has cost the airline around Fr100 million ($17 million) a day since 2 June. The strike has crippled airline operations in the build-up to the 1998 World Cup, for which it is the official carrier. On 5 June, the carrier was operating around ...
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BAe appointments
British Aerospace has announced more senior management appointments to follow the recent boardroom reshuffle. Kevin Smith moves up to become deputy group managing director and will head new business development. Tony Rice, former BAe treasurer and head of asset management, becomes managing director for the commercial aircraft businesses, while Mike ...
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China prepares to sign for more Boeing widebody orders
China Aviation Supplies (CASC) is negotiating an order for around 10 new widebody aircraft from Boeing, despite growing signs that some domestic carriers are experiencing indigestion trying to absorb the 50 Boeing aircraft ordered last October. The latest purchase under discussion is understood to include six 747-400 passenger and ...
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MD-11 line will halt in early 2000
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing has decided to terminate production of the MD-11, with the last delivery, possibly the 200th aircraft, scheduled for February 2000. The move was expected, even though the tri-jet gained a surprise seven-month reprieve last November when Boeing elected to continue marketing the freighter version ...
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Indonesian loss
An Indonesian army Bell 205 helicopter crashed on the island of East Timor on 4 June, killing all 11 personnel on board, including two senior military officers. The helicopter crashed into a wooded hillside in bad weather, about 200km (110nm) south east of East Timor's capital Dili. Source: Flight ...
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DARO recommends intelligence consolidation
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Department of Defense should consider consolidating some of its intelligence-gathering aircraft and recon- naissance pod programmes, according to an architecture study released by the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO). Unclassified portions of the study look at development of a framework for designing an ...
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Boeing studies supersonic BBJ
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Construction of a supersonic business jet (SSBJ) is under study by Boeing. The company has opened talks with the Sukhoi Design Bureau in Russia over possible joint studies. Few details about the study have been released by Boeing, which is handling the evaluation through its ...
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Taiwan plans to add new strike capability to F-16A/B interceptors
Taiwan intends to purchase Lockheed Martin Pathfinder/Sharpshooter navigation and targeting pods for its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16A/B interceptors. The 28 sets of navigation/targeting pods, plus related hardware and training worth an estimated $160 million, are being purchased through US Department of Defense (DoD) foreign military sale channels. The ...
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Venezuelan air force chooses SF-260
The Venezuelan air force has chosen the Aermacchi SF-260 basic trainer to replace its 12 Beechcraft T-34 Mentors. The SF-260Es, powered by Textron Lycoming O-540s, are to be used primarily in the basic training role. The programme involves a first contract, worth around $12 million, for 12 aircraft, plus spares ...
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Dunlop ready for S-92
Dunlop Aviation has delivered the first prototype heated intake assembly to Sikorsky for its S-92 helicopter for use in windtunnel icing testing and has delivered three further unheated examples for use in flight testing. The first production unit is scheduled to be delivered in September. The S-92 is due to ...
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Messier-Bugatti tests power by wire
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Messier-Bugatti has installed a prototype electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) in an Airbus Industrie "iron bird" test rig at Aerospatiale's Toulouse systems development centre, as part of an industry drive to replace cumbersome hydraulics with electric cables. The EHA is a key technology for all electric, or power ...
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Boeing flies Harrier II with commercial avionics fit
A BOEING AV-8B Harrier II Plus of the US Marine Corps, fitted with avionics based on a commercial processor, made a successful first flight from the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, California, on 29 May. The Open Systems Core Avionics Requirements (OSCAR) programme is a US Department ...
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NASA tests turbulence detection device
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center says that recent flight testing of a device designed to detect clear-air turbulence may lead to its installation on commercial aircraft. This follows a spate of incidents which have resulted in injuries to passengers. The sensor relies on a laser radar (a Lidar) which ...
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Last of the line
Guy Norris/LONG BEACH The roll-out of a new aircraft is a major event for any airframe manufacturer, but, for Boeing's Douglas Products division, the 10 June unveiling of the 717-200 is nothing less than pivotal. Coming hard on the heels of the news that the MD-11 line is ...
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mission goals
The 3,300kg Gravity Probe will operate in a 650km circular polar orbit for about 16 months - the lifetime of the dewar container - measuring minute changes in the rotation of the four on-board gyroscopes. The reference telescope will focus on a star to calibrate results. It is hoped that ...
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Lufthansa buys TTS Orbit simulator
Lufthansa has bought a second Boeing 737-800 full flight simulator from Thomson Simulation and Training (TTS). The simulator was originally destined for TTS' new eight-bay Orbit training centre at London Heathrow Airport. A similar TTS device entered service with Lufthansa's new Berlin training operation in February, becoming the first of ...
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Mobile simulators gather momentum
The first mobile commercial flight simulator could gain US Federal Aviation Administration approval by mid-June. TechniFlite's Mobile Training Facility (MTF) is a tractor-trailer housing a full flight simulator for the Raytheon Beech 1900D regional airliner. The company will base the MTF at its Englewood, Colorado, factory for Great Lakes ...
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NATCO upgrades to cut maintenance costs
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Northwest Aerospace Training (NATCO) is to upgrade and standardise up to 24 full flight simulators to reduce maintenance costs under a $28 million contract awarded to Opinicus. Clearwater, Florida-based Opinicus believes that the NATCO standardisation programme is the largest ever undertaken and could lead to ...
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CAE Chinese order
China Southern Airlines has ordered an Airbus A320 full flight simulator from CAE, with a CAE MaxVue visual system. It will operate at the airline's Zuhai, China, training base from February 1999. Source: Flight International