All news – Page 6898
-
News
Tiltrotor will be used to support oil-production operations
Dubai is to play host to the first company in the world set up solely to operate the Bell Boeing 609 Tiltrotor aircraft. The company, Petroleum Tiltrotors International, is a joint venture between Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Sheikh and an unnamed Dubai oil and gas support company. ...
-
News
Westland will take a look at resurrecting Egyptian Sea Kings
GKN Westland will send an evaluation team to Egypt in the first quarter of 1998 to examine grounded Sea King helicopters with the aim of bringing them back to a flyable state. Egypt has some 30 Sea Kings, a mix of Mk47s, Mk1 and Mk2 Commandos, VIP and electronic-warfare ...
-
News
ERA chief speaks out on liberalisation
Regional-airline operators in the Middle East will have to persuade governments in the area to liberalise their air service agreements, cut bureaucracy and ease travel restrictions if the industry is to grow, according to Mike Ambrose, the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) director-general. Ambrose was in Dubai to gather ...
-
News
Bridge building in Baku
Andrew Chuter/BAKU The terminal at Baku's Bina Airport stands like a monument to the collapse of the Soviet Union's writ in Azerbaijan in 1991.The building has lain uncompleted and virtually in ruin, the funds required to complete the project having dried up several years ago with the retreat of ...
-
News
Towards hypersonic flight
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Progress in the development of airbreathing powerplants for hypersonic vehicles has been hampered since the 1960s by unexpected complexities encountered with the scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet), until recently the only real candidate for powering such high-speed craft. In an effort to address the impasse, leading international figures in ...
-
News
The Mars burn
Tim Furniss/LONDON British Aerospace Defence wants to sell its Royal Ordnance Rocket Motors division - which supplies about 50% of the world's spacecraft liquid apogee engines and thrusters. Among the potential buyers are Primex, Marquardt and AlliedSignal (Flight International, 5-11 November). The sale offer comes at a time ...
-
News
Secure communications
Tim Furniss/RAF OAKHANGER Matra Marconi Space (MMS) of Stevenage, UK, is completing production of the first of three uprated Skynet 4 UK-dedicated military-communications satellites, which are to be launched on a Boeing Delta booster from Cape Canaveral in January 1998. The Skynet 4D will be followed by crafts ...
-
News
Saywell relocates
RF Saywell has relocated its UK aircraft-parts supply business from its site in Rustington, West Sussex, to a newly constructed £2.5 million ($4 million) centre in nearby Worthing. "The move is designed to bring about efficiency improvements and to create room for expansion," says the company's owner and managing director, ...
-
News
Ross Aircraft is given amber light on amphibian
KateSarsfield/LONDON Ross Aircraft (RAC) plans to start developing its first twin-engined amphibian aircraft in early 1998 after appointing UK investment bank Austin Friars to provide a financing package for the certification programme. Chief executive Kenn Heeley says that the UK company needs about $9 million to take a ...
-
News
BD-10 gives rise to PhoenixJet
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Rights to the defunct Bede Jet and its ill-fated BD-10 supersonic jet have been acquired by Vortex Aircraft, which has already begun redesigning the aircraft as the Vortex PhoenixJet for civil and military applications. The major change will be a slightly larger, but subsonic, wing. ...
-
News
Emirates signs for up to 12 A340-500s
Paul Lewis/DUBAI Emirates Airlines has signed a letter of intent (LoI) for 12 Airbus A340-500s, increasing the consortium's commitments for the -500 and -600 derivatives to 78 from seven international carriers. The United Arab Emirates carrier joined a growing list of launch customers, after inking an LoI to ...
-
News
American plans to choose HUD soon
American Airlines expects an "imminent" response to its request for proposals (RFP) from head-up-display (HUD) system manufacturers. The move follows the Delta Air Lines selection of a Flight Dynamics head-up-guidance system (HGS) for its Boeing Next Generation 737 fleet. The RFP covers HUD installations for 75 Next Generation 737s ...
-
News
BAe enters talks with Alenia on defence
British Aerospace is understood to have held preliminary talks with Italy's Alenia Aerospazio over a possible merger of defence activities. BAe confirms that John Weston, managing director of BAe Defence, visited Italy early in November but is playing down its significance. The visit has sparked off a raft of ...
-
News
BA clouds skies for UK low-fare airlines
British Airways' confirmation that it will launch its own low-cost airline next year at London Stansted airport has provoked immediate protests from the UK's existing "no-frills" carriers easyJet, Ryanair and Debonair. The new airline, which is yet to be named but is being referred to internally as "Operation Blue ...
-
News
Italian air force will order A319CJ to replace its DC-9s
The Italian air force is to buy two Airbus A319 Corporate Jets (CJs) to replace its two McDonnell Douglas DC-9 VIP transports. The service, which has been operating the two DC-9-32s since 1974, is understood to have signed a letter of intent to purchase the two A319CJs, worth some ...
-
News
Sabena switches from Boeing to Airbus for short-haul fleet
Herman de Wulf/Brussels Sabena has selected the A320 family over the Boeing Next Generation 737 to replace its entire 737 fleet, and will sign a contract for up to 39 aircraft for delivery from January 1999. The airline's selection of the Airbus single-aisle aircraft is part of a ...
-
News
FBI passes TWA crash investigation to NTSB
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has closed its 16-month criminal probe into the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800, saying that it revealed no evidence of a criminal act. As a result, the investigation of the loss of the TWA Boeing 747-100 ...
-
News
Russia's Zvesda Strela stretches the range of its Kayak anti-ship missile
Douglas Barrie/London Russian tactical missile house Zvezda Strela is developing an extended-range variant of its 3M-24 anti-ship missile (SS-N-25/AS-20 Kayak) with twice the engagement range of the original. The improved variant also uses satellite-based course-correction and has a coastal attack capability. The 3M-24 can be ship-, fixed, or ...
-
News
Columbia on a roll
The Columbia/STS87 completed the first reverse heads-up roll manoeuvre after launch from Kennedy Space Center on 19 November. Six minutes after launch at an altitude of 115km, the Columbia carried out a 20s, 180í reverse roll to a heads-up position. The manoeuvre will be required on all low-inclination launches to ...
-
News
New alloy used in Comanche casting
Starmet Aerocast has produced castings for the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter using its new Beralcast beryllium-aluminium alloy. The complex investment castings will be used in the Comanche's Lockheed Martin electro-optical sensor system (EOSS). Massachusetts-based Starmet, which is under contract to produce three ship-sets of 58 Beralcast parts for ...