All news – Page 6963
-
News
Greek fighter force
Rene van Woezik/Athens While recent Greek interest in the Boeing F-15 Eagle and Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker may have caught the eye, the core of its air force's combat fleet into the first decade of the next century will be built around the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D, deliveries of which ...
-
News
Learjet's latest
Bombardier's new Learjet 45 business jet proves pleasant and easy to fly Peter Henley/Wichita In the late 1950s, William Lear designed a small twinjet aircraft for business use with performance comparable to that of the jet-powered airliners of the day. Lear established a modest production plant at ...
-
News
Dallas hosts No 50
Graham Warwick/Washington DC The US National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) begins its 50th anniversary year with a revamped name intended to reflect more accurately its role in enhancing the safety, efficiency and acceptance of business aviation. The NBAA also completes its first half-century of advocacy, with many major ...
-
News
Hong Kong caters for business aviation
Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre has been appointed by the Airport Authority of Hong Kong to design and build a fixed-based operation for business aircraft at the new Chek Lap Kok Airport. The company, a joint venture between US-based executive-aviation service provider AMR Combs and Chinese shareholders, will also operate ...
-
News
First Galaxy moves towards first flight
The first Galaxy business jet to fly, in December, will be aircraft No 3, rolled out on 4 September. It will be followed by one further flying prototype and two test airframes (Nos 1 and 2), with aircraft No 5 being the first customer machine, to be delivered in 1999. ...
-
News
North Sea crash results in AS332L1 grounding
David Learmount/London North Sea oil-support companies have grounded voluntarily about 50 Eurocopter AS 332L1 Super Pumas following the crash off the Norwegian coast of a Helikopter Service helicopter on 8 September, when all 12 people on board were killed. The cause of the crash was unknown ...
-
News
PZL-Mielec aims to generate Brazilian sales with local plant
AndrzejJeziorski/MUNICH Polish aircraft manufacturer PZL-Mielec is preparing to start final assembly of M-18B Dromader agricultural and firefighting aircraft at a new plant in Anapolis, Brazil. According to Mielec, the first Polish-manufactured aircraft parts are to be delivered this month, with the first completed aircraft to be ...
-
News
BAe rules out becoming major Air Jet investor
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON British Aerospace has effectively ruled out making any major investment in the Aero International Regional (AI(R)) Air Jet regional-jet programme, saying that the most important priority for funding must be the Airbus Industrie consortium. The company has pledged publicly to continue to support AI(R)in ...
-
News
Potential suitors eye Cathay partnership
Cathay Pacific Airways says that it is being actively courted by global airline partnerships - in addition to the Star Alliance - but that is in no rush to make a decision. The Hong Kong carrier also warns that the recent downturn in traffic will affect the timing of its ...
-
News
Explorer first flight
Boeing's first production MD 903 Explorer twin-turbine helicopter had its first flight on 5 September at the manufacturer's base at Mesa, Arizona. The eight-seat light helicopter aircraft is an upgraded version of the original MD Explorer, offering more powerful Pratt & Whitney 206E turboshafts, 8% more range, 4% more endurance, ...
-
News
Delay forces F-22 flight-test changes
Graham Warwick/Atlanta Initial flight-testing of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor has been revised to accommodate the delayed first flight of the air-superiority fighter. Plans to fly the F-22 from Lockheed Martin's final-assembly plant in Marietta, Georgia, to the flight-test centre at the US Air Force's Edwards AFB, California, ...
-
News
Allison-powered Ka-226 utility flies for first time
Kamov's Ka-226 utility helicopter made its first flight at Lyubertsy airfield near Moscow on 4 September. The helicopter is powered by two Allison-250-C20 turboshafts rated at 335kW (450hp) and is equipped with French and US avionics. By the end of this year, two more helicopters are planned to ...
-
News
Boeing outlines five 747 growth options
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DCPaul Lewis/SEATTLE Boeing is discussing with airlines five possible 747 derivatives as it moves towards a decision in early 1998 on which (if any) option to pursue. Airlines are being shown study aircraft with various combinations of capacities for up to 500 passengers and ranges of ...
-
News
Lockheed Martin offers Boeing support
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin is talking to Boeing about a partnership under which it would support the latter's commercial aircraft at its maintenance centres around the world. Aeronautics sector president Micky Blackwell says that Lockheed Martin wants to expand on soon-to-be-acquired Northrop Grumman's role as ...
-
News
PW150A turboprop testing 'is on schedule'
Pratt & Whitney Canada says that the PW150A turboprop, seen here on the company's Boeing 720 flying testbed, is "on schedule for certification by late summer". The large turboprop, rated at 4,840-5,590kW (6,500-7,500shp) will power Bombardier's de Havilland Dash 8 Series 400 regional airliner on its first flight scheduled for ...
-
News
Merger speculation mounts as Rohr holds mystery talks
Nacelle manufacturer Rohr is in merger discussions with an unnamed entity. The deal being discussed values the Chula Vista, California-based company at over $790 million. Rohr reported revenues of $771 million for 1996, and expected to exceed this in its 1997 fiscal year ended 31 July. Speculation over ...
-
News
US Government Commission recommends FAA reform
The US government's National Civil Aviation Review Commission (NCARC) has recommended that US air-traffic-control (ATC) services be removed from the US Federal Aviation Administration and placed with a "performance-based" organisation. The NCARC proposal represents the latest effort to reform FAA financing and management. The Commission - ...
-
News
New machine tools slash Globemaster III costs
PRODUCTION OF C-17 Globemaster III fuselage assemblies at Boeing's plant at Long Beach, California is being enhanced by the use of new machines. A $5.8 million five-axis computer numerically controlled (CNC) Torres Mill, made by Torres of Spain, is used to cut and drill skin panels as large ...
-
News
Dasa tests flight management
AndrzejJeziorski/MUNICH Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa)is beginning a six-month flight-test campaign for a new flight-management system (FMS), the NFS-5000, developed by its Ulm, Germany-based subsidiary Navigation and Flight Guidance Systems (NFS). The system creates flight plans for pilots, who simply have to enter their point of departure and ...
-
News
Greater safety measures are needed for ferry-flight pilots
Sir - My son, Thomas Kowald, was killed on 21 May, 1995, off the coast of Portugal. He wanted to take a Cessna 310Q on a ferry flight from Florida to Austria, and had a fatal accident off the Portuguese coast. I wish to highlight the large number ...