All news – Page 6988
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Aero Vodochody's L-159 gets airborne
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Aero Vodochody's L-159 Advanced Light Combat Aircraft (ALCA) was flown for the first time on 2 August. A further three flights were made before the aircraft was returned for work on planned structural modifications and vibration testing. Flight testing of the aircraft is due ...
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USBorder Patrol picks MD 600N to replace Hughes OH-6A
THE US BORDER Patrol has ordered 45 Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems)MD600Ns in a deal worth almost $71 million. The aircraft will replace the agency's fleet of Hughes OH-6A helicopters, with deliveries of nine MD600Ns a year starting n 1998. The eight-seat, single-turbine MD600N was ...
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Thai get carrier
The Royal Thai Navy has taken delivery of its first aircraft carrier, HMTS Chakri Nuruebet. The 11,500t Spanish-built carrier arrived at Thailand's Sattahip naval base complete with seven ex-Spanish navy McDonnell Douglas AV-8A Harriers and two TAV-8B tandem-seat trainers. The ship will also be equipped with six recently delivered Sikorsky ...
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US military considers civil helicopter lease
The US military is considering leasing civil helicopter services as a substitute for procuring new military rotorcraft. The US Navy's Military Sealift Command plans to launch a competition in fiscal year 1998 for commercially-operated vertical replenishment (VERTREP) of its warships. The contract is designed to meet a projected ...
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US Quadrennial Defense Review drives up THAAD costs
The estimated cost of completing the Lockheed Martin Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile programme for the US Army has risen by $1.4 billion, to $7.7 billion, because of a restructuring triggered by the US Department of Defense's (DoD) Quadrennial Defense Review . The programme was restructured ...
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Allison plans to build new hybrid AE2100 for Japan's amphibian
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Allison Engine is proposing a new hybrid version of its AE2100 turboprop to power the planned ShinMaywa Industries US-1A Kai upgraded search-and-rescue (SAR) amphibian for the Japan Defence Agency (JDA). The AE2100J being offered to Japan is a derivative of the AE2100A and D3 ...
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Reflected glory
Peter Henley/SEATTLE The dilemma which Boeing faced when launching its Next Generation 737 was whether to update the proven model or start afresh. The big 737 operators wanted an updated 737 for fleet commonality, but they demanded a version which would fly faster, higher and more economically. They ...
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Cold climate Hornet
Finland's air force looks forward to operating the Boeing F-18 Hornet Rene van Woezik/Tampere-Pirkkala AB The motto of the Finnish air force is "Qualitas Potentia Nostra: In Quality Lies Our Power". In terms of its front-line hardware, however, this quality has recently teetered on the verge of ...
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The Martian chronicles
Tim Furniss/LONDON The success of the Mars Pathfinder mission and of its Sojourner rover have generated huge public interest, especially in the perennial subject of manned flights to Mars. On the back of that success Daniel Goldin, NASA's Administrator, has challenged his scientists and engineers to come up ...
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Only the beginning
The first phase of US consolidation has ended, but there are more shifts to come in the ranking of the world's top 100 aerospace groups. Compiled by Flight International and Booz Allen & Hamilton Kevin O'Toole/LONDON This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of ...
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Industry applauds IFR rule
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC US AVIATION groups have commended the US Federal Aviation Administration for finalising the single-engine instrument flight rule (SEIFR), permitting revenue passenger operations in single piston- and turbine-engine aircraft. Regulators had previously feared that engine failures on single-engined aircraft flying in weather on instruments ...
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Japanese certificate first indigenous helicopter
MITSUBISHI HEAVY Industries (MHI) has received type certification for the MH2000 helicopter from Japan's Ministry of Transport. The medium-sized, twin-turbine MH2000 is Japan's first indigenously developed helicopter. MHI says it is stepping up efforts to sell the 4,500kg gross-weight, seven- to 12-seat MH2000 to government organisations and local ...
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Gulfstream IV RVSM
Gulfstream Aerospace has received US approval for inspections which will allow the GIV business jet to be operated in reduced vertical-separation minima (RVSM) airspace. Approval is still pending for earlier GIIs and GIIIs, and the new GV. Source: Flight International
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General-aviation accidents at lowest level
THERE WERE fewer fixed-wing general-aviation (GA) aircraft accidents in the USA in 1996 than in any other year since record-keeping began in 1938, and fatal-accident numbers were the lowest since 1952, says the Air Safety Foundation. According to the 1997 Nall Report, which analyses GA accident trends, poor ...
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Cessna signs 12 year Embry-Riddle deal
CESSNA HAS SIGNED a 12-year contract with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University covering the supply of almost 300 single-engined aircraft. The order includes Cessna 172 Skyhawks and "future high-performance single-engine models" to be developed by the manufacturer. The first 15 aircraft will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 1997. ...
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New chief for Delta
Delta Air Lines has gone outside of the airline industry in its search for a new leader, hiring Leo Mullin, currently vice chairman of Unicom and Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago-area power company, to replace Ronald Allen as president and chief executive of the USA's third-largest airline. Delta has ...
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FedEx approaches IAI over all-cargo turboprop requirement
Ari Egozi/TEL AVIV Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has been approached by FedEx with a proposal for it to develop a turboprop-powered all-cargo aircraft to replace its fleet of 160 Boeing 727 freighters. The proposed aircraft would be larger than the Ayres Loadmaster now under development for ...
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Design tests for Boeing JSF
Two major propulsion tests have been completed by the Boeing Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team. Tests were conducted on a scale model of the Rolls-Royce lift-module and spool-duct for the Pratt & Whitney SE614 engine (an F119 derivative) at Boeing Field, Seattle. This verified performance for conventional flight, short take-off ...
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RAF should keep BF109G flying
Sir - I was sad to learn that the continued flying of the Royal Air Force Messerschmitt BF109G, Black 6, may be in some doubt. The aircraft is operated commercially by the UK's Imperial War Museum at Duxford, but the UK Ministry of Defence, the owner, may ground ...