All news – Page 7420
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Ireland plans expansion with ATP
Ireland Airways is close to finalising a lease deal with Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)) for three new British Aerospace ATP aircraft to enable it to expand its Irish domestic services. The airline, a spin-off of Dublin-based freight carrier EI Air Exports, began scheduled services in 1996, when it ...
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Declining and falling
The annual report of Russia's Federal Aviation Service (FAS), formerly known as the Air Transport Department of the Ministry of Transport, shows that Russian air traffic continued to decline in 1996, and that financial results were negative. Sources in the FAS say, however, that the figures submitted by some regional ...
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Alliant protests over USAF WCMD choice
Alliant Techsystems is contesting the US Air Force's selection of Lockheed Martin to produce 40,000 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMDs), worth $500 million. The US defence contractor has lodged an official protest with the US General Accounting Office (GAO), citing questions about the USAF's cost evaluation. As is ...
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Galilean gallery
NASA celebrated THE Galileo spacecraft's first year in orbit around the giant planet Jupiter on 7 December, 1996. The highlights among its hundreds of images have not been of the planet itself, however, but of its four giant moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa. These are called the Galilean moons, ...
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Corporate Aircraft Directory 1997
Last year was an important one for the business-aircraft fraternity, with several landmark events, including roll outs, first flights and certification approvals. There were also some important new-aircraft developments. The main focus of attention during 1996 was again the large-cabin, long-haul market. Bombardier kicked off flight-testing of its ...
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Changing the guard
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), once assured of a steady income from the country's defence ministry, is struggling to become a private corporation by the end of 1999. Its survival is at stake. Government funding for the AIDC-built Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF) will dry up by the ...
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Making markets
DEVELOPMENT OF THE Canadair Regional Jet Series 700 promises to be less difficult than launching the 70-seat aircraft, jokes John Holding, group executive vice-president, engineering and product development, at Bombardier Aerospace. Certainly, the Canadian company has been talking about stretching its 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) for almost as long ...
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Next Hubble service mission will also repair insulation blankets
The next planned Space Shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit, in December 1999, will involve repairs to damaged insulation blankets over the telescope's central equipment bays. The damage was probably caused by ultraviolet radiation and atomic oxygen. The damage to the area of the ...
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Business-aircraft deliveries rise
BUSINESS-AIRCRAFT manufacturers have reported broadly increased deliveries for 1996, boosted by first shipments of several key new-aircraft types. Cessna led the field, with deliveries of 122 Citation business jets, plus 107 Caravan utility turboprops. Second-placed Raytheon delivered 164 corporate aircraft - 58 business jets and 106 turboprops - ...
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NTSB urges accelerated 737 rudder programme
The Boeing 737 series no longer complies with the "intent of the [original US Federal Aviation Administration] certification requirements", the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has alleged in a recommendation to the FAA. The Board urges acceleration of a rudder-system modification programme now under way on the aircraft following ...
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Saudi F-16 delay
Saudi Arabia has dampened hopes of an early order for 70-100 Lockheed Martin F-16s to replace Northrop F-5s, saying that it is not ready for such a purchase. Source: Flight International
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FAA puts high price on safe fuel tanks
Making fuel-vapour in airliner fuel tanks explosion-proof would require "a major change in design concept", says the US Federal Aviation Administration, replying to US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations following the July 1996 Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100 crash. The FAA, however, says that it will publish ...
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Boeing to discuss 747-400IGW-
Boeing has added growth-weight and "simple-stretch" derivatives of its 747-400 to product-development plans, following its decision to shelve work on the 747-500X and -600X. An initial version, which is called the 747-400 increased-gross-weight (IGW), would offer a modest increase in range, compared with the existing -400. This could ...
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Lufthansa passes EU eco-audit scrutiny
Lufthansa Technik (LHT) has become the first aircraft maintenance and overhaul firm to win certification under the European Union's (EU) ecology-audit regulations. Certification is voluntary, but LHT says that it differentiates the firm from its competitors, and provides "a systematic view of the environmental impact of our activities". ...
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Cyprus Police acquires another Bell 412
The National Police Force of Cyprus has ordered a second Bell 412EP for delivery in May. The first 412 has been in service in Cyprus for eight years, and the police force will use the new machine for search-and-rescue and other law-enforcement activities. The helicopter will be customised with a ...
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AlliedSignal reveals new Chinese ventures
AlliedSignal is exploring at least eight new joint ventures in China as part of a $200 million company-wide investment to ensure a long-term strategic stake in Asia and aid selection of its systems for the AE-100 regional-aircraft project. "What we're doing is establishing a footprint for the business ...
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RAPID speeds up Raytheon spares
RAYTHEONAIRCRAFT has created a new subsidiary to improve spares distribution to operators of Beech and Hawker aircraft. Raytheon Aircraft Parts Inventory and Distribution (RAPID) headquarters will be at Andover, Kansas, close to the manufacturer's Wichita base. RAPID consolidates four separate spares organisations - Beech, Hawker UK, Hawker US ...
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Cessna 172 exported
Cessna has exported its first piston single since 1986, ferrying a Model 172R Skyhawk to its Australian dealer Airflite for a customer in Perth. Australian certification has been granted to the new-production 172. Source: Flight International
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Kestrel begins light-aircraft fabrication
KESTRELAIRCRAFT HAS begun fabrication of the first of three flight-test aircraft and two-ground-test models required for US certification of its K-250 all-composite light aircraft. Norman, Oklahoma-based Kestrel has completed flight tests of a proof-of-concept prototype previously designated the KL-1. The K-250 is the first in a planned family ...
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ValuJet struggles to fly back into profits
VALUJET REPORTS a net loss of nearly $21 million for the fourth quarter of 1996, its first since restarting operations after the three months' grounding which was imposed in the wake of the Florida crash. The airline warns that there will be more red ink to come in the first ...