All General aviation articles – Page 577
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Enstrom pursues China talks
Enstrom Helicopters continues to pursue long-running talks on a planned joint venture in China for local assembly of piston and turbine-powered machines. The Michigan-based light helicopter manufacturer is still awaiting final approval from the Chinese authorities after more than five years of delay. But it says plans for the ...
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Lockheed Martin sees red hot future for laser manufacturing
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin has begun making prototype parts using a laser direct manufacturing process that it believes could eventually be used to produce complete wing and fuselage structures as single pieces. Under Project Lightspeed, the company has set up a research facility on the factory floor at ...
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Mcalpine Delivers
McAlpine Helicopters has delivered its second Eurocopter EC-135 twin to the North Wales Police. The 'advanced police helicopter' will be used for police and emergency medical service operations. The Oxford Airport, UK-based Eurocopter distributor is scheduled to deliver two more EC-135's by the end of April to the North East ...
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Hartzell Stc
Hartzell has received two supplemental type certificates for its three-bladed propeller system to be fitted to the Teledyne Continental IO-550-powered Cessna A36 and the turbocharged Beech B36TC Bonanza. The systems are priced at $7.195. Source: Flight International
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Heli Expo hosts revamped S-55 Whisper Jet and S-61N Short
New versions of two older helicopters, Vertical Aviation Technologies' S-55QT Whisper Jet and Helipro International's Offshore S-61 Short, were displayed for the first time at the show. Certification of both conversions is imminent. Florida-based Vertical Aviation has completed flight testing of a five-blade rotor on its turbine conversion of ...
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AASI is on the brink of Jetcruzer certification
Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures (AASI) hopes to clinch US type certification for its Jetcruzer 500 low-cost corporate turboprop by mid-1999, with first deliveries beginning by year-end. The manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California, was originally due to begin deliveries by the end of 1998, but has suffered substantial delays ...
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Safire proposes new aircraft
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON Safire Aircraft is to develop two jet-powered aircraft aimed at business and private owners. Both aircraft are in the conceptual design stage. The first machine, the Safire S-26, is a six-seat, composite, entry-level business jet, powered by two Williams FJX-2 turbofans, and being developed as part ...
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Helicopter operators face airspace restrictions
A major challenge facing helicopter operators in the next millennium will be maintaining the freedom to fly in unrestricted airspace, says Helicopter Association International president Roy Resavage. Speaking at the show, Resavage said that a proposed bill before Congress effectively would give US communities the power to control the ...
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Boeing business move claims refuted
Dutch-owned MD Helicopters has reaffirmed its intention to keep the newly-acquired former Boeing commercial helicopter business based in the USA, despite claims to the contrary made by rival Bell. MD Helicopters chief executive Hank Schaeken says: "We will maintain the technical and industrial base in the USA. We decided ...
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Mooney's Eagle spreads its wings
Mooney Aircraft has delivered the first M20S Eagle, less than six months after the single-engined aircraft was unveiled. The four-seat Teledyne Continental IO-550-powered Eagle, which won US Federal Aviation Authority certification in early February, is a derivative of the popular M20R Ovation, offering the same extended-length fuselage and powerplant - ...
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Manufacturers are on a high over sales prospects
Helicopter manufacturers are projecting increased deliveries this year, based on their order backlogs. Eurocopter has benefited from a strong US market, says president Patrick Gavin. The company delivered 216 commercial helicopters last year, up from 211 in 1997, and booked orders for 272. These include 32 upgraded versions of ...
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Mergers
* Lufthansa subsidiary GlobeGround has agreed to buy US-based Hudson General in a move that should end a take-over battle for the airport services provider. The GlobeGround offer tops earlier bids from Ranger Aerospace, Ogden and a group of Hudson managers. GlobeGround - which already owns 49% of Hudson affiliate ...
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Shifts criticised
A proposal to allow European pilots to work 14-hour shifts twice-weekly on two-crew aircraft, included in the proposed pilots' flight time and duty limitations (FTDL) regulations, is described by the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations as a "recipe for disaster. The FTDL will now be controlled by the EC ...
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Avionics on the front line
The move towards preventative maintenance has sparked a fierce battle between two major avionics vendors to supply the dominant operating system. Avionics manufacturers in the USA are poised on the threshold of a new technology that could have major implications for maintenance in the airline industry. But just as ...
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In need of a check-up
The systems onboard ageing aircraft in the USA are coming under closer scrutiny, raising the prospect of higher maintenance costs. In the USA, old aircraft don't die: they get hushkits and a new paint job. In stark contrast to their counterparts in Europe and Asia, US passengers routinely find ...
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Managing or flying?
It may be desirable to include pilots in airline management, but how far is it economic? Organisation of cockpit crews must rank among the airline industry's most sensitive management issues. And central to that debate is the question over the extent to which pilots themselves should be involved in ...
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Russia's AT traffic down again in 1998
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Russia's air traffic fell by 11% to 22.4 million passengers during 1998, while revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) fell by 9.7% to 55.475 billion. The Russian Federal Aviation Service's [FAS] annual report reveals the eighth successive year of falling air traffic. While traffic had been showing a ...
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Eurocontrol plans air traffic management role for pilots
Julian Moxon/BRETIGNY Researchers at Eurocontrol's Bretigny centre in France have embarked on a programme aimed at giving pilots flying in crowded airspace limited involvement in air traffic management (ATM). The hope is that controller workload can be reduced, or at least stabilised, as air traffic continues to increase. ...
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BAe AMT grows Latin Jetstream fleet
British Aerospace Asset Management - Turboprops (AMT) is targeting Aerolitoral, a Mexican-based regional operator, as the next major Latin American customer for Jetstream J32EPs coming off lease from airlines in the USA. The move, which the airframe manufacturer hopes could result in up to 26 Jetstreams replacing the airline's ...
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Piston power gets a boost in Asia
Australian light utility aircraft manufacturer Gippsland Aeronautics believes that it could increase production of its new utility passenger and agricultural aircraft to around 200 a year by 2002. Managing director George Morgan says assessments suggest an unexpectedly large market for piston-powered commercial utility aircraft. Morgan believes "bush operators" have ...