All General aviation articles – Page 584
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Socata's diesel range kicks off with petrol prototype
Andrzej Jeziorski/SEOUL Socata has begun construction of the first prototype of what will eventually become a range of diesel-engined aircraft. The French manufacturer hopes to fly its MS250 Morane light single at next year's Paris air show in June. The prototype of the four/five-seat Morane will have a ...
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Eurocopter seeks partner for tiltrotor
Julian Moxon/PARIS Eurocopter is seeking to develop a 15/20-seat civil tilt-rotor and says that it is now looking for European partners to invest in the project. The Franco/German company says that while the eight/nine-seat Bell BA609 civil tiltrotor "presents no direct competition in the short term", there is a need ...
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Muscular Malibu
Dave Higdon/WITCHITA In developing the Meridian, a turboprop derivative of its Malibu high-performance piston single, New Piper Aircraft is counting on the fact that customers will find the transition to turbine power both attractive and manageable. To test this premise, Flight International evaluated the Malibu turboprop conversion developed by JetProp ...
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Ice Shield protects
B/EAerospace subsidiary SMR Technologies has won certification of its Ice Shield pneumatic de-icing system on the Cessna 421 and Rockwell Twin Commander, as part of a plan to offer systems for most popular general aviation aircraft types. Source: Flight International
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Sabena buy
Sabena has bought 10 aircraft from New Piper Aircraft to replace the ab initio fleet at its Scottsdale, Arizona, training centre. Delivery of five Archer III primary trainers, three Saratoga IIHP instrument trainers and two Seneca V multi-engine trainers will begin next January. Source: Flight International
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Ilyushin sets target for Il-103 certification to emerge from shadows
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Ilyushin expects to have the US Federal Aviation Administration shadow certification of its ll-103 single engined light piston upgraded to full certification by the end of this year. The Russian design bureau confirms that the MAK (Interstate Aviation Committee) Avia Register has certificated the aircraft's manufacturer, ...
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Cirrus prepares to clear final SR-20 certification hurdles
Cirrus Design is scurrying to find a new avionics vendor and perform tests on a final seat design before clearing the last certification hurdles for its SR-20 business aircraft. The first customer deliveries are scheduled to start in December. The Cirrus SR-20 received US Federal Aviation Administration type approval ...
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Cessna expects new record as Citation sales near 400 mark
Cessna expects sales of its Citation business jets to exceed 400 aircraft this year, its highest-ever annual total. Sales were boosted by substantial pre-ordering of the new Citation CJ2 and Sovereign before their official launch last month. The company booked orders for 76 entry-level CJ2s and 79 mid-size Sovereigns ...
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PT6A-42A certification
Pratt & Whitney Canada's PT6A-42A turboprop for the New Piper Malibu Meridian and Aero Vodochody Ae270 has received Transport Canada type certificate approval. The engine, thermodynamically rated at 1,029shp, first flew in late August with the maiden flight of the Meridien and first deliveries are due to begin in early ...
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Samsung wins first order for licence-built Bell 427 helicopter
Seoul-based helicopter operator Heli Korea has placed the first firm order with Samsung for the Samsung-Bell SB427 eight-seat utility helicopter. Apart from this order for three aircraft, Samsung says that it has letters of intent (LoIs) covering 25 further potential sales, including five in China. Among possible Chinese customers ...
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Orenda reveals plans for V-6 aero-engine study
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Orenda Recip is studying a smaller derivative of its new 450kW (600hp) OE-600A V-8 aero-engine for potential re-engineing of the Piper Malibu piston single and piston twins such as the Beech Duke. The proposed liquid-cooled V-6 would deliver between 225kW (normally aspirated) and 370kW (turbocharged). ...
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Delays put back first Lancair Columbia delivery
Lancair now plans to deliver the first Columbia 300 four-seater in February 1999 and hopes to have completed the handover of the 200th aircraft by early in 2001. The February delivery date is almost five months behind the company's original schedule, which slipped after design changes were made to improve ...
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VisionAire revises Spirit design
VisionAire has made major alterations to its ambitious Spirit VA-12B "personal jet" sports aircraft and has begun construction of a prototype at its Chesterfield site in Missouri. "It should be flying within 18 months," says Tom Stark, senior vice-president of the company's Future Works advanced development division. The ...
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Virgin stirs US cabotage debate
Virgin Atlantic Airways chairman Richard Branson has touched a nerve in the USA by calling for seventh freedom rights so that he can start a low-fares, low-cost, airline. His calls for cabotage came in the same month that a senior US Department of Transportation (DoT) official questioned whether current aviation ...
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Gaining an edge
Managers may dream of introducing the ground-breaking innovation that reshapes the industry. Or of the revolution that launches their airline to new heights of sustained performance. But in today's real world of increasingly competitive marketplace, victories tend to be smaller, more fleeting and harder to win. Welcome to the age ...
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Why slots maynot be enough
Airline competition authorities may be looking in the wrong direction with demands for slot surrender to tame the global alliances. As the champions of competition continue to do battle over transatlantic airline alliances, it may be worth taking time out to reflect on exactly what they hope to achieve and ...
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Certification work will delay Jetcruzer 500 by 12 months
Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures (AASI) says certification work on the Jetcruzer 500 turboprop pusher will not be completed until the "second half of next year", meaning a delay of more than 12 months over the company's original predictions. AASI says the delay is part of a conscious effort to ...
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US Army plans UH-60Q Dustoff
The US Army has successfully completed operational testing of the Sikorsky Aircraft UH-60Q medical evacuation (medevac) helicopter and will modify 357 in-service UH-60As to the new standard from 2002. Sikorsky reconfigured four UH-60A Black Hawk utility helicopters to the UH-60Q "Dustoff" standard for integration of new mission equipment, including ...
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Winning fractions
The business aviation community seems at last to be waking up to the ultimate win-win business solution - fractional ownership. So much so that the concept itself is on the cusp of driving one of the biggest transformations in business travel and the business aviation industry at large - and ...
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Galaxy keeps performance but puts on weight
The Galaxy will meet, and even exceed, its performance specification, despite growing in weight and encountering several handling problems, says Galaxy Aerospace. The aircraft, which had its US premiere at the show, has gained more than 320kg (700lb) as a result of greater allowance for the interior and "more ...