All General aviation articles – Page 677
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News
Hiller Aircraft flies again
HILLER AIRCRAFT has flown its first new-build UH-12E3 light utility helicopter after the production machine was rolled out earlier this month from its assembly site in Newark, California. The helicopter is the first of a batch of 20 machines to be built for a Thai investor group which ...
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FAA approves TFE731-60 for Falcon 900EX
THE US FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION has certificated the AlliedSignal TFE731-60 turbofan ahead of the first flight of the Dassault Falcon 900EX business aircraft, the first application for the engine. Four TFE 731-60 development engines have been delivered for flight tests. Almost 3,500h of tests have been amassed by the engines, ...
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ST50 belly-lands after engine fails
THE PROTOTYPE of the ST50 single-turboprop business aircraft was slightly damaged during an emergency landing in Israel on 19 May after an engine failure forced the pilot to land in a field near the airstrip. The all-composite ST 50 has been developed by the Minnesota, US-based Cirrus Design ...
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London's firefighters test Eurocopter's BK.117
THE LONDON Fire Brigade (LFB) in the UK is to run a six-week trial of a helicopter on emergency operations. It will hire a Eurocopter BK.117C-1 from McAlpine Helicopters as part of a continuing evaluation of the possible role of helicopters (Flight International, 4-10 January). During ...
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Skippers Sale
Fairchild Aircraft has sold a Metro 23 to Skippers Aviation, based in Perth, Western Australia, for delivery in July, with a second aircraft on option. The US manufacturer has delivered two Metro 23s to Hainan Airlines of China and one to Asia-Pacific Airlines of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sydney-based Australian Jet ...
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Incident reporting
All airlines are subject to at least one level of compulsory incident reporting: this normally involves reporting to their national aviation authority those relatively serious events which result in physical harm to people, damage to equipment, or risk to safety. Less-serious incidents may be reported within an airline ...
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JAST hover tests to start in June
LOCKHEED MARTIN will begin hover testing of its Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) candidate in June at NASA Ames, California. Its JAST contender is now being re-assembled at NASA Ames before the start of engine and lift-fan tests. The aircraft is an 86%-scale version of ...
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IATA urges consensus on raising passenger-liability restrictions
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON THE WORLD'S major airlines are due to meet in June in an attempt to break the deadlock over raising the international passenger-liability limits laid down in the Warsaw Convention. Insurers have welcomed the initiative to make the existing $75,000 limit more realistic, but ...
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Operating rules hit commuters with high costs
MANUFACTURERS AND operators of 19-seat regional aircraft are hoping to persuade the US Federal Aviation Administration to minimise the impact of proposals to raise commuter-certification standards. The FAA estimates that the commuter rule will cost $275 million over the next ten years, with operators of ten- to 19-seat aircraft bearing ...
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Belgian boost
BELGIAN FLAG CARRIER SABENA has taken short-term leases on three British Aerospace One-Elevens to provide increased summer capacity. This aircraft, a -500 model, is wet-leased from British World Airways; the other two aircraft will come from European Aviation. They will be used to boost frequencies on short-haul routes from Brussels ...
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H+S AVIATION/McAlpine
Michel Dubarry, managing director of McAlpine Helicopters (right), and Alan Robinson, managing director of H+S Aviation, have signed a three-year exclusive agreement for H+S to provide repair and overhaul services for McAlpine's Allison 250 engine requirements. McAlpine is UK and Ireland distributor for Eurocopter and H+S is Europe's largest Allison ...
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Final assembly of Gulfstream V wing starts at Northrop
NORTHROP GRUMMAN has begun final assembly of the wings for the first Gulfstream V long-range business jet at its Commercial Aircraft division, formerly Vought Aircraft, in Dallas, Texas. Northrop Grumman, along with its revenue-sharing partner, ShinMaywa Industries of Japan, is supplying Gulfstream with the complete wing assembly, including ...
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Germany tests hydrogen fuel on APU
GERMAN SCIENTISTS are preparing to rig-test an auxiliary power unit (APU) fuelled by gaseous hydrogen as part of a study aimed at reducing the nitrous oxide component of aircraft-exhaust emissions. The tests, scheduled to begin later this year, will be carried out on an AlliedSignal GTCP 36/300 ...
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Aims of GAPAN Benevolent Fund
Sir - The aim of the Guild of Air Pilots Benevolent Fund is to relieve poverty among those who are, or have been, engaged professionally as pilots or navigators in commercial aviation, or who are Livery men or Freemen of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN). All ...
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Australian judge rules out compulsory retirement at 60
AN AUSTRALIAN industrial-relations court, has overturned the compulsory retirements of two, 60-year-old Qantas captains. The judgement says that compulsory retirement should be replaced by a process of "individual screening of individual pilots, regardless of age." In supporting one (short-haul) captain's application, Chief Justice Wilcox found ...
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JetRanger replacement helps drive 407 market
PRODUCTION OF Bell Helicopter Textron's Model 407 light helicopter, launched in February, is sold out until mid-1997. The company has firm orders for 105 aircraft, with company demonstrators and other commitments taking the number of delivery positions accounted for to 140. Production at Bell's Canadian plant will ...
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Laser alignment used on F-18E/F
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) has joined the forward and centre/aft fuselage sections of the first F-18E/F fighter, using a laser-alignment technique pioneered on the MDC C-17 transport. Computer-controlled alignment reduces assembly time and results in a "near-perfect" splice, MDC says. The F-18E/F is the first US fighter to be ...
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Sierra will lease 13 Jetstream Super 31s
JSX CAPITAL HAS LEASED 13 Jetstream Super 31s to California-based start-up carrier Sierra Expressway, which has options for ten additional aircraft. Five of the 19-seat aircraft will be delivered in June and the low-cost carrier plans to begin operations on 1 July, linking Oakland International Airport with destinations in California ...
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Fokker plans new Indian link
FOKKER IS CONSIDERING closer co-operation with aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), including an extension to the components work already undertaken by the Indian company for the Fokker 50. The Dutch concern is targeting India for sales of the turboprop Fokker 50 and the Fokker 70 and 100 regional ...
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Europe splits from FAA over single-engine IFR rules
Julian Moxon/PARIS THE EUROPEAN Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) has distanced itself from North America and Australian authorities over allowing single-engine turbine-powered aircraft to be operated commercially under instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and at night. JAA operations-committee director Richard Yates says that the authority is unlikely ...