All Systems & interiors articles – Page 897
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News
Airline news
Alaska Airlines has become the first US carrier to offer ticket booking on the Internet. Northwest Airlines is extending its daily Boston-Amsterdam service to Bombay (four times weekly) and Delhi (three times). United Airlines is launching daily services to Vancouver from both Denver and Los Angeles ...
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Tahiti's FANS makes headway
Julian Moxon/PARIS FRANCE'S THOMSON-CSF has completed the second phase of Tahiti's new satellite-based oceanic air-traffic-control system, with delivery of the automated data-link component. When complete in early 1997, the Tahiti system will be one of the main components of the South Pacific Future Air Navigation ...
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USAir turnaround ends six straight years of losses
PROFITS HAVE continued to roll in from the US airline industry, with USAir delivering on its promises of a dramatic turnaround, producing its first annual profit since 1988. USAir ended the year showing net profits of $120 million, against a loss of $685 million a year ago. ...
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Galileo data delight NASA but scupper scientists' theories
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE DESIGNERS of NASA's Galileo probe have been vindicated after 57min of data were returned from the craft as it descended through the predominantly hydrogenous atmosphere of Jupiter on 7 December. The data, however, disappointed scientists, who had been expecting them to reveal far more ...
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RAF close to decision on Jaguar weapons
The RAF is considering fitting its Sepecat Jaguar aircraft with the British Aerospace ASRAAM short-range air-to-air and the ALARM anti-radiation missiles, as part of an upgrade programme intended to see the aircraft continue in service until 2008. A "feasibility fit" of the weapons has already been carried ...
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Checking the numbers
There are fears that Hong Kong's new airport is already heading for a capacity problem. Chris Yates/HONG KONG IT IS THE WORLD'S single largest project in civil engineering today and one of the most complex combined excavation and reclamation projects in history, requiring the largest fleet of seaborne dredgers, ...
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Olin brings power to passenger seats
OLIN AEROSPACE (OAC) has begun demonstrating an in-seat power system to airlines which will allow passengers to plug in their laptop computers during flight. Redmond, Washington-based OAC says that lap-top batteries "dying" is a major source of passenger complaints and that airlines surveyed ranked an in-seat power system as a ...
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Computers aid GV wing design
APPEARANCES CAN be deceiving, and the GV's outward similarity to the GIV belies the changes wrought to achieve an almost-60% increase in range. The wing is all-new, sized to house the fuel required for a 12,000km (6,500nm) range, but shaped by the desire to maintain the GIV's ...
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The psychology of selection process
Sir - I note the interesting juxtaposition of letters ("Psychologists analyse thyselves" and "Is there an anti-poaching scheme?", Flight International, 6-12 December, 1995, P93). I am not a psychologist, but I have worked in recruitment and selection, and I think that both letters miss some crucial points. ...
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Defining IATA's role in Russia
Sir - Your leader "Air traffic mismanagement" (Flight International, 6-12 December, 1995) states: "The fear is that Russia will adopt a series of isolated, unco-ordinated, primarily vendor-driven ATM systems", which, in itself, is not unjustified. The conclusions of the analysis are wrong, however. The International Air Transport Association's ...
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Meridiana pioneers regional satcoms
ITALIAN REGIONAL carrier Meridiana is to fit its fleet of British Aerospace BAe 146-200s with passenger satellite-telephones. The move is the first satellite communication (satcom) installation on the 146 and the first significant passenger-satcom made available by a regional carrier, according to In-Flight Entertainment, the Flight International newsletter. ...
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Virgin lays on sleepers
Gunter Endres/LONDON VIRGIN ATLANTIC Airways is to become the first major airline in modern times to install a separate sleeping compartment in its aircraft. The airline will use what is usually the front cargo hold of an Airbus A340-300. The A340 is due to be delivered in 1997. ...
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Europe gives go-ahead for Lufthansa/SAS tie-up
Julian Moxon/PARIS THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) has given its approval to the alliance between Lufthansa and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), but is demanding that each yield certain routes to their competitors, and abandon existing marketing agreements with other airlines. Lufthansa chairman Jurgen Weber calls the outcome ...
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Regional-jet makers ponder tough BA requirement
THE FIVE AIRCRAFT manufacturers invited by British Airways to bid for a $1 billion order for up to 60 regional jets have been left facing some difficult decisions over how best to meet the UK flag carrier's requirements on delivery schedules and aircraft mix. None of the contenders ...
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Thomson nets European GPS navigation award
Julian Moxon/PARIS THOMSON-CSF has been awarded the production contract for the first phase of the European geostationary navigation-overlay system (EGNOS). The company has also been invited to tender for the study contracts for the second phase, making it highly likely it will become prime contractor for the entire ...
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Wavionix speeds up design of air-traffic flight patterns
David Learmount/LONDON A SOFTWARE product which is claimed to revolutionise the safe design of air-traffic flight procedures has been launched by a new company, Wavionix, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The time taken to design new air-traffic flight patterns or amend existing ones can be cut from ...
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FAA agrees to investigate phase-in of free-flight
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has declared in favour of phased introduction of "free-flight" air navigation as recommended by a Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics task-force report. Monte Belger, the FAA's associate administrator for air-traffic services, says that the aviation agency will respond formally this month to the ...
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NVG modifications begin on F-16s
LOCKHEED MARTIN is modifying US Air Force Block 40 night-attack F-16s with interior and exterior lighting compatible with night-vision goggles (NVGs). The USAF plans to equip 250 aircraft with NVG-compatible lighting to enhance the F-16's close-air-support capability. Four aircraft have been modified for use in an NVG tactics-development ...
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Off target
1995's world airline safety performance shows that targets are not being met. David Learmount/LONDON FIGURES FOR 1995 confirm that numbers for world airline fatal accidents are showing an upward trend. The 1995 fatal-accident total (57) and the number of resulting fatalities (1,215) are significantly above the annual ...
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Trislander production line restarts
ANGLO NORMANDY Aero-engineering has put the Britten Norman Trislander back into limited production, 14 years after the last airframe was built by the UK aviation company. The Guernsey, Channel Islands-based Anglo Normandy received two Trislander kits late in 1995 from the USA where they have been kept in ...