Systems & interiors – Page 801
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Common theme
Graham Warwick WASHINGTON DC Can airlines agree to buy a standard aircraft, in the hope of reducing costs, or will each continue to demand hundreds of custom changes that set its aircraft apart from any other carrier's? That is the question facing an airline task force which is to ...
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Adventure star
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin's venture to develop and operate a fully reusable launch vehicle has always been acknowledged as risky; just how risky was brought home by the news that engine manufacturing problems have delayed the first flight of the X-33 technology demonstrator by six months, to December ...
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Raytheon teams with Angel on HALO-Proteus
Raytheon has signed a teaming agreement with St Louis-based Angel Technologies to develop stratospheric broadband wireless services, using the High Altitude Long Operation (HALO) aircraft. The prime electronics systems integrator will be Raytheon, with responsibility for the airborne and ground segments of the HALO network. Angel will deliver fixed and ...
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Airbus may ditch A3XX thrust reversers to slow down costs
Andrew Doyle/LONDON Airbus Industrie is discussing with airlines a plan to remove the thrust reversers from its A3XX ultra-high capacity airliner design as part of efforts to further reduce the aircraft's direct operating costs. Airlines have generally reacted favourably towards the idea of dropping the system from the outboard engines ...
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UK airlines renew call for air rage research and funding
David Learmount/LONDON Efforts to undertake research into the causes of air rage attacks on cabin crew are being held up by a reluctance to fund the work, it has emerged at a Passenger Behaviour seminar held at Heathrow Airport, London, on 29 October. The UK's Cranfield University has ...
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Universal targets corporate jet market with flightdeck family
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Universal Avionics has launched a bid to become a major supplier of flightdeck equipment for corporate and commercial aircraft with the introduction of its System-1 product line. Building on its UNS-1 flight management system (FMS), Universal's System-1 includes flat panel displays, a terrain awareness and warning system ...
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SAir Group acquires major Air Europe stake
Marco Messalla/MILAN Swissair parent SAir Group is to grow its increasing portfolio of small European airlines by taking the maximum permitted stake in Italian long-range charter carrier Air Europe, through the purchase of 49.9% of Dutch-based holding company Tegel. The move follows the recent purchase of 44%of France's Air ...
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Calm down
A new and unsettling problem for the airlines - dubbed "air rage" by the media - has been emerging over the last few years. The problem is unsettling because it appears to be global and growing rapidly, and although the airlines can describe it, they cannot define it. This intractable ...
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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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Ion cruiser
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA's Deep Space 1 (DS1) spacecraft is being propelled to its rendezvous with an asteroid by an ion propulsion system, the first use of such a system in the history of interplanetary exploration. The DS1, which was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 24 October, is the first ...
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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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Lufthansa holds China talks as SIA prepares to be a Star
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Lufthansa is in talks with three airlines in a bid to extend the Star Alliance into mainland China, according to Jürgen Weber, chairman and chief executive of the German airline. Early talks on a potential Chinese partnership are under way with Air China, China Eastern Airlines ...
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Carriers unite for airframe standard
Several leading international airlines have agreed to study the possibility of standardising aircraft configurations to cut the costs associated with customisation. Introducing the initiative in Washington DC on 5 November, United Airlines chairman Gerald Greenwald said: "Standardisation can save airlines a lot of money." Customisation adds 3-4% to aircraft ...
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Goresat goes ahead
US Vice President Al Gore's proposed satellite to send back - via the Internet - continuous views of the full sunlit disc of the earth, has been given the go-ahead by US space agency NASA. The Triana satellite, nicknamed the "GoreSat", will be deployed from the Space Shuttle in December ...
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Quiet cabin
Ultra Electronics has received certification for its UltraQuiet active noise and vibration control system for the Bombardier Challenger 604. The company claims the system reduce average cabin noise levels by 2dB. Source: Flight International
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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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Bombardier refines 90-seater
Guy Norris/PALM SPRINGS Bombardier has refined its plans for the proposed BRJ-X regional jet family and says a launch decision is likely to be taken around October 1999, pending the conclusion of a solid business case. Bombardier is now outlining plans for two main family members, a 90-seater ...
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MD-11 probe leads to entertainment disconnection
Swissair has voluntarily disconnected the in-flight entertainment systems on its Boeing 747 and MD-11 fleets as a precaution because some heat-damaged wiring associated with it has been found in the MD-11 which crashed off Nova Scotia, Canada, on 2 September. Both the airline and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada ...
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ATR targets January launch for regional twinjet
An ATR Jet study team has submitted its final proposals to Aerospatiale and Aeritalia, parent companies in the ATR consortium, which could pave the way for the launch of its planned regional twinjet in January 1999. ATR marketing president Antoine Bouissou, speaking at the Speednews regional and corporate aviation ...
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UK halts Air Atlanta leasing in parts maintenance inquiry
David Learmount/LONDON In a surprise move, the UK Civil Aviation Authority suspended operating permission for five days for UK airlines to lease aircraft from Air Atlanta Icelandic. The issue, says the CAA, was the manner in which Air Atlanta was using an out-of-service Boeing 747 to supply parts for ...