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July 18, 2008

GKN delivers APB winglets

By Paul Lowe

GKN Aerospace has delivered Blended Winglets for 767-300ER aircraft to Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) for certification flight tests in support of launch customer American Airlines.

The contract has involved the design and development of an 11-foot-tall winglet and will include manufacture of some 450 shipsets, with forecast peak production of up to 16 shipsets per month.

Ble more

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Boeing gives green light to heavy-lift airship project

By Stephen Pope

Boeing has teamed with a Canadian firm to develop a massive commercial airship capable of lifting an 80,000-pound load and carrying it up to 200 miles.

SkyHook International of Calgary, Alberta, patented the design for the hydrogen-filled, “neutrally buoyant” JHL-40 heavy-lift aircraft and approached Boeing about a development and production partnership. After reviewing the design a more

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Sikorsky tooling up for CH-53K

By David Donald

Sikorsky has begun the tooling process for the U.S. Marine Corps’ next-generation CH-53K heavylift helicopter, while General Electric is preparing to run the intended powerplant for the first time next January. Those events keep the program on track for a first flight scheduled for the first quarter of 2012. Around 90 percent of the supplier base has been selected.

Sikorsky received a more

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"Tailored" arrivals reduce fuel and cut emissions

By Paul Lowe

Boeing and its partners in industry and government accomplished significant reductions in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions during recent tests of “tailored” arrivals, which enabled aircraft to fully use air-to-ground datalink technology to descend into San Francisco International Airport with minimal direct air traffic control intervention.

Between Dec. 4, 2007, and Mar more

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Bureaucracy ends DC-3’s career

By Brian Walters

The need to protect passengers from terrorism was not uppermost in the mind of the Douglas Aircraft designers when they developed the DC-3, and they could not have guessed that they had designed the world’s first mass-produced airliner. The aircraft first flew in 1935, and during World War II it became the workhorse of Allied air forces all over the world as the C-47 Dakota.

More than more

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Updated GE FMS equips future 737s

By Ian Goold

Beginning this October, new-build Boeing 737 jetliners will use GE Aviation Systems flight-management system (FMS) update 10.8 software. The change provides increased navigation database capacity (with room for growth) and accommodates different performance of 737s fitted with winglets. FMSs allow operators to meet required navigation performance standards for separation from the ground or other a more

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TacitView helps sift the wheat from the chaff

By David Donald

With the proliferation of UAVs greatly increasing the number of “eyes in the sky,” the flow of video imagery streaming into intelligence centers is turning into a torrent. To help analysts provide timely intelligence, California-based 2d3 Inc. has developed a software suite known as TacitView that turns motion imagery into a more useful product. 2d3’s vision-science knowledge traces its root more

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Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aermacchi division is launching a competition to find a nickname for its M346

By Ian Sheppard

Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aermacchi division is launching a competition to find a nickname for its M346. The division’s CEO, Carmelo Cosentino, said the first low-rate initial production (LRIP) example flew on July 7, and that the aircraft is 700 kg lighter than the prototypes, giving it “much better maneuverability.” Aermacchi hopes to attract 35 to 40 percent of a market for around 2,000 adv more

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IR AASM completes qualification

By David Donald

Last week Sagem successfully conducted the third and final qualification test firing of its “one-meter” class armament air-sol modulaire (AASM) modular air-to-ground weapon. The earlier “ten-meter” class AASM, with GPS guidance, has been used in Afghanistan by Rafale fighters. The one-meter weapon adds imaging infrared guidance for greater accuracy. The final IIR AASM test was conducted at more

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New airliner support team holds $200m inventory

By Brian Walters

A new aftermarket support organization has been formed as a recommended solutions supplier for Airbus Spares Support and Services. Called the Blue Sky Alliance, the new group brings together Netherlands-based Avio-Diepen, Germany’s Interturbine Logistik and Satair of Denmark, which can provide a single point of contact for aftermarket space in all consumable material, expendables and standard ha more

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