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French Investigators Conclude Air France Flight 447 Did Not Break Apart in Flight
July 02, 2009
The condition of the wreckage recovered from that Air France A330-200 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 indicates that the airplane broke apart upon hitting the water, not while in flight as previously hypothesized, according to an interim report issued by the French civil aviation accident investigation bureau (BEA) today. “The elements...
morePilot Report: Airbus A380
July 01, 2009
Cutting-edge thinking
moreATR eyes U.S. market as it preps -600 for flight
July 01, 2009
As Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR readies for the first flight of its new 600 Series this month, the company finds itself in a “comfortable position” by virtue of a backlog of 162 airplanes worth some $3 billion–“pretty much the largest [the company] has achieved in the program,” according to ATR senior vice president John Moore. Still, Moore didn’t...
moreNext Superjet likely a stretch
July 01, 2009
The next variation of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 will almost certainly involve a stretch of the existing 95-seat baseline platform, leaving the once highly anticipated 75-seat version in a state of virtual limbo. In fact, Superjet International CEO Alessandro Franzoni said that plans for a smaller version of the airplane have virtually stalled, while designers...
moreColgan Inspector Blows Whistle on FAA
July 01, 2009
An FAA inspector has filed a federal “whistleblower” complaint against his employer, charging the agency with removing him from his field position overseeing the certification of Colgan Air’s Bombardier Q400 operation last year when he raised concerns about pilot flying performance and the airline’s safety culture. FAA acting assistant administrator for...
moreFirst An-148 Enters Service
July 01, 2009
Ukrainian airline AeroSvit launched passenger service with the first Antonov An-148-100 regional jet on a June 2 flight between Borispol International Airport, outside Kiev, and Kharkov, in northeastern Ukraine. Built by Kiev’s Aviant and used to gain CIS certification in 2007, the 70-seat regional jet took off from Kiev Borispol at 1:30 p.m. and landed in...
moreMitsubishi hitting its stride in march toward first flight
July 01, 2009
Development of Mitsubishi Aircraft’s MRJ regional jet continues on schedule, as some 800 engineers, designers and subcontractors in Nagoya, Japan, work to complete the project’s critical design review by the end of this year. Finished with the project’s preliminary design review in April, the engineering team aims to ready the first of four MRJ90 prototypes...
moreYemenia A310 Crashes, 152 Feared Dead
June 30, 2009
A Yemenia (Yemen Airways) Airbus A310-300 crashed into the Indian Ocean, just north of the Comoros Islands, shortly after 1:50 a.m. local time, Airbus confirmed this morning. Search crews reportedly have found a single survivor–a small child–as well as several bodies. The aircraft, operating as Flight IY626 from Sana’a, Yemen, bound for Moroni in the...
moreBombardier’s Toronto Plant Averts Strike
June 29, 2009
Workers at Bombardier’s de Havilland plant in north Toronto ratified a new three-year labor contract yesterday, averting a strike that stood to affect 2,750 workers and halt production of the Q400 turboprop. Eighty-four percent of the workers, who are represented by two local Canadian Auto Workers chapters, voted to accept the new agreement, reached on June...
moreBoeing Joins 747-8 Wing Box to Center Section
June 29, 2009
Boeing announced today that it has joined the first 747-8’s wing box to the airplane’s 40-foot-long center fuselage section in the final assembly bay at its factory in Everett, Wash. Meanwhile, workers continue to prepare the wing and center section for final body join, when the center fuselage-wing assembly gets connected to the forward and aft fuselage...
morePatience with 787 Delays Running Thin
June 29, 2009
The wellspring of goodwill among customers for the chronically delayed Boeing 787 drained a bit more this past week, when the company announced yet another program delay likely to force its certification target date beyond next year’s first quarter. This time, the delay to first flight had nothing to do with so-called traveled work or kinks in the supply...
moreNTSB Chases New Leads in Air France Flight 447 Crash Probe
June 29, 2009
The National Transportation Safety Board has launched investigations into two recent incidents in which airspeed and altitude indications in Airbus A330s might have malfunctioned, adding to the suspicion that an instrument failure could have led to the June 1 loss of an Air France A330-200 (Flight 447) in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 228 people. ...
moreAirbus Inks Financing Deal with Chinese Bank
June 29, 2009
Airbus hopes to help loosen the grip of tight-fisted credit outlets with an MoU it signed this month with the world’s largest bank, China’s ICBC, to collaborate on aircraft financing and management activities. The deal would involve the structuring of operating and finance lease transactions, portfolio management and aircraft placement remarketing.Under the...
moreBoeing in Studies to Re-Wing 777
June 29, 2009
Boeing Commercial Airplanes has begun to study the possibility of fitting the 777 with a redesigned wing in an effort to more effectively compete against the Airbus A350XWB-1000. Although BCA chief executive Scott Carson said at this month’s Paris Air Show that “nothing is decided,” a re-winged 777 could offer an alternative to the still un-launched 787-10,...
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