Airnews Round Up September 2010
SAUDI ARABIA CONTRACTS FOR S-76DS
Stratford, Conn. – Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has signed a contract to procure twelve Sikorsky S-76D helicopters and has taken options to acquire eight additional S-76Ds. The S-76D helicopter is the latest model in the highly successful S-76 helicopter line. Sikorsky has produced and delivered nearly 800 S-76 helicopters.
A400M WING PASSES CRITICAL TEST
Madrid – The highly advanced all-composite wing of the Airbus Military A400M has passed the ultimateload up-bend test – the critical static test required for certification. During the test the wing was subjected to a load equal to 150% of the maximum bending load (limit load) predicted to be encountered in service. The wingtips of the full-size A400M static test specimen moved upwards 1,41 metres (4,6 feet) during the test which was completed at Airbus Military’s Getafe, Madrid facility recently.
INTERJET WINS CONTRACTS
Johannesburg – Lanseria International Airportbased Interjet has received approval from the South African Air Force (SAAF) and Armscor to provide steady state product support on the SAAF Raytheon King Air as well as the Cessna Caravan aircraft. Announcing this last month, Interjet’s CEO, Paul Ludick, added: “The contract will include all levels of support required to keep the various aircraft serviceable which allows the SAAF to provide the necessary readiness as required.” Interjet recently received its B-BBEE accreditation for both its maintenance and avionics departments which is a requirement to be met for medium and large companies in South Africa.
G450 SETS SPEED RECORD
Savannah, Ga. — A long-range Gulfstream G450 business jet recently established a city-pair speed record between Tokyo and Hong Kong. The G450 took off from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and flew the 1 694 nautical mile distance at an average cruise speed of Mach 0,85, landing three hours and 58 minutes later at Hong Kong International Airport.
MALTESE HOT POTATO
Valletta – During the past weeks a Partenavia P68C Victor has been seen in Malta with huge ICCAT titles on the port side. ICCAT stands for International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna. Lately, the issue of tuna fishing and penning has been a hot potato on the Mediterranean island of Malta, with fishermen being confronted by vessels from non-government organisations, namely Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd. Maltese rural affairs minister, George Pullicino, recently described the NGOs’ tactics as similar to those of “private armies”. The issue of tuna fishing, which the Maltese Government insists is entirely legal, has also been raised at high level meetings in Luxembourg.
CATHAY ORDERS 30 A350 XWBs
Hong Kong – Cathay Pacific Airways has selected the all-new A350 XWB to form the backbone of its future mid-size wide-body fleet, following the signature of a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Airbus for the order of 30 aircraft. The airline has selected the A350-900 variant of the aircraft, which is capable of flying over 8000 nautical miles non-stop.
FIRST T-6C FOR RMAF
Wichita – Hawker Beechcraft Corp. has rolled out the first of 24 Beechcraft T-6C military trainers ordered by the Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF). The RMAF is replacing its existing fleet of T-34 and T-37 jet trainers with the T-6C. In addition to the hard-point wings, the T-6C’s upgraded avionics include a head-up display, up front control panel, three multifunction displays and hands-on throttle and stick. The RMAF order represents a government-togovernment agreement between Morocco and the U.S. In addition to the 24 aircraft, the contract includes aircraft ferry services, site survey, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, facility infrastructure support, personnel training and training equipment, and other related elements of technical and logistics support.
COMAIR EXPANDS AFRICAN NETWORK
Johannesburg – Comair, operator of British Airways in South Africa and kulula.com, is again expanding its African route network, and from November will offer five return flights per week between Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania. British Airways will be operating the new route and the flights will also be integrated and sold through the kulula.com distribution network.
TRANSATLANTIC JOINT BUSINESS
London – British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia have received final regulatory approval from the European Commission to enter into a joint business agreement on transAtlantic flights. The airlines anticipate that they will receive the final decision ontransAtlantic anti-trust immunity from the US Department of Transportation shortly. The transAtlantic joint business will strengthen competition across the Atlantic by enabling the oneworld alliance to compete on a level playing field with the other global alliances that already have antitrust immunity. The airlines plan to launch the transAtlantic joint business this autumn.
SPACESHIPTWO FLIES WITH CREW
Miami – The crew at Scaled Composites flew their new spaceship with men on board for the first time recently. Pilots Peter Siebold and Michael Alsbury flew inside the ship, which remained mated to its mothership Eve (WhiteKnightTwo) for the duration of the six-hour flight.
LUFTHANSA’S SECOND A380
Frankfurt – Lufthansa has received its second Airbus A380 which was recently ferried from Hamburg to Frankfurt prior to being named ”München“ at a festive ceremony at Munich Airport. Its inclusion in the Lufthansa fleet last month has already raised frequencies ex Frankfurt to Tokyo from thrice-weekly to daily services and has opened the way for the type to be introduced to the South African service from next month.
LANDMARK DESTINATION
Nairobi – Kenya Airways recently broadened its network by launching regular flights between Nairobi and Angola’s capital city, Luanda.
POSEIDON ENTERS FLIGHT TEST
Seattle – Boeing’s new P-8A Poseidon aircraft T3 successfully completed its first flight test in Seattle recently and during the two-hour and 48-minute flight Boeing and US Navy test pilots performed airborne systems checks including engine accelerations and decelerations, autopilot flight modes, and auxiliary power unit and engine shutdowns and starts. The T3 is the P-8A programme’s mission-system and weapon-certification aircraft. In the coming weeks, T3 will join the two P-8A test aircraft currently at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and complete additional ground and flight tests. The Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8A anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to replace its P-3 fleet. Initial operational capability is planned for 2013.
ALAFCO OPTS FOR A350-900
Toulouse – ALAFCO, the Kuwait-based international aviation lease and finance company, has converted its existing firm order for 12 Airbus A350-800s placed in 2007, into the higher capacity A350-900 model. The A350-900 is the first of the three members of the A350 XWB family to be introduced and will enter service in mid-2013. The A350-900 typically has a capacity of around 40 more seats than the smaller 800 model.
FLIGHT TRAINING
Wichita – Cessna sold new aircraft to nine global training fleets in the first half of 2010, marked by the recent delivery of the 12th C172 Skyhawk to a Russian training programme, according to recent statistics released by the company. Since January, Cessna has delivered over 60 aircraft to major aviation university programmes in the United States and for training programmes in countries such as Egypt, Korea, Turkey and Uganda, in addition to several programmes in Russia.
FIRST G500H INSTALLATION
Johannesburg – Lanseria Airport-based National Airways Corporation recently completed and subsequently delivered one of the first Garmin G500H systems fitted to a Bell Helicopter. Bob Amey, NAC’s avionics manager said: “We undertook this retrofit installation based on Garmin’s recently released FAA-approved STC for Bell 206 & 407 helicopters.” The G500H, an all-glass avionics flight display designed specifically for the VFR Part 27 helicopter market, is a derivative of the G600 and G500 for the fixed-wing market, yet the G500H has been optimised for rotorcraft and offers features like helicopter synthetic vision technology, helicopter-specific databases and the ability to display video from a forward looking infrared camera or other video sources.The G500H is available in two versions – one with the PFD on the right, the other version with the PFD on the left – allowing maximum installation versatility.
AIR AMBULANCE IN MALTA
Valletta – An air ambulance service, Medilink, has launched operations based on Malta with Simon Camilleri as its chief executive officer. Medilink knows the North African market very well, having been involved in medevac transport for the past 15 years. During a press conference, Camilleri explained that the air ambulance operation was a natural step for the company, since it had vast experience, operating in harsh environments. The company has initially leased a Beech B200 Super King Air which has accommodation for two stretcher cases and can carry up to four passengers, including a doctor and a nurse. Twenty-four local paramedics have been trained to work on this first Medilink air ambulance.
RED BULL AIR RACES CANCELLED
Miami – The Red Bull Air Races have been cancelled for next year, according to a statement issued by the organisers last month. The one-year hiatus is needed to develop strong host city partnerships and secure a “long-term race calendar,” according to Red Bull. Some late-in-thegame venue changes and cancellations disrupted the race schedule for this year, and a couple of nearaccidents raised safety concerns.
CRITICAL DESIGN REVIEW
Stratford, Conn. — Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, has announced the successful completion of the CH-53K heavy lift helicopter programme critical design review (CDR) event, signalling the programme is ready to proceed to assembly, test and evaluation. Over the past four years, the CH-53K helicopter team has successfully completed numerous major reviews, including the system requirements review (SRR), system functional review (SFR), system preliminary design review (PDR), 77 supplier-level critical design reviews (CDRs), 64 supplier and internal software reviews, and 16 sub-system CDRs.
SVT FOR BARONS, BONANZAS
Wichita – Hawker Beechcraft Corp. has announced that Garmin’s Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) and other associated avionics improvements will be included as standard equipment on its piston-engine Beechcraft Baron and Bonanza aircraft. Following the receipt of Supplemental Type Certificates covering both models, the upgraded offerings were introduced on production aircraft as from last month.”
AWARD FOR ‘FATHER OF BOEING 747”
Farnborough – Legendary Boeing aeronautical engineer, Joe Sutter, credited with leading the development of the iconic 747 jetliner, won the inaugural Flightglobal Lifetime Achievement Award, Flight International magazine announced at the 2010 Farnborough International Airshow recently “Joe Sutter helped shrink our planet for tens of millions of ordinary travellers,” said Murdo Morrison, editor of Flight International. Sutter joined Boeing in 1946 as an aerodynamics specialist and worked on the Boeing 377, Dash-80, 707, 727 and 737. In 1965, he took on the role of chief project engineer of the new 747 programme, which pioneered the twin-aisle wide-body concept.
NEW PROPELLER
Wichita – Cessna’s McCauley Propeller Systems division has achieved ASTM compliance for a new two-blade, fixed-pitch composite propeller for the 162 Skycatcher. This is the first of a planned family of composite propellers the company has in development designed for a range of aircraft. Designated the 1L100, it is specifically designed for the Skycatcher’s Teledyne Continental O-200D engine.
‘FIRST’ FOR ARIK AIR
Lagos – Nigeria’s largest commercial airline, Arik Air, has scored another first by becoming the first Nigerian airline to be re-certified by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The regulatory body announced recently that the airline had met the Federal Government’s requirement of the new Civil Aviation Regulations. NCAA director-general, Dr. Harold Demuren, said Arik Air had fulfilled the 6th of the eight critical elements as stipulated by the United States of America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According to Dr Demuren, the sixth element involved licensing and certification and one of the country’s airlines needed to meet the new regulation. He expressed optimism that soon Nigeria would bag Category 1 status as the country was close to the end of the certification exercise by the American regulatory body.
MALTESE BORDER PATROL
Valletta – Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has announced the sale of a Beechcraft King Air B200 turboprop to Aerodata AG, of Braunschweig, Germany, for its modification and ultimate delivery to the Armed Forces of Malta for use in maritime border patrol missions. Aerodata modifications will incorporate search radar, electro-optical/infrared sensors and other mission equipment for the Mediterranean island nation. The aircraft is scheduled for delivery to the Maltese Government in early 2011, with an additional order pending for a second aircraft.
1time TO MAPUTO
Johannesburg – Voted by World Travel Awards for two in a row as Africa’s leading low cost carrier, 1time Airline, last month launched a five-times-aweek service between Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique. It thus makes use of the full capacity granted to operate this route, in relation to existing bilateral agreements. 1time’s prices started at about 50% less than its competitors. At the time of writing, the current lowest airfare on the route was R2 663 return inclusive, with 1time’s lowest fare coming in at R672 one way all in. Government-imposed airport taxes of R475 per way is included in the all-inclusive fare
GOULD LEAVES PIPER
Miami – World Airnews’ Miami office reports that there has been another major change at Piper Aircraft with CEO Kevin Gould apparently having resigned to be replaced in the interim by Geoffrey Berger, who is the managing director of the Brunei operations of Imprimus, the fund management company that took over Piper in 2009 on behalf of the Government of Brunei. Gould is credited with revamping Piper’s manufacturing processes, keeping development of the PiperJet moving and smoothing the transition of ownership last year. And without saying why he quit, Gould said he was proud of his accomplishments at Piper. Gould‘s departure is among a series of shuffles at Piper in recent months.
NEW A350 XWB HANGAR
Hamburg – From mid-2011 the world's largest fuselage made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) will be assembled in Hamburg, Germany, less than a year after Airbus celebrated the “topping-out” of the new A350 XWB fuselage assembly hangar. Completion of the hangar is expected within the next few weeks. Then the jigs, tools and machinery will be set up with start of production scheduled for spring 2011. Airbus is investing over €150-million in the A350 XWB hangar (including jigs, tools and machinery) in Hamburg.
[Home]
Archives>>
