Feb 25
The Lockheed Martin short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing test fleet continues to progress towards the first vertical landing. The F-35B‘s first flight test aircraft — BF-1 — completed a short landing at Patuxent River Naval Air Base, Md. Pratt & Whitney, the engine supplier, posted the video online late this evening.
Feb 24
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. today announced the continuation of upgrades for the S-92 helicopter, which has already received more than 60 enhancements since entering service in 2004. These upgrades, combined with the aircraft’s rugged and flaw-tolerant design, have enabled the S-92 helicopter to become a leader in the highly demanding offshore oil, Head of State, and search and rescue segments.
Sikorsky, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., announced the latest upgrade efforts at the Heli-Expo show in Houston.
“The S-92 helicopter fleet has grown to 105 aircraft operating throughout the world, with the fleet recently surpassing the 200,000 flight-hour milestone. Customers have shown strong allegiance to this helicopter as we continue to keep it fully modernized with the latest technologies,” said Carey Bond, President of the company’s Sikorsky Global Helicopters business. “Our practice has been to continually improve all our products, and the S-92 helicopter is no exception.”
Starting this October, Sikorsky plans to introduce a strengthened main transmission housing that has been developed for the H-92 helicopter, a militarized variant of the commercial S-92 helicopter. The new housing is currently in the certification process and is designed to reduce unscheduled maintenance by eliminating such possibilities as the foot-mount cracks recently experienced by some operators. The new housing will have a much longer life than the current housing and will be manufactured by Sikorsky for retrofit on existing aircraft and installation on all new S-92 and H-92 helicopters.
Feb 22
Two U.S. Army pilots died Sunday in a helicopter accident in Iraq, the military said.
The pilots’ aircraft “made a hard landing” near an airfield on a U.S. base in northern Iraq, a military statement said. “There were no enemy forces present, and no hostile fire was reported.”
The soldiers were assigned to Task Force Marne, which is responsible for U.S. operations in northern Iraq. The location of the base and the soldiers’ identities were withheld pending family notification.
Meanwhile, at least 10 Sunni worshippers were wounded Sunday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a Sunni mosque outside Tikrit, police said.
The attack occurred about 6:15 p.m. at the Abi Manar al-Alami mosque in the town of al-Alam, east of Tikrit, police officials said.
Its imam, who has the same name as the mosque, has urged people to respect the Iraqi security forces and the law, and had issued a fatwa to forbid attacking Iraqi police and army, police officials said.
Iraq security forces believe al Qaeda in Iraq was behind the attack, officials said.
Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, is located in Salaheddin province, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
Feb 19
MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) testing begins this month for Eurofighter Typhoon in India as speculation rises as to who may win the new fighter jet deal to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 aircraft.
The Hot and High trials which kicked off last year with Boeings F/A-18 are taking place in Bangalore, over Jaisalmer in the Rajasthan desert under hot weather conditions and in the Leh area of Ladakh – Ladakh meaning “land of high passes” – for high altitude testings.
After having to wait patiently for our turn, finally February sees Eurofighter Typhoon in the hot seat, with the opportunity to put our highly advanced and robust capabilities to the test.
The trials will be heavily supported by the German Air Force, who will provide both the aircraft and appropriate air and ground crews. Two aircraft set off from Rostock/Laage on Monday destined for Bangalore. Eurofighter is excited to be participating in the trials and with a proven hot weather customer, Saudi Arabia, already in service, now is as good a time as any to shine under the Indian sun.
We will make sure to keep you updated with the Typhoon’s progress in India!
Feb 18
BAE Systems has completed the initial flight test of a new real-time persistent surveillance capability for U.S. combat forces to detect, locate, track and monitor events on battlefields and in urban areas — providing significantly greater video coverage over current airborne capabilities.
The first flight tests of the Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System, or ARGUS-IS, occurred aboard a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The tests demonstrated the system’s multiple video windows for persistent area surveillance and tracking capabilities for vehicles and dismounted soldiers.
The airborne processing system can simultaneously and continuously detect and track the presence and motion of thousands of small or large targets over an area covering tens of square miles. BAE Systems designed and produced the system’s sensor and processor.
“ARGUS-IS will significantly advance the Army’s capability to protect its troops through improved search and surveillance capabilities,” said Dr. John Antoniades, ARGUS program manager and director of remote sensing technology for BAE Systems.
BAE Systems equipment aboard ARGUS-IS consists of a high-resolution, extreme wide-area, real-time video sensor; an on-board processing system; and ground processing for interactive multi-target designation, tracking, and exploitation.
“The ARGUS-IS system overcomes the fundamental limitations of current airborne surveillance systems,” said Dr. Steven Wein, director of optical sensor systems at BAE Systems. “Very high-resolution imaging systems required for vehicle and dismount tracking typically have a ‘soda-straw’ view that is too small for persistent coverage. Existing wide-area systems have either inadequate resolution or require multiple passes or revisits to get updates.”
Feb 17
Three of the five people who died when a small plane broke apart and tore through a snowy field next to a runway were members of a family visiting from Poland, police said Tuesday.
The victims included 38-year-old Andrzej Zajaczkowski of Warsaw, his 14-year-old son, Patryk, and his 6-year-old nephew, Filip Zajaczkowski, Wall Township police said.
The three were family friends of the plane’s owner, 45-year-old Jacek Mazurek, of Kearny. He was killed in the crash along with the pilot, 46-year-old Wojciech G. Nykaza, of Lodi.
The 6-year-old’s parents were at the Monmouth Executive Airport when the plane went down just before 4 p.m. Monday, but they did not see the crash, police Capt. Timothy Clayton said.
A National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that it could be more than a year before the cause of the crash is determined.
The twin-engine Cessna 337 had taken off and then circled Monmouth Executive Airport when a piece of the plane fell on the runway, investigator Jose Obregon said. Debris scattered more than 200 feet.
On Tuesday, investigators were measuring where debris fell and inspecting the mangled fuselage as snow fell on the airport. Obregon said pieces would later be taken to an indoor facility where the plane could be taken apart.
While the aircraft did not have a black box data recorder, Obregon said it’s possible that some equipment may have retained data that would offer clues as to why the crash happened.
Obregon said the plane was likely in the air no more than 7 or 8 minutes and would not have reached an altitude of much more than 1,000 feet.
Officials aren’t sure whether the pilot was trying to land or the crash occurred as the plane passed near the runway.
Feb 16
The United States Air Force (USAF) unveiled a raft of fighter, strike, transport, special mission and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development programmes in a 30-year plan released in February.
The proposals were included within the US Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Aircraft Investment Plan covering the period between FY11-FY40 that it submitted for the first time in February as part of the FY11 budget request.
Under the plan, USAF expects to allocate funding to initiate the development of replacements for both the Lockheed Martin F-22 multirole fighter and C-5 Galaxy strategic transport aircraft by Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.
According to the document, a “successor aircraft [for the F-22] would be needed by about 2025″, with accompanying charts suggesting that funding will be allocated within the USAF budget for the programme, nominally identified as ‘F-X’ in the document, by FY20. By FY40 the DoD expects the recapitalisation of the fifth generation to be underway.
A process to determine exactly what capabilities will be required from the future fighter fleet has already begun with the plan stating that “it is anticipated that a family of systems – mixes of manned and unmanned aircraft, with varying stealth characteristics and advanced stand-off weapons – will shape the future fighter/attack inventory”.
In the meantime the air force expects to spend USD1.9 billion over the next 10 years upgrading the F-22 in order to ensure the type remains the “premier air-to-air fighter aircraft”, while procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is expected to reach its peak production rate for the air force of 80 aircraft per year in FY16. By that time the US Navy (USN) and US Marine Corps (USMC) would be funding an additional 45 aircraft a year.
Feb 14
A knife was found in the toilet of a Kingfisher aircraft when it was being readied for service to Colombo at the airport here on Sunday.
The unusual discovery triggered a security scare as the airport was already on high alert following the blasts at Pune.
‘‘The discovery points to a possible security lapse at Delhi airport because the flight had originated in Delhi in the morning,’’ said a senior official of the Airports Authority of India.
Cleaning staffs found the knife stashed away inside the toilet of aircraft at 12.30 pm.
Feb 09
The Boeing 747-8 Freighter successfully had its first flight February 9 Monday from Paine Field in Everett, Seattle, Washington, at 12:39 p.m. PST, marking the start of a flight-test program scheduled to last until near the end of this year. The first of three 747-8 prototypes built for the program took off some two and a half hours later than originally planned due to a low cloud ceiling over Paine Field this morning. Plans called for a three- to four-hour test mission, during which program chief pilot Mike Feuerstein and senior test engineer Tom Imrich expect to perform basic handling and engine performance testing, according to a Boeing spokesman on the scene.
Originally planning to deliver the first freighter by the end of last year, Boeing’s 747-8 program team struggled through a series of delays related to production problems, a shift in resources to a troubled 787 program and what Boeing CEO James McNerney described as a lack of engineering maturity. Boeing now plans to deliver the first 747-8F to launch customer Cargolux some time near the end of this year and the first passenger version to Lufthansa in the fourth quarter of next year.
Feb 05
The new version of the 747 ‘Jumbo jet’, the 747-8 Freighter is set to make first flight on Monday February 8th. The 747-8 Freighter could take off from Everett’s Paine Field, Washington, USA at 10 a.m., if the preflight tests go well. It is also subject to weather condition and final Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance.
Boeing’s updated jumbo jet features a new wing design and improved engines. The company says its 747-8 will be about 16 percent more fuel efficient than the 747-400s currently in service.
The company will introduce the cargo version of its 747-8 before the passenger plane debuts. Boeing has won 76 orders for its 747-8 Freighter and orders for 32 of the 747-8 passenger plane, dubbed the Intercontinental. The passenger plane can be configured for up to 467 passengers, 51 more than the 747-400.
Boeing will Web cast live the first flight of its 747-8 on its Web site: www.747-8firstflight.com.
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