German airline Lufthansa has said it plans to suspend flights to Venezuela next month due to the worsening economic situation in the country. The carrier said currency controls in the South American nation had made it impossible for it to convert earnings into dollars and repatriate revenue. Lufthansa added that it hoped to restore services in the near future. The low oil...
FROM the moment you step onto your plane, there are many things that put travellers on edge. Happily, it turns out that a lot of the worries are needless. For starters, don’t worry about somebody opening the door while you’re a mile up in the air. As pilot Patrick Smith explains, even the Hulk can’t open an aeroplane door while the plane is in midflight. “Cabin pres...
A Vueling flight had to be evacuated when an airplane crashed into a tow truck that was guiding it away from the terminal. The Airbus 320 bound for Barcelona was full of passengers when the incident happened on May 28 (local time) at Manchester Airport. It was thought that a pin connecting the tow truck to the plane snapped while the aircraft was still on...
Investigators into EgyptAir's plane crash need at least 12 days to recover its black boxes as they await a ship that can retrieve them from the bottom of the Mediterranean, investigation sources say. Key points: 'Good chance' black boxes recovered in 12 days Black boxes are at a depth of about 3,000 metres No theory is currently favoured as the official cause of the crash...
The Ministry of Defence is poised to hand another major deal to a US company, with a £2bn contract for new Apache helicopters set to be awarded to Boeing. Leonardo, the Italian aerospace manufacturer until recently known as Finmeccanica, had been battling to land the deal, which would have seen the refitted helicopters produced at its base in Yeovil, Somerset, where 3,700 staff are e...
Nicole Kidman is flying high. The Australian Oscar winner stars in a just-released ad campaign by Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates. The commercial, a five-minute 360-degree virtual reality film, showcases the deluxe service and accommodations of the new Airbus A380. It also raises a couple of burning questions. How do you get a falcon on the UAE’s national...
The new business aircraft market continued to fly into troubled skies in 2015, with piston engine aircraft deliveries dropping 6.5%, turboprops down 7.6% and turbofan aircraft shipments flat at 1.6% growth, compared to 2014, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). However, billings were up 2.4%. Notably, business aircraft operators are not parking their older equipment....
One of the drone models used by Russia is to be modified to be used as a kamikaze, Russian media said. Such drones can be used to suppress enemy air defenses or to provide tactical-level air support to units in the field. “A drone which would act similar to a fire ship is being developed now. It detonates after hitting a target,” a defense source told TASS. The project is ba...
The silhouette of one of the British Army’s Apache attack helicopters in the skies over Afghanistan is a reassuring sight for coalition forces on the battlefield. Its ungainly shape projects a menacing power that foes are unlikely to stand up to – if they haven’t already fled at the sound of its approaching rotors. But this symbol of British military power won’t be quite...
Airbus Helicopters has acted to allay concerns over the safety of its Super Puma aircraft after Norwegian investigators declined to rule out a repetition of past gearbox problems being the cause of a crash that killed 11 oil workers and two pilots. Norway's accident investigation authority AIBN said in a preliminary report on Friday that it was examining three possible causes for the April...
The US Air Force’s Chief of Staff, General Mark Welsh, announced the possibility of adding Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-22 aircraft to its fleet at an event hosted by the Air Force Association. The announcement comes at a time when the defense contractor is already focused on the F-35 program. When Lockheed Martin discontinued the program five years ago it was subjected to s...
The second world war plane that crashed into the Hudson river on Friday night has been raised, after the body of its pilot was recovered, authorities said. Rescue divers removed the body of 56-year-old William Gordon, of Key West, Florida, from the river late on Friday. The single-seat P-47 Thunderbolt crashed near the George Washington bridge between New York and New Jersey, according to...
