50 SKY SHADES - World aviation news

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Airbus’ growing A350 XWB Family makes its mark

The A350-1000 will build on the highly-successful commercial service experience with its A350-900 sibling Just over three years since entering commercial service, Airbus’ A350 XWB is flying high – with its A350-900 baseline version becoming an increasingly-common sight at airports around the globe, and the extended-fuselage A350-1000 variant positioned for a smooth start in its own...

New A330-800 rolls-out of paintshop

One step closer to joining the A330neo test fleet The newest member of the A330neo Family, the A330-800, has rolled out of the paintshop, on track for its first flight in mid-2018. The A330-800 is the new generation 250-seater from Airbus’ leading twin-aisle family. With its 242-tonne Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) as the base variant, the A330-800 can operate routes of up to 7,500nm a...

EASA issues single Production Organisation Approval to Airbus Helicopters

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Airbus Helicopters have just implemented a new single Production Organisation Approval (POA). This replaces previous national approvals from France, Germany and Spain by a single, integrated framework allowing for simplified industrial exchanges between Airbus Helicopters’ manufacturing facilities and supporting the company’s industrial st...

Vahana completes First full-scale test flight

Milestone in advancing Urban Air Mobility achieved as Vahana celebrates two years Vahana, the all-electric, self-piloted, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft built by Airbus' innovation outpost in Silicon Valley, A^3, successfully completed its first full-scale flight test, reaching a height of 5 meters (16 feet) before descending safely. The test was completed at 8:52AM Pacific on Januar...

ATR to install a new Full Flight Simulator in Toulouse

ATR, the world’s leading turboprop manufacturer, will add a brand new Full Flight Simulator (FFS) to its Toulouse Training Center. Manufactured by CAE, this new simulator will allow crew members to receive training on the ATR 72-600. Based at ATR headquarters, this simulator will be both EASA and FAA-certified. It will enable ATR to provide its customers and operators with an extended cap...

A partnership for next-generation computational fluid dynamics

Airbus teams up to improve aircraft aerodynamic designs Computational fluid dynamics, or CFD, uses applied mathematics, physics and computational software to help design aerodynamically efficient aircraft. A new partnership with DLR and ONERA – German and French aerospace research centres, respectively – will help keep Airbus at the forefront of this field. CFD modelling is a com...

Airbus Helicopters delivers 1300th helicopter from the H135 family

Airbus Helicopters delivered the 1300th helicopter from the H135-family, a number underlining the multipurpose lightweight twin-engine helicopter’s worldwide success. The global fleet of this type has accumulated a total of more than 4.5 million flight hours since the entry into service of the first helicopter in 1996. More than 300 customers in 60 countries use helicopters from the H135...

Helicopter aviation safety initiatives demonstrate progress in Mexico and India

In 2017, Airbus' helicopter division safety expert, Erick Perez, led a number of safety initiatives in Latin America, all in an effort to improve helicopter flight safety in the region. Meeting with employees from the manufacturer’s customer centres, and at operators’ and authorities’ offices in Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador and...

ATR makes its comeback to the US

ATR announces its first deal of 2018 which sees the introduction of the ATR -600 series in the US, to be operated by Silver Airways. The airline will introduce 20 ATR -600 aircraft into its fleet, of which 16 will be ATR 42-600s and four will be ATR 72-600s. This follows a deal between ATR and Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) for the purchase of 15 ATR -600s, of which 12 will be ATR 42-600s...

Airbus selected by ESA for EGNOS V3 programme

Airbus has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) as the prime contractor to develop EGNOS V3, the next generation of the European Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) planned to provide the aviation community with advanced Safety of Life services and new services to Maritime and Land users.   Developed by ESA on behalf of the European Commission and the European GNSS...

Dassault to Provide Special Event Support Again in 2018

Davos, Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup on this year’s busy agenda Dassault Aviation’s global product support organization will once again offer a full selection of services to assist Falcon operators at major worldwide events in 2018.  Dassault puts a comprehensive range of resources at the disposal of Falcon customers during special cultural and sporting events. In addition...

A350-1000 begins demonstration tour in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific

The A350-1000, the newest member of Airbus’ leading widebody family, has embarked on a three-week demonstration tour to the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region. The demonstration tour follows the completion of a successful flight test campaign, which lasted less than one year and culminated in joint EASA and FAA type certifications, demonstrating the aircraft’s excellent design, per...