On December 11th 2016, there was an article published on Boeing’s website that says that there was a new contract that involves Boeing and Iran Air. There was a contract that was reached within the terms of the U.S. Government license.
Lufthansa’s Technik has had to hold their final farewell for their overhaul division in Hamburg, Germany. They will be wrapping up their work over the course of the year 2017 to finish up current projects. The finalization of their overhauling division is due to what is said to be “essential accord cost reductions” that have been setting back the company from reaching their further goals. With a large decision taking place and a lot at stake, officials have taken much into consideration over many hours of negotiation but conclude that the division will no longer be able to keep its doors open.
On November 29th 2016, Bill Carey wrote an article for AIN Online talking about how Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract that will upgrade South Korea’s F-16s. This contract as a price tag of over $1 billion foreign military sale (or FMS). This contract will be to upgrade 134 of the F-16s to a “V” configuration. Lockheed Martin plans to complete the upgrade by the year 2025 which the contract was originally awarded to BAE Systems.
There was an article written on Combat Aircraft talking about how the Canadian government is looking for a fighter plane to replace its fleet of CF-188. The new article states:
On November 16th 2016, AviTrader wrote an article about how Alaska Airlines completed its first commercial wood biofuel flight which occur on November 14th 2016. This was considered Alaska Airlines Flight 4 using the Boeing 737-800 that is in its fleet. This Boeing 737-800 flew from Seattle to Tacoma International Airport to Reagan National Airport in Washington DC with just 163 passengers aboard the airplane.
On November 16th 2016, S.L. Fuller wrote an article for Rotor and Wing talking about how the US Navy Sea Hawks join evacuation efforts in New Zealand after there was an earthquake that hit Kalkoura on Monday morning. This earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8.
Bombardier Business Aircraft has announced that the maiden flight of the Global 7000 aircraft program has just been completed. This marks the start of the flight test program for the Bombardier aircraft family. The test flight took a total of two hours and twenty-seven minutes which saw the Global 7000 flight test vehicle take off from the Bombardier’s facility up in Toronto, Canada.
On October 5 2016, Guillaume Lecompte Boinet wrote an article for AIN Online talking about how Safran is working more and more on their research and development on electro aircrafts on the Toulouse site. Toulouse site is considered one of Safran’s newest facilities. This is located right next door to the main factory of Airbus. Both of these sites are located on the Toulouse Blagnac Airport.
The first MRJ Mitsubishi arrived to the United States from its birth place in Japan. Prior upon arrival the aircraft was taken on a three-day stroll through various stops such as Hokkaido, Far East Russia and Alaska where the aircraft was departed. At 1:20 pm on October 17th, the first Mitsubishi Japanese aircraft was tested in the United States. The MRJ departed from the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake to complete a three hour and eighteen-minute-long trip. Despite the MRJs record of two previous failed attempts, the company reported no abnormalities. The previous failures took place on August 27 and 28 where problems in the,” signals generated by sensors monitoring the airplane’s air management systems.” Due to such event the sensors have been replaced and performed regular inspections to avoid events such as these to happen soon.
The first Mitsubishi MRJ flight-test aircraft landing in the U.S. has officially been confirmed. The MRJ landed at Grand Couty International Airport in Moses Lake Washington on Wednesday evening in preparation for the next phase of certification testing. The MRJ originally took off from the Nagoya Airport in Japan on September 26th at 1:28 PM local time and after a brief stop at Hokkaido’s Shin Chitose Airport continued on to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia in the far east. It needed a stop in Alaska for refueling and finally made the last leg all the way down North America’s pacific coast landing at its ultimate destination on Wednesday at 5:44 PM. All in all the trip took about three and a half days despite the initial projection of between four days and a week by a MRJ spokesperson.
The updated Boeing 737 aircraft has been launched into Turkish airlines as of this week of July 28th, 2016. On July 28th, the aircraft traveled from Boeing all the way to Istanbul, passing through Toronto and Keflavik having a flight number labeled as TK6830. Turkish airlines have great experience with Boeing aircrafts since 1999, it has received more than eighty 737NGs. Southwest airlines also have great knowledge of Boeing’s 2000 737’s and 737NG since 1998.
Boeing carries an enormous presence in Morocco and has decided to extend to its neighbors. In recent news the Moroccan Government and Boeing have agreed to create a helping environment to extend the company through local distributors to what is referred to as an “ecosystem”.
Boeing is being awarded by the government to go on a project of building 179 of the 767-based airborne tankers to substitute the ancient Boeing KC-135 fleet for the Air Force. Boeing is being awarded around $2.8 billion for a low rate production contract of the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker. The first two production lots are also being awarded by the government, the first production lot is estimated to be 7 planes and the second lot is estimated to be 12 planes. This includes any necessary spare equipment needed for the aircrafts.
Samsung’s newly released Galaxy Note 7 is having complications sustaining its self in hands of the customers. There has been a reported recall for an approximate 2.5 million devices that have already been distributed all over the world. Most recent issue involving the Galaxy note 7 is being able to turn them on or leave them charging while on a conducting aircraft. This precaution has been released by the (FAA) the US Federal Aviation Administration issuing a “warning not to charge or switch on Note 7 on board aircraft.”
On June 30th 2016, there was a press release by Airbus that talks about Airbus delivering Tibet Airlines their first A330. Tibet Airlines is based out of Lhasa. The A330-200 aircraft is considered the first wide body aircraft that Tibet has received. It has a 242 ton maximum take off weight, or MTOW. The handover was done in Toulouse, France. Due to the take off weight increase, the airline is able to operate in more harsh condition such as environments that require higher altitude airports where aircraft range, performance, and operating costs are crucial.
On June 2 2016, Dominic Perry wrote an article for Flight Global talking about how the European safety regulators have grounded all Airbus Helicopter H225 an AS332 L2 model rotorcraft after there was proof showing that there is a possible gearbox fault problem that could very well be catastrophic.
L-3 Communications has just announced today that their WESCAM division has just received a substantial order to provide MX™-15 electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) imaging systems for installation for a fleet of Airbus H215 twin-engine helicopters as part of a contract from the Finnish Border Guard. The system deliveries which still need to be handed over to Airbus for installations are set to be completed by June of 2017. The H215 helicopters will be used in support of various missions across Finland which will include search and rescues (SAR) and maritime border patrol.
Ethiopian Airlines reported on Wednesday that they have received the first promised A350-900 aircraft as part of an outstanding order from Airbus. This marks a new chapter for the East African carrier who has now left their stamp in the history books as the first African A350 XWB operator. Ethiopian Airline’s first aircraft which is on lease from AerCap arrived on June 29th, 2016 in Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Airlines has ordered a total of 14 Airbus A350 XWBs with twelve of them coming by way of direct order from Airbus. The other two aircrafts are on lease from AerCap.
Esterline Souriau, a connection technology company takes pride in their MIL-DTL-38999 and MIL-DTL-26482 connectors for their outstanding accomplishment of being QPL certified for more than 30 years. While maintaining their avid mass production and distribution from their 12 VAD (Value-added Distributors) they continue to be the top of the line organization of the Class K aluminum, composite, and stainless steel connectors. Souriau connectors concentrate on the connecting production alone, allowing them to keep a smooth paced structure.
The aviation and aerospace battle in Iran has been heating up as Boeing and Airbus go head to head to see who will emerge with the lion’s share of the market. Maghsoud Asadi Samani, the Secretary of Iran's Aviation Companies Association notes that the increasingly heated competition between two of the world’s biggest and premier aircraft manufacturers have brought much difficulties to the sales of aircrafts in Iran. Airbus requires an OFAC license in order to sell any aircrafts to Iran.
