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Week ending August 10, 1997
+++ Successful first flight for Airbus A330-200 +++ UK to join partners in RFP for FLA transport +++ New Crew on Mir to repair space station +++ Lufthansa privatisation: banks named +++ Eurocopter cleared for US Government business again +++ Crista-Spas investigates ozone layer +++ MAKS 97 show will see 328 exhibitors +++ News in brief +++
Successful first flight for Airbus A330-200
Airbus A330-200 absolviert Erstflug
On August 13, the new Airbus A330-200 large twinjet took of for the first time at Toulouse. The maiden flight under the command of chief test pilot William Wainwright lasted four hours and ten minutes. On board were test pilot Bernd Schäfer and flight test engineers Jacky Joyce, Robert Lignee and Jean-Marie Mathios. "We have opened the whole envelope from minimum to maximum speeds and have checked passenger comfort factors like vibration and noise", Wainwright explained after the mission.The first A330-200 is powered by two General Electric CF6-80E1 engines. Aircraft with Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce Trent powerplant will follow in December and march 1998, respectively. In total, 630 test hours are planned over the next 16 months. First certification (GE powerplant) is scheduled for March next year.
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UK to join partners in RFP for FLA transport
Großbritannien zur Beteiligung an FLA bereit
New UK Secretary of Defence George Robertson has announced that his Government is prepared to join the other European partners in the issue of a Request for Proposals for FLA, to get so called pe-launch activities for the military airlifter under way by the autumn. To "maintain competitive pressure", the defence ministry will in parallel seek bids from other manufacturers to fill its airlift requirements. He encouraged the other nations to do the same, reiterating the UK view that it will not buy European at any price. "Best estimate" for UK demand for FLA to complement its C-130Js ordered from Lockheed is said to be 40 to 50 machines. In total, European requirements could be close to 300 FLAs. FLA development is handled by Airbus Military Company at Toulouse, which will propose firm specifications, delivery dates and prices for a programme that is planned to run along "commercial" business practices.Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite
New Crew on Mir to repair space station
Die neue Mir-Mannschaft repariert die Schäden an der Raumstation
A new crew with Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov headed towards Mir on Tusday August 5th after a routine launch at the Baikonur spaceport, Kazachstan, and docked to the crippled Russian station on Thursday 7th. Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin will return to Earth with their Soyuz capsule on August 14th.
American astronaut Michale Foale will stay onboard Mir until September 19th when NASA shuttle Atlantis will dock on Mir and then take him home. The new crew will also investigate other damages to the space station that have not been identified yet. Meanwhile the cause for the collision with the Progress capsule on June 25th is still further evaluated.
For years the Russian Mir crews were used to dock and undock Soyuz and Progress capsules to the station. New crews always arrived at the docking end of the main module, while the Soyuz capsule of the current crew was normally docked to the other end of the station. When the current crew had left the station the new Soyuz capsule was normally docked to the end of the station for safety reasons. As there are only two docking ports available for capsules, Progress spaceships used to fly behind the station when two Soyuz were docked to Mir. After the second Soyz had left the station the Progress would be docked to Mir and used for storage as well as supplies.
This procedure remained unchanged but was influenced by malfunctions of the automatic docking system that was produced in the Ukraine. Obeservers tell that the hard currency needed for repair and overhaul as well as spares for this system is not available the crews now have to dock manually, the Soyuz as well as the Progress. That maneuver had to be trained so Mir Commander Tsibliev undocked the Progress on June 25th and let it fly ahead of the station. Eventually the docking procedure was set in action and the capsule headed for the space station. But its approach speed was much higher than usually, 3 m/s instead of 10 cm/s. When Tsibliev noticed this high speed could not be reduced and the capsule could not be turned around for firing the main engines to keep it off the station in time, he tried to let the capsule fly under the station.
The capsule then hit one solar generator of the Spektr module at its outer end only to continue a total unstable flight. It bounced into the generator again and hit the Spektr module as well as other parts of the station. Some aerials of the main module seem to be missing since then.
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Lufthansa privatisation: banks named
Bankenkonsortium für Lufthansa-Privatisierung steht
On August 13, the German Ministry of Transport has officially confirmed the members of the banking consortium that will manage the full privatisation on Lufthansa in the autumn. Under the leadership of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and SBC Warburg, a total of 23 institutions are involved, both national and international. Among them are Deutsche Morgan Greenfell, DG Bank and Merrill Lynch as "co-lead managers", as well as Morgan Stanley, ABN/AMRO/Rothschild, NatWest, Paribas, BHF Bank, Südwest LB West LB, Bayerische Landesbank and Commerzbank.Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite
Eurocopter cleared for US Government business again
Eurocopter darf wieder Geschäfte mit US-Regierung machen
American Eurocopter Corporation was restored to full eligibility for award of US government contracts and subcontracts on August 6. This came in a decision of the Defense Logistics Agency, which in March had proposed a debarment. Earlier in the year, former Eurocopter president David O. Smith was acquitted of all federal charges relating to illegal exports to Israel.Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite
Crista-Spas investigates ozone layer
Crista-Spas untersucht Ozonschicht
On August 7th US Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with the German satellite Crista-Spas onboard (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometer and Telescope for Atmospheric research/Shuttle Pallet Satellite). Just one day later astronaut Jan Davis hoisted the satellite out of the cargo bay for its nine day flight. This is the second flight of Crista-Spas after a 1994 mission. Landing of the Discovery is scheduled for August 18th at the Kennedy Space Center. German scientists of the Wuppertal University have developed the unique Crista telescope as a government paid program, managed by the German space agency DARA.
It allows three-dimensional high resolution measurement of trace gas distributions in the Earth's atmosphere. The telescope orbits our planet at a distance of 300 km and scans the atmosphere layer by layer in 2 kilometer altitude steps and in horizonztal sections of 650 km x 200 km at altitudes between 7 and 150 km.
At Crista's first missions it detected an ozone rich "Streamer" in 25 km altitude, reaching from Mexico to Northern Europe. With the current mission the scientists want to find out more details about the origins and frequency of these "Streamers". Second objective is the investigation of the Ozone hole over the Antartic region.
As the Crista operations center at the Kennedy Space Center is connected to the GOME center of the German aerospace research instiute DLR, the online results of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) flying on the European ERS-2 satellite can be used to have Crista monitor certain regions, where GOME has identified irregularities. GOME data are also used to validate the Crista measurements. More information on the GOME program can b found under: http://www.dfd.dlr.de/info/AUC/news.html
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MAKS 97 show will see 328 exhibitors
Luftfahrtschau in Moskau mit über 300 Ausstellern
Over 328 leading aerospace firms from 24 countries of the world will participate in the third International Aerospace Show "MAKS-97," outside Moscow at the Zhukovski airport, belonging to the Gromov Aviation Research Institute. The airshow will be held from August 18 to 24, Russian deputy prime minister, minister of economics and chairman of the aerospace show's organizing committee Yakov Urinson told a press conference. According to Urinson, 250 enterprises and organizations of the aerospace complex will take part in the show on behalf of Russia. They will include major scientific research institutes, designing bureaus, plants and the entire cream of the Russian aviation and space industry." Among foreign participants in the show will be Boeing, Rolls Royce, the European concern Airbus Industrie and other well-known enterprises.Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite
NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN
Early in the morning of August 8, the Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH LZ N07 airship has left its assembly hangar at the Friedrichshafen (Lake Constance) fairgrounds for the first time. It will now conduct various ground tests. First flight is predicted for the end of the month.+++
As reported last week, Dasa has won the comptetition to upgrade Greek air force F-4 Phantoms. The contract for the modernisation of 39 aircraft was signed on August 11 at Athens. According to Dasa, it will secure a few hundred jobs until the year 2000. Under Dasa systems integration leadership, Greek industry will be involved in the programme as well as Huhges Radar Systems and Elbit of Israel.
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The German Ministry of Transport has said that it sees no chances for a claim by Birgenair on damages relating to the 757 crash off the Domenican Republic in February 1996. The ministry is convinced that all press statements it made in this connection were factually correct.
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The German defence ministry has now confirmed that the three old VFW 614 executive jets will be retired in spring next year. As budget problems prevent the acquisition of new equipment (two additional used Canadair Challengers were under discussion), the Flugbereitschaft at Cologne airport will thus loose part of its capacity to cater for Government and parliamentary officials. Other changes at the Flugbereitschaft will come later, like the retirement of the last two 707s as soon as the A310s are modified for freighter usage.
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Lufthansa and Finnair will end their regional co-operation agreement signed in 1991. This will allow the German carrier to forge ahead with far-reaching alliance plans with SAS.
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As the first German air force unit, Jagdbombergeschwader 31 "Boelke" at Nörvenich has racked up 100000 flying hours with the Panavia Tornado. The fighter-bomber was put into service in 1983.
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Previous updates are still available:
Die News der letzten Wochen ist nach wie vor abrufbar:
August 3, 1997
July 27, 1997
July 13, 1997
July 6, 1997
June 29, 1997
June 22, 1997
June 15, 1997
June 8, 1997
June 1, 1997
May 25, 1997
May 18, 1997
May 11, 1997
May 4, 1997
January to March 1997
September to December 1996
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Last updated August 13, 1997
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