A Gulfstream G650 set a city-pair speed record last month on a flight between Shanghai and Newark, N.J., flying the 6,855-nm route in 13 hours and 32 minutes, the Savannah, Ga.-based aircraft manufacturer announced yesterday. The jet took off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on April 18 carrying five passengers and four crewmembers. ATC restrictions kept the G650 below FL310 for the first hour before it was cleared to climb to its normal cruising altitude of FL410 to FL510.
Aerodynamics
May 9, 2013 - 3:25pm
In a Service Bulletin issued May 3, winglet manufacturer Aviation Partners (API) instructed operators with winglet-equipped 800-series Hawkers modified by STC#ST01411SE to reduce maximum permissible altitude to 34,000 feet. “Several instances of aileron/wing oscillations have been reported on the Hawker 800 [series],” the company said. “Aviation Partners and the FAA consider this Service Bulletin to be a safety-related limitation until a design change to preclude the oscillations is developed and FAA approved.”
April 30, 2013 - 3:45pm
To mark Learjet’s 50th anniversary, artist Princess Tarinan von Anhalt is using the engine thrust from a Bombardier Flexjet Learjet 40XR, in lieu of a paintbrush, to create new masterpieces today and tomorrow at Signature Flight Support in West Palm Beach, Fla. To create her latest artwork, von Anhalt is hurling paint into the engine exhaust–a force of approximately 3.5 tons–while standing 50 feet between the aircraft and the canvas.
April 22, 2013 - 2:58pm
Loss of control in flight related to the inability to recognize an upset and controlled flight into terrain remain the primary causes of accidents involving transport aircraft.
April 1, 2013 - 12:30am
Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Göttingen may have discovered a way to make helicopters more maneuverable, by reducing the dynamic load on the rotor head control rods.
During rapid forward flight or maneuvering, airflow stalls on the main rotor blade as it retreats (moves backwards), giving rise to a “dynamic stall” and subjecting the rotor head control rods to formidable dynamic loads.
March 20, 2013 - 1:50pm
The FAA is adopting an airworthiness directive (AD) for the Cessna 750 Citation X prompted by reports of loss of displayed airspeed.
March 13, 2013 - 1:20pm
TAG Aviation can now help its aircraft maintenance clients benefit from a supplemental type certificate that the European Aviation Safety Agency has granted for installation of high-Mach blended winglets for the Falcon 2000/2000EX and 900. TAG installs the winglets, made by Aviation Partners, at its Geneva Airport facility.
March 6, 2013 - 12:00pm
The NTSB is faulting the pilot of a Bell 206 that crashed into New York’s East River in 2011, killing three of the four passengers after it experienced an apparent loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE).
March 4, 2013 - 2:35am
If your engine or engines suddenly quit, could you glide safely to the end of a runway? If that does happen, an iPad/iPhone app called Xavion can help point the way to a safe landing in any weather.
Xavion is the latest product from X-Plane simulator developer Austin Meyer’s Laminar Research. The company tested Xavion extensively on X-Plane and used the simulations to hone the program’s algorithms. A side benefit is that you can run Xavion on X-Plane to practice before trying it in a real airplane.
February 21, 2013 - 3:15pm
Aerion has started its next round of high-speed test flights, in conjunction with NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, to validate the laminar-flow wing for its supersonic business jet. These tests, using a test article mounted under the centerline of NASA’s F-15B research aircraft and flown at speeds up to Mach 2.0, are intended to measure the real-world robustness of supersonic natural laminar flow. Information from these tests will help define manufacturing standards for surface quality and assembly tolerances of the proposed SSBJ’s laminar-flow wing.
