The U.S. military grounded its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters after a routine engine inspection revealed a cracked turbine blade in an F-35A based at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The precautionary flight suspension was announced on February 22, following an inspection earlier in the week. The grounding affects all three variants of the fighter, for a total of 51 aircraft.
Gas turbines
February 13, 2013 - 11:15am
Dean Athans has been named president of the Engine Alliance, succeeding Mary Ellen Jones, who is returning to a senior leadership position at Pratt & Whitney. Athans joins Engine Alliance from the GE Power & Water Aero Derivatives business, where he led the LMS100 power turbine product line since 2010. Before that, Athans spent 25 years at GE Aviation, where he held many technical, operation and commercial leadership roles.
January 14, 2013 - 9:55am
In a widely unexpected move, Embraer has switched partnership alliances from GE to Pratt & Whitney with its choice of the Geared Turbofan to power the next generation of E-Jets. The decision, announced last Tuesday, gives Pratt & Whitney its fifth application for the engine line also known as the PurePower PW1000G, and leaves Boeing as the last of the four major Western airframe manufacturers not to have adopted the design.
January 2, 2013 - 5:10am
Turboprop-engine manufacturers continue to develop technologies in anticipation of future demand for new or derivative regional airliners designed to carry approximately 90 passengers, a step up from contemporary aircraft offering around 70 seats. By January 1, Pratt & Whitney Canada hoped to have completed the first phase of a next-generation regional turboprop (NGRT) demonstration program intended to validate characteristics for a main centrifugal compressor. Meanwhile, U.S.
December 6, 2012 - 4:20pm
HyperMach Aerospace announced a new configuration for its SonicStar supersonic business jet (SSBJ) that it claims will boost the aircraft’s top speed by about 12 percent to Mach 4.5, while increasing range by 500 nm, to 6,500 nm. At its planned high-Mach cruise speed of Mach 4.4 at FL620, the SonicStar would be able to fly from New York to Dubai in only two hours and eight minutes.
November 20, 2012 - 11:30am
HyperMach Aerospace announced a new configuration for its SonicStar supersonic business jet that will boost the aircraft’s top speed by more than 10 percent, to Mach 4.5, while also increasing range to more than 6,500 nm.
October 31, 2012 - 10:50am
Smyrna Air Center, a full-service FBO based at Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport near Nashville, Tenn., is showcasing its new GE H80 engine conversion option here at NBAA’12. While Smyrna (Booth No.
October 31, 2012 - 9:45am
UK-based provider of engine condition monitoring services Jet-Care has introduced three new engine trend programs as part of its gas path analysis (GPA) engine portfolio.
October 30, 2012 - 9:10am
Honeywell is targeting the third quarter of next year for the certification of the HTF7500E turbofan. This is a revised schedule that fits with Embraer’s delay in developing the midlight Legacy 450 and midsize Legacy 500 business jets.
October 1, 2012 - 9:00am
General Electric and Rolls-Royce tie for first place among turbofan manufacturers, each scoring an overall average of 8.0 for the quality of product support they provide their customers. Compared with last year, that score represented an improvement of 5 percent for GE and 1 percent for R-R.
