Lockheed Martin has finished upgrading 52 of the Air Force’s biggest plane: the C-5M Super Galaxy. The main element of the upgrade was a new, more powerful engine. The upgrades started in 2001 and are supposed to keep the massive plane in service until the 2040s. Lockheed Martin said earlier this month that the last of 52 upgraded C-5M Super Galaxy cargo planes had been delivered to the Air Force, finishing the nearly two-decade-long modernization of the service’s largest plane. Lockheed began work on the Air Force’s Reliability and Re-engineering Program (RERP) in 2001 and turned over the first operational C-5M Super Galaxy, as the latest version is called, on February 9, 2009. In the 17 years since the RERP effort started, 49 C-5Bs, two C-5Cs, and one C-5A were upgraded, according to a Lockheed release, first cited by Air Force Times. The upgrades extend the aircraft’s service life into the 2040s, the contractor said. caption A C-5M … [Read more...] about After 17 years of upgrades, the Air Force’s biggest plane is ready to stay in the air for decades
Biggest plane
Plane carrying Russian diplomats expelled from US lands in Moscow
MOSCOW: The first plane carrying Russian diplomats expelled from the United States over the poisoning of a former spy arrived at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Sunday. The Il-96 jet brought home 46 Russian diplomats and their family members, the state TASS news agency said. Russian television showed passengers disembarking from the plane while several buses waited to pick them up. A second plane was expected to arrive in the Russian capital later Sunday. In total, 171 people — diplomats and their families — were scheduled to leave the US. Washington joined a score of Britain's allies in expelling Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack against a former double agent, with more than 150 ordered out of the US, EU members, Nato countries and other nations. The US announced it would send home 60 diplomats — which it alleges are "spies" — posted around the country and at the Russian mission to the United Nations, as well as closing Russia's consulate in … [Read more...] about Plane carrying Russian diplomats expelled from US lands in Moscow
Catering staff held for duty-free thefts on planes
Duty-free items stolen from British Airways aircraft at Suvarnabhumi Airport are displayed during a police briefing on Frday. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakan) Eight employees of a food catering firm have been arrested on suspicion of stealing more than 180 duty-free items from perfume to watches from British Airways aircraft at Suvarnabhumi airport. The arrests by airport police followed an investigation into a complaint made last month by an an airline representative. BA said duty-free goods stored for sale to passengers had been found missing from parked BA jets on 12 occasions. LSG Sky Chefs Co is contracted to provide meals for BA passengers and the workers of the catering firm were considered the prime suspects. A subsidiary of the German carrier Lufthansa, LSG is the world's biggest airline caterer. Investigators checked the caterers' working schedules on the days the items were reported missing from the planes and came up with eight suspects, said Pol Maj Gen Thammanoon … [Read more...] about Catering staff held for duty-free thefts on planes
AirAsia clinches deal to sell planes portfolio for $1.2 billion
Reuters AirAsia Bhd is selling up to 182 Airbus jets to firms managed by BBAM Ltd, one of the world’s largest aircraft portfolio managers, in a $1.2 billion deal that will help it cut debt and give it firepower to expand further. With the sale of its leasing operations, Asia’s biggest budget airline is cashing in on a booming leasing sector after ordering hundreds of Airbus planes at bargain prices in recent years to become one of Airbus’ biggest customers. The move, which lifted AirAsia’s shares 5 per cent higher, is part of restructuring efforts that include selling stakes in businesses and revamping associate airlines since the group’s finances came under scrutiny three years ago as amounts owed by its associate firms rose. “Today’s sale is much in line with our stated strategy of disposing non-core assets and businesses, an undertaking which we have successfully executed over the last six months – starting with our training centre, … [Read more...] about AirAsia clinches deal to sell planes portfolio for $1.2 billion
Beijing to New York in 2 hours? Chinese team reveal hypersonic plane ambition
Travelling at seven times the speed of sound, China’s scaled-down I-plane would dramatically reduce intercontinental flight time. Science China Press A Chinese research team has come up with a novel design for an ultra-fast plane they say will be able to take dozens of people and tonnes of cargo from Beijing to New York in about two hours. The plane would travel at hypersonic speed – meaning at more than 6,000km/h (3,700mph), faster than five times the speed of sound – according to the team, which is also involved in China’s top secret hypersonic weapons programme. The speed of sound is about 343 metres per second, or 1,235km/h. “It will take only a couple of hours to travel from Beijing to New York at hypersonic speed,” the researchers led by Cui Kai wrote in a paper this month in Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy, published by Science China Press. At present, it takes a normal passenger jet about 14 hours to fly between the two cities – a … [Read more...] about Beijing to New York in 2 hours? Chinese team reveal hypersonic plane ambition