Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber Release DateOctober 25, 2022Comac seems to quietly confirm the MA700 has flownPurchase a...
Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber Release DateApril 4, 2022New photo adds to the mystery of China’s MA700 regional...
Denial of aviation is a weapon that predates the 21st century battlefield. Yet, with the return of war to Europe, it is also aviation’s Achilles’ heel. With it comes a cascading series of immediate and longer term consequences in the skies as commercial and industrial links are quickly broken after decades of cultivation following the fall of the Soviet Union.
DHC and Pratt & Whitney Canada are preparing to heavily modify a retired Dash 8-100 turboprop that will see half of its traditional propulsion replaced with a hybrid design. For the project, Pratt is designing a “new small engine” for sipping fuel at altitude. The 39-seat aircraft will have 20 to 24 battery packs to drive a 1 megawatt electric motor working in tandem with the new engine, providing the necessary horsepower when it’s needed most — at takeoff and climb.
Yet, over the past week, chatter across a cadre of Chinese aviation watchers and social media postings suggested that the prototype MA700 had made its maiden flight around Sept. 23 or 24 from the the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (Avic) manufacturing plant at Yanliang Air Base in Xian, where China produces many of its military aircraft. The new April 2021 footage was the first public appearance of any MA700 progress since March 2020 when Avic and Xian rolled-out the first static test airframe. Chinese state media had reported in early 2020 that MA700 was slated to fly before the end of that year.
In an extended interview, Arjan Meijer, Embraer's new Commercial Aviation CEO sat down with The Air Current to discuss what it wants in a partner and its path to a new turboprop.
With receding regional aviation competitors, Embraer studies a return to a market that hasn’t had the choice of an all-new product in decades. Unique quirks of the turboprop market and Embraer technology planning will pressure E3 market potential. Big leaps in efficiency of single-aisle jets compresses the list of small markets that need a big turboprop.
Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber Release DateSeptember 9, 2019Newcomers De Havilland and Mitsubishi find themselves dwarfed by their...
