NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France, 23 Aug. 2011. China International Airlines Co. (Air China) in Beijing has equipped its first 15 long-range Boeing 777-300ER twin-engine jumbo passenger jets to enter revenue service with the Thales In-Flight Entertainment System from Thales Group in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France installed in every seat, Thales officials say. The Thales TopSeries in-flight entertainment system, which has 23-, 15.4-, and 8.9-inch will enable passengers to access a wide range of audio and video on-demand entertainment and information using 23-, 15.4- and 8.9-inch touch screen displays.

NASHUA, N.H., 15 Aug. 2011. Officials from EUROCAE, the European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment, will host a two-hour workshop during Avionics Europe 2012, being held on March 21 and 22 in Munich, Germany. EUROCAE officials involved in the standardization and regulation of airborne and ground systems and equipment intend to deliver detailed analysis of the organization’s current avionics work. 

WASHINGTON, 10 Aug. 2011. NASA officials have selected seven companies to integrate and fly technology payloads on commercial suborbital reusable platforms approaching the boundary of space as part of NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. Each of the seven companies won a two-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity NASA contract—for a combined total of $10 million. The upcoming flights will carry a variety of payloads to help meet the agency's research and technology needs.

WICHITA, Kan., 31 July 2011. Cessna Aircraft Co. officials announced a new iPad app on flight planning for Cessna Citation operators. The iPreFlight app for Apple iPads is available from the Aircraft Performance Group. The new iPad app features real-time graphical weather, METARs and winds aloft, routing, graphical weight and balance, a worldwide database, Runway Analysis Max Payload Estimator (MPE), flight planning, and other features. iPreFlight will also have takeoff and landing performance derived from Cessna's Citation Performance Calculator (CPCalc), part of the CESNAV package.

FORT WORTH, Texas, 30 July 2011. The F-35 flight test program is close to obtaining its year-end milestones. The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 jet program made 107 test flights since June 13, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 518 -- placing the program about 42 flights ahead of where program officials expected to be at this time.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., 27 July 2011. The RQ-4B Block 40 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made its first full system flight with the AN/ZPY-2, the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor aboard. The MP-RTIP-equipped Block 40 Global Hawk from Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) flies at as high as 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours per sortie at speeds near 340 knots.

AKRON, Ohio, 28 July 2011. U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin officials launched their unmanned airship -- the High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator -- for the first time. The aircraft reached an altitude of about 32,000 feet, however, a technical problem prevented the airship from attaining its target altitude of 60,000 feet forcing the HALE-D team to terminate the flight.

VIENNA, Austria, 26 July 2011. BAE Systems officials selected Time-Triggered Protocol (TTP)-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices from TTTech for the flight computers in Embraer's fly-by-wire system for Legacy 450 and 500 business jets. Parker Aerospace supplies the digital fly-by-wire system, which includes elevator, aileron, and rudder actuators; a flight control computer, and remote electronic units. BAE Systems engineers are developing the flight control computer.

OSHKOSH, Wis. 25 July 2011. Engineers at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, released a touch-control primary flight display for operators of business jets and turboprop aircraft. The displays will be available on future versions of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite. Company officials are demonstrating the system at their pavilion near the Rockwell Collins Exhibit Hanger C at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis.

MUNICH, Germany, 11 July 2011. Experts from Rockwell Collins and Thales have joined the Avionics Europe 2012 Advisory Board. Representing Rockwell Collins is O.F. Bleeker, director of research and development for Europe and Marc Gatti, technical director at Thales Systemes Aeroportes represents Thales.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., 9 July 2011. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) latest RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its first production acceptance flight with multiple sensors operating simultaneously from a single platform as part of the operational Block 30 multi-intelligence sensor package.

NEW DELHI, India, 8 July 2011. Officials at Boeing [NYSE: BA] are predicting the market for new passenger aircraft in India to be $150 billion market for 1,320 new airplanes over the next 20 years. They forecast that as the economy aims for double-digit growth, it will stimulate robust demand for new and replacement airplanes.

LINCOLN, Mass., 6 July 2011. Officials at Avidyne Corp. say that they are providing the DFC90 Digital Flight Control System for Entegra-equipped Piper PA-46 Matrix and Mirage aircraft. The DFC90 also is certified for Cirrus SR20 and SR22, with plans to interface the DFC90 with the Aspen EFD1000 series integrated flight displays. Initial certification expected later this year.

SALT LAKE CITY, 1 July 2011. Boeing (NYSE: BA) officials opened a new 787 Dreamliner vertical fin assembly line at the company's production facility in Salt Lake City. Boeing Fabrication runs the site, which will build the vertical fin assemblies for the 787 aircraft built at Boeing South Carolina. Production on the new assembly line is scheduled to start this month.

GUANGZHOU, China, 30 June 2011. Officials at EVA Airways out of Taiwan chose the enhanced Airshow 4200D 3D Moving Map system from Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for 36 of its aircraft fleet, including three new Airbus A330s -- scheduled for first delivery later this year -- and its fleet of 33 Airbus A330-200, Boeing 777-300ER, and Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

EVERETT, Wash., 29 June 2011. Boeing (NYSE: BA) officials have begun testing for function and reliability (F&R) and extended operations (ETOPS) demonstrations on the 787 aircraft, which marks the final phase of 787 flight testing prior to certifying the airplane.

PARIS AIR SHOW BLOG, 24 June 2011. The Paris Air Show opened to the French public today who were fortunate enough to get views of the Airbus A380 in flight -- after a small delay earlier in the week. They also poured into the various exhibition halls with mothers clutching babies while checking out huge jet engines -- not an image you see every day. 

PARIS AIR SHOW BLOG, 24 June 2011. I've seen the Honeywell Primus avionics system many times at trade shows, but yesterday at the Paris Air Show I had my first in-flight demonstration from the right-hand seat of FLIR Systems' Pilatus PC12 turbo-prop aircraft courtesy of the pilot -- Ethan Lewis -- and fellow pilot and FLIR President Bill Sundermeier, who's seat I took. Sundermeier only had one rule for me: "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

PARIS, 21 June 2011. Worldwide fleets of 30-to-120-seat regional passenger jets will nearly double over the next two decades, increasing from 4,225 aircraft in 2010 to 8,060 by 2030, say market analysts at regional aircraft giant Embraer SA in São José dos Campos, Brazil. Embraer released its market predictions Monday at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France. Worldwide demand for new regional passenger jets seating 30 to 120 passengers over the next 20 years should represent 7,225 aircraft worth $320 billion, Embraer analysts say.