Bjorn’s Corner: Flight control, Part 2

18 March 2016, ©. Leeham Co: Last week we covered the early days of flight control when the pilot controlled the aircraft’s movable surfaces (called movables; e.g. stabilator, rudder, ailerons, spoilers…) without the involvement of computers. We will… Read More

PW’s Geared Turbo Fan was catalyst for MRJ90 order

March 8, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbo Fan technology was what prompted a used airplane lessor to place its first new airplane order, selecting the Mitsubishi MRJ90 in the process. Jep Thornton is a… Read More

PNAA Conference Day 1: Aerospace Clusters

Feb. 9, 2016: Today is the first of three days of conference meetings organized by the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA), in Lynnwood (WA). We’re providing live reporting throughout the three days. Aerospace clusters are evolving throughout the… Read More

Minuscule demand for Boeing 747-8F

See Scott Hamilton’s new column for Forbes on-line, It’s time for hard questions for Boeing. Subscription Required Introduction One of Boeing’s white tail 747-8Fs. This, and another that has been stored, was painted in the livery of the… Read More

Northrop wins, Boeing/Lockheed lose bomber contract

Oct. 27, 2015: Northrop Grumman, builder of the B-2 bomber in the USAF inventory, was awarded the contract to build the next generation long-range bomber, which is yet to be named. For the moment, we’ll call it the… Read More

Pontifications: 50% of something or 100% of nothing: something to consider at Bombardier

On Sunday, The Seattle Times had a long article about whether the Boeing 787 will ever record a profit. Leeham Co’s Bjorn Fehrm is quoted extensively. Oct. 19, 2015, © Leeham Co. Bombardier is dominating the aerospace news… Read More

A320 FAL “good for US aerospace,” says Airbus

  Sept. 16, 2015, © Leeham Co., Mobile (AL): The opening of the Airbus A320 Final Assembly Line here achieves a major set of goals set by the company 10 years ago for its own strategic purposes, but… Read More

Embraer faces new challenge from MRJ90

Part 2 Sept. 10, 2015, © Leeham Co. Embraer is the dominant producer of commercial aircraft in the 70-125 seat sector, having overtaken Bombardier in the last decade following the development and 2004 introduction of the E-Jet. Bombardier’s CRJ… Read More

Pontifications: the A380, Airbus and Boeing

May 4, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Of all the things we write about, nothing stirs responses and readership than news–of any kind–about the Airbus A380. Last week I wrote about Malaysia Airlines putting a large number of its… Read More

Boeing’s dedicated freighters views an improving market

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm Introduction Feb. 22, 2015: An improving global freight market gives Boeing hope that air cargo demand will support the production of two new main-deck freighters a month for years to… Read More