Just as things were looking up, NextGen faces a budget-driven revamp

There were more than 2,000 exhibitors at last month's Paris air show, and my guess is that at least one-third were involved in metal forming or cutting. And all of these companies depend on “subtractive” manufacturing techniques such as turning, milling and cutting to produce their aerospace parts. It was clear that many senior executives are acutely aware of and talking about the emergence of “additive” manufacturing (AM)—sometimes known as “3-D printing”—as the next major change-and-disruptive technology in aerospace manufacturing.

Making arrivals more efficient has been a key target of air traffic management activities for years. Paris is now introducing a new procedure for Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) that may go a long way toward reaching that target. The Paris area control center (ACC) is preparing to implement a new sequencing procedure for arrivals, called Point Merge. So far it has been in active operation at three smaller airports around the world—this marks the first time it will be used at a major hub.

Bombardier has pushed back first flight of the CSeries once more, from the end of this month, and now says the aircraft will fly “in the coming weeks.” The first flight-test aircraft, FTV1, originally was planned to fly at the end of last year, but this was postponed because of assembly delays. The company says integration of software upgrades and overall systems validation is taking longer than anticipated. The last delay, from late June, was attributed to incorporating additional software upgrades to improve system maturity and functionality.

The NTSB is working to determine why the nose gear on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 collapsed rearward into the fuselage as the aircraft landed on Runway 4 at New York LaGuardia Airport on July 22. Amateur video of the incident shows the lower portion of N753SW's fuselage skidding along the runway for 2,175 ft. amid a shower of sparks before the aircraft exited the right side of runway. The video also captured one of two nose gear tires rolling along pavement adjacent to the runway after the aircraft came to a stop.

Boeing weighs reviving pre-2007 goals for 787 production rate increase

Prospects for abundant and inexpensive natural gas have aircraft manufacturers reassessing the options for future fuels, particularly for the military where both energy security and affordability could trump any desire to reduce emissions by moving away from fossil fuels.

ITEP Turboshaft A new 3,000-shp engine would reduce specific fuel consumption by 25% while increasing power by 50% in helicopters now powered by General Electric T700 turboshafts. A high priority for the U.S. Army, the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) is planned to get underway this year, with the powerplant expected to be available by 2019. Competing demonstrator engines are already running: General Electric's GE3000 and the Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney HPW3000.