Transport Canada and European Aviation Safety Agency certification of the Viking Series 400 Twin Otter is scheduled in the next 90 days. Noise testing is complete for land and amphibious versions, and seven airplanes are in various stages of final assembly at the company’s facility in Calgary, Alberta. Work on major subassemblies for the next six aircraft is underway in Victoria, British Columbia. Plans call for manufacturing 12 airplanes in 2010.
Kenneth J. Krieg and Anthony J. Tether have been appointed to the board of directors of Aurora Flight Sciences , Manassas, Va. Krieg heads Samford Global Strategies, McLean, Va., and was undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics from 2005-07. Tether was director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from 2001-09 and is a fellow at the Council on Competitiveness.
BAA’s decision to sell London Gatwick Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners in a £1.51-billion ($2.51-billion) deal is being well received, although airlines argue still more needs to be done. Ferrovial-owned BAA decided last year to sell Gatwick as the U.K. Competition Commission was finalizing a call for the airport operator to divest the facility along with London Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh. The deal, which is scheduled to close in the first week of December, will put Gatwick in the hands of the majority owner of London City Airport.
South Korea is planning to retrofit an active, electronically scanned array radar to its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s, sparking a competition liable to be repeated for a swath of Fighting Falcon operators. The South Korean air force will likely issue a request for proposals in 2010 or early 2011 for an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for its F‑16C/D aircraft. The air force has around 40 Block 32 aircraft and 140 Block 52-standard aircraft.
To counter the downturn in commercial helicopter sales, Eurocopter has launched restructuring plan that aims to shave €200 million ($300 million) in annual costs and streamline operations. However, Eurocopter says it will not crimp on research and development funding, particularly given the growth of new competitors that will be challenging its market dominance. Part of the effort is a reduction of inventories to preserve cash, with employees also being shifted between jobs. Business processes are also being targeted to simplify the company’s activities.
Northrop Grumman said its first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye test aircraft successfully completed its first land-based catapult launch tests, a significant part of evaluation before the aircraft can roll off a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Denmark has deferred a decision on a new fighter until at least 2010, abandoning a plan to make a choice this year among the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Saab Gripen NG. The Danish government also has concluded that the country’s aging F-16s can fly for two years longer than planned, delaying the arrival of replacements until 2018.
Air France and KLM’s revised baggage policy for economy-class passengers will go into effect with tickets issued Nov. 1. One checked bag weighing up to 50 lb. is free of charge, but a second will require a $50 or €50 fee for departures from the U.S. or Europe, respectively. The penalty for overweight checked bags weighing 50-70 lb. will increase to $100 or €100 from $50 or €50. Passengers checking in a third bag at the maximum 50-lb. allowance will be charged $200 or €200.
The drive for innovation should not come at the expense of fundamental research, which frequently provides the wellspring for the ideas in the first place, cautions Mark Lewis, president-elect of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and chairman of the University of Maryland’s Aerospace Engineering Dept.
Avantair took delivery of its 53rd, 54th, and 56th Piaggio P180 Avanti IIs during the show. Meanwhile, Piaggio Aero Industries CEO Alberto Galassi says the Italian turboprop aircraft maker intends to develop a business jet but is in “no rush” to do so. He offers no details on the aircraft’s size or performance. Galassi says Piaggio will deliver 27-30 P180s in 2010, “the same as this year.”
Coming out of a quarter laced with program delays and cost overruns, Boeing Chairman and CEO James McNerney foresees production levels stabilizing next year and an end to the company’s long saga of getting two new airplanes into flight test.
Former space shuttle commander Pam Melroy (see photo) has become director/deputy program manager of the Space Exploration Initiatives Program Office in Houston for the Lockheed Martin Corp. She was NASA branch chief for the astronaut office working on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle.
Paul Clark has been appointed group director for claims, David Bickerton principal surveyor, David Hitchen senior surveyor/associate director and Nigel Soane senior surveyor, all for London Heathrow Airport-based Airclaims .
A high-level political commitment and a new community treaty may finally permit the European Union to jump-start Europe’s sputtering space effort and keep it from being overtaken by emerging rivals.
Rob Parrish has become federal security director for William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. He was acting FSD for Dallas Love Field Airport, Preston Smith Airport in Lubbock, Tex., and several other airports in Texas.
The era of the lone researcher making a major discovery may be past, with most breakthroughs now occurring at the intersections between disciplines. Within aerospace, this is particularly true for unmanned systems and is a driver behind the trend toward interdisciplinary research at universities.
Corporate culture is key to cultivating innovation, and to Raytheon Chairman and CEO William Swanson that means leading from the top. “If I don’t care about innovation, why would people do it? I have to make sure I am passionate about it,” he says. As an engineer leading an engineering-driven company, Swanson could be expected to focus on technology innovation, but that is not sufficient to keep the company competitive, he says. “Most people think of innovation and technology. We need all business functions to understand it happens in all areas.”
European Union emissions allowance (EUA) prices rallied in October, recapturing most of the losses seen the previous month, on the back of positive sentiment in the wider economy and reduced fears of new allowances coming to market.
Differing tacks are being taken by the U.K.’s two research councils involved in the British National Space Center (BNSC) over whether the U.K. should replace it with a space agency.
The European Commission will order only 22 of 28 satellites needed for full operation of the Galileo satellite navigation system, leaving the remaining six to be purchased later. Executives from OHB System, which is bidding for the so-called Full Operating Capability (FOC) spacecraft award with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. against an Astrium/Thales Alenia Space team, say the framework contract for the award will cover all 28 units, which include two spares, but only an initial batch of 22 will be acquired immediately.
Lockheed Martin is proceeding with development and early planning for production of the Medium-Extended Air Defense System (Meads)—which is being jointly developed by the U.S., Germany and Italy—though questions loom about the ability of the three nations to afford the project.
At first glance, it appears that the term “innovation” is used too freely in aerospace—every incremental improvement in a product, process or service is trumpeted as such. Where are the discoveries and breakthroughs that marked the first century of aviation? They are there, is the answer, but not where they once were to be found. Aerospace and defense contractors can no longer afford standing armies of scientists, so they are forging close relationships with universities and acquiring innovative small companies as they cast their net wider for new ideas.
The six-member International Space Station crew is unloading 2.5 tons of supplies from the Progress M-03/35P Russian cargo carrier, which docked with the ISS Oct. 17. The load includes spare parts, propellant and water. The vehicle approached and docked at the Pirs docking compartment nadir port autonomously using the Kurs system, making contact at 9:40 p.m. EDT and locking down about 20 min. later. The Progress launched Oct. 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
