FlightSafety International has opened up a helicopter pilot training center in Lafayette, La., within easy reach of the 3,000 pilots who fly the 800 helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico region. Its first three flight-training devices, supplied by Frasca International but augmented with FlightSafety visuals, are for the AS350B2, the Bell 206B/206L and the Bell 407. More will be added to cover the eight most popular types operated in the Gulf.
The civil version of Sikorsky’s S-434, an upgraded version of the Schweizer 333 with the four-bladed main rotor from the Fire Scout UAV, is in flight test having made its maiden hop on Dec. 18, 2008. The aircraft—due to be certificated in 2010—will be delivered to Polish operator Aircom in 2011. Preceding it will be the first military variants of the S-434s which are bound for the Interior Ministry of Saudi Arabia. The nine aircraft will operate alongside S-92s and S-76s ordered in 2007.
Lockheed Martin flew the second short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) F-35B Joint Strike Fighter for the first time on Feb. 25. Aircraft BF-2 will be used from conventional up-and-away flight testing while the first F-35B, aircraft BF-1, conducts powered-lift testing leading up to a first vertical landing in June-July. The first F-35, aircraft AA-1, has returned to flight meanwhile, completing its 70th sortie on Feb. 24, during which the weapons bay doors were opened in flight for the first time.
Health care costs and pensions are top concerns for the 3,900 union members who build F-22, F-16 and F-35 fighters at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Tex., facility. The three-year contract is set to expire Apr. 19, and International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers will “bargain hard for a fair and equitable contract” with the massive defense contractor. In better economic conditions, the union sought job security, affordable health care and a secure retirement.
Rolls-Royce and Bell Helicopter signed a 10-year agreement, valued at up to $400 million, for the supply of Model 250 engines for Bell 206 and 407 helicopters through 2017. Rolls-Royce and Bell Helicopter initiated their partnership in 1961 with the maiden flight of a Rolls turbine-powered variant of the classic Bell 47.
Helicopter makers are steeling themselves for a tough year in spite of surprisingly upbeat market projections and cautious optimism at the Helicopter Assn. International (HAI) annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
AAI Corp. has completed a flight demonstration of the Orbiter small unmanned aircraft at Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. The Textron business unit has teamed with the system’s designer, Israel’s Aeronautics Defense Systems, to market the electrically powered mini-UAV, with plans to manufacture the vehicle in the U.S. alongside its Shadow tactical UAV. The catapult-launched, parachute-recovered Orbiter carries a 3.3-lb. payload and has an endurance of 2-3 hr. at up to 18,000 ft. AAI says it demonstrated the flying-wing UAV’s capability for expeditionary operations.
The Flight Safety Foundation again warns that “prosecutorial overreach” in aviation accidents jeopardizes aviation safety. Specifically, the FSF is criticizing the interference of criminal prosecutors in two ongoing accident probes in which law enforcement authorities seized vital evidence before safety investigators had a chance to examine it. The French authorities have returned some of the evidence in the November 2008 crash involving an Airbus A320 off the coast of France (see p. 36). But Italian authorities have not yet returned evidence related to the Feb.
Boeing and Alenia Aeronautica have terminated all discussion about cooperating on the U.S. C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft. The two companies have been in talks for 2.5 years seeking an industrial partnering agreement. They parted ways last year, only to return to the bargaining table. But this time the separation is final, say representatives for both companies.
China is moving again to prevent rapid growth from endangering aviation safety, with rules that will slow the geographic expansion of China’s smaller airlines and restrict competition, benefiting the struggling larger state carriers. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is imposing tight limits on the number of branch companies an airline can set up and the number that an airport can host. Such subsidiary companies are an important expansion tool for the Chinese industry.
Tied down over the hover pit, doors open and nozzles deployed, the Joint Strike Fighter is entering its most challenging phase of testing. Over the month ahead, Lockheed Martin will fully exercise the propulsion system in powered-lift mode to clear the F-35B to begin short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) flight testing.
The U.S. Air Force is making preparations for the first integrated training center at Eglin AFB, Fla., where Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force pilots and crews will learn to fly and maintain the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
This week, France celebrates the 40th anniversary of Concorde’s maiden flight. On Mar. 2, 1969, despite bad weather, the Franco-British supersonic transport left Toulouse-Blagnac airport for a short, 29-min. inaugural sortie—a highly publicized and symbolic event not just for the aerospace industry but, indeed, for the whole of Europe.
The budget preview released last week included a bombshell for the airline industry buried in the data tables. According to one footnote, the budget “proposes repealing some aviation excise taxes and replacing these taxes with direct user charges.” The Transportation Dept. says more details will be revealed with the administration’s FAA reauthorization proposal, which is being fine-tuned. One potential problem—the House has already introduced its version of the reauthorization bill, and there is nary a mention of user fees.
South Africa is now planning a first air-launched firing of its Denel A-Darter dogfight air-to-air missile in 2010, having previously targeted 2009. A series of ground firings, however, got underway in February.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will be able to shield its planned Dragon space capsule with its own phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) material, following arc-jet tests at NASA’s Ames Research Center. NASA helped the California-based startup develop its ability to manufacture PICA-X, as it calls the material, for use on the vehicle that may wind up providing commercial transportation to and from the International Space Station. In the tests, the material withstood temperatures as high as 3,360F.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore.)
Reducing the requirements document to 43 from 127 pages for the replacement of two VC-25As, used as Air Force One with three unspecified airframes at an estimated cost of well over $1 billion is a good first step (AW&ST Jan. 19, p. 22). The next step should be to eliminate the requirement to replace these pampered Boeing 747-200s. While 30 years might represent the economic life of a hard-working commercial transport, Air Force One aircraft live very different lives. USAF has kept its Boeing KC-135s flying for more than half a century.
Look for the MV-22 to be heading to Afghanistan soon, now that the Marines have successfully rotated Osprey units in Iraq. The Pentagon is exploring when the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor will be sent to Afghanistan, where its ability to both hover and fly quickly point-to-point is ideally suited to support the influx of troops approved by President Barack Obama. But it’s unlikely the Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22—optimized for covert infiltration/exfiltration missions—will soon be heading to the troubled region, where its specialized equipment is in less demand.
The F-35’s ability to win an air-to-air engagement is drawing increased attention as the U.S. military and industry’s focus includes expanding the Joint Strike Fighter’s customer base beyond the core purchasing nations.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Robert Wall (Paris)
With the White House and Congress showing frustration over cost overruns, schedule slips and misdirected spending on major weapons programs, new Pentagon acquisition czar nominee Ashton Carter will have to move swiftly to decide which of them can be saved. Even before the date is set for his confirmation hearing, Carter also must begin generating a plan for reviving in-house, systems engineering skills, a shortage that congressional critics have identified as a major culprit in military acquisition fiascos.
Mar. 9—Aerospace States Assn.’s “Aerospace Agenda for the New Administration.” Cannon House Office Building Budget Committee Hearing Room 210, Washington. Call +1 (703) 533-0947 or see www.aerostates.org Mar. 9-11Speednews’ 23rd Annual Commercial Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference. Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles. See www.speednews.com Mar. 9-1213th Australian International Aerospace Congress. Melbourne Convention Center. Call +61 (39) 645-6311, fax +61 (39) 645-6322 or see www.aiac13.com
The U.S. Air Force recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $299-million contract for the C-5M Super Galaxy Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program (RERP) and a $25-million contract for the airlifter’s Interim Contractor Support (ICS) program. The RERP award funds installation on one aircraft, material and fabrication of three, and long-lead funding for five. Two C-5Ms have already been delivered, and current service plans call for 52 C-5Ms to be delivered by 2016.
The multinational Joint Strike Fighter program is at a critical period—a nexus amid the push to boost production rates, establish training bases and test three variants of the design. And this is taking place under new White House leadership and while program officials, also in a state of transition, are trying to keep costs and schedules stable.
The U.S. Army has purchased three standard commercial Model 407 light helicopters from Bell for conversion into prototypes for the armed configuration to be supplied to Iraq. Awarded “on urgency,” the contract is worth $7 million. The Army’s Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) in Hunstville, Ala., will fit the single-turbine helicopters with the sensors, weapons and survivability equipment specified by Iraq to ensure they meet airworthiness requirements.
