Alexis C. Livanos, vice president of the Northrop Grumman Corp. and president of its Redondo Beach, Calif.-based Space Technology Sector, has been selected as the 2008 recipient of the IS Associates Executive Leadership Award. The award, given annually by the UCLA Anderson School of Management , recognizes senior executives in Southern California who drive information technology within their corporations.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad continues to add new destinations as it grows its fleet. This year, the airline expects to add five Airbus A320s, two A330-200s and one -300, two A340-600s and one Boeing 777 to its operations. On Sept. 2, Etihad plans to begin offering three flights a week to Chicago O’Hare, its second U.S. destination after New York JFK, and aims to make the service daily starting Oct. 1. The route will be operated with 240-seat Airbus A340-500s configured in a three-class layout.
Controllers are driving NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit once more, after a diagnostic test suggested the accelerometers that help the rover determine its orientation on the surface of Mars may be off by about 3 deg. Mission managers ordered the tests when the rover missed the Sun with its camera one day after it failed to respond to its daily driving commands (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 13). Rover engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory continue to believe a cosmic-ray hit probably shut down Spirit’s flash memory temporarily, preventing it from storing the commands.
The Defense Dept. aims to drive a harder bargain with its contractors, and underperformers shouldn’t think they’re entitled to a profit, says Shay Assad, the Pentagon director of defense procurement and acquisition policy. Assad told investors at Cowen and Co.’s Aerospace/Defense conference in New York last week that contractors’ “first obligation is to the shareholder,” conceding “sometimes we lose sight of that.” But the Pentagon wants to better align profit with performance.
David Eshel (Tel Aviv), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
Fighting in the Gaza Strip in December and January revealed widespread improvements in Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations since the flawed 2006 operation in Lebanon. Topping the list was the tighter coordination of air support and ground forces and graduated use of airborne capabilities that allowed air strikes by helicopter gunships to within 100 ft. of friendly troops.
Return visitors to the Experimental Aircraft Assn.’s (EAA) annual fly-in this summer in Oshkosh, Wis., will likely welcome some changes now underway. The association is investing $3-4 million in a variety of infrastructure improvements including new pedestrian-only thoroughfares, larger exhibit areas and relocation of the “Fly Market” to more accessible space. Also, four buildings that house shower facilities are being fitted with flush toilets, “and for many that will be huge,” said EAA representative Dick Knapinski.
Shelley A. Hession has been appointed associate in the aviation group in the Washington office of law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellotts . She was an attorney adviser at the U.S. Transportation Dept.’s Office of Hearings.
Four new science teams are joining the official list of observers for the Lcross lunar-battering-ram experiment. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite is a companion to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that is due for launch in late April. The Northrop Grumman-built Lcross and its Centaur upper stage will be fired from lunar orbit into a polar lunar crater that’s in permanent shadow, in the hope observers on the ground will be able to spot water ice or other volatiles that may lurk there in the resulting debris plume.
Virgin Galactic’s Scaled Composite WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft resumed flight tests at Mojave, Calif. on Feb 5. The flight, which lasted 1.5 hr., comes 47 days after the unconventional aircraft’s maiden flight in late December. Flight testing originally was due to resume in early January and although Scaled Composites does not comment on development programs, it is thought the prolonged break was due to flight control surface modifications aimed at improving directional stability. Initial space tourism flights are planned to start in 2011.
The exact configuration of Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan for its first two in-service applications should emerge this year, as the engine maker completes final design choices and data analysis on an extensive round of flight trials completed last year.
China will move deeper into the Airbus production system with the go-ahead for an advanced composites venture to make A350 parts and another factory that will equip outer wings for the Tianjin A320 assembly line. The development and management arrangements for these and other Airbus facilities show how the European manufacturer is engaged in a wary dance with its Chinese partners—greatly building up its presence in the country while minimizing the transfer of know-how.
Precision Castparts is counting on the planned debut of Boeing’s 787 next year to help offset weakening demand for commercial aircraft. The specialty metals company’s content on each 787 equals that on five narrowbodies, Chairman and CEO Mark Donegan said in an address last week at Cowen and Co.’s annual finance conference in New York. Until recently, Portland, Ore.-based Precision Castparts had been forecasting robust growth in its aerospace sales in 2009.
Before unmanned aerial systems (UAS) begin to share airspace with commercial airliners, the Air Line Pilots Assn. wants design and operational safety requirements imposed on the aircraft. Because UAS can range in size from a small bird to a Boeing 737, they require a “well-trained pilot” at the controls, ALPA Executive Air Safety Chairman Rory Kay said during a media briefing in Washington last week.
Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, is worried about the increasing size of international carrier alliances and their effect on transatlantic competition. So the Minnesota Democrat has introduced legislation that would require a congressional study of Transportation Dept. policies that grant alliances immunity from antitrust regulations. Oberstar says the international market between the U.S.
Airbus has been quietly testing models of a potential A320 replacement, even though a formal program launch is years away. The wind-tunnel efforts signal that, behind the scenes, Airbus is busy advancing the configuration for what it internally calls the A30X. The work parallels engine makers’ activities: They are now stepping up efforts to validate the technologies required to power the next-generation short-haul products for both Airbus and Boeing.
Degradation in the performance of the eight thrusters that have handled attitude control on NASA’s Cassini Saturn probe for the past 11 years has led mission managers to order a switch to the redundant system. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have noticed degraded performance in two of the thrusters beginning in October 2008. After reviewing the system, program engineers will make the switch to the backup “B branch” of eight identical thrusters during a seven-day period in mid-March when no navigation maneuvers are required.
The Alliance for Aviation Across America, a two-year-old coalition dedicated to small and rural communities that depend on general aviation, has signed its 4,000th member: the National Farmers Organization. The coalition was founded by NBAA, AOPA, the National Assn. of State Aviation Officials, Air Care Alliance and the League of Rural Voters, in the hope of winning grassroots support for general aviation in Washington. Its members include the National Grange, American Corn Growers Assn., and the Independent Cattlemen of Texas, among others.
Return visitors to the Experimental Aircraft Assn.’s (EAA) annual fly-in this summer in Oshkosh, Wis., will likely welcome some changes now underway. The association is investing $3-4 million in a variety of infrastructure improvements including new pedestrian-only thoroughfares, larger exhibit areas and relocation of the “Fly Market” to more accessible space. Also, four buildings that house shower facilities are being fitted with flush toilets, “and for many that will be huge,” said EAA representative Dick Knapinski.
Boeing’s list of 787 cancellations is now at 32 aircraft following Dubai-based LCAL’s decision to drop 16 of the 21 aircraft it ordered in May 2005. Earlier, Azerbaijan Airlines swapped out one 787 order and S7 Airlines canceled its order for 15, although officials of the carrier say they still hope to find 787s to lease.
Its name—Orbiting Carbon Observatory—is a science pun on the O-C-O molecular structure of carbon dioxide. But NASA’s newest platform for chronicling climate change is its first serious effort at a global survey of how CO2 is absorbed and released by the Earth’s soils and oceans (see p. 54). Built by Orbital Sciences Corp., OCO is set for launch Feb. 23. Carl Caruso photo for Orbital Sciences Corp.
EADS North America has added five aircraft to its U.S. order for UH-72A Light Utility Helicopters. The program, led by the U.S. Army, also includes an order of five from the U.S. Navy for pilot training. The total U.S. number of helicopters on order is now 128, with an expected buy of up to 345 through 2016.
Regarding the blended-wing body (BWB) and its bureaucratic relation—the hybrid-wing body (AW&ST Feb. 2, pp. 50 & 58)—while technically the BWB is the best approach given today’s technology, it is still a rerun of design decisions of 60 years ago when the Avro Vulcan was being developed to fulfill much the same requirement as the Boeing B-47. That aircraft was the progenitor of the now-conventional “tube and wing” designs. Aeronautical innovation seems to have stagnated in the intervening decades.
With competing engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter achieving crucial milestones, their manufacturers are waiting to learn whether the U.S. Defense Dept. will make another bid this year to cancel the alternative powerplant.
Hoping to win support for F-22 production beyond the current 183 aircraft, Lockheed Martin is revealing proprietary data that show performance in several areas is better than baseline requirements. Moreover, the U.S. Air Force is taking the fighter to the Paris air show for the first time this summer, says Larry Lawson, executive vice president and general manager of the F-22 program. The promise of additional U.S. and, possibly, foreign sales has removed any obstacles.
The NTSB is seeking ways to reverse the escalating accident rate of U.S. helicopter emergency medical service (EMS) operations, which since 2003 have been involved in 85 accidents that killed 77 people. At an NTSB fact-finding hearing last week, the board heard testimony from representatives from EMS-related communities, including pilots and medical personnel, to weigh actions to take to prevent accidents. Of the 19 NTSB recommendations to the FAA in 1978-86, four remain open, including one that would require helicopter terrain awareness and warning systems.
