Even as a big fan of the Boeing 787 business model, I had begun to question what I was missing as Boeing management started fumbling. However, after reading Hamilton Sundstrand President David P. Hess’s explanation (AW&ST Apr. 21, p. 41), it started to make sense.
Senators drafting a new NASA authorization bill are considering giving the agency a little more time to finish the International Space Station. Instead of a hard September 2010 deadline for grounding the space shuttle fleet per President Bush’s plan, some lawmakers want to allow the shuttles to keep flying until the 10 remaining flights to the station are completed. Sen. David Vitter (La.), the top Republican on the Senate space subcommittee, says the idea is still in the “discussion” stage.
Poland has become the fourth nation to join the European Space Agency’s Plan for European Cooperating States (PECS) program. The new associate status will allow Poland to participate in ESA science, human spaceflight, navigation, telecoms and technology initiatives for a five-year period. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania are the other PECS members. Polish entities already serve as co-principal investigators on a number of the agency’s science missions and are supplying hardware for several of them, including the Herschel infrared telescope and the ExoMars probe.
USAF’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) tested a Peacekeeper III rocket motor upper stage last week for the Rocket System Launch Program (RSLP). The objective of the test was to determine the effects of age and storage on solid rocket motors.
Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will build the mobile launcher for NASA’s planned Ares I crew launch vehicle under a contract worth as much as $263.7 million. Based on one of the mobile platforms originally built for the Saturn V Moon rocket in the 1960s and currently used for space shuttle launches, the Ares I launcher will stand about 390 ft. tall. Power, communications, conditioned air and water will be provided for the mobile ground facility.
Damon Hylton and James Garzia have been appointed vice presidents of Seabury APG , Tysons Corner, Va. Hylton was senior director of market planning and sales distribution for Hawaiian Airlines, while Garzia was manager of network planning for US Airways.
Cessna Aircraft Co. flew its Citation CJ4 business twinjet for the first time May 5 at Wichita, Kan. Test pilots Dan Morris and Dave Bonifield flew the C4 for more than 2 hr., checking systems operations and handling qualities, and performing a sustained climb to 16,000 ft. Two other CJ4s production prototypes are being built for the certification program, and both are scheduled to fly late this year. The first airplane will be used for avionics and systems work, and the second for FAA function and reliability flights.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh says delays in completing work to Heathrow Terminal 5 “compromised” testing of the site prior to its opening. With hindsight, he says he regrets not postponing the Mar. 27 opening, which resulted in hundreds of canceled flights and baggage chaos. Walsh told the British Parliament’s Transport Committee last week that the airline and BAA, which was responsible for the construction, did discuss postponing the opening.
A biomass-derived replacement for 100LL aviation gasoline has been unveiled by Swift Enterprises, a West Lafayette, Ind.-based company cofounded by Purdue University Prof. John Rusek. Claimed to be cleaner and cheaper, the 100-octane unleaded fuel comprises pure hydrocarbons synthesized from bio feedstocks such as sorghum. Rusek says ground tests in an aircraft engine indicate increased range compared with low-lead avgas, and Swift is negotiating a cooperative agreement with the FAA for more rigorous tests of its fuel.
Within a year, the Army will have a firmer plan of how to proceed with two experimental efforts: building a small satellite for tactical use and building a high-altitude, long-loiter tethered platform for intelligence collection. Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, director of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, says these efforts are driven to provide more access to ground commanders of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and communications capabilities.
Testing of Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan demonstrator will transfer by October to the new flight test center being built by Pratt & Whitney Canada at Mirabel, outside Montreal. GTF flights on P&W’s Boeing 747SP testbed are to begin by July at the company’s test center in Plattsburgh, N.Y., which is set to close in October when operations are transferred to the C$90-million ($89.5-million) Mirabel facility. A second 747SP is being modified to replace P&WC’s Boeing 720 flying testbed in second-quarter 2009.
Pedro Ferraz Pereira has been named director of internal communications for Brazil-based Embraer . He was director of corporate communications for North America and has been succeeded by Christine Manna. Ferraz follows Rosana Silva Aguiar, who is now a human resources executive.
Brian E. George has become deputy director of cost, price and finance in the U.S. Defense Dept. Office of the Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics at the Pentagon and Timothy J. Harp director of acquisition for the deputy assistant secretary for command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and information technology.
IntercooledIn an intercooled engine, air exiting the low-pressure (LP) compressor is cooled before entering the high-pressure (HP) compressor using bypass air scooped into a set of heat exchangers nested around the engine core. The cooled air has lower combustor entry temperatures, thereby lowering flame temperatures which, in turn, reduce NOx emissions. The overall thermodynamic efficiency is also improved because the relative temperature rise in the combustor is bigger for a given turbine entry temperature (TET).
Unmanned aircraft also are having a rough month. USAF crashed another missile-firing MQ-1 Predator that was flying out of Ali (formerly Talil) AB, Iraq, on May 2. Mechanical failure is suspected. In Florida, USAF and police are looking for a Raven UAV that ignored commands and flew off into the Ocala National Forest on May 6.
Various forms of unsteady or pulse detonation combustion in the future could feature turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine concepts that form part of NASA’s ongoing studies into highly reliable, reusable launch systems.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Price T. Bingham (Melbourne, Fla.)
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley’s bright idea of surveying aircraft, including the new KC-45A tanker, as possible platforms for the MP-RTIP radar is only the latest example of Air Force leadership looking for excuses not to support the Joint Stars program (AW&ST Apr. 28, p. 30).
The U.S. Navy’s push for a common data link to network its existing weapons is making friends of rivals. Raytheon and a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team are vying for the U.S. Air Force’s 250-lb. Small-Diameter Bomb II program, designed to kill moving targets. And, part of SDB II’s design will depend upon the weapon’s data link capability. Though Raytheon had decided to use the Rockwell Collins Strike Common Weapon Data Link system in its SDB II offering, the company is actually working closely with Boeing to manage its development.
Hundreds of stakeholders who use the European air traffic system agreed on the objectives of the Sesar master plan outlined at a meeting in Rome. However, there will be many challenges to meet if the new approach is to succeed. Roy McNulty, the chairman of the British Civil Aviation Authority, says the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) program is now in a good news, bad news situation. The master plan provides a clear road map with which to move forward, but “now we have to make it all happen.”
The German military is shopping for nine new single-engine helicopters for its Army Air Corps School at Bueckeburg. The rotorcraft would be used for initial student training before pilots move on to using the EC135. Performance requirements include 3.5 hr. of endurance and speed exceeding 80 kt.
The Transportation Security Administration will have to submit to Congress an assessment of best practices for issuing biometric credentials to airport workers, under a bill introduced by the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called the measure “legislating smart security,” because it will require a comprehensive plan before airports begin using biometric identification for its workers. But, the bill does not require airports to implement the systems.
Samuel Abbate (see photos) has been named vice president-wireless technologies/program manager for the New York wireless program of the Northrop Grumman Corp. , Doug McVicar vice president for the company’s support of the Virginia Information Technology Infrastructure Partnership and Edward Sturms vice president-infrastructure solutions.
Robin Hayes has been appointed executive vice president/chief commercial officer of JetBlue Airways . He was executive vice president-Americas for British Airways.
As Boeing keeps pressing in the political battle over the Air Force’s choice of an EADS/Northrop Grumman to provide its next aerial refueler, it takes solace in congressional support for its C-17 airlifters. The House Armed Services Committee this week is expected to authorize almost $4 billion for 15 more, but officially unrequested, C-17s. The additional aircraft would fill immediate transport and combat-support needs, lawmakers believe. But they may not believe Boeing was wronged in the tanker decision.
