General Electric is joining with NASA to revive studies of its long-abandoned GE36 unducted fan, or “open rotor” and is simultaneously launching a next-generation CF34 technology effort as part of a pressing drive to develop families of fuel-saving engines.
In April, Southwest Airlines was caught in a maintenance mess when the FAA proposed a $10.2-million fine for flying airplanes that did not comply with an airworthiness directive. While the agency’s enforcement policies continue to generate concern in Congress, last month’s traffic numbers indicate the issue is settled among passengers. Southwest reports it flew 6.3 billion revenue passenger miles in April—a 5.7% increase compared with a year earlier. Load factor was 72.6%—up slightly from 72.3% in April 2007.
Carl Weimer, technical manager for Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, for his work on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (Calipso) mission, which is dedicated to studying the impact that clouds and aerosols have on the Earth’s climate. He is credited with leading development of the satellite payload, and continues to support the mission as additional scientific rewards are realized.
Era Corp., a small, innovative air navigation technology company that helps airports and ATC organizations modernize air traffic surveillance, caught the interest of SRA International, which is branching out from its mission of supplying information technology to the U.S. government.
Another bill the White House has threatened to veto has stalled in the Senate. Failure to bring the FAA reauthorization bill up for a vote means Congress will have to pass another extension for the agency. FAA fee-collecting authority, which expired at the start of Fiscal 2008, on Oct. 1, 2007, has been extended four times; the latest extension ends June 30. Republicans balked at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan to pass the long-delayed bill loaded with non-aviation matters. Sen.
General Electric is in the midst of the largest commercial engine production build-up in its history as it meets spiraling demand across the board that by 2010 will be close to hitting the 3,000-engines-per-year mark, more than double that of 2005. These figures do not even fully include the continuing sales success of the CFM56, produced by the GE/Snecma CFM International partnership. Nearly 1,360 CFM56 engines are expected to be produced in 2008, all the cores of which are made by GE at the rate of up to one every 4 hr.
The Air Traffic Service Authority of Bulgaria is operating a new unified air traffic control system provided by Selex Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica company. The system covers all of Bulgaria, unifying two formerly independent regions, and includes Sofia, Varna and part of the Black Sea. The system will improve coordination between civil and military air traffic controllers, according to Selex.
Boeing recorded six 777 orders for the week ending May 6: two for Asiana Airlines and four for El Al Israel Airlines. The company’s 737 ledger also grew with six orders from Oman Air, and 20 that are unidentified on Boeing’s web site.
Telephonics Corp. Recently demonstrated its NetCom-V networked intercommunications system to the U.S. Army and Marine Corps at an Army Expedited Modernization Initiative Procedure at Ft. Eustis, Va. Telephonics makes networked, digital intercom systems for U.S. military rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, and this equipment was on a UH-1 helo in the exercise. But the company also showed how a system developed for land vehicles could work in a Humvee or an Army watercraft used to transport trucks and other vehicles.
Alan H. Epstein has spent a lot of time thinking about innovative propulsion systems for aircraft. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was director of the Gas Turbine Laboratory in addition to serving as R.C. MacLaurin Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He currently is leading Pratt & Whitney’s efforts to identify and evaluate new methods and technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce noise and combustion emissions for all of its new engines. In a recent interview with Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-in-Chief Anthony L.
Boeing reports a 50% improvement in the cooldown period for weight-saving carbon brakes as an option for its 737NG family as it moves toward certification of the Messier-Bugatti equipment in June and a service entry with Delta Air Lines in the third quarter.
NASA-funded researchers have pulled together real-time data on solar activity delivered by Earth-orbiting satellites and are using the Google Earth interface to produce an intuitive global electron-density map that can provide air traffic and spacecraft controllers with forecasts of ionospheric conditions that could affect radio-frequency communications.
Sukhoi has received approval to continue final ground preparations for the first flight of the Superjet 100 regional jet after May 15. Taxi tests and first flight will take place at the final assembly site in Komsomolsk.
The tri-agency committee that oversees the civil/military U.S. National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) has agreed to restore the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) to the first Npoess spacecraft. TSIS and several other climate-related sensors were dropped from Npoess in 2006 as a cost-cutting measure after the program breached federal spending caps. TSIS will measure the total amount of solar energy coming into the Earth’s atmosphere, which plays a key role in climate change.
Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) will build 18 new satellites for Orbcomm Inc., under a new contract worth at least $117 million that also includes an option to buy as many as 30 more satellites to upgrade Orbcomm’s constellation. SNC has lined up a team that includes Boeing Intelligence & Security Systems, ITT Space Systems and SNC subsidiary MicroSat Systems.
The U.S. Navy has stopped work on its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle to allow the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review claims from losing bidder Lockheed Martin, which says the contract was awarded unfairly to Northrop Grumman. A stop-work order is mandated by federal acquisition regulations after a protest is filed on a contract award.
Diamond Aircraft has selected Mecaer to supply the nose and main landing gear for its D-Jet personal jet. The Montreal-based company will be responsible for design, manufacture, testing and support of the all-electric, trailing-link gear.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force has deployed a fifth KC-135 tanker to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. RSAF also has sent C-130 transports to the Persian Gulf region.
Russia’s cargo carrier Volga-Dnepr has joined a working group to assess the potential of creating an air cargo hub at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport. The group includes Cuba’s flag carrier Cubana de Aviacion and cargo operator AeroVaradero.
Austrian Airlines is edging toward a major strategy shift following last week’s tumultuous shareholder meeting and ongoing uncertainty about attracting a major investor. CEO Alfred Oetsch for the first time admitted that “a stand-alone solution is not sustainable” for the company without Sheikh Mohammed bin Issa al-Jaber’s investing €150 million ($231 million) in return for 20% equity.
Gene Kranz, the NASA flight director who led the heroic effort to bring the crew of Apollo 13 home alive, says the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 continues to afflict the U.S. space program. “The Challenger accident set us back where we no longer could support the [Defense Dept.], we no longer could deploy the satellites, we became our own customer,” he tells the Senate space subcommittee. “We started to run from the risks of our business and we started to cede the high ground.” That effect continues to be felt, to the detriment of U.S.
The International Air Transport Assn. reports the global accident rate in 2007 was 0.75 hull losses for every million flights by Western-built jet aircraft—slightly higher than the 0.65 rate recorded in 2006. This was largely the result of accidents in Africa, Indonesia and Brazil. Fatalities fell 19% to 692 from 855 even as passenger numbers increased 6% to more than 2.2 billion in 2007. There were 57 jet and 43 turboprop accidents last year, compared to a total of 77 in 2006.
Croatia Airlines has chosen Lufthansa Technik (LT) to support components used in the carrier’s fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s. The airplanes will be serviced at the airline’s base at Zagreb, but component repairs will be done at LT’s facilities in Hamburg, Germany. The carrier operates four Q400s, and plans call for adding another two this year.
The next two years will determine whether a single aircraft can replace U.S. Air Force C-130 tactical transports and airlift U.S. Army combat vehicles directly to the fight. The services are working together following the high-level decision to merge their requirements into the Joint Future Theater Lift (JFTL) concept.
