Carl Ehrlich wonders why it could be more fuel-efficient to split a long non-stop flight into two legs, despite the efficiency lost in the descent, landing, takeoff and climb at the midpoint (AW&ST Sept. 24, p. 10).
Dean Atchison has acquired Spectrum Aeromed , Wheaton, Minn., and appointed his brother Dr. Scott R. Atchison, as medical director. Dean Atchison is a former bank president/CEO, while Scott Atkinson is an anesthesiologist.
Major U.S. airlines are looking at everything from selling off regional subsidiaries and frequent-flier programs to investing more in non-core units in a search for new revenue streams in an uncertain cost environment. The four majors that released third-quarter financials last week—American, Continental, Delta and Southwest—were successful in increasing profits by fairly wide margins, as well as upping operating revenues, over third-quarter 2006. Delta, for example, hit a new company record for any quarter with its $5.2 billion in operating revenues.
Thales is expanding its worldwide support network and embracing design-for-maintenance strategies as it tries to bolster its position in inflight entertainment and aerospace systems.
The NTSB is shining a spotlight on unmanned aircraft following its investigation of last year’s Predator crash in Arizona, and is calling for the FAA and Homeland Security Dept. to improve pilot training and procedures as they gear up to expand surveillance flights over U.S. borders. The NTSB’s investigation of the April 2006 crash of a Predator B near Nogales, Ariz., while flying a mission for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was the board’s first review of a UAV accident, and has yielded 22 safety recommendations for the FAA and CBP.
Cessna Aircraft Co. says it took orders for 178 airplanes worth more than $1 billion at the recent National Business Aviation Assn. convention in Atlanta. The tally includes 101 Citation business jets. Cessna’s order backlog is worth $11.9 billion.
Similar to integrated avionics systems that include many functions in a single box, the latest infrared camera/laser from Flir Systems Inc. of Wilsonville, Ore., weighs just 16 lb. and has five sensors in one housing. The company is developing this lightweight system for the U.S. Army and displayed a prototype at the service’s annual meeting in Washington this month. The Mission Equipment Package (MEP) has two Flir cameras (with wide and narrow views), an electro-optic sensor, a laser rangefinder and a laser designator—all mounted in a single, 7.25-in.-dia. payload.
Korea Aerospace Industries and Eurocopter will start operating a joint venture in 2010 to market the 8-metric-ton Korean Utility Helicopter. The rotorcraft is being designed by KAI with help from Eurocopter. KAI will hold 51% of the joint venture. Market projection is for 300 potential exports.
The European Aviation Safety Agency and its U.S. counterpart, the FAA, have given type certification to the Dassault Falcon 2000DX business jet. The first customer delivery is planned for early next year, with the aircraft currently at the company’s Little Rock, Ark., completion center.
Charles Pope has been appointed chief financial officer of the Aerosonic Corp. , Clearwater, Fla. He was CFO of Reptron Electronics Inc., SRI/Surgical Express and the UTEK Corp.
During laser firings at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., Boeing demonstrated that its Avenger-mounted laser system can neutralize the kinds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance (UXO) that hinder troops. The tests, which occurred Sept. 26-27, involved the Laser Avenger engaging and destroying five targets representing IED and UXO threats. Equipped with a 1-kw. solid-state laser, the Avenger proved its effectiveness at ranges that allowed the system to be operated at safe distances from targets.
A radar’s performance is impossible to judge with the eye. The new generation of active, electronically scanned array (AESA) sensors can detect small, distant targets with far more detail than a cockpit display can reproduce. Yet, advanced processing of radar returns can reveal those clues with the clarity needed for instantaneous identification of objects that could otherwise baffle aircrews.
Embraer has flown its second pre-production prototype Phenom 100 lightweight jet from facilities at San Jose dos Campos, Brazil. The first prototype has accumulated more than 55 hr. in the air since its maiden flight in July. Plans call for two additional jets to join the test program, leading to certification and entry into service in 2008. The Phenom 100 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F engines, each rated at 1,615 lb. static thrust.
French air force commanders want to ensure threatened cutbacks in hardware procurement won’t impact the country’s already diminished ability to contribute to allied out-of-theater actions, just as France is contemplating a full reintegration into the Atlantic Alliance.
One of El Al’s Boeing 777s lands at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Tel Aviv-New York route is strategically vital for El Al, which is facing increasing competition from U.S. and European carriers in its long-haul markets (see p. 46). Delta Air Lines plans to add new service on this route next year, and Continental Airlines flies to Tel Aviv from Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport. European airlines offer one-stop service between the U.S. and Israel. Even tiny Israir plans to expand its flights to New York. Photo by Joseph Pries.
Art Manni has become chief operating officer of Downing Aviation Associates of Phoenix. He was a senior associate, and had been vice president/general manager of the Defense Div. of AmSafe Inc.
Thailand will buy six Saab JAS 39C and D Gripen fighters, replacing F-5Es, for a total of $570 million, and may buy another six. Gripen were chosen over Lockheed Martin F-16s and Sukhoi Su-30s. A 20-year service life is planned.
Two WIDE-BODY jets on a taxiway leading to the active runway for takeoff clipped wings at London’s Heathrow Airport on Oct. 15 at 10:10 p.m. local time. A British Airways Boeing 747-400 lost the top piece of its winglet. A Sri Lankan Airlines A340-300 with 286 people on board clipped the wing of the 747 with 328 people on board as the A340 passed the 747 on its way to Runway 27R, according to a spokeswoman for airport operator BAA. There were no injuries and no fire, and both planes returned to their gates.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is Japan’s choice if it cannot buy the Lockheed Martin F-22, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba tells Reuters. The minister describes the Dassault Rafale as “difficult to use,” and he rules out buying a Russian aircraft.
It’s not the first time, but it is the first time it has been acknowledged. The U.S. Air Force says the MQ-9 Reaper—a turboprop unmanned aircraft with six stations that can carry heavy, precision strike weapons—is flying operational missions in Afghanistan. The aircraft has been in and out of the Iraq-Afghanistan theater to check its readiness for combat. Because of its high speed, it is used as the killer aircraft in a hunter-killer combination with the smaller, slower MQ-1 Predator.
The European Space Agency is studying a number of near-term upgrades to its launcher fleet to allow it to meet changing demand in the burgeoning launch market.
Skip Madsen (see photo) has become senior vice president-operations for St. Louis-based Midcoast Aviation . He was vice president/general manager of Hawker Beechcraft Services, Wichita, Kan.
Right now, the U.S. Navy can’t predict what kind of weapon it will have when the first EA-18G Growler squadron becomes operational in the fall of 2009. But the service does know that the electronic attack aircraft initially will have the radar and communications jamming capabilities of the EA-6B Prowler and at first will use similar tactics.
U.S. Air Force officials say recent tests on fixes to the service’s troubled stealthy cruise missile have met their objectives, after a series of problems earlier this year. In advance of flight testing, which is slated to start early next year, the Air Force has conducted captive-carriage missions of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm). Host aircraft include B-52s and B-1s.
