When oil prices hit $50 a barrel three years ago, panic spread across the airline industry. But when crude passed $80 last month, investors largely shrugged off that milestone. After all, carriers have done a remarkably good job of adjusting to a tripling of fuel prices, and the U.S. airline industry is profitable again after years of red ink.
A few years ago, the U.S. Air Force planned to field by the end of last year the first of a fleet of new refueling aircraft, then envisioned as a leased derivative of the Boeing 767. After the most serious Pentagon acquisition scandal in a generation, massive congressional intervention and a decision to compete the 767 against a variant of the Airbus A330, this December is now the target for choosing between the aircraft and their respective prime contractors (Boeing and Northrop Grumman) to develop the KC-X.
Rockwell International B-1B The B-1B is a four-engine strategic bomber produced by the then-Rockwell International and operated by the U.S. Air Force. The aircraft evolved from studies begun in 1962. An initial prototype first flew in 1974. The B-1B is powered by four GE F101-GE-100 turbofan engines rated 30,000-plus lb. thrust each. One hundred B-1s were built by the time production ended in 1988.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a Sept. 12 incident involving a Learjet 35 (N66NJ) taking off from a closed, unlit Runway 19R at Washington Dulles International Airport. The event is considered a runway incursion, and the FAA is classifying the incident as an operational error.
Europe’s Sesar consortium is not only planning to shift to 4D trajectory management of air traffic, but also to make the business objectives of aircraft operators the primary driver in what routes they request and are granted.
After a 10-year hiatus, KLM will return to Dallas-Fort Worth on Mar. 30 with service to Amsterdam Schiphol. KLM has done extensive research on the DFW market, says Pieter Elbers, senior vice president-network for KLM. “Dallas-Fort Worth is our first [new] U.S. destination in quite some time,” he says. DFW will be the airline’s 19th transatlantic destination, and the new service coincides with the 10th anniversary of the KLM-Northwest alliance.
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III The C-17 is a long-range transport aircraft powered by four 40,440-lb.-thrust Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofan engines. The C-17 prototype, designated T-1, first flew in 1991. The C-17 can carry equipment such as the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and M1 Abrams main battle tank. Civilian and tanker variants of the C-17 have been proposed. The U.S. Air Force operates more than 160 C-17s. The service has contracted for 190 C-17s, though production for USAF appears likely to be extended beyond this total.
Under pressure from Democrats in Congress, the Homeland Security Dept. is delaying implementation of a program to share classified satellite imagery with non-federal agencies, including local law enforcement. The department tells lawmakers it is putting off the planned launch of the new National Applications Office “until we address your questions.” House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and other Democrats on the panel say the program’s lack of written policies for such an expansion of domestic imagery use poses constitutional issues.
The U.S. Air Force will launch the first Wideband Global Satellite (WGS), SV-1, on Oct. 9 on board a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. WGS will augment and eventually replace the aging Defense Satellite Communication System, which has served as the Defense Dept.’s satellite communications backbone for the last two decades. “With the launch of WGS SV-1, we are on the cusp of providing more capacity than the entire on-orbit Defense Satellite Communications System constellation,” says Col. Donald Robbins, Wideband Satcom Group commander at the Milsatcom Systems Wing.
Sikorsky CH-53/MH-53 Power for this three-engine heavy-lift transport and special-purpose helicopter is provided by three GE T64-GE-416/419 turboshaft engines rated at 4,380 and 4,750 shp., respectively. Sikorsky has delivered 177 CH-53Es, 48 MH-53Es and 11 S-80s. (Twin-engine H-53 versions were produced earlier.) In January 2006, Sikorsky was awarded an $8.4-million contract to begin preliminary design work on the CH-53K for the U.S. Marine Corps. Plans call for Sikorsky to produce 156 CH-53Ks; deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2015.
Panavia Tornado The Tornado is a two-seat multirole strike and air combat fighter. The first prototype flew in 1974. All versions are powered by two Turbo-Union RB199 turbofan engines. Production was completed in 1998 after 992 aircraft were built.
Air traffic delays in the U.S. “will progressively get worse” over the next five summers, says Phil Barbarello, Eastern U.S. vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca). He cites understaffing of controllers at New York area ATC facilities and nationwide. “Mandatory six-day workweeks and 10-hr. workdays are the norm,” he contends. Controllers are working two-plus hours without a break on busy positions, and the resulting mental fatigue has opened the door to human error.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is creating an Office of Global Strategies to coordinate operations in foreign countries. The office, to be headed by William Gaches, a 30-year veteran of the National Security Agency, will oversee the regulatory and inspection responsibilities of TSA aviation security experts overseas.
Named to receive the 2007 Williams Trophy, which is awarded by the Washington Airports Task Force, are four officials who negotiated the U.S.-European Union air service agreement. They are: Jeffrey Shane, undersecretary of Transportation for policy; Jacques Barrot of the EU Transportation Commission; John Byerly, deputy assistant secretary of State for transportation affairs; and Daniel Calleja, EU delegation chairman.
The growing availability of inexpensive, high-performance satellite-based imaging systems is allowing an increasing number of small nations to acquire and leverage an independent remote sensing capability, and may even allow some to envision accessing more sensitive technologies that for now remain largely the purview of the U.S. and Israel.
A couple of hard years after winning two major Pentagon contracts, officials at Bell Helicopter Textron say they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and implementing improvements to move ahead with deliveries to the U.S. Army and Navy.
Eurocopter AS550 T his military version of the AS350 is a single-turboshaft-powered utility helicopter. Military applications include forward observation, artillery spotting, target acquisition, light ground attack, light anti-shipping, naval search-and-rescue and pilot training. More than 3,200 AS350/550s were produced through 2006, including those assembled under license by Helicopteros do Brasil SA (Helibras). Another 53 military units are forecast to be produced between 2007-16.
Boeing P-8A MMA The P-8A, a maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare aircraft, is a variant of Boeing’s 737-800 and is powered by two CFM56-7 turbofans rated at 20,000-26,200 lb. thrust each. The P-8A will succeed the Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion in U.S. Navy service. Production of 76 aircraft is forecast for 2007-16.
Africa’s aviation safety is again under close scrutiny following the Oct. 4 crash of an Antonov An-26 into a residential area shortly after takeoff from Kinshasa-Ndjili International Airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The twin-turboprop aircraft was operated by Congolese carrier Air One on a domestic flight. As of late last week, at least 23 people were believed dead—all 18 on board and five on the ground. International Air Transport Assn. data show Africa’s fatal accident rate with Western-built aircraft is 4.31 hull losses per one million departures.
Japan’s All Nippon Airways and South Korea’s Asiana Airlines say they will exchange cabin crew beginning Oct. 28 on Tokyo-Seoul flights as part of the alliance.
Eurocopter AS565 This twin-turboshaft-powered multirole helicopter is a military version of the AS365. Military uses include ground support, anti-armor, scout, medical evacuation, search-and-rescue, anti-submarine and anti-surface vessel warfare, and airborne assault. The AS366G (U.S. Coast Guard designation HH-65) was developed specifically for the SRR helicopter competition. The Coast Guard’s HH-65s have been reengined with Turbomeca Arriel 2C2s. A total of 821 AS365/565s were produced through 2006. Twenty-one AS565s are forecast to be built between 2007-16.
Prospects for Piaggio Aero are looking buoyant following two big new contracts for its P.180 Avanti twin-turboprop business aircraft. One of the purchases, announced last week, came from U.S. fractional ownership company Avantair, the P.180’s leading customer. Avantair placed a $150-million order for 22 Avanti IIs, adding to an existing fleet. The company has 38 Avantis in operation, and aims to be flying 102 by the end of 2012.
Maxwell Technologies of San Diego will provide the single-board computers (SBC) for the European Space Agency’s Gaia astronomy mission that will survey more than a billion stars and other celestial bodies in the Milky Way. Seven Maxwell SCS750 SBCs will be used to process images collected by the two-ton satellite’s camera. Gaia is to be launched in December 2011 into an orbit at the second Lagrange point, 932,000 mi. on the “night side” of the Earth.
MD Helicopters MD Explorer A single-main-rotor helicopter with twin turboshaft engines driving a Kawasaki-designed main rotor gearbox, the aircraft incorporates the patented Notar (no tail rotor) system, including a circulation control tail boom and internal variable pitch fan. In early 2001, MD Helicopters launched the Combat Explorer armed variant, specifically targeting the air arm services of Latin America. The Explorer is cleared to carry the GAU-19/A .50-caliber Gatling gun, M2 .50-caliber gun pod and 70mm Hydra rockets.
Australia has agreed to cover the cost of one of the six spacecraft in the U.S. Wideband Global Satellite Communications system, in return for a share of the network’s capacity. In choosing to cooperate with the U.S., Australia is moving away from reliance on its national Optus commercial satellites now owned by the Singapore government company Singtel. Including ground infrastructure, the cost to Australia will be $820 million. The satellites are to be introduced into service from 2008-13.
