John R. Price comments (AW&ST Sept. 17, p. 10), as have others, that the simple procedure of setting or checking the heading indicator could have prevented the 2006 accident of Comair 5191 at Lexington, Ky. I have flown aircraft and worked in safety for nearly 40 years, and I don’t subscribe to pilot-bashing for accidents. But the crew turned onto an unlit runway, at night, and did not even ask the tower about the lack of lights—even after noting it was “weird.” This is complacency in nearly perfect form.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA have awarded Lockheed Martin a $178-million contract to develop the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) instrument for NOAA’s next generation of geostationary weather satellites, GOES-R. The SUVI will monitor the entire dynamic range of solar X-ray features, including coronal holes and solar flares, and will continue the Solar X-Ray Imager’s mission on the current GOES-N series. The first GOES-R satellite is set to launch in December 2014.
Aerojet is building two flight-test Dual Combustion Ramjet (DCR) engines to power the Boeing-designed, hydrocarbon-fueled HyFly, a hypersonic strike missile demonstrator being developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research. Fabrication of the engines follows successful ground tests of the uncooled, high-temperature composite DCR at Aerojet’s Orange, Va., test site. In August 2005, the HyFly’s booster accelerated the vehicle to about Mach 3 to test boost-phase performance.
AT-15e HARV was balloon launched from Wilde Benton airstrip on McGregor Range in New Mexico to demonstrate the capability to cost-effectively deploy and autonomously recover a high-altitude payload from more than 60,000 ft. The airframe was equipped with an electric motor, a Cloud Cap Piccolo II autopilot, an SSR transponder and UHF and satellite communications. The payload weight was 10 lb. Available payload capacity is 20 lb. Ascent time was 52 min., with balloon float occurring at 63,684 ft., about 13 mi. downrange. The T-15 was released 2 min. later.
The European Commission is hoping proposed changes in running and funding the Galileo and Egnos satellite navigation systems will lead to a quick resolution of problems threatening their future. The revamp proposal was submitted last week to the European Parliament and the European Council, which in June agreed to abandon the public-private partnership arrangement that had been set up to manage and fund deployment of the 30-satellite system (AW&ST June 18, p. 44).
Even though the FAA has published scores of Required Navigation Performance procedures, only a limited number of aircraft operators in the U.S. are qualified to use them. Alaska Airlines still dominates all activity in the U.S., and this is mostly in its home state. JetBlue Airways employs RNP at New York JFK International Airport in visual conditions, while Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines have gained FAA approval for their RNP operations.
Dorothy White (see photo) has been named St. Louis-based regional sales director for charter support services and aircraft management for Jet Aviation. She was regional vice president-sales for The Air Group and is president of the Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Assn.
The aerospace industry may have a fastener shortage, but there’s no lack of wingnuts in your Correspondence section. Continuing to find this half-baked theorizing in a reputable publication is disturbing. Will we next have an AW&ST editorial after the lines of The New York Times assault on Goddard, in which that newspaper ridiculed the idea of rocket flight into vacuum?
Boeing’s Sea-Based X-Band Radar is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, preparing for its next flight test as part of meeting the goal of putting the radar into the Ballistic Missile Defense System.
Shanghai Airlines has denied rumors that it will be taken over by Air China and China Eastern, the country’s second- and third-largest airlines. The Shanghai-based airline is one of the largest Chinese carriers independent of the country’s big-three. Rumors of airline mergers have been common this year, even though the authorities seem to show little enthusiasm for the idea.
Bremen, Germany-based OHB Technology has acquired a 19% stake in SpaceDev, a Poway, Calif., manufacturer of space components and systems with annual sales of $30 million. The deal, for $4.4 million in stock, will allow the two companies to increase product penetration in European and U.S. markets.
Chinese aircraft maker Avic I has agreed with China Eastern Airlines to set up a regional carrier to operate its aircraft. The initial fleet will be at least 10 MA60 turboprops, but with a long-term aim of operating 100 regional aircraft. The focus of operations, to begin in the first half of next year, will be on western China.
Aviation is vital to the world’s economic growth and development. But as we all recognize, its very success has produced a new set of challenges. How the international community will address one of these issues—aviation’s contribution to climate change—is likely to be one of the defining issues at the triennial Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this week in Montreal.
With as many as 7,600 very light jets forecast to be flying in U.S. skies by 2025, a key operational question will be whether an air traffic system transitioning to satellite-based navigation will be able to absorb all of them. The Government Accountability Office recently summarized nine VLJ outlooks, ranging from the Teal Group’s low of 3,000 aircraft by 2016 to Rolls-Royce’s high of 7,600 by 2025. The air taxi business will play a role, alongside owner-flown aircraft, in any additional load on the U.S. air traffic system.
The Botswana police force has ordered three single-engine Eurocopter AS350 B3 helicopters to form the basis of a police airwing. The move follows a decision in August by neighboring Namibia to form a police airwing of its own with a single B3. The aircraft will be supported by Eurocopter’s South African affiliate. Twelve B3s and an AS350 B2 are flying with South Africa’s police.
Bob Sundin has been named senior vice president/chief operating officer of Dassault Aircraft Services in Wilmington, Del., and Little Rock, Ark. He was vice president-airframe operations for Landmark Aviation.
Honeywell Aerospace has opened an advanced technology lab in Mexicali to test integrated systems including avionics, propulsion, electrical and other types of equipment as demand grows for more consolidated designs.
Qinetiq and its team of U.K.-based companies has secured a 27-month £1.5-million ($3.3-million) Defense Ministry contract to provide customer intelligence on Deep Fire Rocket Systems ahead of the anticipated 2025 in-service time frame. The project focuses on risk-mitigation of key technologies that address performance gaps, and on providing system concepts and performance data in support of the Ministry’s Defense Science & Technology Laboratory, Future Indirect Fire System studies. The team comprises MBDA, Roxel and Lockheed Martin UK Insys Ltd.
It has taken San Francisco International Airport (SFO) six years to recover from the big falloff in passengers it suffered after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and its request for tenders to refurbish its old international terminal to meet the needs of fast-growing discount carriers is just such a sign. The airport was serving 41 million passengers in 2000 when it opened its new international terminal and planned to turn the old terminal into additional domestic flight space quickly.
Extreme CCTV’s Moondance cameras will provide surveillance at critical areas of the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London. Forty-six of the ruggedized pan-tilt-zoom cameras, commonly known as “Metal Mickeys” in Europe, will be used as part of Terminal 5’s state-of-the-art security and telecommunications network. The order follows a previous installation of 20 of this camera type at Heathrow that have provided around-the-clock uninterrupted surveillance at a key tunnel since 2002.
While a Coast Guard member and aircraft crewmember, I was reading and observing diagrams in Aviation Week & Space Technology of a “new” C-130 variant. The aircraft would have a shortened fuselage and twin powerplants. This design, even though only on the drawing boards, was more than 30 years ago. It seemed even back then to be an aircraft that could fill a much-needed niche. Now we’ve got an impressive Alenia Aeronautica C-27J to fill that void. Guess we can cancel the 30 years of indecision.
The “first phase” U.S./European Union aviation agreement demonstrates the reason why the EU has extreme difficulty getting U.S. agreement to gain ownership of its airlines. The agreement, as written, also demonstrates the political disconnect between EU court decisions and reality.
Europe is signaling a growing willingness to develop new military space capabilities and more closely integrate them. But moving toward a unified milspace will require high-level political support that remains elusive, government and industry executives say. French officials have been rallying Europe to put more joint effort into milspace. And while more nations are jumping on the bandwagon, cooperation has been largely ad hoc and with little concern for broader integration.
