Airlines shouldn’t be surprised if the government steps in to make up for their unwillingness to change scheduling practices that sometimes are “out of line with reality,” Marion Blakey told a packed Aero Club of Washington luncheon Sept. 11, two days before her term as FAA administrator expired. The biggest carriers overschedule at busy airports with multiple regional-jet flights instead of fewer mainline operations, as a way of offering more flights in a given market during the business day without increasing capacity.
U.S. success with the Orbital Express testbed appears to be rekindling commercial satellite operator interest in orbital servicing. Under an agreement announced Sept. 3, Arabsat will help develop and validate an in-orbit refueling system marketed by Kosmas GEO-Ring Services of Germany and Greece. Under the agreement, says CEO Charis Kosmas, Arabsat will investigate all types of service GEO-Ring can offer, including extending the service lives of existing and future satellites and restoring inoperative satellites to operation. The system is centered around a 250-300-kg.
National Technical Systems Inc. (NTS) will relocate the Dynamics and Environmental Test Laboratory to Camden, Calif., from the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Fla. The move will help support testing and qualification of weapon systems, ordnance, rocket motors and hazardous materials, says CEO William C. McGinnis. NTS specializes in engineering services to the defense, aerospace and automotive industries.
Alan Black (see photo) has been named vice president of the Public Safety Dept. at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He succeeds Alvy Dodson, who has retired. Black was the airport’s fire chief.
Lawrence B. Prior, 3rd, has been promoted to chief operating officer of the San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp. from president of its Intelligence, Security and Technology Group, effective Oct. 1.
Pressure is mounting on Galileo planners to sharpen their focus on the essentials and postpone tackling the more controversial features of the European satellite navigation system so further delays can be avoided.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. has received FAA certification of the Hawker 900XP. The twin-engine business jet features more powerful Honeywell TFE731-50R engines that improve takeoff and climb performance. Long-range cruise increases to nearly 2,800 naut. mi. with NBAA IFR fuel reserves. Deliveries began this month.
In a technical breakthrough that could benefit the combustion section of jet engines, the Aerospace Research Mission Directorate at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has developed a circuit chip that has exceeded 1,700 hr. of continuous operation at 500C. Until now, high temperatures and long-term operation of integrated circuits (ICs) have led to chips failing or being degraded. NASA says its chip represents a 100-fold increase over current standards.
Embraer is predicting global air traffic will increase by nearly 5% during the next 20 years, chiefly because of a projected 3% rise in the average annual world economic growth coupled with lower fares. The company says China will generate the highest annual average growth at 7% while Asia and the Middle East are projected to experience strong growth thanks to low-cost carriers and liberalization of trade. The U.S. and Europe, however, will see their share of the world traffic decline to 52% from 60% by 2026.
The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. is spending lots of time, money and manpower on finding ways to prevent an attack by terrorists using a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb. The latest effort: a program at the Port of Seattle to enhance radiological scanning of small vessels for nuclear material. But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the agency needs to take steps “should our actions fail” and a radiological device is detonated on U.S. soil.
The Mars Rover Opportunity deploys its science arm to sample material at the extreme edge of Victoria crater before driving in last week. Opportunity drove 13 ft. into the crater to get all six wheels past the rim before backing uphill for about 10 ft. The driving commands included a precaution for the rover to stop driving if its wheels were slipping by more than 40%. Slippage exceeded that amount on the last step of the drive, so Opportunity stopped with its front pair of wheels still inside the crater.
John R. Price, Manager (Aircraft Sustainability Laboratory)
The article “Cross-check and Verify” (AW&ST Aug. 6, p. 44) concerning the Comair 5191 crash in Lexington, Ky., confirmed most of my suspicions as to the causes of the accident.
Scientists want the U.S. government to fast-track the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM)—a spaceborne optical-to-near-infrared wide-field survey telescope to investigate the distribution of dark energy—to a start in Fiscal 2009. That would bump the NASA/Energy Dept. project ahead of other “Beyond Einstein” proposals in the competition for about $60 million in startup funding available for missions that begin to seek answers to fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and eventual fate of the Universe.
The Middle East is just beginning to see the benefits of rapid airline expansion and airport development that could make the region the world’s aviation and tourism mecca. Of course, the main unknowns are whether political stability will reign, and whether these long-protectionist governments continue to take steps toward liberalization.
Virgin Nigeria hopes to achieve profitability next year and, in parallel, will start fielding new aircraft to fuel further growth. However, problems endemic to operations in Africa will make the recovery effort exceptionally challenging.
Elbit Systems says it has received $300 million in foreign military sales funding that the U.S. has committed to support Israel’s Digital Army Program. The company has recovered $130 million of that amount in its backlog. The work will be performed by Elbit’s U.S.-based EFW subsidiary.
Gino Malatesta has been promoted to corporate vice president-planning from senior group vice president-finance for New York-based L-3 Communications. USAF Gen. (ret.) Charles Wald has been named corporate vice president-international. He succeeds Ted McFarland, who is now vice president-strategic planning for L-3’s Washington Operations. Wald was deputy commander at Headquarters U.S. European Command.
Japan Airlines will relocate to Moscow Domodedovo International Airport from Sheremetyevo Airport on Dec. 14. JAL, which has served Moscow from Tokyo since 1970, will move to Domodedovo because it offers extensive flight connection options in Russia and to neighboring countries.
Gimmick or gusto? What is the point of flying an airlifter at 60 deg. pitch-up and rolling 120 deg.? Air show bravado aside, the manufacturer is trying to demonstrate that the aircraft can operate beyond what will ever be tactically required. Alenia Aeronautica has been doing its fair share of this kind of showmanship in recent months as the aircraft maker tries to persuade buyers in the Middle East, Asia and the Americas to purchase its C-27J.
H.F. Schulte and others can research the issue by Googling “Beech Starship,” but the Boeing 787 is not the first composite aircraft to fly or deal with the issue of electrostatic energy (AW&ST Aug. 13, p. 8; June 25, p. 7).
Russia’s revamped aerospace sector will submit its commercial aircraft ambitions to the government for approval by year-end, along with plans for further development. The United Aircraft Corp. (UAC), a consolidated group of companies, already has a short- to medium-term strategy. Alexey Fyodorov, UAC chief executive, says this will be presented to the government before the end of December.
Telecom satellite builders—at least those with big military backlogs—may be gaining more leeway to raise their prices and pick their projects as a result of strengthening commercial and government spacecraft demand.
ITT will be the systems integrator of the FAA’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) system, but the team members that ITT selected had a lot to do with the company winning the contract on Aug. 30.
In reference to the letter that called for sound science regarding global warming (AW&ST Aug. 6, p. 6), I am amused that so many have been taken in by this “man- made phenomonon” of global warming.
Singapore Airlines and its major government shareholder, Temasek Holdings, have agreed to buy 25% of China Eastern Airlines, the weakest of the big-three Chinese carriers. Temasek is acquiring 8.3% of China Eastern while Singapore Airlines is taking 15.7%. The purchase is valued at HK$7.2 billion ($924.5 million). Air China, meanwhile, says it doesn’t exclude the possibility of a merger with the other big carrier, China Southern.
