ATA Airlines parent Global Aero Logistics has taken a giant step forward in a move to take over World Air Holdings—the parent of North American Airlines and World Airways—although the merger is worrying pilots at the three carriers. The shareholders of World Air voted almost unanimously in favor of the takeover, which still must be approved by the U.S. Transportation Dept. Meanwhile, the respective pilot unions warn Global they will not tolerate any efforts to move personnel between the three carriers.
Union leaders at Safran’s Sagem Communication Div. have asked Francis Mer, chairman of the company’s supervisory board, to review plans to spin the division off into subsidiary companies. The plans, announced by Safran Chairman/CEO Jean-Paul Bechat in early June, were likely to be reviewed at a board meeting on July 19. As in a similar reorganization at Sagem Defense & Security, put in place on July 3, the new structure would facilitate alliances in areas that lack sufficient economies of scale to be competitive, Bechat said (AW&ST May 28, p. 46).
Reliance in the field on precision-guided munitions is driving ground commanders to require more awareness of the status of GPS satellites orbiting overhead, says Sam Coffman, director of the Army Futures Center. He says the need for ground units directing fire to have better insight into the health of various GPS satellites is critical for future ops, and he supports the concept of having space-trained officers at the right hand of ground units.
Persistence pays off, especially for launch customers. Japanese carriers pay a lot of attention to little things. Some cost airlines money, others are annoying to passengers. Complaints about the “big bang” sound of toilet seats dropping prompted Boeing to introduce a hydraulic dampener on the 777 so lids lower slowly. All Nippon Airways, launch customer for the 787, wanted squirters so pilots could clean windshields by running the windshield wipers, just as car drivers can. Boeing resisted, but ANA insisted.
The FAA has certified the turboprop-powered, 10-seat Quest Kodiak STOL utility aircraft. Sandpoint, Idaho-based Quest Aircraft Co. has a three-year production backlog for the Kodiak.
It looks like it’s finally a good time to be a U.S. legacy airline again. Carriers are cashing in on strong demand, fueling optimism about the crucial summer travel season. Second-quarter results show Delta bouncing to a healthy profit just a few months after emerging from bankruptcy, while American has managed to increase its earnings despite weather headaches. Continental also saw solid gains. Only low-cost giant Southwest has bucked the trend so far, with a significant slide in profits.
While huge sums are devoted to the Air Force’s strike systems, including the F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, not enough attention is being placed on developing intelligence, surveillance and recon capabilities to support them, says USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Tim Peppe, a top business development official at Northrop Grumman. “There is not a whole hell of a lot of money realistically” going into ISR, he told an audience at the Precision Strike Assn.’s annual summer symposium in Virginia Beach earlier this month.
Democrats are learning that a majority in Congress doesn’t mean getting their legislation passed—quickly, at any rate. The Fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, approved by the House in May, is tied up in the Senate, where Democrats are trying to use it as the vehicle for changing U.S. strategy in Iraq. When an amendment setting a timeline to begin troop withdrawal failed, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled the legislation off the Senate floor.
The outlook is positive for pilot hiring. Air Inc., the Atlanta-based aviation career consultants, say 3,338 new pilots were hired in the second quarter, bringing end-of-quarter total hires to 6,181—2,000 more compared to the same period in 2005. Domestic carriers did most of the hiring, signing on 1,817 pilots, followed by the majors with 566 pilots. At the same time, the number of furloughed pilots decreased to 5,139 in the second quarter from 6,292 in the first quarter. Air Inc. is forecasting that 12,000 new airline pilot jobs will be created this year.
The Airborne Laser has lased a surrogate short-range ballistic missile target, a test that program officials hail as a significant milestone. However, plans for an August 2009 shootdown of a live target are in jeopardy by a congressional proposal. Although the test this month was not a shootdown, the program is now “at a fast walk” in its methodical “crawl, walk, run” toward shootdown of a live ballistic missile target, says Col. John Daniels, the Missile Defense Agency’s ABL program director.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. (AOPA) wants to block Massachusetts Air National Guard plans to lower the floor of military training airspace near Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, to 500 ft. from 7,000 ft. “Placing high-speed, low-altitude military aircraft” into the same airspace used by general aviation “increases the potential for midair collisions,” AOPA says in a letter to the FAA. AOPA wants the military to conduct an environmental impact study before implementing the changes. The public comment period has been extended to Aug. 15.
China will move to control what it calls its overheating civil aviation sector, taking such measures as restricting access for new operators and controlling the number of flights. Media reports suggest the government is demanding a 9% cut in domestic services at badly overloaded Beijing Capital International Airport from next month.
Flight demonstrations of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Falcon hypersonic test vehicle could be closer to reality. Successful tests of a rocket-boosted scramjet in Australia and good results from thermal protection system work in the U.S. are bolstering prospects for the next steps in this ambitious hypersonic plan.
Every once in a while, as the Iraq war approaches yet another of its turning points, it is useful to step back a few paces and reflect on some of the America's other troubles. Problems that in less momentous times would be at the top of the U.S. list of things to resolve tend to be obscured in the long shadow of Iraq, as President Bush and the Democratic Congress wage a political war of attrition that seems to parallel the inconclusive fighting nearly half a world away.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has named Michael Ryschkewitsch the agency’s chief engineer. He succeeds Christopher Scolese, whom Griffin selected as associate administrator on July 11 to succeed Rex Geveden. Ryschkewitsch is responsible for the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs. He had been deputy director of the Goddard Space Flight Center since October 2005.
EADS shareholders and the German government pledge to start talks soon on a new shareholder structure for Europe’s biggest aerospace company, following agreement last week on a simplified management structure.
National Business Aviation Assn. officials say the Transportation Security Administration is “actively considering” an overhaul of security policy for general aviation. The TSA’s list of potential changes is still under discussion and development. NBAA and other GA groups will not know any details until the agency introduces its proposals, possibly this summer.
Very small groups of combat controllers—like those depicted here through night-vision goggles—call in highly precise fires from AC-130H/U gunships. They often use laptop-based software that can provide coordinates of enemy positions. Gunships are critical to supporting troops under fire, and ground commanders often insist the aircraft be on call for major operations. The addition of new 30-mm.
The British Parliament passed an amendment to the Competition Act, which allows the Defense Ministry to exclude certain contracts from the act in the interests of national security. The amendment is intended to facilitate partnering in complex weapon systems.
Aug. 1-3—CIAM Cancun (Mexico) 2007 Third Annual International Aviation Trade Show & Congress. Hilton Cancun Golf & Spa Resort. See www.expo-ciam.com Aug. 6-9—Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems North America. Washington Convention Center. Call +1 (703) 845 9671, fax +1 (703) 845-9679 or see www.auvsi.org Aug. 7-9—25th U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Systems and Technology Symposium. Anaheim (Calif.) Marriott. Call +1 (703) 526-6629 or see www.darpa.mil
EADS CEO Louis Gallois says delays with the TP400 turboprop engine that will power the Airbus A400M airlifter are likely to lead to a deferral of the first flight, which has been scheduled for late March 2008. Test problems already have delayed the initial flight of the engine on a C-130 testbed to the third or first quarter of this year (AW&ST June 11, p. 36). However, initial deliveries should still take place by late 2009, Gallois says.
From an owner’s or manufacturer’s perspective, now is as good a time as any to sign a lease or book an order, according to the view of Martin, who expects supply of commercial aircraft neither to ease nor tighten significantly until rising production rates finally put enough into service to exceed the strong demand of the past few years. For the moment, conditions remain outstanding for owners.
Two runway overruns on the same day—one resulting in Brazil’s deadliest air crash—underscore the need for improved approach-and-landing safety and airport arrestor-bed systems. On July 17, a TAM Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Porto Alegre, Brazil, landed at Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport, then departed airport boundaries and crashed into a concrete building. Preliminary information indicate that all six crewmembers and 180 passengers on the aircraft, as well as three people on the ground, were killed.
The British government should take a more strategic approach to space, with a longer term vision, more effective program management and perhaps a bit more funding, says a key space-policy report.
With the Orbital Express mission over, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) manager for the program has a message for America’s military space architects: U.S. satellites could use a “first responder” servicing satellite to help them when they get into trouble in orbit.
