Edward P. Petkus has become vice president-new product development, Dan Weatherford chief pilot for Hawker sales demonstration and Peter Kennedy chief pilot for Beechcraft sales demonstration for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp., Wichita, Kan. Petkus was director of 787 airplane development for Boeing. Weatherford was training captain in the Hawker 800 and 4000, while Kennedy was senior Beechcraft demonstration captain.
The British government and BAE Systems are facing renewed pressure over alleged payments related to the Al Yamamah weapons deals with Saudi Arabia. Last week, the BBC and the The Guardian newspaper reported that Saudi Prince Bandar received more than $2 billion during a 10-year period related to the Al Yamamah deals. The reports also say the payments were sanctioned by the British government. The U.K. and Saudi Arabia are in the final stages of negotiating the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, as well as an upgrade program for Saudi Tornado strike aircraft.
MARKET FOCUS U.S. airline stock prices aren't matching outlooks for profits 10 NEWS BREAKS Russians finish installing panels to protect Zvezda module on ISS 18 Malaysian AF may seek more Su-30MKMs if it can't get F/A-18E/Fs 19 Ryanair warns of higher costs and lower fares 20 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS Russian pressure heightens missile defense concerns within NATO 24 French look anew at 'responsive payloads' ability to deal with space-based threats 26
Scientists on the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) mission will spend the coming weeks examining some six gigabits of data from as close as 200 mi. above the clouds of Venus. The NASA-funded spacecraft picked up almost 15,000 mph. in a June 5 gravity assist that hurled it toward its initial encounter with the innermost planet early next year.
Douglas Barrie (London), Joris Janssen Lok (The Hague)
Industry partners on the Airbus A400M are revisiting critical engine performance parameters as the effort lags further behind schedule, while a legal liability trap could snare NATO plans to operate Boeing C-17s.
Bombardier reports 152 firm orders for CRJ-series regional jets and Q-series turboprops from 16 operators through June 6. Delta Air Lines' order for 44 CRJ900s led the 91 sales for the series. Bombardier listed four undisclosed customers, including one with 15 orders for the CRJ1000 and another with three orders for CRJ900s. Flybe, Horizon and Pinnacle's orders for 15 each of the Q400 led the turboprop book of 61 sales. Croatia Airlines was the latest customer, ordering four with two options last week.
A determination by the Phoenix science team that ice at the Martian north polar landing site could be harder than concrete led to the emergency addition of a lander cutting tool to ensure critical samples could be delivered to the spacecraft’s instruments. Data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and European Mars Express spacecraft indicate that the ice could be so hard that the originally planned Phoenix robotic arm scoop might not be able to scrape up ice shavings for analysis of Martian water and what might be in it.
Senior Editor Craig Covault (left) and Matt Cox, Lockheed Martin manager for assembly test and launch operations for the Phoenix Mars lander, examine the spacecraft at the company's clean room in Littleton, Colo. Note the landing gear pads, red-capped descent engines and overall scale of the spacecraft. The mission will sample water, ice and soil for clues to Martian life. Cox is heading preparation of the vehicle for launch on Aug. 3 (see p. 56). Covault has written about all U.S.
An Industry Outlook item, "Inflight Retargeting" (AW&ST June 4, p. 13), mischaracterized F-16 cuts the Dutch government is contemplating. The reduction of 18 fighters would be of in-service aircraft.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) raised $250 million with a public offering of bonds on June 6. The funds are linked to the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar for 6-7 years. New leadership, headed by CEO Itzhak Nissan, has been shaking up the company's business during the last two years. IAI's net profit for Fiscal 2006 reached $130 million, compared with $2 million in 2005. During the first quarter of 2007, the company earned a before-tax, net profit of $60 million compared with $24 million in the year-ago period, an increase of 250%.
Ryanair is warning of tougher times in the next 12 months, as Europe's largest low-fare airline expects higher costs and lower fares. CEO Michael O'Leary predicts profits to grow by only 5% in the fiscal year ending Mar. 31. "This is the most bearish we have been for a number of years," he says. "We have signaled in the past couple of months that the market is soft. Passengers are facing significantly higher taxes and charges, and I think that is having a dampening effect on growth."
Prospects may be increasing for a potential Engine Alliance bid to power the Airbus A350XWB, as talks have stalled between the aircraft maker and General Electric over a powerplant offering. The move comes while Airbus is revealing other A350 details, including a highly aggressive production plan, which signals that it is banking on an order rate not unlike the strong uptake Boeing has seen with the rival 787.
Rolls-Royce Corp. has acquired rights to use a coating invented by Iowa State University researchers that helps turbines stand up to the heat in jet engines. The bond coating will be applied to turbine blades made of nickel-based superalloys, which, though designed for strength, need help withstanding metal temperatures approaching 2,100F inside the hot section of a jet powerplant, says Brian Gleeson, a materials science professor at the school.
Clay Jones has been Rockwell Collins's only CEO since it was spun off by Rockwell International less than three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The company, one of the big three avionics suppliers along with Honeywell and France's Thales, has about $4.3 billion in annual sales equally split between commercial and military and boasts some of the industry's highest profit margins. In an interview at Rockwell Collins's headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Jones, a former fighter pilot, talked with AW&ST Senior Business Editor Joseph C.
Turning its back on the Bush administration's go-slow approach on the environment, Boeing is taking a hard look at alternative fuels and eyeing a green flight demonstrator to support future commercial aircraft programs. Addressing reporters here on May 9, Bill Glover, managing director for environmental strategy at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, said the skepticism with which the company had until recently greeted alternative fuel plans has eroded as technologies have advanced and regulatory pressures have grown, particularly in Europe.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] June 18-24--Paris air show. Le Bourget. See www.paris-air-show.com June 25-27--International Quality and Productivity Center's "Utilization of Space Application: Geoinformation, Satellite Communication, Space-Based Reconnaissance, Situational Awareness, Space Technologies." Melia Hotel, Berlin. Call +49 (30) 2091-3330 or see www.iqpc.com
The Canadian Transportation Agency has granted a license to Oasis Hong Kong Airlines to begin operating a Hong Kong-Vancouver route beginning June 28. The carrier intends to offer six-times-weekly nonstop service with three Boeing 747-400s it acquired from All Nippon Airways. Oasis already flies daily to London and is seeking approvals for European and North American routes, including Cologne/Bonn and Oakland, Calif.
The White House wants NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to come up with alternative ways of acquiring climate data, to be funded starting in Fiscal 2009, rather than simply reinstating instruments removed from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System for budget reasons. Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Marburger tells the House Science subcommittee on energy and environment that operational weather sensors were kept in the restructured, reduced-cost satellite program because of Defense Dept.
NASA Ames Research Center, home of NASA's Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility, has chosen the IBM System p575+ supercomputer for the agency's future supercomputing needs, including environmental studies, spacecraft design and atmospheric research. The system, which is being installed at NAS, has a peak performance of approximately 5.6 teraflops and will augment the Columbia system, which is ranked eighth fastest in the world.
European aerospace industry officials say the proposed European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will cost €4 billion ($5.4 billion) per year--or more than the European airlines' annual combined profits. That figure, derived by Ernst & Young and York Aviation, is higher than initial estimates.
Rolls-Royce has shipped the first set of Trent 1000s to Boeing for use on the first-flight 787 aircraft. The next major milestone is first flight of a 747 testbed from Waco, Tex., that has been fitted with one Trent 1000. The aircraft is supposed to fly soon after encountering delays. Ten engines are expected to support the 787 flight-test campaign. The powerplant has a thrust range of 53,000-75,000 lb. Rolls-Royce has won contracts (firm and options) for engines on 179 787s. General Electric provides the rival powerplant, and has a larger market share.
Following the 9/11 attacks, critics complained that U.S. intelligence services and law enforcement agencies didn't share information or act with dispatch when suspicious activity came to their attention. In short, they failed to "connect the dots." Now, we learn of another failure to connect the dots. And this time there was only one dot--Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker.
CAE opened its business aviation training center June 7 near Morristown (N.J.) Airport. The CAE Simuflight Northeast Training Center will be the base of entitlement training for the Dassault Falcon 7X, as well as the Falcon 900 EX EASy, Falcon 2000EX EASy, Gulfstream IV and Sikorsky S-76. CAE has announced plans to expand the center to 12 simulator bays from six and to add other platforms including a fully convertible Gulfstream G450/G550 full-flight simulator.
Marvin L. Ruthenberg has been appointed vice president/chief operating officer of Seaplanes of Key West, Fla. He was president/CEO of Seaborne Airlines, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
