Four teams will work on initial designs for an Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft for the U.S. Army. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has picked Boeing, Northrop Grumman and two teams--Lockheed Martin/Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky/Raytheon--to undertake 12-month design efforts, each costing about $3 million. The participants are to develop a system design for an armed reconnaissance and attack mission rotorcraft. A nine-month follow-on phase is being planned with up to two participants to complete preliminary design work on a demonstration system.
Two Raytheon Canada ATC simulators in Europe have just begun formal training operations using Raytheon Canada's new FIRSTplus system. The Belgocontrol ATC simulator in Brussels can accommodate four control tower operators, and has 32 positions that can be used for any mix of radar controllers or pseudo-pilots, depending on the desired level of traffic. Tower controllers have a 3D perspective with a 270-deg. field of view of the airport. Denmark's new ATC simulator also completed site acceptance late last month.
United Airlines has implemented the IBM/Dassault Systemes Catia V5 computer-aided design and manufacturing system for its maintenance operations. Catia will be used to help engine overhaul, part design and interior reconfiguration, create tooling, and make illustrations. One of its first uses was to redesign cockpit doors for greater strength, including the stress analysis and manufacturing instructions--in half the normal time, officials assert.
Brad Patrick has become vice president-human resources for operations of Delta Air Lines. He was managing director of human resources for marketing and international.
Although only in its second year, the European Business Aviation Assn. Convention and Exhibit appears here to stay. The Geneva event had drawn nearly 4,200 professional visitors by the end of the last week. EBACE also welcomed 219 exhibitors--15% more than a year ago--and 35 aircraft versus 31 in 2001. Typical of the reception for the show was this comment from a Lufthansa Techik official, who was present for the second time: ''Attendance could be a little higher, but we'll be back.''
The American Airlines Flight 587 accident investigation to date has not yielded information that ``would warrant grounding of the A300-600 fleet,'' said the FAA in response to a group of A300-600 pilots who had come to believe otherwise following the Nov. 12, 2001, crash. In that accident, the vertical stabilizer, made of composite material, fell from the A300-600 shortly after its departure from New York JFK International Airport. The FAA's Apr. 26 letter addresses the pilots' Mar.
The airline recession, repercussions from the terrorist attacks in the U.S. and poor overseas investments all contributed to a 61% drop in net profits to S$631.7 million (US$341 million) for Singapore Airlines (SIA) for the year that ended Mar. 31. Still, the fiscal 2001-02 results posted last week beat the highest forecasted results by more than 60%. Group revenues were off 5.1% to S$9.95 billion, with the decline attributed to weak passenger and cargo markets--airline-only revenues fell S$426 million while cargo was off S$82 million.
Some industry observers anticipate Northrop Grumman Corp. will increase its proposed purchase price of TRW Inc. to $55-56 a share, although it remained unclear whether TRW would accept that price. Northrop, which was examining non-public TRW data late last week, has offered $53. In a related development, TRW was closing in on the sale of its aeronautics business, which could fetch up to $1.4 billion, according to some industry officials.
EIICHIRO SEKIGAWAMICHAEL MECHAM ( TOKYO SAN FRANCISCO)
The captain of a Japan Airlines MD-11 that experienced severe air turbulence leading to the death of a cabin attendant has been indicted on a charge of ``professional negligence resulting in death.'' Capt. Koichi Takamoto, 52, was indicted by the Nagoya District Prosecutor's Office on May 14 for making manual flight control inputs while the autopilot system was engaged. The incident occurred on June 8, 1997, as JAL Flight 706, was on a too-fast approach to Nagoya International Airport on a flight out of Hong Kong.
Arianespace has reported higher-than-expected losses for 2001, underscoring warnings that the Ariane launch system must be propped up if it is to successfully weather the deepening satellite launch market slump. The European launch company posted a net loss of 193 million euros ($178 million) for 2001, much greater than the 50-million-euro loss predicted earlier this year by Chairman/CEO Jean-Marie Luton (AW&ST Jan. 14, p. 411).
First flight of Boeing's X-45A unmanned combat air vehicle comes at a critical juncture for UCAVs as military planners for the first time seriously examine the value and cost of such systems. The X-45A being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and the U.S. Air Force flew a short, 14-min. inaugural mission on May 22. Takeoff came at 7:26 a.m. (PDT) from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center dry lake bed at Edwards AFB, Calif. The aircraft completed its autonomous mission at 7:40 a.m. (PDT). It reached 7,500 ft. altitude and about 195 kt.
Charlie Hill has been named director of operations of the AeroGroup International Corp., Melbourne, Fla. He was chief pilot of the Houston, Los Angeles and Honolulu pilot bases of Continental Airlines.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has given InVision Technologies' research-and-development subsidiary, Quantum Magnetics, a $1-million grant to develop next-generation explosives detection systems (EDS) that couple InVision's CT technology with Quantum's quadrupole resonance technology. Such a system, in theory, could reduce the double-digit false alarm rate of computed tomography-based EDS. Quadrupole resonance (QR) identifies explosives using low-frequency radio waves.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta says the massive effort to roll out government security forces at 429 U.S. airports by year's end will slow down in June, causing ``longer lines at the airports,'' if House legislators are successful in cutting $542 million from a $4.4 billion 2002 supplemental request by the Transportation Security Administration. Without the money, Mineta said, contracts aimed at hiring 51,232 screeners will be put on hold and newly delivered explosive detection systems will have to be put in storage.
NASA has selected Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., to build the ``bridge'' spacecraft between today's civilian and military polar orbiting weather satellites and the dual-use National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) platforms set for launch late in the decade. Under the $94-million delivery order, Ball will design and build the spacecraft bus for the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), integrate government-furnished instruments like the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (AW&ST Apr. 23, 2001, p.
U.K. flag carrier British Airways recorded a 200-million-pound loss ($291.3 million) for the 12 months ended Mar. 31, but the figure was significantly less than had been anticipated by some financial analysts. The airline posted its fourth-quarter figures on May 20, recording a pretax loss of 85 million pounds. Revenue passenger kilometers for the fourth quarter were down by 5.9%, compared with a 13.7% drop for the year. Revenue for the year was 8.340 billion pounds, compared with 9.278 billion for the previous 12 months, a 10.1% fall.
The Brazilian government is studying whether to take action against Canada for failing to meet a deadline for complying with a ruling made by the World Trade Organization in February. Canada was directed by the WTO to withdraw subsidies to Bombardier Aerospace for sale of regional jets. As of late last week, Canada had not notified the WTO that it was complying with the ruling. As a result, Brazil is considering retaliatory steps on trade with Canada.
Opel, a startup company affiliated with the University of Connecticut, has developed gallium-arsenide-based optoelectronic components that it believes will offer high-speed, more affordable conversion between electrical and optical signals. Applications include optical backbone networks, high-speed wireless, virtually any mix of optical, logic and radio-frequency elements, including those used with high-capacity data links for reconnaissance and intelligence nets (AW&ST May 6, p. 56).
The Space Systems/Loral DirecTV-5 mission launched on an International Launch Services Proton booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome May 7 took advantage of the ILS ``mutual backup'' contract clause to maintain mission price and schedule. Satellite sponsors can switch from Atlas-Centaur to Proton boosters with minimum penalty if problems arise. In this case, the 4-ton spacecraft was not ready for its original Atlas launch date, so ILS and SS/L switched the flight to a Proton that would better fit the processing schedule.
Israeli government officials expect to make a decision during the next few weeks about how deeply to become involved in the development of the Joint Strike Fighter. There is some urgency to do so: first, to ensure the nation's industry has a stake in the multibillion-dollar project and, second, to establish a high priority in receiving production aircraft. Officials in Israel's Defense Ministry are ``in the middle of the decision-making process'' to determine how they will structure their involvement, said Brig. Gen.
Engine maker MTU is poised to strike a pair of deals with Pratt & Whitney that would give the German company full responsibility for supplying a commercial high-pressure compressor for the first time. MTU traditionally specializes in low-pressure compressors and turbines, but in recent years has targeted high-pressure compressor (HPC) technology--the core of the engine--as a top priority (AW&ST Dec. 16, 1998, p. 47). The company is already providing the high- and low-pressure compressors for the smaller EJ200, the powerplant for the Eurofighter.
Eurockot has set June 19 for its second commercial mission, which will place a pair of Iridium satellites into orbit. The first commercial launch performed by the EADS/Khrunichev joint venture, on Mar. 17, carried the twin NASA/DLR Grace scientific satellites (AW&ST Mar. 25, p. 40).
Fairchild Fasteners expects to complete paperwork by June to open its first Chinese distribution center in Chengdu, a free trade zone in central China that is one of the country's four major aircraft manufacturing cities. Construction of a 1,000-sq.-meter (10,800-sq.-ft.) distribution center is expected to begin in July. When it arrives, Fairchild won't be alone. ``Every Chinese aviation factory makes fasteners,'' Fairchild President Eric Steiner said as he discussed the company's plans at the Asian Aerospace exhibition earlier this year.
Singapore has taken the first of 20 Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. The island republic became Boeing's first Asian customer for the Apache following the rotorcraft's initial appearance at the 2000 Asian Aerospace exhibition. It subsequently ordered 12 more. Japan has since become a customer.
Just as the summer aviation-delays season heats up, the FAA is running out of money to pay air traffic controllers overtime and a divided Congress, mulling what to do, is taking its Memorial Day recess. A senior FAA official estimates the agency's overall shortfall at $100 million through Sept. 30, the end of Fiscal 2002, and controller overtime is what worries it most. The Bush Administration's proposed supplemental appropriation for the year includes transfer of $100 million from the Airport Improvement Program.
