The good news about the U.S. Air Transport Assn.'s passenger traffic data for April is that they aren't as bad as they seem. The bad news is that they don't indicate much progress toward recovery, as year-over-year percentage decreases remain in double digits. Easter was in March this year and in April in 2001, so this year's April data show more of a drop than in March--11.7% and 8.4%, respectively. The better measure is March and April combined, for which the decrease is 10.0%, a slight improvement over 10.2% in February and 12.5% in January.
Eight months after the horrific events of Sept. 11, the aviation community and others continue to search for and discuss methods to counter or neutralize would-be terrorists. Industry and government have explored a variety of measures, including reinforced and barricaded cockpit doors, lethal and non-lethal weapons in the cockpit, more air marshals, video monitoring of the cabin and, of course, better screening of passengers and luggage to try to keep weapons, bombs and terrorists off airplanes in the first place.
Pratt & Whitney and the U.S. Air Force are discussing ways the engine maker can differentiate versions of the venerable RL10 cryogenic engine used in the upper stages of the new Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, so if one fails, the military could use the other to launch satellites. Lockheed Martin's Atlas V mounts a member of the RL10A line of engines in its cryogenic Centaur upper stage, while Boeing uses the B variant in its Delta III and IV upper stages.
Flights using Arctic polar routes will be able to communicate by voice, when Arinc's new high-frequency ground station goes into operation at the end of June. It is being installed at Point Barrow, Alaska, where Arinc established its HF data link facility in 1999. That site provides the only communication link over the polar ice cap today. Above 80 deg. N. Lat., aircraft cannot ``see'' communications satellites in geostationary equatorial orbits. Increasing use of polar routes to shorten flights from the U.S.
DAVID A. FULGHUMDOUGLAS BARRIE ( WASHINGTON LONDON)
The Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30MK, the high-performance fighter being exported to India and China, consistently beat the F-15C in classified simulations, say U.S. Air Force and aerospace industry officials. In certain circumstances, the Su-30 can use its maneuverability, enhanced by thrust-vectoring nozzles, and speed to fool the F-15's radar, fire two missiles and escape before the U.S. fighter can adequately respond. This is according to Air Force officials who have seen the results of extensive studies of multi-aircraft engagements conducted in a complex of 360-deg.
A ``strategic resources review'' undertaken at NASA back when Administrator Sean O'Keefe was in the White House Office of Management and Budget is grinding along, a year overdue, with infrastructure and personnel issues still undecided. O'Keefe says the agency needs to figure out how to match its decaying infrastructure with the needs of future technology, and to complete an inventory of jobs that might be shifted outside the government.
Smiths Group, through its detection business ETG, is part of a Northrop Grumman team that was recently selected by the U.S. Postal Service to build and test a complete bio-agent detection system. The $3.7-million pilot program is expected to lead to a multimillion-dollar contract, in September, to protect mail-sorting systems and postal employees in nearly 300 sorting offices nationwide.
Britain is now hoping to sign off on the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile contract in July, some two years after the missile was selected. Draft contracts are now with the U.K.'s partner nations: France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Sweden.
John E. Montague has been named a managing director of CSP Associates Inc., Cambridge, Mass. He was vice president-financial strategies for the Lockheed Martin Corp.
The year 2002 is not the most auspicious time for a federal commission to be coming up with ways for the government to spend more money, but that is exactly what the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry intends to do this fall. However tough the sell, key industry representatives on the panel see it as an essential one. Tax cuts, sluggish economic recovery, military buildup, the war on terrorism and homeland security requirements have squeezed the federal budget into deficit again and will keep it in the red most if not all the way to 2010.
Air Force Secretary James G. Roche worries aloud that industry has consolidated to the point where innovation may be stifled. ``I am very worried about companies . . . consolidating to the point where the Air Force will be stuck buying that which someone wants to produce . . . [not] major breakthroughs in combat capabilities,'' he told an Aviation Week/Credit Suisse First Boston conference. On the other hand, his predecessor, F.
A pair of innovative European engine programs is taking shape that could threaten the traditional dominance of U.S. industry leaders Continental and Lycoming and meet long-standing operator demands for a sea change in light aircraft powerplant technology. At the recent ILA 2002 air show in Berlin, Germany's Thielert Aircraft Engines displayed a new 135-hp. diesel engine mounted on a Diamond DA40 four-seat aircraft.
Australia intends to buy two Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles in 2004 and could eventually purchase up to 20 of the endurance UAVs through 2012. Australia wants aircraft for both overland and sea-surveillance. However, funding for the project is still in doubt.
NTSB Chair Marion C. Blakey and Donald S. Phillips, aviation and transportation reporter for The Washington Post, have received honorary doctor of science degrees from the College of Aeronautics in New York. Blakey was cited for her contributions to aviation and transportation-related business, while Phillips, who also was convocation speaker, was honored for his editorial contributions to political and business transportation issues.
Ted Anderson has been appointed director of aviation business development for the SmartSignal Corp., Lisle, Ill. He was vice president-sales and marketing for the AAR Corp.
Carol Woolsey (see photo) has become vice president-marketing and customer relations for Million Air Interlink Inc. of Houston. She was customer service manager.
Fort Worth-based Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has selected two Michigan-based companies to design and manufacture major assembly tooling for the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Visoneering Inc. will be responsible for the wing assembly tooling, and Models & Tools Inc. will provide the forward fuselage major assembly tooling. The program is scheduled to begin next month and run through 2005.
Lufthansa German Airlines' upcoming Boeing Business Jet transatlantic service will test--cautiously and at little risk--what the carrier sees as a small but profitable market of business travelers who are willing to pay premiums for premium point-to-point service. ``We are trying it out,'' Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa CEO and the deputy chairman of Deutsche Lufthansa's executive board, told an industry audience May 21 at the International Aviation Club here.
Malaysia plans a split fighter buy of 12 F/A-18E/Fs and some Su-30MKMs. The deal, first reported by Aerospace Daily, marks the first export of Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Malaysia already operates older F/A-18s as well as MiG-29s.
Jon Romm has been appointed head of global broadcast sales for BT Broadcast Services of Washington. He was general manager of BT North America Broadcast Services and has been succeeded by Bill McNamara.
Walter Berchtold has been appointed vice president-refurbishment and completions and James Harrison director of completions and maintenance sales for Jet Aviation, West Palm Beach, Fla. Berchtold was vice president-SAP implementation, while Harrison was completions manager. Jurg Bislin has been named head of engineering for Jet Aviation Basel (Switzerland). He was head of electrical and mechanical engineering systems for SR Technics in Zurich.
In a self-described ``chilling'' report, the U.S. State Dept. says Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2001, although Teheran condemned the Sept. 11 attacks and offered to assist U.S. aircrews operating in Afghanistan if they went down. Iran increased its support of anti-Israeli terrorist groups such as Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian rejectionist groups like Hamas, the State Dept.'s annual terrorism report to Congress stated.
When the Precision Runway Monitoring (PRM) system becomes operational at Philadelphia International Airport on June 3, the capacity there should immediately increase by 18% in bad weather, and could eventually double. The gain is expected to come from air traffic controllers' ability to more closely monitor the location of aircraft making instrument approaches to closely spaced parallel runways, so the aircraft can operate with separation closer to that permitted in visual conditions.
