In a move signaling that Bombardier is considering an acquisition of ailing Fairchild Dornier, the Canadian group last week sent an engineering team to the German manufacturer's headquarters to conduct a ``technical evaluation'' of the 728 regional jet program. At ILA 2002, Bombardier executives said the German federal government, Bavarian state authorities and Lufthansa asked the Canadian group to take a close look at the 728.
Controllers at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Va., got a new capability last week, the User Request Evaluation Tool Core Capability Limited Deployment (URET CCLD), which is part of Free Flight Phase 1. Advice from its decision aids frees controllers for more strategic planning, which speeds direct routing to avoid adverse weather and altitude changes for optimum winds. The conflict probe function looks ahead 20 min. to predict conflicts from current paths or changes to flight plans. Mitre developed URET for the FAA.
Alfred Gessow, a prominent researcher and educator in the field of helicopter aerodynamics, died May 2 at a Birmingham, Ala., hospital, while under treatment for a heart condition. He was 79. Gessow coauthored the classic textbook in the field, ``Aerodynamics of the Helicopter,'' which is still in print and widely used 50 years after it first appeared. Gessow joined NACA in 1944, conducting helicopter research, and remained with its successor NASA to manage programs and become director of the Office of Aerodynamics.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Charles G. Boyd has become president/CEO of Washington-based Business Executives for National Security. He succeeds USMC Gen. (ret.) Richard D. Hearney. Boyd was senior vice president/Washington program director of the Council on Foreign Relations. He will remain as its Henry A. Kissinger fellow for national security and European affairs and executive director of the task force on terrorism.
The Pentagon is considering cutting F-22 production by more than 100 aircraft, further reductions in Joint Strike Fighter purchases and possibly building more U-2s as a hedge against rising Global Hawk UAV costs. The proposals are part of a flurry of activity in preparation for Fiscal 2004 budget deliberations. So far, none have led to program decisions. However, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has let service officials know he wants to cut programs, Pentagon officials indicated.
The U.S. is about halfway through a 10-year development process that will produce the first dynamic database for truly integrated, or ``network-centric,'' warfare, say top researchers. This computer-based package--heavily reliant on advanced, high-speed processing and sophisticated algorithms--would gather and integrate available intelligence, identify and prioritize targets and then select the best available weapon within range to carry out the strike.
When the U.S. airline industry found itself financially flattened following the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress rushed to its aid within days with cash grants, loan guarantees and other relief measures. Incredibly, eight months later, as this industry still struggles to regain its footing, lawmakers seem poised to deliver the airlines a good swift punch in the solar plexus. A measure in the House last week would halt the grants and guarantees and, most disturbingly, double the security surcharge on tickets to $5 per flight leg from the current $2.50.
Accidents involving a BAC 1-11 in Nigeria and Boeing 737-500 in Tunisia have emphasized the apparent need to enhance flight safety in Africa. An Executive Airline Services (EAS) twinjet on May 4 crashed in densely populated suburbs 3 min. after takeoff, approximately 1.5 mi. from the Kano International Airport, killing 154 crewmembers, passengers and local residents and injuring many. The impact destroyed an estimated 30 houses, a school and two mosques. Three passengers and a flight attendant reportedly survived.
January world airport traffic continued ``to wallow in negative territory,'' according to Airports Council International data gathered from more than 700 airports worldwide. Compared with the same period last year, passenger traffic was down 10%, cargo 3% and aircraft movements 8%. Airports in the North America region, which handled 90.8 million passengers, showed the largest decline--12%. Latin America/Caribbean airports, which carried 13.9 million passengers in January, and European region airports, which carried 60 million, each showed a decline of 9%.
Susan M. Coughlin, a former vice chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, has been appointed president/CEO of the Washington-based Aviation Safety Alliance, effective June 10. She has been president/chief operating officer of the American Transportation Research Institute.
Walter Kamb, who has been general manager for TAC Air at Shreveport, La., now holds that position at Lexington, Ky. He has been succeeded by Joe Mora, who was general manager at Greenville, S.C. In turn, Mora has been succeeded by Westley Williams.
Boeing has developed a recovery plan it believes can save the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I mission and ultimately meet NASA's contractual requirements for the spacecraft, according to company officials. The plan involves using an alternate pathway within the satellite's propulsion system to pressurize with helium gas a 35-in.-dia. spherical tank in which half of the spacecraft's original load of hydrazine fuel is now trapped (AW&ST Apr. 1, p. 26).
Mongolian Airlines is to replace its Boeing 727-200s with 737-800s, beginning with a lease from GATX Financial Corp. for initial aircraft. They are expected to be delivered to the Ulan Bator-based carrier in July.
Aviation Week's Aerospace 25 stock index has climbed past the point where it was trading this time last year. As of May 1, it had gained more than 23% since the start of 2002, versus a 5.4% decline for the Standard & Poor's 500 (see opposite page). The primary driver, of course, has been military-oriented companies. Furthermore, securities analysts continue to believe the macroenvironment remains very favorable for defense stocks. The gains were especially broad-based last week, propelled partly by solid earnings reports (Moog Inc.
CMC Electronics will supply its GPS-based CMA-900 flight management system and CMA-2102 high-gain satcom antenna to Japan Airlines for its Boeing 747 flight deck avionics upgrade program. CMC has firm orders for 18 sets of equipment, and options for 16 more, which it says will make this the largest single upgrade of classic Boeing 747 (-200, -200F and -300) avionics. Initial deliveries are due next year.
Not to be outdone by the House, a group of senators plan to submit their own version of legislation to arm pilots against hijackers. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) offered a bill last week to force the Transportation Dept. to get off the dime on guns in the cockpit (see p. 38). Senate insiders say Bob Smith (R-N.H.) wants to put together ``something better'' than what Young and Mica proposed, with stronger liability protection for pilots and airlines and more emphasis on cargo carriers.
EIICHIRO SEKIGAWAMICHAEL MECHAM ( TOKYO SAN FRANCISCO)
Japan's Fair Trade Commission, which had said the takeover of domestic carrier Japan Air System by Japan Airlines would create an oligopoly, has reversed itself and approved the deal. The FTC acted three days after JAL and JAS submitted a revised acquisition plan on Apr. 23 that conceded key takeoff and landing slots at Tokyo's all-important Haneda airport, promised lower domestic fares and transferred counters, gates and boarding bridges at Haneda to startups.
Frustrated over what it sees as prolonged government inaction, the Air Line Pilots Assn. has persuaded key House members to put forward a bill that within 90 days of passing would force the Transportation Dept. to allow pilots to carry guns and use deadly force to defend the cockpit. ``If the Administration won't do this, Congress has a right as the spokesman of the people to do it,'' said Rep.
Rocket System Corp. President Yoshihisa Tsuda has advised Japan's Space Activities Commission that the H-IIA's high launch cost is likely to cause RSC to lose Space Systems Loral (SSL) as a customer. When Rocket System Corp. initially began marketing the H-II on a premise of price competitiveness, SSL signed for 10 launch reservations. It subsequently lowered that list to eight, and Tsuda said it may drop those as well, leaving the H-IIA with a single launch contract--the Japanese Ministry of Transport's MTSAT-1 replacement satellite--in 2003.
Most engineering organizations have a variety of computer tools that are used to define a vehicle, but the programs don't play well together. For example, the overall shape may be defined by Catia, the old-but-proven performance program may be in Fortran, costs are calculated on an Excel spreadsheet, and the aerodynamic and structural grid definitions of the airplane are in completely different systems. The incompatibilities require a lot of hand effort to transfer data between the programs, and running optimization studies can be very tedious.
Katherine A. Gray has been appointed vice president-procurement and material management of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems Sector in Baltimore. She was director of sector business operations and succeeds Russell T. Bahner, who is now chairman of the company's e-Procurement and Materials Integrated Product Team.
Michael Fortson was named Distinguished Engineer of the Year at the 2002 National Society of Black Engineers Golden Torch Awards. Fortson is director of Joint Strike Fighter affordability and continuous improvement for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth and a design engineer with responsibilities related to development of the next-generation strike aircraft.
