A bipartisan group of House members wants to double budgets for NASA aeronautics and FAA R&D over five years. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) introduces a bill to do so but acknowledges that the best chance for success is to add the funds to the NASA authorization. The House Science Committee, of which Larson is a member, will mark up a NASA authorization late this month. A stand-alone bill would have about five months to make it through committee and floor actions in both houses, no mean feat even if 2002 weren't a congressional election year.
MICHAEL A. TAVERNA ESA managers are still striving to determine the exact number of ATVs to be bui ( NOORDWIJK, NETHERLANDS)
As the European Space Agency prepares to start testing its ATV space tug, program managers are struggling to nail down final production numbers for the vehicle, a key logistics element of the International Space Station. Designed to resupply the ISS, periodically reboost it and carry out waste material, the Automated Transfer Vehicle is one of Europe's main contributions to the multinational effort. The 20.7-metric-ton (45,540-lb.) vehicle will be able to upload 5.5 metric tons of dry cargo, 840 kg. (1,850 lb.) of water, 100 kg. of oxygen or nitrogen and 860 kg.
Researchers at Ohio University's Avionics Engineering Center have modified a fully acrobatic jet trainer from the Czech Republic for testing integrated GPS/inertial navigation system performance. Such tests in the acrobatic environment have thus far been done only with military systems; and in the civil community, with low-dynamic aircraft. Ohio University purchased an old two-seat jet trainer--an AERO Vodochody L-29 Delfin, designed in the late 1950s--as a low-cost entry into integrated GPS/INS tests in a high-dynamic environment.
Although secure cockpit doors remain the primary response to terrorist threats on commercial transports, studies show that cabin video systems, crew-awareness training and enhanced transponders could contribute to tighter security. Initiatives underway also include terrorist neutralization systems and security training programs. Aviation authorities, airlines and aircraft manufacturers, which jointly reviewed post-Sept. 11 needs, have just completed the first phase of the international effort covering measures designed to secure flight decks.
The shuttle Endeavour was rolled to Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for its scheduled May 30 launch to the ISS to exchange the Expedition 4 and 5 crews and install the Canadian manipulator mobile base system on the rail transporter delivered by the last shuttle mission in April.
The future of the A400M military airlifter remained as murky as ever late last week. While all but two nations, Spain and Portugal, have now signed a side letter covering a compromise over German funding issues, the program remains politically vulnerable. Airbus' moves to revise the proposed industry structure, and shifting the headquarters from Spain back to France, saw the resulting resignation of Alberto Fernandez, the CEO of Airbus Military.
Shipments of U.S. general aviation airplanes fell across the board in the first quarter. According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA), 521 aircraft (totaling $2.81 billion) were delivered--compared with 642 units valued at $3.53 billion in the first three months of 2001. Business jet deliveries fell to 173 compared with 916 a year ago, and turboprop units plummeted to 46 from 90. Shipments of piston-powered airplanes decreased 15.2% to 302 from 356 in last year's first quarter.
The French army air corps has taken delivery of the first of 32 EC 145 light-medium twin helicopters for search and rescue, emergency medical evacuation and other civil defense applications. The 4-metric-ton-class EC 145 is a longer, wider 10-passenger version of the BK 117 C-1 developed by Eurocopter with Kawasaki of Japan. The new model, known as the BK 117 C-2 in Japan, sports a Thales Avionics Meghas glass cockpit virtually identical to that on the smaller EC 135 and larger EC 155 twins.
JetBlue Airways now has 76 Airbus A320s on firm order, having recently converted two options for the aircraft. The two new aircraft, to be powered by International Aero Engines' V2500s, are expected to be delivered to the New York JFK-based carrier in December of this year and in May 2003.
The crash of a Mil Mi-8 helicopter in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia took the life of former Soviet Gen. Alexander Lebed on Apr. 28. The helicopter hit a frost-covered power line and plunged into a snowy hillside in a mountainous area, killing eight of 20 people on board. The former army general was a popular politician in Russia in the 1990s and helped defeat a 1991 hard-line Soviet coup that challenged Boris Yeltsin. He later ran for president in 1996 and headed the State Security Council. He also was credited with brokering an end to the 1994-96 war in Chechnya.
The separate findings of two teams involved in the probe of Singapore Airlines Flight 006 are contradictory in focus but complementary at the core. One highlights loss of pilot situational awareness and the other airport infrastructure deficiencies, but both describe the Oct. 31, 2000, crash at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) airport as a ``failure of the aviation system.'' The lead investigator, Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC), released its final report on SQ006 on Apr. 26.
Attracting and retaining the next generation of aerospace professionals is now a top-priority concern for the U.S. and Europe, according to government and industry leaders. However, because children's brains are literally being ``wired'' differently by their ``light screen''-dominated environment today, getting young people to study science and mathematics, then choose aerospace careers, will require much different approaches than have worked in the past.
Sukhoi has emerged as the victor in Russia's long-running design-bureau battle to lead development of its air force's so-called fifth-generation fighter effort. Ilya Klebanov, Russia's industry, science and technology minister, said that on Apr. 26 the government's military-industrial commission made the decision to award Sukhoi the role of lead developer for a fifth-generation fighter to succeed the Su-27 Flanker and MiG-29 Fulcrum. Klebanov added the MiG Corp.
Dramatic changes lie ahead in the way the U.S. Air Force conducts the business of command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, although senior leaders acknowledge that achieving C2ISR ``integration'' will be a daunting challenge. The main goal of the C2ISR initiative is to move data from any sensor to any shooter on the battlefield in a seamless manner to catch the most difficult targets before they can get away. This includes mobile and concealed targets, as well as time-sensitive ones.
Sir Colin Chandler has been named deputy chairman of London-based EasyJet plc, and is expected to become chairman next year when Stelios Haji-Ioannou is scheduled to step down. Chandler was chairman of Vickers Defense Systems.
ANTHONY L. VELOCCI, JR.DOUGLAS BARRIE ( NEW YORK LONDON)
The pending elevation of the president of BAE Systems North America to the board of directors of U.K.-based BAE Systems plc is fueling speculation that further strategic moves to strengthen the parent company's position in the U.S. market may be in the offing. Mark Ronald, who heads the Washington-based subsidiary of BAE Systems North America, is set to join the board in the near future. Analysts, industry observers and some company insiders, however, believe BAE harbors further ambitions in the U.S.
Pressured by members of Congress, NASA is looking for ways to increase the crew size on the International Space Station beyond three to enhance science productivity on the orbiting outpost. But the simplest near-term fix also comes with some congressional pressure. Russia's Soyuz capsules already serve as a three-seat lifeboat for the ISS crew, but NASA runs smack into the Iran Non-proliferation Act if it wants to buy more of them to boost crew size.
Boeing's Connexion will use PeopleSoft's customer relationship management software. Connexion also has settled on Op40's Distributed Internet Service software for its Web-based applications management. . . . DHL Airways is using Maestro Lines and Maestro Crew from SBS International, a Boeing subsidiary, for air crew scheduling. . . . Dassault Systemes has agreed to integrate Hibbit, Karlsson & Sorensen's Abaqus simulation software into its Windows-based Version 5 computer-aided design and manufacturing software. . . .
The Star Alliance is laying plans to expand into Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia as it renews efforts to ensure the efficient integration of its far-flung global airline network. The first new member is likely to be Poland's LOT, which the Frankfurt-based group has been trying to snare for nearly three years. LOT signed a preliminary agreement with Star leader Lufthansa in Warsaw a month ago. Although the accord is initially geared to code-sharing on routes between Germany and Poland, starting on June 1, it is clearly intended as a steppingstone into the alliance.
Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini has been appointed chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica, and Roberto Testore has become managing director. Guarguaglini, who succeeds Alberto Lina, was head of Fincantieri, while Testore is a former top executive of Fiat. The Italian aerospace/defense group's long-overdue management reshuffling is expected to end uncertainties on envisioned strategic alliances and could lead to more domestic consolidation initiatives. Finmeccanica is Alenia Aerospazio's parent company.
Two Russian Tu-95 Bear-H cruise missile bombers were intercepted over international waters off the coast of Alaska by F-15C fighters from Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage in late April. The Bears were believed by U.S. Defense Dept. officials to be on a mission associated with an annual spring training exercise in the Russian Far East.
Astronomers are using the back seat of a NASA F/A-18 fighter to search for Vulcanoids--hypothetical asteroids within the orbit of Mercury. Their orbits would be 0.07-0.21 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, which is at most a 12-deg. spacing as viewed from the Earth. Objects that close are hard to detect because the Sun creates a twilight background, and Vulcanoids have yet to be sighted. The F/A-18 flying high would eliminate much of the atmosphere's glow. The notion of Vulcanoids arose in the late 19th century.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the first U-2S reconnaissance aircraft to the U.S. Air Force with an upgraded cockpit that replaces about 40 1960s-era instruments with three large multifunction displays. The aircraft--delivered to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., last month--is the first of 31 operational U-2S aircraft and four two-cockpit trainers that are to be modified with the glass cockpit at a rate of six aircraft per year through 2007. ``It is a new chapter in the life of the U-2, and likely not the last,'' according to Maj. Gen. Robert F.
An Abidjan, Ivory Coast, court confirmed that Air Afrique will be dissolved. The bankrupt carrier, jointly owned by 11 African governments, investors and Air France, recently ceased operations and could not devise a workable rescue plan.
