Cessna Aircraft Co. test pilots Wayne Spriggs and Bob Rice flew the first production prototype Citation Sovereign on its maiden flight Feb. 27 at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kan. The twin-engine business jet took off at 4:55 p.m. CST and landed 70 min. later. Spriggs and Rice performed a series of basic checks on handling qualities, stability, flap extension and retraction, trim operation and slow flight. FAA certification is tentatively scheduled for late 2003 followed by initial customer deliveries early in 2004.
Sweden and Singapore have developed plans to exploit unmanned aircraft, signaling that UAVs are now embraced by a growing numbers of militaries. For the past five years, Singapore has examined the utility of long-endurance UAVs and now wants to move toward a demonstrator, according to chief defense scientist Lui Pao Chuen.
Rolls-Royce reports that in the past three months it has brought 180 suppliers online to use Exostar's SupplyPass system. The suppliers are transmitting planning schedules, goods receipt reports and invoice documents through the Exostar portal. Rolls-Royce was the fifth manufacturer to become a corporate backer of the Exostar exchange. Program manager Richard Harris said an additional 150 suppliers are to be registered by the end of February.
Eliah Kahn has been named vice president-customer experience and Michael Sands has been promoted to chief marketing officer from vice president-marketing at Chicago-based Orbitz. Kahn was a partner in Accenture.
The Navy is merging two of its communications organizations into one group that will be responsible for managing voice, video and data networks and other major information technology programs. The new Naval Network Operations Command (NNOC) comprises the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Command (NavComTelcom) and the Task Force Navy Marine Corps Intranet, which itself was just formed on Feb. 11. NNOC will be headed by Capt. Charles G. Cooper, the NavComTelcom commander.
The British government's attempt to shift the bulk of its defense aerospace research and developments laboratories into the private sector suffered another slip last week with its decision to abandon a planned sale of stock this year. An anticipated cool reception from the London stock market was blamed. The portion of the labs earmarked for the private sector has been established under the banner of Qinetiq, which accounts for about 75% of what was previously known as the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency.
Japan Airlines is experimenting with wireless access network technology and is installing 10 automatic check-in kiosks at Tokyo's Narita airport to enhance its passenger services. The Internet services will be provided for business-class passengers in airport lounges through a wireless local area network. The LANs are to be installed at 10 domestic and 16 international airports.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and representatives of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers were in negotiations last Thursday night, trying to avert a strike by nearly 6,000 IAM members who work for the defense contractor. Unless the two sides can resolve differences that center on wages and benefits, unionized employees expect to form picket lines on Mar. 11. Five plants would be affected, including ones in Georgia and California.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has been selected by Boeing to develop and produce ground-based boost vehicles for the ballistic missile defense system. The contract is valued at $900 million or more over a period of eight years. As part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, the boosters will carry advanced exoatmospheric kill vehicles intended to destroy long-range enemy missiles in flight. About 70 boosters are currently expected to be built during the next seven years.
Kansai International Airport Corp. will begin offering 50% discounts on landing fees as of Mar. 31 in an attempt to win back airline business that has been deserting the Osaka-region airport in droves. The half-price fee is applicable to new services or additional frequencies of existing services. For example, carriers increasing services from five times a week to seven would get a 50% discount on the two new flights. The half-price rate means the landing fee for a Boeing 747 will be about $3,083, which puts Kansai in a league with Shanghai.
Southwest Airlines officials are uncertain whether the low-fare carrier will post a profit this quarter in the wake of softening load factors and reduced revenue passenger miles flown. Earlier this year Gary C. Kelly, executive vice president and chief financial officer, had been optimistic that the airline would show positive earnings at the end of the quarter after Southwest managed to eke out a slim profit in the fourth quarter of 2001. But the first two months of this year have proven more difficult than Southwest management anticipated.
EADS Co-Chairman Manfred Bischoff is one of four new members of the supervisory board of Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide. The others are: Christian Strenger, a member of the supervisory board of DWS Investment GmbH.; Joachim Vandreike, head of the City of Frankfurt's Sports and Housing Dept.; and Prof. Karel van Miert, head of the University of Nyenrode in Utrecht, Netherlands, and former European Union competition commissioner.
THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF AIRCRAFT OWNER AND PILOT Assns. (IAOPA) has persuaded the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to reexamine provisions of its aviation security guidelines that could threaten operations by general aviation operators. In December 2001, ICAO enacted new security standards that applied to airlines but failed to address general aviation, said John J. Sheehan, secretary general of IAOPA. As a result, IAOPA officials feared that individual nations would write their own security rules, adversely affecting small aircraft.
The outlook for financially troubled Air New Zealand remains difficult following the airline's loss of NZ$75.6 million (US$31.43 million) for the first half of the year ended Dec. 31, 2001. The carrier posted a profit of NZ$40.1 million for the same period the previous year. The negative result was attributed to decreased demand for air travel resulting from the slowing global economy and the September terrorist attacks in the U.S. Passenger revenue dropped 9.2%.
Jimmy Williams, Jr., director of manufacturing process improvement for Boeing Missile and Defense Systems in St. Louis, and the undergraduate student intern he advises--Roberto Young from the University of Memphis (Tenn.) --have won Black Engineer of the Year Awards.
John Ellington has rejoined World Airways as chief operating officer. He succeeds Andrew (Gil) Morgan, who resigned as president/COO. Hollis Harris, who is chairman/CEO, also will be president. Ellington had been vice president of operations/deputy COO.
The U.S. Army Reserve has accepted eight Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Four will be assigned to A Company, 158th Aviation Regiment at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in Florida. The others will go to D Company, 158th Aviation Regiment at Southern California Logistics Airport at Victorville.
Paul Ross will become president of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis effective Apr. 1. He has been senior group vice president-aerospace. Ross will succeed Scott S. Meyers, who has resigned. Nick Vlahakis, who has been group vice president-defense, will become senior vice president/chief operating officer. Succeeding Ross will be Jeff Foote, who has been executive vice president of ATK Thiokol Propulsion, Promontory, Utah. Dan Murphy will become head of the Precision Systems Group. He was head of ATK Tactical Systems.
Emerging Japanese plans for missile defense are caught in a bind between a sick domestic economy and a drumbeat of U.S. warnings about North Korea's ballistic missiles and suspected nuclear capabilities. Japan may decide in the next few years to buy some of the components of a missile defense system before committing to full-scale deployment, probably in a joint program with the U.S.
A group of industry associations wants the feds to get moving on smart cards for aviation security. Last week, they petitioned the Office of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration to implement development of a smart-card based, internal airport access system for airport employees, crews and passengers. For the passenger, it would be the first step toward a ``trusted traveler'' status. The Mar.
In another joint venture, SIA Engineering has linked with Pratt&Whitney and Singapore Technologies Aerospace to open Turbine Coating Services Pte. Ltd. TCS repairs PW4000 turbine airfoils in a shared facility with Turbine Overhaul Services Pte. Ltd. (TOS), which Pratt&Whitney ST Aero opened nearly 20 years ago. TCS will use Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition coating technology in its repairs as well as ``Turbotip,'' a process for applying abrasive material (cubic boron nitride) to high-pressure turbine blade tips to lengthen their service life.
The Transportation Security Administration's $2.50-per-segment passenger security fee subsidizes U.S. airlines and shouldn't be levied at all, the International Air Carrier Assn. complained in a filing to TSA. It's a subsidy because part of it pays for federal air marshals, who fly only on U.S. aircraft. And it's wrong in the first place because governments, not airlines or their passengers, should pick up the tab for security. The Sept.
France has reaffirmed its intent to pursue strong new Mars mission cooperation with NASA, while Russia is also seeking new Mars collaboration with the U.S. The French affirmation means that a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the collaboration--which has been awaiting completion at the U.S. State Dept.--will now proceed, said Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science.
