NASA is pushing on with its Space Launch Initiative, seeking research proposals on propulsion, crew escape, integrated ground testing and flight demonstrations in a second round of bidding that closes Mar. 27. The agency plans to spend about $500 million this time, over and above the $791 million awarded to 22 contractors last year that was later supplemented with $94.6 million more (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 17; May 28, 2001, p. 30).
AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA HAS CONTRACTED WITH THALES ATM to upgrade The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (Taaats) to an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) capability. The system will then be able to use GPS information sent automatically by data link from ADS-B-equipped aircraft for surveillance. Thales will upgrade the Brisbane Area Control Centre, Melbourne Test and Evaluation platform and the existing simulator. The Australians were the first to implement FANS-1 ADS-C for ATC surveillance.
AChina Airlines Airbus A340 with 237 passengers and 15 crewmembers narrowly averted disaster early Jan. 25 after the Taipei-bound aircraft took off on a taxiway at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Pilots were able to coax the heavily loaded aircraft over a field and a stand of trees between the taxiway end and the open water of Cook Inlet a half-mile away, before flying 10 hr. to Taiwan. Investigators later found 6-8-in.-deep main gear tire impressions in a 2-ft.-high snow berm 20 ft. from the end of the taxiway.
Britain's aerospace sector faces further serious consequences as a result of the dramatic fall in the commercial aerospace market, the result of the Sept. 11 attacks, warns the Society of British Aerospace Companies. It cautions that some additional 23,000 jobs face the ax, on top of the 17,500 already chopped.
Brazil has concluded a pair of preliminary cooperation deals with Russia and Ukraine as part of an effort to develop aerospace and defense ties between the countries. Brazil is already Russia's biggest trading partner in Latin America, with sales of $1.5 billion in 2001--more than 50% higher than the previous year. The figure is expected to reach $2 billion this year. For the time being, however, trade between the two nations is primarily limited to raw materials, agricultural goods and semifinished products.
The Pentagon's Joint Robotics Program could get a funding boost, due to renewed interest for both military and civil applications stemming from the war in Afghanistan and the September terrorism attacks, according to a report from Forecast International/DMS. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's effort to develop technologies for electronic surveillance for high-hazard environments has been funded at about $12 million a year, down from $13.6 million in 2001 but an increase in the $11.3 million allocated in 2002.
The BEA French accident investigation agency's final report on the Air France Concorde crash addresses the rare phenomena that led to the disaster, and adds insight to a precursor incident 21 years earlier. On July 25, 2000, Flight 4590 crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport while engulfed in flames, and it was thought by some to be the first time a Concorde had had an inflight external fire (AW&ST Jan. 28, p. 46).
Aviation Week's Aerospace 25 Index last week posted one of its strongest gains in months--advancing nearly 4% for the week ending Jan. 30. And one of the best-performing component stocks was Raytheon Co.
Japan Airlines and Japan Air System will inaugurate a holding company, Japan Airline System, on Oct. 2 that combines their names as a step in their merger, but the new entity will preserve the better-known identity of Japan Airlines and the family JAL acronym for domestic and international branding purposes. The Japan Air System holding company will start operations with initial capital of 100 billion yen ($763 million) and just 100 employees.
Aviation Week&Space Technology has selected the following Laurels Legends for 2001. The Legends are previous Laurels winners or individuals picked for contributions to global aerospace over a period of years. The descriptions for the previous Laurels winners are excerpted from their citations in the magazine. The Legends also will be recognized at the Apr. 16 dinner. Welch Pogue
NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) ended almost a decade in orbit Jan. 30, when it reentered the atmosphere over Egypt and apparently burned up. Launched on July 7, 1992, the 7,000-lb. spacecraft examined more than 1,000 objects for the first time in extreme UV wavelengths before its instruments were shut down in December 2000. The reentry was uncontrolled, but there were no early reports of surviving debris striking the surface.
The Federal Communications Commission is slated to meet on Feb. 14, and odds are they will deal with the controversy of compatibility between ultra-wide band (UWB) communication devices and GPS receivers.
Capt. Kunietsu Sakuraba, a former managing director of Japan Airlines, chairman of Japan Aircraft Pilot Assn. and one of Japan's best known pilots, died Jan. 25 of cancer. He was 71. Sakuraba graduated from Japan's National Flight Academy and joined JAL in 1954. Before entering management, his flying career was mainly in DC-8s on international routes.
Stephanie W. Bergeron has been named senior vice president-corporate financial operations of the Goodyear Tire&Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. She was vice president/treasurer.
Crossair hopes to promote its plans to establish itself as a long-haul carrier by choosing a new corporate identity. The airline has introduced the new global brand ``Swiss.'' The company's legal name will be changed to ``Swiss Air Lines'' later this year. Swiss Air Lines is a former name of Swissair, which went bankrupt in October 2001. Swiss plans to have finished all repainting work of its fleet by the end of 2003. It will have integrated 26 long-haul and 26 short-haul aircraft formerly operated by Swissair in April and continue to operate the current Crossair fleet.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. says US Airways has not backed pilots who questioned ``illogical security screening practices'' at Philadelphia International Airport. Since Sept. 11, two US Airways captains had been arrested by Philadelphia police, one for questioning a screening procedure and another for making ``statements about the incongruities in the security practices at airports,'' according to ALPA. US Airways fired the first pilot and suspended the second.
Japan's National Aerospace Laboratory has sent two unmanned, rocket-powered test vehicles of a supersonic transport to Australia's Woomera flight test range. Built for the NAL by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the vehicles are 11.5 meters (38 ft.) long and represent an 11% scale model of a supersonic aircraft that could carry 300 passengers. The test articles are to be reassembled at Woomera this month, with a flight-readiness test expected in May. Power comes from a NAL 735 rocket booster motor.
No survivors were found in the debris of a TAME Airlines Boeing 727-100 that crashed into the slopes of a Colombian volcano in heavy clouds while preparing to land in nearby Tulcan, Ecuador, on Jan. 28.
Add Delta Air Lines, America West and AirTran to the list of U.S. airlines that think they are making headway bailing out their financial boats. The three carriers reported varying fourth-quarter and full-year 2001 results and vastly different business conditions last week, but each said it expects to improve its position in 2002.
A new U.S. Navy missile to arm the MH-60 multipurpose helicopter is drawing strong industry interest as one of the few new weapons projects on the horizon.
The World Trade Organization ruled Jan. 28 that the Canadian government violated trade rules when it offered a $1.1-billion loan through Bombardier for the sale of regional jets to Air Wisconsin.
NASA's Odyssey spacecraft has reached its final mapping orbit at Mars and is scheduled to be fully configured to begin its science mission by Feb. 20, according to project officials at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft completed aerobraking Jan. 11, during which its initial elliptical orbit around the planet was reduced by making 332 passes through the upper fringes of the Martian atmosphere. As a result, the spacecraft's propellant requirement was decreased by 440 lb.
Goodrich Corp. and Honeywell International have posted losses for the fourth quarter of 2001, with part of those results reflecting a sharp downturn in the commercial aircraft market. Although Goodrich's performance was better than some Wall Street analysts expected, the company still lost $54 million, or 53 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $73.1 million, or 72 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Frontier Systems logged the ``first flight'' of their unusual A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter that is built to fly much longer and farther than conventional rotorcraft. The aircraft took off from an airfield in Victorville, Calif.--the former George AFB--around 12:45 p.m. PST Jan. 29 and flew for about 20 min., performing several maneuvers and operating both autonomously and under manual control, said Darpa program manager Arthur Morrish.
All Nippon Airways plans to equip the business-class cabin of Boeing 747s with fully reclining sleeper seats on routes to Europe and the U.S. The installation, which includes a wheelchair-accessible lavatory, will require a 30% reduction in business-class capacity and cost about $76 million. ANA also plans to install cameras that allow the pilots to monitor activity in the passenger cabin. If successful, plans call for installing cameras in the entire fleet. In July 1999, a mentally unstable passenger broke into the cockpit and killed an ANA captain.
