Richard C. Reid, the British man allegedly carrying a shoe bomb and who was subdued by crew and passengers on American Airlines Flight 63 while enroute from Paris to Miami Dec. 22, was indicted in U.S. District Court in Boston on Jan. 16 on charges of attempting to blow up the Boeing 767 with 183 other passengers and 14 crew. The nine counts against Reid, whom Attorney General John Ashcroft called an Al Qaeda-trained terrorist, include attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder and placing an explosive device on an aircraft. The U.S.
Ukrainian and U.S. space managers are discussing commercial booster, space science and aerospace educational programs that could be undertaken jointly in the two countries. Ukrainian managers recently visited Cape Canaveral to discuss concepts for such cooperation. The delegation included members from the Yuzhnoe State Design Office which builds the Zenit and Cyclone boosters. Officials from Dniepropetrovsk, where the Yuzhnoe plant is located, and other Ukrainian government officials also participated in the visit that was hosted by the Florida Space Authority.
J. Dawson Ransome, who founded Ransome Airlines in 1957 with two Volpar turboprop aircraft and sold it to Pan American World Airways in 1986, died Jan. 9 in Ocala, Fla. He was 81. The Philadel- phia-based commuter carrier eventually flew Dash 7s and over time operated regional service for Delta, Pan Am and the then-USAir. Ransome received the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross for service in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, flying transports over the ``Hump'' to China.
European Space Agency head Antonio Rodota believes U.S. attempts to convince Europe to abandon the Galileo satellite navigation project are driven by commercial, not defense considerations, and that the system will ultimately be approved. Rodota indicated the agency has submitted proposals to allay American concerns about frequency interference and signal security. ESA officials said they expected the proposals to satisfy most of the European countries that had been troubled by the interference issues.
Defense ministers from Germany, France, Britain and Italy met in Bonn last week to inaugurate Europe's new joint arms procurement and management agency, Occar. However, the biggest program entrusted to the agency, the A400M airlifter, has yet to be formally launched. German politicians are scrambling to obtain parliamentary budget committee approval that would allow a contract for the airlifter to be signed, perhaps at defense committee hearings on Jan. 30.
Adopting long-term intrusion and ballistic penetration standards for cockpit doors of most U.S. transport aircraft, the FAA said it will consider applying the standards to additional aircraft and setting additional requirements in the coming months. The agency intends to apply the standards to foreign aircraft if other countries don't.
Airbus' first order in the new year comes from U.S. low-fare carrier JetBlue Airways. The carrier, based at New York JFK International Airport, last week placed a firm order valued in excess of $500 million for 10 additional aircraft for its all-A320 fleet. JetBlue currently operates 22 A320s, has 52 aircraft on firm order and holds options for 49. The new aircraft, like the others in the carrier's fleet, will be powered by International Aero Engines V2500, seat 162 passengers in single-class configuration and offer LiveTV satellite television at each seat.
Shimadzu, Japan's major precision machinery company, is gaining ground on its drive to build its civil aerospace customer base 50%, with its order to manufacture oil pressure sequence valves for Boeing 737s, 747s, 757s and 767s, beginning in January 2003. It holds contracts to make actuators for the 777 and gear boxes for the 767, which account for 10% of its aviation instrument-related revenue; Japan's Self-Defense Ministry makes up the difference. The company's goal is to achieve a 50-50 split between civil and military work.
The successful launch of a fourth Milstar defense communications satellite last week means military forces fighting terrorism will have a more robust network for rapidly moving critical information around the globe.
US Airways last week posted a net loss of $1.17 billion, or $17.35 per diluted share, excluding unusual items, for all of 2001. For the three months ended Dec. 31, the carrier's net loss was $552 million, or $8.16 per diluted share, excluding unusual items. This compares with a loss of $89 million, or $1.33 a diluted share--excluding unusual items--in the fourth quarter of 2000. For the full year in 2000, the carrier's loss was $154 million, or $2.30 per share.
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) has given up on an attempt to retrieve the first stage LE-7A engine from the H-IIA booster it launched last August from the Tanegashima launch center off Kyushu Island. Sailors from the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center have been trying to nail down the exact location of the engine--which fell into 6,000-meter (20,000-ft.)-deep waters off Marcus Island--by homing in on the ping of its recovery beacon.
Robert Gustafson has become principal for systems operations of the Atlanta-based Axiom Corp. He was senior analyst for the Energy Application Service of AMR Research.
Responding to complaints from All Nippon Airways, the Japanese Transport Ministry plans to transfer the coordination of takeoff and landing slots at Tokyo's Narita and Osaka's Kansai international airports from ANA's rival, Japan Airlines, to a third-party organization. ANA calls the current system unreasonable since it requires ANA to give an operational plan to its competitor. Slot coordination is handled by Japan's International Air Transport Assn. office, which has been staffed by JAL employees since 1986, at a time when JAL was Japan's only international carrier.
Millennium Jet Inc., the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based manufacturer that is trying to develop an exoskeleton vertical take-off and landing aircraft, SoloTrek XFV, began manned tests shortly before year-end. The company began with 36 hr. of static tests and another 30 hr. on a rigid safety tether. Chief Engineer Rob Bulaga claimed the tests are at the point where SoloTrek is flying free, although the vehicle is suspended from a crane to prevent an unplanned departure during the hover (see photo).
It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disaster to discuss the matter.--Thucydides Most [nations] see their ruin before their eyes, but they go on into it.--Leopold von Ranke The potential for nuclear conflict on the Asian subcontinent resembles a stencil more than a photograph. The image has a ``now-you-see-it, now-you-don't'' quality.
ESA's new director of strategy, Jean-Pol Poncelet, says Sept. 11 developments are bound to increase the debate within ESA and the European Union on the utlization of dual-use assets for security applications. A joint ESA-EU working group is looking into the issue, and its possible impact on the Union Treaty, under a new joint framework agreement to be drawn up by year-end.
Jeanne M. Liedtka has been named vice president/chief learning officer of the United Technologies Corp. (UTC), Hartford, Conn. She succeeds Robert S. Harris, who is now dean of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. Liedtka was associate dean for MBA education at Darden and will remain as an associate professor.
Amy Anderson Day has been named director of government relations for Boeing headquarters in Chicago. She was director of government affairs for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Amid concern that some Al Qaeda-linked terrorist cells may have eluded capture, Singapore has stepped up security measures throughout the island-nation. Late last week, Asian Aerospace 2002 officials began asking for photographs to accompany requests for trade/exhibition/press passes, an additional layer in credentialing. Show officials did not respond to questions about what other security measures attendees might experience at the Feb. 26-Mar. 3 show, however (see p. 63).
Researchers have been able to detect some potential tropical cyclones more than 40 hr. earlier in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins using satellite data. Researchers from Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies used data from the Quick Scatterometer satellite and the seawinds instrument (see image). Eight of 17 tropical cyclones which developed in the Atlantic in 2001 were detected an average of 43 hr. before they were classified by the National Hurricane Center.
One of the biggest challenges in the next century of flight will be improving on the already very low accident rates of major air carriers. A promising step being taken at large airlines around the world is the Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA). Instead of studying incidents and accidents (failed human performance), LOSA provides a process for analyzing the safety of normal line operations. Rather than focusing on events and finding fault, it offers a systemic and non-punitive assessment by trained observers of everyday operational flights.
Leon Kranz, Scott Roeper and Margaret Hampton have become members of the board of directors of the Ladish Co., Cudahy, Wis. Kranz is president/CEO of Weber Metals. Roeper is managing director of the Facilitator Capital Fund, and Hampton is a manager at Grace Brothers.
Nick Leontidis (see photos) has been appointed executive vice president-simulation products and Bob van Balen executive vice president-aviation training for the Toronto-based Commercial Simulation and Training Div. of CAE. Leontidis succeeds Steve Wilson and was vice president-sales and marketing. Van Balen was CEO of Schreiner Aviation Training.
If events in Afghanistan have convinced France to beef up helicopter and reconnaissance assets, they apparently have had little impact in other areas, such as long-range strike and aerial refueling. Defense Minister Alain Richard said there were no plans to add refueling capacity, other than a tanker variant of the A400M, or to acquire a long-range bomber capability despite renewed evidence in the Afghan theater of the value of such assets.
