The new national agency charged with securing U.S. commercial aviation could find its federal marching orders modified based on would-be shoe bomber Richard Colvin Reid's defeat of European security screening.
MICRO ELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS (Mems) devices could be in use to detect explosives and chemical/biological agents for protection of buildings and ships in 2-3 years, according to officials at the FAA and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Mems technology offers the prospect of low-cost devices, with increasing sensitivity. Micro-resonators, which are not commercially available yet, appear particularly promising for vapor detection, they say.
Alcatel Space is preparing to pare its workforce and investment outlays as a result of an unexpected slowdown in demand, despite a recent order upturn and plans announced barely a year ago to sharply expand satellite production capacity. The manufacturer landed a 150-million-euro ($135-million), five-year award from French national space agency CNES to provide support services at Europe's launch complex in French Guiana. It also won a $118-million telecom satellite contract from APT of Hong Kong.
A light, single-engine 1946 Aeronca 7AC aircraft took off without a pilot Dec. 27 in Sonoma County, Calif., and crashed about 2 hr. later on a ridgeline near Petaluma. Owner and pilot Paul Clary of San Rafael told FAA officials he was working on the engine with the throttle in full open position. When the engine started the airplane accelerated and took off. The airplane's emergency locator transmitter led search parties to the crash site.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will impose a fee of $2.50 per domestic or international passenger enplanement at a U.S. airport, limited to $5 per one-way trip and $10 per roundtrip, to pay for security measures mandated last November by Congress. Airlines will collect fees for tickets sold on or after Feb. 1 and remit them monthly to the TSA. The fee was set at the maximum permitted by law because security services will cost more than the fee will bring in, according to the agency. By conservative estimate, costs will exceed $1 billion through Sept.
America West Airlines has had to dig much deeper than its officials originally thought to qualify for a $380-million U.S. loan guarantee that may stave off bankruptcy for the Phoenix-based carrier or even liquidation. By a 2-1 vote, the Air Transportation Stabilization Board conditionally approved the federal loan guarantee to cover 85% of a $445-million financing package that could grow to $600 million after concessions, financing and financial assistance are counted.
Complying with a congressional mandate and an inspector general's recommendation, the Transportation Dept. intends to increase reporting requirements so airlines cannot simply state how many flights were late or canceled but must provide reasons as well. The department has set a Feb. 25 deadline for comments on a proposed rule that would apply initially to the 12 U.S. airlines that report delays, but may eventually include other large carriers and their code-share partners.
Boeing has taken another step in its expansion into nonmanufacturing operations by offering to act as a digital library for the thousands of pages of technical and engineering reference documents that airlines use to run their maintenance, repair and overhaul operations. Last week it said it will host ``customer content'' as a feature on the company's MyBoeingFleet.com Web site, an online retrieval library for maintenance, engineering and flight operations catalogs, drawings and data.
After waiting more than two decades, astronomers will move another step closer to exploring the infrared region of the universe when two major elements of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) are joined this month.
Turbomeca has begun development of a 1,200-shp. turboshaft engine intended for 5-6-metric-ton-class helicopters. The engine, dubbed the Ardiden TM333 2C2, was launched at the Paris air show with India's Light Attack Helicopter (LAH) as its first application. The LAH version, called the Shakti, will be codeveloped and assembled by Hindustan Aviation Ltd., under an agreement signed in 2000 (AW&ST Sept. 4, 2000, p. 41).
Alliant Techsystems has been awarded a contract from BAE Systems in Austin, Tex., to develop and demonstrate solid propellant insensitive munitions (IM) rocket motors for the U.S. Army's Mongoose countermine system program. The Mongoose system is a rocket-deployed array of countermine shaped charges designed to provide a cleared path though anti-vehicle minefields by explosively neutralizing surface-laid and buried mines. The system's shaped-charge neutralization technology will clear a wide variety of mines regardless of the fuze.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul providers in the U.S. are cooperating with airlines to cut costs and readjust work schedules as the aviation industry copes with fallout from the terrorist attacks, but demand for freighter conversions remains high as cargo carriers brace for a business upturn this year.
While the public may never learn of the results, the Pentagon is beginning to assemble its ``lessons learned'' from the Afghanistan campaign. A team seemingly dominated by aviation specialists is leaving for a two-week fact-finding trip to the country. The eight-member group is led by Air Force Gen. (ret.) James McCarthy, who participated in a similar examination of the Kosovo air campaign. Other members include USAF Gen. (ret.) Larry Welch, Vice Adm. (ret.) David Frost, Army Gen. (ret.) Glenn Otis and former Pentagon advanced technology specialist Larry Lynn.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has lifted a ban imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the release of 3D terrain elevation measurements made over the U.S. by the NASA/NIMA shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) flown two years ago. Restrictions, some of them in place prior to Sept. 11, remain on the release of higher resolution SRTM terrain elevation data over other countries--including Afghanistan. NIMA imposed the initial U.S. data restrictions to make sure its policy was in line with overall national security policy in the wake of the Sept.
German airship producer CargoLifter is attempting to interest Airbus in a modified plan to transport A380 subassemblies from its production facilities in Germany, Spain, the U.K. and France to its final assembly line in Toulouse. Airbus has already made a decision in favor of a land route between the French cities of Langon, on the Gironde River, and Toulouse in order to meet the program's tight schedule. The A380 is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2004 and to enter service in the second quarter of 2006 (AW&ST June 18, 2001, p. 106).
Chengdu-based China Southwest Airlines has become China's fourth major international carrier, a move that should help the nation's putative flag carrier--Air China--with its long struggle to improve operations.
Europe's political leaders are hoping that the successful introduction of the euro and the deployment of a British-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan will provide renewed impetus to European unification. The switchover from local currencies to euro bills and coins, which began smoothly on Jan. 1, is not expected to have an immediate economic impact, because the euro has already been in use for currency transactions for three years (AW&ST Jan. 18, 1999, p. 54).
Microsemi Corp. has received an 18-month, $7.5-million contract for its military/aerospace inflight entertainment semiconductor products. The contract from Rockwell Collins includes all of Microsemi's semiconductor classifications: power management, RF/management and optoelectronics, transient protection and power conditioning.
Citing the rapid rate of commercial computer development, President Bush has relaxed limits on computer and microprocessor exports to so-called ``Tier 3'' countries, including China, India, Pakistan, Russia, parts of southeastern Europe and the entire Middle East. Bush notified Congress last week he would raise the ceiling on computer performance levels. The pro-business Bush White House bought the rationale of America's high-tech companies.
Diplomatic efforts led by the U.S. and others last week tried to avert a fourth round of war between India and Pakistan, sparked by India's assertion that terrorists from Pakistan were responsible for a Dec. 13 attack on the Indian parliament that left eight dead. But both countries moved tactical ballistic missiles into place and positioned armored columns along the disputed Kashmir border. Pakistan's mobilization included Shaheen (Chinese M-11) missiles from a base near Sargodha, 150 mi. west of Lahore. India deployed its Prithvi missiles. Indian air chief marshal, S.
Peter B. Teets has been sworn in as undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force and director of the National Reconnaissance Office. He is a former president/chief operat- ing officer of the Lockheed Martin Corp.
As predictable as the Sun rising, there are already worries about requirements, mission and price creep in the F-35, formerly the Joint Strike Fighter. The program has a built-in dilemma. The Air Force wants the airplane as a low-cost adjunct to its high-end F-22, and therefore will seek to keep per-copy costs down. The Navy, on the other hand, will want to maximize capabilities of what will become its lone stealthy aircraft. Lockheed Martin appears to have anticipated this problem and sought to take care of it in the initial design.
The Israeli government has appointed a steering committee to evaluate how and when to privatize state-owned airline El Al. Other tasks of the committee include negotiating the sensitive topic of operations on the Sabbath, hotly opposed by the religious right, and resolving the fractious employee pension plan issue. There is no timetable scheduled for privatization.
BAE SYSTEM'S TACTICAL AIRCRAFT DIRECTABLE infrared countermeasures (TADIRCM) prototype successfully defended a QF-4 drone in two live-fire tests recently conducted at the Naval Weapons Range at China Lake, Calif. One test involved an IR-guided surface-to-air missile, while the other was an air-to-air missile. The TADIRCM, developed by the company's Information&Electronic Warfare Systems operation in Nashua, N.H., uses a two-color IR missile warning system whose algorithms were developed by the Naval Research Laboratory.
