Among the major U.S. airlines, America West is, by its own description, the closest to the brink. As detailed in its Securities and Exchange Commission filing for the third quarter of 2001, America West is in big trouble. It needs to borrow money but might not be able to, it has suspended payments to lessors and vendors despite the risk of foreclosure proceedings, it lacks financing for 20 Airbus narrow-body aircraft set for delivery from December 2002 to December 2004, and it plans to apply by year-end for a federal loan guarantee.
Developing cutting-edge technology and intelligence-gathering methods dominate U.S. counterterrorism efforts today. But a comprehensive Homeland Security battle plan will have to employ a broader spectrum of weapons to eradicate long-term problems, such as terrorist funding, as well as a stealthy threat known as ``ultra-terrorism.''
This Ukrainian-built AN-74 was spotted at Bagram airport just 15 mi. north of Kabul. The light STOL (short-takeoff-and-landing) transport, with Iranian marking, reportedly carried British and U.S. troops to the air base. Iran supplied the Northern Alliance for years, and the British flew large amounts of relief supplies into eastern Iran to feed Afghan refugees camped along the border. Iran ordered more than a dozen of the aircraft in transport and combination passenger, cargo configuration.
The Biometric HandReader identifies a person by the size and shape of their hand, ensuring that only authorized personnel are allowed to enter secured areas. The system offers a positive, nonintrusive, nontransferable means of identification.
Airborne reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering in Afghanistan have improved since combat operations in the Balkans, but continuing shortfalls have solidified U.S. Air Force requirements for additional improvements.
Airline pilot education is changing since a shrinking number of new hires come from military cockpits. In contrast with their civilian-trained counterparts, military pilots brought broader experience in recovering from unusual attitudes and an awareness of the hazardous effects of hypoxia and kinesthetic illusions. These areas are now being covered in the training curriculum for prospective commercial pilots. However, air combat training remains specialized with centrifuge-based simulators providing realistic high g-forces for military pilots.
The AeroGUARD design is a reinforced titanium cockpit door incorporating horizontal vents made of a composite ballistic material. It is designed to resist brute force, ax impact or small arms fire, according to the company. The door is also airtight to prevent gas intrusion. Installed with the door is a camera system that lets the pilots see who is immediately outside. The open-vent door design, along with three hinged panels on the cockpit side, allows pressure between the cabin and the cockpit to equalize in the event of a cabin decompression.
The aviation security bill is now law (see p. 52), but there are many detailed requirements yet to come from the Transportation Dept. Naturally, Congress will want to give some advice on new regulations. So a House Government Reform subcommittee has set a hearing for this week. Among the witnesses: Isaac Yeffet, former security honcho at El Al Airlines.
General Electric is claiming a gas turbine power record for its GE90-115B, which generated a peak 120,316 lb. of thrust during recent tests at the company's Peebles, Ohio, test facility. Steady state power level for the engine was 117,446-lb. thrust. The G90-115B has been selected as the exclusive engine for the Boeing 777-300ER and 777-200LR transports. GE90-115B certification is expected next year and 777-300ER entry into service is planned for 2003.
Amin Mamode has become director of strategy, quality and evaluation of the CNES French space agency. He was deputy director of operations and technical facilities of CNES' launch facilities in Kourou, French Guiana.
Japan Airlines' profits for the first half of the year were down 61.3% based on a 0.3% decline in sales due to a 14% drop in international cargo related to Japan's stagnant infotech economy. The really bad news is that the results do not fully reflect losses stemming from U.S. terrorist attacks. Year-on-year comparisons for October and November are expected to produce passenger declines of 65% and 60%, respectively. Although JAL expects business to pick up in December, it forecasts the full year's slide in profits to be no larger than 10%.
Alain Bensoussan, president of the CNES French space agency, has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his contribution to U.S.-French space cooperation.
Major U.S. airlines, approaching the end of their worst-ever year, are leaving no stone unturned--except, perhaps, for federal loan guarantees--in their search for cash to ride out a storm of uncertain duration. Passenger airlines' combined net losses in the third quarter of 2001, $2.4 billion, were greater than full-year losses in all but two previous years, even though the carriers received about $2.1 billion in federal grants. The fourth quarter is widely expected to be worse, sending losses for 2001 past $7 billion.
Honeywell has been selected to supply its EASy Flight Deck avionics, auxiliary power unit, air management systems and with Parker Aerospace, the hydraulic power generation system for Dassault's Falcon 7X business jet. Honeywell will supply flight controls, a military version of the traffic alert and collision avoidance system, and inertial navigation and air data computers for the engineering and development phase of the Lockheed Martin C-130 avionics modernization program. The two contracts are valued at a total of $1.02 billion.
The next advance in training for strike and fighter pilots will be a combined flight simulator and centrifuge, adding the feel of realistic high g-forces to the cues from a wide-field-of-view visual system, as the pilot maneuvers his aircraft.
Among the issues NASA Administrator-designate Sean O'Keefe will face once he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate is a shortfall of about $500 million in expected savings under the $3.4-billion Consolidated Space Operations Contract, which manages data collection, telemetry and communications across the agency. The CSOC problem adds to the red ink already flowing in the agency's human spaceflight and infrastructure accounts.
The passenger who ran past a security checkpoint at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport earlier this month and disappeared in the terminal will not face federal charges even though the incident caused the airport to be shut down for four hours. As many as 10,000 passengers and employees were evacuated and scores of flights were canceled. Michael Lasseter, a 32-year-old financial executive, was later identified from security camera video and apprehended in the airport as he attempted to buy another ticket. He said he had just been trying to retrieve his camera bag.
Joe Schreiner has been promoted to vice president-third party technical services for AAR Aircraft and Engine Sales and Leasing, Wood Dale, Ill., from director of technical operations.
While the military component of homeland defense is still up in the air, the White House has no shortage of options (see p. 58). Due early next year is the biennial review of the Unified Command Plan--the master document that governs how the Pentagon apportions global responsibilities--so senior Defense Dept. civilians are busy finding various ways to fit the new U.S. theater of conflict into the mix. Rather than establishing a new military fiefdom, they would rather shoehorn the requirement into an existing command.
After the longest inquiry in British planning history, Whitehall has given the go-ahead to Heathrow's Terminal 5, but with strict conditions intended to mediate the fierce political conflict between economic growth and environmental protection that has tied the proposal in knots since it was submitted in 1993.
The Globalstar satellite network could potentially support aviation security applications, including real-time video and audio monitoring of aircraft cabins and cockpits.
Russian investigators are trying to determine why a 40-year-old Ilyushin Il-18 crashed about 125 mi. southwest of Moscow on Nov. 19, killing all nine crew and 18 passengers on board. The Il-18, operated by Moscow-based IRS-Aero, a charter airline, took off from Khatanga airport in northern Siberia at 4:06 p.m. Moscow time. At 9:24 p.m., while at FL250 (25,000 ft.), it vanished from air traffic control radar without emergency radio calls from the crew. A rescue team has found the aircraft's wreckage over an area of about 1.5 mi. that could indicate an inflight breakup.
There are many aerospace-related outcomes from the events of Sept. 11. At least two affect pilots in disparate ways. Air transportation is in a relative free-fall, resulting in 5,692 pilots placed on furlough. That's slightly more than 6% of the total 94,571 active airline pilots, the most pilots on furlough since the early 1990s. At the same time, Air National Guard (ANG) fighter pilots are seeing flight time escalate from the typical eight training sorties per month to as many hours as they can handle flying airspace-protection missions.
Europe's Artemis technology demonstration satellite and Spot 4 imaging spacecraft have successfully established an optical intersatellite link, the first time optical data transmission has been used between civil satellites. The transmission demonstrated the capability of Artemis' Silex data relay system, developed by the European Space Agency, French space agency CNES and Astrium, despite a launch incident in July that left the satellite stranded in the wrong orbit.
