I disagree with reader Roy Steel's comments contesting the AT-6 decision (AW&ST May 20, p 10). The Beechcraft AT-6 prototype is an American-assembled aircraft based on the T-6 trainer; which itself is a highly modified licensed version of the Swiss Pilatus PC-9.
The price of carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) under the EU Emissions Trading System rallied in May on renewed hopes that EU lawmakers may back a plan proposed by the regulator to withhold supply. EUAs for December 2013 delivery traded as high as €3.80 ($4.92) per metric ton on May 9, up from a low of €2.79 on April 17. April's low was driven by the EU Parliament's rejection of the European Commission's plan to delay or “backload” 900 million EUAs from auctions in 2013-15, and sell them in 2019-20—a move aimed at curbing a supply glut.
What better illustrates the unmanned-aircraft industry's urgent need for airspace integration? On the eve of Paris, Germany is abandoning the €1 billion ($1.29 billion) purchase of four EADS Euro Hawk signals intelligence platforms because the UAS cannot be approved to fly in civil airspace.
Employees receiving The Engineers' Council's Distinguished Engineering Achievement Awards were: Michael Denice for engineering leadership and innovation in the mechanical design, analysis and test of inertial sensors and systems, resulting in superior navigation system performance in demanding environments; Richard Savoie for engineering leadership and mentorship in the field of electromagnetic interference and control design, testing and analysis; and Ragini Saxena for a career leading multi-disciplinary electrical, mechanical, reliability, safety and test engineering tea
“Hyper Drive” (AW&ST May 20, p. 24) states that: “In the 6 min. it took the diminutive vehicle to travel at up to Mach 5.1 over 230 nm to its watery grave, the X-51A program smashed every time-and-distance record for sustained, air-breathing hypersonic flight.”
The U.S. Defense Department has selected three companies for cost-sharing projects to build refineries capable of producing biofuels at costs competitive with petroleum-derived aviation and naval fuels. Emerald Biofuels, Fulcrum BioEnergy and Nature's BioReserve will receive contracts totaling $16 million. They will be matched by $17.4 million in company investments. The contracts will be used to fund Phase 1 of the program, under which the companies will develop plans for first-of-kind biorefineries capable of producing at least 150 million gal.
Maintenance, operations and engineering services for NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) of spacecraft communications links will be provided for at least five years by ITT Exelis, under a contract awarded by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If the McLean, Va.-based company meets the requirements for incentive provisions, the contract can extend to 10 years with a total value of $435 million. Work will include operations and support of the DSN's 10 large antennas, as well as its test, logistics and maintenance/repair facilities, and several communications centers.
I am a long-time reader that can recall when Aviation Week was a highly respected journal that reported technical progress in aviation and included regular introspective reports on aircraft accident investigations as well as the “good” news. Now I find your publication to be devoid of technical insight.
The Avic MA700 turboprop, now due to go into service in 2018, is the aircraft program that more than a few people in China's aircraft industry believe should have launched early last decade. At that time, Avic had built the Antonov An-24 turboprop as the Y-7 and had updated it in partnership with Western suppliers to create the MA60. The next move, so the theory goes, should have been a new turboprop, also built with Western suppliers. “But everyone was impatient,” says a Chinese industry official. “We wanted to make a jet.”
Comac has accepted that it will miss its target to fly its C919 158-seat narrowbody airliner in 2014, industry officials say. The first flight is now scheduled for the second quarter of 2015, says one industry executive. According to the new plan, Comac will roll out the aircraft in December 2014, says that official, adding that the manufacturer is still aiming to achieve its target of a first delivery in 2016—but only just, since the specific aim is now December of that year.
William Blair (see photos) has become Raytheon's vice president/Asia-Pacific regional executive. He was senior executive in India and has been succeeded by Nik Khanna. He was associate vice president of The Cohen Group. William Schmieder has been appointed Brussels-based vice president/regional executive for Europe. He was corporate vice president-international for General Dynamics.
Rankings of publicly traded aerospace and defense contractors are the result of a composite scoring of four equally weighted performance categories that place significant emphasis on operating excellence. Category weightings are based on results of two surveys conducted by Aviation Week with senior management of companies generating annual revenues greater than $1 billion. The four categories are:
Space-launch giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin are getting a boost for their United Launch Alliance (ULA) joint venture from a leading lawmaker in their nascent competition with upstart SpaceX for Air Force business. Rep. Mike Rogers (R), of Alabama—where ULA builds the Atlas and Delta Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV)—has drafted language for the fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill to “ensure the fair evaluation of competing contractors” in awarding launch contracts.
With wildfires forecast to increase this year, the long-running saga of efforts to modernize the U.S. fleet of large firefighting aircraft has taken another turn: The latest attempt to place more modern airtankers under contract has been hit by another protest from a losing bidder. This marks the second time that a contract protest has delayed modernization of the fleet, and lawmakers are pressuring the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to override the protest and get new aircraft into service.
Frank Morring, Jr., in his commentary “Irregular Ordeal” (AW&ST May 6/13, p. 22) asks, “Is the U.S. space program any less important than on-time arrivals for air travelers?” Well actually, yes. The money originally sequestered from the FAA budget would have immediately impacted safety at more than 140 air traffic control towers. It also would strongly affect the ability of this nation to conduct normal commerce—the lifeblood of the U.S. economy.
SkyWest Inc.'s arrangement to acquire as many as 200 new 76-seat Embraer 175s is the latest in a series of orders expected as the reshaped U.S. airline industry moves to larger regional jets (RJ) and sheds 50-seaters. But the deal—valued at more than $8 billion at list prices if all aircraft are ordered—might not be quite as big as it seems.
I would like to add to your ongoing list of readers' opinions of your magazine. I agree with others that Aviation Week has become somewhat more airline/MRO business-centric at the expense of aviation and engineering-related articles. I appreciate the business articles, but they can seem to overshadow the technical achievements taking place in aerospace. I save the special double issues for reference and found the “Double Issue Innovation—The Return of the Prize” (AW&ST March 4/11, p. 48) to be particularly relevant to my work.
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Mark Atkeson has been named general manager of the GA Innovation China subsidiary of Air China and GA Telesis. He represented Pratt & Whitney in a partnership with China to develop engine overhaul operations at Ameco and headed Pratt & Whitney's construction of a manufacturing facility together with Aviation Industries of China.
The complexity of software still to be integrated, and the potential impact of sequestration cuts on development, are calling into question whether the full combat capability will be ready when the Lockheed Martin F-35 formally enters service with the U.S. Air Force and Navy.
Lars Karsten has been appointed chairman of P3 Voith Aerospace of Hamburg. Hannes Mechler has been named chief operating officer and a member of the board. He was an international manager for Airbus. Departing the board will be Michael Hoffmann, Tim Moog and Thomas Weingarten.
