Workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., are beginning four months of testing and launch preparation with the twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail) spacecraft, which reached the Florida launch site May 20 from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Denver on a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17. Weighing 200 kg (440 lb.) each, the two spacecraft will be launched into tandem lunar orbits on a United Launch Alliance Delta II early in September.
Kazakhstan is perceived as being backward, but the reality of this diverse country that is strategically located between Russia and China is quite different, and flag carrier Air Astana has been tasked with helping convey that to the rest of the world.
Astronomers using observatories in orbit and on four continents produced these images of particle jets erupting from a supermassive black hole in the galaxy Centaurus A, demonstrating how merging data from multiple sensors is helping science gain unprecedented views of complex phenomena.
The White House is hardening on its threat to veto the defense authorization bill that passed the House last week over an issue pertaining to the General Electric/Rolls Royce F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter. This year, the House Armed Services Committee included a provision that would limit funding for potential F-35 engine upgrades unless the Pentagon provides a competition with the incumbent engine, the F135 made by Pratt & Whitney. Upgrades would be needed if, for example, the aircraft's weight increases.
Boeing is finally getting some love from Wall Street. CEO James McNerney and his management team received a positive response from analysts following an annual investor day on May 24 in Seattle. “We agree with McNerney's view that Boeing has the best growth profile in the industry,” says Credit Suisse's Robert Spingarn. He is hardly alone: Analysts have twice as many “buy” ratings (18) on the U.S. airframer's stock as “holds” (9), with only a single “sell.”
In The World column (AW&ST May 16, p. 15), Boeing's Phantom Eye UAV seems to be mounted on a transportation trolley, not a launch trolley as stated. How does this trolley-launched heavy aircraft land? Binyamina, Israel (It is on a launch trolley, and it lands like a glider, thanks to its nose and rear skid gear, similar to the Condor's—Ed.)
Aengus Kelly has become chief executive officer of Netherlands-based AerCap, taking the reins from Klaus Heinemann, who has retired. Kelly, who was treasurer, earlier worked for Guinness Peat Aviation and its successors AerFi, AirFinance and AerCap in Ireland, Amsterdam and Florida, respectively.
Norbert Marx has been named general manager and Wu RongXin deputy general manager of Guangzhou (China) Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering Co. Marx joins Gameco from Heli-One Inc. in Vancouver. Wu was Gameco's chief financial officer.
Boeing hopes to avoid a further delay to the delivery of the first 747-8F by coming to a speedy agreement with the FAA and Honeywell over whether flight management software in the freighter is sufficiently representative to allow the final step toward certification to begin. Agreement is pivotal to enabling functionality and reliability tests to begin by early June, keeping Boeing on track to achieve certification around midyear.
Dixie Aerospace is acquiring AAR Corp's line of PMA (parts manufacturer approval) parts to complement its own landing gear, engine and interior systems components. AAR says the PMA parts line was a non-core element of its business and represents less than 0.5% of its annual sales, which in 2010 were $1.35 billion. Selling this piece allows AAR to “sharpen our focus on our core business,” which includes MRO, supply chain, aerostructures, and government and defense services, says company spokesman Chris Mason.
Only seven months. This is how long we have left before European airlines suffer a fundamental blow to their competitiveness, falling headlong into a catch-22. I am talking about Jan. 1, 2012—the date when aviation is due to join the European Union's emissions trading scheme (ETS).
If China's new commercial aero-engine company is to compete with the Western propulsion majors in the next decade, as it aims to do, then its planned 30,000-lb.-thrust turbofan will need technical features that even those experienced competitors have lately found it challenging to develop. A first glimpse at the Chinese plans shows that in some areas Avic Commercial Aircraft Engine Co. (ACAE) is playing safe, while in one critical section, the high-pressure compressor, it seems to want to go one better.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the science of modeling and analyzing airflows, is being used more and more in the early stages of air-vehicle design in an effort to reach the optimum configuration more quickly.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James C. McConville, who has been legislative liaison chief in the Office of the Secretary of the Army, has been named commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, Ky. Brig. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, who has been deputy commanding general for operations of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Combined joint Task Force-101, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, has been named director of the Pakistan/Afghanistan Coordination Cell for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
To help more accurately locate threats to aircraft, Israel Aerospace Industries has developed a new radar-warning receiver (RWR) to deliver enhanced geolocation capability. The EL/L-8265—from IAI's Elta unit—is designed to quickly alert pilots about the presence of hostile ground, aerial and naval radar systems.
In “Banking on NextGen” (AW&ST May 16, p. 22), you suggest airlines would voluntarily pay their share for NextGen technologies: “There is no . . . better example of a [significant] return on a modest investment.” . . . “[Airlines are] willing to pay for things that make . . . or save them money.” These statements seem naive. When it comes to finance, airlines can be terribly short-sighted.
The penultimate shuttle mission may not be the storied space transportation system's last, but it will not disappoint historians. On May 19 the crew of STS-134 anchored the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station (ISS) in what scientists hope is a major new tool for cosmic explanations (AW&ST May 23, p. 12). Astronauts Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Mike Fincke have been rotating through four two-man spacewalks outside the station in the last planned extravehicular excursions during the shuttle era.
Air Berlin has come a long way since its inception as a charter airline. Europe's sixth largest carrier is preparing to join the Oneworld alliance next year in what is going to be another metamorphosis. The company describes itself as a hybrid combining low-cost carrier and legacy airline features. But many critics believe the model cannot work in the long run and expect some tough decisions soon. Also, the airline's finances are slowly growing worrisome. Air Berlin photo.
Engelbert Kappen is the new head of transport and aviation in Frankfurt-based Commerzbank's strategic asset finance department, succeeding Matthias Hommel. He was on the structured finance team at Dresdner Bank, which was acquired by Commerzbank in 2009.
In a bid to advance its concept for a carrier-borne Gripen fighter aircraft, Saab says it will open a design center in London. Saab CEO Hakan Buskhe says the concept design phase will take 12-18 months and believes that through rapid prototyping, Saab could deliver aircraft starting in 2018 if it secured a contract. A flight demonstrator may also be built. The decision to base the work in London is linked to design expertise in the U.K., rather than the British navy's move to a catapult and arresting gear carrier approach.
Large telecommunications satellites built in India, Japan and the U.S. are en route to their operational orbital slots after Proton and Ariane 5 launches on May 20 only 1 hr., 23 min. apart. A Proton M/Breeze M carrying the Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 spacecraft, built by Space Systems/Loral for Canada's Telesat, lifted off at 3:15 p.m. EDT from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. At 4:38 p.m.
Johnny Hobayan (see photo) has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing from senior director of sales and business development at Aloha Air Cargo. He was U.S, Defense Department contracts administrator for DHL Express-Hawaii.
The first Boeing 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) “Peace Eye” aircraft for South Korea is entering the final phase of mission system flight testing at the company's Seattle facility, and is on track for likely delivery in August. South Korea, which signed a contract in November 2006 for four Peace Eyes after an extensive evaluation for its EX requirement, expects to receive all four aircraft by the end of 2012. The other three airframes are undergoing modification at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
Defense industry representatives from Australia, Canada, the U.K. and U.S. will meet in London in September as they look for more opportunities for cooperation. “As the challenges of the global economic situation puts pressure on national defense budgets, there is a desire for even closer business cooperation between the four nations' industries,” say U.S. boosters in an announcement from the National Defense Industrial Association. The London meeting, the first with Australian representatives joining the talks, comes after trilateral Canada/U.K./U.S.
Charles Dickens' Bleak House had Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the interminable chancery court case in which legal fees finally consumed the entire estate in dispute. Aerospace has the case of the canceled Avenger. Legal fees are not apt to consume the money at stake here—potentially $3 billion the U.S. government wants from General Dynamics and Boeing because of the failed effort to produce the Navy's stealthy A-12 Avenger II attack aircraft. Still, even a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court last week did not end the battle that began two decades ago.
