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Magazine Issue

Aviation Week & Space Technology November 24, 2014

VOL. 176 NO. 41 November 24, 2014

Air Transport

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Norwegian Has Big Transatlantic Ambitions

Nov 25, 2014
The airline is the latest among the small group of airlines transforming European air transport. While Ryanair and EasyJet prepared the way for low-cost short-haul travel and dominate that segment, Norwegian is third and takes the business model far beyond where the two pioneers stopped.
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Hainan Airlines’ Fuzhou Subsidiary Begins Service

Nov 24, 2014
The new subsidiary, Fuzhou Airlines, will compete at one of the two key bases of China’s sixth-largest carrier, Xiamen Airlines, which plans a big lift in capacity next year at Fuzhou. The new carrier has begun flying to Beijing, and other early destinations will be Shanghai, Xian, Haikou, Taiyuan, Chongqing, Hefei, Kunming and Tianjin.
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Air Berlin Posts Dismal Results, Hires New CEO

Nov 24, 2014
The airline’s board of directors is replacing Wolfgang Prock-Schauer after less than two years at the helm of Air Berlin; veteran German airline executive Stefan Pichler will take over from him in February. Prock-Schauer is to stay on as head of strategy. The carrier’s operating loss in the first nine months widened to €114 million ($142 million).
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New Airbus Beluga Fleet To Enter Service In 2019

Nov 24, 2014
Airbus is launching the second generation of the outsize cargo aircraft that will be based on the larger and heavier A330-200. Five new Belugas will be built, the first of which will enter service in 2019 after a five-year development phase. They will progressively replace the current fleet and take over all special cargo flying for Airbus by 2025.
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ATR Boosts Production To Keep Up With Orders

Nov 24, 2014
Increasing the assembly rate to 10 aircraft per month seems minute compared to Boeing and Airbus, but it is confirmation of ATR’s renaissance in the past decade.
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Scandinavian Legacy Airlines Hoping New Aircraft Will Revive Their Fortunes

Nov 21, 2014
SAS and Finnair still facing challenges, but new aircraft, route expansions and leaner operations give them room to hope
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AACO: Europe Is Practicing ‘Protectionism At Its Worst’

Nov 24, 2014
Middle Eastern airlines are ramping up complaints against European carriers, as major Gulf airlines seek expanded traffic rights in Europe.

Feedback

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Letters From Our Readers (Nov. 24, 2014)

Nov 24, 2014
Overweening Assumptions Two factors stand out in “Revolutionary Roadmap” (AW&ST Nov. 3/10, p. 29). First, Chinese weapon developments may allow them to challenge U.S. air superiority. This isn’t surprising.

Who's Where

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New Positions, Promotions, Honors And Elections (Nov. 24, 2014)

Nov 24, 2014
Michael Rossell has been appointed deputy director general of Montreal-based Airports Council International. He was director of ACI relations with the International Civil Aviation Organization and has been the U.K.’s permanent representative to ICAO and its first vice president. Rossell succeeds Craig Bradbrook, who has become vice president-aviation services at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

The World

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Counting Fireballs as They Hit Earth’s Atmosphere

Nov 24, 2014
Unspecified U.S.-government spacecraft have been detecting the fireballs generated when small asteroids have hit Earth’s atmosphere for the past 20 years at least, and apparently measuring the energy they generate as they burn up.
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Maven Orbiter Sends Back Mars Surface Image

Nov 24, 2014
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) orbiter relayed this surface image from the Curiosity rover before placing itself in a safehold state Nov. 19 that the agency says was triggered by a “timing conflict between commands.” The spacecraft, which initiated full science operations Nov. 16, remained in high-data-rate communications with controllers, who were developing a plan to return it to normal operations.
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XCOR Hot-Fire Tests

Nov 24, 2014
XCOR Aerospace has used its unique piston-pump technology to move two cryogenic propellants in a hot-fire test of the XR-5H25 engine it is developing as a pathfinder for a potential advanced upper-stage powerplant for United Launch Alliance (ULA). It will be in the same class as the RL-10 used on the Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. The Mojave, California, company says it hot-fire-tested the engine’s regeneratively cooled thrust chamber using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen (LH2) pumped with the proprietary technology.
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ISS Materials Grants

Nov 24, 2014
Three materials-science projects will share $800,000 in grants from the non-profit Center for the Advancement of Science In Space (Casis) to flight-test their concepts on the International Space Station. Casis says Alexei Churilov of Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts, will grow scintillator crystals; St. Petersburg, Florida-based Eclipse Energy Systems Inc.
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Airbus Wins Delta Order

Nov 24, 2014
Delta Air Lines has selected the Airbus A350 and A330neo over Boeing’s 777 and 787 to replace Boeing 747s and 767s. The U.S. airline ordered 25 A350-900s to replace 747-400s on Pacific routes beginning in 2017, and 25 A330-900neos to succeed 767-300ERs on transatlantic and other routes beginning in 2019.
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India Leans Toward Sikorsky

Nov 24, 2014
U.S.-based Sikorsky is set to secure a $1 billion tender to deliver 16 Multi-Role Helicopters for the Indian navy after NH Industries, which is linked to alleged scandal-tainted Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, is said to have been eliminated from the contest. “The navy is in urgent operational need of helicopters and we have almost decided to buy the S-70B Seahawk over the NH90, since the government decided to impose a partial ban on group companies of Finmeccanica from all future weapons supply deals,” a senior naval official says.
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Cabin Collaboration

Nov 24, 2014
U.S.-based Bell Helicopter has signed a contract with India’s Dynamatic Technologies to supply helicopter cabin assemblies, a partnership that could generate millions of dollars in business over the next seven years. Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron, will establish Dynamatic as a subcontractor for the assembly of the airframe cabin for its Bell 407 GX helicopters and airframe parts.
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Powering Up

Nov 24, 2014
Air France KLM Engineering and Maintenance has received European Aviation Safety Agency certification to complete MRO services on GE GEnx engines at its Amsterdam Schipol Airport facility. Final testing will be conducted at the group’s test cell in Paris. The GEnx engine will power Air France-KLM Boeing 787s by the end of 2015. In related news, Latam Airlines awarded AFI KLM E&M a component support flight-hour contract for Boeing 767s, 777s and 787s.
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Kaman To Upgrade SH-2Gs

Nov 24, 2014
General Dynamics Canada has awarded Kaman a contract valued at more than $40 million to remanufacture and upgrade four SH-2G Super SeaSprite shipborne helicopters for the Peruvian navy. The deal includes support for a fifth aircraft. GD Canada is prime contractor for the program and will provide the mission systems. The five ex-New Zealand SH-2Gs are being supplied to Peru under a government-to-government deal lead by the Canadian Commercial Corp. New Zealand, meanwhile, is receiving eight upgraded ex-Australian SH-2G(I)s.
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More Openings at NTSB

Nov 24, 2014
NTSB board member Mark Rosekind has been selected by the Obama administration to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, succeeding Peter Strickland, who resigned in December 2013. Rosekind’s departure would leave the NTSB down two members since Deborah Hersman left to lead the National Safety Council. Chris Hart, who has been acting chairman since April, also awaits Senate confirmation.
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U.K. Takes First A400M

Nov 24, 2014
The U.K. Royal Air Force has become the third air arm to operate the Airbus A400M airlifter following the delivery of its first aircraft on Nov. 17. The aircraft was delivered to RAF Brize Norton from Airbus’s final assembly line in Seville, Spain. The U.K. joins France and Turkey, which already are flying the type, and has 22 A400Ms on order.

Clarification

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Funding Explained

Nov 24, 2014
An article on page 44 of the Nov. 17 issue mischaracterized funds Boeing has dedicated to building a worldwide finance information technology system. Not all of the cost is new spending.

Up Front

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Opinion: Rolls-Royce Should Revisit Its Corporate Strategy

Nov 26, 2014
Until recently, the future appeared bright for aeroengine titan Rolls-Royce.

Leading Edge

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Unmanned And Manned Aircraft Will Have To Learn To Rely On Each Other

Nov 25, 2014
Unmanned aircraft are most often viewed as augmenting manned aircraft, perhaps eventually replacing some of them, but a more likely future lies in their becoming intimately essential to each other. Two new U.S. research notices give hints of such an outcome.

Reality Check

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Opinion: Airlines In France Face Headwinds From Government

Nov 27, 2014
New report criticizes government policy toward airlines in France, suggesting remedies to improve competitiveness

Airline Intel

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Is The Small-UAV Threat To Airliners Overrated?

Nov 24, 2014
The danger of a hobbyist or troublemaker flying a small, light, remotely piloted aircraft into the path of a commercial aircraft may be overblown due to the rigorous certification standards already in place for other unidentified flying objects—birds.

In Orbit

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Japan Sending Another Probe To Return Asteroid Samples

Nov 24, 2014
Japan is scheduled to launch Hayabusa-2 on a six-year mission to return samples from the asteroid 1999 JU3. Four landers are designed to explore the C-type asteroid’s surface before the main spacecraft itself touches down for two or three grab-and-go sample harvests.

Washington Outlook

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Intelligence From The U.S. Capital

Nov 24, 2014
Although the FAA has not yet completed rules for how UAVs should be operated in U.S. airspace, it can fine commercial operators for “careless or reckless” flying of unmanned aircraft—even those that cost less than $200. That is the upshot of what being perceived as a “win” for FAA regulators: an NTSB ruling this week on Raphael Pirker’s promotional video for the University of Virginia—shot from a remote-control aircraft.

Defense

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Luftwaffe’s Atlas Remaining In Seville For Further Tests

Nov 24, 2014
After years of delays and cost overruns, Germany is expecting to receive its first A400M in the next few months despite ongoing disputes with Airbus.
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NATO Responds To Provocative Russian Probe Flights

Nov 24, 2014
Russian encounters with civilian and NATO aircraft on the fringes of Europe appear aimed at testing the alliance’s solidarity and resolve
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Russian Sailors Denied Training Access Aboard RFS Vladivostok

Nov 24, 2014
In the wake of continuing hostilities in Ukraine, France is refusing to deliver the first Mistral warship to Russia, in spite of threats
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Afghan Watchkeeper Deployment Tested UAV’s Mettle

Nov 24, 2014
Battle-tested Watchkeeper UAV proved its worth in Afghanistan, and the British Army is now seeking to futher augment its capabilities
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Lockheed Updates Unmanned U-2 Concept

Nov 24, 2014
Lockheed Martin has crafted a new, reduced cost plan to “optionally man” its U-2.
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Radar Contract A Critical Milestone For Typhoon

Nov 24, 2014
Radar agreement expected to help propel the aircraft into the 4.5-generation category.
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Japanese Fighter Research Backs Range Over Speed

Nov 24, 2014
Studies by the Japanese defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute that point to the advantages of big fighters with the fuel capacity and aerodynamic optimization to keep them on station longer. Range alone is not enough, however. The aircraft also should be networked.
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Japan Prepares Designs For Its Next Fighter

Nov 21, 2014
Flying far is more important than flying fast, Japanese fighter technologists have found in studies aimed at defining their country’s next combat aircraft. Researchers are also emphasizing that Japan’s next fighter should share targeting data and carry a big internal load of large, high-performance missiles.

Space

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Orion Flight Test Ready To Take Human Spaceflight Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Nov 26, 2014
Deep space is the ultimate focus of Exploration Flight Test-1, because the Orion capsule is the vehicle that will keep crew members alive during some of the most dynamic minutes of missions to the “proving ground,” around the Moon and, ultimately Mars.
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Final SLS Engines Are Still An Unknown

Nov 21, 2014
NASA’s go-as-you-can-pay approach to exploration-system development means the heavy-lift Space Launch System in development to carry Orion beyond low Earth orbit and eventually on to Mars is very much a work in progress, starting with the engines.
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Lidar Scanner To Boost ISS Earth-observation role

Nov 24, 2014
Cats lidar scanner, to be sent to the ISS by SpaceX, will enable new weather forecasting and environmental observation capabilities

Aerospace Calendar

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Conferences & Exhibitions

Nov 24, 2014
Jan. 13-14—MRO Latin America, Buenos Aires. Feb. 2-3—MRO Middle East, Dubai. March 5—Laureate Awards, Washington. April 14-16—MRO Americas, Miami.
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Upcoming Events (Nov. 24, 2014)

Nov 24, 2014
Dec. 8-10—Middle East Business Aviation. Dubai. See www.meba.aero Feb. 1-3—Routes Americas. Denver. See www.routesonline.com/events/172/Feb. 1-3 Feb. 3-6—NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference. San Jose, California. See www.nbaa.org/events/sdc/2015/ Feb. 11-14—LPBA’s Winter Convention. Sunscape Sabor Resort. Cozumel, Mexico. See www.LPBA.org

Editorial

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Editorial: Gridlock, Lack Of Innovation Threaten U.S. Defense

Nov 26, 2014
Pentagon and Wall Street veterans underscore why the challenges facing the aerospace and defense industry run much deeper than sequestration.
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Editorial: No Basis For DOT To Reject Norwegian Air’s Application

Nov 24, 2014
DOT should allow Norwegian Air International to fly to the U.S.