Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
A briefing paper submitted to the Bush Administration outlines a number of "crisis" areas in U.S. aerospace, while proposing solutions to keep the country secure and competitive. The paper, which was originally submitted to the Bush transition team in January, is the work of the Mission Aerospace Task Force.
At NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California, the unpiloted X-43A demonstrator is being prepared to take a record-breaking one-way trip into the Pacific Ocean next month. The flight will mark the first time a non-rocket engine has powered a vehicle at "hypersonic" speeds - higher than Mach 5. After a captive-carry flight at the end of this month, the test flight is scheduled to occur in mid-May.
Imagine a non-visual orientation system that uses the sense of touch to remind a pilot which way is up. The Tactile Situational Awareness System (TSAS), currently under development at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) does exactly that. Developers hope that TSAS could one day greatly reduce the number of air accidents caused by spatial disorientation - a common experience among pilots that costs the Department of Defense an estimated $300 million in lost aircraft each year.
