Airbus Military and engine consortium Europrop International have backed off a contractual dispute over claim and counter-claim with regard to the development of the TP400-D6 turboprop engine for the A400M military airlifter. Still outstanding is a dispute with Thales, which is believed to focus on the A400M’s flight management system. Separately, contractual talks between A400M customers and EADS to cover cost overruns are moving more slowly than expected.
Airlines are cutting flights to Thailand as political unrest scares off tourists. Japan Airlines says it will halve the number of weekly flights from Osaka and Nagoya to Bangkok next month, and Singapore Airlines plans to cancel more flights this week. Daily operations at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport have fallen to 680 from 750, and the number of tourists arriving into the country has dropped by one-third.
The European Space Agency has initiated a vacuum-test campaign intended to show the ability of a new miniature vegetation camera to withstand the extremes of space operation. The instrument, to be carried by the Belgian-led Proba-V technology demonstrator, will be tasked with viewing vegetation across the globe on a daily basis—a job that for the past 12 years has been handled by Spot 4 and 5 optical imaging spacecraft.
The cabin interior business is showing signs of recovery after a lull caused by delayed aircraft orders and deliveries. “There are signs of an upturn,” says Bob Lange, Airbus head of cabin interiors marketing. The inflight entertainment (IFE) business, in particular, is strengthening. “This has already been a pretty solid year” in terms of activity, says Alan Pellegrini, Thales vice president for IFE business. Thales, in its first-quarter results posted on May 10, said IFE revenue was up 50% year-on-year with new orders “up significantly.”
Laurent Collet-Billon, head of French armaments agency DGA, says the government may take measures, including freezing R&D payments, to force Thales and Safran back to the negotiating table. The two companies earlier this month broke off talks aimed at combining their optronics and other selected electronics businesses when they were unable to agree on terms. DGA says it cannot afford to underwrite R&D programs for two defense electronics contractors.
The Air Transport Association (ATA) is relying on nearly 75 years’ worth of precedent to prevent the National Mediation Board (NMB) from changing how airline unions are certified in the U.S., in a case pitting airline management against unions and NMB members against each other.
In a letter about airline moves to achieve operational cost savings, “The Pitfalls of Saving Money”(AW&ST May 3, p. 10), Karl Kettler says “it is virtually impossible to precisely schedule gate departure/arrival times as well as takeoff/landing times at a major hub airport.”
Honeywell has been using its Boeing 757 testbed to evaluate a Saber low-emissions combustor in an HTF7000 for the Bombardier Challenger 300. Certification trials included inflight starting, inclement weather tests with water ingestion, lean blow-out and snap accelerations and decelerations. This Aviation Week editor observed the latest test flight, which aimed to demonstrate a steady-state performance “health check” and an inflight shutdown and restart.
I was stunned when reading Robert Wall’s article relating to Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the financial and administrative burden it is to air carriers (AW&ST May 3, p. 60). In light of the Climategate and Chicago Carbon Exchangescandals, why do the Europeans continue to perpetuate such a system, which only harms prospects for European Union operators? Although no one denies that aviation adds to the atmospheric levels of CO2, the hypothesis that this impacts global temperatures is far from proven.
Engine manufacturers are set to make unprecedented use of flying testbeds despite the increased availability of ground-based simulation, modeling and testing capabilities.
Honeywell is starting full-engine tests of the first HTF7500E for Embraer’s Legacy midsize and midlight jets and parallel tests of the low-emissions Saber combustor technology with which it will enter service.
Mango and Tango, the two orbiting technology testbeds in Sweden’s Prisma mission, are set for launch from Yasny, in southern Russia, on a June 15 Dnepr flight. Once in orbit, the Prisma spacecraft will test techniques for formation-flying and rendezvous, including the sensors and guidance, navigation and control systems. Also on the agenda are tests of the High Performance Green Propellant developed by Sweden’s Ecaps.
Microtecnica, the highly specialized Italian aerospace company that provides actuation, hydraulics and thermal control systems to engine and airframe prime contractors, is for sale. The British private equity company Stirling Square Capital Partners, which acquired Microtecnica in 2008 in an institutional management buyout, has tasked a merchant bank to find a suitable buyer for the company, which is valued at around €350 million (considering its €200 million annual revenues and a positive gross operating result of more than €30 million).
George T. Whitesides, who stepped down as NASA chief of staff May 11, will rejoin Virgin Galactic as CEO. Whitesides, 36, was a senior adviser to the startup space tourism company owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Will Whitehorn will continue as Virgin Galactic’s president.
Globalstar says an upgrade of its satellite ground control center and approval of the dispenser for its second-generation satellite fleet have been completed, clearing the way to open the launch window for the first six-satellite batch of the new low-Earth-orbit spacecraft. The window will open on July 5 but launch, from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazhakhstan, is likely to wait until September or early October, as indicated early this year (AW&ST Feb. 1, p. 44).
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
The growing overlap of electronic warfare and cyber-invasion is generating excitement around the U.S. Navy’s competition for the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) and the U.S. Air Force’s reentry into the world of airborne electronic attack. A key enabling technology is a six-sided active, electronically scanned array (AESA) that more than doubles the field of view of today’s electronically scanned antennas on advanced aircraft such as the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
Comac plans to use carbon-fiber composite for the center wingbox of its 156-seat C919 narrowbody airliner but stick to aluminum for the outer wing to limit technical risk. The manufacturer aims to develop a completely composite wing for later versions of the aircraft, says an industry source closely involved in the effort. The company’s other project, the ARJ21, is suffering more serious delays.
For several weeks, U.S. airlines have been operating under the threat of fines of up to $27,000 per passenger for any flight delayed on the ground for more than 3 hr. It is hard to disagree with the motivation for this new rule. The airlines need to be held accountable, and some of the most egregious delays have clearly been the result of poor judgment.
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The National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) of the Netherlands has delivered a 1:5-scale model of the Enhanced Rotorcraft Innovative Concept Achievement (Erica) hybrid tiltrotor/tiltwing aircraft to German aerospace facility DLR for initial testing. Part of the European Union’s €35.5-million ($43.8-million) NiceTrip project, the model is intended to mitigate risk associated with tiltrotor technology, particularly aerodynamic interaction, rotor performance and whirl stability.
The first of two new presidential Tupolev Tu-214PU aircraft for the Russian government logged its first flight on May 19. The Tu-214, built by the Kazan Aircraft Manufacturing Association (KAPO), is to serve as an airborne command center and presidential transport in cases where the existing heavy four-engine widebody Ilyushin Il-96-300PU cannot land. The aircraft will be assigned to the aviation detachment of the presidential administration and deliver a range of more than 6,250 mi.
The International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (Ifalpa) is condemning Australia’s plan to amend aviation security regulations governing flight deck access. Ifalpa President Carlos Limon last week detailed two concerns with Aviation Transport Security Amendment 2010/80, which was introduced in early May. First, its structure shifts the legal responsibility for regulatory compliance from the airline to the pilot-in-command, which is counter to international conventions.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood names a new “Future of Aviation Advisory Committee,” and the general aviation community has mixed feelings. The panel is to meet for the first time May 25. One of the appointees is Cessna Aircraft mogul Jack Pelton. That is seen as a plus by the GA crowd, since Pelton is an active pilot, aircraft owner and staunch, respected advocate for the segment. But almost all the other 17 members of the panel are closely affiliated with the airline industry, including four airline presidents and three employee union representatives.
Japan launched its Akatsuki Venus orbiter May 21, sending the probe, also known as Planet-C, and the Venus Climate Orbiter to study the planet’s dense atmosphere. Liftoff from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tannegashima Island launch site came after a five-day delay because of weather. The mission also carries the Ikaros solar-sail experiment.
