Hans Almer, outgoing chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation ’s European Advisory Committee, has received FSF’s Citation for Outstanding Service for his work in advancing air safety. As chairman, he was responsible for The Operators Guide to Human Factors in Aviation. Almer was also recognized for safety efforts while president of Saab Aircraft and with the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Safety Department.
House legislation to buttress nascent science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational efforts has cleared an authorizing committee with strong backing and could be approved by the full House before June, leaders say. The America Competes reauthorization bill would also continue widely bipartisan efforts started under the George W. Bush administration to stimulate federal grant-making for technology modernization.
When the transport ministers of the European Union countries convene this week, they will have an opportunity to do good for the aviation industry. But as usual, the potential for damage is also large. In recent years, aviation has been a whipping boy of governments in Europe. But the disruptions in air travel that Europe suffered last month due to volcanic ash has underscored the economic importance of the industry. Perhaps now transport ministers will seize the opportunity to push some much needed structural improvements.
The business aviation community’s anxiety about Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) is far from over, with operators continuing to express deep misgivings about the system’s administrative burden and cost.
T. Allan McArtor, who is chairman of Airbus Americas Inc. and a former president of the Wings Club , has been named to receive the New York-based club’s 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award on Oct. 22. Before joining Airbus in 2001, McArtor was founder/chairman/CEO of Legend Airlines, FAA administrator, head of air operations for Federal Express and an associate professor of engineering mechanics at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Rainer von Borstel has been appointed president of Diehl Aerosystems , Uberlingen, Germany. He will succeed Rainer Ott, who will be retiring Sept. 10. Von Borstel was head of the aviation sector of EDAG.
European Space Agency scientists are checking out the quality of data generated by the new CryoSat-2 by comparing it with aerial data produced by NASA’s airborne Operation Ice Bridge, a series of DC-8 flights over the Arctic ice to measure its elevation. So far results are good, ESA says, although the Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radar Altimeter (Siral) instrument on CryoSat-2 has only been returning data since April 11 and faces a six-month commissioning period.
Under an FAA airworthiness directive final rule issued April 29, operators of Bombardier Q400 aircraft will be required to replace AOA (angle-of-attack) vane resolvers that could cause vane seizure at low temperatures. The directive, which becomes effective May 14, closely follows the Transport Canada directive of Feb. 2, and outlines the unsafe conditions: freezing of the resolver could restrict the vane’s dynamic behavior, lead to seizure and provide inaccurate AOA data to the aircraft’s stall protection system.
Innovative funding could be crucial in securing a deal to sell advanced jet trainers to Iraq, with Baghdad beginning to consider an acquisition. Sources confirm there have been exploratory contacts with London over the BAE Systems Hawk, although they add that there are other options such as the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 and Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin T-50. Iraq is understood to be also interested in using any advanced trainer in the light attack role. Funding such a procurement for the Iraqi air force faces challenges.
BMI may be downsizing to stop the financial hemorrhaging of recent years, but it has not given up on long-term growth ambitions, even if its pursuit is on hold for the moment.
During the next 18 months, the ability of a conventionally based military to reshape itself into a surgical strike unit that can irreparably damage or misdirect a flexible, quick-learning and fast-moving irregular force will be tested by the U.S. in Afghanistan. That critical period also will see early products from the accelerating convergence of small, precise new weapons and electronic, information and cyber-operations, and their fusion with next-generation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
Raytheon’s new office in Portsmouth, England, will “enable us to work more collaboratively with our [U.K.] customers,” says David Appel, Raytheon Technical Services Co. director of U.K. military training programs. Raytheon is competing for the Royal Navy Fleet Outsourced Activities Project, focusing on low-risk, cost-effective training techniques.
The U.S. Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, has led the charge in combining the service’s intelligence and surveillance capabilities. A new goal for warfighters is to seamlessly fold together conventional and cyber-operations with ISR. That effort will address all types of warfighting while rationalizing missions and budgets. He took time recently to discuss with Senior Military Editor David A.
Surging passenger demand is proving beyond doubt that the U.S. major airlines are firmly in recovery mode. But even as profits appear tantalizingly within reach, the industry faces constant reminders of how easily external forces could undermine its momentum.
Capt. (ret.) Jean-Claude Demirdjian (Los Angeles Calif.)
The NTSB recommendations in its study on glass-cockpit safety of more reading and more “training” are inadequate for the type of problem presented by these cockpits (AW&ST March 15, p. 43). Forty years of flying from 60 kt. to Mach 2, with “steam gauges” in Cessna 150s to Boeing 747s, and the final five years in a glass cockpit (MD-11) taught me: •You do not learn to fly a glass cockpit by reading a book. •You do not maintain the necessary skills by watching others do it.
While the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Antonov may have been on the agenda for the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Kiev, Ukraine, on April 21, the deal will not guarantee the future of the An-70 military airlifter. The moribund program will remain outside the scope of any teaming between Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) and the Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer until the An-70 completes government trials in Ukraine. A draft intergovernmental agreement calling for Antonov to join UAC was drafted prior to the visit.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is delivering eye-popping early images from geosynchronous orbit following its Feb. 11 launch. This multi-wavelength extreme ultraviolet image was taken by SDO on March 30. The false colors correspond to different gas temperatures—red denotes a relatively cool 60,000 K, or 108,000 F., while blues and greens are greater than 1 million K, or 1.8 million F.
The Brazilian air force has formally taken delivery of its first Mi-35 attack helicopters. The government is buying 12 of the Russian helos under a $363.9-million contract. The Mi-35 won out over the AgustaWestland AW129. The defense ministry also indicates the F-X2 fighter competition—which is pitting the Boeing F/A-18, Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen against each other—is to be decided before the end of May.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) David G. Simons, who soared in 1957 in a sealed gondola carried by a balloon to 19 mi. above Earth’s surface, paving the way for human spaceflight, has died. He was 87 and died April 5 of congestive heart failure at home in Covington, Ga.
The British Royal Air Force last week suspended Eurofighter Typhoon training flights shortly after resuming its normal flying program following the discovery of volcanic ash deposits on a few aircraft during post-flight inspection. The affected aircraft are undergoing engine checks. Flights by Typhoons that were on quick-reaction alert were not suspended.
US Airways has pulled out of merger talks with United Airlines after the negotiations failed to produce a firm commitment from the Chicago-based carrier. According to sources, including one involved in the talks, a deal was expected to be signed last week until United shifted its focus to a possible agreement with Houston-based Continental Airlines. Both United and its Star Alliance partner are conducting due diligence, which could produce a merger plan as early as this week.
NASA has awarded a contract to build a testbed for optically guided rendezvous and docking in Mars orbit—a key technique that will be required for a Mars sample return. Such a mission will have to gather a sample from the Martian surface, then launch it into Mars orbit, where it will dock autonomously with the spacecraft that will bring it back to Earth. The Mars Orbiting Sample Retrieval Rendezvous and Docking Testbed will be developed by Aurora Flight Sciences and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Space Systems Laboratory.
Even as Russian airframers are betting heavily on Western engines to revive their fortunes, the nation’s engine manufacturers hope they can reboot their own activities through new commercial aircraft projects.
Northrop Grumman has won a place in NASA’s latest catalog of standard spacecraft for the hardware that formed the background for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross). Based on the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA), the Eagle-S is one of three new space platforms Northrop Grumman is offering that build on past spacecraft, each optimized for specific launch vehicles and missions. Like Lcross, the Eagle-S platform is built to take advantage of excess lift capacity on an Atlas V or Delta IV EELV.
