Aviation Week & Space Technology

In your Person of the Year article, “The Space Entrepreneur” (AW&ST Jan. 4, p. 46), comments by John Marshall of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) need to be corrected. He says “safety standards . . . haven’t been described” for human-rating requirements of space transportation vehicles . In the late 1990s, Space Access participated in several NASA contracts. In one contract, Space Access Program Manager Harry W. Scott and staff compiled a comprehensive set of “Aerospaceworthiness Standards” by working with the FAA, NASA and U.S. Air Force.

The International Air Transport Assn.’s 2009 safety performance data released Feb. 18 show the 2009 global accident rate—0.71 per 1 million flights or one accident in 1.4 million flights—is the second lowest in aviation history, following the 2006 rate of 0.65 . The report notes that 2009’s safety performance is a “significant improvement” over 2008’s rate of 0.81 rate, or one accident per 1.2 million flights. And IATA’s member airlines surpassed the industry average with a rate of 0.62 , or one accident per 1.6 million flights.

Alitalia’s strategy comes in response to Lufthansa’s attempt to add Malpensa as its fourth hub by 2013, with the offering of competitively priced domestic and regional services by its wholly owned subsidiary, Lufthansa Italia. Initial services would include flights to eight European and three domestic destinations, with four cities in Europe to be added this summer. Load factors are still far below expectations, which has forced the German airline to halt plans to launch intercontinental flights from Milan.

USAF Maj. Gen. Stephen Sargeant, commander of the Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., has received the 2009 Gen. Thomas D. White U.S. Air Force Space Trophy . It is awarded annually to a USAF employee for the most outstanding contribution to the nation’s progress in aerospace.

Bombardier Aerospace says 2009 deliveries in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, dropped to 302 aircraft from 349 for the year before. “While indicators of market stabilization have started to emerge, we remain cautious ,” says President and Chief Operating Officer Guy C. Hachey. Separately, Canada’s Jazz Air signed a letter of intent to finalize its firm order for 15 Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft plus 15 options. Deliveries of the aircraft, configured to seat 74 passengers in one class , are expected to start in May 2011 , to replace 15 50-seat regional jets .

Delta Air Lines and US Airways say they will scrap their deal to swap slots at Reagan Washington National and New York LaGuardia airports if the FAA does not change the conditions it wants to attach to approval . Delta seeks the slots for its New York growth strategy while US Airways wants to focus on building its presence at Reagan. But the FAA last week said Delta would have to sell 14 of the 42 slot-pairs at Reagan that it was going to give to US Airways; US Airways would have to sell 20 of the 140 slot pairs at LaGuardia it was going to transfer or lease to Delta.

AeroVironment Inc.’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) campus northwest of Los Angeles is proof that innovation and entrepreneurship are still thriving in some corners of the aerospace and defense industry. The 700-employee company has fielded a line of small, remotely piloted aircraft—one weighs just 1 lb.—that easily fit into a soldier’s backpack. Switchblade, a new kamikaze UAS, is designed to dive into “soft targets,” such as a truck carrying enemy combatants, and blow up.

In his letter, “A Lot More than Pitot Tubes,” Lee Gaillard asserts there is a history of “ systemic problems in A300-series aircraft” (AW&ST Feb. 1, p. 8). The letter presents a n example of defying logic—stringing together factual errors and unconnected events in an attempt to give the impression of a pattern that does not exist. If there were evidence to back up Gaillard’s claims, Airbus and regulatory authorities would have taken action years ago.

CNES Director General Yannick d’Escatha says a planned government bond issue is expected to provide €750 million ($1.02 billion) in additional funding for France’s national space program. One-third of this is likely to go for MegaSat, a broadband access satellite system with fiber-optic-like speed, and another third for definition of a new launcher, the Ariane 6.

Boeing is ramping up for 747-8 Freighter initial airworthiness testing following the first flight of the stretched freighter, which gave an early indication of good fuel economy, stable systems and the bonus of handling characteristics common to its predecessors.

Recessions are painful for virtually everyone touched by them, but they do serve at least one constructive purpose: As a general rule, they speed up the demise of badly managed businesses, freeing up resources and market space for healthier competitors. But this Darwinian process does not always work this way in commercial aviation.

Politics could yet derail French industry aspirations to upgrade Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter aircraft, even as the two sides near conclusion of a deal for the program.

If one is more interested in fixing the problem rather than the blame regarding the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407, either of these suggestions could have prevented this accident.

As a Part 121 airline pilot, I have been closely following the issue of crew fatigue and the Aviation Rulemaking Committee process in your magazine. Perhaps recounting a real-world experience earlier this month would be enlightening ( in local domicile time): •I made sure I went to sleep before entering my wake maintenance zone the night prior to my flight. Awoke at 6:30 a.m., after 8-plus hr. of uninterrupted sleep, for a 8:30 a.m. departure from a field location back to base.

As key European players ponder procurement strategies for medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV requirements, French lawmakers are urging greater effort from their government while offering support for Anglo-French collaboration.

Israel’s Spacecom says it has begun service to Africa with Amos-5i, an interim spacecraft acquired last year from Asia Satellite Telecommunications, where it had been known as AsiaSat-2. Launched in 1995 and built by Lockheed Martin, Amos-5i was transferred to a slot at 17 deg. E. Long. that Spacecom is developing to interconnect Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The spacecraft carries 20 36-MHz. and four 72-MHz. C-band transponders along with nine Ku-band units.

By Apr. 30, Airbus A330 and A340 operators will be required to make a detailed visual inspection of aircraft equipped with a Thales Avionics AOA (angle of attack) probe with Part No. C16291AA to identify and replace parts suspected of causing inaccurate AOA indications—a check ordered by a Feb. 9 European Aviation Safety Agency airworthiness directive. When final assembly line testing revealed that AOA data from two aircraft were incorrect, Thales investigated and discovered oil residue between the stator and rotor parts of the AOA van position resolvers.

Ken McKenzie (see photos) has been named chief operating officer and Chris Grazel vice president-flight operations of Spirit Airlines . McKenzie was executive vice president-operations for WestJest, while Grazel was vice president-operations/chief pilot at Skybus Airlines.

A small corner of southeast Poland has become an unlikely battleground for rotorcraft industry giants AgustaWestland and Sikorsky as the companies seek a toehold in the international market.

John Mohn (see photo) has been promoted to president from executive vice president of Ideal Aerosmith , East Grand Forks, Minn. He succeeds Lonnie C. Rogers, who is co-chairman with President Greg D. Owens.

An FAA-proposed airworthiness directive issued last week aims at preventing fatigue cracking on about 975 Boeing 767 aircraft. The AD expands the area for repetitive, detailed inspection—Station 1809.5 bulkhead—mandated in a previous AD, to include the vertical inner chord. Fatigue cracking in the bulkhead and vertical inner chord could result in failure of the bulkhead structure for carrying the flight loads of the horizontal stabilizer and lead to loss of control of the aircraft, according to the FAA.

Despite a slowdown in business and regional aircraft engine activity, Rolls-Royce was able to boost its order backlog and profit in 2009. However, the engine maker expects performance in 2010 to be merely flat on the military side and decline for the commercial segment. In releasing preliminary results for 2009, Rolls-Royce says its underlying pre-tax profit reached £915 million ($1.43 billion), up 4% from the prior year, bringing the company’s year-end order backlog to £58.3 billion. Revenue topped £10.4 billion, up from around £9 billion in 2009.

The Oneworld airline alliance has staved off the potentially disastrous loss of leading Asian member Japan Airlines, allowing it to refocus on major headaches the alliance is dealing with in other parts of the world.

So now the Coalition of Air Line Pilots wants crew training in behavioral recognition (AW&ST Jan. 11, p. 31). Why? So they can sit behind their locked doors, look out the peepholes and speculate as to what the passengers are thinking? Learning behavioral recognition techniques would be a great exercise for the cabin crew , who actually make eye contact with passengers. But for pilots, use of these skills would be one more thing to cram into a hectic preflight schedule .

Taking the reins of a business in one of the most severe economic downturns of modern times is hard enough, but add to that cancellation of a major government contract , trouble with another and a six-week labor strike, and you get an appreciation of what John Garrison faced when he became president and CEO of Bell Helicopter Textron in August. Garrison sat down with Aviation Week & Space Technology International Editor Robert Wall on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow to discuss Bell’s recovery efforts. AW&ST: How did business hold up last year?