Japan is risking a rapid loss of fighter engineering skills, an official review of the industry warns, urging the government to avoid fully importing combat aircraft.
Northrop Grumman officials oversee a tow taxi test at the U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., of the company’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) designed for the U.S. Navy.
Troubled Sea Launch will face two vibrant, securely entrenched competitors, if and when it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Arianespace, which turns 30 this year, conducted seven Ariane 5 launches in 2009—a new record. It also nailed 11 orders for the Ariane 5 and a record five for the medium-lift Soyuz, which it will begin lofting from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, this year.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is preparing to start the final integration of its first Falcon 9 launch vehicle following a full-duration orbit-insertion firing of the second stage at its McGregor, Tex., facility.
The pilots of the American Airlines Boeing 737-800 (N977AN) involved in the Dec. 22 runway overrun at Kingston, Jamaica, had rejected an ATC advisory to land on alternate runway, and set down on Runway 12 despite reported tailwinds there, according to the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) preliminary factual report.
Michael Mecham (San Francisco ), Robert Wall (Paris)
Rebounding from a year marred by a machinists strike, Boeing hit its delivery target for 2009 but saw its worst year for orders since 1971. The Chicago-based manufacturer delivered 481 airplanes, meeting its 480-485 target. They included 372 737s and 88 777s, both records, reports Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing. It also delivered eight 747-400s and 13 767s.
A heavy rotorcraft that Avicopter plans to develop with Russian Helicopters should go into service in the second half of the decade, produced under a program partly justified by the need for rescue aircraft amid natural disasters.
Astronomers expect significant discoveries to emerge from the deluge of data coming from NASA’s Kepler planet-finder, now that researchers have had time to verify some of the first findings from the orbiting space telescope with optics on the ground. In its first observations, the spacecraft demonstrated that it will be able to find any Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in its field of view. In their first public release of Kepler results on Jan.
Ryanair says it is not looking to mount a third takeover attempt of Aer Lingus, in which it holds a 29.8% stake. With Aer Lingus’s share price continuing to sag, there has been an expectation that Ryanair may use its cash cushion to take over the Irish carrier. But Ryanair says nothing is in the works and as long as the Irish government retains its 25% stake, another takeover bid is “highly unlikely.”
Allegiant Air’s parent company plans a $28.3-million cash purchase for 18 of SAS Group’s surplus MD-80s, with deliveries to be made in the first three quarters of 2010. Allegiant Air plans to place 13 of the aircraft in service by the end of 2011. The 13 are in addition to the previously announced purchase of two MD-80s from SAS, set to be delivered in the first quarter. The other five aircraft will be parted out as sources for spare engines and other components. Allegiant expects to pay less than $4 million per aircraft to prepare the former SAS aircraft for service.
Obama jumps ahead of critics and concerned observers in declaring that systemic mistakes were made by intelligence and security officials ahead of the failed Dec. 25 airline bomb plot (see p. 31). It was not a failure to collect intelligence that almost led to a disaster, the president says, but rather a failure to share the information properly and act on it. “The bottom line is this: The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack.
The U.S. Army plans to begin a competition for the Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance Surveillance System (Emarss), one element of the defunct Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program.
Turkish Airlines’ firm order for 20 Airbus A320-family aircraft, signed late last month, puts the European manufacturer within the 300-gross-order-intake range it set a year ago. The latest deal is for A319s and A321s, with the exact split yet to be determined. Deliveries are due to begin in 2011. Turkish placed orders for 36 Airbus airliners last year, mostly narrowbodies.
The V-22 Osprey’s range and speed, the twin talents of the aircraft most heavily promoted by the U.S. Marine Corps, are revealing themselves in Afghanistan, as readiness and reliability numbers begin to climb steadily throughout the fleet.
Capt. (ret.) Syed M. Husain (Mississauga, Ontario)
While legislation and thought would go a long way toward alleviating scheduling shortcomings, crew rest and fatigue are matters of self-discipline. The Colgan Air accident on which these observations were based was more a result of cost-cutting measures adopted during flight training, leading to sub-standard performance as evident after the NTSB inquiry.
China’s airlines are heading into a “V-shaped” recovery in yields, with growth in domestic air travel greatly outpacing global economic growth, according to a new analysis from the Hong Kong office of Macquarie Equities Research. The government’s continued consolidation of smaller airlines also should benefit China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China in 2010, the report states.
The short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing F-35B engaged its lift system in flight for the first time on Jan. 7 during a test sortie from NAS Patuxent River, Md. Test pilot Graham Tomlinson engaged the shaft-driven lift fan at 5,000 ft. and 210 kt., slowed to 180 kt., then accelerated to 210 kt. and converted back to conventional-flight mode. The Stovl propulsion system was engaged for 14 min. On subsequent flights, the aircraft will fly progressively slower, hover and eventually land vertically.
EADS Astrium Services will carry out a European Defense Agency contract to determine how Europe’s defense ministries can meld their commercial telecommunications satellite needs. Last year, the EDA was given responsibility for coordinating this requirement. The one-year pilot project will seek to define a centralized system—to be called the European Satellite Communications Procurement Cell (ESCPC)—that would purchase and manage the military use of Ku-, Ka- and C-band civil satcom capacity.
Malaysia’s AirAsia and the Qantas group’s Jetstar Airways are likely to deepen cooperation after announcing an alliance whose ambitions so far include seeking to influence the design of future narrow-body airliners from Airbus and Boeing. The planned joint specification from the two budget carriers will present Western manufacturers with a powerful Asia-Pacific-region influence in the design of narrow-body aircraft, just as airlines in the Far East have long been heavyweight players in determining the characteristics of wide-body commercial transports.
The Pentagon’s new year begins with a crashing hangover from yet another round in the aerial refueling tanker procurement fight. Each bidder seems determined to put the other under the table, even as U.S. taxpayers and war-fighters are getting left out in the cold.
Brazil has awarded Eurocopter subsidiary Helibras a contract to modernize 34 AS365K Panther helicopters for army troop transport and light support. The upgrade includes reconstruction of two aircraft and installation of more powerful Turbomeca Arriel 2C2 engines with full authority digital engine control, Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 glass cockpit and 4-axis autopilot. Deliveries will take place from 2011-21.
A new F/A-18C/D Tactical Operational Flight Trainer (TOFT) has been installed at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, to provide instruction for pilots of Fighter Attack Sqdn. 242. The simulator, which replaces an aircrew proficiency trainer, is a high-fidelity device consisting of two individual, networked cockpits for the pilot and weapons sensor operator. It supports both single-seat F/A-18C and two-seat F/A-18D aircraft. In addition, the TOFT can be networked with other training devices, according to manufacturer L-3 Communications Link Simulation & Training.
European defense research and development investment has fallen by nearly €1 billion ($1.4 billion) according to the European Defense Agency, a finding that only serves to bolster industry fears of a continuing downward trend. The EDA figures released recently reveal that R&D expenditures among the 26 member states dropped by 9.5%. European spending continues to fall far behind that of the U.S., with Washington spending almost seven times as much. EDA figures show that in 2008, collective R&D expenditure fell to €8.6 billion from €9.5 billion in 2007.
With lower fares, newer aircraft, inexpensive hotel packages and what some regard as better service, Middle East carriers are gobbling up market share in India at the expense of local and European competitors. The Middle East carriers are using their hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Doha in Qatar as waypoints to seat Indian passengers bound for Western Europe and the U.S.
Republican senators are turning up the heat on Obama’s nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration. Seven of them wrote the White House expressing “serious reservations” about Erroll Southers, and demanding answers to questions about his record as an FBI agent. Their main focus is an ethical violation that drew Southers a censure more than 20 years ago, when he accessed the files of his ex-wife’s boyfriend. Southers initially told senators someone else peeked at the files for him, but now admits he did it himself and claims a hazy memory of the events. Sen.
