Vahid Motevalli has been appointed professor and head of the Mechanical Engineering Technology Dept. at Purdue University , West Lafayette, Ind. He was director of the George Washington University Aviation Institute and its Aviation Safety and Security Program. Honors and Elections
The Indian navy has issued a request for information (RFI) for multi-role, new-generation carrier-based fighter aircraft to four aerospace companies: Saab for the Sea Gripen, a navalized version of the JAS 39 Gripen; EADS, for the Eurofighter Typhoon; Boeing, for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet; and Dassault, for the Rafale. The new aircraft likely will be deployed on board the navy’s second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, which is expected to be commissioned around 2018.
U.S. Air Force officials are drafting plans for a 2011 demonstration of a GPS-tracking system for ascending rockets as part of a slow but comprehensive transformation of the Pentagon’s launch ranges. More than 50 years into the U.S. launch program, the infrastructure designed to support rocket programs requires updating in some cases. In other situations, the government needs to off-load excess infrastructure and focus efforts on more efficient satellite launch processing, says Lt. Gen. Larry James, 14th Air Force commander.
Congress has extended government indemnification of commercial launches for three more years. The unanimous vote by senators as they worked toward passage of the health-care-reform measure on Christmas Eve makes government help available for U.S. commercial launch service providers hit by third-party liability claims growing out of mishaps on missions licensed by the FAA. The program was set to expire on Dec. 31. The measure requires no funding unless there is an accident triggering claims, and then only with additional congressional authorization.
Terry Jones has been appointed engineering manager at Twin Commander Aircraft , Creedmoor, N.C. He has been Materials Review Board liaison engineer for Vought Aircraft, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Pemco World Air Services.
Robert Wilson, president of Honeywell Business and General Aviation, has been elected chairman for 2010 of the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. He was vice chairman and head of the Technical Policy Committee. Wilson will be succeeded by John Rosanvallon, president/CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet, who will continue as chairman of the Security Issues Committee.
The Alabama Army National Guard this week is scheduled to take delivery of a new Light Utility Helicopter to support its counterdrug operations and law-enforcement support missions. A UH-72A Lakota will replace the unit’s OH-58 Kiowa, and is the first new aircraft that the Alabama Guard has received in years.
Jazeera Airways is suspending several money-losing routes and delaying introduction of others to improve its financial situation. Service between Kuwait and Mumbai will cease on Jan. 4. The day before, service between Kuwait and Tehran and the Dubai-Bahrain connection will be suspended. Also, flights to Latakia, Syria, were due to commence in mid-December, but that move has been halted with no new date to begin the route from Kuwait yet announced. Flights between Kuwait and Hurghada, Egypt, also have been put on ice, with a resumption planned for June 2.
Kudos to Pierre Sparaco for stating the profound truth: “Flight safety could be significantly improved by strictly enforcing existing rules and regulations” (AW&ST Nov. 30, 2009, p. 51). ICAO, take note, especially with respect to safety management systems (SMS). Arbitrary, nebulous layers of rules and regulations serve only to obfuscate the basic requirements for safety of flight. Fortunately for civil aviation, SMS is finally receiving some pushback. Safety management systems should be rescinded.
Comac has begun building the final-assembly plant that is expected to become the main manufacturing base of China’s challenger to Airbus and Boeing. The plant is due to open in 2012 and to begin making the 156-seat C919 airliner in the following year. It will also build ARJ21 regional jets, currently made in the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, which Comac inherited in 2008. The new plant, in the Pudong district, should be able to build 20 C919s and 50 ARJ21s per year.
Dennis Walsh (see photo) has become vice president of business development for Chromalloy , Orangeburg, N.Y. He was general manager of GE Dallas On Wing Support.
Sikorsky has launched production of its S-76D intermediate twin-turbine helicopter, at an initial rate of one a month, with deliveries planned to begin in 2011. The fuselage for the first aircraft has entered final assembly at supplier Aero Vodochody in the Czech Republic and is planned for delivery to Sikorsky Global Helicopters’ plant in Pennsylvania in April for completion. The company last month delivered the first two S-434 light single-turbine helicopters to Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry.
Toulouse-based regional aircraft maker ATR has opened a logistics support center in Kuala Lumpur to serve its Asia-Pacific region operators. The center will be managed by DHL Supply Chain. ATR also has logistics support centers in Paris, Miami, Auckland and Singapore. “Close to 90 ATR aircraft are operated by airlines of Southeast Asia, a region where we have experienced strong growth during the last few years,” says Jean-Pierre Cousserans, ATR’s senior vice president of customer services.
The world’s airlines saw passenger traffic on international routes rise 2.1% in November from the same period a year earlier and cargo volume increase 9.5%, according to the International Air Transport Assn. It was the first time in 18 months that international passenger and cargo traffic improved simultaneously. While most regions saw year-on-year growth in traffic, carriers in Europe and North America were both down by 3%. Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region recorded 5.1% growth in international traffic, with Latin America up 8.2% and the Middle East improving 16.5%.
A disparate group of engineers and iconoclasts shook up the world of space in 2009 (see p. 46). One of these new space entrepreneurs, Dave Masten, poses in a hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port, Calif. Masten Space Systems won more than $1 million in U.S. federal Centennial Challenge prize money for demonstrating a lunar lander prototype. Aviation Week photo by Chad Slattery.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not blow a hole in an airplane on Dec. 25, but he certainly blew a hole in the confidence many have had for aviation security. That the accused bomber failed was only the result of difficulties in igniting explosives, the bravery of a passenger and the response of the crew.
Nearly half of the noise complaints received during October at Chicago O’Hare International Airport stemmed from 145 people who live in the suburb of Park Ridge. They telephoned 712 times to protest noise, mostly about low-flying aircraft. In all, 1,514 complaints were received during October, the most recent period for which there are tallies. Through the 10-month period, all complaints totaled 12,968, five times higher than the same span in 2008.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps awarded AeroVironment a $23.9-million contract modification for Raven UAV upgrade kits. The contract covers an upgrade for existing analog Raven systems to a digital data link. Full funding for the contract modification was provided by a Defense Dept. supplemental funding bill and has a potential value of $66.6 million. Of that, $42.7 million has not been funded yet, but has been added to the maximum potential value of the contract supporting this program.
There is no question that airfreight operators in Europe have seen a notable improvement in the business environment in recent weeks, but opinions are split on whether the trend is sustainable.
Rocket and other indirect fire attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory were down 90% last year from 2008 levels, the Israeli military says in arguing that Operation Cast Lead—the December 2008/January 2009 military operation in Gaza—led to concrete results. Through Dec. 16, the Israel Defense Forces say 149 rockets, 95 mortar shells and four Grad rockets were fired at Israel last year. The numbers do not include the launches during the 22 days of Operation Cast Lead, so the real number is higher.
Taiwan is paying $1.1 billion for four new U.S. Patriot air and missile defense systems, adding to the units it has already procured and is upgrading. Patriot prime contractor Raytheon has been pushing for more sales in Asia and the Middle East, including a sale recently to the United Arab Emirates. According to the company, the initial contract with Taiwan is worth $956.6 million, with a deal for spares valued at $134.4 million.
NASA has chosen three proposals as candidates for its next New Horizons mission, with final selection planned for mid-2011. The mission is due for launch by the end of 2018 at a cost, excluding liftoff, limited to $650 million.
Planetary scientists using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) are taking advantage of the relatively dust-free springtime atmosphere over the Red Planet’s northern hemisphere to resume terrain observations after a four-month shutdown triggered by a recurrent software problem. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) last month restarted the orbiter, which had been in a safe mode since it spontaneously reset its computer on Aug. 26.
Irkut says the Yak-130 combat trainer completed state tests last month, clearing the fly-by-wire twinjet for operation with the air force. Irkut is delivering aircraft against an initial order for 12, and says it has an export order for 16 from Algeria.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking a third party willing to make available a spacecraft to participate in the planned 2013 on-orbit demonstration of a fractionated satellite network. Darpa’s System F6 program is developing the capability to network a cluster of free-flying satellites so they can wirelessly share resources such as processing, data storage, sensors, communications relay and navigation to replicate the capability of a single larger spacecraft.
