If the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act is passed, it may not only fail to remedy the actual problem, but might make it worse. If the number of flight hours needed to just reach the right seat is increased sixfold, as the bill suggests, it is only logical that the pool of available pilots will be reduced, and regionals will have to start paying higher wages.
The Direct launch vehicle approach seems the most rational for maintaining an advanced human space-faring capability. Technology allows a return to the Moon or missions to Mars, but budget constraints limit the number of missions. Implementation of Option 5C of the Augustine spaceflight commission’s report and development of Jupiter launchers for the Direct approach would allow full International Space Station support, a bigger follow-on station for the 2020s and human missions around the Moon, asteroids and Lagrange points.
Two winners in NASA’s Centennial Challenge competitions plan to use their prize money to develop uprated systems that they hope will return profits. Masten Space Systems, fresh from a million-dollar win in the Lunar Lander X-Prize Challenge (AW&ST Nov. 9, p. 23), hopes to use its vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket technology to launch a commercial enterprise by mid-2010. Dave Masten, founder and CEO of the Mojave, Calif., company, says his team will use the $1.15 million it won to upgrade its Xoie vehicle for higher and faster flight.
It amazes me that you, the FAA, Air Line Pilots Assn., U.S. Defense Dept., and European Aviation Safety Agency continue to ignore the root cause of fatigue: what we eat. Ordinary folks know a heavy holiday meal makes them sleepy. Flight attendants notice that passengers doze after eating. A common sedative for insomniacs is a glass of milk. Savvy executives feed fancy foods to visitors to make them drowsy during after-lunch negotiations. We also know CO2 bubbles in carbonated beverages displace the oxygen that our bodies need to be alert.
Pratt & Whitney Canada has received Transport Canada type certification for its PW535E engine, which is designed to power the Embraer Phenom 300 light business jet. The engine, which generates 3,360 lb. take-off thrust, was selected by Embraer in May 2005. It is equipped with a full-authority digital engine control and includes improvements in the turbine and compressor. Certification comes 26 months after the first run of the engine. The 10-passenger Phenom 300 is expected to receive certification by year-end.
Efforts to rebuild the Iraqi air force have taken a big step forward with this month’s first launch of an AGM-114 laser-guided Hellfire missile from an AC-208 Combat Caravan. The Iraqi air force (IqAF) and its coalition advisers have been working for well over a year to introduce the air-to-ground capability, with a special focus on laying out appropriate rules of engagement for the weapon’s use. A three-person crew belonging to Squadron 3 launched the weapon on Nov. 4 using a bombing range near Al Asad Air Base.
President Barack Obama says he hopes to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons. But Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, overseer of U.S. Strategic Command and the U.S. nuclear arsenal, sees his nukes as here to stay—at least for the next 40 years or so. While noting that his view is “not inconsistent” with that of his commander in chief, he makes the case for continuing to fund the programs needed to keep the U.S. arsenal functional and safe until mid-century.
The main aerospace and defense research associations of Europe and Russia have agreed to work together more closely. Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, representing the Aerospace and Defense Industries Assn. of Europe, and Alexy Fyodorov, representing Russia’s Union of Aviation Industry, formalized the pact in Rome. Among its goals are harmonizing Russia’s airworthiness regulatory framework with European Union legislation; exchanging information about defense and security; and promoting common research activities.
Airline pilot job hiring is not expected to liven up in the U.S. until the economy shows steady recovery. But there is hiring activity among carriers in the Asia-Pacific region, which is showing the first signs of a turnaround. All Nippon Airways, Korean Air and Shenzhen Airlines will be eyeing recruits at the FltOps.com/Flight Safety Foundation Pilot Safety Symposium and Job Fair to be held at New York LaGuardia Airport on Nov. 21. Airline pilots and pilot-wannabes who have registered for the fair are reflecting a wide range of experience—from 201 hr. to 27,091 hr.
NASA will attempt to back the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit out of the patch of soft soil where it has been trapped for almost six months, but acknowledges that if this process fails, the rover will probably be stuck for good.
Barack Obama, as a candidate, pledged to cancel every large government program that is overspending or late on schedule. So did John McCain. Now, as president, facing extensive challenges in new energy, health care or defense programs, Obama and his chief advisers need to take a fresh look at these statements. Are such policies really serving the U.S. well? The answer is: not really. The issue involves a deeper understanding of the nature of complex programs and the challenges associated in managing them.
Irkut, the lead contractor in Russia’s United Aircraft Co., is expected to make key final selections on engines, avionics and flight controls for the MS-21 airliner by Nov. 20. According to industry sources, the move follows Russian government threats to give leadership of the program to an unidentified company if selections are delayed beyond this deadline.
Italy may have figured out how to pay for some of its Afghanistan deployment costs without draining the nation’s defense budget, but government officials will not use the special funding stream recently approved by the parliament to finance major weapons systems.
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Airbus Military has performed the first night refueling from its A330 multirole transport tanker (MRTT). The operation involved four contacts with two Portuguese air force F-16s on the night of Nov. 4. Nighttime refueling between the A310 boom and F-16s was also conducted in July. Airbus says the trials, part of final-phase testing for the A330 MRTT, confirmed the capability of laser infrared lighting and high-definition digital stereoscopic viewing features that equip the airplane’s advanced refueling boom system.
For the first time, the French air force has dropped the Sagem-developed AASM air-to-ground guided weapon equipped with an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker from the Rafale fighter. The IIR version uses its seeker for terminal guidance to increase the weapon’s precision using scene-matching algorithms. During the same mission, the Rafale also fired a radar-guided Mica air-to-air missile, to demonstrate the aircraft’s multi-role capability.
Cilas has delivered a compact mid-infrared laser source for a directed infrared countermeasures project being undertaken by French armaments agency DGA. The Cesam project involved development of a jamming laser source to be used by self-protection suites for military transports such as the A400M. The Cilas source, known as Milda, will undergo flight trials to determine its ability to provide jamming in low and average IR spectral bands.
The communications payload for Hylas-1, a flexible payload Ka-/Ku-band satellite intended to provide broadband satellite service in Europe, has been shipped from the Astrium payload plant in England to Bangalore, India, where it will be integrated with a bus supplied by the Indian Space Research Organization’s commercial arm, Antrix. To be launched in 2010 by Arianespace and operated by U.K. startup Avanti Communications, Hylas-1 will be the second spacecraft to be built jointly by Astrium and Antrix.
Although the worst may be over for the Russian air transport industry—and some carriers are already beginning to turn the corner—precarious finances may cause a number of them to fail before they can recover. On the face of it, the Russian outlook mirrors the situation in other regions. Capacity far exceeds demand and yields are in sharp decline. Although a few airlines are starting to report improved numbers, overall passenger traffic fell 14.1% to 34.3 million in the first nine months, compared with the same period in 2008 (AW&ST Oct. 19, p. 53).
Avic Defense, adopting an increasingly Western approach to military aircraft sales, says it is willing to allow foreign production of its latest export product, the L-15 Falcon supersonic trainer. The aircraft is likely to retain the key advantage of an aircraft from a developing country, however, since the manufacturer is also suggesting it will be cheaply priced.
Capt. (ret.) R.L. (Bud) Keeler, Jr. (Eustis, Fla.)
In “The MIT Connection” (AW&ST Oct. 26/Nov. 2, p. 75), Graham Warwick says the only two requirements for the “third-generation” subsonic aircraft were 180 passengers and a 2,800-nm. range. This is a bit shortsighted by not taking into account the air traffic control environment in which the aircraft will operate. While NextGen ATC may be able to handle aircraft at varied speeds more efficiently than the current system, it eventually will give priority to higher-speed aircraft, certainly while they are still in the majority.
BMI’s low-fare affiliate BMIbaby plans significant cuts to its network and fleet in an effort to trim the losses incurred in the ongoing economic downturn. BMIbaby will take five out of its 17 Boeing 737s out of service and cut up to 160 positions. The network reductions will affect bases in the U.K. cities of Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff. By contrast, the carrier is creating 10 pilot positions and 15 jobs for flight attendants at its main base in East Midlands.
National and international military efforts to provide greater rotary lift for operations in Afghanistan are coming to fruition. Royal Air Force AgustaWestland Merlin helicopters will shortly begin operations in Afghanistan, following the end of four months of training for the deployment, as part of an effort to increase the number of British support helicopters in-theater.
Alitalia plans to become the third partner in the Air France/KLM-Delta Air Lines joint venture as early as next spring. The goal is to conclude negotiations and start operations before the start of summer 2010. The integration will allow Alitalia to share traffic revenues with Delta on Italy-U.S. transatlantic routes. However, it is too early to quantify the respective shares of revenues.
BAE Systems has delivered the last of 24 U.K.-assembled Hawk 132 advanced jet trainers for the Indian air force. India has 66 more of the type on order, the first two of which will be built in the U.K., and the rest license-assembled by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
