Boeing’s push for a more environmentally sound manufacturing platform logged an important milestone last month. Its “green,” or at least less hazardous, fuselage paint reached commercial airplanes for the first time with the delivery to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines of a 777-300ER sporting chrome-free coatings.
The unrelenting slowdown in the commercial aircraft business is forcing French suppliers to readjust their financial outlook, leading several to warn that income this year will be even below their moderated expectations. Aerostructures supplier Latecoere, for instance, last week was forced to revise its earnings guidance to reflect delays in Boeing’s 787 program and Embraer’s regional jet production rate cuts. Revenue, therefore, is expected to be down 25% compared to last year’s level, the company says.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who oversees the service’s Space Command, says he does not yet know the cost or schedule impact of lingering problems with the first Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit. GEO-1 is now undergoing open-door thermal vacuum testing, and Kehler says he hopes that closed-door testing will begin in the next couple of weeks.
I find it ironic that after a highly successful career in the aerospace and defense industry, Norman Augustine writes in “A Race to the Bottom” about the minority status of U.S. citizens among engineering Ph.D.s (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 57).
Air France is asking for help from SkyTeam alliance partner Delta Air Lines to audit the carrier’s safety practices. The French airline has come under fire from some of its pilots for letting safety standards slip in recent years. The accusations have been made in the wake of the crash of Flight 447 on June 1 on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The cause of the accident remains under review. Details on when and how the audit will be conducted remain to be finalized.
BVT Surface Fleet, presently a joint venture between BAE Systems and VT Group, and the British Defense Ministry have agreed on a £309-million ($507-million) seven-year support contract for the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 Daring-class anti-air warfare destroyers.
I was amazed at the letter from Stephen Incledon (AW&ST July 20, p. 8). Every new airplane design is aimed at achieving something new. Otherwise, why build it again? Even when a company decides to build a new airplane, it depends on vendors to provide designs in their specialties. That did not dissuade Airbus from building the A380 or Boeing the 747 or 727. Incledon’s view of the path forward would seem to require that everything being contemplated be previously accomplished. Both Airbus and Boeing contemplate that there will be issues as with the A380 and 787.
Diehl Aerospace and Diehl Aircabin, two joint ventures between Diehl Aerosystems and Thales, have opened a facility in Toulouse for customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Diehl Aircabin was formed last year at Airbus’s former Laupheim, Germany, plant.
CACI International received a $24.5-million task order to provide airborne, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (AISR) ground station support to U.S. Army product managers for the Aerial Common Sensor. The agreement, for one base year and two option years, increases the scope of the company’s AISR business; CACI’s work for strategic services sourcing, overall, exceeds $2 billion.
BAE Systems is “resizing” some sites in the U.K., with at least one, the Woodford facility in Cheshire, due to close in late 2012 when the Nimrod MRA4 production contract is completed. At Samlesbury, 205 positions are in jeopardy when Airbus/Spirit AeroSystems-associated work wraps up. Warton could see the loss of 170 jobs as Nimrod, Tornado and Hawk program-related work winds down, and Farnborough stands to see 111 spots eliminated related to a dearth of Harrier upgrades.
A C-5M Super Galaxy, like the one shown, operating with a joint U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin flight crew, set 41 world aeronautical records in one fell swoop. The Sept. 13 flight from Dover AFB, Del., broke eight world records and set standards in 33 categories where no previous record attempts are noted. Included among the records achieved in the Class C-1.S, jet category are: altitude in horizontal flight, altitude with payload, time-to-climb, time-to-climb with payload and greatest payload to 2,000 meters (6,562 ft.).
An escalating fare war between Brazil’s two dominant carriers, GOL and TAM, has sent walk-up fares down 70-80% in that nation’s 10 largest markets since late August, according to a new JP Morgan analysis. GOL’s walk-up fare on the Rio-Sao Paulo route—the busiest in Latin America—has declined to 135 reals ($75) each way from 439 reals ($244). And with no restrictions other than a round-trip purchase requirement, the discounts are being snapped up by business travelers who normally would pay higher fares.
Regulations may mandate duty-time limits for aviation maintenance technicians, but they cannot fully mitigate the risks of fatigue. Education raises awareness, and human-factors training programs at airlines and independent maintenance organizations are now placing increased emphasis on fatigue and its consequences. The FAA dedicates an entire module to fatigue management in its Operator’s Manual for Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance.
Interrelated technology improvements—all involving advanced radar designs—are driving U.S. defense budget changes and program delays in Fiscal 2011 and beyond.
All three contenders for Brazil’s fighter competition had until Sept. 21 to submit revised proposals, with the air force expecting to complete its technical evaluation by the end of October. The Boeing F/A-18E/F, Dassault Rafale and the Saab Gripen NG are all being considered. The competition has been thrown into disarray by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s pronouncement in favor of the Rafale earlier this month.
Financial problems affecting the world’s airlines may have brought the influx of aircraft orders close to a stall, but some airframers see their long-term prospects as remaining at near pre-downturn levels.
Hawker Beechcraft has teamed with Lockheed Martin to offer the AT-6 derivative of its T-6 Texan II turboprop trainer for the U.S. Air Force’s Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) requirement, if it becomes a formal program. Lockheed Martin will integrate its mission system for the upgraded A-10C into the AT-6, which will be powered by an uprated Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68/10 engine producing 1,600 shp. compared with 1,100 shp. in the T-6.
I found the article “Help Wanted” (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 58) to be most interesting but deficient with respect to the shortage of acquisition personnel.
The Airbus board has given the go-ahead to upgrade A320-family aircraft with winglets. The feature should be on aircraft that come to market by the end of 2012, says John Leahy, chief operating officer for customers. Airbus is still looking at two design options, Leahy says. The upgrade could deliver around 4% fuel-burn savings on long-range flights, Leahy believes, although details will depend on the design implementation. Leahy prefers putting winglets on the A321 first. Airbus plans to provide the feature for new-build narrowbodies and as a retrofit option.
Tantalizing early results from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) indicate hydrogen could exist in more areas of the south polar region of the Moon than thought. Following two months of checkout and calibration, LRO formally began its one-year mapping mission more than a week ahead of schedule, on Sept. 8, in a polar orbit 31 mi. above the lunar surface. Its suite of seven instruments will build a complete atlas of the Moon in unprecedented detail, scouting out lunar resources, radiation levels and possible landing sites for robotic and human explorers.
American Airlines plans to reshuffle its network next year to concentrate even more strongly on its core markets, and is also placing new orders for Bombardier CRJ700s that will almost double the size of this fleet.
William DeCota, aviation director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, died Sept. 11 of an undisclosed illness. He was 52. DeCota was a voice on major airport issues throughout his career, including initiatives to reduce flight delays and modernize aviation facilities and systems throughout the U.S. He joined the Port Authority in 1982 as a financial analyst and was named aviation director in 1999.
Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg says the Canadian satcom operator has until the end of October to exercise an option to secure capacity on ViaSat-1, an 80-100-Gbps. Ka-band satellite to be orbited by ViaSat in 2011. Goldberg notes that the broadband market in both Canada and the U.S. is strong and there is little unused Ka-band capacity available. Telesat supplies Ka-band capacity from its Anik F3 satellite to WildBlue, which is also mulling use of ViaSat-1, and is providing ViaSat-1’s orbital slot.
Sea Launch’s next mission, a Land Launch flight set for November, concerns ILS 15 (Sept. 14, p. 32). Like other Sea Launch/Land Launch rockets, it will be equipped with a Breeze Block DM upper stage.
Dublin Aerospace, a new start-up MRO, plans to open this month on the site vacated by SR Technics at Dublin Airport. “We knew SR Technics had given up trying to sell the company as a going concern and was starting to sell-off their assets and tooling. So we put a group of investors together and created a business plan which, we felt, would make this business relevant in the current environment,” said Connor McCarthy, executive chairman of Dublin Aerospace.
