The German navy will now likely begin funded study work on a limited upgrade for its AgustaWestland Lynx Mk88 helicopter in 2010, say industry executives, as budget constraints stymied ambitions to begin earlier. The navy is looking at replacing the Lynx’s anti-ship missile armament, and at the same time upgrading the radar on the helicopter. The program is understood to be being driven mainly by concerns about the age of the navy’s Sea Skua anti-ship missile.
Jim McQueeney has become president/chief operating officer of St. Louis-based LMI Aerospace Inc. He was vice president-materiel for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga.
Former astronaut Ken Bowersox has been appointed vice president of the Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Dept. of Space Exploration Technologies , Hawthorne, Calif. He was director of the Johnson Space Center’s Flight Crew Operations Directorate and an independent aerospace consultant, serving on several NASA standing review boards.
NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, who will stay on the International Space Station until at least November as the newest member of its crew, helps replace an ammonia-coolant tank during the first of three extravehicular activities (EVAs) during the space shuttle Discovery’s STS-128 mission to the orbiting laboratory. The 13 members of the combined shuttle and station crews transferred 18,548 lb.
Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) recently demonstrated two cargo container security systems to the Homeland Security Dept.’s Science and Technology Directorate. The demonstrations, conducted at Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico, centered on GTRI’s container security device (CSD) and composite container security system. The CSD is designed to detect unauthorized door opening or removals on marine cargo containers, and can account for normal flexing of the units during transportation without sounding a false alarm.
Sept. 21–23—Ninth Annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Aviation Technology, Integration and Operations Conference; and Aircraft Noise and Emissions Reduction Symposium. Marriott Hilton Head (S.C.) Beach and Golf Resort. Call +1 (703) 264-7500, fax +1 (703) 264-7551 or see www.aiaa.org Sept. 21-24—Air Transport Assn.’s 52nd Annual Non-Destructive Testing Forum. Westin Peachtree Hotel, Atlanta. See www.airlines.org/2009NDTForum
Arsat, the company owned by the government of Argentina that has exclusive rights to operate and market Ku- and C-band telecom capacity at 72 and 81 deg. W. Long., has selected European contractors to help design and build the country’s first indigenous geostationary communications satellite. EADS Astrium will supply the central cylinder, bipropellant propulsion system and satellite processing unit for the Arsat-1 spacecraft, which is to be launched in 2012.
Air Arabia is establishing a low-fare airline affiliate in Egypt by teaming with Travco Group, an Egyptian tourism conglomerate. Air Arabia Egypt will be managed by Air Arabia and follow the model the carrier used in starting up Air Arabia Morocco that became operational in May with a hub in Casablanca. The airline will take advantage of Airbus A320 orders placed by the parent airline group. It operates 20 of the single-aisle aircraft and has ordered 44.
Airbus reached 147 gross orders in August after booking a deal for seven A330-300s for Turkish Airlines. The deal still leaves Airbus far off its 300-order target for the year, however. The aircraft maker suffered no further cancellations, leaving the net year-to-date orders at 22 for all aircraft types.
Christopher Manzuk asks, “When will an insider tell us what’s really going on” with the VH-71 program (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 8)? Based on my quarter-century in the business, here’s my assessment.
Prospects are increasing that both Airbus and Boeing may suffer under World Trade Organization subsidy proceedings. If so, the European Union and the U.S. would face difficult barriers to devising a trade-compliant compromise to sustain financial support for commercial aircraft manufacturing.
China Southern Airlines is seeking a further capital injection from the central government following the 3 billion yuan ($438 million) it received last year, says Chairman Si Xianmin. The company is expected to report a bigger profit in the second half of the year than the 38 million yuan it achieved in the first.
The Comac C919 program will aim to deliver operating costs 10% lower than those of the Airbus A320 and the current series of Boeing 737s. The aircraft will match the cross section of the A320 almost exactly, as Chinese designers mix conventional design features with technology a generation ahead of the aircraft’s aging Western competitors.
Aviation author, historian and former aerospace executive William A. (Bill) Schoneberger has died at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif., aged 83. Schoneberger served as president of the Aero Club of Southern California and helped create the Club’s Howard Hughes Memorial Award which for 30 years has honored lifetime achievements in aviation and aerospace. In the 1970s he took a lead role in efforts to have the club display the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat, nicknamed “the Spruce Goose,” in a huge dome in Long Beach.
The Chinese military appears to be systematically targeting weaknesses in the U.S. way of waging war, dependence on space systems and power projection in the western Pacific, according to a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments report. A more confrontational or hostile China is just one of many complicated threats challenging the U.S. this century, CSBA says. Islamist radicalism and nuclear proliferation also present challenges—and ones far different from the large-scale, high-intensity, conventional warfare at which the U.S. military has excelled. U.S.
Lufthansa is increasing its commitment to training new aircraft mechanics by adding 307 new workers this year—up from 285 in 2008, according to the airline’s maintenance operation, Lufthansa Technik. In 2009, plans call for training a total of 927 new hires in 16 career paths and degree programs including a special course in transportation and logistics services. Next year, a master of science degree in mechatronics will be introduced.
In Europe, there is a clear consensus that the ongoing economic crisis will reshape the airline industry and that carriers will never again be the same—even when better times become a reality. Of course, such proclamations serve as an excellent backdrop for assertive speeches delivered to international audiences. As frequently noted, the European airline industry is extremely good at complaining and is even better at it when the time comes to oppose higher taxes of all sorts or rising airport charges.
NASA is gearing up for a major shift in its human spaceflight program as the Obama administration prepares the space policy it believes the U.S. should follow in the coming decades. It will be very different from the “back-to-the-Moon” effort started under President George W. Bush.
I certainly have no insight into the cause of the Air France crash but I am perplexed by contradictory statements saying in effect “it wasn’t the pitot tubes” and “we don’t know what caused the crash.” I have seen no information that indicates that a rigorous fault tree analysis is being or was performed that addresses how Airbus software responds to all permutations of pitot tube complete and partial failures. Also of interest would be how other aircraft systems are impacted and driven by pitot tube functionality and software responses.
Russia is working on delivery of a batch of MiG-29M Fulcrum fighter aircraft for Syria, but the status of a parallel procurement of a small number of MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors remains uncertain according to a report by Kommersant daily newspaper. Broad agreement covering the sale is believed to have been negotiated in 2007. The Syrian air force already operates earlier models of the Fulcrum. Delivery of the MiG-29Ms was due to begin in 2010, though this date may be slipping.
Hawker Beechcraft has delivered the first two glass-cockpit T-6B Texan IIs to the U.S. Navy at NAS Whiting Field, Fla., following FAA certification of the upgraded turboprop trainer. The Navy plans to acquire more than 260 T-6Bs to replace T-34C Turbo Mentors, and the upgraded avionics supplied by CMC Electronics provide the basis for the AT-6 light-attack/reconnaissance version now under development.
Paris-based Euroconsult reports that commercial satellite Earth observation revenues will pass the $1-billion mark for the first time this year and quadruple by 2018. Some 260 imaging, weather and other Earth-observation satellites worth $27.4 billion will be launched over the next decade, Euroconsult says, almost 25% more in value terms than the past 10 years and more than double in unit terms.
Boeing has completed installation of the General Electric GEnx-2B engines on the first 747-8 Freighter and is beginning the first of a series of functional tests on systems starting with nose and main gear swings. The stretched 747 is expected to be rolled into the paint hangar and judged “factory complete” later this month or early in October. Assuming the ensuing “gauntlet tests” go to plan, first flight is expected around mid-November, meaning that the 747-8 will likely beat the delayed 787 into the air by several weeks.
The Chinese transport ministry has ordered two additional Eurocopter EC225 twin-engine helicopters to reinforce the China Rescue and Salvage Bureau, with deliveries scheduled for 2011. The first two EC225s were delivered in December 2007 and were credited with saving 11 seamen during Typhoon Morakot in August as well as more than 100 lives during the Sichuan relief effort last year. The bureau operates 10 helicopters and two airplanes that are flown by four flight crews.
I’m having trouble understanding Pierre Sparaco’s swipes at airline industry response to safety issues in the wake of the Air France 447 accident. Just one week prior, Aviation Week reported that Air France and other operators made several reports of issues, asked for corrective action, “expressed concern” and lately, “insisted on the ‘urgent need to provide an appropriate response.’” These responses are consistent with the airline industry I know.
