Grob Aircraft has delivered the first trainer aircraft since the business was bought out of bankruptcy proceedings by H3 Aerospace. The G-115E trainers were delivered to the VT Group in the U.K. H3 Aerospace did not acquire the business aviation elements of the former Grob Aerospace, with efforts still underway to revive the SPn light jet.
European Union emissions allowance (EUA) prices pushed higher in August, building on the previous month’s gains, on renewed hopes of a global economic recovery.
How often passengers transit the National Airspace System was inadvertently omitted (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 60). Air traffic controllers handle the movement of about 60 million aircraft per year and 2 million passengers per day. International Air Transport Assn. Chief Economist Brian Pearce was misidentified in the AW&ST Aug. 24/31 Market Focus column (p. 14).
Thales Air Defense has developed a lightweight laser dazzle system to meet a British urgent operational requirement (UOR) for Afghanistan. The Less Than Lethal Effect UOR provides the army with a rifle-mounted laser that can be used at vehicle check points. The British Defense Ministry is continuing to support research into laser systems across a breadth of applications.
Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are using lunar-gravity algorithms developed during the Apollo era to measure pressure levels at the bottom of Earth’s oceans. By applying the “mascon”—for mass concentration—calculations to data collected by the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) spacecraft in Earth orbit, researchers have been able to tweak out ocean-bottom pressure measurements.
In an effort to prove that competition does cut costs, General Electric and Rolls-Royce have made an unsolicited fixed-price contract offer for the Joint Strike Fighter alternative F136 engine which they hope will force Pratt & Whitney into a similar move. The contract plan, first revealed in Aviation Week in June, covers a fixed-price offer for around 100 engines in the low rate initial production Lots 5 and 6.
In an aviation oddity best known to graybeards in airline maintenance departments, the windshield frame used on Boeing’s 737 Next Generation series traces its lineage directly back to 1958 and the first successful commercial jet—the 707.
Eclipse Aviation reopened the doors at its Albuquerque, N.M., headquarters and assembly site Sept. 1, nearly six months after closing them, many thought permanently. Eclipse Aerospace, Inc., a new entity founded by Eclipse 500 owners Mason Holland and Mike Press, purchased the bankrupt company’s assets through auction last month in a deal involving $20 million in cash and an equal amount in new notes to old Eclipse Aviation noteholders. The original company spent in excess of $1 billion to design, certify, and deliver the EA 500 very light jet before failing.
The FAA on Sept. 3 immediately adopted an airworthiness directive requiring operators of Airbus A330- and A340-series aircraft to replace certain Thales pitot probes with Goodrich or new-design Thales probes. Malfunctioning pitot probes are suspected as a factor in the June 1 crash of Air France 447, and the NTSB is investigating several other incidents involving speed and altitude anomalies. On Aug. 31, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a similar directive ordering replacements of certain Thales pitot tubes. Operators have 120 days from Sept.
California and federal firefighters are relying heavily on very large air tankers—especially DC-10s and a recently certified 747-200—to supplement their regular fleets as the state’s rugged mountains have exploded in flame over the past two weeks. In that brief period alone, nearly 160,000 acres and 125 residences have burned.
In the early 1980s, Mohamed Hashish turned his doctoral dissertation into something practical at Flow International. He invented a way to add microscopic garnet abrasives to high-pressure waterjets. Industrial waterjets were first devised to serve lumber mills cutting logs. The idea worked, but lack of dependable pumps to assure a high-pressure stream of water made waterjets impractical.
Northrop Grumman Corp. will conduct a refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt under a $2.4-billion contract that will prepare the ship for its second 25 years of fleet service. The work, which is scheduled to take more than three years and involve up to 3,800 workers at the company’s Newport News, Va., facilities, will include refueling the nuclear reactors and extensive overhaul of combat systems, catapults, the flight deck and the island.
SpaceX has been selected to launch 18 satellites for Orbcomm’s second-generation mobile telecom satellite system, which will provide enhanced position locating and voice/data offerings as well as automatic ID services. The spacecraft, under construction at Sierra Nevada Corp., will be launched starting in late 2010 and extending through 2014. They will be orbited by the Falcon 1e, an upgraded version of the Falcon 1 equipped with an extended storage tank, larger and lighter fairing, reinforced structure and improved avionics systems .
The 2008 fight between Russia and Georgia is gaining additional fame as perhaps the first truly 21st century war. The conflict has already gained fame for its first use of advanced surface-to-air air defense technology—“double-digit SAMs”—to knock down at least four, perhaps as many as eight, Russian aircraft. Now, a year-long study by the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit says the results of the cyber-warfare against Georgia were impressive.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
Upgrades for the E-8C Joint Stars aircraft that would allow it to operate more effectively in Afghanistan are being threatened by what critics in the Pentagon and Congress say are flawed analyses and by zeal for cutting budgets in Fiscal 2011 and beyond.
The future of satellite radio pioneer WorldSpace is up in the air again following the scuttling of a proposed sale agreement. WorldSpace announced on Aug. 27 that its creditors had terminated an agreement to sell most of the company’s assets to Yenura Pte. Ltd., which is owned by its founder and chairman Noah Samarra. Yenura had planned to acquire U.S. subsidiaries WorldSpace Systems and AfriSpace, along with two orbiting satellites and a ground spare, and to assume certain liabilities and claims as part of a $28-million deal concluded in March.
On the cusp of what could be a major new aerospace industry, a handful of brash startups are vying with The Spaceship Co. to develop their own vehicles for personal spaceflight. XCOR Aerospace, Blue Origin, Armadillo Aerospace and Masten Space Systems are not exactly household names today, but the visionaries working for them believe that in the near future their companies could become the spacecraft equivalents of Boeing and Airbus.
Sept. 12-13—California Capital Fourth Annual Air Show featuring USAF Thunderbirds. Mather Airport, Sacramento. Call +1 (916) 876-7568 or see http://californiacapitalairshow.com Sept. 14-16—Air Force Assn. Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition. Gaylord National Resort. Washington. Call +1 (703) 247-5800, fax +1 (703) 247-5853 or see www.afa.org/events/conference/2009/default.asp Sept. 14-16—SpeedNews’ 10th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference. Toulouse (France) Hotel Palladia. Call +1 (310) 595-9403 or see www.speednews.com
With its sharp-nosed fuselage and sweeping, feathering tails, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) makes for an imposing sight as it comes together in the Scaled Composites facility at Mojave, Calif. Measuring 60 ft. in overall length, the 42-ft.-span clipped delta-wing vehicle merges the proportions of a business jet with the sci-fi look of a Star Wars fighter. Yet there is nothing illusionary about this project or its suborbital ambitions as Scaled workers begin to close up the wing skins and complete the systems installation on the SS2.
The European Union has revised its contact list for non-EU operators attempting to comply with the region’s pending Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Foreign carriers arriving at or departing from an EU airport must report their carbon dioxide emissions as well as obtain CO2 allocations through the member state. While the revised document no longer requires operators to report to countries in which they rarely do business, it does not address industry concerns about compliance issues surrounding aviation elements of the ETS that become effective in 2012.
United Airlines’ plan to shift credit card merchant fees onto 28 travel agencies sparks a call for congressional hearings. The fear is that United’s policy could spread to other carriers. A Sept. 1 press conference on Capitol Hill included representatives of travel industry trade groups and staff of Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.). In addition to the merchant fee issue, they argue the shift would make agencies liable for credit card “charge-backs” by customers who do not receive the airline service they paid for by taking away United’s incentive to settle disputes.
Boeing’s decision to tap James Albaugh to run its Commercial Airplanes unit is generating mixed reviews in the investment community, where enthusiasm for his technical knowledge and management ability is offset by concerns about his lack of experience in the commercial aviation sector. Albaugh arrived in Seattle on Sept. 1 as the new CEO and president of BCA, having left the same post at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, a unit he had led since its inception in 2002. He succeeds Scott Carson, who stepped down the day before and will retire at year’s end
Starting Sept. 9, Spanish flag carrier Iberia and its partner airlines will operate 336 daily domestic and international flights out of Barcelona Airport from the new Terminal 1 facility. Iberia will be joined by Iberia Regional Air Nostrum, Vueling and Oneworld Alliance partners American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Royal Jordanian Airlines, as well as code-share partners Avianca, El Al and Royal Air Moroc.
NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross) has survived a nasty blow to its fuel reserves and can complete its mission of hunting for evidence of water ice on the Moon, but it will have to be careful. The mission began with healthy margins of 306 kg. (675 lb.) of station keeping fuel, but it lost 140 kg. of them when an errant fault message prompted its attitude control system to switch to a backup, fuel-hungry star tracker for guidance. The fault was quickly corrected but fuel margins plunged as the spacecraft heads into its final month of life.
Shares in Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. have rallied nearly 30% since the start of the year, tracking a long-term rebound in the broader stock markets. But investors may be getting ahead of themselves. A new analysis by Macquarie Research Equities analysts Wei Sim and Gary Pinge concludes that the rest of 2009 will remain rough for the two airlines. And while there are hopes of a recovery in 2010, the wild card is how strong it will be.
