A new contract proposed for air traffic controllers would cost the FAA an additional $669 million over its three-year duration, according to congressional sources. Both the FAA and National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca) have been coy about details of the new contract, to take effect Jan. 1, even though senior lawmakers have been briefed. Most of the extra cost is loaded into second and third years.
An agreement by eight U.S. carriers to buy up to 1.5 million gal. annually of synthetic diesel fuel for their ground service equipment provides Rentech Inc. with an opening for a bigger prize—building a refinery dedicated to synthetic alternatives to Jet A kerosene.
Irkut Corp. has completed delivery of all of Malaysia’s Su-30MKM aircraft, with the last two of 18 being handed over last week, according to company President Oleg Demchenko. Meanwhile, the last six of Algeria’s order for 28 Su‑30MKA aircraft are due to be delivered next month. Demchenko also says Irkut has yet to decide what to do with the 18 Su-30s it is re-acquiring from India as part of the Su-30MKI program. The last two were due to be delivered to the Indian air force last week, he says.
MISSION: STS-128 International Space Station (ISS) assembly flight 17A, the 128th launch of the space shuttle program and the 30th to the ISS. ORBITER: Discovery (OV-103), making its 37th spaceflight. It most recently returned from orbit on Mar. 28.
With more defense budget battles looming, President Barack Obama renews a threat. “If Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with a bunch of pork, I will veto it,” Obama tells the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Phoenix Aug. 17. “Cut the waste. Save taxpayer dollars. Support the troops. That’s what we should be doing.” His “waste” would include the F136 alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, and the new VH-71 presidential helicopter. “Among its other capabilities, it would let me cook a meal while under nuclear attack,” Obama quipped.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to complete flight testing of long-delayed Antonov An-70 turboprop military transport aircraft. The once-collaborative effort has been delayed by political tensions between the two countries. The Russian air force’s transport aircraft priorities, however, have been focused on further developments of the Ilyushin Il-76.
Boeing is running through power-on sequencing of 747-8 systems after moving the first aircraft, RC501, into the slant position on the final assembly line overnight between Aug. 13 and 14. Power-on is a series of tasks that methodically energize and activate the aircraft’s systems. Boeing also plans to test the rigging for the door of the ram air turbine (RAT) this week. The RAT is a drop-down system designed to provide back-up electrical power and is making its first appearance on any 747.
Arianespace’s fourth launch of the year is planned for Aug. 21, for Japan’s JCSAT-12 and Australia’s Optus D3. Archrival International Launch Services completed its fourth mission of the year during the night of Aug. 11-12, orbiting AsiaSat 5 for Hong-Kong-based Asia Satellite Communications.
When Aviation Week launched its 13th annual Workforce Study earlier this year, we were not entirely sure what the data would reveal. The study reflects trends across about 80% of the U.S. aerospace and defense industry. Keep in mind, thought leaders have been warning for years about an impending silent crisis: an irreplaceable loss of the knowledge, experience and wisdom that underpin the industry, or in plain English, a brain drain.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is preparing two Northrop Grumman Space Tracking and Surveillance Satellites for launch in September. The satellites, designed under the former Space-Based Infrared System-Low plan, will fly in tandem in low Earth orbit to provide precise targeting data on ballistic missiles in the midcourse of flight. Targeting in this phase is not available now. In-orbit checkout will likely take about 45 days, with 2-3 months for early sensor testing. The first test using STSS as a dedicated sensor is set for the second quarter of Fiscal 2010.
Marc Parent, who has been executive vice president/chief operating officer of Montreal-based CAE , has been named to succeed Robert E. Brown as president/CEO when he retires Sept. 30. Brown will be an adviser until the end of 2009.
Employment at U.S. scheduled passenger airlines continued its 12-month slide in June, when carriers employed 6.3% fewer workers than last June, according to the Transportation Dept.’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (see p. 44). All seven network airlines saw decreases in full-time equivalent (FTE) levels (two part-time employees equal one FTE). Those carriers employ 260,808 FTEs, which is 67.2% of the passenger airline total, followed by low-cost carriers at 16.5% and regionals at 14.6%. United Airlines’ levels were down the most, 12.4%, since last June.
I am an engineer . . . one of those folks who designed computers so that to turn them off you have to click on “start.” And I am concerned about the impact current trends will have on my profession. We are told that we are entering the “Knowledge Age.” Well, if that is the case, those of us in aerospace should form the welcoming committee. We have been there since Orville Wright traded in his bicycle.
The Brazilian air force has turned to Vector Helicopter Services of Toronto to service its fleet of Bell H-1H helicopters under a five-year, $15-million contract. Vector is to provide in-country support for airframe inspections, repairs and logistics at various Brazilian military facilities. Included are dynamic component repairs and overhauls of transmissions, gearboxes and hydraulics, all of which will be carried out by Vector’s facility in Andalusia, Ala.
H. Chester Schickling (see photo) has become vice president-business development for WestWind Technologies , Huntsville, Ala. He held a similar position with AAI Acquisition, Englewood, Colo.
In “Winds of Change” (AW&ST June 22, p. 42), former ALPA President and new FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt expresses his goal that fatigue-related regulations will be rewritten to be “. . . realistically based on today’s airline operating conditions.” This is a long overdue step, given the frequent involvement of fatigue in accidents. However, this fresh breeze will stir all trees in the forest. While welcoming new duty and flight-time guidelines, crews will have to acknowledge the other elephant in the room.
Even though the commercial and business aviation downturn has led to personnel cuts in Europe, the aerospace industry’s need to replenish its pool of skilled workers remains intact.
While the Russian air force may only have 12 Yakovlev Yak-130s on order, the goal is to acquire 100, says Maj. Gen Oleg Barmin, the head of air force procurement. The aircraft has completed state testing for the trainer role, and should complete the combat trainer requirement in October. The first series production aircraft was on display during MAKS 2009, and the second is expected to be flown this month. The air force is due to take delivery of four aircraft by October, with the first nine of 16 on order by Algeria to be delivered by year-end.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Michael Mecham (San Francisco)
Big U.S. space contractors continue to reef in the sails, even as the outlook for players active in commercial and overseas government markets remains robust.
With baby boomers on the cusp of retirement and fewer math and science graduates opting for aerospace careers, many companies are in a race to hang on to their young talent. The problem is that younger workers do not feel as attached to their jobs as earlier generations did. The voluntary attrition rate for aerospace and defense (A&D) employees with five or fewer years’ experience was almost 16% last year, according to Aviation Week’s 2009 Workforce Study. That is well above the average attrition rate of less than 10%.
Technicians from Cincinnati-based machine tool producer MAG recently completed an upgrade of its Charger composite tape-laying system for Short Brothers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. New control hardware, software and mechanicals boost the control system to Version 2 and help reduce changeover time by 50% when switching between 6- and 12-in. tape widths. The machine is being used to produce horizontal stabilizer skins for Bombardier’s Global Express business jet.
Fed up with Pentagon resources being drained by the spiraling costs of weapons systems, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is aiming to bring 20,000 acquisition overseers into the government workforce. But finding enough employees equipped with the skills to manage multibillion-dollar procurement programs could be a monumental headache.
A new report reveals more about the cyberwar against Georgia in 2008. A U.S. cyberwarfighter had earlier told Aviation Week that the Russians had orchestrated that cyberwar in which those conducting the attacks “knew where the cyber talent was, how to use it and how to coordinate it. It looked like a seamless, combined operation that coordinated the use of a range of cyberweapons from the sophisticated to those crafted by high school kids. The techniques they used everybody knows about.
Just how weak is the U.S. airline industry? If you look at balance sheets and creditworthiness, the best description is “anemic.” The market capitalization of all U.S. carriers is dwarfed by many individual companies in other sectors—and not just the household-name giants.
