The U.S. long-term plan for human spaceflight will have an asterisk next to it until at least the end of the summer while a panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine reviews it at the request of the White House.
Airbus Military has concluded boom flutter testing on an A330-200 Multi- Role Tanker Transport, aimed at verifying boom and aircraft behavior during boom ruddervator-induced vibrations. The trials tested the boom at several heights, configurations and conditions, including boom fully deployed, at speeds up to Mach 0.92. The tests followed recent tanker/receiver flight control law demonstrations (AW&ST May 4, p. 16).
What am I missing here? So we’re going to the Moon, again. OK; we did it in less than a decade last time. That was with next to no computers. Those that they did have were very rudimentary, limited to only 72kb. Rockets, engines, a capsule, a lunar module and everything else needed to get the job done were designed with slide rules. Now high-power computers, computer-aided-design (CAD) and fluid dynamics are just some of the tools available. Oh yes, we also have the data and information of exactly how to do it. So what exactly seems to be the problem?
The latest unmanned Russian supply vehicle for the International Space Station, ISS Progress 33, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:37 p.m. EDT, reaching its preliminary orbit and deploying its solar arrays and antennas 9 min. later. The spacecraft is due to dock at the station’s Pirs compartment at 3:23 p.m. May 12, at which point the Expedition 19 crew will begin unloading its 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies. ISS Progress 32 undocked from the station May 6 at 11:18 a.m. filled with trash and other discarded items.
Boeing, which has announced the industry’s biggest job cuts, so far, in the global financial crisis, reduced its employment count by nearly 4,000 positions in the first four months of 2009. That amounts to about 40% of the 10,000-plus jobs the company has said it will cut this year across all its business sectors.
Thales has agreed to pay Alcatel-Lucent an additional €130 million ($172 million) for Alcatel’s 67% share in Thales Alenia Space, which Thales acquired in 2007 together with a 33% share in Telespazio under a deal with Finmeccanica known as the Space Alliance. The acquisition was paid for with 25 million Thales shares—which Alcatel is poised to sell to Dassault Aviation—along with €710 million in cash and an earn-out provision for Thales Alenia to be evaluated in 2009 (AW&ST Apr. 23, 2007, p. 68).
The U.S. Marine Corps is exploring enhanced armament options to put on the MV-22 Osprey when the tiltrotor heads to Afghanistan later this year. One effort underway is to upgrade the V-22 to be able to handle a 0.50-caliber ramp-mounted weapon. Flight clearances are underway. Also, development testing is complete to fit the BAE Systems interim defense system small-caliber gun to the tiltrotor. Operational tests of the weapon are due this month, with plans to wrap those activities up around August.
Ruag Aerospace has been selected to deliver five Ku-band receivers for GSAT-8 (Insat 4G), a multipurpose Indian spacecraft intended to provide telecom and navigation services. The transponders will be supplied by Ruag’s Swedish unit (formerly Saab Space, acquired by Swiss-based Ruag last year), and were originally to be provided by the Space Applications Center of the Indian Space Research Organization, prime contractor for the Insat 4 advanced telecom program.
In “Small Space” (AW&ST Apr. 20, p. 33) the Constellation Habitability Design Center approached Altair vehicle configuration by inspecting Space Center Houston mockups of Apollo-era hardware to discover, “what worked, what didn’t work.” This type of thinking has sapped the aerospace industry of the robust workforce required as a vital component of our economy, technology base and national security. Why is Altair hardware not based on current state-of-the-art beyond-Earth-orbit systems? Because there are none.
When Pilatus Aircraft announced the large-cabin, PC-12 single-engine turboprop in 1989, there were predictions that sales of so unusual an aircraft would never top 100. On Apr. 30, the Swiss manufacturer delivered the 900th, a $4-million PC-12NG. The Stans factory will build 97 units this year, so the 1,000th delivery should occur in 2010.
In a joint effort to avoid layoffs resulting from reduced flight activity, NetJets management and representatives of the NetJets Assn. of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), its pilots union, have agreed on a “furlough mitigation package” to help reduce the roster voluntarily. Terms of the options package range from reduced work days, to early retirement with two-thirds base pay for two years, or leaves of absence of up to 36 months with reduced pay, and both with full medical benefits while maintaining their seniority position.
The British Labor government and the opposing Conservative party are sparring over future defense expenditures. In addition, intra-party tensions are emerging along with differing priorities. Recent comments by David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, drew immediate response from Ian Godden, chief executive of the Society of British Aerospace Cos.: “Security threats do not go away just because the country is in recession. . . .
BOC Aviation, extending its campaign of sale-and-leaseback deals, has bought four Boeing 777s from Air France and leased them back to the airline. The agreement, for two 777-200LR freighters and two 777-300ER airliners, is the latest in a string of such financing contracts that the lessor, a subsidiary of the Bank of China, began signing in December.
Reader Mark E. J. Fay’s “Crash Prosecutions Have Merit” (AW&ST Apr. 27, p. 8) is uninformed. In more than 30 years in this business, I’ve yet to meet a flightcrew member who intentionally made an error. The concept of “criminality” implies intent. You can’t claim that prosecution should occur if there was never any intent to commit a crime.
Eurocopter is taking steps to improve workforce flexibility in order to more readily absorb fluctuations in market demand for new helicopters, say executives at the company, though they insist the new work rules do not imply an immediate decrease in production. Instead, the plan is part of a wide-ranging productivity initiative aimed at updating practices begun a decade ago when output was barely one-third of current levels.
The Obama administration is poised to resurrect the debate over user fees for commercial aviation, although it stresses it will not pursue unpopular policies such as airport congestion pricing and slot auctions.
Cargo Aircraft Management has selected AAR Corp.’s cargo system for six of its Boeing 767-200s that Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Aviation Group is converting to freighter configuration. The system holds 19 A1 pallets and can be installed in about a day, according to Vincent Misciagna, general manager of AAR Cargo Systems. AAR, which forecasts a market of 200-400 767-200/-300 aircraft for its systems, announced last week that Bedek chose a system that can hold up to 24 A1 pallets for its 767-300 passenger-to-freighter conversion program.
As was widely predicted Orion has grown too heavy for Ares-1 (AW&ST Apr. 27, p. 18). Next to simply dropping the whole program the easiest solution is to kill Ares-1 and launch everything on Ares-5. Voila, no more weight problem, and billions saved on development costs. The smartest solution would be to kill both Ares and order Atlas V Heavy for the job.
U.S. Army aviation has now failed twice to deliver a new rotorcraft platform. The Comanche was canceled five years ago and the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter fizzled in October 2008. But with the ARH requirement still valid, the Army has to make a decision about how it is going to move forward, with all of its aircraft.
Officials at Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp. say Belac LLC, the joint venture Chromalloy created with United Airlines, Lufthansa and Alitalia, has lowered prices 9% on its parts manufacturer approval high-pressure turbine (HPT) blades for the CFM56-3 and CF6-50 engines. The price cut can save operators $200,000-300,000 for a set of HPT blades compared with original equipment manufacturer parts and comes as MRO shops see fewer discretionary engine overhauls and airlines conserve cash in the recession.
It would be hard to find an aerospace and defense (A&D) thought leader more respected than Norm Augustine. During the past half century, he has worked as a research engineer, a senior Pentagon official, a CEO who was instrumental in the industry’s great consolidation during the 1990s, a faculty member at Princeton University and chairman of a national Academies’ study on U.S. competitiveness. He holds 23 honorary degrees, and his shrewd business judgments and common sense have been studied by managers in many industries.
With the price of Singapore kerosene down to an average of $55.08 per barrel from February to April, All Nippon Airways says it has applied to Japan’s government for permission to cancel fuel surcharges on international routes. They varied from $2 on flights to Korea to $34 on trips to Europe, North America and the Middle East.
Wichita, Kan. Mayor Carl Brewer has renewed his invitation to President Barack Obama to visit his mother’s home town. Brewer wants the president, who has lambasted the use of business jets by corporate executives, to see the toll the downturn in the business and general aviation industries has taken on the Kansas city. “We have lost over 9,000 jobs in Wichita because of the economic downturn, and the string of negative press about general aviation and [resulting] fallout could cost this city 25,000 jobs,” Brewer says.
The business aviation community has taken some lumps lately. Economically, the sector is dealing with a severe downturn. The entire world is grappling with a recession. However, unlike most industries, business aviation has found itself with a perception problem on top of its economic woes.
Senate Judiciary Committee staffers want to know why ESTA, the U.S. electronic system for travel authorization that was rolled out last year to great fanfare by the Homeland Security Dept. (DHS), isn’t working better. The system allows citizens of countries in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program to be pre-screened for travel to the U.S. through a secure web site when they buy their tickets. Airlines also were supposed to be able to undertake pre-screening at check-in, but few carriers have the required bandwidth at their counters to access the system.
