Is it possible that Airbus and Boeing planners are naively optimistic, or too short-sighted not to monitor their backlogs carefully while reviewing their customers’ ability to pay for aircraft ordered in better times? An underlying mystery is how the two big airframers could have ignored recent warnings about the order cutbacks, especially since these alarms came from respected airline and industry analysts and even the leader of the powerful International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), Steven Udvar-Hazy.
May 12-14—EBACE. Geneva. June 15-21—Paris air show. Sept. 23-24—MRO Europe. Hamburg, Germany. Nov. 2-4—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Dec. 2-3—A&D Finance. New York. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia. Hong Kong. May 6-7—Bird Strike Prevention Forum. Chicago. June 4—Business Aviation Security. Roslyn, Va.
The 2018 version of the Next-Generation Bomber is being derailed by a combination of international politics and defense budget pressures. Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, commander of the 8th Air Force with responsibility for nuclear deterrence and global strike, contends that it is not dead, merely the victim of “a postponement” of perhaps only as much as six months.
May 3-7—Aerospace Medical Assn.’s 80th Annual Scientific Meeting. Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles. Call +1 (703) 739-2240 ext. 106 or see www.asma.org May 4-6—SpeedNews Seventh Annual Aerospace & Defense Industry Suppliers Conference. InterContinental Century City, Los Angeles. See www.speednews.com May 4-7—12th Annual FAA/Defense Dept./NASA Aging Aircraft Conference. Kansas City (Mo.) Convention Center. Call +1 (937) 426-2808, fax +1 (937) 426-8755 or see www.agingaircraft2009.com
European airlines, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and pilot unions are trying to sort out a bitter dispute over new recommendations on pilot and cabin crew duty times that carriers claim would hinder their ability to fly long-haul routes.
Boeing 787 flight test teams will work to power-up the engines and auxiliary power unit on the first aircraft during the next few days as the frenetic pace of preparations for first flight continues.
For Aurora Flight Sciences, the path from developer to producer of unmanned aircraft is proving elusive, but it is not preventing the company from pursuing ever more advanced designs.
A Boeing 777 Freighter more expensive than an Airbus A380F? That’s what United Parcel Services President Bob Lekites says he was hearing from the Seattle-based manufacturer when it became clear Airbus could not meet its obligation to delivery 10 A380s in March 2007 and the carrier dropped its order. Though impressed with the 777F’s operating costs, sticker shock ensued. The price subsequently dropped, but UPS decided to go with a known entity. It ordered four used 747-400 passenger aircraft for reconditioning and conversion.
Thales says the RBE2 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has successfully completed a new series of tests on the Rafale fighter. The tests, carried out at the Cazaux flight test center in southwestern France, jointly with French armaments agency DGA, provided functional validation of the radar’s operating modes. The first two RBE2s are to be delivered to Dassault Aviation in early 2010. Installation is to begin in 2011, with delivery to the French air force in early 2012.
Europe’s Herschel-Planck dual telescope mission has been delayed yet again, this time due to discovery of an anomaly on a subassembly identical to one that equips the mission’s Ariane 5 ECA launcher. No new date has yet been set for the launch, which had been scheduled for May 6.
One of two F-35 test aircraft planned for the Netherlands may be transferred to the U.S. after the Dutch parliament refused to approve the purchase. A decision on transfer has been deferred to 2010, with any approval for the purchase of 85 production F-35As delayed to 2012. Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, has flown the first F-35A to Eglin AFB, Fla., for noise tests to counter local opposition to siting the JSF integrated training center there.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Graham Warwick (Washington)
Reports that cyberattackers penetrated the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will add impetus to efforts to improve the aerospace industry’s information security and weight to calls for more government resources to combat cyberwarfare. The claims that unknown attackers used Chinese Internet hosts as a conduit to break into the JSF program and scoop up terabytes of data drew circumspect denials from the U.S. Defense Dept. and Lockheed Martin. Others say there was a raid, but it did not score much of value for the raiders.
In a rare public statement on flight tests, Scaled Composites says a thrust asymmetry caused a tail scrape on the fourth test flight of its WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) mothership for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo space tourism venture at Mojave, Calif., on Apr. 20. The twin-boom WK2 was performing a touch-and-go when it experienced a large yaw as it was lifting back off the runway. Scaled says the yaw occurred because not all of the throttles on the aircraft’s four Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308 engines were closed at touchdown.
A bellwether for the economy, the airfreight market is showing signs of life, with the traffic drop in March stabilizing after three consecutive quarters of declines of more than 20%. But a full recovery may be more than a year away, as world trade is not expected to begin growing until the first half of 2010, industry experts say.
Boeing and Finmeccanica are trying to patch up strained relations as they consider whether to re-engage and then jointly bid on the U.S. Air Force T-38 replacement program.
Swiss International Air Lines has introduced the first of nine Airbus A330-300s into service on its New York route. The airplanes are configured with 236 seats in three classes. The carrier, which used the entry to present its latest inflight product—new first-class accommodations—plans to accept delivery of three more A330-300s this year. The jets will replace A330-200s during the next three years.
The Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Industry Risk Profile, released Apr. 20, identified 26 key safety hazards. The profile, funded by Bell Helicopter Textron, developed by the Aerosafety Risk Management Inc. consultancy, and released by FlightSafety Inernational, takes an additional step. It is inviting industry and regulators to develop plans to mitigate those risks. Those recommendations will be compiled in a HEMS Industry Risk Reduction Plan and are scheduled to be released in August to an industry with a dismal accident record (see p. 28).
Your correspondents who view capping F-22 production at 183 aircraft as a blunder may be failing to take into account the additional savings we will realize by shortchanging the air-superiority mission. For instance, the U.S. Army won’t need any more expensive tanks, trucks and armored fighting vehicles if there is no air dominance; the survivors of Saddam Hussein’s army can provide two recent examples of the success of this approach. Similarly, we can save money on attack aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force is ramping up an effort to work with African air forces to improve the continent’s aviation backbone in the hope of boosting safety. The initiative has a dual purpose: Help Africa’s military and civil aviation sectors cut their accident rates, and reduce the risk for U.S. aircrews flying into the region. In addition, USAF plans to help many African air forces that are also users of C-130-type airlifters. By returning them to operational service, regional airlift capacity would grow, including to aid African Union forces.
The Czech government has eliminated Aeroflot from the second stage of the privatization process of CSA Czech Airlines. The decision means that only Czech travel consortium Unimex-TVS and Air France-KLM remain in the race for a majority stake of the state-owned airline.
The Czech Republic plans to buy four EADS CASA C-295M airlifters to replace aging Antonov An-26s. The country is trading in five of its AeroVodochody L-159 trainers, which will find a new home with the Spanish air force. This could help open doors for the L-159, which has been unable to generate much international interest. Deliveries of the C-295Ms are slated to unfold through 2011. The deal is valued at around $170 million.
Lower fuel prices are helping Japanese airlines promote travel during “Golden Week”—Japan’s busy spring break period. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) see improvement from 2008 when fuel prices were skyrocketing and they added surcharges to ticket prices. JAL’s international reservations for the nine-day period from Apr. 28-May 6 are up 9.1% over last year with load factors of 77%—an 11.4-percentage-point gain.
A European research project intended to streamline aircraft ground movements and increase the safety of airport operations seems promising, judging from results achieved by a recent Italian trial.
NASA will wait until fall to award study contracts for its planned Saturn V-class Moon rocket and Altair lunar lander due to uncertainty over President Barack Obama’s plans for human-exploration programs. The White House’s budget request “outline” suggests it will stick with President Bush’s back-to-the-Moon goal. But the Office of Management and Budget reportedly wants to trim the agency’s budget by $3.5 billion in the next four years. That’s about what NASA expects to spend on Ares V and Altair during that period (see p. 18).
In a global recession, the state of commercial aviation and the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry are predictably gloomy. But airline executives and maintenance specialists are surprisingly upbeat as they focus on how to emerge stronger. They are studying ways to operate more efficiently, improve the training of their employees and select the best emerging technologies.
