Budget-stressed state governments are scrambling for new revenues—and business aviation is a ready target. New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, California, Idaho and Florida, among others, are considering various moves, ranging from ending sales-tax exemptions on maintenance, to imposing an additional 5% “luxury” tax on aircraft valued above $500,000, to taxing fees of aircraft management firms. Connecticut is even considering selling or leasing its six state-owned airports. Henry Ogrodzinski, president of the National Assn.
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has turned to a European with strong security and policy credentials to serve as Secretary General for a three-year term. Raymond Benjamin, the former executive secretary of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), had been proposed for the post by the French delegation to ICAO. He was elected by a secret ballot to replace Taieb Cherif of Algeria, who is completing his second term in August. There is a two-term limit for the secretary general’s position.
Nav Canada, which operates Canada’s civil air navigation service, says the use of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology has helped to close a 382,187-sq.-mi. gap in Canadian radar coverage in the Hudson Bay region. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, Nav Canada reports that implementation of ADS-B has resulted in more efficient use of airspace for about 35,000 flights annually by reducing time, costs and emissions.
The Northrop Grumman Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft system was unable to complete a series of shipboard tests last month due to weather in the Chesapeake Bay area, says Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, Navy program executive officer for unmanned aircraft and air-launched weapons. The weather issues prevented the rotorcraft a landing on the USS McInerney, a trial that is now slated for April. Handoff from shore-based command and control was successfully transferred to a ship-based system, Shannon says.
Al Zito has been appointed vice president-safety, certification and compliance, Sharon Grey vice president-quality assurance and engineering, and Dustin Wilcox director of safety programs, all for JDA Aviation Technology Solutions of Washington .
The FAA has certified an anechoic test chamber constructed by Applied Composites Engineering (ACE) that is capable of accommodating up to 9-ft.-dia. radomes. ACE is targeting tests of commercial X-band radomes as a stand-alone service to complement its capability to repair and overhaul radomes for commercial and business jets. The company, located adjacent to Indianapolis International Airport, employs state-of-the-art robotics, data acquisition and reporting technologies to achieve its goal of speeding up turnaround times. How fast?
The first four-star general to be chief of the National Guard Bureau says decisions must be made soon about fighter aircraft recapitalization. Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley says domestic air sovereignty defense can be provided by legacy USAF aircraft if they are modernized with equipment like active electronically scanned array radars. But he also notes the Air Force’s priority for buying fifth-generation fighters. “In my opinion, everything has to still stay on the table,” McKinley says. Yet time is running out.
Chris Cayia has become operations manager and Hillary Davis production coordinator for Flight Display Systems , Alpharetta, Ga. Cayia was superintendent for the JHC Corp. in Peachtree City, Ga., while Davis was a sales and service assistant for Miura Boiler Inc.
NASA plans to reboot the computer on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft this week, for the first time since 2003, to stave off the potentially negative effects of accumulated memory corruption after many years of being bombarded with space radiation while in orbit around the red planet. The cold reboot is “not a risk-free event,” according to NASA, but should give controllers a clue as to the condition of the spacecraft’s redundant “B side” electronics systems, a component of which failed in 2007.
Frank Robinson says the record production run his eponymous helicopter company has enjoyed in recent years has come to an end. “This won’t be a record year,” he says. “This is a recession year. [The high production rates] stopped last December.” Nevertheless, he says certification work on the R-66—Robinson Helicopter Co.’s first turbine-powered model—continues, albeit at a slower pace than anticipated because of new FAA requirements for increased testing and analysis.
Grahame Jones has been appointed operations director, Rod Dean director of flying, Richard Mann sponsorship and business development manager and Mark Emmerson catering contracts manager, all for Farnborough (England) International Ltd. Jones was group operations director for the Haymarket Media Group, while Dean was on the staff of the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority. Mann was an executive with Reed Exhibitions, while Emmerson was with the Compass Group.
Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, who heads Strategic Command, was understandably perturbed to learn he’s flying blind in his new role overseeing Pentagon computer network operations. Chilton ordered a standard review of the assets under his command, including the number of computers on classified and open networks operated by the Pentagon. The response took 45 days, he told an audience at the Air Force Assn.’s annual conference last month.
A test of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system later this month is expected to pit two interceptors flown in a salvo against a single target, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The test will take place at the range off Hawaii and will be a second attempt at a trial slated for last year. In September, officials aborted a salvo shot due to a glitch with the target missile.
Airbus and Qantas are trying to assess why fuel contamination issues caused two of the airline’s Airbus A380s to miss flights. The issue triggered alerts with fuel sensors. An Airbus official says the sensors were not faulty. The A380s were returned to service quickly.
Snecma officials confirm that the United Arab Emirates has asked France to study reengining the Rafale fighter, as part of a proposed acquisition of the advanced combat aircraft. The upgrade, which would offer a 20% improvement over the basic M88 engine, would enhance the Rafale’s hot-and-high capability and extend its payload and range. The French defense ministry previously studied a higher-power derivative, known as the M88-3, but decided it was not warranted.
The National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) is giving NASA poor marks for its implementation of the most recent NRC decadal survey on solar and space physics, which endorsed a number of missions desired by the scientific community that have since been delayed or scaled back. “Mission cost growth, reordering of survey mission priorities, and unrealized budget assumptions have delayed or deferred nearly all of the NASA spacecraft missions recommended in the survey,” the NRC says. Mission cost growth was a major factor in the agency’s difficulties.
All Nippon Airways is expanding its airfreight holdings by taking a 34% stake in Overseas Courier Service, making the Tokyo-based carrier the largest shareholder in the international parcel delivery company.
What is the optimum and most affordable mix of manned and unmanned platforms to meet a broad spectrum of threats over the long term? That is one of the fundamental questions at the heart of a strategic study now nearing conclusion by the British Royal Air Force, a study that has resonance across the first tier of air forces around the world.
Turbomeca has concluded an agreement with the Kamov unit of Russian Helicopters and the Helicopter Service Co. to develop, build and support a version of the Ka-226T helicopter equipped with the Arrius 2G1 turboshaft. The reengined twin-rotor model will be targeted at surveillance, transport, emergency medical service, utility and other light helicopter applications, for which no Russian-built helicopter is currently available. The deal is part of a strategy aimed at reinforcing Turbomeca’s position in emerging aerospace nations.
Northrop Grumman is planning to cut up to 750 jobs as part of an announced consolidation of its Space Technology and Integrated Systems units. But the consolidated operation, renamed Aerospace Systems, has 850 openings for engineering and technical positions.
The Transportation Security Administration is extending until June 1 compliance with a controversial security directive involving badging and background checks for people with access to aircraft operating areas at commercial airports. The deadline had been Mar. 1 for large airports and Apr. 30 for small airports. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. complains that the directive will require a security threat assessment on tens of thousands of general aviation pilots.
Lockheed Martin is planning to increase its annual output of C-130Js beginning this year, says Jim Grant, a senior company executive. In recent years, 12 Hercules rolled off the Marietta, Ga., line annually. This year, it will increase to 16, and to 27 in 2010. The ultimate goal is an annual production of more than 30 aircraft, Grant says. The boost comes after strong support from the U.S. Air Force and from foreign orders, including a recently announced contract from the United Arab Emirates. The 86-aircraft order backlog would carry the line to 2012.
Mar. 15-18—Airports Council International-North America’s Operations & Technical Affairs Conference. Westin San Diego Hotel. See www.aci-na.org/conferences Mar. 20-22Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ 39th San Diego Symposium. Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla, Calif. Call +1 (661) 942-9574, fax +1 (661) 940-0398 or see www.setp.org Mar. 23-26The Aerospace Corp.’s 13th Ground System Architectures Workshop: “Focusing on the User.” Marriott South Bay Hotel, Torrance, Calif. Call +1 (310) 336-6805 or see www.aero.org/conferences/gsaw/index.html
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) has contracted with EADS Astrium’s German unit to supply a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) EarthCARE mission. The contract is worth €30 million ($37.8 million) to SSTL, acquired by Astrium earlier this year. Operating from an orbit of 400 km., the MSI will image the Earth at a 500-meter (1,640-ft.) ground sample distance (GSD) over a swath width of 150 km. (93 mi.).
