Automated boarding gates—similar to those used in subway stations—will be introduced at several airports this year, as part of a global airline initative to streamline passenger flow and reduce costs.
The first group of nonrated U.S. Air Force pilots who are being trained to fly MQ-1 Predator missions is expected to graduate by the end of the summer.
Eumetsat says the Advanced High Resolution Picture Transmission subsystem on its first polar-orbiting satellite, Metop-A, is operational again following a two-month trial to correct an anomaly on a power transistor that shut down the system in July 2007. The system will not be activated over the polar regions and the South Atlantic, because of the heavy ion radiation that caused the outage.
The four-star general in charge of pilot instruction for the U.S. Air Force says he needs a new jet trainer, but acknowledges it is unlikely to enter the fleet until about 2020 owing to tighter budgets expected in Fiscal 2010 and beyond. The average age of the Air Force’s twin-engine, supersonic T-38 trainer is 42 years. The T-38C configuration, which includes upgraded avionics and engine components, is primarily used to train pilots flying the F-15, F-16, F-22, A-10 and B-1 fleets.
In the media frenzy to make a hero out of US Airways Flight 1549 Capt. Chesley B. Sullenburger, 3rd, the rest of the crew that made a success out of the Jan. 15 ditching for awhile seemed to be forgotten. It is very likely there would not have been a successful outcome of the incident if First Officer Jeffrey Skiles and flight attendants Sheila Dail, Doreen Welsh and Donna Dent had not performed with as much competence as did the captain. They all are very experienced, knew what they had to do and did it under the most trying conditions.
Efforts underway to grow the U.S. Marine Corps are presenting opportunities and challenges for the rotorcraft industry as the service upgrades and expands its hard-used rotary-wing fleet. The heavy-lift Sikorsky CH-53K and upgraded Bell UH-1Y Huey and AH-1Z Cobra helicopters are the primary focus of the Marines now that the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor has proven itself operationally in Iraq.
Buoyed by a funding upswing, German aerospace center DLR plans to build a broadband telecom satellite demonstrator and to fly a fuel-cell-powered aircraft that could help in the development of high-altitude UAVs. The agency expects to receive a 5-10% boost in research spending this year and next under a government plan intended to promote innovations that could lead to long-term economic growth, says Johann-Dietrich Woerner, chairman of the DLR executive board. Research spending this year is pegged at around €300 million ($390 million).
Thales Raytheon Systems will provide a new radar for the French air force to monitor airspace around the country’s launch facility at Kourou, French Guiana. The radar is scheduled to be installed by 2011, according to the French defense ministry. The system will boost surveillance range for the military to 500 km. (311 mi.) from about 200 km. In addition to the radar, Thales Raytheon is responsible for providing the ground-based infrastructure.
Sikorsky is aiming for U.S. certification of the S-76D medium twin-turbine helicopter a year from now, having completed the first flight on Feb. 7. The company says it has about 100 agreements in place for deliveries beginning in 2010. The aircraft was flown once for 40 min.—to collect engine data—and is expected to begin flight testing in earnest within a month, says lead program pilot Craig Barnes. “We collected data for Pratt & Whitney Canada on power matching and response at higher power,” he says.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., facing a critical design review this year for the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter, has awarded additional subcontracts. Aurora Flight Sciences, which builds the helo’s main rotor pylon, will also supply the composite and titanium engine nacelles. BAR Systems will provide the armored, crashworthy cockpit seats and armor protection for the cabin. First flight of the CH-53K is tentatively scheduled for late in 2011.
The Government Accountability Office has found flaws in a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) study that compared the value of hiring federal versus private security screeners—and recommended the TSA not use it as sole support for major policy decisions. The TSA study, completed in May 2007, found that private sector screening costs 17.4% more to operate and rated the performance of private screeners as average. The GAO review, issued Feb.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Laboratory has concluded DNA matter found in both CFM56-5B/P engines of US Airways Flight 1549 came from the Canada goose, which generally weighs 5.8-8.7 lb.—larger than the bird ingestion standard for the engine. The NTSB provided this in a Feb. 12 update to its investigation of the Jan. 15 water landing of the Airbus A320 in New York’s Hudson River.
After 14 years, the Government Accountability Office has removed the FAA’s air traffic modernization efforts from its high-risk list. It was the only program removed from the list this year, and the action is a real victory for the aviation industry.
Engine maker Pratt & Whitney Canada is to cut 1,000 jobs, 10% of its global workforce, over the next few months as it reduces production for 2009 in the face of order cancellations and deferrals of business aircraft deliveries. Major customer Cessna Aircraft has cut 4,600 jobs, while Hawker Beechcraft has announced 2,800 layoffs.
U.S. attempts to smooth relations with Russia and engage Iran in talks worry missile defense advocates who fear that scrapping the planned missile defense system in Eastern Europe may be the price of President Barack Obama’s diplomatic overtures.
The European Space Agency says the Herschel and Planck orbital telescopes have completed testing and are ready to be integrated at the Arianespace payload facility in Kourou, French Guiana, for a scheduled twin launch on Apr. 16. Separately, ESA said it will fund continued operation of its Mars Express, Venus Express and Cluster solar missions until Dec. 31.
Nigeria has contracted with China Great Wall Industry Corp. to build three more telecom spacecraft. The first, due for launch in the last quarter of 2010, will replace NigComSat-1, which was lost last year as the result of a power failure on China’s new DFH-4 high- powered bus.
Satellite operators are at risk of a loss to orbital debris like the one experienced by Iridium Satellite LLC last week about twice a decade, and the danger grows every time there is another collision involving orbiting objects.
Breaking the speed barrier for rotors has long been a dream of helicopter designers, but few customers have wanted to pay more to fly faster. That may be changing as operations in Iraq and Afghanistan push helicopters to their performance limits. Piasecki Aircraft advocates compounding helicopters like the UH-60 and AH-64—adding a wing for lift and propulsor for thrust and offloading the rotor so it can operate to higher speeds, altitudes and weights before reaching the limits set by retreating-blade stall.
Kaman has begun flying potential buyers in the SH-2G(I) shipborne helicopter, as it tackles the task of reselling a product returned by a dissatisfied customer. All 11 SH-2G Super Seasprites delivered to the Royal Australian Navy have been repatriated to Kaman in the U.S., and the task of qualifying the integrated software has finally been accomplished. “They are deliverable now,” says Mark Tattershall, business development director.
Orbital Sciences will use an air-launched Pegasus XL to loft NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) under a new contract worth about $36 million. The first orbiting high-energy X-ray telescope with focusing capability, NuSTAR is intended to conduct a census of black holes and study the aftermaths of other violent phenomena (including young supernova remnants and collapsed stars) and the origins of cosmic rays. NuSTAR is set to fly in 2011 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The Asia-Pacific region is usually reliable for providing steadily increasing airfreight and passenger traffic growth, but a survey by Airports Council International of 65 of its biggest members has executives worried. The region eked out a 0.5% gain in passenger services for all of 2008, but in December was off 4.8% compared to 2007. That year-end slide capped steadily declining performance across all sectors for the year, quarter by quarter. Passenger counts were up 4.5% from 2007 for the first quarter but by the final quarter, they were a negative 5.6%.
Discussions are underway to revive the White House National Space Council, says John P. Holdren, President Barack Obama’s choice to oversee administration science policy. The Obama team has been looking at the best way to resurrect the National Space Council, “and I think that’s going to happen,” Holdren tells the Senate Commerce Committee at his confirmation hearing. The nominee says the upcoming gap in U.S.
For a show with a $10-billion fighter competition at its heart, the Feb. 11-15 Aero India opened with surprisingly little bang in Bangalore. The opening day at Yelahanka air force station appeared particularly quiet, despite a total of 592 exhibitors from 25 countries. Almost half of the exhibitors were domestic. The economic downturn may have taken a toll on the number of attendees, though all six of the bidding fighter manufacturers had a significant presence.
Air France-KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta recently joined the group of airline executives who maintain that the time is ripe for Airbus and Boeing to launch next-generation narrow-body twinjets. Like his peers, Spinetta believes the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 product ranges, although comprising highly reliable workhorses, have served their time and should be replaced by more efficient designs.
