The French-led Corot planet-finding satellite has discovered its first Earth-size planet, and the first outside the Solar System to be observed directly as it transited in front of its star. The finding, known for a year but only recently confirmed, was announced at a symposium in Paris on Feb. 3. It is the latest of a series of startling discoveries since Corot was launched in December 2006 (AW&ST Jan. 14, 2008, p. 49). The new planet, known as Corot-Exo-7b, is less than twice the size of Earth, but its density is still unknown.
Virgin America lost $273.3 million from July 2007 through September 2008, including $175.4 million through the first nine months of 2008, according to documents that publicly disclosed the airline’s financial results for the first time. The airline began service in August 2007. The mandatory Form 41 filings with the U.S. Transportation Dept.—which Virgin America had fought to keep confidential for nearly a year—also showed the airline lost $59.1 million in the third quarter of 2008 alone and finished September with just $25.4 million in cash.
With an eye on the more than $10 billion to be spent on the Indian air force’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, the seventh biennial Aero India exhibition that opens this week in Bangalore is bringing as much interest from India’s developing private sector companies as from the big multi-nationals that are household names in aerospace and defense contracting.
Flying a Pratt & Whitney JT9D-powered Boeing 747-300, Japan Airlines conducted a 90-min. demonstration flight Jan. 30 that mixed three biofuel feedstocks. While jatropha and algae have been tested, JAL’s flight was the first to feature camelina, a grain it obtained from U.S. growers. As in previous test flights, the feedstocks were combined in a 50% blend with standard Jet-A kerosene. Capt. Keiji Kobayashi reported, “Everything went smoothly.
David Lilley has been appointed to the board of directors of Rockwell Collins , Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is retired chairman/CEO of Cytec Industries and a director of Arch Chemicals. Scott White has been named vice president-business development for Rockwell Collins Government Systems. He was general manager of B-1B and B-2 programs for Boeing.
And with a nod toward the future, Rolls-Royce has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Academy of Sciences for a research project to develop manufacturing techniques that employ new materials for low-pressure turbine blades destined for gas turbine engines. Specifically, the MoU will further the cooperation between Rolls and CAS’s Shenyang-based Institute of Metals Research (IMR) on advancing techniques in titanium aluminide casting technology.
The arrival of new leadership in Washington raises some questions about NASA’s future, including the willingness of U.S. taxpayers and their elected representatives to support human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. The cost of sending humans to Mars, for instance, is probably much too great to generate the necessary public and political support given America’s fiscal problems. But a return to the Moon under the Constellation program is a far more realistic goal.
Although the UAV business is still immature, Russian manufacturers are vying to claim a share of the national market for civil and military unmanned platforms. Many companies touted their wares here at the Unmanned Multipurpose Vehicle Systems (UVS-Tech) show last month. But few have the funds to proceed fully without production orders. Government departments—including the defense ministry and civil emergency services—are not yet in a position to integrate UAV capabilities into their own systems.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) met the congressionally mandated cargo security deadline last week that required screening of at least 50% of freight on passenger aircraft, according to industry sources. TSA achieved the goal by clearing material loaded on narrow-body aircraft and involving freight forwarders in a pilot of its Certified Cargo Screening Program, largely at 18 U.S. hub airports (AW&ST Sept. 8, 2008, p. 52).
EADS and Airbus need a bailout. Sound familiar? In “Trials and Tribulations” (AW&ST Jan. 19, p. 35), Airbus CEO Thomas Enders’ statement that signing the original A400M contract was “stupid” is 100% correct. Be it national pride or arrogance, the U.K., France, Germany and Spain were stupid as well in agreeing to the original contract.
In their studies of global climate change, NASA’s science teams are using Earth-observing satellites to map everything from floods and wildfires to El Ninos and phytoplankton. They track sea ice breakups and make daily scans of temperatures from the bottom of the troposphere to the top of the stratosphere. Wonder where smog-producing ozone is concentrated? Data from NASA’s spacecraft reveal the ugly picture.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA) thinks it is time for scientists—not airline management or the FAA—to determine how much rest a pilot needs before safety is affected. Pilot fatigue tops the union’s legislative agenda for 2009, and it is calling for the National Academy of Sciences to collect data on the effects of sleep deprivation. ALPA wants the academy to examine recommendations already made by the NTSB and NASA. The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in 1995 to update flight- and duty-time regulations, but this bogged down.
Bombardier is to cut business-jet production by 10% and reduce employment by 1,360 jobs in its 2009-10 fiscal year, citing a “greater than usual” level of deferrals and cancellations. The company delivered 239 business jets in the year ended Jan. 31, up from 232 in fiscal 2007-08, but net orders fell to 262 from 452 during the previous year. Learjet and Challenger production rates will be cut. Output of Global business and regional jets is unchanged, but production of Q400 regional turboprops has increased.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro. Ore.)
Daryl May’s suggestion that C-17s be used to supersede the troubled A400M program is good, but not new (AW&ST Jan. 5, p. 8). While serving on the Air Staff in the Pentagon during the mid-1980s, I suggested developing a foreign military sales proposal involving C-17s and C-130s and making the cost so attractive that the A400M program would never start. Perhaps the Obama team can learn to avoid duplication of defense procurements within and among friendly nations. The arguments for maintaining each nation’s industrial base are far less valid than previously.
Given that there is a system to deliver 29,000 shp. to the lift-fan compartment behind the F-35B cockpit, how long before “A” and “C” users give up fuel in that space to avail themselves of energy for use as on your Jan. 12 cover? 25 years? It will make a nice midlife update.
A further test firing of the British Royal Navy’s MBDA Sea Viper air defense missile system was carried out Feb. 4, from the Longbow trials barge. An Aster 15 missile was fired against a Mirach target drone simulating a subsonic anti-ship missile flying at low level. The final qualification shot is due in mid-2009.
As Boeing assembles the first 747-8, the company is quietly celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the 747, which took place on Feb. 9, 1969 (AW&ST Feb. 17, 1969, pp. 26-31; AW&ST’s first cover photo of the 747 ran on Mar. 10, 1969).
French President Nicolas Sarkozy faces an uphill battle with lawmakers over a reported deal with Washington that would give France two key NATO responsibilities in exchange for returning to the alliance’s integrated military command. According to Le Monde, the French have been offered leadership of the Allied Command Transformation office in Norfolk, Va., and the NATO regional command in Portugal to smooth France’s reintegration, which is expected to be officially announced at NATO’s annual summit Apr. 3-4.
Air Canada plans to launch new services from Calgary to the U.S., as well as more domestic flights, in the late spring and early summer. Starting May 15, the airline will offer daily nonstop flights to San Diego using 75-seat Air Canada Jazz CRJ705s. On June 15, new non-stop flights to Portland, Ore., with Air Canada Jazz 50-seat CRJ aircraft are scheduled to start.
Lufthansa Technik and AeroLogic GmbH. inked a 10-year pact for technical support for up to 11 Boeing 777 freighters. The first aircraft are to be delivered to AeroLogic in May.
The Pentagon’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Task Force—created last year to get ISR systems into Iraq and Afghanistan quickly—is being criticized by some for being too diligent about time. The group is so focused on fielding systems within a 90-day requirement, it loses out on technologies that “could be ready on Day 91,” says one industry official. But the Army could have a remedy. Part of the problem has been the limited availability of test aircraft, says Tim Owings, the Army’s deputy project manager for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
“Trials and Tribulations” was revealing of the EADS-Airbus managerial competence and/or desire to hide the truth. There were many vague statements and misstatements, such as “with the current contractual and organizational setup, we will not get there. . . . We think it would be irresponsible to continue on the current track. . . . The company has no idea of the cost to complete.”
Zhang Yanling has been named chairman of BOC Aviation , previously Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise. She was executive vice president of the Bank of China.
