A flight in Universal Avionics’ King Air 350 testbed here last month was an eye-opener on what an integrated cockpit certified to Part 25 standards can do for both airline aircraft as well as high-end business jets.
I read your correspondence section with much interest, but continue to find it amusing that no one seems to understand why there are so few people in the U.S. earning degrees in engineering and science. I am a second-generation engineer, married to an engineer. Based on the state of the profession in the government aerospace sector, I can’t recommend that my children pursue a technical career in any sector.
Brazilian aviation authority ANAC awarded certification to Embraer’s Phenom 100 on Dec. 9. Meanwhile, the FAA said U.S. certification of the entry-level jet was “imminent.” Also, the Brazilian manufacturer has broken ground on a 150,000-sq.-ft. executive-jet assembly and design facility in Melbourne, Fla.
Honeywell is taking a new tack in the design of its next-generation flight management system (FMS) to make sure it will keep pace with rapidly unfolding innovations driven by the FAA’s NextGen ATC modernization and Eurocontrol’s Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) programs. The new FMS, which will see initial service on the Boeing 747-8, the Gulfstream G650 and in retrofit on the 747-400, will have a core software module that will be easy to upgrade on a frequent schedule, according to Chad Cundiff, vice president of crew interface products for Honeywell.
Richard Eckman, a researcher at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., has received the U.S. State Dept. ’s Group Superior Honor Award for helping to organize the March 2008 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. At the event, government officials and energy experts discussed ways their countries could develop renewable energy, promote sustainable development and reduce greenhouse emissions.
Boeing’s production and delivery rates are rapidly regaining ground, but the impact of the prolonged machinists’ strike this fall—added to disruption caused by a recent nutplate problem—mean year-end deliveries will likely miss 2008 targets by more than 100 aircraft. Airbus, on the other hand, appears to be on track to set a company record with almost 480 deliveries for the year.
Continental Airlines has scheduled the first biofuel demonstration flight to include algae in the mix of fuel sources. The non-revenue flight by a Boeing 737-800 is planned on Jan. 7 from Houston. The biofuel demonstration flight will be the first by a U.S. airline and the first to involve a twin-engine airliner. Air New Zealand is expected to conduct its delayed biofuel flight, with a Boeing 747-400, by year-end. For the Continental flight, one CFM56-7B engine will burn a blend of 50% jet fuel and 50% biofuel produced from algae and jatropha oil.
Pentagon acquisition chief John Young has officially slipped the maiden launch date for the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) system to no later than Sept. 30, 2019. This decision includes a stern direction to the U.S. Air Force to restructure the program with less aggressive protected satellite communications requirements. “Act immediately on this direction in order to make progress on TSAT and stop poorly using taxpayer dollars,” Young adds in a handwritten addendum to his memo. In past years, USAF gutted the program, pulling some $3 billion from it to spend elsewhere.
While attendance at the second Performance-Based Navigation summit held by Naverus last month in Seattle doubled from the year before to 150, it was interesting to note who was not present (see p. 46). The leading flight operations experts from airlines that are pioneering the use of RNP, including Alaska Airlines where it all started in 1996, were in the room. This included specialists from Horizon Air, Qantas, Air New Zealand, WestJet, Air China, UPS and Southwest, which has launched a five-year effort to implement RNP at all 65 airports the airline serves in the U.S.
In a deal notable for its size, Delta Air Lines boosted its liquidity Dec. 10 with an immediate $1-billion cash infusion from a deal extending its co-branded credit card and other partnership agreements with American Express for an additional five years. American Express will immediately pay Delta $1 billion for the advance purchase of SkyMiles. Other U.S. carriers have reached the same types of deals recently, but none has approached $1 billion.
The Polish Airport Authority’s decision to close the Etiuda terminal at Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport and shift operations to the main terminal is drawing opposition from Wizz Air, the largest low-fare carrier serving the facility. Wizz Air CEO Josef Varadi says the change, which will double charges for the airline, is “irresponsible” and a “one-sided decision to wipe Warsaw off the map of low-cost carriers.” He says the airport authority is attempting to protect LOT Polish Airlines.
The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin have completed pyroshock testing of the first integrated Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) missile-warning satellite. During trials last month, program officials demonstrated the ability of the first satellite, bound for geosynchronous orbit, to survive the rigors of launch, separation and deployment of its solar arrays and communications antennas.
A Russian prosecutor is blaming technical problems for the crash of an Airbus A310-300 on July 9, 2006, which killed 125 and injured 63 people on board. Flight 778 from Moscow to Irkutsk landed on a wet runway, reportedly failed to slow down, overran the runway and struck a building. Russian accident investigators said the crew was at fault. Airbus would not comment on the prosecutor’s assertion.
The National Reconnaissance Office hopes to recover momentum next week with the launch of an upgraded eavesdropping spacecraft, delayed three years by its own problems at the same time the NRO has juggled a flood of new requirements and accusations of mismanagement of existing programs. The flight will mark the launch of the biggest, most secret and expensive military spacecraft on board the world’s largest rocket.
You wouldn’t know it from the sea of red arrows on the left, but a number of signs are suggesting the aerospace and defense industry won’t fare nearly as poorly as the overall economy in 2009. A new forecast from the Aerospace Industries Assn. (AIA) last week projects orders will be down 14% this year from 2007 (p. 26). But even disegarding sales delayed during the two-month machinists strike at Boeing Co., industry backlog should have expanded another $30 billion for the year.
The U.S. Army is spending some of its $300 million worth of funding allocated by the Pentagon’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance task force on a number of unmanned aerial system (UAS) improvements. At least 25 AAI RQ-7 Shadow UAS are receiving larger wings, which will allow them to carry larger payloads (up to 100 lb., up from about 60 lb.) for longer periods, says Col. Gregory Gonzales, Army UAS project manager.
The Russian government is preparing to plow money and orders into engine-maker NPO Saturn now that private stakeholders have given up their bid to remain independent and acquiesced to Moscow’s nationalization plans for the business.
USAF Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt, 3rd, has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general with assignment as director of the Air National Guard. He has been adjutant general of Oklahoma. Maj. Gen. Loren M. Reno has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general with assignment as deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He has been commander of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Tinker AFB, Okla. Col. James K.
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, has completed a 15-month €300-million ($389.5-million) overhaul and is preparing to power up for return to service. The overhaul, performed by naval systems specialist DCNS, included a control/command and communications system upgrade and modifications to allow the carrier to handle new Rafale F3 multirole fighters, ASMP-A nuclear strike missiles and Scalp cruise missiles due to be integrated next year.
The decision this month by General Motors and Ford to abruptly shutter their flight departments in response to public and congressional criticism reverberated throughout the business aviation community where the action is seen as an admission of corporate impropriety and waste unfairly sullying all. One veteran chief pilot says the sudden public uproar and carmakers’ actions “set business aviation back 25 years.” National Business Aviation Assn.
The parallels between today’s Pentagon leadership in military aviation and the auto industry 20 years ago are striking. Executives have had a lack of strategic vision, failed to identify major threats and been unable to contain costs.
Pentagon ambivalence about the F-22 is being reflected by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen. “The chief of staff of the Air Force has talked about a number that is another 50 or so more than the 183 [Raptors on contract] right now,” Mullen says. “I am concerned that it is such an expensive system.” However, late-production F-22s cost less than the early-production F-35s. Mullen goes on to say, “Our future is in the [F-35] Joint Strike Fighter.” Mullen does concede there are advantages with an aircraft in production compared to one that is not.
Trials about to start on a small engine stand in rural Oxfordshire, England, could open the door to full-scale development of a hybrid air-breathing rocket engine for single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable launch vehicles.
Ellen M. Beatty has been named assistant chief financial officer and Daniel M. Wong principal director of the Treasury Directorate at The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. Patricia A. Williams has been promoted to principal director of Business Information Technology from senior financial adviser. Beatty was vice president-finance for the TXU Energy Corp. in Dallas. Wong succeeds Thomas R. O’Connor, who has retired.
