The overall passenger traffic at European airports registered a 3.3% decline in September 2008, compared with September 2007, according to the latest report from Airports Council International-Europe. The overall freight traffic among European airports decreased 7.2%. Overall aircraft movements at European airports decreased 0.4%. “The economic turmoil is now clearly taking its toll on airports across Europe,” says Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe.
Eurocopter has added a subsidiary in Indonesia, the 18th such local entity in the helicopter maker’s network. Eurocopter recently signed a deal with local company PTDI to build airframes for the Super Puma Mk helicopter. Jakarta-based Eurocopter Indonesia is to grow to around 100 employees by the end of next year and will be working heavily with PTDI.
Warner and Virginia’s other senator, Democrat Jim Webb, are vowing to fight the Navy’s decision to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Mayport, Fla., instead of Norfolk, Va. Warner and Webb, both former Navy secretaries, say the “strategically flawed and fiscally irresponsible” move will cost the Navy $600 million to $1 billion. Senate Democratic Deputy Whip Bill Nelson of Florida has lobbied for the move since the USS John F. Kennedy, the last carrier based in Mayport, was retired in 2007.
The outlook for the business jet market is worsening rapidly in tandem with the global economy. UBS Investment Research predicts deliveries will peak this year—two years earlier than it previously forecast—and decline 25% from 2009-11. UBS analyst David E. Strauss says the climate for financing business jets has collapsed in recent weeks, threatening hefty order backlogs that the industry is counting on to survive the rough economic times. “The decline in U.S.
Raytheon has received its first government funding for work on a Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV) concept designed to combat warheads and countermeasures from ballistic missiles. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) strategy for the MKV program is to develop competing designs in parallel. Lockheed Martin also is devising a concept, and Raytheon had been working on its using corporate research money. MDA’s contract to Raytheon is worth up to $442 million for work through December 2011.
The British defense sector faces continued uncertainty over procurement, irrespective of the outcome of a pending review. Full implementation of the U.K.’s Defense Industrial Strategy is also, at best, on hold. These are the warnings being given by senior defense and aerospace industry lobbyists as the government prepares the results of its “equipment examination.” This week’s pre-budget statement provides a first opportunity for the Labor government to present some of the equipment review’s recommendations.
A Shanghai-born U.S. citizen has pleaded guilty to charges that he passed liquid hydrogen technology to China and bribed Chinese officials to select a $4-million, 600-liter/hr. hydrogen liquefier from a French company he represented. Shu Quan-Sheng, a NASA subcontractor and cryogenics specialist, signed a 21-page statement detailing technical assistance he provided to upgrade China’s space exploration and satellite technology capabilities.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Capt. Brian Wilson writes (AW&ST Oct. 6, p. 13): “Labor needs to embrace the reality of globalization and make it work for them.” Unions were formed to combat the excesses of abusive managements. Recently, these abuses have reared their ugly heads again as a direct result of globalization. The world economy is failing due to greed. Labor must now meet the threat of a lack of corporate governance that is destroying the world economy.
The European Space Agency is seeking to kick off a pair of breakthrough security/defense initiatives and start work on an independent space transportation system under a €10.5-billion funding request to be submitted at the agency’s triennial ministerial summit this week in The Hague.
The FAA has issued supplemental type certificates (STCs) for Sagem Avionics’ integrated cockpit display on the Robinson R44 helicopter. ASAP Avionics of Vancouver Island, Canada, plans to market the installation of this glass cockpit as “The R44 Grand,” which includes two 8-in. displays mounted in portrait (vertical) configuration. In addition to providing a PFD, the Sagem glass cockpit provides engine readouts, and the multifunction display can present enhanced vision video from an infrared camera or warnings from a terrain-obstacle-proximity system.
William C. Denninger has become senior vice president-finance/chief financial officer of the Kaman Corp. , Bloomfield, Conn. He succeeds Robert M. Garneau, who will be retiring. Denninger was CFO of the Barnes Group Inc., Bristol, Conn. Janna L. Drake has been appointed assistant vice president-internal audit. She was director of external reporting and Securities and Exchange Commission compliance. Drake succeeds Christopher Simmons, who is now vice president-finance of Kaman’s Precision Products Div.
Norway’s defense ministry has recommended the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the Saab Gripen NG to replace the country’s F-16s, saying the JSF is the only candidate fulfilling all its operational requirements and is “offered at a lower price.”
The new Indianapolis International Airport, the first U.S. airport built since the 9/11 attacks, provides what its planners promised: an easy walk through enhanced security, faster taxi times for aircraft and an overall improved aviation experience. “To borrow an Indy racing phrase, Indianapolis has just lapped its competition when it comes to the flying experience,” said Tom Barrett, deputy Transportation secretary, who opened the $1.1-billion facility Nov. 11.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have used a special Internet-like protocol to transmit images to and from a spacecraft 20 million mi. from Earth that was simulating a data-relay orbiter around Mars. The test with the Epoxi spacecraft, en route to the comet Hartley 2, and nine other nodes at JPL simulating Mars landers and other applications, used Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN), which does not require a continuous connection as does standard Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
John V. Langer (see photos) has been promoted to principal director from systems director for the GPS User Segment in the User Systems Directorate within the Navigation Div. of The Aerospace Corp. Steven Lazar has been promoted to principal engineer from systems director for Next Generation Operational Control Systems, and Alexander J. Polack to principal director of the Control Systems Directorate from senior project leader on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency Program. Randolph P.
The NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover team has selected four finalist landing sites, all with ties to Martian water, as it moves toward final site selection next summer to support an Atlas V launch in September. The nuclear-powered MSL rover is the size of a small car and carries much more powerful instrumentation to assess whether life evolved at any of the watery sites.
NASA conducted a roughly 4-sec.ground firing of the Launch Abort System (LAS) motor for the Orion spacecraft at Alliant Techsystems’ (ATK) facility in Promontory, Utah, on Nov. 20. The event was the first test of its kind since the Apollo era ,and cleared the way for the first integrated pad abort flight testt next spring at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. “The initial data looks very good, producing over half a million pounds of thrust nearly instantaneously at ignition,” said Charlie Precourt, ATK vice president of space launch systems.
Japan is making new moves to open up access to Tokyo Haneda Airport, with London following Paris in gaining access to the facility, the most conveniently located of Tokyo’s two main airports. Britain and Japan have agreed that one airline from each country can fly a single round-trip daily service from Haneda to London from October 2010.
A Boeing-led team will demonstrate automated aerial refueling (AAR) of an unmanned aircraft under a $49-million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The four-year project is to culminate in the transfer of fuel between a KC-135 tanker and the Vista F-16 in-flight simulator acting as the surrogate for an autonomous long-range strike aircraft. The Boeing team will develop a multi-channel precision-GPS relative navigation system, automated flight control system and AAR-specific command and control system.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. (ret.) Galen B. Jackman has become Arlington, Va.-based vice president-Army programs for the Raytheon Co. He was the Army’s chief of legislative liaison at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.
A joint U.S.-Japanese test of the Aegis sea-based ballistic missile defense system did not yield a target intercept last week. The demonstration, which took place Nov. 20, was Japan’s second flight test of the Aegis system. The first, which took place last year, resulted in an intercept in December. During the recent test, Japan’s Chokai destroyer tracked a ballistic missile target launched from Kauai, Hawaii, developed a firing solution, and launched an SM-3 Block IA, but the weapon failed to intercept. The Missile Defense Agency is investigating.
John J. Chino has become vice president-programs, quality and engineering for the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. He succeeds David H. Barakat, who will be retiring. Chino was deputy vice president/general manager of the Electronic Systems Sector.
Alteon has graduated the first six students from its Brisbane-based Multi-Crew Pilot Licensing (MPL) program for China Eastern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. A unit of Boeing, Alteon put the students through a beta test of the concept on its Australian campus in accordance with standards developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO wants to speed the training of commercial pilots in response to airline demand.
Howard Chambers, a special adviser to Boeing on the 787, says he is concerned about a diminished capacity of the U.S. aerospace industry to manage complex programs. Speaking at Aviation Week’s recent Aerospace & Defense Programs conference, Chambers cited a number of reasons ranging from downsizing, weakened industrial base skills and reduced research and development spending. In addition, defense planners should take a cue from space programs where meeting cost and schedule targets are of little value if the launch or the satellite fails.
