Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) are trying to rein in the Homeland Security Dept.’s power to randomly search the laptop computers of travelers entering the U.S. The lawmakers’ Travelers Privacy Protection bill would stipulate that Homeland Security agents must have “reasonable suspicion” of illegal activity before searching the contents of laptops or other electronic devices carried by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The bill also would prohibit profiling travelers based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.
The government allocated funding last week to purchase 34 MiG-29SMT Fulcrum fighter aircraft for the Russian air force originally intended for Algeria. The overall deal is worth roughly $26.5 million an aircraft. The Algerian sale collapsed amid claims and counter-claims about the quality of aircraft components, and politically motivated decisions.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35A will begin a series of key inflight engine start tests at Edwards AFB, Calif., following its long-delayed ferry flight from the company’s Fort Worth production facility on Oct. 1.
Schiebel has completed a series of flight trials using its small, Camcopter S-100 helicopter unmanned aircraft on a German navy K130 corvette. Germany has been trying for years to acquire a vertical-takeoff-and-landing UAV for its ships. The Camcopter trials were intended to define a concept of operations for a VTUAV. Austria-based Schiebel notes that India, Pakistan and Spain have already assessed the Camcopter in a shipborne environment. In Germany, the trials involved three one-week campaigns with the K130 operating in the Baltic Sea.
Christine Ringger, who is inflight entertainment system engineer/project manager for Swiss International Air Lines, has been elected president of the McLean, Va.-based World Airline Entertainment Assn. for the 2008-09 term. She succeeds Doug Backelin, manager of inflight communications and technology at American Airlines.
David Cox, Executive General Manager Qantas Engineering (Mascot, Australia)
I am writing to correct the impression left by your article “Cracks in the Safety Shield?” (AW&ST Sept. 8, p. 49). The key message is that Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has no doubts that Qantas is a safe airline. The “adverse trends” mentioned are key performance indicators (kpi) and dispatch reliability, not the maintenance system. The kpi have no connection to regulatory or compliance requirements. CASA has found that our safety systems and incident rates remained stable during the recent industrial dispute.
France will dispatch more hardware “within a few weeks” to Afghanistan to avoid a repetition of a bloody engagement last month that killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21. The ambush, which occurred during a routine patrol on Aug. 17-18 near Surobi, about 50 km. (31 mi.) east of Kabul, led to sharp criticism of the military for sending troops into hostile zones without proper reconnaissance, air cover and other materiel, and forced a vote in parliament on whether to maintain the Afghan operation (AW&ST Sept. 8, p. 22).
David C. Hurley (see photo) has been appointed to the board of directors of Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing . He is chairman of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and vice chairman of PrivatAir.
Spanish aviation authorities have withdrawn the operating license of charter airline Futura. The decision could lead to the demise of the airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection this month and ceased operations after failing to attract investors. In 2007, the carrier’s fleet grew rapidly to 38 airplanes, but it was forced to reduce operations because of its deteriorating financial condition.
Engineers at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are preparing to launch their country’s first lunar spacecraft—Chandrayaan-1—on Oct. 22. The spacecraft is entering final vibration and acoustic tests at the ISRO Satellite Center in Bangalore. Set for launch on a Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal, the probe will perform high-resolution remote sensing of the Moon in the visible, near-infrared (NIR), low-energy X-ray and high-energy X-ray wavelengths.
As an extension to Doug Culy’s “history” note and your editor’s comments regarding the geared turbofan (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 12), the Garrett TFE731 GTF family remains a success. Its configuration captures all the features of the new Pratt & Whitney GTF with the exception of a high-pressure-ratio core compressor. This difference made the 731 very easy to start and gave it a built-in cycle technology growth path.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. says it has demonstrated a new “bundle” protocol that can compensate for frequent disruptions in space-based Internet transmissions. The bundle disruption- and delay-tolerant networking protocol, which had never been used before in space, successfully delivered sensor data from SSTL’s UK-DMC, a British spacecraft in the company’s disaster monitoring constellation. Four of the five satellites in the DMC rely on standard Internet-protocol networking to send mission-critical imagery.
Labinal is waiting to hear whether it has been successful in securing work on two big new aircraft programs—the Airbus A350 and Bombardier CSeries. But the Safran unit also is wrestling with setbacks on its existing high-profile business. Labinal has been buffeted by program upheaval on several key contracts, ranging from the delays on the NH90 helicopter, to similar problems on the A380 and A400M military airlifter. Now, the machinists strike at Boeing is adding further turmoil to work plans.
Michael A. Taverna (Madrid), Frank Jackman (Madrid)
Maintenance, repair and overhaul experts say the current financial meltdown in the U.S. could slow the sector’s growth over the next few years, although it is likely to rebound to previously forecast levels, provided the price of oil levels off.
The potential impact of renewed political upheaval in South Africa dominated the recent African Aerospace and Defense show, with attendees deliberating the possible effects on military programs. The struggle between President Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the head of the ruling African National Congress party, resulted in Mbeki’s resignation as the air show ended. Zuma’s deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, was expected to succeed Mbeki as president. The timing and schedule of military acquisition programs may fall foul of the strife.
Intelsat engineers are preparing to plug Galaxy 19 into the company’s North American constellation of 16 other telecommunications satellites, following its Sept. 24 launch on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL. The ocean-going launch service provider lofted the 10,340-lb. spacecraft from its Sea Launch Odyssey platform at 5:28 a.m. EDT Sept. 24, from a position on the equator at 154 deg. W. Long. The rocket’s Block DM-SL upper stage delivered it to its geosynchronous transfer orbit a little more than 1 hr. later.
A new award for Soyuz vehicles points up continuing strong demand for commercial launch capacity, particularly for small telecom spacecraft. Arianespace concluded a contract with Russian space agency Roscosmos on Sept. 20 for 10 additional Soyuz launchers. The agreement had been in negotiation for months. Among other things, the deal was awaiting the selection of Arianespace as sole launch provider for Europe’s 30-spacecraft Galileo navigation system.
Russia has orbited three more Glonass-M spacecraft as it moves to replenish the aging satellite navigation system. With the latest batch, launched last week from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on board a Proton-K rocket, the constellation now consists of 17 working spacecraft, plus one down for maintenance and another waiting to be deorbited. A further batch of three is to be orbited before the end of the year.
Spacewalking astronauts will lubricate two big rotating joints on the International Space Station with grease this year to ease their way until a permanent fix can be mounted in 2010.
David Seymour has been promoted to senior vice president-technical operations from vice president-technical services for US Airways . He succeeds Hal Heule, who has retired. Andrew Nocella has become senior vice president-marketing and planning, He was senior vice president-schedule planning and alliances.
On Sept. 25, Delta and Northwest airlines’ shareholders, in separate meetings, approved the planned merger of the carriers. The FAA last week OK’d the carriers’ plan to transition to single operating certificate (see p. 16). The next major hurdle will be obtaining a decision, expected this year, from the U.S. Justice Dept.’s antitrust branch.
Sea Launch Co. will launch as many as two sets of eight satellites each for O3b, the Google-backed Ka-band satellite network intended to bridge the digital divide in emerging and isolated countries (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 37). Sea Launch will develop a new multi-satellite dispenser for the Thales Alenia Space birds, which weigh about 700 kg. (1,540 lb.) each. The first launch is set for late 2010. Meanwhile, Gilat Satellite Networks will develop a new line of VSAT terminals to serve O3b.
NATO has taken a big step forward in boosting its airlift capacity with the signing of a memorandum of understanding to acquire three Boeing C-17 airlifters. The move comes as EADS has acknowledged that the A400M’s first flight will not take place this year. It was initially supposed to take place last year and has been delayed repeatedly. EADS, the majority partner in the Airbus Military consortium developing the airlifter, blames “unavailability of the propulsion system,” and has not given a new first flight date.
