Britain is nearing a decision on how to replace its primary manned electronic intelligence platform, the BAE Systems Nimrod R1, with three options in consideration: acquisition of the U.S. RC-135 Rivet Joint, refitting the present R1 aircraft with an improved electronic intelligence (Elint) payload or using the Nimrod MRA4 airframe as the basis for its Elint aircraft.
Singapore’s Changi Airport has commissioned a simulator to train airport emergency officers in fighting aircraft fires. Developed by Singapore’s Chartered Asia Technology Enterprise, the full-scale simulator instructs personnel in the application of fire-suppressing foam and dispatch of firefighting equipment under various day/night emergency scenarios, including various weather conditions.
The decline in oil prices from nearly $150 a barrel to less than $110 has provided urgently needed relief to the world’s airlines and their slumping stocks, fueling optimism that the industry’s darkest days are behind it. But now carriers are facing a new challenge: slumping demand as U.S. economic malaise begins to spread across the oceans.
The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch is urging the FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to take swift action to prevent a “previously unforeseen threat”—ice accretions in jet fuel restricting fuel flow on Rolls-Royce Trent 800/Boeing 777 and other engine/airframe combinations. The AAIB’s recommendations were published Sept. 4 in a progress report on its probe of the Jan. 17 crash landing of a British Airways 777-236ER at London Heathrow Airport.
Qantas, already striving to restore public confidence in airline safety following a series of white-knuckle events, will undergo closer scrutiny as additional audits ordered by Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority get underway. One CASA audit targets the effectiveness of Qantas’s maintenance system in managing and implementing airworthiness directives. The safety agency’s aim is to make certain that programs outlined in the directives are actually in place on the aircraft. The audit is expected to take three weeks to complete.
Kunpeng Airlines, one of China’s largest regional operators, has taken delivery of the first of five Embraer 190s it ordered in July from the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. The regional jet can transport 98 passengers in a two-class configuration. Kunpeng, which is undergoing fleet and network expansion, last month moved its operations base to Zhengzhou from Z’ian. The Chinese carrier, a joint venture between majority owner Shenzhen Airlines and the U.S.’s Mesa Air Group, launched operations in September 2007.
Your editorial (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 94) implies that Darpa (and, one assumes, BBN) invented the Internet. Would it not be fair to recognize the significant role that CERN (The Swiss-based Nuclear Research Organization) played in the creation? CERN conceived and operated a European research organization network long before ARPAnet, along with a set of connectivity standards that, lo and behold, are now international interconnectivity standards.
Singapore’s Changi Airport will upgrade its Terminal 1 to improve passenger flow through a new centralized departure immigration portal. It will add 105 ft. of services area along older sections of the C and D piers to improve passenger waiting areas and add a curbside rain shelter for arriving passengers under a S$500-million ($348-million) contract signed with Takenaka Corp. The work is to be completed in the third quarter of 2011.
NASA astronauts may have to abandon the International Space Station at the end of 2011, given the dwindling time left Congress to decide whether to continue paying for seats on the Soyuz capsule in the wake of the Russia-Georgia conflict. Administrator Michael Griffin tells CBS News he’s very pessimistic Congress will extend authority to buy the seats—needed for both access to the station and crew rescue—soon enough for the Russians to produce them once the shuttle stops flying (see p. 32). Compounding the problem are anticipated delays in NASA’s follow-on to the shuttle.
Tory Baker (see photo) has been promoted to vice president/chief financial officer from vice president-finance/treasurer of the Nordam Group , Tulsa, Okla.
The new U.S.-Poland ballistic missile defense agreement and declaration on strategic cooperation still needs some refining, says acting Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control John Rood. One issue is a proposed Patriot antimissile battery. Rood says deployment will begin as soon as the necessary agreements are reached with the Poles, and that could begin next year. The goal is to garrison a U.S. Army Patriot battery in Poland by 2012.
Any lingering industry hope that Japan would release a fighter request in the next few weeks was dashed by the resignation of the country’s prime minister. However, Tokyo may still push ahead with a request for proposals in the next six months.
Porter Airlines of Toronto, which serves seven destinations in eastern Canada, will acquire its 15th and 16th 70-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprops by converting options from a 2006 order.
The U.S. has quietly lifted sanctions against China Great Wall Industry Corp., the Chinese government’s international aerospace trading company accused by the Treasury Dept. in 2006 of supplying ballistic missile technology to Iran. Great Wall sells Chinese telecommunications transponders and other components and markets commercial launches on Long March boosters such as the CZ-3A (see photo).
Alternative fuel advocates are exploring methods to distribute Jet A synthetics to airports while still pursuing issues related to production and quality of fuels produced from coal, natural gas or biomass.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines members carried 0.6% fewer international passengers in July than during the same month last year. However, traffic measured in terms of revenue passenger kilometers rose 0.8%. In addition, the average load factor on international service dropped by 1.3 percentage points to 78.4% as overall capacity grew by 2.5%. International air cargo also fell 5.5% compared to the same month a year earlier, but cargo load factor rose slightly to 66.6% due to a 5.9% reduction in capacity.
Airservices Australia reports that Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach and departure procedures used by 35 Qantas 737-800s have saved on flight time, fuel burn and emissions at Brisbane and other airports. In the first 18 months of these operations, the airline has saved 6,965 min. of flying time by reducing distance flown by 30,624 naut. mi.; cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million kg. and fuel burn by 345,249 kg.; and reduced delays both for RNP- and non-RNP-equipped aircraft.
The first of two X-47B carrier demonstration system air vehicles is more than 50% complete and ahead of its build schedule as it proceeds toward first flight in November 2009, boasts Northrop Grumman. The flight test program for the X-47B—the first-ever unmanned tailless jet to land on board a carrier—will include catapult launch and arrested landings, autonomous carrier control area operations and precise movement of the aircraft on the ship’s flight deck. Carrier landings and subsequent sea trials are planned to begin in November 2011.
This month, civil aviation veterans and enthusiasts will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Boeing 747’s first public appearance. The rollout ceremony—much simpler than today’s Hollywood-style shows—took place on the morning of Sept. 30, 1968. Lucky guests who attended (including this writer) still remember Malcolm T. Stamper’s clear voice telling the audience: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Boeing seven-four-seven.” And the monumental doors of the Everett, Wash., factory slowly began to open, unveiling the nose of a true giant.
Tina LaForte has been appointed vice president of BAA Cleveland , which operates the Airmall at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. She was general manager of BAA Maryland Inc., operator of the Airmall at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Testing to clear Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s (PWR) dual-mode ramjet/scramjet engine for flight on the Boeing X-51A WaveRider hypersonic demonstrator in September 2009 is underway in the NASA Langley Research Center’s 8-ft. high-temperature tunnel. The X-51A is a $246-million joint U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to demonstrate a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet in a missile-sized vehicle.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Hong Kong Civil Aviation Dept. have signed a memorandum of understanding on aircraft maintenance, expanding an agreement approved in 2004 to reciprocate on approvals given to maintenance, repair and overhaul companies. The new agreement is expected to generate additional business for as many as 75 MRO companies in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Efforts to drastically overhaul how air freight is handled by shifting to paperless processes are starting to accelerate, but progress on implementing so called e-freight programs still have a long way to go before they are globally embraced.
