Stung by high fuel prices, India’s Kingfisher Airlines will reduce to five its original order for 10 Airbus A340-500s and add five A330-200s. The airline is selling two A340-500s in the wake of canceling plans for direct service from Bangalore to New York. Kingfisher is still intending to offer flights to San Francisco. Cancellation of orders for five A350XWBs has been denied, although predelivery payments have not been made.
Former astronaut and U.S. senator John Glenn says President Bush’s idea to use the Moon as a base for human exploration of outer space is impractical. “It seems to me the Moon is questionable as a way station” to Mars, Glenn tells a congressional committee hearing on NASA’s first 50 years and future challenges. “If that’s what we’re doing—which I don’t believe it is—but if that’s what we’re thinking about doing. That is enormously expensive,” Glenn told the House Science and Technology Committee. In response to a question from Rep.
Two Saab Gripen two-seat fighters are undergoing flight and ground evaluations at Emmen air base in Switzerland as part of the Swiss air force’s program to replace the aging F-5 Tiger fighter. The Gripen will be followed by Dassault’s Rafale in October and the Eurofighter Typhoon in November. About 30 Gripen flights are planned, including some at night, and another 50 flights will be conducted with Swiss air force F/A18s and F-5s. Final bids are due in January, and source selection by the Swiss government is scheduled for July 2009.
Intriguing configuration details of the closely guarded Virgin Galactic WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, the world’s largest all-composite design, are emerging following its unveiling at Scaled Composites’ manufacturing site in California.
GE Aviation has delivered the first of a new enhanced airborne flight recorder (EAFR) for the Boeing 787. The EAFR meets regulations instituted by the FAA in March. The new device is part of a Rockwell Collins network communications package and it can be reconfigured to gather newly selected flight data. It also has an independent power supply so it will continue to record even if aircraft power fails.
New problems developing the A400M military airlifter and concerns that the A380 ramp-up schedule for next year may not be achievable signal EADS could face more financial charges as it struggles to stabilize the two flagship programs.
David Mellors (see photo) has been appointed chief financial officer of U.K.-based Qinetiq Group plc , effective Aug. 31. He was deputy CFO for Logica plc. He will succeed Doug Webb, who has become CFO of the London Stock Exchange Group plc.
Tough sledding continues on Capitol Hill for Air Force leaders. Now the lawmakers are directing the service to consider “industrial base concerns” in its next evaluation of a replacement air refueling tanker. The directive came with the $487.7-billion Fiscal 2009 defense appropriations bill approved July 30 by the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. The bill, which must clear the full Appropriations Committee before consideration by the House, fully funds the tanker program at $893 million.
Airbus is going to meet with Grupo Marsans to determine whether the carrier still plans to buy four A380s now that Argentina seems likely to nationalize Aerolineas Argentinas. Grupo Marsans has indicated it still wants some of the A380s. In any case, the commitment is not yet firm in the Airbus order book.
ITT‘s night-vision business unit is producing 16-mm. intensifier tubes for a new type of night-vision goggle popular with Navy and Air Force fighter pilots and special operations ground forces. This is the USAF panoramic night-vision goggle (PNVG-see photo) and a similar system (Quad Eye on the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System) used by Navy pilots. In fact, ITT received a $14-million order in June, the largest order yet for these image intensifiers that are 25% lighter than conventional 18-mm. tubes.
The Engine Alliance is defining the scope of an improvement program for its GP7200 turbofan to help Airbus enhance performance of the A380, and put some very long-range routes within reach.
Shockwaves from the federal indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens are expected to extend beyond Alaska to the aviation, defense and space sectors. The seven-term Republican, known as “The Incredible Hulk” for his mastery of delivering federal dollars to Alaska, will have to step down as the senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee—which oversees NASA, FAA and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)—as well the defense appropriations subcommittee. Stevens pleaded not guilty last week to seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms.
The European Space Agency is undertaking a worldwide search for candidate missions that could be carried on development flights intended for its Vega light launch vehicle. The five flights are being bankrolled by the agency’s Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment (Verta) program, kicked off in late 2005 to demonstrate mission flexibility (including multiple payload capability), perform sustaining engineering and underwrite a portion of launch costs as the three-stage solid-rocket launcher climbs the learning curve.
“Demand Driven” (AW&ST July 14, p. 144) discusses benefits from laminar flow control (LFC) but there is a better way to integrate power use into aerodynamic designs to increase fuel economy. Instead of pinholes by the millions, a single suction slot and optimized trailing-edge geometry can generate significantly (two to three times) more benefit than LFC with minimal maintenance costs thanks to a phenomenon called Pressure Thrust, a child of Bernoulli’s law like its sibling, Aerodynamic Lift.
The first Boeing 737s equipped with Honeywell’s nitrogen-generation systems (NGS) for center fuel tanks are rolling off the assembly lines. The systems comply with an FAA rule issued early in July in response to the 1996 loss of TWA Flight 800 that was traced to an explosion of the center fuel tank. NGS is mandated for the center tank, not wing tanks. Systems for 777s will be available by year end and 747-8s will be equipped early in 2009. NGS adds 120 lb. to a 737 and 275 lb. to a 747. Honeywell and Boeing have collaborated on the system since 2004.
Astronaut/Astronomer John Grunsfeld will get a little observation time on the Hubble Space Telescope after his upcoming space shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the orbiting observatory.
ORBITER: Atlantis (OV-104) will make its 30th flight. It most recently returned from orbit on Feb. 20, 2008. LAUNCH DATE: Targeted for Oct. 8 (may advance slightly) from Kennedy Space Center Pad 38A for an 11-day mission, returning to KSC on Oct. 18.
An article on OpenSkies takeover of L’Avion misspelled the CEO for the French airline’s name (AW&ST July 7, p. 44). It is Marc Rochet. The schedule of the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile program was misstated in a brief (AW&ST July 7, p. 18). The Pentagon plans to award two contractors 28-month technology demonstration contracts by the end of 2008. However, the Defense Dept. plans to review the program in August 2009 prior to proceeding with a 44-month system development and demonstration phase.
SRA International Inc. has completed the acquisition of Era Corp. of Reston, Va., one of the two leading providers of multilateration systems being used in airport surface surveillance and wide-area coverage. Era is also a provider of automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) technology and most of its 300 employees are located in the Czech Republic. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Air traffic is hitting record levels this summer in Europe. During peak activity, the new integrated operations room at Eurocontrol’s Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU) is proving its mettle—handling all sorts of crises that can come out of the blue.
The Transportation Security Administration plans to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) late this summer that addresses security requirements at foreign repair stations. Under existing U.S. law, the FAA cannot certify foreign repair operations without a final rule from the TSA. Administrator Kip Hawley has told a congressional subcommittee that the proposed rule is under review by various federal agencies but could take as long as six months to complete.
High fuel prices make it increasingly likely Airbus will green-light a winglet upgrade program for A320 family aircraft. A new winglet design from Aviation Partners is due for flight testing soon. Last year Airbus looked at winglets, but determined the fuel savings weren’t enough to warrant the investment. But the underlying economics have changed A key factor is that the winglets can also be retrofitted.
Bill Me Later Inc., a privately held data-based technology company, is expecting greater use of its payment and financing services to result from a new strategic relationship forged with Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP)—the airline-owned, corporate travel payment network. The new program will enable carriers to integrate their software to use the existing UATP network for processing ticket purchases.
EADS says Paradigm, a U.K.-based affliate of its Astrium Services unit, has received an initial contract to provide X-band satellite connectivity for the U.S. Defense Dept. The contract was revealed in first-half results released last week, but its size was not indicated. Astrium has been pushing for some time to penetrate the lucrative U.S. military market with its Skynet 5 secure UHF/SHF communications network, a privately funded system that already supplies U.K., Canadian, Portuguese and NATO forces.
