British Airways is making Amsterdam-New York the second city pair for its OpenSkies subsidiary. The airline was considering several options in addition to the existing Paris-New York service, and Milan, Brussels and Frankfurt are still being considered for further expansion. OpenSkies is scheduled to begin operations Oct. 15 between Schiphol and JFK airports using Boeing 757-200s. The aircraft will feature a new cabin configuration that eliminates 30 seats in economy class in favor of 40 premium economy- and 24 business-class seats.
Astronauts and an army of engineers and technicians on the ground are working hard to ready themselves and the space shuttle Atlantis for the final servicing mission to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST). If it goes as planned, the risky shuttle flight will leave the 17-year-old telescope at “the apex” of its capability, able to probe the Universe with a full suite of instruments for the first time.
If an upgraded Hubble Space Telescope marks the apogee of observational technology in 2008, by 2058 its capabilities may seem almost quaint. Nobel laureate John C. Mather, the senior project scientist on the follow-on James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), predicts a continuation of today’s golden age of astronomy as space-based observation techniques pushed to the limit on the Hubble are refined even more.
Scientists working with Europe’s Corot orbital observatory have discovered a gaseous exoplanet orbiting a star with nearly the mass of the Sun. The discovery, presented in July at the Cool Stars 15 meeting at St. Andrews University, is another milestone in the mission’s quest for a solar system with rocky Earthlike planets. The planet, Corot-exo-4b, is roughly the size of Jupiter and takes 9.2 days to orbit its star.
Luis J. Soto has been named president of the Arrow Air Holdings Corp. of Miami. He succeeds Guillermo J. Cabeza, who is now CEO of Reliance Aviation Management Inc. Soto was an executive director of Arrow. Donald G. Scott has been named chief operating officer. He has been a consultant to Arrow and was managing director of Tradewinds Airlines.
Voyant International is developing technology for air-to-ground connections that are 10-1,000 times faster than current satellite systems for broadband services. Steffen D. Koehler, chief marketing officer, says connectivity rates of 10-35 Mpbs. are “much less expensive than satellite-based services.” Although Voyant began flight trials in June, regulatory hurdles remain and a date for entry into service is uncertain. Airline connections will be strictly air-to-ground using an antenna mounted on the bottom of the fuselage. Voyant is partnering with Harris Corp.
European missile builder MBDA is facing an early litmus test of its ability to adapt programs quickly to meet changing requirements. Renewed trials of a dual-mode Brimstone missile are now due, following a failure that set back the program.
Boeing will double the size of its Chinese composites operation, increasing its politically useful presence in its largest export market while also taking advantage of local labor conditions. The planned expansion of BHA Aero Composite Parts in Tianjin follows the agreement of U.S. composites maker Hexcel to sell its share in the business to Boeing, which now has an 80% stake alongside partner Avic 1.
NASA is planning a major announcement this month on discoveries by the Phoenix Mars lander, depending on results still being analyzed from the spacecraft’s organic oven and soil chemistry laboratories. Data from a second soil test by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) wet chemistry instrument are highly “provocative” and the White House has been informed about what the data show, Mars scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology.
United is accusing the Air Line Pilots Assn. and four of its pilots of organizing, and engaging in, illegal work actions in a lawsuit filed July 30 with a federal court in Chicago. United says unnecessary pilot sick leave caused it to cancel 329 flights July 19-27. It is seeking an injunction against further actions. United’s pilots have been waging an anti-management campaign for more than a year, and said the company is now making inaccurate and misleading statements.
Astronauts will fly the space shuttle Atlantis to the Hubble Space Telescope in October for a final servicing mission, the first since the shuttle Columbia carried this STS-109 mission in 2002. Leading the squad of four spacewalking repairmen is astronaut/astronomer John Grunsfeld (on Columbia’s robotic arm in this image, with astronaut Richard Linnehan). During five back-to-back extravehicular activities (EVAs), two-man EVA teams will replace and repair instruments in an effort to leave the telescope more capable than ever.
An airborne radar that can track individuals as they leave their vehicles to plant roadside bombs is being flight-tested by Northrop Grumman. Built in 18 months under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (Vader) program, the system includes an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar housed in a Hellfire missile-sized underwing pod, an electronics unit in the aircraft and the tactical control data link (TCDL).
For any large-scale emergency in Asia or the Pacific, Guam’s complex of military facilities would be the sally port for specialized fast-response forces such as Red Horse (civil engineering), Commando Warrior and Silver Flag schools (combat security and deployment training) and Combat Communications units.
Debi Cunningham has been named director of marketing of West Star Aviation Inc. , East Alton, Ill. She was modification sales manager for Garrett Aviation.
Eutelsat says power output on its W5 communications satellite has been stabilized following loss of a solar panel, but the spacecraft will have to operate with just 20 of its 24 Ku-band transponders. The fixed-satellite service operator says the four transponders had to be switched off following the glitch, which occurred June 16-17. Attempts to recover their use in collaboration with the satellite manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space, were not successful. Launched in 2002 to a position at 70.5 deg. E.
Obituary: Richard G. O’Lone, the longtime San Francisco bureau chief for Aviation Week & Space Technology, who was known to readers for his graceful writing style and to his fellow journalists for his gentlemanly grace, died in Greenbrae, Calif., from complications following a bout with pneumonia. He was 76.
Boeing Capital Corp. is leasing three MD-11 Boeing Converted Freighters to Aeroflot Cargo. They will operate out of Aeroflot’s Frankfurt facility. Aeroflot Cargo already operates four DC-10 freighters and is committed to taking three more MD-11BCFs.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) still hopes to roll out its long-delayed Secure Flight computerized passenger screening system before the Bush administration leaves next January. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley says Secure Flight, which will match air passengers with data on their gender, date of birth and travel itinerary, will be “up and operating in some capacity” in January 2009.
Taiwanese and Chinese airlines could expand their nonstop charter passenger services and introduce nonstop freight flights as early as October. Under the latest proposals, routes also would be straightened by avoiding the need to fly through Hong Kong airspace, and extra flights would introduce new city pairs.
Capt. Bob Waltz, Southwest Airlines (Dripping Springs, Tex.)
I take exception to Col. (ret.) Michael Gallagher’s letter “More Economical Approaches May Be Near” (AW&ST July 7, p. 10), regarding Southwest Airlines’ so-called “shyness” about a “low-key” position of 1 mi. and 300 ft. on landing. First, commercial transport aircraft do not fly to any “key” position when landing (you’ll find no reference to “high key” or “low key” in any multi-engine transport flight manual).
Thousands of shoulder-fired missiles are still on the black market after a six-year effort by the U.S. to have surplus weapons destroyed and foreign stockpiles secured. Since the problem isn’t fully contained, the U.S. threat-reduction effort is continuing. Interest in reducing the availability of man-portable air defense systems (Manpads) reached new urgency following the attack on a Boeing 757-300 from Israel’s Arkia Airlines with 271 people on board in Mombasa, Kenya, on Nov. 28, 2002. Luckily, the two shoulder-launched weapons missed their target.
The U.S. Army is planning to demonstrate a 6,000-7,000-shp. turboshaft engine to power a growth version of, or replacement for, the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) is the latest of the technology demonstrators planned under the multi-agency, multi-phase Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (Vaate) program.
