“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.
Stephen A. Evans, Director (ret.), Adv. Technology, Rocketdyne (Foothill Ranch, Calif.)
In Dale Jensen’s letter “What NASA Should Be Doing” (AW&ST July 14, p. 10), he displays a basic misunderstanding of rocket engine design when he refers to the “inefficient RS-68.” The RS-68 is a modern, highly efficient booster (first-stage) engine having the same sea level specific impulse as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). Booster engines have low-expansion ratio nozzles to prevent overexpansion of the exhaust gas that produces the engine thrust.
Air Canada has completed arduous noise qualification tests with an Airbus A319 at John Wayne Airport Orange County in California, as the first step toward becoming the U.S. airport’s first international operator. The trials, ending on July 22, included five departures with the aircraft ballasted with newspapers to simulate full passenger loads. The airline is believed to be interested in establishing flights to and from Vancouver and at least one other Canadian city. If approved, flights could begin by year-end.
Aug. 11-14—Fatigue Concepts Course: “Fatigue, Fracture Mechanics and Damage Tolerance of Aging and Modern Aircraft Structures.” Huntsville Sparkman Center, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Call +1 (916) 933-5000 or see www.fatcon.com/sched.html Aug. 14-17—Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine’s 2008 Frontiers of Aerospace Medicine Conference. Crowne Plaza, Darwin, Australia. Call +61 (3) 9899-1686 or see www.asam.org.au
Emerging players in the aerostructures business see a window of opportunity to become major partners on single-aisle replacement programs that Airbus and Boeing are expected to field in a decade. The number of companies looking to vie for workshares on the new Airbus and Boeing programs is likely to be much greater than in the past. This trend will be driven by new entrants, as well as by Airbus’s intention to sell some of its German and French operations, thereby reshaping the aerostructures supply base.
Objections from the Chinese industry ministry are delaying the proposal to re-merge Avic 1 and Avic 2. If the ministry can be satisfied, the merged company, China Aviation Industry Corp., will be formed in late August.
Taiwan has no plans to shop around for fighter aircraft and other weaponry if a pending $11-billion arms deal with the U.S. continues to lag, says the head of Taiwan’s legislature. “With the exception of 1992, when we purchased Mirage 2000 fighters from France,” Taiwan has always purchased defensive weapons from the U.S., says Wang Jin-pyng, speaker of the Legislative Yuan. That option isn’t being considered this time. A 1979 law commits the U.S.
New avionics products were plentiful at EAA’s AirVenture 2008 in Oshkosh, Wis. Honeywell began taking orders for its new Bendix/King Apex Edge avionics series for general aviation aircraft. The first two units will be a primary flight display and a multifunction display, borrowing features from Honeywell’s Primus Apex integrated flight deck—such as graphical flight planning and cursor control.
A Hawker 800 crashed after an apparent aborted landing at Owatonna, Minn., Degner Regional Airport on July 31, killing six passengers and two pilots. The aircraft operator was identified as East Coast Jet. The aircraft was en route from Atlantic City, N.J. Witnesses said after touching down and rolling out on the airport’s single, 5,500-ft.-long runway, the jet took off again but then dropped a wing, rolled and dropped the other, which struck the runway; at that point the airplane began to cartwheel and disintegrate.
When the space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, the shuttle Endeavour will be standing by on Pad 39B for a mission no one believes will be needed. But if Atlantis suffers the same sort of damage to its thermal protection system that doomed the shuttle Columbia in 2003, Endeavour and its four-man crew will be able to mount a rescue mission within a week of the Atlantis launch to bring the Hubble crew home safely.
EADS has selected PTC to harmonize software for its Phenix product lifecycle management PLM system. Phenix (PLM Harmonization for Enhanced Innovation and Excellence) was launched in 2007 to provide a uniform digital design, production and support data base throughout the company and its supply chain, and to avoid incidents such as the wiring harness snafu that derailed early Airbus A380 production.
Swati Rangachari has been named New Delhi-based director of corporate communications for Boeing in India. She was a manager of communication programs for Texas Instruments India.
Despite the ever-rising cost of fuel and the crisis it has caused in commercial aviation, re-regulation is definitely not the answer, says Michael Levine, a former executive at Continental and Northwest. In a pointed response to a speech given by former American CEO Robert Crandall last month, Levine, now a New York University law professor, says the industry must change to adapt to high oil prices, and trying to “preserve the industry as it was in 2005, let alone in 1978,” is not the answer.
Boeing expects to begin final ground tests on the initial 767-200SF Special Freighter in Everett, Wash., on Aug. 1 following its ferry flight from Alenia Aeronavali’s conversion site in Venice. Initial tests will focus on flight deck noise and the environmental control system prior to the start of long-delayed certification tests. The 767-200SF flew in June before ferrying to Seattle for Boeing-led amended type certificate tests. The original plan called for flight tests in mid-2007.
