There’s a huge temptation to characterize the ill-fated $35-billion tanker procurement decision as a uniquely American soap opera. And now the high-profile drama has been given new life by the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recommendation to reopen the competition opposing the KC-30 and KC-767. The Air Force’s “significant errors,” according to the GAO, involve the procurement process but apparently don’t question the merits of the Northrop Grumman/EADS offering.
Austrian aerospace supplier Future Advanced Composite Components is facing massive economic challenges as it feels the effects of some oft-delayed Airbus and Boeing programs. FACC recently posted a net loss of €10 million ($15.8 million) on sales of €251 million for its fiscal year 2007-08, which ended in February. The loss came in spite of €70 million in additional revenues and compares to a profit of €15 million a year earlier. “The result is in no way pleasing,” CEO Walter Stephan told Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Congress has bought itself three more months to figure out a way to reauthorize the FAA. Both the House and Senate approved a fifth extension of the agency’s regulatory and fee-charging authority late last month. FAA authorization ran out last Oct. 1, and the latest extension was due to expire June 30. Sen.
International Launch Services says design and procedural changes introduced for the Proton M/Breeze M should eliminate problems that sidelined the launcher three times in two years.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael W. Wooley has been named to the board of directors of Washington-based Alenia North America . He was commander of USAF’s Special Operations Command and had been commander of the 3rd Air Force, RAF Mildenhall, England.
Kurtina Pollen has been promoted to customer communications manager from information technology partner for the Product Support Div. of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. , Savannah, Ga.
The high scores achieved by aerospace and defense companies in this year’s Top-Performing Companies Study by Aviation Week & Space Technology reflect an industry that is near the peak of its cycle. Rarely, over the course of the industry’s history, have both the civil and defense markets been so strong at the same time. The study results reveal that as a group, the largest aerospace and defense companies improved their total scores by more than 10% to the highest level in the study’s 13-year history.
WorldSpace has come to an agreement with four holders of bridge loan and convertible notes to defer until July 9 payment of principal and interest on the notes initially due on June 30. Holders will receive an aggregate of 1.5 million warrants that can be converted into Class A common stock at $1.55 per share for five years from issuance. WorldSpace is struggling to remain solvent while it prepares to start up a European mobile digital radio service next year.
Boeing has delayed introduction of its fourth 787 flight test airplane into final assembly because a temporary worker at Global Aeronautica caused damage to the aircraft’s composite mid-section fuselage. The damage has been repaired and the incident is not a threat to the company’s revised schedule, which anticipates a first flight probably in late October and first delivery in the third quarter 2009.
Use of preconditioned mobile air units by Alaska Airlines at 19 Seattle-Tacoma International Airport gates will conserve more than 1 million gal. of fuel each year, says Kristin Fuson, a flight operations engineer who is also serving as manager of air unit installations. Alaska plans to install diesel-powered air units at Anchorage, Los Angeles, Portland and San Francisco this year, more than doubling annual savings to 2.4 million gal. of fuel and $5.5 million.
Robert Crandall would support “government-supervised pricing discussions with the goal to establish minimum fares to cover full costs and produce a reasonable return.” Wow! What industry would turn that down? A government mandate that requires pricing that covers full costs and guarantees a “reasonable” return? I haven’t called Hollywood, but I’m confident they’re in. Real estate developers? The line forms to the left. Carmakers? Need we even ask?
Worldwide shipments of personal navigation devices in 2007 reached 30.7 million units—up from 13.3 million the year before, according to a study conducted by IN-Stat, a research organization that is part of Reed Business. The study found that lower prices, coupled with increased features and ample supplies, is fueling sales but the market faces competition from cell phones with embedded navigation systems. The global market for personal navigation devices is forecast to reach 68 million units in 2012.
Daniel B. Markind has joined law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott in its Philadelphia office as a member of its aviation practice. He was general counsel to the Philadelphia International Airport and the city Mayor’s Office of Transportation.
The NTSB is helping investigate what caused a June 28 ground fire on an Airborne Express Boeing 767 that burned a hole through the crown of the aircraft above the forward galley area. The parked aircraft was loaded with cargo. The two crewmembers safety exited the 767 by the cockpit window, and firefighters extinguished the blaze.
Timothy P. Dowd has been appointed president/CEO of Input , Reston, Va. He was president of the Commercial Services Div. of U.S. Investigations Services.
As its newly tapped oil and gas wells overflow, Kazakhstan is piling up national wealth and providing the business climate for Air Astana to achieve a 20% annual growth rate.
Obituary: Robert C. Seamans, Jr., a former U.S. Air Force secretary and deputy NASA administrator who managed development of cutting-edge aerospace systems during the 1960s and 1970s, died June 28 at home in Beverly Farms, Mass. He was 89. Educated in engineering at Harvard and MIT, where he joined the faculty in 1941, Seamans served on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. After a stint at RCA, he was named associate NASA administrator in 1960 and was deputy administrator from 1965-68.
The first of three Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellites has entered thermal vacuum testing at Lockheed Martin’s Dual-Entry Large Thermal Altitude chamber in Sunnyvale, Calif. The tests are to verify the spacecraft’s functionality for a 14-year design life. Lockheed Martin will then do an environmental test data analysis with Northrop Grumman Space Technology, which is building the payload in Redondo Beach, Calif. By its design, a single AEHF will be able to provide more capacity than the entire Milstar constellation.
A Saab proposal to co-develop a stealth fighter with South Korea is raising the prospect of an Asian-European aircraft emerging to compete with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning. The South Korean project to build an advanced combat aircraft alternatively offers to fund developments of the Eurofighter Typhoon or to help sustain Boeing’s waning fighter business—but there is also a strong chance that the ambitious program will collapse into yet another F-35 order.
July 14-20—Farnborough (England) air show. Call +44 (125) 253-2800, fax +44 (125) 237-6015 or see www.farnborough.com July 16-17—SAE International’s International Open Forum: Time-Triggered Technologies Symposium. Holiday Inn, Farnborough, England. Call +1 (724) 776-4841 or see www.sae.org
Engineers at NASA’s Langley (Va.) Research Center are scheduled to deliver a full-scale test article of the Composite Crew Module (CCM), designed and sized for the agency’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), this summer. Remaining test articles will be delivered in the autumn for testing upon receipt of hardware, says Michael T. Kirsch, principal engineer at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. The CCM is intended to give the agency in-house experience with composites as an alternate material for future spacecraft, such as the Orion CEV.
Richard Simmons has been promoted to operations manager from quality manager for Texas Pneumatic Systems Inc. in Arlington. He has been succeeded by Darrell Irby.
