The first congressional cut at setting priorities for NASA spending under the incoming administration has plenty of specifics for Earth science, but only a general endorsement of Mars exploration. “NASA has an important role to play in helping to address the research challenges associated with climate change,” says Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), in outlining his NASA reauthorization bill for Fiscal 2009. The bill, which has cleared the House Science space subcommittee that Udall chairs (see p.
BAE Systems has picked up a £43.9-million ($86.9-million) five–year contract to provide additional engineering support for the Royal Air Force’s fleet of VC10 tanker/transport aircraft.
June 4-5—Aviation Industry Group’s Airline Sales & Marketing Conference. Hilton Euston, London. See www.aviationindustrygroup.com or call +44 (207) 931-7072. June 4-7—Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ European Symposium. Hotel Radisson SAS, Lucerne, Switzerland. Call +1 (661) 942-9574 or see www.setp.org
Richard L. Penshorn has become president/general manager of the King Aerospace Commercial Corp. , Ardmore, Okla. He was president of Aircraft Executive Services.
The $193.9-billion emergency war supplemental spending bill passed by the Senate last week also includes $1.2 billion for science programs including money for NASA. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) added $200 million to the supplemental to reimburse NASA for some of the $2.7 billion in post-Columbia return-to-flight funds it took from other programs. The supplemental includes $166 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through early 2009.
Bombardier has selected Rockwell Collins to provide its Pro Line Fusion avionics suite for the new Learjet 85. Embraer also will use the suite for its new Legacy 450/500 business jets. The suite comes with three, 15-in.-diagonal high-resolution LCD displays and provides features such as enhanced synthetic vision, Integrated Flight Information Systems with electronic charts, and dual advanced flight management systems.
Space shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope and deliver supplies to the International Space Station will slip about six weeks under new launch dates set by senior NASA managers May 22. Production problems with the missions’ external tanks—the first built from scratch with post-Columbia modifications—have forced the delay. The STS-125 Hubble mission on Atlantis has been rescheduled to Oct. 8 from Aug. 28.
Southwest keeps adding service in Denver in an ever-growing challenge to Frontier and United’s prior dominance there. From Apr. 22 to May 20, Southwest announced new services beginning this summer to Portland, Ore.; Indianapolis; Sacramento, Calif.; New Orleans; Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Fla.; San Francisco, and Omaha, Neb. On May 10 it began service to Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Antonio; San Jose, Calif.; and St. Louis. Frontier, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Apr.
The Safran Group has expanded its presence in the Americas with the May 16 opening of a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Queretaro, Mexico. The new Snecma Services subsidiary, Snecma America Engine Services (Sames), will be dedicated to CFM56-5A, -5B and -7B aircraft engines.
The Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) believes it’s time for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to heed its call for a standard aviation employee ID card that would speed the security screening of all employees. The AFA-CWA is dumbfounded that the TSA intends to embark on a trial run this summer at three airports of a system that will allow pilots to bypass regular aviation employee screening. The AFA-CWA says pilots and flight attendants go through the same employment screening and background checks.
A pact that will strengthen the possibility of an open skies arrangement between European Union member states and India is expected to be signed in September at the EU-India summit.
Boeing is trying to make the most of the real estate on the 747-8I to entice VIP customers into buying the aircraft and not the A380. Although the 747-8 doesn’t offer a full upper deck, Boeing is designing an 800-sq.-ft. area between the main deck and upper fuselage shell, where passengers could sleep or install a lounge. Although the space can’t be used during takeoffs and landings and the final configuration isn’t set, headroom should be around 5.9 ft.
In the wake of last year’s turmoil in NASA astronaut corps stemming from the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak, lawmakers may require NASA to conduct biennial anonymous health care surveys of its astronauts and flight surgeons “to evaluate communication, relationships, and the effectiveness of policies,” and to report the results to Congress.
Potentially game-changing treaties with key U.S. partners may have one more window of opportunity for ratification before the pending presidential election casts them into limbo. London and Washington have been trying to negotiate a structure for improved defense-industrial relations for eight years. The latest bilateral effort—the U.K./U.S. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty—has yet to be approved by the Senate. A similar agreement is also being pursued by Australia.
The U.S. Air Force is expecting Boeing, its C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) contractor, to install the final increment of hardware and software onto a test aircraft in August. A low-rate initial production review and decision is expected in November; Boeing will manufacture those units. Two full-rate production contractors, however, will be selected in the second quarter of Fiscal 2012, USAF officials say. Boeing lost that work after former Air Force acquisition chief Darleen Druyun admitted she steered the AMP work in Boeing’s favor.
Boeing will reach the 75% design release point for the upcoming 747-8 freighter this week and is embarking on a major revamp of its 747 production line at Everett to prepare for the start of assembly.
U.S. airship manufacturer Worldwide Aeros is working with the FAA to define the type-certification basis for what it calls a new class of aircraft. The Aeroscraft combines aerodynamic lift, gas buoyancy and thrust vectoring to offer better performance and operability than traditional airships and more flexibility than conventional aircraft, the company says.
Shaken by global uncertainties, the airline industry for the first time is monitoring the U.S. housing market and subprime mortgage defaults while railing against soaring fuel prices. The emerging economic downturn, however, is quite different from previous recessions and much more complex. One size no longer fits all, and statistics are increasingly misleading: Although commercial aviation is more than ever a global industry, market segmentation is on the rise.
Snecma is still searching for a launch customer for its Silvercrest business jet engine—the French engine maker’s first foray into that market. Snecma has completed four-month trials of a core demonstrator, which was built to help convince aircraft makers the company is serious about the offering. The demonstrator, which includes a compressor, combustor and high-pressure turbine, ran about 80 hr. and reached nominal takeoff speed of 20,300 rpm., says Francois Planaud, vice president of Snecma’s commercial engine division.
Richard S. Relac has been named to the board of directors of Valley Forge Composite Technologies Inc. , Covington, Ky. He is a retired editor of daily intelligence summaries at the U.S. Defense Dept.
David A. Wright has become associate director for operations, Patsy G. Smith director of human resources management and development, and John G. Zellmer director of the Office of Protective Services, all at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center , Edwards AFB, Calif. Wright was director of flight operations and succeeds Lawrence J. Schilling, who has retired. Zellmer was deputy director of the Office of Protective Services and succeeds William Crews, who now holds a similar post at the Port of Houston.
Travelers can now apply for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s (CBP) Global Entry, its new international registered traveler pilot program. The program, which starts June 10, will be tested at New York Kennedy, Houston Intercontinental and Washington Dulles airports for six months. It allows registered participants to use passports or green cards in a special kiosk and bypass regular passport control lines.
The independent U.K. environmental watchdog Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) claims “disputed data underpinning . . . air transport policy is making it impossible to weigh up the true benefits and impacts of aviation.” In its report released last week entitled “Breaking the Holding Pattern,” it calls for a special commission to “establish true benefits and impacts”—a process that would effectively halt any further U.K. developments in the sector until 2010-11.
