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.
Boeing has fired the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) technology demonstrator for the first time on board its C-130H testbed. The ground firing on May 13 at Kirtland AFB, N.M., marked the beginning of tests leading up to inflight firings at “mission-representative ground targets” later this year to evaluate the high-energy chemical laser’s military utility. U.S. Special Operations Command is handing over management of the ATL to the U.S.
The discovery of hydroxyl on Venus has scientists scurrying to detect whether there is also an abundance of ozone on the Morning Star. The discovery, the first on another planet, was made in a thin layer of the Venusian atmosphere 100 km. (62 mi.) above the planet by the visible and infrared imaging spectrometer on the European Space Agency’s Venus Express probe.
Climatologists at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will deploy the agency’s High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) system late in June to the Arctic as part of an intensive field campaign to investigate the region’s lower atmosphere and identify how pollution contributes to climate change there. The HSRL is designed to study the size, composition, distribution and movement of aerosols and will be deployed on board NASA’s Beechcraft Super King Air 200.
Conor Marr, a graduate student in aerospace engineering at Pennsylvania State University, has won the 2008 Lichten Award, through which NASA provides an internship in partnership with the Alexandria, Va.-based American Helicopter Society International . The award supports NASA’s goal to enhance the educational experiences of U.S. engineering students in fields that align with the agency’s aeronautics program.
A pair of astronomical observations 22 years apart has revealed that a supernova in the constellation Sagittarius occurred about 140 years ago, confirming it as the most recent stellar explosion observed in the Milky Way galaxy. In 1985, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array in New Mexico made an observation of the supernova remnant G1.9+0.3 in radio wavelengths (blue in the composite image above). Then, early last year, NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory collected the image of X-rays from the blast (orange in the image above).
American Airlines’ plan to retire up to 85 aircraft this year could be a harbinger of an even larger wave of U.S. fleet cuts, with the carrier’s competitors likely to further slash their own capacity to cope with soaring fuel costs.
Cessna has tapped Goodrich to supply the landing gear and Argo-Tech, the fuel system for its new Columbus midsize jet. It also picked Vought to design and produce the aircraft wing and slats.
In the article “Open Warfare” (AW&ST May 12, p. 26), it is said General Electric has thrown down the gauntlet to Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF). I would suggest Pratt has thrown down the gauntlet to GE and Rolls-Royce. I doubt GE or Rolls has spent anywhere near the $1 billion on the “open-rotor” architecture in the past 20 years as Pratt has on the GTF.
While Airbus is still in the ramp-up phase for its new corporate jet completion business, market response is steady and solid. The aircraft maker has embarked on a conservative approach to building the Airbus Corporate Jet Center (ACJC) for fear that overextending itself early could lead to delivery delays that could sour relationships with VIP customers. But handover of the first aircraft two months ago established the company’s ability to outfit its narrow-body, large-cabin business jets in-house.
Mike Enright (see photo) and Charlie Chambers have been promoted to business managers from technical sales managers for government and commercial sales, respectively, for Barnes Aerospace , Windsor, Conn.
The British Defense Ministry is considering purchasing 200 common mission support systems for its AgustaWestland Future Lynx and WAH-64 Apache helicopters. The terminal would be used to provide the aircrew with a mission rehearsal tool, with the ability to upload and download data from the terminal to the helicopter. The mission support system—if procured—will enter service with the Apache by the end of 2010.
CAE will train pilots and mechanics of Bombardier Aerospace Learjet 40 and 40 XL, as well as Learjet 45 and 45 XL, business jets under a pact that will expand on the companies’ 20-year relationship. Plans call for installation of a new full-flight simulator for the 40/40 XRs and 45/45 XRs at CAE’s Burgess Hill Training Center in the U.K.; a Challenger 300 simulator will be installed at another CAE location in fall 2009, according to the company.
Here comes summer, the season for thunderstorms, long delays and frazzled travel nerves. The Air Transport Assn. is offering commonsense travel tips to ensure “smooth flying,” including having identification ready at the security checkpoint, preprinting boarding passes when possible and checking flight status before leaving home. Fewer passengers—211.5 million—are expected to travel June 1-Aug. 31, a slight decline compared to last year’s 214.2 million, according to the ATA and the Airports Council International’s 2008 summer forecast.
Vladimir Putin, who moved from president of Russia to prime minister on May 8, has announced his cabinet and modified the structure of government. Government officials as a group are playing an increasingly important role in Russia’s aerospace and defense industry, as private capital is squeezed out in the process of consolidation.
Ready for its trial by fire and ice, the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Phoenix Mars lander is set to dive into the planet’s atmosphere May 25, where it must survive temperatures of a 2,600F entry then down to -100F for three months near the Martian north pole.
