BAE Systems failed to pay enough attention to ethical issues related to its business, according to the Woolf Committee report. The report, commissioned by BAE Systems in response to bribery allegations related to the Al Yamamah program with Saudi Arabia and other defense business, was released on May 6 and makes 23 recommendations intended to provide the company with a robust approach to ethical business practices.
EasyJet’s loss for the first half of its current fiscal year has widened to £43.3 million ($85 million) from £12.7 million due to high fuel prices and one-time charges to pay for the acquisition of GB Airways. EasyJet expects its fuel bill to surpass initial estimates by £45 million in the second half of the year, forcing the low-fare airline to revise its profit guidance. The airline also says it plans to convert some of its outstanding firm orders for the Airbus A319 to those for larger A320s.
Burt Rutan has been named to receive the National Space Society ’s biennial Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in aerospace. The award honors lifetime contributions to the creation of a free, spacefaring civilization. The award is named after author Robert A. Heinlein, in memory of his contributions to the pro-space movement.
Haim Romano (see photo), president of El Al Israel Airlines, has been named as one of the Top Ten Israeli Business Leaders for 2008 by Dun & Bradstreet Israel . Selection was based on criteria such as management skills and long-term excellence, leadership and charisma, strategic overview and vision; and influence on the Israeli economy, his/her company and his/her field. Also judged was the promotion of social and cultural activities in Israel.
Test engineers at NASA Stennis Space Center will spend the next two years preparing for a second round of hot-first testing of NASA’s J2X human-rated upper stage rocket engine for missions to low Earth orbit and the Moon. The last of nine tests of heritage J2 powerpack hardware ran for 400.45 sec. on May 8, finishing a series designed to establish starting-point data for the design of the uprated J2X turbomachinery. The program, which is considered the pacing item for the Ares I crew launch vehicle, reportedly remains on track for a first flight in 2013.
Radar specialists, meeting in Washington last week, say U.S. export bans are destroying the ability of U.S. electronics companies to compete in the world market. “Foreign air forces are demanding AESA radars on their new aircraft and all the features that go with it like electronic attack,” a senior industry official was heard saying. “The people are screwing up by not allowing [radar exports]. We’re losing our leverage.” The area of controversy involves small transmitter/receiver modules used to build active, electronically scanned array radars.
Japan is seeking direct flights between Tokyo’s downtown Haneda airport and Beijing’s convenient but little-known second airport, Nanyuan. Haneda has already secured links with the handy secondary airports of Shanghai and Seoul (Hongqiao and Gimpo). Flights between Haneda and Beijing Capital International Airport are also planned.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) postponed the markup of the war supplemental spending bill for a week because procedural and political disputes have delayed action on a similar bill in the House. Byrd “very reluctantly” agreed to Democratic leadership requests to delay the decisions until this week. Both bodies’ versions exceed the $173 billion the Bush administration is seeking to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House has asked for $103 billion for the remainder of Fiscal 2008 (which ends Oct.
The first unmanned aerial vehicle produced for Britain’s Watchkeeper program is undergoing flight-testing after making its first flight on Apr. 16. Prime contractor Thales U.K. announced the flight on May 6, saying the Elbit Systems-built UAV—a modified autonomous Hermes 450—took off from Megido airfield in northern Israel. Watchkeeper aims to provide the U.K. armed forces with expanded intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Istar) capabilities by 2010 (see related story, p. 31).
Xiamen Airport in China is building a dedicated budget-airline terminal while seeking more business from low-cost carriers. The airport is converting facilities at its cargo facility, with completion due this year.
Even as a big fan of the Boeing 787 business model, I had begun to question what I was missing as Boeing management started fumbling. However, after reading Hamilton Sundstrand President David P. Hess’s explanation (AW&ST Apr. 21, p. 41), it started to make sense.
Senators drafting a new NASA authorization bill are considering giving the agency a little more time to finish the International Space Station. Instead of a hard September 2010 deadline for grounding the space shuttle fleet per President Bush’s plan, some lawmakers want to allow the shuttles to keep flying until the 10 remaining flights to the station are completed. Sen. David Vitter (La.), the top Republican on the Senate space subcommittee, says the idea is still in the “discussion” stage.
Poland has become the fourth nation to join the European Space Agency’s Plan for European Cooperating States (PECS) program. The new associate status will allow Poland to participate in ESA science, human spaceflight, navigation, telecoms and technology initiatives for a five-year period. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania are the other PECS members. Polish entities already serve as co-principal investigators on a number of the agency’s science missions and are supplying hardware for several of them, including the Herschel infrared telescope and the ExoMars probe.
USAF’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) tested a Peacekeeper III rocket motor upper stage last week for the Rocket System Launch Program (RSLP). The objective of the test was to determine the effects of age and storage on solid rocket motors.
Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will build the mobile launcher for NASA’s planned Ares I crew launch vehicle under a contract worth as much as $263.7 million. Based on one of the mobile platforms originally built for the Saturn V Moon rocket in the 1960s and currently used for space shuttle launches, the Ares I launcher will stand about 390 ft. tall. Power, communications, conditioned air and water will be provided for the mobile ground facility.
Damon Hylton and James Garzia have been appointed vice presidents of Seabury APG , Tysons Corner, Va. Hylton was senior director of market planning and sales distribution for Hawaiian Airlines, while Garzia was manager of network planning for US Airways.
Cessna Aircraft Co. flew its Citation CJ4 business twinjet for the first time May 5 at Wichita, Kan. Test pilots Dan Morris and Dave Bonifield flew the C4 for more than 2 hr., checking systems operations and handling qualities, and performing a sustained climb to 16,000 ft. Two other CJ4s production prototypes are being built for the certification program, and both are scheduled to fly late this year. The first airplane will be used for avionics and systems work, and the second for FAA function and reliability flights.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh says delays in completing work to Heathrow Terminal 5 “compromised” testing of the site prior to its opening. With hindsight, he says he regrets not postponing the Mar. 27 opening, which resulted in hundreds of canceled flights and baggage chaos. Walsh told the British Parliament’s Transport Committee last week that the airline and BAA, which was responsible for the construction, did discuss postponing the opening.
A biomass-derived replacement for 100LL aviation gasoline has been unveiled by Swift Enterprises, a West Lafayette, Ind.-based company cofounded by Purdue University Prof. John Rusek. Claimed to be cleaner and cheaper, the 100-octane unleaded fuel comprises pure hydrocarbons synthesized from bio feedstocks such as sorghum. Rusek says ground tests in an aircraft engine indicate increased range compared with low-lead avgas, and Swift is negotiating a cooperative agreement with the FAA for more rigorous tests of its fuel.
Within a year, the Army will have a firmer plan of how to proceed with two experimental efforts: building a small satellite for tactical use and building a high-altitude, long-loiter tethered platform for intelligence collection. Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, director of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, says these efforts are driven to provide more access to ground commanders of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and communications capabilities.
Testing of Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan demonstrator will transfer by October to the new flight test center being built by Pratt & Whitney Canada at Mirabel, outside Montreal. GTF flights on P&W’s Boeing 747SP testbed are to begin by July at the company’s test center in Plattsburgh, N.Y., which is set to close in October when operations are transferred to the C$90-million ($89.5-million) Mirabel facility. A second 747SP is being modified to replace P&WC’s Boeing 720 flying testbed in second-quarter 2009.
Pedro Ferraz Pereira has been named director of internal communications for Brazil-based Embraer . He was director of corporate communications for North America and has been succeeded by Christine Manna. Ferraz follows Rosana Silva Aguiar, who is now a human resources executive.
Brian E. George has become deputy director of cost, price and finance in the U.S. Defense Dept. Office of the Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics at the Pentagon and Timothy J. Harp director of acquisition for the deputy assistant secretary for command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and information technology.
IntercooledIn an intercooled engine, air exiting the low-pressure (LP) compressor is cooled before entering the high-pressure (HP) compressor using bypass air scooped into a set of heat exchangers nested around the engine core. The cooled air has lower combustor entry temperatures, thereby lowering flame temperatures which, in turn, reduce NOx emissions. The overall thermodynamic efficiency is also improved because the relative temperature rise in the combustor is bigger for a given turbine entry temperature (TET).
