NASA argues that congressional permission for its astronauts to continue flying on Russian Soyuz vehicles after 2011 is “mandatory” if the International Space Station is to continue operating. The agency’s human spaceflight chief, William Gerstenmaier, tells the House aeronautics and space subcommittee that Russia understands it can’t operate the ISS without U.S. crewmates to run the U.S. power and cooling systems that keep the massive spacecraft functioning. But a congressional exemption to the Iran nonproliferation law permitting the U.S.
Germany is paying $66.7 million to airports operator Fraport AG for investments it made in the failed Manila Terminal 3 project. The government has a fund to guarantee capital investments made by businesses outside Germany. Fraport was a partner in a group chosen to build a new Terminal 3 at Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport in 1999. However, in 2002, then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo voided the contract.
Working teams entrusted with elaborating a plan to modernize the French armed forces have come up with an outline for streamlining support services and, in particular, resolving on-condition maintenance matters as parts show signs of deterioration. Government figures indicate that 60% of the defense personnel budget goes for support activities and only 40% for operations—the opposite of the situation in other allied nations, notably the U.K. The objective of the reform plan, to be announced on June 19, will be to reverse these percentages.
Eurocontrol has accepted the final two work products of the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management research consortium: the Sesar master plan and the 2008-13 work program. The master plan lays out how the new concept of operation can be instituted and outlines a phased implementation schedule from research and development to deployment. The next phase of the ATC modernization program is being run by the Sesar Joint Undertaking, which has an administrative board and an executive director.
Airservices Australia and Qantas Airways are demonstrating dramatic reductions in fuel burn, emissions and noise using Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures at Brisbane Airport, and now Qantas aims to save even more there with 4D trajectory arrivals.
May 5-7—Speednews’ Sixth Annual Aerospace and Defense Industry Suppliers Conference. Jonathan Club, Los Angeles. Call +1 (310) 203-9603, fax +1 (310) 203-9352 or see www.speednews.com May 5-8—Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ Flight Test Safety Workshop. Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront, Melbourne, Fla. Also, June 4-7—European Symposium. Hotel Radisson SAS, Lucerne, Switzerland. Call +1 (661) 942-9574 or see www.setp.org
Kathryn Crandell has been appointed vice president-contracts for Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing . She has been head of contracts for Aviation Partners Blended Winglets.
Bob Pemberton has become Texas-based director of sales for KOR Electronics , Cypress, Calif. He was director of microwave sales for Crane Aerospace & Electronics.
Richard Rodriguez was named the new commissioner for Chicago’s Aviation Dept. one day after the current chief, Nuria Fernandez, resigned. Fernandez, in the job for two years, took heat over not making a deal with United and American airlines—O’Hare Airport’s biggest carriers—to help cover a funding shortfall for the $2.8-billion, Phase One of the O’Hare Modernization Program. Mayor Richard M. Daley was also reportedly unhappy about O’Hare’s continuously showing up near the top of the Transportation Dept.’s lists of flight delays and cancellations.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems will build a gapfiller satellite for NASA to maintain as much continuity in the 36-year-old Landsat data set as possible. Under a $116-million delivery order through the U.S. space agency’s Rapid II Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity spacecraft “catalog,” the Gilbert, Ariz.-based firm will build the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The company won out over Rapid II providers Ball Aerospace, Orbital Sciences and Space Systems/Loral, which had $600,000 study contracts for the procurement.
Europe’s A400M airlifter is at risk of falling further behind schedule but for now program leaders are clinging to their commitment to achieve first flight this summer. The first prototype, aircraft MSN001, is fully assembled, except for its four turboprop engines, and is currently undergoing systems tests at the final assembly plant here. In briefings last week to show off the new facility, Airbus Military Aircraft CEO Carlos Suarez said the aircraft will roll out on June 26 and fly “early this summer.”
Airbus, in addition to a regular 2.74% inflation increase, is boosting the list prices of its aircraft owing to the weak dollar. But the decision also shows how strong demand is, allowing Airbus to ratchet up prices; company executives previously indicated prices were solidifying in the past year as a result of record order bookings. Starting May 1, Airbus will add $2 million to the price of each single-aisle above the regular escalation, while the increase is $4 million for widebodies and the A380. Increased raw material costs also are driving the price rise.
Something must be right with the business model for Eos Airlines, a “boutique” carrier serving corporate travelers between New York JFK and London Stansted airports. “In a challenging economic and credit environment . . . when much of the airline industry is mired in misery,” CEO Jack Williams says that, effective May 5, Eos will secure an additional $50 million from one of its current investors. The capital is expected to take the carrier to profitability in 2009, he says.
In line with ongoing economic development in India, Lufthansa is expanding services. Starting July 1, the carrier will offer all-business-class, six-times-weekly nonstop flights to Pune. The fast-developing city in western India is an automotive center as well as home base for IT, biotech and biochemistry companies. PrivatAir will operate the aircraft, an Airbus A319 refitted as a 48-seat Lufthansa Business Jet.
CAE in the next four years plans to recruit and train more than 600 pilot candidates for Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways, Mumbai’s Kingfisher Airlines and Central Europe’s Wizz Air.
Airbus and Boeing have decided to set aside their rivalry in the field of air traffic management. The two aircraft makers will work together to ensure transatlantic interoperability as ATM systems are modernized in the U.S. and Europe. The agreement inked last week ensures Boeing will have a voice as Europe moves the Sesar program into the development stage; Airbus will also be assured input as the U.S. NextGen project moves forward.
Canada’s CAE is to build a prototype flight training device for Alenia Aermacchi’s M-346 advanced jet trainer, after being selected as preferred full-mission simulator supplier for the Italian aircraft. Part of the M-346 initial training capability, the fixed-base device will feature a CAE Medallion-6000 image generator driving a dome display with LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) projectors. Selex Galileo, a Finmeccanica-owned company like Aermacchi, will be responsible for the simulator cockpit and instructor operator station.
David J. Gorney has been promoted to senior vice president of Space Systems Group of The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif., from vice president-space programs operations. Bernard W. Chau has been named vice president of National Systems Group. Rand H. Fisher will become senior vice president-systems planning and engineering, based in Rosslyn, Va., on June 1. He will succeed Donald R. Walker, who will be retiring. Jerry M. (Mike) Drennan has been appointed senior vice president-operations and support. He has been head of the company’s operations in Colorado Springs.
Airbus engineers hope a series of test flights Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF) engine later this year will answer questions engineers have about the turbofan’s promised fuel burn savings.
French aerostructures provider Daher and Oklahoma-based Nordam Group have been tapped to be part of the Gulfstream G650 supply chain. Stork-Fokker, a risk-sharing partner on the project, has named Daher to build the upper part of the vertical tail for the new business jet. The prototype structure is to be delivered in December; serial production is set to start in 2009. Nordam has been assigned the manufacture of fairings, landing gear doors and wing tip lenses. The components will be delivered ready for installation.
Japan’s Mitsui Seiki has developed a drilling machine for aero-engine cooling holes that combines a laser with the massive, precise construction of a high-grade mechanical tool. The company says it developed the drilling machine, called the VLD-300, in cooperation with component makers of aero-engines that were seeking faster, more precise laser drilling than is now available. The VLD-300 will aim its Nd:YAG laser within 0.001 mm. (0.00004 in.) of the specified point on the metal piece to be worked on.
SpaceX will be on tap to launch scientific and other spacecraft from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA contract potentially worth $1 billion. The contract covers launches on the startup company’s planned Falcon 1—seen lifting off on its second, ultimately unsuccessful demonstration orbital mission Mar. 20, 2007—and Falcon 9 vehicles. The contract period ends June 30, 2010, for small- and medium-class expendable-vehicle launches through December 2012.
John J. Walsh has been named president of Sypris Electronics , Tampa, Fla. He succeeds Robert Sanders, who resigned. Walsh was executive vice president-strategy, technology and development for Ducommun Inc. and president of subsidiary Ducommun Technologies.
Boeing expects to perform proof-pressure tests of the 146 X 124-in. main deck cargo door on the first 777 Freighter early this week as it readies the 103-ton payload aircraft for its roll-out ceremony in late May. The test is expected to be conducted at the same time as the standard production “high-blow” pressurization test to which all new-build aircraft are subjected before delivery. First flight is due in June with deliveries starting by year-end.
Washington’s Dulles International has become the 12th airport in the U.S. to go operational with the FAA’s new Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X (ASDE-X) system built by Sensis Corp. ASDE-X gives air traffic controllers a display that tracks all aircraft on runways, taxiways and ramps to improve safety and efficiency.
