Diamond Aircraft has begun flight testing the third prototype D-Jet single-engine personal jet, which will be retrofitted later this year with the more powerful engine planned for production aircraft. Featuring several design refinements, aircraft No. 003 will be used initially for performance and handling-qualities flight testing, and then for further development of the avionics, autopilot, fuel and anti-ice systems.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines may fly again, despite its suspension of flights and appointment of a liquidator on Apr. 9. The liquidator, accountancy firm KPMG, says it has been talking to a “comfortable number of really serious players,” local media report. KPMG has retained Oasis’s employees for the time being.
Raytheon continues to gather international customers for its ALR-67(v)3 digital radar warning receiver, which allows user aircraft to detect and identify more sophisticated threats across a wider swath of the electromagnetic spectrum. The most recent contract is a $85.5-million U.S. Navy agreement to upgrade Canada’s CF-18s and Switzerland’s F/A-18s. Other users include Royal Australian Air Force’s F/A-18s.
Much has been said and written in trying to divine how defense networks should be designed, linked and operated. But if the last few decades have proven anything, it is that real progress in an operational context is made from the bottom up. This is particularly striking when networking involves airborne systems that can extend the tactical reach of a forward-deployed expeditionary force well over the horizon. The following articles report on the pioneering work that continues with the U.S.
Apr. 28-29—Technology Training Corp.’s Military Energy and Fuels Conference. Holiday Inn Rosslyn, Arlington, Va. Also, May 1-2—Armed UAS Conference. Wynn Las Vegas. And, May 6-7—Conference on Defeating Improvised Explosive Devices. Holiday Inn, Alexandria, Va. Call +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.ttcus.com
AMC 14 operator SES Americom and manufacturer Lockheed Martin won’t try to reposition the satellite in geostationary orbit under its own power, and have declared it a total loss. The spacecraft was left in an improper orbit after its International Launch Services Proton/Breeze M rocket malfunctioned on Mar. 15. Although an initial assessment of available options was encouraging, the companies said, more detailed examination determined a reasonable chance of success could not be assured.
NATO’s midterm E-3A AWACS upgrade is poised for full operational clearance, and both its trailblazing progress and emerging network-centric capabilities are being keenly watched by others in the early warning community.
The NTSB has determined pilot failure to execute a missed approach as the probable cause of the Feb. 18, 2007, runway overrun involving a Delta Connection Embraer 170 at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Although “visual cues for the runway were not distinct and identifiable,” according to the NTSB, the pilots of Flight 6448, operated by Shuttle America Inc., proceeded with the landing on Runway 28 in snow conditions with 75 people on board.
Regulatory and political concerns continue to discourage transatlantic consolidation, as evidenced in Air France-KLM’s decision against investing in a combined Delta and Northwest.
In an effort to combat congestion in New York airspace, the U.S. Transportation Dept. unveiled plans on Apr. 16 to auction slots at LaGuardia Airport, and the airline industry is up in arms. The department is proposing two options, one that would plow the proceeds of auctions back into New York airspace improvements, and a second that would allow carriers to keep any money raised. The International Air Transport Assn. has called the proposal "an eBay approach."
Airlines reporting to AIR Inc. hired 3,167 pilots in the first quarter—424 more than during the same period in 2007. The Atlanta-based consultancy reports that the number of furloughed pilots dropped to 2,144 in March from 2,491 in February. While estimates vary, industry growth and pilot retirements could create a need for as many as 17,000 new pilots annually. In the next decade, China and India are expected to create the greatest demand: China is to require about 2,000 pilots per year and India, up to 900 per year, according to AIR.
Astronomers and planetary scientists will get another two years to follow up on some of the discoveries made at Saturn by the nuclear-powered Cassini probe in the nearly four years it already has spent circling the ringed planet. NASA says it will extend the Cassini mission two years beyond its original termination date in July. The extension will allow 60 more orbits around Saturn and more close flybys of Titan, Enceladus and other moons.
Patrick Fines (see photo) has been named director of the Raytheon Virtual Technology Corp. , Alexandria, Va. He was capture manager for BAE Systems’ Network Services and Solutions.
The long-awaited consolidation of the beleaguered U.S. airline industry may finally be at hand with the proposed merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines (see p. 24). Unfortunately for investors, this deal may not be the panacea the industry has been praying for, if it ever comes to fruition.
Ethiopian Airlines will install Thales TopSeries inflight entertainment systems in its fleet of Boeing 787s. Ethiopian will be the first carrier to operate the 787 in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The IFE suite will include 15.4-in. screens in business class and 9-in. units in economy, in addition to 15.4-in. wall-mounted monitors. Thales believes it has captured 80% of the market for the 787 and has orders for more than 800 IFEs to date.
China Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd., the company tasked with taking China into the manufacturing of large jet aircraft, has been registered in Shanghai (AW&ST Apr. 7, p. 24). It includes Avic 1’s current commercial aircraft business, which has been developing the ARJ21 regional jet. It is likely that the company will focus on design, integration and marketing of airliners and freighters, construction of their major assemblies and final assembly, but will not encompass much of China’s component industry.
Wanda M. Austin (see photos), president/CEO of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif., and Alexis C. Livanos, corporate vice president/president of the Space Technology Sector of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering . Austin is known for her work in satellite and payload system acquisition, systems engineering and system simulation.
An increase in both competition and costs is driving Royal Air Maroc management to rethink the airline’s strategy, with an overhaul of domestic plans and expansion in the freight arena likely. The Moroccan flag carrier, which serves more than 80 destinations and has experienced double-digit traffic growth in recent years, has been trying to position itself as a gateway to West Africa. At the same time, the carrier, which enjoys $1.5 billion in turnover, is fighting to protect its market leadership and profitability, which is dwindling.
Irish leasing company Aircraft International Renting (AIR) is buying two ATR 72-500s to be operated by Bangkok Airways. They are to be delivered late this year and next, and bring Bangkok Airways’ fleet of ATR 72-500s to 10. The deal is valued at $37 million and brings the total backlog for ATR 42/72s to 190 aircraft.
A nasty, drawn-out fight is brewing between the BAA airport authority and its major airline customers over serious service disruptions at London Heathrow and surcharges that keep ratcheting up at other facilities. Airlines, increasingly frustrated by the current situation, are finding this a propitious time to be heard. A government review on the future of BAA, including whether to break up the near-monopoly of major London airports, is well underway, with an interim report by the U.K. Competition Commission imminent.
In response to your articles “Evolving Enhancement” and Anti-Aging Program,” on efficiency and upgrade programs (AW&ST Mar. 24, p. 43; Mar. 31, p. 40), aerodynamic, structural and system improvements as well as weight savings have places in any effort to achieve gains in operational efficiency, and cost-effective improvements are to be applauded.
Retirements will overtake deliveries in the worldwide military fleet in the coming decade as more capable models replace older ones, AeroStrategy’s Hal Chrisman told an audience at Aviation Week’s MRO conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last week. The current inventory of 39,113 aircraft has rotorcraft as the biggest slice of the pie at 37%, followed by fighter/attack and trainers (tied at 14%), light/medium transports (8%) and smaller mixes of attack helos, utility, special mission, tankers and heavy transports.
On June 17, the FAA is scheduled to begin operating an upgraded version of its Traffic Flow Management Processing Center (TFMPC) at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Pomona, N.J. The facility will replace the agency’s Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS), now at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, in Cambridge, Mass.
