Qantas is increasing services to Western Australian mining towns enjoying the global minerals boom led by the surging Chinese economy. Among the flights will be five weekly services from Perth to Port Hedland, an important center for the iron ore industry.
Boeing says its global supply chain business model for building the 787 remains sound, but employees aren’t so sure after the company had to step in to rescue a troubled partnership that pre-assembles major fuselage sections.
Lockheed Martin captured a $596-million foreign military sales contract to provide India with six C-130Js plus spares and support and country-unique capabilities.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has appointed Prof. Mark Welland as its chief scientific adviser. Welland succeeds Prof. Roy Anderson, who is returning to Imperial College.
Lockheed Martin’s first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) secure satellite communications spacecraft for the Pentagon awaits further testing at the company’s Sunnyvale, Calif., facility in advance of a January launch. The Pentagon expects to buy four AEHF spacecraft to replace the Milstar fleet now in orbit (see p. 52). Lockheed Martin photo.
Tony Charaf has been promoted to president from head of technical operations of Delta TechOps . John Laughter has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president-maintenance operations and Neil Stronach to senior vice president from vice president-operational control and reliability. Gil West has been named senior vice president-airport customer service. He was president/CEO of Laidlaw Transit Services.
Airbus North America Customer Service has named Goodrich to perform repairs on proprietary parts and structural components at its Alabama Service Center overhaul and repair facility in Foley. The agreement covers all aircraft flown in the Americas, says the center’s general manager, Stuart Kay. Goodrich expects its work to concentrate on flight control surfaces, pneumatic ducting and access doors, such as landing gear apertures.
I agree with Robin Stanier that the dangers of CO2 are understated and that commercial aviation must collaborate to provide solutions, but it is disingenuous to say increased fuel taxes do nothing to cut emissions, implying that carbon trading does (AW&ST Mar. 10, p. 8). Higher fuel taxes immediately cause airlines to demand more fuel-efficient equipment and can provide funds for research, while the carbon-trading scheme with cheap available credits does neither.
All-business-class airline Silverjet failed to meet its target of making a profit in March, adding further concerns about the viability of the sector after rival Maxjet folded. But Silverjet management notes it did achieve its highest gross profit and smallest operating loss.
When it comes to runways, there’s no such thing as being too safe, and the FAA’s latest efforts to lower the risk of incursions include a $5-million incentive program and a top-to-bottom review of 22 U.S. airports. Now in its formative stages, the new program is “a public-private partnership at its best,” says FAA acting Administrator Robert Sturgell.
The business aircraft depicted in a diagram in last week’s edition was misidentified (AW&ST Mar. 31, p. 27). This diagram correctly shows the fly-by-wire flight control system Gulfstream is planning for its new ultra-long-range business jet, the G650.
NASA engineers are in the early stages of designing a mechanical countermeasure to the thrust oscillation problem identified last year in the first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, a modified space shuttle solid-fuel booster. The fix, which involves mounting the stage’s 14,000-lb. recovery-parachute package on springs to dampen vibrations generated as its solid propellant burns out, should knock them down to a level that can be handled with shock absorbers or other devices on the seats of the Orion crew exploration vehicle on top.
China will set up its challenger to Airbus and Boeing this month under the name China Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd., with the company facing an initial task of making up a half-year delay on the ARJ21 regional jet. Its long-term goal is to develop a 150-plus-seat airliner by about 2020 at a project cost of 50 billion-60 billion yuan ($7.1 billion-8.6 billion).
Japan will consider the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, along with other three non-stealthy types, as its next-generation fighter to replace McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms, suggesting a softening of its hard-line requirement for F-22s. Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force has sent a team of 10 officers to Lockheed Martin’s facility at Fort Worth on a fact-finding mission about the F-35. The team, headed by Maj. Gen. Tadashi Miyagawa, who is responsible for selection of the next-generation fighter, also toured the U.S. and Europe a year ago.
We overheard on the Hill two women in the Russell Senate Office Building discussing the spate of airline groundings and the FAA’s recent efforts to scrutinize paperwork and inspection compliance. Says one: “There’s been some criticism of the inspectors not moving fast enough. Well, they can’t get there because planes are grounded and flights are canceled.”
Aerospace consultant Yvonne C. Brill is one of three honorary fellows for 2008 of the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) . The others are: Henry McDonald of the University of Tennessee SimCenter and Abe M. Zarem, strategic adviser to Knowledge and Information Technology Industries.
Sweden-based Saab Bofors Dynamics and its program partner Diehl BGT Defense of Germany have conducted the first land-attack live firing demonstration of their RBS 15 Mk 3 surface-to-surface missile. The RBS 15 Mk 3 is the latest derivative of the RBS 15 family of antiship missiles, featuring a new GPS-based precision attack functionality against targets ashore, such as bunkers, missile sites or command posts.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is courting Lufthansa to allow a merger with its affiliate BMI that would turn it into a much more significant competitor for British Airways.
While one airline’s door closes, another opens. V Australia, the Virgin Blue Group’s new long-haul subsidiary, plans to launch transpacific flights on Dec. 15, with daily Sydney-Los Angeles service. Additional international destinations will be announced in the coming weeks. The launch will mark the first time an airline has challenged dominant Qantas on transpacific routes. Mobile-phone text messaging and e-mail will be available on V Australia’s Boeing 777-300ER fleet. The Sydney-based carrier will partner with Northwest Airlines to provide connections to U.S.
A center-of-gravity problem could have caused the B-2 crash on Guam, says a U.S. Air Force general who flew the bomber and watched over its development. Last week, Air Combat Command’s commander said the bomber rotated prematurely, lifted off too early and stalled which caused the aircraft’s destruction. “The fly-by-wire flight control system in the bomber is supposed to compensate for shifts in the center of gravity [CG],” says the former B-2 pilot.
As a retired USAF tanker crewmember with 22 years of experience in flying, employing and tasking tankers from the squadron and air operations center levels for the U.S. and NATO, it appears no one article or advertisement has completely laid out the tanker mission.
Intended to provide an improved air picture for land commanders, the U.K. Defense Ministry is to fund the Land Environment Air Picture Provision (Leapp) with Lockheed Martin acting as industry lead for the £100-million ($199.5-million) program. The Leapp capability will include the Saab Giraffe air-surveillance radar and will draw data from the Link 16 network. BAE Systems, L-3, Systems Consultant Services, Saab and Qinetiq are the other industry participants.
The British Defense Ministry is faced with committing to the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B version before the aircraft has demonstrated key capabilities, or delaying its procurement process—risking a trickle-down effect on its overall program.
After much discussion, the German military has finally kicked off a competition for a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The Luftwaffe has long been asking for such a capability, with the goal of fielding equipment as early as 2010. The German defense armaments agency, BWB, has now told industry it’s ready to get going. General Atomics and Israel Aerospace Industries are bidding the Predator and Heron TP, respectively. A contract for what is expected to be a four-year deal is expected in December.
