Boeing’s protest of its loss in the KC-X program includes a laundry list of missteps allegedly made by the U.S. Air Force in crafting and evaluating the competition. But it lacks an explanation for a key question: Why did the company keep its worries quiet, only unmasking problems after it lost the $35-billion contract to Northrop Grumman/EADS North America?
After reading about the Sikorsky X2 concept helicopter (AW&ST Mar. 3, p. 38), which is expected to cruise in the 250-kt. range with comparatively simple concentric counterrotating rotors and a tail thrust rotor, I would hope Marine Corps procurement officers and others at the Pentagon would have good reason to reconsider their large V-22 buy to replace aging CH-46s and CH-53s.
A lower-than-expected bid from the Air France-KLM Group to take over Alitalia is encountering bitter opposition from union and political leaders, and successappears tenuous. Air France-KLM has given the unions and Italian government until Mar. 31 to accept its €747-million ($1.17-billion) offer, which was approved by the Alitalia board last week. The offer values Alitalia at barely €0.10 a share, or less than €140 million, which is about a third of the recent stock trading price.
Former America West pilots, concerned they are being left out of any advantages accruing from the 2005 merger with US Airways, are seeking separate contract negotiations with US Airways management. The AmWest unit of the Air Line Pilots Assn. issued the notice to management Mar. 14. Separate negotiations on future Airbus A330-200-flying already have begun. Prior to the AmWest-US Airways merger, the pilot labor groups, both represented by ALPA, reached a transition agreement recognizing the rights of the AmWest pilots to negotiate separately.
SkyWest Inc., rich with $660 million in cash and securities and encouraged by strong Wall Street backing, is looking for opportunities to expand, either by internal growth or by acquisition.
Australia’s air navigation service provider and Honeywell are preparing for certification of a commercial ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) late this year, and they have demonstrated a prototype here with a chartered 737NG flight from Amsterdam.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
An unexpected alliance with EADS Astrium could hasten plans by Khrunichev to become a major Russian telecom spacecraft supplier, and help keep Astrium competitive in global markets.
The caption for the picture of the space shuttle docking with the International Space Station (AW&ST Feb. 18, p. 55) is somewhat misleading. It states that the photo was taken with the use of a 4,200-mm. refracting telescope. Typically the measurement used to categorize telescopes is the light capture diameter. I’m not familiar with the telescopes available in Hofgeismar, Germany, but I’m pretty sure there’s no 4.2-meter-dia. refracting telescope. The largest one in use is the 1,020-mm. telescope at Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chicago.
A U.S.-led drive to upgrade Mi-17 transport helicopters in the inventory of new NATO nations could make dozens of additional transports available for NATO operations in Afghanistan. Combined with training and other incentives, upgrades should enable NATO Mi-17 operators such as the Czech Republic or Hungary to deploy badly needed helicopters in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
Key decisions on future developments within the European guided missile sector could be made at this week’s Anglo-French summit to be held in London. Not least of all, Britain is examining the potential of the Aster missile for naval theater missile defense. London and Paris are looking to reinvigorate areas of defense collaboration, with the missile sector—and European champion MBDA—seen as one vehicle for this.
David W. Faddis has been named director of operations safety and compliance, Casey Madsen director of employee relations, Christopher C. Brown director of flight operations and Robin L. Wall director of training for SkyWest Airlines . Faddis was director of flight training and standards, while Brown was SkyWest’s manager of operations at Denver International Airport. Wall was manager of CRJ flight standards, while Madsen was in charge of launching SkyWest’s Midwest Connect.
China Central Television has named Qian Xuesen, the father of the Chinese space program, as one of the 11 most inspiring people in the country in 2007—in effect, one of its people of the year. Aviation Week & Space Technology named him Person of the Year for 2007.
Raytheon has scooped up another order to supply 16 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars to the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard for installation in its F-15Cs. The contract with Boeing is worth in excess of $89.5 million. The APG-63(v)3 radars have a range 2-3 times that of a mechanically scanned radar and can find and target small targets, such as stealthy cruise missiles, at significantly long ranges. The radar is slated to upgrade more F-15C squadrons and is going into new F-15Es.
Sabrina K. Steele (see photo) has become principal director of the Corporate Communications Directorate at The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. She was director of communications at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
Intelsat posted a net loss of $191.9 million last year on revenues of $2.18 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to $1.6 billion, or 73% of revenue, compared to 65% in 2006. Fleet fill rate improved to 76%, from 70%, and backlog jumped to $8.2 billion from $7.9 billion.
Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.” The nobility of this maxim, dating from imperial Rome, conceals a troubling tilt toward zealotry that is controlling events in lawsuits on behalf of victims of the Comair 5191 crash in August 2006. In this case, the heavens threaten to fall on the FAA’s Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP), because a federal judge has ordered Comair to turn over to plaintiffs various reports that the airline submitted to ASAP. This isn’t supposed to happen.
Ronald J. Livecchi (see photo) has become senior director of PCB Piezotronics’ Aerospace and Defense Div. , Depew, N.Y. He was vice president/general manager of Mokon.
Walter Visser has been appointed managing director of Emirates-CAE Flight Training, Rudy Toering general manager for Montreal-based CAE’s training centers in Canada, Steven Lee general manager of the company’s Zhuhai Flight Training Center and Martin Williamson general manager for the Kuala Lumpur training center.
The Aerospace Testing Alliance at the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) is conducting a major upgrade of the center’s Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit facility. A new combustion air heater has been installed and tested, using butane fuel, and is considered a crucial part of the facility’s Hypersonic Air-Breathing Propulsion Test and Evaluation Capability.
Korea Aerospace Industries will supply 10 T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainers for the South Korean air force’s aerobatic team. The $218-million order will allow KAI to extend production beyond the 50 ordered for training. The supersonic jets will replace 40-year-old Cessna A-37 Dragonfly light attack aircraft that the Black Eagles began using in 1994. The aerobatic A-37s were withdrawn from service after their last performance, at the Seoul air show, in October.
Clarke is credited with proposing the concept of geostationary satellite communications in an October 1945 article for Wireless World magazine. In his concept, three “space stations” in geostationary orbit could relay communications around the globe. Although he wrote that some people might consider his idea “too far-fetched to be taken very seriously,” only 19 years later the first geostationary telecom satellite, Syncom 3, was launched.
Hopes of making high bypass turbofans, and even supersonic engines, meet stricter future noise rules are being boosted by novel flow deflection studies underway in California and at NASA.
Singapore Airlines began commercial operations with the Airbus A380 on the Changi-Heathrow route Mar. 18, when SQ308 arrived with 449 passengers. The airline has taken delivery of three of the 19 A380 aircraft it has on order. The A380 is being operated daily on the Singapore-London route.
