The last paragraph of your Feb. 25 editorial (p. 66) highlights a very important national security issue—ensuring our ability to create and use advanced military assets in space. This job has never been easy, and it has always been important. Success requires the efforts of some of the best and brightest in both government and industry. I trust you will continue to support the idea that it is important to recover our national competence in this challenging area. Apparently, many must be reminded that mission failures are never economical.
Three Taiwanese airlines have suspended four domestic routes as a result of competition from a high-speed rail line. Mandarin Airlines has canceled services between Taichung and Taitun; UNI Air, between Taipei and Kaohsiung; and bankrupt Far Eastern Air Transport has dropped its flights between Taipei and Tainan as well as Hualien and Kaohsiung. At the beginning of 2007, a fast-rail service running on the heavily populated western side of Taiwan was put into operation, connecting the main cities at each end of the island.
Casey Barr has become executive flight solutions representative for Business Jet Access of Dallas Love Field. He was owner services manager/information technology coordinator for JetDirect Aviation at Love Field.
General Electric plans to recertify the GEnx-1B for the delayed Boeing 787 next year, just as the company is poised to accept FAA certification of the baseline engine.
NATO missile defense developers claim rapid progress is being made as the Alliance prepares for its upcoming Summit in Bucharest where missile defense will be a central topic. A key Integrated Test Bed (ITB) under construction for NATO’s Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) program will conduct a milestone test with a French battle lab facility this month, featuring a simulated theater missile defense (TMD) scenario.
Embraer is in talks with the Argentine government about crafting an aviation cooperation plan. The deal could involve an agreement under which the Argentine market would open up to Embraer offerings, while Area Material Cordoba would in turn take on maintenance services and parts supply for the aircraft. The topic was discussed during a meeting last week between Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentine counterpart, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. No deal has been signed yet.
The Google X Prize has drawn its first 10 registered contestants for prizes totaling $30 million that will go to whoever lands a rover on the Moon by Dec. 31, 2012. The contest has drawn 567 expressions of interest from 53 nations, says X Prize Chairman and CEO Peter H. Diamandis. An offshoot of the Ansari X Prize for the first nongovernmental space flight, the Google competition offers a grand prize of $20 million for meeting the criteria of roaming at least 500 meters (1,640 ft.) on the lunar surface.
Damage to some ducting in the Stennis Space Center’s A1 test stand will delay the first full-duration hot-fire test of the powerpack for NASA’s new J-2X rocket engine until at least Mar. 9 while repairs are completed. The 36-sec. hot-fire test Feb. 15 was the first to run cryogenic propellant through the Saturn V-vintage powerpack. The old hardware will be used to begin gathering data for a beefed-up powerpack capable of handling the increased flows that will be needed to meet the new engine’s higher performance—294,000 lb. thrust and a specific impulse of 448 sec.
Regarding your Feb. 11 editorial (p. 58), I agree the Bush administration has displayed a petty level of leadership in its Fiscal 2009 budget submission. However, I cannot accept that this “saddles Congress with the decision. . . .” Admittedly, recent tradition holds that the executive branch has the “job” to submit a budget; this practical yet questionable practice seems to have started in the early 20th century. But the last time I looked, the Constitution gives Congress the purse, not the executive branch.
Airbus has set up an industrial consortium to manage end-of-life aircraft, building on its European Union funding-inspired aircraft recycling program, called Pamela (Process for Advanced Management of End-of-Life Aircraft). The joint venture, known as Tarmac Aerosave, comprises waste management company Sita; Airbus’s maintenance and parts unit, TASC Aviation; Snecma Services; Equip Aero; and Aeroconseil. Tarmac Aerosave will be able to store up to 22 aircraft and offer storage, maintenance and dismantling services. The venture is to start operations this year.
Dom Stasi, who is chief technology officer of TVN Entertainment, has been elected chairman of the New York-based Society of Satellite Professionals International . Other new officers are: president Richard P. Wolf, vice president-telecom and distribution within the ABC Broadcast Operations and Engineering Div.; treasurer, Steven Teller, president of IOT Systems; and vice president-chapters, Dick Tauber, vice president-transmission systems and new technology for the CNN News Group.
The Pentagon’s $7-billion Transformational Satellite program—designed to introduce Internet protocols into space-based communications and send massive data files quickly to ground commanders—is going to be delayed until about 2018, but its classified counterpart appears to be on schedule. The Enhanced Polar System, also known as the “Polar EHF” program, is moving forward, industry executives say. The extremely high frequency payloads would probably be hosted on a classified satellite in polar orbit with a different primary mission.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says there’s no reason Australia shouldn’t be trusted with operating the Lockheed Martin F-22, which Canberra wants to consider as an alternative to the F-35. U.S. law prohibits exports of the F-22, including to Japan, Gates notes, adding: “So I think it’s up to us to try and see if we can get this statute changed.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and his likely successor, are endorsing all-encompassing plans for the country’s aerospace sector intended to re-establish its presence in the commercial market, and to bolster its military inventory. Putin, and his probable replacement—First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev—were briefed at the end of February by senior management from United Aircraft Corp. (UAC). That entity brings together the core of Russia’s aerospace manufacturers.
Commercial Aviation Services, the fifth wheel in Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ product line, reaped the benefits last year of some fine-tuning to its after-market selections. But contract signings for the GoldCare life-cycle program for the 787 are stuck on hold. Boeing’s four big airplane groups—the 737, 747, 777 and 787—are its main commercial products. But the after-sales support offered by Commercial Aviation Services (CAS)—many of them through MyBoeingFleet.com—have made it a major business unit.
Michael Braasch has been appointed director of the Avionics Engineering Center, part of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University . Braasch is Thomas Professor of Engineering in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Your Industry Outlook item “China’s Airplane Plans” (AW&ST Feb. 4, p. 11) says the new 150-plus-passenger jet will be developed almost completely with government funding. How does this square with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on subsidized aircraft development? Boeing and Airbus are undergoing a protracted WTO review over their alleged subsidies. When will another country bring China before the WTO on the same charges? When China was granted admission to the WTO, it agreed to abide by all the existing rules.
SpaceX, one of two funded industry participants in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) effort, will delay its three planned COTS demonstration flights by 6-9 months. “It’s par for the course in aerospace development,” say Elon Musk, the company founder.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
A pilot of the B-2 stealth bomber, Spirit of Kansas, reported a fire at takeoff from Andersen AFB, Guam. The emergency call was followed rapidly by loss of control of the bomber, according to initial reports passed to Air Combat Command officials. The stealth bomber rolled uncontrollably to the right and fell between the taxiway and the ramp at 10:45 a.m. Guam time on Feb. 23. These details have not yet been confirmed by the official investigation, which has just begun and will take months to conclude.
CO2 prices have recovered much of January’s losses during February, as a bullish energy complex and the beginning of compliance buying for 2008 have combined to boost the market for European Union emission Allowances. The EUA market has also benefited from an uptick in demand for Certified Emission Reductions, as industrial companies take advantage of the EU Emission Trading Scheme’s rules that allow a portion of each company’s emissions cap to be met with CERs.
Robert Maxson has been appointed director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Mo. He has been a research pilot with the National Science Foundation in Boulder, Colo.
The spinoff of EchoStar’s fixed-service satellite business is reinforcing speculation over further consolidation in the sector, although there is dispute over the likely extent of its impact. The merger rumor mill has already been set in motion by a recent three-way broadband/TV tie-up involving the Nos. 3 and 4 fixed-service players, Eutelsat and Telesat, and equipment-maker ViaSat (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 55).
Sue Dabrowski (see photo) has been appointed vice president-business development and marketing for Mannarino Systems and Software Inc. of Montreal. She was director-general of the Quebec Aerospace Assn.
