The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (Sofia), a Boeing 747 modified to accommodate a 19-ton infrared telescope peering through an open door in its fuselage, is on track to begin limited observations above most of the IR-obscuring atmosphere early next year, following completion of the first phase of flight test. Five flights at Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., with the 16-ft.-high door closed tested the aircraft’s structural integrity, aerodynamics, stability and handling characteristics.
Frances Fiorino’s commentary on the blighted NASA National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (Naoms) project highlights the apparent shambles of the research. However, an $11-million project would have needed approval of senior management at NASA, which implies a rigorous, rational review process. In all of the comments about the Naoms project, there is no description of the original rationale and, in defense of NASA, it would be interesting to hear the views of the management team that authorized the survey.
Airline mergers, like any other form of consolidation, are consummated to gain control of markets and reap benefits of the consequences. Shareholders and management can be, and often are, the primary beneficiaries. But for travelers and employees, joining forces offers a mixed bag, negatives predominating.
Adam Aircraft has completed cold weather tests of its A700 business jet at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin AFB, Fla. The Williams International FJ-33 engines and air inlet anti-ice system were subjected to freezing fog, rain and blowing snow, and avionics, flight control and other airframe systems were checked at temperatures as low as ‑40F. Completion of the tests is part of the company’s plan to achieve FAA certification of the A700 this year.
At the beginning of 2008, an unmanned aircraft flown by the 17th Reconnaissance Sqdn. clocked the 300,000th flying hour of USAF Predator operations. Service officials note that it took 12 years to accumulate the first 250,000 hr., but only six months to add the additional 50,000. In fact, USAF now maintains 18 combat air patrol orbits over Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and continues to log combat missions at the rate of more than 2,500 hr. a week.
BAE Systems will buy Australia’s privately owned Tenix Defense, doubling its presence in the country to more than 5,500 employees and annual sales exceeding A$1.2 billion ($1 billion). Subject to government approval, the British company will pay A$775 million for Tenix, which will make it the largest supplier to the Australian government. The purchase also will strengthen BAE’s land and naval businesses there. Canberra is expected to sell Australian Submarine Corp. In other Anglo-Australian transactions, Qinetiq will buy three Australian defense firms.
Thales says flight acceptance tests have been completed at the Beijing Capital International Airport on a new Category 3 instrument landing system. The installation will allow automatic precision approaches with runway visual range as low as 656 ft. The ILS will serve a third runway that’s needed to meet a 30% traffic increase forecast during the Olympic Games in August. The runway also can accommodate the Airbus A380, which is entering revenue service this year with Singapore Airlines and a few other carriers.
The new executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace says its members want to focus on what went wrong with outsourced work for the Boeing 787 while avoiding labor strife that might further upset the troubled program. Ray Goforth, 39, is a graduate of the University of Washington Law School who has spent the past 10 years as a union representative and strategic adviser to Local 17 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers in Seattle. Speea is an IFPTE affiliate, Local 2001.
On Jan. 17, UPS flew the first revenue flight in the U.S. using an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) software function that allows freighter pilots to conduct “merging and spacing” operations as they line up for continuous-descent arrivals into Louisville (Ky.) International Airport. The procedures rely on GPS positioning for navigational guidance. The FAA granted approval on Dec. 28, 2007, for UPS 757s to conduct these operations.
Daniel M. Barry (see photo) has been named director of research and development at the David Clark Co. , Worcester, Mass. He was a program manager for the company’s NASA projects.
Thales Chairman/CEO Denis Ranque predicts that negotiations for the U.K.’s long-stalled Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft program are close to conclusion. Ranque says talks for the 27-year £13-billion ($25.4-billion) private financing initiative have been held up by the turmoil in the financial markets, but asserts that a contract will be signed in the first half of the year.
The International Air Transport Assn. is promoting its worldwide scheduling guidelines to address airport congestion issues while doing battle against any incursion of peak or congestion pricing, which can be discriminatory and ineffective, according to the industry group.
USAF B-1s and F-16s along with Navy F/A-18s, dropped 17 tons of bombs on 40 targets in clearing the Al Qaeda stronghold of Salmanpak, about 30 mi. southeast of Baghdad last week. The aircraft attacked improvised explosive devices planted in roads and booby-trapped houses that were designed to create a defensive belt around the town. The F-16s, flying out of Balad AB, attacked the mined houses. The raids are conducted at night to avoid injury to civilians.
The 2008 Aviation Week & Space Technology Aerospace Source Book marks the introduction of new designs and typefaces for the outlook articles and specification tables. They were selected by Art Director Lisa Caputo, who supervised artwork and presentation of the issue with the other members of her department, Scott Marshall and Hans Michaud. This issue also is the first Source Book published with the Adobe/K4 content management system. The overall Source Book was prepared by a team headed by Assistant Managing Editor Michael Stearns.
In another setback for French defense exports, Morocco is ordering three Sigma-type missile corvettes from Schelde Naval Shipbuilding of the Netherlands. DCNS, the French naval defense group, was counting on Morocco to buy its new surface combatants. Most recently, the company had been offering its latest Gowind class of 1,700-2,000-ton missile corvettes.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is researching how computers reading brain waves may one day speed up the ways intelligence analysts detect targets in satellite images and also alert platoon leaders when soldiers are losing situational awareness.
The future of U.S. Air Force aviation includes stationing very big unmanned reconnaissance aircraft on Guam (with the range to watch China, Eastern Russia and the Western Pacific Rim), medium-size UAVs at five bases along the borders of the U.S. and the new twin-engine, Joint Cargo Aircraft (for homeland security and operating in difficult terrain in South America, Africa and Southwest Asia) at seven Air National Guard and Reserves bases. There also are going to be lots of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in newly consolidated regular Air Force, Reserve and ANG units.
China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines will cooperate in marketing, buying aircraft and ground services, the Shanghai Securities News says. China Southern is willing to propose China Eastern as a member of the SkyTeam alliance. China Eastern is struggling to retain its independence in the face of a bid for control from the parent of Air China (see p. 392). China Southern and China Eastern do not propose to invest in each other.
The European Space Agency is revamping its science, exploration and manned spaceflight activities as part of a plan to align its management setup with changing space program realities, both in Europe and overseas.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin reaffirms that France’s full integration into the NATO command structure will depend on the U.S. and U.K. removing objections to an autonomous European Union military planning cell. “I regret that the planning cell could not be deployed for the EU-sponsored mission to Chad and the Central African Republic,” Morin told an industry and armed services gathering in Paris last week (see p. 390), noting that the cell would complement NATO and draw on NATO command assets.
Douglas Royce/Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com
Western nations are in the midst of a major, long-term re-equipment cycle in their fighter fleets, which should keep the market for the aircraft healthy at least into the next decade. Advancements in weapons, sensors, cockpit design and performance have made the newer aircraft more effective than older models, while their systems are more reliable, require less maintenance and are easier to upgrade throughout their life cycles than the aircraft they are replacing.
Keeping fare and yield momentum rolling looks to be the key to weathering economic recession for U.S. airlines, as surprisingly robust demand remains a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy financial outlook.
An aircraft creates a vapor trail around the Moon in this photo by Grant Faint for Getty Images. Aerospace Source Book cover design by the AW&ST Art Dept.
