I am very sad about Robin Olds’s passing (AW&ST July 2, p. 20). His exploits and accomplishments marked him as another American hero and legend. I knew him not from any active-duty engagements but during his retirement years. At many Air Force base functions, be they air shows or training events, Robin would often be among us. As the day would stretch into the evening, he invariably would be engaged in conversation with the troops, sometimes reverently quiet and sometimes boisterous and loud. But he was always with the squadron.
The Defense Spectrum Relocation Management Activity has been established to oversee relocation of Defense Dept. systems to new frequency bands, an effort to be paid for by the department’s advanced wireless service auction. The DSRMA will coordinate the transition out of the affected band of 1710-1755 MHz. It will also try to coordinate and mediate problems while both department and the wireless industry are sharing the same frequencies.
India has completed the design for a new cruise missile, which will have a 1,000-km. (625-mi.) range and operate at Mach 0.70. Called the Nirbhay, the missile is to have its first technology demonstration flight at the end of 2009, says Avinash Chander, director of the Defense Research Development Organization’s Advanced Systems Laboratory in Hyderabad. While the missile is being developed in-house, ASL is seeking a partner for the motor.
Lufthansa plans to shift its Moscow flight operations to Domodedovo International airport from Sheremetyevo as early as next summer. The carrier, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the airport on July 11, will be operating under the same roof with other Star Alliance members including Swiss, Austrian Airlines, BMI, Singapore, Spanair and Thai Airways. Domodedovo continues to build domestic and international services with an eye to becoming a major hub.
MT Aerospace, part of Germany’s OHB Technology, wants to lead an investment group to buy two Airbus facilities EADS is looking to unload as part of the Power8 restructuring program. It would go after Varel and Nordenham, management says. It would provide the German government with a national solution to the sale, with other likely bidders coming from overseas, including Spirit AeroSystems and an Israel-based investment company.
Columbus, Ohio-based low-cost operator Skybus began A319 service July 16 to San Diego and Chicopee, Mass., and on July 18 to St. Augustine, Fla. The new destinations bring the total served from Port Columbus International Airport to 11. Skybus is taking reservations for flights Dec. 16-Mar. 6. Fares for the first 10 seats sold on any flight are $10. Reservations are made only on the web site, www.Skybus.com
The U.S. Air Force is accelerating by a year the Pentagon’s goal of flying 21 Predator UAV patrols a day by 2009. That means a rapid increase of three additional MQ-1 combat air patrol orbits using full-motion video and rapid strike capability. The first two are to be active this year. Currently, the service maintains 12 Predator orbits.
Lockheed Martin has won a 10-year, $1.1-billion U.S. Air Force contract for Aircrew Training and Rehearsal Support II, which is to provide training for Special Operations Command crews of the C-130 Talon, Spectre and Shadow; MH-53 Pave Low; MH-60 Pave Hawk, and CV-22 Osprey.
Eurojet handed over the first EJ200 turbojet engine intended for the Tranche 2 Eurofighter. The powerplant was accepted on July 13 by the Italian air force, which will install and fly it on IPA 2, the second instrumented production aircraft. The Tranche 2 engine features a combined digital control and monitoring unit that promises significant cost, weight and functionality benefits. In all, 519 engines are to be delivered for the Tranche 2 program over the next five years. Eurojet comprises Rolls-Royce, MTU, Avio and ITP of Spain.
Boeing’s George Muellner is quoted in the article “Speed Kills” as saying: “The technology is not there right now to support a high-speed penetration platform” (AW&ST May 28, p. 50).
For the first time in perhaps years, British Royal Air Force fighters were launched last week to intercept two Russian Tu-95s bearing down on British airspace, a move that analysts on both sides of the Atlantic and both ends of the Baltic suggest was retribution for the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from the U.K. That, in turn, resulted from the controversy between Britain and Russia over the poisoning murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a vocal critic of the Moscow government.
Canada will supply the fine guidance sensor for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope under an agreement signed July 16. The instrument will help the big infrared telescope stay focused on some of the most distant objects in the Solar System from its position at the second Sun-Earth Lagrangian point by locating and staying fixed on a guide star. As part of the agreement, the Canadian Space Agency will help operate the telescope after its planned 2013 launch and arrange for Canadian astronomers to use it.
The tone of the recent letter “The Great Pilot Giveaway” by Capt. (ret.) John A. Crocker (AW&ST July 2, p. 6) illustrates an aviation cultural issue that has been traditionally ignored by top airline management, but angrily acknowledged by individual pilot groups. Basic principles in crew resource management (CRM) recognize communication as a fundamental process in aircrew coordination. The barriers built from the seniority issues that arise from merging pilot groups create basic human factors that can degrade aircrew performance.
Charles Brown has become CEO of the Flow International Corp.,Kent, Wash. He will succeed Stephen Light, who will be retiring. Brown was president/chief operating officer of the Pump, Pool and Spa Divs. at Pentair Inc.
Bell Helicopter Textron has appointed Jet Transfer as its new sales representative in Russia. Jet Transfer, which recently placed orders for Bell helicopters worth $10 million, is a subsidiary of Jet Group and is a major player in business jet charters and sales in Russia, says Alexander Yevdokimov, general director of Jet Transfer. In other news, Bell Helicopter Training Academy is offering the First Responder Helicopter Safety Program.
Chinese aerospace conglomerate Avic I plans to set up a regional airline in its home country and might buy a small one in North America. General Manager Lin Zuoming didn’t say whether the moves were related to the search for buyers for the ARJ21 large regional jet, which is set for rollout this year. The company says it has lined up financing for its bid to buy six Airbus plants in Europe, even though a sale to China is unlikely for political reasons and Airbus hasn’t invited Avic I to bid.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. faces a logjam of airline applications for the handful of China routes it will award this year, proving that despite a new air services agreement between the two nations, demand for flights still far outweighs supply.
India and Israel are expected to sign a $2.5-billion additional development agreement for Barak surface-to-air missiles to replace the Indian air force’s Russian-made Pechora fleet. The new missiles will more than double the range of the vertically launched Barak-8s now under development for the Indian navy. The draft agreement, which has been approved by India’s cabinet, is expected to be completed by next March, and follows an initial pact signed by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization and Israel Aerospace Industries.
The FAA’s light-sport aircraft rule has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of learning to fly and buying a new aircraft by breaking down barriers that block access to entry-level aviation.
Malaysia has reacted to the fatal crash of one of its Sikorsky S-61s on July 13 by deciding to replace its fleet of 30 of the military helicopters. The government says it will call for tenders within a few months.
New, advanced APG-79 active electronically scanned array radars—capable of detecting small, stealth targets—that will equip Block 2 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and the EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft are on the way. The U.S. Navy has approved full-rate production of 437 radar systems that will include wide-band communications and electronic attack. Moreover, engineers have routed the products of the electronic effects generator through the radar to produce a long-range jamming and false-target capability.
Intelsat’s Thales Alenia/Galaxy 17 spacecraft has become operational following its May 4 launch by Arianespace. The satellite is now located at 74.05 deg. W. but eventually will be moved to 91 deg. W. It serves North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Loel Fenwick, Vice President (Grumman Mallard Owners Assn. )
National Transportation Safety Board findings in the Chalk’s Ocean Airways Grumman Mallard crash (AW&ST June 4, p. 35) fail to mention the severe corrosion that investigators found in the accident aircraft. The findings also do not address the lack of operational specifications (e.g., a requirement to report impacts with waves and boat wakes greater than the airplane flight manual limits for the aircraft) or the effects of decades of operation in an ocean environment for which the aircraft may not have been designed or certified.
Red circles mark three of the galaxies astronomers at the California Institute of Technology believe are the most ancient ever observed, dating from just 500 million years after the Big Bang. Drawing on the thesis work of graduate student Dan Stark, the Caltech team spent three years surveying areas where gravitational lensing from nearer galaxy clusters—which bend light arriving from more distant sources—is predicted to be particularly strong. Those “critical lines” are shown as black curves in this Hubble Space Telescope image.
Karen Holbrook, who recently retired as president of Ohio State University, and John Wing, founder/chairman of Wing Aviation, have been named to the board of trustees of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,Daytona Beach, Fla.
