The outlook is positive for pilot hiring. Air Inc., the Atlanta-based aviation career consultants, say 3,338 new pilots were hired in the second quarter, bringing end-of-quarter total hires to 6,181—2,000 more compared to the same period in 2005. Domestic carriers did most of the hiring, signing on 1,817 pilots, followed by the majors with 566 pilots. At the same time, the number of furloughed pilots decreased to 5,139 in the second quarter from 6,292 in the first quarter. Air Inc. is forecasting that 12,000 new airline pilot jobs will be created this year.
The Airborne Laser has lased a surrogate short-range ballistic missile target, a test that program officials hail as a significant milestone. However, plans for an August 2009 shootdown of a live target are in jeopardy by a congressional proposal. Although the test this month was not a shootdown, the program is now “at a fast walk” in its methodical “crawl, walk, run” toward shootdown of a live ballistic missile target, says Col. John Daniels, the Missile Defense Agency’s ABL program director.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. (AOPA) wants to block Massachusetts Air National Guard plans to lower the floor of military training airspace near Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, to 500 ft. from 7,000 ft. “Placing high-speed, low-altitude military aircraft” into the same airspace used by general aviation “increases the potential for midair collisions,” AOPA says in a letter to the FAA. AOPA wants the military to conduct an environmental impact study before implementing the changes. The public comment period has been extended to Aug. 15.
China will move to control what it calls its overheating civil aviation sector, taking such measures as restricting access for new operators and controlling the number of flights. Media reports suggest the government is demanding a 9% cut in domestic services at badly overloaded Beijing Capital International Airport from next month.
Flight demonstrations of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Falcon hypersonic test vehicle could be closer to reality. Successful tests of a rocket-boosted scramjet in Australia and good results from thermal protection system work in the U.S. are bolstering prospects for the next steps in this ambitious hypersonic plan.
Every once in a while, as the Iraq war approaches yet another of its turning points, it is useful to step back a few paces and reflect on some of the America's other troubles. Problems that in less momentous times would be at the top of the U.S. list of things to resolve tend to be obscured in the long shadow of Iraq, as President Bush and the Democratic Congress wage a political war of attrition that seems to parallel the inconclusive fighting nearly half a world away.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has named Michael Ryschkewitsch the agency’s chief engineer. He succeeds Christopher Scolese, whom Griffin selected as associate administrator on July 11 to succeed Rex Geveden. Ryschkewitsch is responsible for the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs. He had been deputy director of the Goddard Space Flight Center since October 2005.
EADS shareholders and the German government pledge to start talks soon on a new shareholder structure for Europe’s biggest aerospace company, following agreement last week on a simplified management structure.
National Business Aviation Assn. officials say the Transportation Security Administration is “actively considering” an overhaul of security policy for general aviation. The TSA’s list of potential changes is still under discussion and development. NBAA and other GA groups will not know any details until the agency introduces its proposals, possibly this summer.
Very small groups of combat controllers—like those depicted here through night-vision goggles—call in highly precise fires from AC-130H/U gunships. They often use laptop-based software that can provide coordinates of enemy positions. Gunships are critical to supporting troops under fire, and ground commanders often insist the aircraft be on call for major operations. The addition of new 30-mm.
The British Parliament passed an amendment to the Competition Act, which allows the Defense Ministry to exclude certain contracts from the act in the interests of national security. The amendment is intended to facilitate partnering in complex weapon systems.
Aug. 1-3—CIAM Cancun (Mexico) 2007 Third Annual International Aviation Trade Show & Congress. Hilton Cancun Golf & Spa Resort. See www.expo-ciam.com Aug. 6-9—Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems North America. Washington Convention Center. Call +1 (703) 845 9671, fax +1 (703) 845-9679 or see www.auvsi.org Aug. 7-9—25th U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Systems and Technology Symposium. Anaheim (Calif.) Marriott. Call +1 (703) 526-6629 or see www.darpa.mil
EADS CEO Louis Gallois says delays with the TP400 turboprop engine that will power the Airbus A400M airlifter are likely to lead to a deferral of the first flight, which has been scheduled for late March 2008. Test problems already have delayed the initial flight of the engine on a C-130 testbed to the third or first quarter of this year (AW&ST June 11, p. 36). However, initial deliveries should still take place by late 2009, Gallois says.
From an owner’s or manufacturer’s perspective, now is as good a time as any to sign a lease or book an order, according to the view of Martin, who expects supply of commercial aircraft neither to ease nor tighten significantly until rising production rates finally put enough into service to exceed the strong demand of the past few years. For the moment, conditions remain outstanding for owners.
Two runway overruns on the same day—one resulting in Brazil’s deadliest air crash—underscore the need for improved approach-and-landing safety and airport arrestor-bed systems. On July 17, a TAM Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Porto Alegre, Brazil, landed at Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport, then departed airport boundaries and crashed into a concrete building. Preliminary information indicate that all six crewmembers and 180 passengers on the aircraft, as well as three people on the ground, were killed.
The British government should take a more strategic approach to space, with a longer term vision, more effective program management and perhaps a bit more funding, says a key space-policy report.
With the Orbital Express mission over, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) manager for the program has a message for America’s military space architects: U.S. satellites could use a “first responder” servicing satellite to help them when they get into trouble in orbit.
The Kennedy Space Center shuttle launch control center team and the STS-118 astronauts completed a practice countdown July 19 with the crew on board the orbiter Endeavour at Launch Complex 39A. The countdown ended with a simulated pad abort to exercise evacuation procedures.
The menacing AC-130H/U gunship most dramatically portrays the influence of Air Force Special Operations Command, but a more subtle side of its mission is now evolving to tackle the global war on terrorism.
The protoflight model of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has left Rotterdam on board Toucan, the vessel used to transport Ariane rockets and large payloads to the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. EADS Astrium says the 400-metric-ton shipment, which includes test equipment and rigs as well as the 20-ton ATV, comprises 49 20-ft. containers, four 40-ft. containers and 16 outsize units. It is due to arrive in Kourou on July 29, setting up a scheduled liftoff in late January.
Industry and government proponents are lining up behind a proposed treaty to obviate most export licenses over defense, intelligence and homeland security trade between the U.S. and the U.K. This stance is being taken despite the fact that the signed treaty’s structure is months away from its final form and Bush administration officials aren’t sharing many details until they can get a better read on Congress.
Two key U.S. officials have agreed to share a joint vision with the idea of improving interoperability between the Defense Dept. and intelligence community. John Grimes, assistant Defense secretary for networks and information integration and chief information officer, and USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Dale Meyerrose, associate director of national intelligence and chief information officer for the director of national intelligence, want to reinforce defense and intelligence collaboration and information-sharing by using commercial practices and standard web technologies.
NASA will pay Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) a total of $1.2 billion through the end of 2012 to develop and deliver eight J2X rocket engines for the U.S. agency’s planned Ares family of launch vehicles. Sole-source contracts for backup test hardware and production rocket engines will be negotiated later. The company, which built the original J-2 engine that powered the Saturn V upper stages during the Apollo program of the 1960s, has been working on the engine under a sole-source letter contract since June 2006.
South Korea will increase its defense budget by 10% next year to 27 trillion won ($29.5 billion), some of which will be used to buy four Northrop Grumman Global Hawk surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles.
Thales Alenia Space is working on a new satellite bus family geared to Earth observation and mobile telecom needs. Although the company is vague on specifics, the 0.5-2-metric-ton line will draw on experience with the Proteus bus, developed by the French unit here in association with space agency CNES; the Prima bus, devised by the Italian side of the company in Turin with space agency ASI; and various subsystem improvements for the second-generation Globalstar mobile satellite communications system.
