This month, Evergreen International Airlines will assume operations of Boeing's 747-400 Dreamlifter fleet now that the FAA has granted a type certificate for the aircraft to haul 787 airframe assemblies. Boeing plans a fleet of four of the specialized freighters (it only needs two for the 787's initial production schedule). The Boeing Design Center in Moscow produced plans for the fuselage modification, which lengthened the structure 10 ft. and increased its internal volume to three times that of a standard 747-400.
Thai Airways International says it has no current plan to set up a subsidiary airline, despite its earlier proposals to establish a cheaper operation for domestic routes. The carrier also says the reopening of the old Don Muang airport in Bangkok, which was partly prompted by structural problems at the new Suvarnabhumi facility, is boosting aircraft utilization.
Embraer has added a software enhancement to its Aircraft Health Analysis and Diagnosis operational management system to improve dispatch reliability of its 170/190 regional jet family. Aircraft health information has been relayed in-flight since the system was fielded a year ago. Now new capabilities are added, such as real-time alerts and maintenance messages, and better fault analysis features.
Jeff Gruber, an instructor in aviation maintenance at Columbus (Ohio) State Community College, has been named chairman of the Technical Committee of the Washington-based Professional Aviation Maintenance Assn. Other new committee chairs are: Education Committee, Tony Bailey, director of maintenance operations for Pentastar Aviation; Awards Committee, Donna Bricker, general manager for Tdata and a second lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol; and Publication Committee, John L. Wichtk, FAA project coordinator for Rapco Inc.
In an effort to establish a nationwide operational base, JetDirect Aviation Holdings of Berwyn, Pa., has acquired Novato, Calif.-based air charter operator Sunset Aviation for an undisclosed sum. Sunset operates a fleet of 25 aircraft, giving JetDirect a total of 130. Sunset's fleet includes Cessna Citation IIs; Hawker Beechcraft 800XPs, Beech Baron 58s and Beech King Air 200s; and Pilatus PC-12s. Sunset also operates full-service maintenance facilities at three bases in California.
Letters 6-7 Who's Where 8-9 Industry Outlook 13 Airline Outlook 15 In Orbit 17 News Breaks 18-22 Washington Outlook 23 Classified 63 Contact Us 64 Aerospace Calendar 65
International Aero Engines (IAE) expects to fire up the last of three V2500 SelectOne ground test engines around June 11 in readiness for the start of flight tests planned later in the third quarter. The upgraded engine forms the next step in IAE's ongoing battle with CFM International for the tightly contested Airbus A320 family market, and is aimed at reducing fuel burn by up to 1%, as well as increasing time-on-wing by as much as 20% at the engine's standard 27,000-lb.-takeoff-thrust rating.
Korean Air is adopting the fashion of full-service Asian carriers to set up budget affiliates. A week after All Nippon Airways announced plans for a long-haul, no-frills spinoff, Korean Air says it will establish one using Boeing 737s for operation beginning 2009 on routes within South Korea and to China, Japan and the Philippines. Like All Nippon's planned budget business and the Jetstar operation that Qantas is already running, Korean Air's no-frills carrier will fly under its own brand, not that of the parent company.
China will postpone its first unmanned mission to the Moon by at least 5-6 months, a delay that under current scheduling means Japan will beat China to lunar orbit with a far more ambitious triple-spacecraft launch. China's new oxygen/hydrogen propulsion system developments--needed for even more ambitious Chinese lunar missions--is in far worse shape, however, falling as much as five years behind. China had originally planned to launch its 5,000-lb. Chang'e lunar orbiter in April on an existing Long March booster.
You can now register ONLINE for AVIATION WEEK Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Sept. 17-18--Supply Chain and Logistics, Dallas. Oct. 17-18--MRO Asia, Shanghai. Oct. 29-31--A&D Programs, Phoenix. Nov. 6-8--MRO Europe, Milan. Nov. 28-29--A&D Finance Conference, New York. Apr. 15-17--MRO/MRO Military North America, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. PARTNERSHIPS
Marshall Taggart, manager of concessions business development and marketing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, has received the Steven D. Ford Memorial Award (formerly the Young Public Administrator of the Year Award) from the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.
Contingency Response Services won a $14.4-million contract for operational support of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in the Philippines. Work is to be completed January 2008.
Lockheed Martin has signed three contracts in a program worth approximately $250 million to provide British forces with Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets, upgrade kits, spares and support in addition to missile launcher upgrades and guided unitary rockets. The new capability offers precision strike capability beyond 38 mi. The guided unitary rocket has a multi-mode fuse and all-weather capability.
Kudos to Amy Butler for her trio of fascinating articles on Global Hawk surveillance (AW&ST Mar. 12, pp. 56-62). As an Air Force recce veteran, my Vietnam experience of being with an RF-4C squad- ron, working in a Photo Processing and Interpretation Facility (PPIF) and using the cutting edge classified technology of side-looking radar (SLR), seems Paleozoic now.
he NASA Phoenix Mars lander, carrying the most ambitious laboratory hardware ever sent to another planet, is ready for launch on a mission to taste Martian water and search for the organic carbon building-blocks of life near the planet’s north pole.
Ball Aerospace expects to begin integrating NASA's Kepler planet-finding spacecraft in August, and has already bonded this Schmidt Corrector to the mounting ring that will hold it about 3 meters in front of the 1.4-meter primary light-gathering mirror. There it will correct spherical aberration in the main mirror once the spacecraft is in orbit, staring at a field of 100,000 stars and measuring their brightness every half-hour to detect transiting planets.
French space industry leaders are again urging Europe to develop a quick-response capability to meet future threats against reconnaissance satellites and other space assets. Bernard Molard, vice president of defense and security at EADS Astrium, proposes a system based on Helios 2 imaging spacecraft technologies and the new M51 ICBM. This system could replace existing capacity with a 150-kg. (330-lb.) polar-orbiting minisatellite capable of providing global coverage of the Earth within two weeks.
The British Defense Ministry and Rolls-Royce are discussing funding development of a turbofan engine core intended to support follow-on work from the Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator program. The U.K.'s Taranis program will lead to a flying demonstrator in 2010. Taranis 1, as it is sometimes called, will use a Rolls-Royce Adour 951. This choice of engine for the technology demonstrator program (TDP) placed basic design constraints on the airframe.
USAF Maj. Gen. Arthur B. Morrill, 3rd, has been appointed vice director of the Defense Logistics Agency, Ft. Belvoir, Va. He has been director of logistics and sustainment at Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Morrill will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Francis M. Bruno, who has been director of logistics at Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Brig. Gen. Michael J. Basla has been named vice director of C4 Systems for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He has been director of C4 Systems at Headquarters of the U.S.
A study comparing last-minute fares offered by Southwest Airlines to those provided by online travel agency Orbitz provided economist Volodymyr Bilotkach with the evidence he suspected: Airlines prefer to sell tickets through their own web sites because it's less costly for them. But there's also an opportunity to cash in, especially for travelers who look for fares close to the time of their flight.
Integration of the Lockheed Martin Hellfire anti-tank missile on the Tiger HAD attack helicopter will now proceed, after Eurocopter awarded the required contract to the U.S. missile supplier. The cost of the 54-month direct commercial sale isn't being disclosed. The laser-guided Hellfire and its M299 missile launcher will begin ground testing on Tiger in October, with flight trials expected in March. The pact includes several inert missiles and 80 M299 missile launchers.
The FAA is proposing an airworthiness directive that would require inspection of ground blocks GD261 and GD264 on certain Boeing 737-600/-700/-800/-900 aircraft for corrosion. It also would require measuring the electrical bond resistance between the ground blocks and aircraft structure, and separating the ground wires for the fuel boost pump circuit between the blocks. The action follows a report of random flashes of the six fuel pump low-pressure lights and intermittent operation of the fuel boost pumps.
The contentious redrawing of the seniority list for ex-America West pilots and the veteran group from US Airways is posing a tricky challenge for the Air Line Pilots Assn. International. Crewmembers from US Airways believe the proposed list, based on a decision last month by arbitrator George Nicolau, will shut out many experienced first officers from achieving captain. They have lodged hundreds, possibly thousands of complaints to ALPA's Executive Council, a 12-member body of elected officials.
Dick Paul, who is vice president-strategic development and analysis for the Boeing Phantom Works, has become chairman of the Industrial Research Institute, which is devoted to enhancing the effectiveness of technological innovation in industry.
Open a good book on global warming and in its index you will find references to a wealth of data and analysis from NASA Earth sciences flight programs and scientists, as well as to their contribution to the growing awareness and understanding of risks our planet faces from greenhouse gases.
