UPS's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) capability soon will allow visual approaches in less-than-visual conditions. This capability is included in the SafeRoute suite of software developed by ACSS (a Thales and L-3 Communications company) for UPS. It involves the Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI), which allows a UPS pilot to see the freighter he has been assigned to follow in the arrival stream. The lead aircraft broadcasts its GPS position. This means when visibility drops below what is needed for visual flight rules on approach (7 naut.
Jack W. Boisen (see photo), who is vice president-cargo for Continental Airlines, has been elected chairman of The International Air Cargo Assn. Ulrich Ogiermann (see photo), president/CEO of Cargolux Airlines International of Luxembourg, was elected vice chairman of TIACA. Boisen succeeds Gary Bartek, manager of cargo development at Kansas City (Mo.) International Airport.
A company that got its start doing risk analysis for nuclear power plants in Britain now has a small section devoted to aviation risk assessment and surveys for clients ranging from Eurocontrol to London City Airport.
Rockwell Collins engineers are testing all 787 avionics subsystems in tandem to pinpoint any faulty interactions before the new cockpit system flies for the first time in August or September. The goal is to uncover and fix data-sharing problems between subsystems early in development, says Greg Irmen, director of all Boeing programs for Rockwell Collins. The company has a new role on this project helping the airframer with systems integration and overseeing the contributions of some of the other avionics suppliers.
Northrop Grumman has selected its own Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS), an AESA radar, for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) proposal for the U.S. Navy. The sensor would provide the Global Hawk UAV with 360-deg. coverage for the maritime mission. The Global Hawk is pitted against a Predator-based solution from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and a Gulfstream V manned/unmanned proposal led by Boeing. The Navy plans to make a decision this fall.
Half the detailed design work on the 777 freighter has been completed and released to suppliers, and the aircraft is on schedule for a fourth-quarter 2008 delivery to launch customer Air France, Boeing reports. The freighter is based on the 777-200LR passenger airframe. Boeing has 71 orders.
NASA's Griffin, who backed away from skeptical comments about global warming soon after he made them in a radio interview, softens his comments further in a Capitol Hill appearance promoting the administration's NextGen air traffic management modernization plan. Joining other administration officials, Griffin says advanced technology that NASA will help develop will enable aircraft to land sooner and closer together, reducing delays and fuel consumption.
Dan Avicola has been named general manager of Dallas Airmotive's Lafayette, La., component repair facility. He was a production supervisor for all engine lines at a different facility.
Bidders have until July 30 to submit proposals on the upper-stage instrument unit for NASA's planned Ares I crew launch vehicle under an RPF announced yesterday. The unit will carry guidance, navigation and control avionics for the shuttle-derived vehicle. Selection of a contractor to work with NASA designers, build development and flight hardware and provide engineering support through 2016 is expected in November. Meanwhile, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has picked Aerojet to build developmental engines for the initial Ares I first-stage roll-control system.
Checkmate, the Air Force's small unit for getting creative, fast-turnaround ideas to warfighters, is being kicked upstairs from the operational level to the strategic. The organization first gained attention during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war, when officials needed to speed up planning for wrecking Iraq's computer-controlled integrated air defenses and warfighters needed to know what was available in the classified world. Checkmate was a key player in planning and executing the air war. Now the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. T.
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.
