Bombardier's CSeries seems stuck in limbo as the airframer continues to put off committing to the aircraft's launch. Last week company executives said they did not need to make a launch decision before sometime in 2008 to meet a targeted 2013 entry-into-service date. The CSeries emerged in 2005, and last year Bombardier opted not to commit to a launch after potential customers pointed out it would be hard to wait for the company's original entry-into-service date of 2010.
Boeing will be the first airframer to use Crane Aerospace and Electronics' new weight and balance system. "AirWeighs" will be on the 777F and utilize the aircraft's landing gear struts as scales, which allows it to determine the load-bearing pressure at each strut precisely. The payload can then be shifted to achieve the proper center of gravity. The traditional method relies on the load master calculating the weight based on poundage of individual pieces of cargo.
When it comes to airline capacity, not all world regions are equal. But while there is often enormous disparity between population and capacity share, there is a much closer correlation between GDP and capacity. Combined in different ways, these indicators can all give important clues about untapped demand. There are many factors that contribute to airline capacity within each region. Among these are population, geography, economics, infrastructure and political stability.
Months in the making, EADS and Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (OAK) have finally clinched a broad-based partnership deal in conjunction with Aeroflot's commitment to purchase 22 Airbus twin-widebody A350XWBs. As part of the arrangement, long talked about but delayed as Aeroflot held off announcing its fleet decision (it may also buy Boeing 787s), Russian industry will be offered up to 5% airframe participation in the A350 as a risk-sharing partner.
Stork Aerospace has completed another step in its effort to expand its U.S. presence--its acquisition, through its Fokker Services unit, of Aerotron AirPower in LaGrange, Ga. Stork management notes that building up its U.S. MRO activities is a critical element of its strategy. Airinc was purchased last year.
An article on development of the Airbus A320 (AW&ST Mar. 5, p. 46) mischaracterized the effects of a series of aerodynamic enhancements. They are to provide a 1% improvement in fuel burn in cruise.
Air Berlin is trying to establish itself as a long-haul carrier following its takeover of LTU International Airways, and is an even more serious competitor for Lufthansa in the German market.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. (ret.) Walter E. Buchanan, 3rd One of the lasting problems in the history of warfare is knowing where people are--precisely--on the battlefield and who they are. That need is growing daily as combatants abandon uniforms and embrace new technologies such as wireless communications networks that permit them to operate flexibly, in small, lethal groups and often from a distance.
Rosemary Vassiliadis, Deputy Director of Aviation (Clark County Aviation Dept., Las Vegas, Nev.)
Contrary to claims made in a letter from an unnamed pilot, the ramp control system at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas has been a great success in helping to manage ground traffic at one of the world's busiest commercial airports (AW&ST Mar. 5, p. 6).
The U.S. Marines want to pay less for their F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and the corps' aviation planners say costs can be slashed if the Air Force and Navy bought some of their F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (Stovl) variants.
Galileo Avionica will provide India with Mirach 100/5 target drone services under a year-long, €5-million arrangement. This set-up could be a precursor to New Delhi buying the system outright or signing up for a long-term service agreement.
Members of Congress say they are often contacted by constituents frustrated over whom to see about gadgets or concepts they've developed to help secure the homeland. Jay Cohen, head of the Homeland Security Dept.'s research and development arm, says he may have a solution soon. Cohen's science and technology directorate is in discussions with search engine company Google to develop a web-based technology clearinghouse.
The eight-member Galileo Operating Consortium should be in a better position to negotiate an agreement to deploy and run the planned European navigation-satellite constellation, now that it has created a single legal entity to negotiate with the European Commission (EC). The absence of such a body--and a CEO to run it--was a chief reason cited by EC Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot for the current deadlock in negotiations for an EC concession with the consortium for the 30-satellite system. On Mar.
Large aircraft do not "far exceed" compact automobiles in fuel efficiency as stated in Vermont Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie's Viewpoint (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 66). A Boeing 747 gets 0.2 mpg.; an average five-passenger compact auto get 30 mpg. Doing the math then, a 400 passenger Boeing 747 operating 75% full gets about 60 passenger mpg. Similarly, a half-full five-passenger compact auto would get 75 passenger mpg.
US Airways has completed a $1.6-billion refinancing of the debt by which the former US Airways, merger partner with America West Airlines, exited bankruptcy protection in 2005. The new seven-year loan reduces the interest rate 1%, saving $16 million per year. More important, by putting off almost all amortization until 2014, it improves the carrier's cash position by $92 million per year in 2008-10 and $1.2 billion in 2011, reaching an aggregate benefit of nearly $1.5 billion in 2012. Without the restructured loan, maturities would have peaked in 2011.
British Airways and airport operator BAA plan to begin flights from Heathrow Terminal 5 next Mar. 27. Proving trials will start in September, and are scheduled to include the recruitment of 16,000 volunteer passengers to test the terminal's systems.
Gary Bosemer has been appointed director of avionics marketing of Landmark Aviation, Tempe, Ariz., William McAuliff general manager of its fixed-base operation in Rochester, N.Y., Donald Brookshire, Jr., general manager of the FBO at Fayetteville, N.C., and David Greer director of quality and organizational excellence at Associated Air Center, a Landmark company at Dallas Love Field. Bosemer was avionics and airframe sales manager, while McAuliff was airline manager for Landmark's predecessor Piedmont Hawthorne.
Finmeccanica forecasts revenues of €13.1-13.7 billion ($17.4-18.2 billion) this year, with an operating result of about €1 billion. A further increase is expected in 2008 with revenue reaching €14-14.7 billion and operating result of €1.05-1.17 billion. The projection comes as Finmeccanica posted a 158% jump in net profit in its 2006 results, although bolstered by some one-time income. Revenues for the year were €12.4 billion. The order book at year-end stood at €35.8 billion representing roughly three years of activity; order intake in 2006 alone was €15.7 billion.
Boeing has announced the team members that will help it pursue the next major procurement plum in NASA's exploration program: the $900-million production contract for the Ares I rocket's upper stage. Teammates include: United Technologies Corp. subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand, Moog Inc., Northrop Grumman, Orion Propulsion Inc., Summa Technology Inc., Chickasaw Nation Industries, United Space Alliance and United Launch Alliance.
The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. plans to start testing air cargo screening technologies this spring at Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport, as part of the department's $30-million Air Cargo Explosives Detection Pilot Program. The Cincinnati program is designed to test the screening of significant amounts of cargo within an air cargo facility and will focus on assessing the flow and speed of cargo screening.
David Rosamond has become country manager for Russia for Denver-based CH2M Hill. He was country manager in China and has been succeeded by Al Brousseau, who was Northern Asia managing director.
U.S. Coast Guard HH-60J Crew The U.S. Coast Guard HH-60J crew that rescued an injured mountain climber off Devil's Thumb mountain in Alaska on Mar. 14, 2006, is the the first recipient of the Breitling Award for Aviation Heroism. The crew, led by aircraft commander William Timmons, included copilot Walter Horne, who was flying the aircraft, flight mechanic Karl Schickle and rescue swimmer John Houlberg, along with a three-man mountain rescue team. Dropping the team off on the mountain proved to be too dangerous an option owing to the weather.
Douglas O. Stanley of the National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Va., has been named Region I Engineer of the Year by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. As the recipient for the area from Virginia to Maine, he also has been nominated for the AIAA National Engineer of the Year Award and will be inducted into the Engineer of the Year Society.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency released images of a gigantic solar flare Mar. 22. The pictures are the first to show magnetic fields and also high-temperature plasma produced from these flares, the agency says, adding that the observations will contribute to space weather forecasts. As the flare shot out at speeds of around 700 km./sec. Dec. 13, the high-resolution images were taken by the Solar B Hinode satellite using three instruments--its Solar Optical Telescope (whose picture is at left), its X-ray Telescope and its Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer.
