The fifth production Dassault Falcon 7X business jet arrived in Little Rock, Ark., on Dec. 12. It is the first 7X that will be completed for a customer and is scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of 2007. In France, four Falcon 7Xs are participating in the certification program. The fleet has logged more than 1,200 hr. and 400 flights. European and FAA certification is slated for early 2007.
TOM KALINA, ASAA "Flagship Arizona" Oil on canvas 24 X 36 inches An American Airlines Douglas DC-7, "Flagship Arizona," banks over the Grand Canyon at sunset. American was the first airline to offer DC-7 service, and on Nov. 29, 1953, inaugurated non-stop transcontinental service between New York and Los Angeles.
Prepare for another acquisition battle involving radars and high-power microwave weapons that will pit entrenched, big-money but older-technology programs against smaller, cheaper, more powerful designs. Both radars and HPM weapons--which are now being designed as a single system--are switching to fiber optics from the traditional electricity moving through copper wires. Computational, processing and data throughput speeds are expected to jump as much as a thousandfold to make power generation and modulation/production of microwaves possible in very small packages.
An agreed private-equity takeover of Qantas Airways announced Dec. 14 will saddle the Australian carrier with three times as much debt, but let it carry on with its current business plan without the radical new cost cuts and asset sales typical of such leveraged buyouts.
The commercial sector will keep U.S. aerospace sales rising in 2007, but the military aircraft, space and missile sectors will likely see flat or declining sales. Boeing and Airbus have recorded more orders than even their own analysts expected. After years trailing Airbus, Boeing is basking in the year's best results to date; industry analysts expect more sales for both in the last two weeks of the year, however. Still, it's unlikely Boeing will cap its 2005 record of 1,002 net orders or that Airbus will exceed its record of 1,111.
GIL COHEN, ASAA "We Guide To Strike" Oil 26 X 38 inches Flying ahead of the main bomber stream, a Lancaster of 156 Squadron pathfinder force makes a run over its target in the heavily defended industrial Ruhr Valley. Extreme concentration can be observed in the crew's eyes as they focus on their critical task of marking the target. Precise identification of the target location will ensure accurate bomber strikes, further crippling the German war effort.
U.S. and European deep space exploration missions are scoring major new discoveries at year's end, directly influencing their operations in 2007 and affecting international planetary strategy in the years ahead. The major new findings will be revealed in this week's editions of the journals Science and Nature. Some were also previewed late last week before the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. A sample of the new findings include:
As Boeing's chief airplane salesman, Scott Carson helped make the new 787 a huge market hit. Now, as the new CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, he's responsible for making sure technical development of the aircraft stays on track as its critical first flight grows closer. In a wide-ranging interview in New York with AW&ST Editor-in-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., and Business Editor Joseph C. Anselmo, Carson talked about the 787 and the state of the industry. Excerpts follow:
EADS Astrium has been selected to lead development of a satellite telecommunications service package to disseminate GMES data, beginning with early crisis management land/ marine monitoring services. Most of the €8.9-million undertaking will be funded by the EC's R&D program.
Dragonair is joining the Oneworld airline alliance, of which its new parent, Cathay Pacific, is a key member. The move will expand the alliance's access to mainland China, the main market of the Hong Kong carrier.
The first of Boeing's longest-range 737s, the -700ER, has entered final assembly at the company's Renton, Wash., plant. After the wing-join (see photo), the fuselage will be positioned onto the factory's moving line. Delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airways, which has ordered the only two bought so far, is set for January. With blended winglets and up to nine auxiliary fuel tanks, the specialty aircraft has a range of up to 5,510 naut., 2,145 naut. mi. farther than the standard 737-700.
The world's first dedicated K a-band broadband spacecraft will commence operation in March, further boosting prospects for the burgeoning broadband satellite industry. The 4.7-metric- ton, 9.6-kw. spacecraft, WildBlue-1, was orbited on the night of Dec. 8 from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, atop an Ariane 5 ECA.
General Electric has finished tests of an advanced two-stage, "all-blisk" (blade and disk) fan and new high-pressure turbine for an F414-based advanced technology demonstrator engine at its Lynn, Mass., facility. The engine ran at 100% of maximum steady core speed and completed all objectives in 20 hr. of testing. The new fan design's 3D aerodynamic forward-swept airfoil technology provides a 10% boost in airflow and fewer parts than for current F414 engines that power the Boeing F/A-18E/F.
The European Commission has referred Greece to the European Court of Justice because Athens has failed to establish a national supervisory authority separate from its air navigation services provider. After two requests for Greece to come in-line with Single European Sky rules, the EC said last week it is taking the legal step to force action.
Rockwell Collins will upgrade U.S. Air Force Minuteman missile launch control centers with satellite communications enhancements that link strategic forces to the National Command Authority via Milstar and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) spacecraft. Potentially worth $75 million, the technology development contract is part of USAF's Minuteman Modernization Program Upgrade. Planned modifications will ensure all Minuteman units continue to receive Emergency Action Messages.
Ron Hart "Treasure Island" Pastel on Sanded Paper 20 X 26 inches A Pan American World Airways Clipper, a Boeing 314, begins another journey across the Pacific. A young boy watches from across the bay near Treasure Island, Calif., around 1943. After 32 years of airline flying, with 25 years as a captain, Hart retired from a major U.S. airline in December 2000. His airline experience included flying the MD-11, MD-80, Boeing 757/767, 737, 707 and DC-8. The ASAA Nixon Galloway Golden Age of Aviation Award
International Space Station operators in orbit and on the ground here are finally taking off the training wheels and moving their massive spacecraft into the long-planned configuration it will maintain throughout its service life. In one of the most complex and difficult telerobotic space missions ever, ground controllers worked hand in glove with the nine astronauts and a cosmonaut on the docked ISS and space shuttle Discovery to get the station settled into its final power and cooling configuration. It wasn't always pretty.
An EADS Astrium team has begun flight testing a two-way laser data link intended to serve medium- and high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles. French armaments agency DGA, which is funding the €50-million ($66-million) project, says the optical link between a Mystere test aircraft and the European Space Agency's Artemis satellite was the first between an airborne carrier and a goestationary orbit (GEO) spacecraft.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] Editor-at-Large: William Readdy NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
Declining airline profits in Asia and Europe are the first clear sign that it's becoming more difficult for carriers to grow revenues, even though the industry is expected to be profitable next year. "In 2007 we will see our first profit since 2000," says Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Assn. The $2.5-billion net profit comes on a $10.2-billion operating profit (flat from last year). Next year's profit and this year's loss forecast show improvement from three months ago, thanks to the drop in fuel prices.
