Paul E. Rendel, ASAA "Baghdad Bob is Off the Air" Oil 32 X 40 inches UAVs take center stage in Operation Enduring Freedom, targeting electrical transmission towers and lines, dramatically ending the career of Baghdad Bob. To sit in a ground control station in one country while flying the Predator and looking at targets in another country hundreds of miles away is mind-boggling.
STEVE ANDERSON "Highest Tradition" Acrylic 20 X 40 inches On Sept. 10, 1952, Maj. Jesse Folmar, a cousin of Anderson's, and his wingman were attacked by eight MiG-15 jet fighters. Folmar did a reverse turn on the MiG leader and shot him down with a 5-sec. burst of his 20-mm. cannon. This was the only jet kill by the piston-driven Corsair during the Korean War. Folmar was awarded the Silver Star.
Indonesia plans to sell up to 45% of Garuda next year to strengthen the ailing state carrier's finances. Prospective buyers from the Middle East, Europe and North America are already conducting due-diligence studies, says Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto. It isn't clear, however, that any buyer would pay enough to make much of a dent in the company's debt, which the government in July valued at $794 million.
France has completed the first operational trial of the all-weather GPS/INS-guided AASM standoff precision weapon, moving it closer to operational service on board the Rafale fighter, which is expected in late 2007 (see p. 26). The trial, which followed several dozen earlier tests, was carried out against a fake runway in low-altitude, high-speed, strong loading conditions.
EADS CASA has delivered the first HC-235A multimission aircraft for the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater program to Lockheed Martin, which is responsible for installing the mission package.
The project company responsible for striking a concession deal for the Galileo satellite navigation system has reached a preliminary accord, setting the stage for deployment and operation of the 30-satellite network.
NASA/JPL/CORNELL UNIVERSITY A 360-deg. view of Mars, called the "McMurdo" panorama, is presented in approximate true color from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. This view is comprised of 1,449 images that form the largest and highest fidelity view of Mars acquired from either rover. NASA Crescent moon shines above Earth's horizon and airglow, as photographed by an Expedition 13 crewmember on the International Space Station. NASA
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is delaying its next test of the massive Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) anti-missile system to allow time for hardware and software tweaks to the system.
A secret National Reconnaissance Office satellite is undergoing checkout in space following launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Dec. 14 on a U.S. Air Force/Boeing Delta II booster. The Delta 7920 version with nine solid rocket motors was launched at 1 p.m. PST from Space Launch Complex 2W. The spacecraft, with characteristics of a technology demonstration mission, was placed into an initial 203 X 191-mi. orbit inclined 58.5 deg.
More than a dozen international space agencies, working toward a way to coordinate their space exploration activities, may produce some sort of framework document at a planned meeting in Kyoto, Japan, in early March. A two-day NASA-sponsored exploration workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute drew almost 40 representatives from 14 space agencies, including Australia's, China's, India's, South Korea's and Ukraine's, as well as the International Space Station partners.
The Indonesian Directorate of General Civil Aviation has started an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast demonstration project that could lead to nationwide ADS-B service. Thales, SITA and Airservices Australia are working on the project that will display ADS-B data in the Jakarta and Makassar ATC centers. The majority of international flights headed for Australia pass through this region, so Australian officials are keen to see the Indonesians adopt this new technology. ADS-B will provide more accurate position data on aircraft than ground-based radars.
CHER PRUYS, ASAA "Best Friends" Acrylic 21 X 26.5 inches Two Cessnas make a pleasing sight, nestled in a remote bay in the North Country. Pruys specializes in painting the aircraft and people near her home in northern Ontario. She has received many awards for her watercolor and acrylic paintings. Pruys's work has appeared in numerous magazines and is cover art for two books and 13 magazine issues. She belongs to ASAA, the Canadian Society of Aviation Artists and the Women in Aviation Maintenance Society.
The International Air Transport Assn. has set a 2008 target rate of 0.49 hull losses per million departures. With airlines on track to achieve a record low 0.65 rate this year, IATA members decided to push for further improvements. IATA members themselves achieved an 0.29 accident rate so far this year. Members of the airline group also met with Russian officials last week to urge improvements in air safety there.
The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending the FAA require Part 121 operators to establish procedures directing flight crews to confirm and cross-check that an aircraft is positioned on the assigned departure runway before crossing the hold-short line for takeoff. In addition, the NTSB recommends operators provide guidance to pilots regarding runway lighting requirements for night takeoffs. The move is part of the ongoing investigation of the Aug. 27 crash of Comair Flight 5191 at Lexington (Ky.) Blue Grass Airport.
It wasn't the merger everyone was talking about, but it was the merger they got. While Wall Street quivered about the possibility of United Airlines linking up with Continental Airlines, AirTran Airways went public with a move to take over Midwest Airlines.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report on the progress being made on the Next Generation Air Transportation System (Ngats) says the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) and FAA have their work cut out for them in several respects. The National Academy of Sciences and those conducting the GAO study formed a panel of 14 aviation and academic experts to review Ngats. Some of them told the GAO that while the JPDO has generated a lot of activity, it has not made sufficient progress.
A long-running squabble about future strategy at Safran, including what to do with its troubled cell phone business, has morphed into a full-scale corporate and government row that threatens to turn into a replay of the EADS/Airbus fiasco.
