SAS Sweden will launch five nonstop services from Stockholm next year, starting with the Feb. 12 inauguration of Stockholm-Munich. Partnering with Lufthansa, the route will be served by five daily departures. Other destinations to be added are Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Glasgow and Reykjavik. One-way prices start at SEK 650 ($92).
John J. Grisik, who is executive vice president-operational excellence and technology for the Goodrich Corp., has been elected chairman of the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. for 2007. He has been vice chairman and will be succeeded by Alan Klapmeier, who is chairman/CEO of the Cirrus Design Corp.
Ian King has been appointed chief operating officer for U.K. and other non-U.S. business for London-based BAE Systems, effective Jan. 1. He has been group managing director for customer solutions and support.
The Massachusetts Port Authority placed a sixth runway (Runway 14/32) into operation at Logan International Airport on Thanksgiving Day. The 5,000-ft. runway is designed to handle regional aircraft traffic. Planning for the new runway began 30 years ago and since 1995 has been the subject of 100 public meetings.
AeroComputers Inc., a tiny company located in an aircraft hangar at the Oxnard Airport north of Los Angeles, has developed a synchronized video and moving map system for use in homeland security and military applications and police and fire department helicopters.
The Italian army has ordered a dozen AeroVironment RQ-11A Raven small unmanned aircraft for use by deployed troops. The UAVs are slated for delivery early next year. The Ravens will be used for surveillance using a daylight television or infrared camera. In addition to its hand-launched UAV effort, the Army continues to maintain a requirement for a brigade-level, tactical UAV system, but hasn't found funds for a procurement. Meanwhile, the air force's Predator UAVs are supporting all three Italian military services.
Regarding your article "Close Calls," there is still low-hanging fruit to be harvested in the fight against runway incursions (AW&ST Nov. 6, p. 40). Though ADS-B, ground radar and in-pavement stoplight systems will have their places, some simple preventive measures go unexploited. A crew's primary focus while taxiing should be on taxiing and not on tasks that can be accomplished prior to leaving the gate.
An amateur photographer captured images of an inflight safety incident at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport on Nov. 3 and made a report that prompted the pilots of a Malaysia Airlines 777-200 to return to the airport for an emergency landing.
Airbus will close the books on 2006 with its second-best year ever in terms of order intake. However, it likely will miss an important mark in its competition with Boeing because of the comparatively low value of its sales this year. A raft of orders in recent weeks has allowed Airbus to get back into the competitive band of over 40% market share. However, the company's COO for customers, John Leahy, acknowledges that Airbus is only at 35-37% in terms of value intake. Boeing has dominated large aircraft sales, where the value is highest.
It's one of the strangest-looking aircraft in recent aeronautical history, but Scaled Composites' "White Knight" was the ideal vehicle for carrying SpaceShipOne (SSO) to high altitude. Dropped there, SSO ignited its rocket and flew into space and the record books in 2004--twice. Now, the one-of-a-kind White Knight is serving as an ideal testbed for large, heavy payloads.
Designed specifically to launch SpaceShipOne from high altitudes, Scaled Composites' White Knight carrier aircraft has become a low-cost workhorse for a number of flight test projects. Earlier this year, it flew a number of captive-carriage and drop-launch flights with the Boeing/Darpa/ NASA X-37 test vehicle (shown), and recently completed data-acquisition tests on a FlexSys Inc. laminar flow wing section having an "adaptive compliant" trailing edge (see p. 70).
Nigeria continues efforts to fix its troubled aviation system. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the operating license of two domestic carriers--Fresh Air and Sosoliso--because of regulation violations. It's the latest in a series of such actions taken in the wake of two high-profile accidents last year in which more than 200 died. Another incident occurred Oct. 29--an ADC Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed, killing 98.
A European proposal to include aviation in its emissions trading system is making industry officials shudder and could cause a nasty international dispute. The European Commission is expected to complete deliberations by mid-December on a plan put forward by its environmental directorate to bring air transport into the emissions trading scheme. While airline officials initially were receptive to the idea, noting it is less stifling than more taxes, they reject the current version.
Estonian Air and Air Baltic of Lithuania have entered an international cooperation to combine efforts on flights from Paris, Barcelona and Brussels to their respective hubs of Tallinn and Riga.
Southwest Airlines is to begin an international code-share agreement with ATA by 2009 that will open markets for the Dallas-based low-cost pioneer in Canada, Mexico and, maybe, Central America. Executive Vice President Mike Van de Ven notes that Southwest already is gaining access to Hawaii with ATA code-shares.
The U.S. is narrowing the list of identification documents it will accept from air travelers seeking to enter the country. Starting Jan. 23, citizens of the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Bermuda will be required to present a passport when arriving by air in the U.S. from any part of the Western Hemisphere. Previously, citizens of those countries were only required to show a valid driver's license, birth certificate or other accepted documents to verify their identity and nationality.
ESA engineers say they are ready to begin integrating low- and high-frequency instruments on the Planck cosmic background observatory, which is designed to obtain the most precise map yet of relic radiation left behind by the formation of the Universe. Time lags in supplying the instruments on Planck, and the Herschel infrared observatory that will be sent aloft with it, have seriously delayed the mission (AW&ST Apr. 24, p. 38). ESA is now shooting for a mid-2008 launch.
There has been a great deal of hype lately about Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, including your article "ADS-B Pioneer" (AW&ST Nov. 6, p. 56), but what's all the fuss about?
Douglas Barrie (London), Neelam Mathews (New Delhi)
Attempts to turn the A-Darter dogfight missile into a trinational effort involving South Africa, Brazil and India are faltering, as New Delhi fails to support the effort. Nevertheless, after several years in abeyance, Denel's A-Darter is gaining momentum, since Brazil and South Africa are proceeding with the program as a cooperative development.
Sweeping changes could be in store for the U.S. regional industry as those carriers anxiously await the outcome of months-long bidding battles to capture business from at least four airlines altering their regional networks. US Airways' proposal to merge with Delta Air Lines adds another layer of uncertainty to the regional industry's state of flux.
The Italian air force was set for an historic event last week--its last firing of a Nike Hercules air-defense missile. The launch was to take place Nov. 24 from the Salto di Quirra on Sardinia. The Nike Hercules still equips three squadrons of the 17th Wing of the 1st Missile Brigade, which is based in Padua, but is being gradually retired. Italy plans to replace the interceptor with the Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads).
ProtoStar, a Bermuda-based startup planning to offer direct-to-home broadcasting coverage across Asia, says it has completed financing needed to acquire and launch the first of three spacecraft to provide the service. The $210-million financing package, consisting of $160 million in senior secured convertible notes and $50 million in equity from venture capital and private-equity funds, will complement initial funding raised in 2005 from New Enterprise Associates and SpaceVest.
Eurocopter has opened a regional maintenance center in Malaysia and announced a plan to build an additional hangar early next year. The center comprises two facilities in western Malaysia and two in the eastern half of the country.
