ATK and NASA ran a 120-sec. static test of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) Nov. 16 that produced results for three different space-agency efforts. With the first nighttime static test since 1992, NASA gained information on the best settings for cameras that will use light from the burning RSRMs to check the troublesome external tank for falling debris when the shuttle Discovery is launched at night next month.
Boeing won't have to pay full damages for the lateness of Australia's Wedgetail program if the company delivers the airborne early-warning and control aircraft with the specified performance and more or less meets the revised schedule. For the quarter ended June 30, the company booked a $496-million charge for the delays to Wedgetail, including contractual damages.
ECLIPSE AVIATION AND STRATEGIC AERONAUTICS have developed an "Avio Flight Bag" to work in the Eclipse 500's highly integrated Avio cockpit. The new flight bag product, being offered as an option on the very light jet, will allow pilots to access flight planning data from their hotel rooms, offices or homes.
The first images from the U.S. Air Force's new spacecborne strategic missile warning system are so far making good on the military's promise that they would surpass the quality provided by the decades-old Defense Support Program constellation.
Israel's largest aerospace company is beginning to shed its 55-year-old, state-influenced bureaucracy and streamline to match its state-of-the-art technology products, says Yair Shamir, new chairman of the board of Israel Aircraft Industries.
Regarding the midair collision over the Amazon jungle on Sept. 29 (AW&ST Oct. 9, p. 44), if both aircraft had been flying on a westerly or easterly heading (though this was not actually the case), the even/odd flight level rule would still have allowed them to fly at the same altitude with a heading difference of 90 deg. and closing speed around 700 mph.--or nearly head-on with a closing speed around 1,000 mph. That the Embraer Legacy crew apparently were unaware that another aircraft had been involved shows how quickly things happen at such speeds.
Boeing has added 29 aircraft to its sales total from unidentified customers, including 16 commercial 787s, a 787 in a VIP configuration that's part of Boeing Business Jet sales, and 12 737s (AW&ST Nov. 13, p. 42). Air France has purchased a 777-300ER, raising its total for that model to 20 aircraft.
Few issues in Washington strike as much bipartisan support as keeping open an ongoing Defense Department program like the C/KC-130J. Fourteen Democratic and Republican senators wrote outgoing Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld Nov. 15 to push for acquisition funds in the Fiscal 2008 defense budget request, which Pentagon and White House officials are finalizing.
Peruvian carrier Aero Condor is seeking outside financing to develop routes to Buenos Aires, Santiago and Miami because a drop in fares has slowed those efforts. Financial institutions AIG and the U.S. Export-Import Bank are looking to loan the airline $3 million to undertake the expansion. The deal should be finalized in 2007. Moreover, talks are underway to initiate operations to London, Madrid and Rome, with potential alliances with Spanish or Italian carriers.
As the cost of major weapon systems escalates, arms-producing countries are increasingly looking to export their wares to foreign markets. Sales abroad can help keep critical production lines going decrease the costs of weapons for the military at home and strengthen the domestic defense industrial base. The U.S. and Russia remain the top two weapon-exporting countries, while Europe's main arms manufacturers-- the U.K., France and Germany--want to sustain their significant market share.
John Banbury has become vice president-business development for Scientific Monitoring Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz. He was vice president-fleet and airline support for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The great debate continues! Paul Johnson (AW&ST Oct. 2, p. 6) has joined the fray on recovery modes for hybrid boosters that has continued for several months. Martin Sippel, Bill Marcy, Vigil Soule, myself and others have all expressed our opinions.
Astronomers want to use the same cueing techniques for pinpointing gamma-ray bursts to monitor the Moon's surface for ongoing geological activity. Although the Moon has long been thought to have been geologically dead for more than 3 billion years, the authors of a paper in the journal Nature suggest that a heel-shaped surface feature may have been produced as recently as 1-million years ago.
Lianne Stein has been named vice president of Boeing International and president of Berlin-based Boeing Germany. She will succeed Horst Teltschik, who has retired. Stein was vice president-commercial aviation at Connexion by Boeing.
The NTSB is intensifying the battle to eliminate what is perhaps the biggest hazard to the safety of airline passengers--runway incursions. And together with the FAA, the board is seeking a near-term solution that first warns the pilot, not the controller, of an impending collision. Reducing the risk of runway incursions and ground collision has again appeared on the board's 2007 Most Wanted List of safety recommendations issued last week, as it has since the list was first compiled in October 1990.
Italy and the U.K. are preparing to commit as much as another $1 billion to the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter, without the purchase of a single airframe. Turkey is likely to receive a similar bill as well. The billion-dollar sum is roughly how much each of the three will contribute over the course of the Production Sustainment and Follow-on Development (PSFD) phase of the program.
Teamsters-represented Comair flight attendants have ratified a letter of agreement with management, voting 549-126. The ratification enables the airline to reduce flight attendant costs by $7.9 million each year of a four-year contract. The average pay cut for flight attendants will be $2,250, according to the company.
I do not want to raise the mandatory airline pilot retirement age. I am 48, and I am not a junior pilot on the seniority list. Having said that, the Age 60 rule will change sooner or later, International Civil Aviation Organization, or not. With almost every airline pension plan non-existent or frozen due to inept management, bankruptcy or both, the need to extend the retirement age exists for many pilots.
The ongoing war in Iraq continues to cast a shadow over the world's largest defense-spending market in the U.S., while the focus in Europe continues to be on cooperation among aircraft programs.
Air Transport Assn. President James C. May has no clue as to who pays for the U.S. air traffic control system and its services (AW&ST Oct. 16, p. 56). Airlines pay nothing in taxes to the federal government for this system. All taxes paid to the government are passed along to the passenger or cargo shipper. The airlines collect these taxes on behalf of our government for the safety of travelers and the people who never fly.
The 2006 Kolcum News and Com- munications Award, which honors the late Aviation Week & Space Technology Managing Editor Harry Kolcum, has been presented to Red Huber, senior photographer for the Orlando Sentinel. Huber has photographed space launches for two decades, and his work has appeared in National Geographic and Time magazines. Also receiving the award for communications was Debbie Land, general manager of the Astronaut Hall of Fame for the Delaware North Corp.
Airport executives say there are too many interpretations of what liquids passengers can and cannot carry in their hand baggage. Speaking at the recent annual meeting of Airports Council International (ACI) in Cape Town, South Africa, Director General Robert J. Aaronson said the standards recently adopted by the European Commission represent a "positive step" toward a uniform approach for Europe, but confusion remains elsewhere.
I continue to read articles and letters from people who want to repeal the long-standing Age 60 rule and wonder what career expectations airline pilots have had since 1959. Is it not true that every employed Part 121 pilot was hired with the expectation of accruing seniority as older pilots retired at Age 60? This is not about safety; it's about left-seat wide-body pay for another five years and choice selection for bidding.
