Alenia Aermacchi is studying whether it may be able to edge into the U.S. market with its newest airborne trainer, the M-346. Congress has asked the Air Force and Navy to study the cost of refurbishing existing trainers or, possibly, to consider buying a new one. As this discussion continues, Alenia Aermacchi is studying what industrial alliances it could form in the U.S. to manufacture and sell the M-346. Giuseppe Giordo, president of Alenia North America, says his company would team with a U.S. prime contractor or form a joint venture with one.
Greek accident investigators have determined that human error led to the depressurization and crash of the Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 and the deaths of 121 people on board.
William R. Voss has become president/CEO of the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation. He succeeds Stuart Matthews, who has retired. Voss was an official of both the FAA and International Civil Aviation Organization.
With an eye to opportunities expected from India's offset policy that commits sellers to invest 30% of the sale, New York-based Argosy International--a leading supplier of composite materials and specialty chemicals--has opened an office in Bangalore. "Argosy will help start the supply chain for materials required by aerospace customers," says Shrikant Awasthi, vice president of sales and marketing for East Asia.
The European Commission has put Russia's Pulkovo airline, Pakistan International Airways, Ghana's Johnsons Air and Cyprus's Ajet (formerly Helios Airways) on what amounts to a safety watch list, but it stopped short of adding the carriers to its no-fly blacklist. The move comes as part of the first update to the European Union-wide list. Additions to the blacklist itself include Kenya's DAS Air Cargo and Uganda's Dairo Air Services. All 27 Kyrgyzstan airlines are banned because the national supervisory authority is viewed as deficient.
A Gulfstream Aerospace G550 flies over scenic country near Astoria on the Oregon coast. The business aviation segment of the global general aviation industry is healthy (see p. 54). Operators are flying more hours, manufacturers are developing new, more efficient aircraft, and more people are discovering the advantages of business aviation. Challenges to the industry do exist, but the need for secure and private air transportation as an alternative to the airlines will be a key driver of future growth. John Dibbs photo.
Norway is seeking 31 billion Norwegian kroner ($4.6 billion) in defense spending for 2007. The budget request would fund ongoing structural reforms and many priority procurement items. Modernization funding has been increased by about $4.5 million to $1.12 billion. The navy would get the largest share of procurement, including a new frigate, helicopters and P-3 enhancements. Air force procurement would include a new air-to-air missile and F-16 upgrades. The request also would pay for increased F-16 flying hours.
A theater missile defense command post exercise between Russia and NATO will take place this week at the Russian Simulation Facility. It's the third drill in the series and sets the stage for a field training exercise in about a year. This week's trial will focus on command and control issues related to deployed theater missile defense units.
It was reported in the article "Orion Debrief" (AW&ST Sept. 11, p. 26) that Lockheed Martin has won the $8-billion shuttle replacement contract. I remember my early days, at Martin Marietta Denver. We had just won the space station contract--it was about $8 billion--in 1980. It would be illuminating if you would research the cost growth of the space station program since then. Based on our track record, I will be stunned if the eventual cost of the Orion is $8 billion.
Managers expect an easy repair to this tiny micrometeoroid orbital debris ding technicians found in the right-hand radiator on the space shuttle Atlantis after the STS-115 mission last month. But its discovery points up the importance of the pre-reentry thermal protection system (TPS) inspections NASA has laid on and the risk spacewalkers face every time they venture outside. The 0.1-in.-dia.
Russia's defense minister is taking the highly unusual step of publicly chastising air-sector guided-weapons manufacturers over program delays. Sergei Ivanov says, "The current development of aircraft weapon systems is unsatisfactory." While he did not identify specific systems, there are several tactical weapons languishing in development for the air force. Initial work on some of them stretches back almost two decades.
Deposition Sciences Inc. announced an innovation in high-temperature, high-density performance in their HeatBuster Cold Mirror product line. The breakthrough in coating technology withstands light levels above 200 watts per square centimeter and extreme temperature above 400C. The cold mirrors feature reflectivity values of up to 98% across the visible spectrum and extremely low reflectivity in the infrared, with transmission of equal to or less than 20% in the 800-2,500nm waveband.
The only post-Comanche aviation project for the U.S. Army that has yet to get on contract, a $1.3-billion effort to field a small cargo airlifter, may suffer a delay due to a disagreement between oversight committees in Congress over whether the Air Force or Army should hold the purse strings for the effort.
Just in case the aviation community doesn't have enough to argue about in next spring's FAA-reauthorization debate, airport interests are working to fill any gap. Congress already is on the hook to mediate and eventually arbitrate the argument between airlines and business aviation on ATC user-fee burdens. Now, airports are preparing a proposal to lift the $4.50 per-passenger-per-departure ceiling on passenger facility charges, and to block attempts to limit what PFCs can finance.
Pentagon insiders say L-3 Communications' much-anticipated Network-centric Collaborative Targeting (NCCT) system--for instantly identifying and locating enemy emitters--is on its way to operational units. With it comes a little-known capability, mapping and precisely registering the ways in and out of enemy computer and communications networks. "It provides the eyes and ears of the Suter [network invasion and exploitation] capability," says a military official with insight into the program.
Comair will implement a bankruptcy court-approved contract for flight attendants effective Nov. 15, but the airline and Teamsters Local 513 remain open to negotiations to reach a consensual agreement before the deadline. The contract sets average flight attendant annual wages at $29,950, an average pay cut of $2,250, according to the company. Including a reduction of benefits, the average impact for the nearly 1,000 flight attendants is $3,700, the company says.
THE QUESTION OF HOW TO DO "INDOOR NAVIGATION" with satellite signals was a hot topic at ION/GPS, says Grohe. This can be important for everything from allowing first responders to find their way inside a darkened building, to letting them know where a "911" call is coming from. He notes that Galileo will have about 10 times the signal power as the current-generation GPS satellites. This will provide a significant improvement in the use of satellite signals for indoor navigation starting in 2010, when Galileo is scheduled to go operational.
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The Star Alliance could see three new accessions next year and, perhaps more critical, name its long-anticipated Indian partner. Star's vice president-commercial, Philip Saunders, says Shanghai Airlines and Air China are already on track to join, and before the end of next year Turkish Airlines could also gain full member status, bringing to 18 the number of full members--the group also has three regional members. The naming of a carrier in India to join the network has long been anticipated, and Saunders says it could take place next year.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport plans to construct new perimeter taxiways aimed at eliminating hundreds of runway crossings each year, thereby reducing potential incursions on the airport's seven runways. The project begins this month with work on a taxiway around the southeast quadrant of the 18,000-acre facility. It is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2008, according to DFW officials. The FAA is funding 75% of the cost to build the first taxiway, with the airport financing the remainder of the project.
BRIAN O'KEEFFE--THE AUSTRALIAN WHO HELPED pioneer the Future Air Navigation System (FANS) in the 1990s to guide civil aircraft across the Pacific Ocean with GPS--agrees with Grohe that Galileo is now much more accepted. O'Keeffe, who was also at the Institute of Navigation/GPS meeting, said no one poked fun at Galileo this time, and many technical papers addressed how the two systems will augment each other and work with the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass).
Air France-KLM expects merger-related synergies to top $1 billion in savings in 2010. The company is running ahead of plan on generating savings, and Deputy CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon says savings from integrating the two carriers' revenue management systems and information technology will drive future savings.
Italy is starting work on a medium- to high-altitude endurance unmanned aircraft, the Molynx. The vehicle, whose design was unveiled last week, is intended mainly for civil operations, such as land-use monitoring and surveillance. The air vehicle would have an operating altitude of 45,000 ft. and could stay aloft up to 30 hr. The sensor mix is expected to include a synthetic aperture radar plus electro-optical, infrared and hyperspectral sensors.
In the aftermath of the crash of Comair Flight 5191, there have been many calls for an increased focus on human factors and training to prevent similar accidents. Although beneficial, the groups that are working on their "don't take off on the wrong runway" training modules are missing the greater need.
