Cessna Aircraft Co.'s Citation Mustang business/personal jet has entered FAA function and reliability (F&R) testing. The Mustang is on schedule for certification late this year. Although the FAA plans to grant full type certification to the Mustang, flight into known icing may be restricted unless Cessna is able to complete a 45-min. encounter in natural icing, according to a company official. Pratt & Whitney Canada has received Transport Canada certification of the PW615F engines that power the Mustang, and FAA approval is expected soon, according to Cessna.
President Bush has won notoriety for signing legislation while simultaneously issuing messages in which he promises to ignore parts of it. Not to be outdone, the Senate may reconsider terms of the pension relief bill, which it passed Aug. 3 and Bush is expected to sign this week. The bill gives airlines 17 years to fund pension-plan shortages if they freeze the plans, as Delta and Northwest intend to do. But American and Continental, trying to preserve their plans, get only 10 years (see p. 58).
Northwest Airlines Capt. Lindsay Fenwick is one of four pilots to be honored by the Washington-based Air Line Pilots Assn. for their contributions to safety. Fenwick received ALPA's top safety honor, the Air Safety Award, which is bestowed each year for contributions to safety through volunteer service in ALPA's air safety structure. Fenwick has been chief investigator for the Northwest Airlines chapter of ALPA and U.S. representative to the Accident Analysis Committee of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assns. United Airlines Capt. Richard W.
Boeing's C-17 production program hits the point of no return Aug. 18, having received no response or even an encouraging hint from Congress about adding funds to the Fiscal 2008 budget. Boeing wants to complete the last 10 aircraft for which long-lead items have been purchased. Officials say the company has already spent $100 million to keep the line moving, and they now will have to make a decision to break the line with 22 aircraft still in production. A dozen are slated for Canada, Australia, Britain and the U.S., but the rest lack a customer.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Sept. 19-21--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition, Xiamen, China. Oct. 24-26--MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition, Amsterdam. Nov. 13-15--Aerospace & Defense Programs, Phoenix. PARTNERSHIPS Sept. 24-27--Industry Outlooks and Growth Strategies 2006, San Antonio.
An industry team test-fired a new second-stage booster motor on Aug. 3, demonstrating the feasibility of solid-propellant rocket technologies that could be applied to a proposed conventional missile (see photo). Flying at supersonic speeds, the submarine-launched missile could reach intermediate-range targets in 15 min., giving Ohio-class guided-missile subs an "extremely accurate, no-notice, prompt global-strike capability," according to team officials. The 40-sec.
Raytheon and the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command have signed a $95.4-million contract modification for light- and heavy-weight torpedo hardware, engineering and support services. The modification adds fiscal year 2006 procurement quantities to the consolidated torpedo contract, awarded to Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in 2004.
Very soon, Orlando International Airport won't be the only place in the U.S. offering frequent fliers a way to speed past long lines at security checkpoints. After years of delay to solve security, privacy and economic issues, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is announcing up to 20 airports selected to take the Registered Traveler program to the next level before a national rollout.
Michael A. Taverna (Farnborough, Paris), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
With its national helicopter and advanced metals sectors now in Russia's grip, state-owned arms export trading company Rosoboronexport is aiming at the country's engine makers as the government continues to consolidate control of the national aerospace and defense industry.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
The Iranian government has a cadre of "hundreds" of technical advisers in Lebanon that trained, and continue to support, Hezbollah forces in the use of sophisticated anti-ship and anti-tank missiles and unmanned aircraft. No evidence has yet emerged, however, that the Iranians are actually operating any weaponry in the fighting, say U.S. officials.
Cargo operations are exposed to more safety risks than passenger ops--the fatal accident rate is 2-5 times higher--and is driving pilots to aggressively seek government mandates aimed at closing the safety gap. Cargo rules are generally less restrictive. The carriage of primary (nonrechargeable) lithium batteries, for example, is prohibited as passenger aircraft belly cargo but allowed on all-cargo flights. Fire suppression capability is required on passenger aircraft, not so with cargo.
Eurocopter has delivered an EC145 to India's Jindal Steel and Power, for use as executive transport. "A VIP segment is emerging, due to the economic growth in India which necessitates safe and, most notably, fast long-distance travel for executives," says Norbert Ducrot, vice president for Asia-Pacific at Eurocopter. Powered by two Turbomeca Arriel 1E2s, the single-pilot-IFR-certified EC145 features a night-vision goggle-compatible, digital glass cockpit with multi-function displays, facilitating day-and-night operations.
The U.S. Navy is anxiously awaiting funding for its Harpoon Block III development--a trigger that will also see the service move quickly to attract additional partners.
Now that Iran is known to have abetted--or instigated--Hezbollah's attack on Israel with advisers, not just weapons (see p. 20), it's possible to see the fighting in southern Lebanon for what it is. Until now it has seemed to be a relatively contained conflict in which a nation is defending itself from a terrorist group, albeit with a risk of escalation and disturbing civilian casualties on both sides. Now, it's clear that far more is involved, and far more is at stake.
Antipathy in the diplomatic arena risks spilling into the commercial sector, as Washington and Moscow bicker over arms sales to Iran. Boeing's efforts to snare an Aeroflot order for up to 20 787 wide-body transports could become entangled in the political fallout, as might the Russian Regional Jet program.
At Northrop Grumman, researchers say they have designed, built and flight tested a synthetic aperture laser radar system. It transfers synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technologies into the laser radar domain to produce greater resolution at longer standoff ranges. Tests show the SAR works at optical wavelengths to produce near-photographic quality and 3D imagery. The technology is applicable for day/night operations on combat aircraft as well as manned and unmanned surveillance vehicles.
Raytheon researchers are building an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar the size of a football field. The radar is designed for bonding to the hull of an unmanned airship that is to hover at altitudes of 65,000-70,000 ft. The radar is to operate in UHF and X-band, scan almost at the speed of light, contain no moving parts and weigh less than 2 tons. In addition to looking for air and ground targets, the 0.4-in.-thick array will be a data link by communicating huge imagery files.
British Airways was assessed $50,000 by the U.S. Transportation Dept., charged with violating law and regulations that bar discrimination against travelers with disabilities. The department's enforcement office investigated four informal complaints about incidents between March 2003 and May 2006, in which BA denied boarding to a disabled passenger because the traveler wasn't accompanied by an attendant. All four travelers were self-sufficient and could have assisted in their own evacuation of the aircraft, the department found.
U.S. Air Force space planners have chosen NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Atlantic coast to launch the TacSat 2 satellite mission for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The 61-year-old sounding-rocket facility also will launch a Minotaur I with the Near-Field Infrared Experiment (Nfire) for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. Set for launch Nov. 13, TacSat 2 is an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration that will wring out AFRL's ability to design, build and test a spacecraft within 15 months.
Glenn L. Hickerson has been appointed San Francisco-based chairman and David F. Thompson executive vice president of JetWorks Leasing. Hickerson was chairman of the GATX Air advisory board and a director of the Willis Lease Finance Corp. Thompson was managing director of GATX Air.
Passengers flying out of London Heathrow, Hong Kong and Dubai this fall could find their time in security lines much shorter, thanks to a program being tested by Simplifying Passenger Travel Interest Group, an affiliate of the International Air Transport Assn. In the three-month trial, volunteers will be able to speed through special lines at the three airports using a biometric card with 13 parameters. At the end of the trial, a decision will be made on whether to continue for another three months.
Airport security isn't just going to the dogs. It's going to the horses and clam diggers, too. While government and industry rush to deploy technologies to make screening airline passengers and their baggage more thorough, efficient and faster, some airports around the world are trying an offbeat, low-tech response to the problem of keeping their airports secure.
Barnes McCormick, Professor Emeritus, Aerospace Engineering Dept. (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.)
The question of separation distances for aircraft behind the Airbus A380 interests me because I have been involved with the subject of wake turbulence for many years.
