Reader Timothy Nichols might want to take a closer look at a couple of issues in his letter on very light jets (AW&ST July 3, p. 6). With VLJs, the cost of dedicated transportation for one or two passengers from a lightly trafficked airport is likely to price most travelers out of the market, just as it does with small aircraft whose acquisition and pilot training costs are much lower.
Former four-term Texas Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson says he's confident he'll return to Congress in the fall, regardless of whether former Rep. Tom (The Hammer) DeLay succeeds in getting off the November ballot. A U.S. District Court has ruled DeLay is the Republican candidate, even though he has resigned from Congress to face state money-laundering charges. A decision on DeLay's appeal is expected in 2-3 weeks, and Lampson says the issue might be presented to, if not accepted by, the Supreme Court.
Russian aviation safety officials are starting to analyze data from last week's fatal accident involving an S7 Airlines Airbus A310-300, which marked Russia's third fatal air accident this year. The latest incident occurred July 9 when Flight 778 from Moscow Domodedovo Airport to the Siberian industrial center of Irkutsk landed at 7:44 a.m. local time on a wet runway. The aircraft failed to slow down, overran the runway and struck a one-story concrete building. At least 125 of the eight crew and 195 passengers on board died in the crash and ensuing fire.
OHB System has won a 3-million-euro follow-on contract to further develop D-Werdas aircraft-to-ground data links for high-resolution reconnaissance applications. The award will cover testing and flight trials.
The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. wants to require airlines operating U.S.-bound flights to send passenger information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection before an aircraft leaves the ground, rather than the current practice of shortly after takeoff. The aim of the proposed rule is to enhance security but also cut back on the number of flights that have been diverted in recent years because a potential security risk has popped up on government watch lists after aircraft have departed.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
If the turn of the century brought with it lofty ambitions to redraft the Anglo-American defense industrial framework, then the following years exposed an inability to craft a deal. When the then-U.S. and British defense secretaries inked the Declaration of Principles in February 2000, it was heralded as the vehicle through which the two countries would drive closer collaboration. President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair reaffirmed the aim in February 2001, intended to target "the removal of unnecessary governmental barriers."
Three crewmembers were killed and four injured when a Canadian AgustaWestland CH-149 helicopter crashed during a night search-and-rescue training mission. The cause of the crash has not yet been identified.
Boeing is delaying a decision on whether to close the C-17 production line in Long Beach, Calif., until next month after earlier saying it would consider closing the facility after a June sales push. "We are reaching a critical juncture that we've warned about for some time," a company official says. "We need to make some decisions by the end of August."
July 24-30--EAA AirVenture 2006. Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wis. Call +1 (920) 426-4800 or see www.airventure.org/2006 July 25-26--Precision Strike PEO Forum: "Integrated Joint Battlespace Management--Creating Desired Effects on the Battlefield." Marriott San Diego Hotel & Marina. Call +1 (703) 247-2590, fax +1 (703) 522-1885 or see www.precisionstrike.org
Kelly Chopus has been appointed director of community relations for the Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C. She was vice president-business operations for the women's professional basketball team Charlotte Sting. Chopus succeeds Natalie English, who has returned to the Charlotte Chamber as senior vice president-public policy.
Prof. Eugene N. Parker, the world's leading expert on interplanetary gas and magnetic fields, has laid out his research on cosmic rays and the effects on astronauts in the March 2006 issue of Scientific American, in "Shielding Space Travelers."
South African Airways, building on a strong outlook for business growth at home and in West Africa, has added a second daily nonstop flight from the U.S. to Dakar, Senegal. The daily service from New York JFK International Airport and the new flight schedule from Washington Dulles International Airport each offer continuing service to SAA's Johannesburg hub. SAA's Dulles-Dakar service connects with the U.S. domestic network of United Airlines, a code-sharing partner. SAA operates Airbus A340-600s on the Washington route, with economy-class seats at 34-in. pitch.
Terry Allard (see photo) has been appointed head of the human factors research and engineering program at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center near Atlantic City, N.J. He was associate director for human system research and technology in NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.
Bonnie S. Reitz has been named to the board of directors of ExpressJet Holdings. She is founder of consulting company Inside Out-Culture to Customer, and was senior vice president-sales and distribution for Continental Airlines.
Market Focus 31 Some airline stocks may have peaked, but growth remains for others News Breaks 38 Boeing delays decision on continuing C-17 production 40 Boeing takes Henry Ford approach on 787 nacelle colors 42 Island lifted onto U.S.'s newest aircraft carrier 44 New plan establishes French defense spending goals 44 Wisconsin court upholds tax exemptions for state-based airlines World News & Analysis
A Franco-Portuguese team says it is close to launching a twin-turboprop utility aircraft to serve the freight, commuter and multimission market. The aircraft, dubbed the Skylander, would meet a long-standing requirement for an inexpensive, rugged model to fill a niche between turboprops in the Fokker 27-class and single-engine utility aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan. The segment's 4,000-odd older aircraft, like the Dornier 228 and Britten-Norman Islander, need replacing.
IN ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT, Honeywell has applied for a Technical Standard Order from the FAA for its RDR-4000 digital weather radar, which features patented 3D volumetric scanning of airspace in front of the aircraft from the surface to 60,000 ft. and out to 320 naut. mi. (AW&ST July 10, p. 71). The radar, which is standard on the Airbus A380, can provide vertical views of the weather ahead.
Dennis L. (Leo) Malloy has become vice president-customer services and interline affairs and Kerry Sandberg Scott director of human resources of Midwest Connect's Skyway Airlines. Malloy was senior director for the Washington Dulles International Airport operations of Independence Air. Scott has been a human resources consultant and was director of human resources for the Adelman Travel Group.
Composites tempt the design engineer with the attractions of reduced weight, with strength comparable to traditional airframe structures. For the production engineer, the extent of the challenge is becoming clearer. In the military sphere, Airbus is opting for carbon composites for the primary wing structure of the A400M airlifter. This effort underscores the attractions and tribulations of using composites for primary structures.
The U.S. airline industry is expected to post its first quarterly profit since the summer of 2000, and a strong economy paired with a disciplined approach to adding capacity has enabled carriers to raise fares, more than offsetting higher fuel costs. Sounds like a good time to invest in airline stocks.
A layer of solid carbon dioxide blankets the cone-shaped feature under the northern ice cap of Mars, shown here as captured in springtime on the planet by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Despite its shape, planetary scientists doubt the peak is a dead volcano, because no volcanic features have been found near the north pole of Mars. Instead, they hypothesize that it is a remnant left by the erosion that shaped the surrounding Hyperboreus Labyrinthus region. The image shows a region that is about 3-km. (1.9-mi.) wide.
David Albritton (see photo) has been named director of media relations for the Washington office of the Raytheon Co. He was vice president-communications for the Caraway Group Inc.
