Rick Zelenka (see photo) has become vice president-government solutions for Flatirons Solutions, Boulder, Colo. He was Boeing executive for operations in Hawaii including the U.S. Air Force Maui Space Surveillance System.
The keys to satisfying skeptical airline passengers--an efficient operation and friendly, knowledgeable employees--are lacking among many North American carriers, a new survey shows, but Continental Airlines and JetBlue are leading the race to keep travelers content.
THE KEY CHOKE POINTS ON NORTH ATLANTIC ROUTES are the exit areas where oceanic traffic spills into domestic airspace. Bob McPike, head of oceanic development at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in the U.K., says there is a large pipeline of traffic crossing the ocean and when it reaches domestic airspace the flow must fit into narrow pipes. "Often there is short notice of oceanic arrival times at the domestic boundary. If the flights are early or late, the oceanic flights are given preference.
The unexpected resignation June 23 of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, effective July 7, left the capital speculating last week over a successor to serve through President Bush's second term. The next secretary will juggle four hot potatoes, three of them at the FAA. The headquarters issue, on which Undersecretary for Policy Jeff Shane is doing the heavy lifting, is liberalization of the U.S.-Europe aviation regime and the associated proposal to relax U.S. restrictions on foreign investors in U.S. airlines.
Sofradir will design a new detector for the visible/near-infrared imaging spectrometer to be carried on the European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mercury mission. Designed with a 30-micron pitch and covering a spectrum from 0.4-2.3 microns, the short-wave detector is expected to capture surface mineralogy data. A sample detector is to be delivered next year for the mission's two orbiters, which are to be launched in 2013.
Engineers traced an unplanned shutdown of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to out-of-limits power-supply voltages, and hoped to have the instrument working again this week. The camera went offline June 19. Barring a major incident on the STS-121 shuttle mission, NASA will decide in October whether to send astronauts to the orbiting telescope for one last maintenance and upgrade mission (AW&ST June 26, p. 23). Plans call for the installation of two new instruments, a spectrograph and a wide-field camera.
Japan Airlines is shifting management of its overseas aircraft maintenance programs from its Haneda Airport-based maintenance and engineering department to a new Maintenance Div. that will encompass contracts, technology, quality control, training and parts inventories. As part of this transition, JAL is increasing the number of permanently assigned staff at Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co. in Xiamen, China, and at Singapore Aviation Services Co. An investor in both venues, JAL uses them for heavy maintenance and conversion work.
Lockheed Martin is promoting the savings in mass, volume and cost of multi-aperture imaging systems developed by its Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The ATC's approach borrows a page from the multi-lens designs of some Earth observatories. Called Star 9 for the number and arrangement of its apertures, the prototype (see photo) uses off-the-shelf consumer focal planes, electronics and mirror actuators because the hardware was not the main issue. The important task was creating the right phasing techniques to obtain high-quality imagery.
NASA's latest published estimate sets the cost of making the space shuttle fleet safe to fly after the Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia accident at $1.267 billion. That number includes expenses only through January, and not the cost of upcoming wind tunnel tests and other work on modifications to the ice-frost ramps. The hand-applied foam ramps triggered top-level disagreement during the STS-121 Flight Readiness Review that ultimately was settled by Administrator Michael Griffin.
J.D. Power and Associates, part of The McGraw-Hill Companies, last week released the results of its annual customer satisfaction surveys after canvassing thousands of business and leisure air travelers worldwide (see p. 38). Our conclusion, regrettably, is that U.S.-based network airlines still don't get it. Continental Airlines typically ranks high, as it did this year. Delta did too. Good for them. Now how about the rest of the operators, who also are service providers?
Excel-Jet Ltd.'s single-engine, four-place Sport-Jet crashed shortly after takeoff for a test flight on June 22, only weeks into the production prototype's envelope-expansion program (AW&ST May 29, p. 13). The "personal light jet" was 30-50 ft. above the runway, when it encountered what the NTSB suspects was a residual wake vortex from a large turboprop aircraft that had just departed from the same Colorado Springs runway. Test pilot James Stewart said the aircraft rolled sharply to the left, then cartwheeled.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines is introducing biometric security checks on domestic flights in Sweden, likely an airline first in which a fingerprinting system is used to match passengers and their baggage. SAS has selected Precise Biometrics AB of Lund, Sweden, to set up 200 fingerprint readers valued at $300,000. The readers will record passenger fingerprints at baggage check-in and confirm the baggage connection at the boarding gate.
Times are changing in the world of avionics systems used for surveillance on commercial transports. After a decade or more of relative stagnation in weather radar technology, Rockwell Collins and Honeywell are expanding the envelope. Both companies have invested heavily in new technology to make it easier for pilots to find storms and assess the hazards ahead.
As a pilot and mechanical engineer, I concur with Capt. Alexander Sidlowski's letter (AW&ST June 12, p. 6). I further suggest the National Transportation Safety Board report on the American Flight 587 tail loss is a cover-up since it is known that the Airbus A300 model in question never truly met the FAA's V a maneuvering design requirements. The NTSB and FAA have given Airbus a pass on an inadequately designed plane. What other design rules have been passed by or watered down?
Dassault this week expects to begin certification of the enhanced vision system for Falcon 2000s. The process should be completed in October. The Falcon 900 will follow early next year, with the Falcon 7X application expected to be certified by the end of 2007.
In the debate over U.S. Air Force replacement tankers, I have noticed little discussion about how flight characteristics might bring a decision (AW&ST June 19, p. 30).
Canada is overhauling its airlift and transport fleet through an almost C$13-billion ($11.7-billion) program called "Canada First" to buy and support new aircraft fleets. Among the purchases are four Boeing C-17s, 17 Lockheed Martin C-130Js and 16 medium- to heavy-lift helicopters for C$4.7 billion to reinstate a capability that has been missing for a decade. The likely choice for helicopters is Boeing's CH-47 Chinook. They are expected to improve response times in emergencies and will be used in operations with Canada's allies in the war on terror.
EADS and ThyssenKrupp Technologies have resolved how they will structure the Atlas Elektronik venture they jointly acquired from BAE Systems. The entity will operate as an independent company, by establishing an enterprise in which EADS will hold 49% and ThyssenKrupp 51%.
Boeing expects to fly the first Japanese KC-767 refueler this month, even as it continues flight testing a slightly redesigned version of the aircraft for Italy to tackle a buffet problem that set back delivery by half a year. Boeing is now flight testing a revised pylon design for the wing-pods for hose and probe refueling. The more slab-like configuration is intended to reduce air-flow speeds around the pylon, after a more aerodynamic configuration resulted in unexpected vibration.
George E. Sutton has been named CEO of Arinc's Opti-Fi Networks Ltd., Annapolis, Md. He was chief operating officer of MobileStar Network and executive vice president of In-Flight Phone.
Chris Larsen (see photos) has been named business development director for the Burbank, Calif.-based Landing Systems Solutions Div. of Crane Aerospace and Electronics. He was manager of program management for the Parker Hannifin Aerospace Group, Irvine, Calif. Don Roulett has been appointed business manager of the Crane Aerospace and Electronics Engine Market Segment, Elyria, Ohio. He was global marketing manager for Goodyear Aviation Tires.
Charles P. (Newt) Newton is talking about the tides as he stands on the pristine floor of a factory he built for the Italians in a South Carolina swamp. "They move the building 13/10,000ths of an inch twice a day," he says, smiling. "And there's not a thing we can do about it."
Carlson also defends Air Force actions in providing cost data on the possible termination of the C-130J, which was considered last year during budget deliberations. The Pentagon's Inspector General could not substantiate USAF's cost estimate, pegged in briefings to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Congress at $1.8 billion, if the 60-aircraft buy were reduced by 25 airframes. The amount factored heavily into the Pentagon's decision to continue the program.
In a novel approach to aviation infrastructure financing, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, says that until a U.S. airline buys the Airbus A380, foreign airlines operating the aircraft should pay for infrastructure improvements needed at U.S. airports they serve. The Government Accountability Office estimates that A380 infrastructure will cost $927 million at 18 U.S. airports. Mica's reasoning: European governments are subsidizing the A380, so U.S. taxpayers shouldn't.
