North Korea's fusillade of missile launches last week was more about political grandstanding than acquiring technical data. Still, despite the almost comical "me-too" timing of the first of the firings on July 4--Independence Day in the U.S. and the same day the space shuttle returned to flight--the long-term ramifications are sobering.
"Welcome aboard. We've reached cruising altitude and the captain has turned on the 'Smoking OK' sign." That could be an announcement passengers will hear on Smoker's International Airlines (Smintair), self-described as the "world's first smoker airline." Dusseldorf-based Smintair hopes to launch Dusseldorf-Tokyo service by late March 2007 with two Boeing 747-400s. The aircraft, to be maintained by Lufthansa, are to be outfitted with only 30 80-in.-pitch first-class seats and 108 70-in.-pitch business-class seats.
Italy and the Netherlands are finalizing a cooperation agreement for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to coordinate their production and maintenance goals.
The dramatic improvement in the scores of Air New Zealand and Air Canada in the 2006 Top-Performing Companies study reflects the airlines' climb from a deep financial quagmire several years ago to what are now strong operations.
Michael J. Sheehan has become president of the tactical systems unit of DRS Technologies Inc.'s C4I Group, Gaithersburg, Md. He was vice president-marketing and business development, for Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems Sector.
Honeywell sees integrated avionics systems as the wave of the future on commercial transports, and what is starting out as a repackaging job creates possibilities for more shared functions in years ahead. "Airlines want less expensive systems, and this is the cost-effective way to get there," says Steve Hammack, a manager of technical marketing for Honeywell.
The first B61 nuclear bomb to undergo an effort to prolong the life of the U.S. strategic weapons stockpile was completed late last month. The six-year endeavor is meant to extend for 20 years the life of B61-7/11s, and to do so without underground testing. Refurbishment of the weapons inventory, built in the 1960s and 1970s, is to be completed by 2009. The program is run by the Energy Dept.'s National Nuclear Security Administration.
Tunisair is becoming the first operator of Extended Range A319s in Africa, with a decision to buy one of the 3,700-naut.-mi. aircraft and retrofit three other Airbus single aisles for longer-haul operations. The extended- range version features an additional fuel tank to accommodate another 1,585 gal. and boost range by 1,900 naut. mi.--maximum takeoff weight is increased by 25,400 lb. The CFM-56-5B6 powered Tunisair aircraft are intended to service routes with flight times of up to 8.5 hr.
The U.S. Army's rotorcraft (previously part of the so-called Ground Domain Mobile Radio) have been added to the Joint Tactical Radio System's Airborne, Maritime and Fixed (AMF) station, further expanding the size of the contract that two teams--headed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin--are pursuing. The AMF program was deemed more suited to accommodate Army rotorcraft demands both in its time line and requirements. Moreover, the need to integrate the terminal in airborne platforms caused the shift, according to JTRS program officials.
Pemco Aviation Group Inc. has converted the first of four Boeing 737-400s to a freighter configuration for Alaska Airlines in a program that could be expanded by two aircraft if the carrier exercises options that it holds. Pemco says this is the first 737-400F it has provided to any airline.
When Gol launched intra-Brazil flights in 2001, the carrier wanted to set the industry benchmark for high-quality, low-cost, low-fare passenger transportation by 2005. Not only did the relatively new airline meet that mark, it did so with impressive cost control and operating margins of more than 20%, positioning it as the top-performing company among carriers with $1-4 billion in revenue last year.
Weather radar displays have traditionally shown pilots a horizontal view of storms ahead, but Honeywell's new RDR-4000 will provide a vertical view of storms on the A380 so a cross-section can be examined.
EADS is buying Get Electronique, a small industrial electronics services company based in Castres near Toulouse. Get will become a 100% owned subsidiary of the EADS Test & Services Div., whose managing director, Bernard Desaphi, will serve as the new Get chairman. Get Electronique had revenue of 2.5 million euros ($3.2 million) last year, largely through its electronics repair and maintenance work.
Flight Safety Technologies Inc. (FST) of Mystic, Conn., reports it is being sued by Analogic Corp. over the development of the TIICM counter man-portable air defense system (Manpads) technology. This system is being developed to protect commercial airline aircraft from Manpads, using coordinated and modulated infrared emitters on an aircraft. TIICM would use many off-the-shelf components in a configuration designed to cost less than 10% of the $1-million price tag per aircraft of the directed infrared countermeasures systems that the U.S. Homeland Security Dept.
Good financial and operational discipline, delivering on long-term strategies for profitable growth and relentless attention to continuous improvement are shared attributes of the leaders in this year's Top-Performing Companies study. But the rankings aren't always in lockstep with a company's recent performance in the stock market.
NASA's plans for the exploration of Mars need a little more work before they line up with goals set out by the National Academies of Science. Evaluating the agency's plans against its solar system exploration decadal survey of planetary scientists, the Academies' Space Studies Board finds NASA's robotic Mars-exploration program "lacks sufficient detail with respect to the science and the cost to allow a complete evaluation." In general, the board finds NASA's plans well balanced, as far as they go.
Regarding your "Tailspin" article on the A380 (AW&ST June 26, p. 22), some of us remember another widebody that had major startup problems: the Boeing 747-100. The first jumbo jet made its way to the Paris air show in June 1969 at less than cruising altitude due to engine instability problems. Shortly thereafter, lead customer Pan American World Airways took delivery, and the fleet was grounded due to engine flex problems. Customer grumblings were paramount back then, too.
RTI Claro of Montreal is acquiring a dual gantry, five-spindle, five-axis Wide-Range Profiler from Cincinnati Machine of Hebron, Ky., for $7.7 million. The profiler's 10 70-hp., gear-driven spindles will machine titanium structures at speeds of up to 7,000 rpm. and produce seat tracks for the Boeing 787. The first gantry is due in April 2007, with shipment of the second in July.
The results are in from Aviation Week & Space Technology's 10th annual Top-Performing Companies study. A series of articles and tables that begins on p. 46 reveals how publicly-traded aerospace/defense companies and airlines compare with their peers worldwide when it comes to operational performance. Results include a one-year snapshot and an assessment of which companies have improved the most during the past five years. The revamped methodology was backed by the largest database ever used in the study.
In Larry Williams's letter on parachute systems for UAVs (AW&ST May 15, p. 6), his point is valid, but the system is likely to run into fielding problems from beancounters on cost and force commanders from "payload lost" perspectives. Since the majority of the cost in the bird is sensors and engine, why not save those?
From the tone of your editorial "Forgeard Should Resign," things must be in terrible shape at Airbus. Or are they? I don't recall you pouncing on Phil Condit to resign during Boeing's manufacturing/delivery debacle or its corruption scandals. Those were far more serious than a delivery delay (or a stock sale) on a brand-new airplane, primarily caused by customer add-ons.
North Korea's attempt at brinkmanship has much of the world on edge. What a conundrum--how to defang the belligerent regime of Kim Jong Il. His defiance of the international community is exceeded only by its apparent determination to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. What makes such a specter totally unthinkable, of course, is that this pariah of a nation likely already possesses a handful of nuclear weapons. Clearly, Kim has visions of a larger stockpile.
Strengthening economies are underpinning expectations for strong traffic growth during the next year, according to a quarterly airline survey conducted by the International Air Transport Assn. Even though airlines will pay an estimated $110 billion for fuel this year, about half of the chief financial officers polled said they expect profits to improve in the next year. Most foresee gains in yield.
Even with rising fuel prices and the threat of growing low-cost carriers throughout the region, seven of the 10 top-performing airlines in 2005 are from Asia-Pacific region countries, showing the strength of the airlines' management to adapt to crisis and thrive.
