YOU WOULDN'T EXPECT ALLAN McARTOR, now chairman of Airbus North America Holdings Inc., to be in a horror film, but that was how it felt to see him as FAA administrator in 1989 talking about the makeover of the U.S. air traffic control network. He was describing a system very much like the one being planned again in 2006 as the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) for 2025. The satellite-based navigation system McArtor outlined never got built--and that's the worry that struck many ATC specialists at a recent Air Traffic Control Assn.
The Australian defense department has inaugurated the Australian Defense and Security Applications Research Center. It is the country's first university-affiliated research center focused on defense and security matters.
The Transportation Security Administration is stepping up security measures for air cargo, applying a risk-based approach as it has done at airport security checkpoints. TSA Administrator Edmund (Kip) Hawley notes, for example, that if the TSA focuses too many resources on individual packages, it could miss other threats such as a bomb placed on an aircraft at the last minute by someone with access.
Greg Martin (see photo) has become England-based director of business development for the Dallas Airmotive division of the BAA Aviation Services Group. He was sales director for Europe and Africa for BAA subsidiary H+S Aviation, Portsmouth, England.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] June 1--Bank of America's Aerospace and Defense Supplier Conference. Supported by McAleese & Associates, P.C., Four Seasons Hotel, Boston. Call +1 (646) 366-4600. June 1-2--Assn. of the U.S. Army Greater Los Angeles Chapter Symposium: "Joint C 4 and Space Operations: Balancing Warfighter Needs & Future Force Capabilities." Hilton Hotel, Long Beach, Calif. See www.ausa.org/glac
Jacqueline K. Collier has been promoted to senior vice president/chief accounting officer/controller from vice president/controller of Dallas-based Aviall Inc.
Michael C. Ruettgers has been appointed lead director of the board of directors of the Raytheon Co., Waltham, Mass. Warren B. Rudman and Thomas E. Everhart have retired from the board. Ruettgers is special adviser/retired chairman of the EMC Corp.
With no single technique proving to be universally effective against improvised explosive devices (IEDs), European researchers are touting an array of methods, coupled with a keen eye for observation, as the most successful means of detecting and defeating the bombs.
Donald Rumsfeld, diplomat. The Defense secretary declines to be dragged into a dispute about whether the FAA is impeding application of UAVs to homeland security missions. When Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) asks Rumsfeld if he agrees that UAVs "are not given a fair chance to participate within the National Airspace System" and that "the FAA holds things up," Rumsfeld abstains.
Boeing will deliver the first 767 tanker to the Italian air force for acceptance testing in mid-2007--eight months later than scheduled. The delay is the result of an unexpected vibration--at high refueling speeds--from the pylons connecting the aircraft's two probe-and-drogue refueling pods to the wings.
Vision Systems International LLC, a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and EFW Inc. (an Elbit Systems of America Co.), has won contracts worth $80 million including an order from Boeing for 400 additional Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems as well as direct orders from the U.S. Navy and Air Force for JHMCS spares and support. The helmets are being used on a wide variety of U.S. frontline fighters and on aircraft flown by allies of the U.S.
I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't seen anything recently in Aviation Week about the retirement of the F-14D from the fleet. The photo (right) shows the F-14Ds of squadrons VF-31 and VF-213 on the deck of the Theodore Roosevelt, returning from their final deployment (I'm assuming from the Persian Gulf area) on or about Mar. 10. I also received a video file showing the 22 F-14Ds doing a final flyover at Oceana NAS. Apparently, an F-14D squadron will remain active at Oceana until September.
In reading "Forewarned" (AW&ST May 1, p. 24), I began to reflect on the resignation of astronaut Eileen Collins. Will we begin to see a flood of astronaut resignations? After all, the Space Shuttle has cost the lives of 14 astronauts and is unsafe.
The Bush administration is asking Congress for $1.95 billion to boost border security. The request seeks $1.17 billion for the Homeland Security Dept., including $95 million for two additional Customs and Border Protection unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 13 additional helicopters.
Britain's next substantial air-to-surface weapons procurement is emerging as a potential litmus test for government policy on the guided-weapons sector. The Royal Air Force is looking to plug a capability gap with its Selective Precision Effect at Range (Spear) program. Politicians could also use elements of Spear to plug a gap in European missile house MBDA's medium-to-long-term order book.
Before you can take the fight to the enemy, you have to get there. U.S. Special Operations Forces and troops going after the most elusive enemies are revisiting a mobility option that many believed was on the way out--combat parachute insertions. "Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have been driving forces in many of our company's activities and the search for new solutions," says Fred Williams, vice president of manufacturing and technical relations for Complete Parachute Solutions (CPS) of DeLand, Fla.
Edward H. Phillips's well-written article on the G36 Bonanza (AW&ST Apr. 3, p. 60) presents a good representation of G1000's capabilities. The new "glass-cockpit" aircraft are marvelous applications of display and navigation technology.
Bargains abounded at Miami and Tampa airport auctions of confiscated and lost-and-found items May 13. Buyers bid on everything from luggage to iPods to jewelry. Miami International's auction featured more than 500 suitcases and items, including laptop computers, a jackhammer, four acoustic guitars and a Mexican sombrero. Among the items sold at the Tampa auction were 2,000 pieces of clothing in five lots, 984 pieces of jewelry in four lots and a group of 800 miscellaneous items that included a chandelier and a caution sign.
The U.S. Marine Corps is in the process of developing requirements for a Tier II unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is aimed to bridge the capabilities gap between the hand-launched Tier I Dragon Eye and Tier III Pioneer models by 2010. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., plans to buy a Tier II concept-demonstrator system off the shelf this summer. Industry proposals for the aircraft were due May 11. The demonstrator will serve as a testbed for refining Tier II requirements and developing operating concepts and tactics, techniques and procedures.
I can't help but think that $691,390 for a reciprocating single-engine personal aircraft with little change in performance after being manufactured for 38 years epitomizes everything that's wrong with the aviation industry in this country.
editorial director Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. editor-in-chief Sharon Weinberger managing editor Pat Toensmeier assistant managing editor Michael Stearns contributing editors Michael Dumiak Nicholas Fiorenza David A. Fulghum Glenn Goodman Catherine MacRae Hockmuth B.C. Kessner Ramon Lopez Rich Tuttle art director
Last July, as a student at the Oklahoma School of Science and Math, I had the privilege of meeting Scott Crossfield. I was instantly impressed with the man behind the legend. At 83 years old, his handshake was still strong and his mind still sharp. I remember thinking "that's exactly how I want to be in 60 years"! I got the impression that Scott loved to fly more than anything else. A pilot at heart, is there any better way to go? He will be sorely missed and forever remembered.
If the STS-121 flight is extended 24 hr. to a 14-day mission, the Discovery crew will test wing leading-edge repair material under more controlled conditions than on the last flight when results were compromised by cold temperatures. The extension will be dependent on whether the orbiter has fuel-cell oxygen and hydrogen margins for electrical power to sustain an extra day aloft. Mission controllers at the Johnson Space Center here believe the margins should allow the extension (AW&ST Apr. 24, p. 32).
Boeing is still playing the magic "8" game in China. During a promotional tour last week in Beijing, Vice President Randy J. Tinseth said Boeing named the stretch of the 747-400 the 747-8 "because eight is a lucky number in Asia and we expect over 50% of the demand for the aircraft will come from Asia." The company also told the Chinese something similar when they placed orders for 60 of its new 200-300-seat twinjets--the 787. There was no comment about the "4" in 747 being an unlucky number.
European Space Agency engineers will decide by the end of July, at a final commission review, whether they can recover full use of a scanning mirror on the PFS spectrometer on board the agency's Venus Express probe. Tests following the probe's arrival into final orbit around the planet on May 9 showed the mirror to be blocked at the calibration point, and hopes that the changing temperature regime might release it have not materialized. However, engineers say there is enough overlap among the probe's instruments to minimize data loss.
