A new world record for total weight carried by an aircraft when launching from an aircraft carrier was recently achieved during a trial aimed at increasing existing approved launch weight limits for Harrier aircraft. It was carried out with a GR7A on board HMS Illustrious. Twelve sorties took place over a 12-day period by the Air Test and Evaluation Center team from the Defense Ministry airfield at Boscombe Down.
FM radio broadcasters are opposing WorldSpace's proposal to offer hybrid satellite/terrestrial mobile radio service in India. The radio industry association wants India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to deny a terrestrial repeater license for the digital audio radio (DARS) service, which WorldSpace wants to roll out by the second half of this year. India is one of three markets, along with China and Western Europe, targeted for expansion by WorldSpace following an initial public offering and a share-purchase by XM Satellite Radio last year (AW&ST Jan.
A European workshop for airline officials and regulators was held this month to examine safety problems associated with anti-icing. In particular, they looked at problems caused by thickened fluid residues and inconsistent standards of service provision within Europe.
AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION Airbus Senior Vice President for Engineering Robert Lafontan, Vice President for Flight Test Fernando Alonso and Chief Test Pilot Jacques Rosay and the entire A380 engineering and flight test team, for their technical achievement in bringing the mega-transport to first flight in April. OPERATIONS
The British Parliamentary Defense Committee is criticizing the Defense Ministry over its inability to validate claimed logistics savings. The committee's report into the 2004-05 defense resource accounts describes as "worrying" the ministry's lack of capacity to determine cost savings within logistics support. The ministry claims more than 400 million pounds ($711 million) was saved, but cannot validate an indeterminate element of this figure. The committee also expresses amazement at a 147-million-pound loss concerning a building at the Atomic Weapons Establishment.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
With thousands of very light jets expected to start flying in the U.S. over the next decade, ATC specialists are beginning to analyze how much impact they will have on the ATC system. The FAA forecasts that about 4,950 VLJs will be delivered to U.S. customers by 2017, swelling the fleet of turbine-powered aircraft vying for increasingly scarce resources--runways, airspace and the attention of air traffic controllers.
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) Apr. 25-26--MRO Military, Phoenix. Apr. 25-27--MRO USA, Phoenix. May 16-17--MRO Military Europe, in conjunction with ILA air show, Berlin. Sept. 19-21--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition, Xiamen, China. Oct. 24-26--MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition, Amsterdam.
Verified Identity Pass's Clear card is primed for a national rollout of the Registered Traveler program this summer. Verified ID offers a speedier airport security check-in through a special "Clear" lane (see photo), in exchange for preregistered personal data and a fee. So far, 20,000 air passengers have enrolled in the program, according to the company. Verified ID says nearly 100,000 customers have been processed by Clear since it was introduced at Orlando in July 2005, and the company expects to expand Clear to another 10 or more airports this year.
The cloud cover instrument on Japan's multipurpose MTSAT-1R was out of commission for 19 hr. beginning about 1 a.m. Apr. 17 due to a malfunctioning altitude control computer. Controllers were able to restore the instrument after 4 hr., but in the meantime spacecraft temperatures spiked to 130C and the cooling-off period added another 11 hr. to the recovery. Japan's Meteorological Agency turned to NOAA 17/18 as backup satellites.
Europe's MRO industry is set to grow faster than the world average in the years to come, but it is facing diverse trends that will change demand and product offerings. According to a recent study by the AeroStrategy consultancy, Europe's MRO market will grow by 5.8% annually until 2014 supported by the resumption of a long-term growth trend in commercial air transport and the low-fare airline sector's development. AeroStrategy predicts 4.3% growth in the North American MRO market and 7.4% for Asia's, with a global average of 5.6%.
The crew of a two-seat F/A-18F has demonstrated that it can use a new electronically scanned radar both to make precision strikes on ground targets and to shoot down rapidly maneuvering aerial targets.
Selecting the winner for a multibillion-pound British military aircrew training program is being pushed back until near the end of the year. The British Defense Ministry had been aiming to pick a preferred bidder for its estimated 14-billion-pound ($25-billion) Military Flying Training System (MFTS) by around mid-year. Now this is being shunted until October, or more likely November, a Defense Ministry official confirms. The ministry, however, still maintains it can keep to key target dates for the MFTS in 2007, the slip notwithstanding.
While the Pentagon focuses on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--concentrating on technologies that can detect and destroy improvised explosive devices (IEDs)--a senior Naval officer says it's also important to consider the next war. "We've got to continue planning for the future, which will be a different war. It could very well be one back in the skies," says Rear Adm. Timothy Heely, program executive officer for strike weapons and unmanned aviation at Naval Air Systems Command. "I do air-to-air stuff.
NTSB leadership continues its round of musical chairs. The White House on Apr. 13 said it intends to nominate Mark V. Rosenker as permanent NTSB chairman, a slot vacated by Ellen Engleman Connors in March 2005 when her first two-year term expired. Rosenker succeeded Engleman after she turned down nomination for a second term as chair. She now has resign- ed from the board, effective May 31.
I wrote a letter to Aviation Week & Space Technology disparaging the space shuttle for being too complicated (AW&ST Jan. 31, 2005, p. 6). I subsequently was flamed to a crisp by a member of this pork-barrel entity. Fortunately, the flames were figurative, unlike those that consumed 14 astronauts flying the shuttle orbiters. Only at NASA would I be flamed for saying: "Simpler is better."
USAF Gen. (ret.) Lester Lyles has been named to the board of directors of Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle. His last Air Force position was commander of Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Lyles had been vice chief of staff and director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
Top NASA officials say closer U.S. space cooperation with China won't be possible until the nations come to terms on weapon-proliferation issues, but that doesn't mean the Bush administration has adopted a "Cold War mentality" on space, as charged by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a recent white paper. In an interview taped for broadcast on C-SPAN, Administrator Michael Griffin argues that most Americans believe the U.S.
BAE Systems' decision to divest its 20% stake in Airbus is not good news for the European aerospace industry's future and cohesion. Moreover, it raises doubts about the British group's long-term goals. Will it remain a European player, or will it evolve into a Farnborough-based U.S. company?
Instrument Technology Inc. is offering a new version of their under-door scope. It slides easily under doors in less than a quarter-in. of space, according to the company, and new optics with enhanced low-light capability eliminate the need for night-vision devices. Additional features include an offset viewing attachment and a three-way attachment that allows operators to see left, right and 90 deg. upward. Low-noise microphones for audio surveillance can be added. Instrument Technology, P.O. Box 381, Westfield, Mass. 01086 or www.scopes.com.
The FAA proposal to modify transports to eliminate risks of catastrophic fuel tank explosions is meeting strong industry resistance that could ultimately stall the rule's implementation.
FlightSafety International (FSI) will conduct a helicopter safety forum May 4-5 in Fort Worth, to provide the commercial helicopter community with new information on safety management, human factors, transition from military to civilian flight operations, decision-making skills, fatigue and stress factors, and crew resource management as well as new technologies and automation. Information from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board also will be available.
Engineering consultants Atkins is adding a commercial aerospace element to its design center in the United Arab Emirates. The company is looking to benefit from the launch of the multi-billion-dollar investment built around the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise. Atkins established its office in the UAE, at Sharjah, in 1993. Atkins is mainly looking to secure commercial aircraft structural design work through its expanded UAE business.
