Sealevel Systems Inc. has three new SeaLink Ethernet serial servers, each capable of rapid reliable communications on up to 16 serial ports simultaneously, according to the company. Designed using a powerful embedded microprocessor, SeaLink+16 products are able to communicate at data rates up to 230 Kbps. The RS-232 model implements modem control signals for maximum compatibility with a variety of peripherals. For quick installation, a web page is used to select the interface mode for each serial port on the RS-422/485 and RS-232/422/485 products.
The 9,550-lb. SES Astra 1KR direct broadcast spacecraft that is to provide major new television services to Europe is undergoing checkout in space this week following launch from Cape Canaveral Apr. 20 on a Lockheed Martin/International Launch Services Atlas V. The cost of the spacecraft and launcher combined approaches $300 million. The satellite replaces the original Astra 1K lost in November 2002 when its ILS/Russian Proton booster put that spacecraft into a useless orbit due to an upper stage failure.
A $6-million Pakistan contract to upgrade its Lockheed Martin P-3C maritime patrol aircraft has prompted India's navy to fast-track acquisition of a multi-mission aircraft to replace its eight aging Tu-142s.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Jeffrey A. Wieringa has been named director of the Navy International Programs Office in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy in Washington. He was assistant commander for systems and engineering of Naval Air Systems Command/commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center's Aircraft Div., Patuxent River, Md.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has begun a nationwide campaign to hire more than 300 engineers to help meet program demands for military and commercial helicopters. Key disciplines include systems, flight control design, structural analysis air vehicle design (with Catia experience), electrical and avionics.
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Textron's first-quarter net income increased 33% from a year earlier to $168 million ($1.19 a share), well above Wall Street's consensus estimate of $1.06. Revenues climbed 16% to $2.6 billion. Revenues at Bell Helicopter were up 27% due to higher government business, but profit declined 8% to $69 million. Cessna Aircraft profits climbed 34% to $117 million as revenues rose 22%, to $869 million.
GoAir has selected the CFM International CFM56-5B to power the 10 A320s it has ordered from Airbus. The Indian low-cost carrier also holds 10 options. The firm engine order is valued at $120 million. Deliveries are to begin in mid-2007.
The global maintenance, repair and overhaul business is forecast to grow 3-5% annually as airlines increase outsourcing and demand more sophisticated management processes from maintenance providers to reduce costs and add value.
Pilot's pilot and aerospace pioneer Albert Scott Crossfield died Apr. 19 when his Cessna 210A crashed in a remote part of Georgia. He was 84. In 1953, Crossfield became the first pilot to fly Mach 2, in the D-558-II Skyrocket. He was the first to reach Mach 3, in 1960. Crossfield was the sole person on board the IFR flight that departed about 9 a.m. CDT from Prattville, Ala., bound for his home base airport at Manassas, Va.
Charles Rutstein has been appointed president of Forrester Americas, Cambridge, Mass., a division of Forrester Research Inc. He succeeds Neil Bradford, who has returned to the U.K. Rutstein was vice president of Forrester Community.
When Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a scientist at the University of California at San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wanted to conduct pollution-in-cloud studies over the Maldive Islands south of India, he sought an aircraft that can fly tight circles in a perfectly stacked formation. The idea has been tried before without much success due to costs and and the challenge of keeping aircraft flying in a 30-meter (100-ft.) flight formation. Ramanathan turned to Tucson, Ariz.-based Advanced Ceramics Research's Manta autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle.
Market Focus 14 Analysts deeply divided over future of Boeing stock price News Breaks 22 Single-engine crash claims aviation pioneer Scott Crossfield 23 SES Astra direct broadcast spacecraft undergoes checkout 23 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter takes shape in Taiwan factory 24 Flight testing to begin for Chinese light fighter 24 Abu Dhabi-based company buys 35% of Piaggio Aero Industries 26 Japan Airlines opens center focused on carrier's deadliest crash
The Homeland Security Dept. is gearing up for a fall deadline requiring travelers from 27 countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to present an e-Passport when entering the U.S. A successful test of e-Passports and e-Passport readers with Basic Access Control (BAC) was completed this month at San Francisco International Airport. BAC enhances the document's security and the traveler's privacy by preventing unauthorized reading of passport information. New passports issued after Oct. 26 for travelers entering the U.S.
Frederick D. Gregory has been appointed managing director for aerospace and defense strategies for the Lohfeld Consulting Group, Edgewater, Md. He was NASA deputy administrator.
NASA still hopes to launch its space shuttle replacement--the Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV)--with a human crew by 2012, but before it does, it must address some of the same technical problems faced by developers of the Saturn V Moon rocket.
British Airways is taking an ax to its European fare structure as it attempts to win back passengers from low-cost carriers. The airline also says it is scrapping non-changeable economy tickets on short-haul routes. Changes will result in a 30-pound ($53.30) fee. Prices are being cut by up to 50% on one-way tickets. BA, however, has raised its fuel surcharge for long-haul flights to 70 from 60 pounds per round trip. Swiss International Air Lines and KLM also have increased fuel surcharges.
I am a safety-conscious airline passenger--maybe because of many years of professional involvement in aviation and as a former glider pilot--and thoroughly agree with the conclusions in the Viewpoint "Are Personal Electronics a Threat to Aircraft?"
Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, says planning for the 2008 defense budget will force the Air Force and Navy to finally decide who gets the key missions of signals intelligence and electronic warfare, but top aerospace industry officials say this doesn't reflect current realities. "There is much discussion behind the scenes on a new plan for Aerial Common Sensor [ACS, the ill-fated Army/Navy signals intelligence aircraft]," says a senior information operations expert.
Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. in Taipei has completed installation of the "brow," the raised section just behind the cockpit, of the first 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter that Boeing will use to transport wing and fuselage assemblies for its 787 program from a worldwide list of suppliers to its final assembly line in Everett, Wash.
In a breakthrough of computer modeling, scientists have answered the 90-year-old puzzle of what gravitational waves look like when black holes collide, another step in understanding the massive energy forces at work at the moment of the Big Bang.
I was glad to see the Viewpoint by Bill Strauss and three Carnegie Mellon University professors about cell phone use on aircraft (AW&ST Apr. 10, p. 58). This is not taken seriously by passengers or flight attendants. The problem is growing rapidly with the increasing number of people owning communications devices. I have been on several flights when I have seen passengers using cell phone cameras to take photos out the windows during takeoff and landing.
To meet an increase in demand for satellite capacity, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is setting up a new 100-acre Satellite Integration and Test Establishment complex in its headquarters city of Bangalore. The facility includes an Assembly Integration and Test component that can build as many as six spacecraft simultaneously "from the stage of a bare structure." ISRO is all set to launch Insat 4C in July on Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-5 (GSLV-5) from its launch facilities on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal.
The U.S. Air Force is issuing 14-month study contracts aimed at developing a partially reusable, rapid-response launch system to place 10,000-15,000-lb. payloads into low Earth orbit within 24-48 hr. of notification. The findings could lead to a subscale demonstrator being built and flown around 2010--if budgets allow it.
