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.
Space shuttle mission planners believe the STS-121 crew will launch with a good chance of carrying out an extravehicular activity (EVA) to test thermal protection system repair materials, even though the flight would have to be extended a day to pull it off.
Eurocontrol has ended a six-week, real-time simulation of air traffic in Europe, including subsets of simulation in 27 different airspaces and during different phases of flight. This established an operational and technical baseline for the study of air traffic management improvements to cope with medium-term increases in air traffic. Airbus, Thales, BAE Systems, five air navigation service providers and other manufacturers participated in the project.
Pakistan's cabinet has approved the purchase of Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighter aircraft and additional Lockheed Martin F-16s, according to regional reports. If confirmed, this would mark the first export of the J-10. Islamabad already is purchasing the JF-17 light fighter from China.
Scientists are eagerly anticipating a surge of new data from Venus following the arrival of a European probe--the first to make an extended visit to Earth's nearest planetary neighbor in more than a decade. The risky orbital-injection maneuver was critical, because there will not be another mission to the "morning star" until early in the next decade--by Japanese space agency JAXA--and prospects for one beyond that look increasingly remote, officials at ESA's space operations center (ESOC) said here last week.
Japan's Space Communications Corp. has named Ariane 5 rather than the country's own H-IIA to launch Superbird 7 in the first quarter of 2008. A replacement for the eight-year-old Superbird C, Superbird 7 is notable because it was built by Mitsubishi Electric (Melco) from an adapted Boeing 601 bus that Melco calls the DS2000. The company wants to use the DS2000 to crack the U.S.-European-dominated commercial satellite market. The five-metric-ton Superbird 7 will carry eight 36-MHz. and 20-27-MHz. K u-band transponders.
Delta Air Lines pilots continue to demonstrate they mean business--strike business--if their contract is rejected, even in the face of joblessness and the death of their airline. A walkout of about 6,000 mainline pilots could become a reality this week. In the latest of full-strike preparations, which included informational picketing at Delta hubs in the past month, about 450 Delta pilots marched on the airline's Atlanta world headquarters Apr. 12 to voice their "unified displeasure with management's attack on our contract."
Maybe it's not all about first impressions, at least that seems to be what Airbus is hoping for when it comes to the A350. After a raft of criticism was heaped on the new Airbus wide-body transport recently, the airframer says it's still in a listening mode to help craft a Boeing 787 competitor its customers want. "We have every reason to go the extra mile and study all options intensively," says Airbus President/CEO Gustav Humbert. "There's always room for improvement."
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh is calling on the European Commission to limit the extension of its carbon-trading scheme to only those flights that operate within the European Union. Walsh argues that applying the trading scheme to all departures would "require the participation of many non-EU airlines, raising difficulties of enforcement, which could delay the scheme for years." Walsh favors a less ambitious--but manageable--initial step, with potential for an extension.
Airbus has completed A330 flight tests needed to use the aircraft as a Multi-Role Tanker Transport, for which the Royal Australian Air Force is the lead customer. Two flights were carried out with the A330 simulating a refueling by a French air force Boeing C-135FR. Conversion of the A330 into a tanker is slated to begin in June.
The Indian government last week accepted proposals from companies vying to develop and build eight long-distance maritime surveillance and antisubmarine aircraft. Contenders include Lockheed Martin, Alenia Aeronautica, Ilyushin, Dassault, Em-braer, Antonov, Tupolev and Boeing.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $95-million, six-year contract to Rockwell Collins for updates, training modifications and support for the B-1B bomber training system. Rockwell Collins will support five weapons system trainers, two mission trainers, five cockpit procedure trainers and 18 maintenance trainers.
Michael Marks has been named director of the Space and Telecommunications Div. of the Futron Corp., Bethesda, Md. He was managing partner of Synthesis Partners.
CNES says it is planning to reopen discussions to cede a portion of its 32.3% holding in Arianespace. The discussions would be linked to a second-round capital injection planned for later this year. Director General Yannick d'Escatha says the agency could sell its holding if the price is right.
Pentagon officials are touting success in their new resourcing and accounting system for intelligence programs, adding that the Military Intelligence Program--or MIP, pronounced "mip"--garnered 7% more funding in the Fiscal 2007 budget proposal, now before Congress, than its predecessor programs. Last year, senior leaders trashed the decades-old Joint Military Intelligence Program and Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities accounts that were used to collect funding for the services for various intelligence-related projects, like sensors or platforms.
The genesis of delays within the National Airspace System (NAS) is in the planning process hours before the radar-based tools such as those discussed in David Hughes's article "Stormy Weather" (AW&ST Mar. 27, p. 46) become effective. Not widely recognized, too, is the steady loss of professional meteorologists directly involved in aviation weather.
Benjamin Forrest has become vice president-flight operations and Jay Schaefer staff vice president-finance/ treasurer of Alaska Airlines. Forrest is one of the airline's pilots and has been a flight instructor and interim director of corporate safety. Schaefer was director of treasury operations/acting treasurer. Laurie Sands has been promoted to managing director from director of taxes. Yvonne Daverin has been appointed managing director of maintenance planning and material control and Capt. Robert Spero system chief pilot.
Air traffic is growing rapidly at Indira Gandhi International Airport here and Sensis Corp. of the U.S. is providing one of the first surface movement surveillance systems in Asia to help air traffic controllers in the tower keep aircraft moving safely and efficiently.
NASA will retain its legislative "hammer" for at least part of this budget cycle, but the departure of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) from Congress in June means the agency--and Johnson Space Center (JSC) in particular--will now have to fight even harder for funds.
GE Aviation can't help but be satisfied with the performance of the GE90-115B, a big seller with a record of two years of service without incident as the exclusive powerplant on three versions of the twin-engine Boeing 777. Yet the program's new general manager is pushing the envelope on a comprehensive program to locate problems before the fleet encounters them. "Engines talk with you, if you're willing to listen," says Thomas Wygle, who took over as project head only five months ago.
