The 154-ft.-long Lockheed Martin external tank for the next space shuttle mission--finally placed vertically on its two solid rocket boosters--is now also better positioned for any final modifications before the orbiter Discovery's scheduled attachment by mid-May. Final wind tunnel tests will determine whether such modifications are made. Engineers want data on the effect on tank components of airflow changes without the hydrogen protuberance air load ramp. The ramp was removed to eliminate a source of potentially dangerous foam debris (AW&ST Apr. 24, p. 31).
BAE Systems, in partnership with Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, has been selected by the U.S. Army for a $96-million, two-year program to develop and demonstrate Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II. Production could begin next year. The system is to be a lightweight guided weapon for use against soft and lightly armored targets, and in urban operations to curb collateral damage.
Strong demand for both airline transports and business jets is creating slot-availability bottlenecks that are starting to hamper discussions between airframe makers and their bizjet customers. With Airbus and Boeing quickly filling up their order books, high-end corporate operators are having to wait longer to be assured of aircraft availability. Explaining the market predicament to potential customers has been an overriding issue for the two airframers in recent months, notes one industry executive.
The story entitled "Tank Tussle" (AW&ST Apr. 24, p. 66) misstated the estimated cost of retrofitting a transport aircraft with a flammability reduction or ignition mitigation system. The cost is $140,000-220,000 per aircraft.
I agree with Larry Roberts's comments in favor of using the C-17 as a tanker-transport (AW&ST Mar. 27, p. 8). There is the flexibility to roll on extra tanks on pallets for the tanker mission, and roll them off for cargo or troops. The boom could be mounted on an exchangeable aft cargo door. Russia seems to have beaten the U.S. to that point, with a tanker based on the Ilyushin Il-78 (AW&ST Feb. 26, 1996, p. 44).
Airbus and Boeing face some tough decisions in the coming weeks on their rival A350 and 787 products, although the European aircraft maker may have more at stake as it addresses questions about the path ahead on its next-generation widebody. After coming under sharp airline criticism for its A350 and A340 strategy, Airbus is assessing how to respond. "We should not become nervous, but we have to discuss how to continue with the A340 and A350," Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert says. "We are listening very closely to our customers" to sort out the A350, he adds.
David P. Esler, a contributing editor to Aviation Week's Business & Commercial Aviation, has won the 2005 National Air Transportation Assn. Aviation Journalism Award. It honors a journalist or publication that "excels in consumer education or editorial support that is beneficial to the FBO/air charter industry. Other honorees are: Airport Executive Partnership Award, Clara Bennett, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, for "outstanding efforts to nurture the relationships between aviation businesses and airport operators"; Excellence in Pilot Training Award, Alex G.
Crystal Knotek has been named senior vice president-ground operations and Chris Collette vice president-finance and staffing for ground operations for Northwest Airlines. Knotek succeeds Robert Isom, who has left the company. Knotek was vice president-reservations and customer care. Collette succeeds Glenn Woythaler, who left the company. Collette was managing director of technical operations finance and planning. Tim Rainey has been appointed senior vice president-flight and inflight operations. He was senior vice president-flight operations.
After lengthy negotiations, Italy and Russia have inked an agreement to secure Finmecannica's role in the Russian Regional Jet, sort of. It is no surprise that a partnership that has been so long in the making still has some details to be ironed out. Moreover, other companies, including some from India, are being considered as potential partners.
Participants in a closed-door NASA workshop aimed at starting to put together a "global strategy" for Moon exploration were dubious of the space shuttle-derived architecture the U.S. agency has developed to get there. But NASA now has input from some 200 workshop participants who suggested ways their countries, companies and scientific disciplines could contribute to a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.
USAF Col. (ret.) David A. Carlson (Melbourne, Fla.)
To provide continued competition for partial replacement of the KC-135 fleet, 125 KC-135Es could be replaced by six squad- rons of KC-767s and/or KC-30s. Each squadron would have 16 KC-767s or 12 KC-30s. Another six squadrons could replace 110 KC-135Rs. The balance of the KC-135R fleet could be replaced later by aircraft with an advanced stealth design.
NASA's aeronautics field centers have pooled efforts in hypersonics research, drafting an integrated proposal for continued work in the field that is under review at agency headquarters. "It's not a matter of choosing one hypersonics proposal over another," says Rich Wlezien, program director for NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics program. "It's really going to be a matter of deciding whether we put a priority on hypersonics or decide to invest our money in other areas." Later, responding to questioning from Sen.
Russian investigators have concluded that foreign object debris (FOD) in the oxidizer supply system was the most likely cause of the Breeze M upper stage failure that left Arabsat 4A stranded in a useless orbit after its Mar. 1 Proton M launch. It was the second time in three years that FOD was blamed for the failure of a Proton mission. A Russian State Commission used telemetry to conclude the FOD probably blocked a nozzle of the booster hydraulic pump, causing a premature shutdown of the upper stage main engine 5,536 sec. after liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
In a story on possible sale of Boeing P-8 aircraft to India, the accompanying photo did not illustrate the P-8I variant that is being offered for sale to India (AW&ST Apr. 24, p. 62).
Cendant Corp.'s Travel Distribution Services division, now known as Travelport, could be spun off to the public market by October or sold sooner to a private party. The corporation has added the sale option because of expressions of interest by several private companies in buying the business. Travelport comprises Orbitz, Galileo and Gullivers Travel Associates. Former Continental Chairman/CEO Gordon Bethune is serving as Travelport's chairman. Jeff Clarke, formerly Continental's chief operating officer, is Travelport president and CEO.
SES Americom has selected Alcatel Alenia Space and Orbital Sciences Corp. to supply a new spacecraft, AMC-21, to serve PBS-affiliated TV stations throughout the U.S. and Caribbean. To be deployed in mid-2008, the 24-transponder K u-band spacecraft will use an OSC Star-2 bus, whose 2.5-metric-ton launch mass is below Alcatel's own satellite line. The in-orbit delivery contract is Alcatel's third this year.
Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is reminding its country's airlines to "take a strong stand" against passengers who attempt to board with excessive, oversize or overweight carry-on baggage. Serious damage and injuries can result from overhead baggage hurling through the cabin in the event a flight encounters turbulence or is involved in an accident. CASA reminds airline crews they have the right to refuse boarding to passengers who violate the airline's baggage restrictions.
Bolstered by strong demand, Grob Aerospace and ExecuJet are preparing to take the next step in trying to grow market interest in Europe in the Grob SPn Utility Jet, with plans to expand the campaign to the U.S. later this year. The companies that have partnered on the SPn's business case this week at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition plan to roll out the VIP fitting for the all-composite jet aircraft, as well as showcase the second prototype, which is slated to join the flight test program in June.
U.S. industry risks killing the goose that lays golden eggs by billing too much for space goods and services, threatening the NASA space programs that give it new business and the technology for international competition, says Administrator Michael Griffin. In a strongly worded speech to an "Inside Aerospace" symposium organized by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Space Foundation, Griffin says: "If we want to see the space enterprise survive, it can't continue to cost what it does for what it produces.
Legal proceedings are scheduled to begin May 2 in France in a case involving an Air Inter Airbus A320 crash 14 years ago on approach to Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport that killed 87 people on board. French accident investigators determined that the most probable cause was crew confusion in programming the angle of descent. Airbus made design changes to avoid another occurrence, but was largely exonerated in the review.
China's government makes clear to the U.S. negotiators that it is not very eager to sign a bilateral open-skies agreement in the near future because it wants to sort out several other concerns first, including challenges Chinese citizens face getting U.S. entry visas. A two-day meeting in Beijing Apr. 19-20 follows the 2004 liberalization agreement that allowed some U.S. airlines to start new China service. The first round of talks was not expected to yield any agreement, but to instead "set the framework" for future meetings, the U.S. says.
THE SIXTH ANNUAL EUROPEAN BUSINESS AVIATION CONVENTION & Exhibition (EBACE) will be held May 3-5 in Geneva. About 9,000 people from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa are expected to attend the event, which will feature 45 aircraft on static display at Geneva International Airport, and more than 280 exhibitors at the city's Palexpo facility. For more information, go to www.ebace.org
Cleaner and safer aircraft cabin air is the goal of the FAA's Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Airliner Cabin Environment Research (ACER CoE). The consortium of universities, government labs and industry partners headed by Auburn and Purdue universities studies cabin air quality, cabin pressure effects, the risks of pesticides and cabin decontamination, as well as chemical and biological threats.
The U.S.-China Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP) is underway and set to graduate its first "class" of future leaders of China's air traffic control system in August. The FAA and the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) initiated the intensive aviation management program that's primarily funded by a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
