Record high fuel prices have prompted Air Canada to increase base fares on domestic and U.S. Canada flights operated by the mainline and regional arm, Air Canada Jazz. The hike, which became effective Apr. 11, applies to most fare types. For Canada domestic service, a one-way C$6 ($5) increase has been added to short-haul flights (up to 300 mi.); C$8 on medium-haul flights of 301-1,000 mi.; and C$10 on long-haul trips of 1,001 mi. or more.
The U.S. Navy has awarded a $26-million contract to Rockwell Collins for its MH-60 Weapons Load Trainer program. The company will modify an existing H-60F trainer and build four H-60 WLTs, to be used to school aviation ordnance personnel in the reconfiguration of the aircraft for various combat missions. WLTs will allow operators to train in loading various torpedoes and installing Hellfire weapon shapes, sonobuoy launchers and chaff/flare dispensers.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has finished trials of the Harrier GR7A that were intended to increase approved launch weight limits from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers. A series of 12 sorties were carried out recently to bring the aircraft's maximum approved weight for carrier flights to the same level as that for land operations.
Ryanair is broadening its network and adding Morocco to its destinations. The low-fare carrier says it will expand service from its Frankfurt Hahn base to include flights to Fez and Marrakesh. Ryanair is expected to serve those cities from other sites, including from France, although the carrier still has not designated a base there. Other new routes from Hahn include Granada and Murcia in Spain, Trieste and Verona in Italy, Krakow and Wroclaw in Poland, and Kaunas in Lithuania.
GE Aviation has selected BAE Systems to develop an electronic engine control unit for the T700-701D powerplant, which is fitted with a full-authority digital electronic control. The engine is for the new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter. The new component is being developed at BAE's Johnson City, N.Y., facility. Up to 4,000 units will be manufactured at the company's Fort Wayne, Ind., plant.
I noted with alarm the photo of the Airbus A310 tanker in the ILA 2006 marketing supplement (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. S8). My concern is that during a fuel jettisoning emergency, an immediate weight reduction may necessitate fuel dumping through a stowed and retracted boom. Once the engine is secured, conventional procedure for a heavy twin would require starting the APU for backup power.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has optioned a $145-million contract with Lockheed Martin to build components for five additional F-2 fighters, bringing the company's total aircraft under contract to 81. The work includes 80% of the left wing boxes, the aft fuselages, wing leading edge flaps, stores management systems, and avionics and avionics support equipment.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. (RAC) delivered the 300th T-6A turboprop trainer to the U.S. government earlier this month. Jim Smith, RAC's vice president for government business, says 371 of the two-seat airplanes have been delivered to U.S. and international customers and the aircraft have accumulated more than 400,000 flight hours. In addition, pilots have flown more than 100,000 sorties in flight simulators as part of the T-6A's integrated training system.
Star Alliance appears close to signing up its first members in China, a move that would massively bolster its presence in one of the air transport industry's key growth markets.
Nine Grob Aerospace G-120A-C aerobatic trainers to be used in flight screening for Canadian air force pilots have been delivered to Allied Wings, a consortium led by Kelowna Flightcraft. The venture is based at the Canadian Wings aviation training center in Southport, Manitoba. Another fuselage has been provided and is being converted into a simulator. The G-120A-C is fitted with standard flight instruments and two horizontal situation indicators, allowing operations under IFR.
Mooney Aircraft Co. has introduced the M20 TN Acclaim, which replaces the Bravo. The Acclaim has a cruise speed of 230 KTAS, a service ceiling of 25,000 ft. and is powered by a 280-hp. Continental TSIO-550-G engine featuring two turbochargers and dual intercoolers.
Moon-exploration planners at NASA are seeking ideas wherever they can find them for living on the lunar surface. To guide the process, they've decided to mount a two-shot impactor mission to the Moon's south pole early in 2009 to see if there really is water there.
Satlynx, a two-way satellite broadband communications venture controlled by SES Astra, has concluded a deal with Talia Satellite & Telecom, a U.K.-based service provider of satellite and voice services to the Middle East, to offer high-speed broadband there and in Africa. The service will use two satellites owned by Russian Satellite Communications Co. and a new Satlynx 9000 platform, and will offer from 512 Kbps. to 2 Mbps. on the downlink and 128 Kbps. to 1 Mbps. on the return path.
Thanks for your great articles on the B-2 bomber's legacy (AW&ST Mar. 27, p. 56). You did not mention or make reference to the first stealth bomber, the German Horton Ho-IX. In fact, it was the Horton brothers who designed and manufactured the first stealth aircraft, during World War II, inadvertently. Even today, the resemblance between the Ho-IX and B-2 is striking.
The European Safety Agency has certified the Sikorsky S-92 for flight into known icing conditions. The medium-lift helicopter has received approval from the FAA and Transport Canada. Sikorsky plans to seek similar certification for the next-generation S-76D.
Goodrich Corp. has announced plans to sell its Turbomachinery Products business to Turbo Machinery Products Inc., a newly formed, privately held company of Admiralty Partners Inc., pending customary regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close late in this second quarter at a sale price of $83 million, which is anticipated to generate after-tax cash flow of $90 million, according to Goodrich.
Two California companies that supplied important hardware for NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers have joined forces to go after new Mars and other NASA, commercial and defense space mission business. Alliance Spacesystems Inc. (ASI) of Pasadena and Vision Composites of Signal Hill plan a merger by July designed to strengthen ASI's ability to provide integrated robotic and composite structural systems to aerospace programs. Just what the two companies will call themselves after the merger is still being determined.
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In the article "Stormy Weather," I was amused and somewhat amazed to read that introduction of the Collins WXR-2100 radar led to an interesting discovery: "All thunderstorms are not created equal . . . according to Steve Paramore, director of systems marketing for Rockwell Collins."
Jeffrey P. Freimark has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer of Washington-based Intelsat Ltd. He succeeds Robert Medlin, who has resigned. Freimark was executive vice president/chief financial and information officer of Beverly Enterprises Inc.
Douglas G. Herring, who has been vice president and controller of American Airlines and chairman of the American Airlines Federal Credit Union, will become president of American Beacon Advisors, succeeding William F. Quinn, who will retire as president but continue as chairman/CEO and remain on the American Beacon Mutual Fund board of directors. Herring, in turn, will be succeeded as vice president/controller by Brian McMenamy, who has been American's managing director for airline profitability and financial analysis.
The wheels of acquisition streamlining turn slowly, but when Congress enacts a reform you can expect to see lasting effects in, oh, four years, say. So, too, it is with exemptions to the Buy America Act for military purchases of commercial information technology products. Congress inserted exemptions into appropriations bills for Fiscal 2004, -05 and -06, and the Pentagon is proposing a change in acquisition rules to make the exemption permanent. Vendors would no longer have to track the origin of IT product components to make sure they come from the U.S.
The European airport sector is being shaken up, both by consolidation efforts and as a result of discussions at political levels over how to handle charges for the services provided by airport authorities. The stakes are clearly high, illustrated distinctly by the recent decision of Spanish construction firm Ferrovial to launch a hostile takeover bid for Britain's BAA. Ferrovial took the step to make its offer hostile after the BAA board rejected the initial overture.
Eliot Fang, the Lockheed Martin Corp.'s manager of the Computational Materials Science and Engineering Dept. at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., is among the Asian-American Engineers of the Year as named by the Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA. Fang leads research into materials properties and performance prediction at Sandia.
