A Libyan Jetline Ilyushin Il-62 skidded off the runway on landing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport and broke into several pieces. Two of six crew on board were reported injured in the Mar. 26 incident.
Boeing's decision to stretch its 787 beyond 300 seats for long-haul operations moves the mid-sized jet into an even more prominent role as the company's template for future aircraft designs. When Boeing launched the jet two years ago, its role was clearly defined as three models covering 200-300 seats with ranges from 3,500-8,800 naut. mi. As airlines offered advice, the numbers changed a bit, but the basic configuration remained solid.
John Marino (see photos) has been appointed vice president-defense training systems for New York-based FlightSafety International. He was vice president-government relations. Gary Porterfield has been promoted to assistant manager from program manager at the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Learning Center.
Boeing's biggest 737 sale so far this year goes to GE Commercial Aviation Services for an unspecified mix of 30 firm orders for 737-800/-900ERs, the model's largest variants. Valued at $4 billion in list prices, the order includes 30 options and is significant because Gecas is the first leasing company to order the -900ER. The firm order portion is worth $400 million to CFM International for the CF56-7Bs. Deliveries will stretch from 2008-10. The Gecas sale brings Boeing's 737 order book to 95 aircraft this year.
Space shuttle commander-turned-aerospace executive Terence T. (Tom) Henricks has been named president of McGraw-Hill Aerospace & Defense, which publishes Aviation Week & Space Technology and provides other business information products and services across multiple media. In leading what was until recently Aviation Week Group, Henricks, 53, succeeds Kenneth E. Gazzola, who will serve as the 90-year-old magazine's publisher emeritus through 2006. Gazzola was the chief of the group for 18 years (see p. 3).
Kingfisher Airlines has taken delivery of the first of 35 ATR 72-500s. The Indian carrier, which is on a rapid expansion path, also holds options for another 15 of the type. The contract was inked in November.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy last week flung down the gauntlet over the proposed design of the Airbus A350. In front of an audience of aircraft dealers, the chairman of International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) criticized the design as too dependent on the A330 and urged the manufacturer to commit to a new mid-size wide-body product line.
Hungary has accepted the first five Saab Gripen fighters that are part of a lease-purchase deal that would see the country receive 12 single-seat and two dual-seat aircraft. The delivery ceremony took place at Kecskemet Air Base. All aircraft are supposed to be in country by the end of next year.
Telesat will supply as many as 38 Canadian Coast Guard vessels with high-speed voice and data communications under its first contract for offshore mobile milsatcom services. The award includes lease of K u-band capacity on Telesat's Anik F2 spacecraft, launched in mid-2004, and delivery and integration of ground equipment. Dave Lahey, Telesat's business development vice president, says the service--to be rolled out over two years--is expected to lead to similar deals soon in the U.S. and Canada. About 10% of Telesat's business is with governments.
Rolls-Royce has acquired full ownership of Data Systems & Solutions LLC, an information systems and services provider for aviation, defense and other markets. The company was established in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture with Science Applications International Corp.
Congressional critics of Pentagon acquisition practices are warning senior military officials that there must be no hidden financial tricks in the F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programs that could wrest year-to-year control of the budget from lawmakers. A hearing led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services' Airland subcommittee, also suggested that both the F-22 and JSF programs may have flawed acquisition plans.
Qatar Airways says it is reopening the competition for 20 wide-body transports it initially said it would buy from Boeing. An airline official says some of the 20 aircraft are still going to be 777s--Qatar had opted for -300ERs, -200LRs and -200F freighters--but part of the order could be converted to Airbus A330/A340s. This summer, Qatar will take delivery of the first A340-600 High Gross Weight, part of a commitment to buy 60 widebodies from Airbus.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's scheduled first flight has slipped a couple of months, the project's director says. The original first flight was scheduled for Aug. 28, but Rear Adm. Steven Enewold, the program's executive officer, tells a Senate Armed Services subcommittee "my assessment right now is that we are two months late, so we're going to fly probably in October." Enewold cites no specific reason for the delay (see p. 29).
8 Correspondence 9 Who's Where 13 Industry Outlook 14 Airline Outlook 15 In Orbit 16-20 News Breaks 21 Washington Outlook 45 Arrivals 57 Inside Business Aviation 64 In Review 66-67 Classified 68 Aerospace Calendar 69 Contact Us
NASA, which once wanted to get a single contractor working on the planned Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) by the end of March, has slipped the date until September to give the competing teams more time to answer agency questions. Exploration managers have authorized Phase 1 contract extensions for teams headed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman that would make their total contracts worth as much as $60 million each through year-end.
by M.R. Montgomery and Gerald Foster Houghton Mifflin, 2006 304 pp., $18.95 Lovers of airplanes have something in common with bird-watchers, and it's not just that they enjoy watching things fly. Both take pleasure in being able to make the identification--whether the specimen is common or rare.
PIPER GENERALVERTREUNG DEUTSCHLAND AG is expanding its operations to include aircraft sales, parts and service for the U.K., Ireland, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Spain, in addition to its existing territories that already include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. The company has established its headquarters at Bournemouth International Airport, Christchurch, Dorset.
The British Defense Ministry is edging ever closer to formally establishing a combat search and rescue (CSAR) capability. Exercise Pegasus Hunter, held last month, included Merlin HCMk3 helicopters from 28 Sqdn. to validate the Royal Air Force's (RAF) Combat Recovery Operations Team. This forms part of the Defense Ministry's Joint Personnel Recovery capability. The British have been examining CSAR needs since at least the mid-1990s, with studies carried out by both the Royal Navy and the RAF.
What used to be the night shift has turned into a round-the-clock operation for a team of Boeing engineers taking calls from customers dealing with that most dreaded of maintenance emergencies: an "aircraft-on-ground." "Everything here is AOG," says Robert Manelski, director of Boeing's new Operations Center, a call center established to soothe major maintenance migraines. The Ops Center is a unit of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services (CAS).
Intelsat has once again postponed presentation of its 4Q and 2005 results, and could not meet the Mar. 31 SEC deadline for filing its Form 10-K annual report, saying it needs more time to complete the reporting process. No new date was given.
Michael Mecham (San Francisco ), Craig Covault (Cape Canaveral)
Space shuttle managers are investigating a potential new problem with aging electronic circuit boards while they also complete wind-tunnel tests to validate the safety of leaving the hydrogen protuberance air load (PAL) ramp off the external tank. The hydrogen PAL ramp has already been removed from the tank for the STS-121 mission, planned as early as July 1, in anticipation that wind-tunnel tests will support that decision.
The Pentagon intends to spend $9-10 billion on unmanned aircraft this decade, more than three times what it spent in the 1990s; but new plans and acquisition strategies may mean fewer aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, rather than more. A new report also is peppered with code words that link unmanned aircraft with new technologies such as directed-energy weapons, particularly devices that create pulses of high-power microwaves.
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) 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. Nov. 13-15--Aerospace & Defense Programs, Phoenix. PARTNERSHIPS
Michael A. Taverna (Paris and Kourou, French Guiana)
Though Europe trails in most aspects of military space, it is pioneering in one important area--privately funded secure satellite communications. However, the jury is still out on the ultimate success of this strategy, intended to help meet voracious bandwidth demand.
NAS Patuxent River, Md., the Navy's main East Coast flight test center, has received its first RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. It is part of the Navy's Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration program. The aircraft, designated N-1, will be operated by Test Sqdn. VX-20. Workup will begin almost immediately for April participation in Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2006.
