The pending release of an Indian air force request for proposals is focusing the attention of both Russian and Western manufacturers since it is by far the largest of a number of upcoming fighter procurements in the region. India is expected to eventually purchase 126-200 aircraft to meet its medium multirole combat aircraft requirement, so fighter houses are lining up to offer their wares to New Delhi.
The U.S. general aviation fleet experienced 6.22 total accidents and 1.2 fatal accidents per 100,000 flying hours in 2004, according to the Joseph T. Nall Report prepared by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn.'s Air Safety Foundation. By comparison, there were 6.77 and 1.37 accidents, respectively, in 2003. The report states that there were 6.7% fewer total accidents in 2004 than in 2003, while fatal accidents decreased by 7.1%. Nearly 25% of the 45 fatal weather-related accidents in 2004 involved thunderstorms.
Simon Leary has been named sales director for the U.K., Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Robin Deyoe for the Americas and Asia-Pacific, for U.K.-based National Air Traffic Services. Leary was sales and marketing director for Thales, while Deyoe was global business development director for Raytheon.
A Delta Air Line pilots' strike could become reality if the carrier's motion rejecting the pilot contract is approved. That decision now rests with a third-party neutral panel, which is to start its hearing this week and rule by Apr. 15. Meanwhile, the Delta unit of the Air Line Pilots Assn. earlier this month initiated a strike ballot, with the final voting to be completed Apr. 4. Should the panel approve the motion on the pilots' contract, their union says they have the right to strike.
To paraphrase writer Frank Morring, Jr., "water recovered from the Moon's poles . . . can ease the path for explorers bound for Mars and elsewhere" (AW&ST Jan. 23, p. 48), I would appreciate it if someone from NASA would explain this.
Dana Brown, chief of staff of the Federal Air Marshals Service, has been tapped to head the agency. Brown, who joined FAMS in 2003 after 25 years with the U.S. Secret Service, succeeds Tom Quinn, who will be retiring. Quinn oversaw the agency's growth from 33 air marshals on 9/11 to the thousands flying today. Mike Restovich is moving from head of Transportation Sector Network Management at the Transpor- tation Security Administration to become assistant director of security operations/compliance.
It looks like lasers may go the way of the active electronically scanned array radar. AESA radars are made up of thousands of transmitter/receiver modules that can be doing many different jobs or can be focused for long-range observations of very small objects. They can even be concentrated into a beam weapon. Now Raytheon has snagged a $5.8-million USAF contract to build an array of sub-apertures capable of transmitting, receiving and rapidly scanning spatially phased optical energy and images. Each sub-aperture is to be transmissive.
Declaring that launcher reliability is too important to be left to the commercial market, the Air Force and its partner the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have fully taken back the reins of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. They are returning it to the cost-plus contracts with full government technical oversight that have made up most of the history of the military space program.
L-3 Communications' Canadian MAS subsidiary (L-3 MAS) will design and build the prototype of the center barrel replacement for Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18s under a $17.6-million contract. The aircraft's mid-fuselage section carries the load of the wings and must be replaced to extend the life of the aircraft.
Pratt & Whitney President Louis Chenevert has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of parent company United Technologies Corp. The move fills a post that was vacant for four years and ends the mystery of who is likely to succeed UTC Chairman/CEO George David when he retires. Chenevert's selection surprised many analysts, who had expected Ari Bousbib, president of UTC's Otis Elevator unit, to be chosen for the job.
THE FAA'S CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR COMPOSITES and Advanced Materials within the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University in Kansas is evaluating a new computer modeling code that determines the maximum operating temperature for structural elements of general aviation composite airframes. The code, known as Thermod, calculates temperatures depending on the paint scheme by considering effects of radiation, convection and conduction to arrive at a maximum temperature limit.
Charles Quattrochi has been named vice chairman and James C. Clarke managing director of SkyWorks Capital, Greenwich, Conn. Quattrochi was managing director/global head of Citigroup's Asset Finance Group. Clarke was chief financial officer for Aloha Airlines and had been CFO of Air Wisconsin.
A Forecast International study anticipates that the global market for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C 4I) will continue to show strong growth through 2008, then decline from 2009-15. The decline is expected as spending accelerated to combat terrorism and support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan draws to an end. The outlook for 2006-15 says Raytheon will remain the leading company with a 13% share of the $11.5-billion market (over 10 years).
The FAA (budget) is out of control. Thanks must go to Jane Garvey, former FAA administrator, who invited the controllers' union to back up their truck to the FAA money vault. The result was an increase in controller pay of more than 69% in four years to an average last year of $160,000. Now the FAA is broke, and the needs of the users will be shelved, for who knows how long. In its latest fiscal year budget request for more billions, the FAA said: "The FAA is already becoming more efficient through our cost control efforts.
Daisuke Enomoto, a Japanese IT entrepreneur, is on track to visit the International Space Station as a tourist after Russian flight surgeons cleared him for orbital flight. Space Adventures Ltd. says Enomoto--known in Japan by the nickname Dice-K--is set to ride in the so-called taxi seat on the replacement Soyuz vehicle scheduled to reach the ISS in September. After about a week, he would return with members of the outgoing Expedition 13 ISS crew and their old Soyuz lifeboat.
David Blanding, a senior engineer with Boeing Phantom Works in Huntington Beach, Calif., is among the winners of the national 2006 Black Engineer of the Year Award. He is credited with helping to develop electric actuators for advanced unmanned air systems, space vehicles and commercial airplanes. He is considered an authority on electrically powered and fluid subsystems.
Fourteen years ago a Sukhoi Su-27M fitted with a British laser-designator pod appeared, and the rest, as they say, is history. The dustbin of history, that is. With exceptions that can be counted on fingers, Russian industry's hopes of significant military collaboration with Western companies has until now proved mostly illusory. Unsurprisingly, 40-odd years of military confrontation has proved difficult to unlearn, while international relations has doggedly failed to conform to a once-touted "New World Order."
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines' inability to secure leases on two Boeing 747-400s has delayed its planned June launch of Hong Kong-London Gatwick services to September. The carrier, one of the few in the region to consider low-fare long-haul flights, has also secured rights to operate from Hong Kong to Oakland and Chicago.
Neelam Mathews (New Delhi), Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
India's nascent commercial space-launch industry could get a boost under new bilateral agreements that should clear U.S. export-control roadblocks for spacecraft and their components.
THE FAA PLANS TO TERMINATE GRANTING EXCEPTIONS to Mode S transponder requirements affecting FAR Parts 121 and 135 after Mar. 1, 2007. As a result, Mode C transponders will no longer be permitted. New transponders installed after that date would have to be Mode S. Agency officials say, however, that if a Mode C unit is installed under an existing exemption before Mar. 1, 2007, the transponder can remain in service after that date. It would have to be replaced with Model S equipment when it becomes irreparable.
David A. Fulghum (Canberra), Amy Butler (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
Confronted by a narrowing window of opportunity, Australia is moving quickly to acquire the Boeing C-17 to meet strategic airlift needs. Several other countries, including Britain, must now rapidly solidify their acquisition plans.
David C. Hurley has been appointed to the board of directors of the Hexcel Corp., Stamford, Conn. He is vice chairman and former CEO of Geneva-based PrivatAir. Hurley also is a director of B/E Aerospace Inc.
Marcus Wallenberg has been nominated as chairman of the Saab board of directors to succeed Anders Scharp, who has declined reelection. Wallenberg has been deputy chairman. Lennart Johansson has been proposed as a board member. He is head of business development at Investor AB.
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) Apr. 5-6--U.S. Defense Dept. Budgets and Programs Conference, Arlington, Va. Apr. 25-26--MRO Military Conference, Phoenix. Apr. 25-27--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition 2006, Phoenix. May 16-17--MRO Military Europe, in conjunction with ILA air show, Berlin. Sept. 19-21--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition, Xiamen, China.
