EADS is shaking up its Military Air Systems operations, moving the headquarters from Ottobrunn to Manching, both in Germany. The move is to be concluded by the end of 2008. Stephen Zoller, head of EADS Defense Security Systems, says the company is making the move in part to foster closer ties with the German armed forces--the military already has operations at the site including a test center.
U.S. Air Force efforts to boost engine performance on the A-10 ground attack aircraft are due to start bearing fruit in Fiscal 2009. The service has earmarked about $190 million to upgrade the General Electric TF34 powerplants to improve the aircraft's takeoff performance at high-altitude airfields and in hot weather. A faster climb should boost survivability because the aircraft would be out of range of heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles more quickly. Moreover, it would allow for a continuous climb with one engine out.
The Transportation Research Board wants to fill three senior program officer positions in the area of airport management for its new Airport Cooperative Research Program that centers on studying problems facing airport operating agencies. These include design, construction, maintenance, operations, safety, security, policy planning and administration, which are not adequately addressed by existing federal research programs. For further information, see http://nationalacademies.wfrecruiter.com
Lufthansa Systems will offer its Lido eRouteManual on the Airbus A380, A320, A330 and A340. The software works with a digital database that stores the information needed to generate flight charts, terrain maps and airport diagrams on an electronic flight bag (EFB) display.
Low costs and high productivity don't necessarily result in a reliable operation, as Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and AirTran posted the worst on-time arrival rates among the top 20 U.S. airlines last year.
Congress is taking a dim view of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to finance the bulk of aviation security costs through increased passenger fees. The TSA's plan to double the security fee to $5 from $2.50 per one-way trip is included in the Homeland Security Dept.'s $35.6-billion budget request for Fiscal 2007.
Raytheon's new Quick Kill System, which is designed to protect military vehicles, destroyed a rocket-propelled grenade fired from close range during a test at a New Mexico test center. The defense system uses a precision-launched warhead with a focused blast and can instantly engage projectiles fired from any location around or above the vehicle. In the latest test, an RPG was fired at a Stryker combat vehicle. The Quick Kill's active electronically scanned array radar detected and tracked the incoming weapon.
A UPS DC-8 bound from Atlanta to Philadelphia International Airport made an emergency landing at 12:22 a.m. on Feb. 8, after the pilots reported smoke and fire. The aircraft landed safely, the crew exited the plane, and firefighters responded. It took several hours to fight the fire, and the aircraft sustained holes in the top of the fuselage, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. An NTSB team found on the cockpit voice recorder that the crew reported smelling an odor 23 min. before touchdown and discussed a smoke warning light illuminating 3 min.
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Airbus moves into a new phase in its A380 flight-test campaign as the emphasis shifts from proving basic performance to validating the mega-transport's operational suitability. Although Airbus officials are happy with the progress to date on the test campaign and report that in several areas they are ahead of schedule, nobody is breathing easy, yet. Chief Operating Officer/A380 program chief Charles Champion notes that the "volume of work is an issue" to get aircraft certification later this year.
The Airbus A380 cockpit carries over many features from the company's prior fly-by-wire aircraft but has several standout items that mark it as unique. More, and larger, color displays are the main differences from the earlier A330/A340 cockpits, says Thierry Harquin, the A380 senior avionics manager. But there are other notable changes as well. The stabilizer trim wheel has been eliminated and pullout keyboards deploy in front of the pilots--a symbolic shift from the airplane as mechanical device to a software-dominated entity.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a fatal accident in which a mechanic was sucked into a Boeing 737-500 engine during a maintenance run-up and killed last month at El Paso (Tex.) International Airport.
CFM International rode the surge in Airbus and Boeing narrow-body orders to record sales in 2005, with a list-price value of $9.8 billion. The 1,640-order intake tops the 1989 previous record of 1,343 engine sales. Deliveries last year were 800 turbofans.
The Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review says China is a potential military threat, and China is unhappy about it. Beijing says it promotes peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, and the U.S. is trying to mislead world opinion. The Pentagon is unrepentant. "It's difficult to know exactly what they're doing," says C. Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy. "They continue to increase their [military] budget. It looks like they are preparing for something other than a political solution to the Taiwan problem.
Charles R. Saff (see photo), who is head of structures integration for the Joint Uninhabited Combat Air System program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Air Force, Navy and Boeing--at the Boeing Phantom Works--has received the 2005 John W. Lincoln Award from the USAF Aircraft Structural Integrity Program. Saff was honored for his work in advancing the technology associated with aircraft structural integrity. The award is named for the late John W. Lincoln of the USAF Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
The first production A700 AdamJet will serve as the primary test aircraft after undergoing its initial flight on Feb. 6 at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colo. Bill Watters and Ken Sasine piloted the Adam Aircraft twin-engine jet for 34 min. checking stability characteristics and flight controls as well as throttle response from the two Williams FJ-33 turbofan engines. The airplane is the first built on production tooling and conforms to FAA type certification criteria. Two additional jets are scheduled to join the flight test program this year.
With its ambitions in Europe stymied for now and a takeover threat from EADS still hanging over its head, Thales plans to raise the tempo of expansion outside Europe--unless it strikes a deal with a white knight first.
Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman/CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corp., has been named to receive the Washington-based National Academy of Sciences' Public Welfare Medal.
France will embark on full-scale design of technology demonstrators for an unmanned combat aerial vehicle and an electromagnetic intelligence satellite system, following contract awards last week.
Finmeccanica's ambitions to grow its commercial aircraft business could get a big boost in coming months if management's plans, both public and closely held, come to fruition. First on the agenda is securing a stake for Finmeccanica's Alenia Aeronautica unit in the Sukhoi-led Russian Regional Jet (RRJ). By the end of the month, company officials hope to wrap up negotiations that could lead to a 25% stake (plus one share) for it in the Sukhoi civil business, called SCAC.
The Centennial Challenges prize-program effort at NASA to push technology for President Bush's exploration vision is gaining steam with a new series of purses as high as $5 million. But winning won't be easy. One $5-million prize requires the winning team to build, launch and demonstrate the ability to store or produce liquid oxygen and hydrogen in orbit. Another, in two increments of $2.5 million, goes to the team that sends a solar sail to the L1 Sun-Earth Lagrange point, and then sails it out of the ecliptic for at least 90 days.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has ordered agency public affairs officers not to spin public statements by scientists working with agency funds. "It is not the job of public affairs officers to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's technical staff," Griffin says in an e-mail to all NASA employees. He was responding to complaints from the agency's top climate expert that headquarters public affairs officials had tried to stifle his contention that more needs to be done to mitigate global warming.
I concur with your editorial "NASA Aeronautics: On a Glide Path to Oblivion." If NASA is allowed to continue on this path, it will be widely, if belatedly, recognized and written up as having resulted from a growing lack of situational awareness followed by controlled flight into terrain.
