Star Navigation Systems Group of Toronto has introduced an Inflight Safety Monitoring System that provides data analysis, monitoring and diagnostics. The system utilizes various databuses inflight to monitor systems that exceed preset norms set by the manufacturer or aircraft operator. The data is satellite-linked to Star Navigation's ground station, which stores it for end-of-flight analysis. If a safety-of-flight issue is indicated, the ground station alerts the cockpit crew.
Let me see if I have this right: U.S. tax- payers lift $2.5 billion off the shoulders of US Airways by handing the underfunded pension to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. This saves the airline $100 million per year. US Airways says "thank you" by buying 20 Airbus A350s (AW&ST Dec. 5, 2005, p. 17).
Airbus has installed the first Engine Alliance GP7200 engine on an A380. All four engines to be fitted to the flight trials aircraft, MSN009, are already in Toulouse. Flight trials are scheduled to begin in the spring. The General Electric/Pratt & Whitney joint-venture powerplant received FAA airworthiness certification late last year, following an eight-engine test program that ran 21 months. The engine is certified for 76,500 lb. thrust, the level needed for the A380-800 freighter. The passenger version would operate at 70,000 lb. thrust.
Satellite radio is taking the world by storm, with soaring subscription rates and big plans for new applications. While that's good news for on-the-air personalities such as shock-jock Howard Stern, and for potential non-commercial users who need data delivered to remote locations, it still doesn't necessarily spell demand for new satellites. Aside from a couple of replacement birds that will be needed by XM Satellite Radio, there are no plans yet to add more Digital Audio Radio Services (DARS) spacecraft.
Mobile satellite system operators are wagering that the arrival of hybrid terrestrial/ satellite services and Inmarsat's mobile broadband network will help their sector finally rise from the ashes of the Iridium and GlobalStar debacles.
India has finally moved on its airports privatization process. Airports Authority of India has awarded a $1.3-billion contract for New Delhi to a consortium led by Bangalore-based construction firm GMR that includes Fraport, the Frankfurt Airport consultancy, and Malaysia Airports. A $1.2-billion contract for Mumbai went to GVK, a Hyderabad-based construction company, and Airports Company South Africa. The move has been opposed by unions and the ruling party's communist allies, which fear job cuts.
Anyone hoping to launch a successful U.S. airline might have their sanity questioned, but that doesn't bother Virgin America CEO Fred Reid. The former president of Delta and Lufthansa sees a unique opportunity to use the powerful Virgin brand molded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Reid's plan: win back disgruntled customers with a creative product, attentive customer service and an ultra-efficient operation. Armed with $177 million in funding, San Francisco-based Virgin America recently applied for U.S. Transportation Dept. and FAA approvals.
Arianespace's Starsem affiliate has completed a dry run to validate the readiness of a new 4.1-meter-diameter, 11.4-meter-long fairing for the Soyuz booster. The fairing is intended to fly for the first time with Eumetsat's Metop 1 polar-orbiting satellite later this year, as part of the Soyuz 2-1a upgrade.
South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has concluded a memorandum of understanding with Alcatel Alenia Space to collaborate in the space market. Potential areas of cooperation include geospatial data, landcover mapping, satellite broadband, navigation and astronomy. Alcatel Alenia also concluded a three-year preliminary agreement to develop broadband medical imagery applications for Africa in cooperation with Global Imaging Online, a French firm specializing in medical treatment and diagnostic imagery.
THE SECOND PRODUCTION CESSNA CITATION Mustang made its first flight on Jan. 27 in Wichita, Kan. The twin-engine jet will be dedicated to systems certification, FAA Function and Reliability flights, and service testing after the Mustang enters service. It will join the prototype and first-production Mustangs in the flight test program. Plans call for obtaining certification late this year. In addition, all 23 major static airframe tests were completed on Jan. 9, according to program manager, Russ Meyer, 3rd.
The defense ministers from France and Luxembourg have agreed to study how countries that lack a domestic surveillance satellite capability can share data for EU peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. Data sharing is a growing concern as Europe ratchets up its overseas military and security presence (AW&ST Jan. 30, p. 14). The need to support out-of-theater military operations underlies a trend towards increased government reliance on commercially funded satellite communications capacity.
John F. Olesak (see photos) has been named vice president-space and intelligence for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology Sector, McLean, Va., and Jill Kale vice president-strategic program management, transitions and processes for the commercial, state and local business unit. She was vice president-airborne surveillance for Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems Sector.
Aircraft replacement parts distributor Aviall won a 10-year contract for worldwide rights to sell parts made by Smiths Aerospace. The award is expected to add $130-140 million to Aviall's annual earnings in the near-term and ultimately could be worth $2 billion. Last year, Aviall won a contract valued at up to $5 billion to distribute parts for GE CF6-50 and CF6-80A engines.
Michael J. Kujawa (see photo) has been named vice president-sales and marketing for the Trak Microwave Corp, Tampa, Fla. He was vice president-sales for MI Technologies.
Market Focus 12 Loral CEO to retire after 34-year, topsy-turvy run News Breaks 20 Major U.S. aerospace companies post revenue and net income increases 20 First flight for EADS Barrakuda UCAV slips 21 Boeing launches extended-range version of 737-700 22 First GP7200 installed on A380 for spring flight trials 22 H.J. Shaw dies, was pioneer designer of fiber-optic gyroscopes World News & Analysis
When Jet Airways announced its buyout of Air Sahara, it startled India's fast-growing aviation sector and prompted some competitors to seek relief from regulators.
The International Federation of Airline Pilots Assn. is raising concern over the safety of flight crews and the navigation and surface infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan, now that commercial flights into the wartorn countries are resuming. "Clearly, the armed conflicts in these countries have resulted in significant damage to the transport infrastructure, but the scale of this damage and its possible impact on commercial operations remains an unknown," the association warns.
A pilots' strike at World Airways has shut down the carrier's cargo service but has not affected military charter flying, which is protected under the current labor contract. The Teamsters Union contends management "locked out" pilots, stranding four in Angola. But an official of the Peachtree City, Ga.-based carrier says the pilots walked away from an MD-11 after landing in Angola on a charter flight for Sonangol, the Angola National Oil Co. Negotiators for World and Teamsters Local 986 failed to come to an agreement Jan.
As described in your article, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has decided that airline passengers will be able to leave 4-in. scissors and other "instruments" in their carry-on bags (AW&ST Dec. 5, 2005, p. 47). These rules were put into place on Dec. 22. It was mentioned that TSA wants to shift its focus from searching for small, sharp objects to an "emphasis to ensure that explosives that could bring down an airplane don't get on- board."
Thomas Connolly (see photo), who holds Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's first Presidential Endowed Chair in Aviation, has been named chancellor of the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. He has been chairman of the Flight and Aeronautical Science Depts., and dean of the School of Aviation. Connolly succeeds Irwin Price, who is retiring. Martin Smith has become chancellor of the ERAU Extended Campus. He has been interim chancellor and was chief information officer. Martha Hollis has become ERAU director of distance learning.
Since U.S. Army Program Executive Officer Edward T. Bair is still assessing what lessons need to be learned from the Aerial Common Sensor debacle (AW&ST Jan. 23, p. 24), let me offer a few suggestions: *Don't spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money by awarding contracts before all parties agree on all requirements. *Use fundamental mass properties analysis combined with common sense to first confirm whether the most basic structural element of your program--the airframe--is big enough.
The end of the deficit tunnel may be closer for some U.S. airlines than many think, as the recent, small improvement in yields and moderate drop in fuel prices make operating profits in 2006 more likely.
The U.S. Navy has dedicated the Joint Strike Fighter Test and Support Facility at NAS Patuxent River, Md., to evaluating nine of the first F-35B and F-35C jets. The F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing version for the Marine Corps is scheduled to arrive early in 2008, followed in 2009 by the F-35C carrier version. Six F-35A jets for the Air Force will be flown at Edwards AFB, Calif. The first pre-production F-35A is scheduled to fly this fall.
