Airbus has snagged a firm order for nine A320s from Philippine Airlines, which already operates seven aircraft of the type. Moreover, the carrier has taken options for another five aircraft and will lease two A320s and two A319s from GE Capital Aviation Services, Airbus announced last week. First deliveries of the newly ordered A320s are slated for the second half of next year, with handovers to run until 2012.
Finnair has expanded its order for Embraer regional jets, opting to take another four of the aircraft. The order, worth approximately $100 million, comes on top of an earlier one for 12 of the aircraft type. Finnair expects to have all 16 RJs in service in 2007. The four latest aircraft are Embraer 190s; the initial order was split between 10 170s--the first of which are now in service--and two 190s. The carrier holds four more options for the RJ. The Embraers next year will be used to phase out MD-80s and to open new routes.
Britain's Cobham plc has been selected for Australia's A$1-billion ($750-million) Coastwatch contract. The Cobham bid is based on using 10 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. Cobham subsidiaries would provide surveillance services out to 2020.
SHANE EDDY, VICE PRESIDENT FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT and services for Bell Helicopter Textron, says the company has "not maintained pace with demand for spare parts and new helicopters" and has implemented plans to reverse that situation.
Airports Council International (ACI) in 2006 plans to initiate three global safety enhancement systems to complement ACI's joint work with the International Civil Aviation Organization. ACI's web-based Global Safety Network will allow member airports to exchange safety data, including safety best practices. Ground accidents/incidents are a major concern. ACI Director General Robert J.
Tropical Rainfall Measurement Satellite (TRMM) space-based precipitation radar image shows Hurricane Rita approaching south Florida on Sept. 19. It later hit the east Texas coast as a Category 3 storm. The image shows Rita firing hot rain-laden chimney-like towers (red) to 59,000 ft., indicating it was about to intensify to a Category 5 storm rapidly. TRMM data indicate that storms about to intensify create such towers. This gives forecasters hope they can meet one of the challenges in hurricane forecasting: the ability to predict intensification. See p. 46.
USAF's David S. (Scott) Gray (see photo) has been promoted to major general and been named commander of the Air Mobility Warfare Center, Ft. Dix, N.J. He was commander of the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews AFB, Md.
Two U.S. Air Force test pilot school students have designed an autonomous aerial refueling scheme for an unmanned tanker and an unmanned combat aircraft, and have completed a test flight program. Capt. Chris Spinelli designed a program for the two aircraft's carrier phase differential GPS systems. Capt. Steve Ross designed a control system for the Learjet (surrogate unmanned aircraft).
Bob Tyler has been named vice president-flight operations for Cleveland-based Flight Options. He was vice president-flight operations and standards for TAG Aviation.
Europe is moving to plug a hole in its public launcher procurement policy that threatened the future of the Vega light booster, as well as that of a Europeanized version of the Soyuz 2 medium-lift rocket. The move eventually could have consequences for satellites as well.
Germanwings has finally signed the deal for 18 firm and 12 option Airbus A319s, powered by International Aero Engines V2500s. The carrier already operates A320s with the engine type.
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Thales will supply the onboard electrical power generation system for the Airbus A400M military airlifter. The system will be based on variable frequency generators, as in the design earmarked for the A380, also being supplied by Thales. The company had previously been tabbed to supply the enhanced vision, control and display and flight management systems, missile warning receiver (with EADS) and integrated modular avionics (with Diehl Avionik Systeme).
Robert Wall (Paris), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to call for early elections has added a new twist to the ongoing campaign to find a new chief executive for the country's largest defense and aerospace company, Israel Aircraft Industries.
A GROWING MARKET IS EMERGING for airborne embedded training systems because of the potential for cost savings when advanced training scenarios can be played out in a virtual manner. This eliminates the need for "aggressor" aircraft to fly as real-world opponents against pilots being trained, or for any aircraft involved to fly over a ground-based instrumented test range. BVR Systems Ltd. of Israel has just received a contract to provide its new In-Flight Electronic Warfare simulator (IFEWS) to the Israel Air Force.
Austria plans to make better civil-military cooperation a priority issue during its European Union presidency, the country's defense minister, Gunther Platter, told the Western European Union assembly last week. Austria plans to propose creating a liaison body of NATO and U.S. military staff to help coordinate response in the case of national catastrophes or other emergencies.
Cathay Pacific Airways has signed a strategic partnership with government-owned air traffic control provider Airservices Australia (AsA). The agreement includes development of a communications protocol and a flight crew operational awareness program, which involves visits to each other's technical facilities. According to Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Philip Chen, the partnership goes beyond the standard supplier-user relationship, in that it is a collaborative effort to optimize airways system capacity.
Lockheed Martin's en route communications gateway has been deployed at all 20 air route traffic control centers in the U.S. now that the final system has been declared operational at Miami. The equipment transmits surveillance data from existing radars and other legacy sensors to ATC facilities.
News Breaks 18 Iranian C-130 crash shows need for vast safety improvements 19 FAA certified Bell TR918 Eagle Eye unmanned aircraft 19 U.S. Central Command in Iraq to get two new Global Hawks 20 Boeing Phantom Works again trying to demo X-50A rotor/wing helo 20 France awards future close combat system demonstrator World News & Analysis 24 New radars becoming radios that can be used as anti-insurgent weapons
USAF Maj. Gen. Ronald F. Sams has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and appointment as inspector general of the Air Force. He is director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance/deputy chief of staff for air and space operations at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon.
Management of ATA Airlines envisions the carrier, now in Chapter 11 reorganization, to be the instrument that will take passengers of its partner Southwest Airlines beyond the continental U.S. Connecting flights are being planned to Hawaii from Oakland and Los Angeles. Flights to the Caribbean would connect through Orlando, Fla., and possibly through Puerto Rico's San Juan International Airport. Chicago Midway Airport, where Southwest acquired ATA gates, might serve as a base for international flights.
Miami-Dade police are investigating events surrounding the shooting of an airline passenger by federal air marshals at Miami International Airport. The incident occurred Dec. 7 on the Jetway of American Airlines Flight 924, which was boarding for departure to Orlando. The man, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, 44, of Maitland, Fla., had flown in earlier from Ecuador and was taking the connecting flight, said a Homeland Security Dept. official. Shortly after the man boarded the flight, he claimed he had a bomb in his carry-on bag.
Airbus officials, furious about preliminary International Civil Aviation Organization-issued guidance on A380 wake-vortex separation, are planning to combat what they view as unsubstantiated and broad restrictions. And it's not just a matter of semantics. The ICAO standards, issued Nov. 10, will affect the flight test program and are therefore unduly burdensome, argues Fernando Alonso, Airbus vice president for flight tests.
A major series of upgrades to the U.S. Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites will boost the amount of detailed imagery and other data transmitted by these high-altitude spacecraft.
ITT DEFENSE LTD., A BRITISH SUBSIDIARY of ITT Industries of the U.S., has developed a radio control display unit that can control two ARC-201 Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (Sincgars) VHF radios from one console. The 1-kg. (2.2-lb.) Export Radio Control Display Unit is similar to the one used by the British Army to control Bowman radios (which are similar to Sincgars) in the Merlin EH101, Lynx and Chinook helicopters. The ERCDU uses the same man-machine interface as the ground VHF Sincgars to reduce training requirements.
