The traveling public is increasingly wondering whether "facilitation" will ever make a comeback as the ultimate goal of the airline industry. Back in the day, this buzzword was bandied about by industry leaders as a facile way of indicating that the passenger was everyone's Number One Priority.
BlastGard International Inc.'s BlastWrap was recognized for an award based on its BlastWrap material, which mitigates the explosive power of a bomb by reducing the blast effect, extinguishing the fireball and capturing fragmentation. The company is working with the U.K. Ministry of Defense in product-testing BlastWrap as a way to package live ordnance to protect against sympathetic detonation. And the company is working with the U.S. Marine Corps to test the material's ability to protect the undercarriage of vehicles against land mines.
The new active electronically scanned array radar being installed in F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, and soon the EA-18G Growler, is the first to have a longer range than the AIM-120 Amraam. The Raytheon radar's capability was demonstrated late last month at NAS Point Mugu, Calif., during a shoot arranged by the Navy's AESA development program. Plans are to fire an Amraam while maneuvering and at progressively longer distances from the target. While range numbers have not been released, goals are to push engagement ranges toward 100 naut. mi. from 40 naut. mi. or less.
Under a new missile defense agreement with the U.S., Japan will deploy an X-band radar system that will bring it the advanced targeting discrimination technology needed to detect slow-moving, stealthy cruise missiles, besides the ballistic missile threats it already is planning to meet. The pact, signed Oct. 29 at a meeting of top U.S. and Japanese defense and foreign affairs officials in Washington, is part of a defense package that will see a drawdown of U.S. forces in Japan even as joint planning by the two militaries grows closer.
Building wider runways for simultaneous landing operations may be one way to ease flight delays, proposes R. John Hansman, MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics. Runways could be 500 ft. wide and aircraft equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) could fly in formation to landing, he told a conference at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., late last month. Wider runways may be the only way to improve airport acceptance rates, he says.
H. David Walker has become senior vice president-sales and marketing for Spirit AeroSystems Inc., Wichita, Kan. He was a corporate vice president at Vought Aircraft, overseeing international programs.
Green Hills Software Inc., a technology leader in operating systems and software development tools for safe and secure systems, was chosen for a Product Breakthrough Award based on its work with Honeywell. The aerospace manufacturer chose the company's Integrity-178B real-time operating system for its work on the 787 fly-by-wire system it is building for Boeing. Honeywell had used its own operating system for prior flight control projects, but chose Integrity-178B because it was written around more up-to-date industry standards and the latest processors.
The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services has won a 20-year contract to provide air traffic management services to Bristol International Airport. This is the 16th airport contract won by NATS, which is expanding its ATM business. The tower and approach control services will be provided by 41 controllers, engineers and support staff who currently work at the airport.
Bulldozers are digging ground for the $15-billion modernization of Chicago O'Hare International Airport, but a federal judge has prohibited any work on land owned by two suburban cities and at an historic cemetery. Judge David Coar of U.S. District Court in Chicago issued a temporary restraining order banning work at the three sites through Nov. 14. He plans to hear arguments on that day from expansion opponents who seek a preliminary injunction to halt the modernization.
Artist's illustration of a proposed supersonic business jet under development by Aerion Corp. depicts the design in its latest configuration, following modifications made during the past 12 months. Aerion officials are confident they can bring an SSBJ to market by 2011, but a CEO's dream of flying faster than the speed of sound over land and sea faces serious technical and regulatory hurdles before it can become a reality (see p. 68). Illustration by Infusion Design/Aerion Corp.
Turkey has extended the time for bidders to respond to a 52-helicopter request for proposals until next year. Bids are now due Mar. 15 for the 20 utility helicopters for Turkish land forces, six for the navy, six for air force combat search and rescue, and 20 for the forestry service.
Swiss International Air Lines has begun to retire its Saab 2000 turboprops, as part of a realignment of the carrier's operations to return to profitability. The first of the aircraft was withdrawn from service at the end of last month, and the rest of the fleet should be phased out by year-end. Regional service is being consolidated around an all-Avro regional jet fleet.
A traditional hub-and-spoke network may offer an extensive system of routes and destinations to passengers around the country, but it may also prevent network airlines from cutting their structural expenses to the level enjoyed by point-to-point carriers. A new analysis by the Aviation Week Group's Aviation Daily and partner Eclat Consulting shows that cost to handle passengers in a hub-and-spoke-dominated system is as much as 45% higher than in a point-to-point system, a disparity that costs airlines billions of dollars annually.
Stephen Lee Ching Yen has been appointed non-executive chairman of Singapore Airlines, effective Jan. 1. He will succeed Koh Boon Hwee. Lee is managing director of the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank and Great Malaysia Textile Manufacturing Co.
Henry Vanderbilt, Executive Director (Space Access Society, Phoenix, Ariz.)
Jim Hillhouse is mistaken (AW&ST Oct. 17, p. 6). Space Access Society has not recommended any specific technical approach to the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE).
Pakistan International Airlines has agreed to buy seven ATR 42-500 turboprops from the Franco-Italian aircraft maker. The $100-million deal brings ATR's 2005 order book to 70 aircraft. PIA will use the aircraft to replace F-27s. Deliveries are to commence in May and continue into 2007.
Diane P. Murray (see photos) and Karen Evans, both executives for the Northrop Grumman Corp., have received 2005 National Women of Color Awards for managerial leadership and personal achievement. The awards and related conference are an initiative of Baltimore-based publisher Career Communications Group. Murray is chief information officer for Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems Sector in Reston, Va.
Losses in 2006 for the global air transport industry could equal this year's deep pool of red ink, warn industry officials. But such financial uncertainties are not deterring new operators from trying to enter the market.
There's one major obstacle in the supersonic business jet flight plan: FAR 91.187. It is the rule that prohibits any flight of a civil aircraft from reaching or exceeding Mach 1 to or from an airport in the U.S., unless it will "not cause a sonic boom to reach the surface within the U.S." And it will have to be amended come the time supersonic bizjets become a booming business.
Delta Air Lines' Song airline-within-an-airline will survive the carrier's Chapter 11 reorganization in name, but not in concept. Song was launched in April 2003 as a single-class, lower-fare, leisure-market, bypass-the-hubs product with leather seats and TV in the seatbacks--a JetBlue-like competitor of low-cost airlines with larger, 757-200 aircraft. Starting next year, the current 48 Song airplanes will get 26 first-class seats and serve domestic transcontinental routes, including routes involving hubs.
Boeing's Maintenance Performance Toolbox, developed by Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, resides on its MyBoeingFleet.com (MBF) web site. Developed to increase airline MRO productivity and performance, it gives maintenance managers and technicians 24-hr. access to the repair history of individual aircraft by providing an overlay of all the technical documentation necessary for repair, including complete 2D and 3D systems diagram and structural models.
Dale Gibby has been seriously misinformed. The V-22 has not been flying in the "engineering development phase" for 40 years. The first flight was in 1989 and it left the "engineering development phase" in about 1999. Gibby insinuates dozens of crashes; there have been three. That is far fewer wrecks than many other military aircraft programs. The first wreck killed no one. The second tragically cost the military seven fine people. The third killed 19--and it was not due to a mechanical failure or inherent design flaw.
The Rockot light booster has been cleared to resume flight, following an inquiry into an Oct. 8 failure that caused the loss of Europe's CryoSat ice-measurement mission. The inquiry found that the mishap, which was linked to the failure of the flight control system to generate a command to shut down the Rockot's second-stage engine, was due to improper programming of the control system, and not to a malfunction in the Breeze-KM booster.
What's in a name is a question that's relevant for this venerated Aviation Week & Space Technology award. Originally it was established as the Technology Innovation Award. Recently, it's been known as the Product Breakthrough. And in any given year, either one or the other aspect of the honor has taken center stage.
