The U.S. Marine Corps has taken delivery of the first two AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters developed under the H-1 Upgrade Program. Both have completed the engineering manufacturing development phase and are slated to begin operational evaluation (Opeval) in the first quarter of 2006. Another two aircraft will join Opeval in December, according to Bell Helicopter Textron. Plans call for Bell to remanufacture 180 AH-1W Super Cobras to the AH-1Z configuration. Bell will build 100 new UH-1Ys instead of remanufacturing the UH-1N as originally planned.
"Actual combat wasn't as tough as Red Flag" is a comment from veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that is music to Col. Dirk Jordan's ears. It validates a decades-old concept that the U.S. Air Force's highly realistic, large-force Red Flag exercises are giving inexperienced pilots the equivalent of their first 10 combat missions, greatly improving their chances of survival in real-world situations.
MRO provider Ameco Beijing has received the first United Airlines Boeing 777 under a five-year heavy maintenance contract. Within three years, more than 50 airplanes are scheduled for work at the facility, and 80 will be completed in the contract period. Ameco Beijing is a joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa German Airlines established in 1989.
A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-led demo last month validated an Internet-like high-speed, ad hoc, airborne network that enabled tactical aircraft to quickly engage time-critical targets. The Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNC) system transmitted data at speeds up to 2 megabits/sec. over 100-naut.-mi. distances, using TTNC phase-three terminals on F-15E, F/A-18, E-2C and other aircraft. Imagery was transmitted at high speeds between airborne platforms and a surrogate Combined Air Ops Center at China Lake, Calif., and other sites.
NASA's new stripped-down human exploration plan stops at the Moon, and doesn't carry a "funding wedge" to move on to Mars. Nor does the plan's $104-billion price tag include money for more than a couple of lunar "sorties" a year. Douglas Stanley, a Georgia Tech engineering researcher who headed the Exploration Systems Architecture Study that produced the NASA plan, says his team used a wedge of 2-3% per year--essentially an adjustment for inflation--to calculate long-term exploration affordability.
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has placed orders for seven Airbus A321-200s powered by CFM56-5 engines. The jets will have 20 seats in business class and 150 in economy. Initial deliveries are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2006. The A321s will replace 60 obsolete aircraft in the fleet. Aeroflot is the largest Russian carrier operating Airbus airplanes; it has eight A319s, seven A320s, three A321s, plus nine Boeing 767s and four DC-10 freighters.
Members of the Dutch parliament were calling for an independent investigation last week after fire in the prison complex at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport killed 11 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation and injured 15 others, including some firefighters and police. Officials declined to comment on reports that a prisoner may have set the fire and that the cells were unsafe, according to the Associated Press. The cells are used to detain passengers who fly into Schiphol but are denied entry into the Netherlands.
Michael J. Morrison's letter regarding the shift of emphasis by United Airlines from the excellence and professionalism of its own mechanics to the savings of outsourcing heavy maintenance of its Boeing 777s to China (AW&ST Oct. 10, p. 6), prompts me to write from the passenger viewpoint.
Senior U.S. defense officials are proposing to halt further buys of the C-17 and C-130J airlifters by the end of the decade, a move that would effectively cede future military transport production to Europe.
In a move that will tighten its already strong defense links to the U.S., the Japan Defense Agency is centralizing its command authority in response to a rise in regional threats, particularly North Korea's ballistic missile program, and in international terrorism.
The U.S. Air Force is expanding its only air-to-air adversary unit by adding F-15 Eagles to the current F-16 Fighting Falcon fleet based here. Sometime next year, about eight F-15s will join the 12 F-16s now flown by the 64 th Aggressor Sqdn. (AS), bringing the unit up to a full squadron-size complement. All of the fighters will be painted in unique brown, or blue, camouflage schemes, making them visually identifiable as "bad guys" during Red Flag and other training exercises.
Tribhuvan Singh, who is president/CEO of Hi-Tec Systems Inc., Egg Harbor Township, N.J., has won the 2005 New Jersey Minority Small Business Person of the Year award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Singh's company supports programs for the FAA and Transportation Security Administration. He was chosen based on his company's overall financial strength; growth in sales, profits and number of employees; and participation in community and charitable events.
Southwest Airlines' initial routes when it launches service Jan. 3 at Denver International Airport will put the city's two hubbing airlines, United and Frontier, in the crosshairs occupied in recent years by US Airways.
If NASA is held to the same rigorous accounting requirements that U.S. corporations face under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, would the space agency's chief financial officer sign off on its annual fiscal report? "At this point, no sir," NASA CFO Gwendolyn Sykes tells the House Space and Aeronautics subcommittee chairman, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.). Under the 2002 federal law, corporate CFOs face prosecution for approving false or erroneous financial statements.
People may look back on 2005 as the "good old days" in the aerospace industry. At least that's the impression they would get reviewing many earnings results for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
Germany's aerospace research agency (DLR) and China's Aeronautical Establishment (CAE) are expanding cooperation to further involve industry through a "2+2" formula under which efforts will be conducted with DLR and one German industry partner and CAE with a Chinese company. The goal is to lay a foundation to transition research efforts into product development.
Saab is anxiously awaiting the Swedish government's decision on joining the multinational Neuron unmanned combat aircraft program, expected by the end of November. Company officials view participation as important for its long-term prospects. Sweden has verbally committed to Neuron, but an intergovernmental dispute has held up funding to allow the country to become formally involved. To breach the disagreement between members of the ruling coalition party, a quick-turn study has been commissioned to examine alternatives.
The British Defense Ministry has short-listed three companies in its effort to rationalize support of air-launched weapons. The air-launched munitions integrated project team is awarding an availability-based contract to an industry prime for the final leg of its three air-weapons pillars. It already has partnering contracts with MBDA covering the Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile, Air-Launched Anti-Radiation Missile and Brimstone, and with Raytheon for the AIM-120 Amraam, plus the Paveway and Maverick families of weapons.
The U.S. Air Force has taken delivery of the first 100 of 410 KC-135s being modified by Rockwell Collins with the Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) cockpit. The upgrade not only corrects shortfalls in flight-deck equipment needed for current operations with air traffic control but prepares the aircraft for future mandates in Communication/ Navigation/Surveillance and Air Traffic Management, according to Brig. Gen. Bob McMahon, the director of logistics for the USAF Air Mobility Command.
Oneworld alliance chief executives last week made good on a recent promise to start growing the membership after several years of stasis, when they announced that Japan Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines would join, plugging two key holes in the group's network.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. has received FAA certification of the Beechcraft Premier 1A business jet. An upgraded version of the Premier 1, the 1A features a redesigned cabin interior, the addition of an integrated flight information system to the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics package, improved brake and anti-skid systems, a "lift dump on demand" control and lower landing approach reference speeds.
I am tired of the use of the derogatory term "legacy carrier" to refer to the major airlines that are in financial difficulty. They have route networks and demands placed upon them that industry coverage ignores.
Continental Airlines, which has been chosen by the U.S. Transportation Dept. over Delta Air Lines to operate daily nonstop flights between the U.S. and Argentina, plans to launch round trip service from Houston to Buenos Aires on Dec. 14. Continental is new to the market, unlike Delta, American and United. Delta operates daily round trips from Atlanta, into which it feeds passengers from more than 160 U.S. points. Originating its Houston-Buenos Aires flights at Newark, Continental will offer connections to 80 destinations beyond Houston.
U.S. and European officials say progress was made on recent open skies talks in the first meeting since negotiations stalled last year, although an agreement on cargo is lagging. In the cargo realm, so-called seventh-freedom rights, allowing one carrier to fly from the territory of another country to a third one, are at issue. The U.S. has seventh-freedom agreements with some EU members and wants a union-wide deal, says John Byerly, deputy assistant secretary of State for Transportation Affairs.
The crash of a Nigerian Bellview Boeing 737-200 killed 117 on board Oct. 22. The aircraft went down a few minutes after takeoff from Lagos, about 20 mi. north of the airport. The Pratt & Whitney JT8D-powered aircraft was headed to Abuja on a domestic flight. It was the first accident for Bellview, which operates four other 737s and two 767-200s. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to aid in the inquiry. The black boxes have been recovered.
