The European Parliament is slated in November to vote on a proposal for a European Union-wide aviation blacklist of banned foreign airlines. Parliament members are suggesting the EU issue safety certificates to third-country carriers using its airspace.
The FAA's intelligence unit produced reports in 1998 and 1999 warning that Al Qaeda "might try to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," according to newly declassified sections of a 9/11 Commission staff report. The new material, released by the National Archives and Records Administration, presents a more detailed picture of an FAA well aware of a growing terrorist threat, but lacking any specifics about the time or place of a possible strike.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending in a report that the Transportation Security Administration develop a framework to assess the accomplishments of and set strategic goals for flight and cabin crewmember security training. GAO wants the TSA to develop guidance for airlines to use in establishing performance goals and metrics and to review these goals as part of the agency's monitoring of airline efforts.
Bankruptcy filings by Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines are putting an exclamation point on what is shaping up to be another horrific year for the global airline industry. The world's carriers are on track to lose a collective $7.4 billion this year, a 76% increase over last year's losses, according to a new forecast.
Airbus has landed a six-aircraft order from FedEx for A300-600 freighters due to be delivered in 2007. An engine choice hasn't been made. FedEx already operates 47 of the type.
Leonard Borow has become president and John Buyko vice president of Aeroflex Inc., Plainview, N.Y. Borow has been a director and Buyko was president of Aeroflex Microelectronic Solutions.
The European Commission is seeking comments by Nov. 15 from air transportation stakeholders such as airports and airlines on how to improve European airport capacity, efficiency and safety. Potential measures include having airports adopt best practices for handling air traffic to make the most of existing capacity, develop a common method for assessing capacity and encourage passengers to shift to high-speed rail as an alternative to short-haul flights.
Astronomers are pondering the implications of the most ancient gamma-ray burst ever observed: a 200-sec. blast from the past that was pinpointed by NASA's Swift satellite. Based on the redshift of its light as it moves away, the burst, designated GRB 050904, occurred about 13 billion light-years from Earth --within 1 billion years of the Big Bang. Swift's gamma-ray detectors picked it up Sept. 4, and quickly relayed the coordinates to telescopes like the Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research in Chile.
The European Aviation Safety Agency is about to become a more dominant force in Europe, with Switzerland signing on and policy makers angling to extend the organization's mandate. EASA has already grown beyond the 25 European Union member states with the addition of Norway and Iceland in June. Switzerland is slated to join by early 2006, says Norbert Lohl, EASA's certification director.
John C. Halpin, Nicholas J. Pagano and James M. Whitney are three leaders in the field of composite materials who will receive the University of Delaware Medal of Excellence in Composite Materials. Halpin was chief engineer for the Aeronautical Systems Center of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, before retiring in 1996. He also was a technical adviser to the FAA in formulating certification concepts for composite airframes.
Netherlands Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm says the government is considering an initial public offering for Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. The IPO would cover a minority share amounting to up to 2 billion euros ($2.44 billion).
WHEN HONEYWELL ENGINES DETECT A FAULT in the future, they may phone home to tell maintenance personnel on the ground about it. Honeywell Aerospace is working on a service that will rely on telematics, a type of automatic telemetry that can report as needed. Gary Bird, the company's product-line leader for Telematics and Diagnostics, says this type of service has considerable potential. By connecting an aircraft via a wireless GSM connection, Wi-Fi or Satcom data could be downloaded automatically when an aircraft lands and a weight-on-wheels switch is activated.
Michael Zunk has become federal security director for Raleigh-Durham (N.C.) International Airport, Pete Garcia at Palm Beach (Fla.) International Airport, W. Glenn Collins at Montgomery (Ala.) Regional Airport and David Ishihara at Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, Conn., all for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. Zunk had been FSD at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. He succeeds John Gartland, who will return to being FSD at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, N.C. Garcia has been acting FSD for Sarasota-Bradenton and St.
A major upgrade to the British Royal Navy's Merlin anti-submarine warfare helicopter was given the green light earlier this month by the Defense Ministry. The Capability Sustainment Plus program will broaden the helicopter's role.
The British, French and German governments are scrutinizing their defense industrial strategies, reflecting concern that too many crown jewels are being squandered.
GE Capital will sell about 33 million Class C shares in SES Global that were acquired in the sale of Americom to SES in 2001, bolstering SES's aim of increasing the liquidity of its stock. The sale, amounting to 5.6% of equity, will increase the free float of the Luxembourg-based satellite operator by 13-46% of stock, and reduce GE's holding to 25.1%. Liquidity was 23% prior to SES's listing on the Paris Euronext stock exchange in May 2004.
North American airlines aren't spending as much as European and Asian carriers on information technology and telecommunications and may therefore lose the lead they have in this area, according to SITA Inc. The European-based company that provides IT solutions to the air transport industry says that while North American carriers have been out in front on such trends as selling tickets over the web, they are ignoring inflight service enhancements such as providing passengers access to the Internet and e-mail.
Citing advances in weather forecasting and monitoring, all-weather aircraft performance and flight crew training, Southwest Airlines asked the FAA for an exemption to regulations setting the threshold for the requirement that an alternate airport, or even two alternates, be designated by dispatchers. Rules require an alternate if weather minima forecast at the destination airport are less than a 2,000-ft. ceiling and 3-mi. visibility. Southwest seeks minima of 1,000 ft.
Australia's Anzac frigates are being upgraded with active phased-array radars to handle the growing threat from anti-ship cruise missiles. The two main elements of the lightweight radar systems are a search-and-track radar and a phased-array missile illuminator. The latter would be used to guide ship self-defense missiles to shoot down the cruise missile.
Hurricane Katrina interrupted airline operations and sent fuel prices soaring to new heights, dealing another blow to financially-strapped U.S. carriers. But for once, the industry actually caught a bit of a break.
Separately, Eurocopter affiliate Helisim has decided to install a level D full-flight simulator for the Eurocopter EC225/725 Super Puma Mk. 2 upgrade at its facility in Marignane, near Marseille, France. The simulator is to enter service in 2007. The facility, built in partnership with Thales Services and Defense Conseil International, is already equipped with simulators for the Super Puma Mk.1/2, Dauphin N2 and EC155.
The acquisition of Belgium-based airport and inflight catering specialist Aviapartner by the 3i Group private equity firm has been cleared by the European Commission, which was reviewing it for anti-trust concerns. The EC found no problems with the deal, announced in July. Aviapartner operates in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy.
Singapore's decision to select Boeing's F-15T for its next fighter puts the island state firmly in the U.S. camp for its combat aircraft, and also bolsters the interdiction fighter's production line long after it was thought dead.
Images from the shuttle Discovery's mission to the International Space Station highlight the extraordinary beauty of space and the maturity of combined human and robotic flight operations. At the ISS, those combined operations are at 220 mi. altitude. But robotic/human operations are equally spectacular on Mars, where the human connection from Earth is commanding the rover Spirit on the crest of a Martian mountaintop now about 55 million mi. away (see p. 60).
