Just how many federal airport screeners are needed to keep the nation's air travelers safe and whether they should be federal employees are hot-button issues for lawmakers and security experts. The federal airport screener force is capped by law at 45,000, although when full- and part-time employment is factored in, the actual number is more like 43,500.
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin will command the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter through a critical trajectory correction maneuver this week. Ground teams are also preparing MRO for instrument calibration tests as the spacecraft cruises toward Mars with the highest-resolution sensor suite ever launched to another planet. MRO will make intensive observations of the Martian surface, subsurface and atmosphere. Its images will also be used to make the initial selection of potential manned landing sites on Mars.
For those who do not want to lug heavy baggage to the airport, Singapore Airlines is making travel lighter for its passengers with the introduction this month of its new door-to-destination baggage service on outbound travel from Los Angeles. BaggageDirect, an airport check-in and delivery service, picks up luggage from passengers' homes or offices from 6-24 hr. prior to flight departure, eliminating the baggage check-in process. Travelers are given a boarding receipt upon pick-up that allows them to check in at SIA's first-class counters. The service is free up to Nov.
Chinese space engineers are making specific plans for the first extravehicular activity (EVA) by a Chinese astronaut in 2007 and the first space docking test with a Shenzhou spacecraft in 2008. China's next manned space flight, planned for October, is scheduled to send two astronauts into orbit for about five days, compared with the one-day flight by Senior Col. Yang Liwei on Shenzhou 5 in 2003. Outlining the new plan at a Chinese space symposium, Yang said spacesuit development and testing is underway for the first Chinese EVA, now planned for Shenzhou 7 in 2007.
Dyke Weatherington, the Pentagon's Unmanned Aerial System Planning Task Force deputy, says the Defense Dept. faces "challenges in the close integration of unmanned and manned assets" in the same airspace, especially in high-tempo areas. The Iraq and Afghanistan operations are the first stages for widespread use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the same airspace as manned aircraft. At least two close calls involving drones and helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft have raised concern.
USAF's Air Education and Training Command at Luke AFB in Glendale, Ariz., is fielding its first high-fidelity night-vision goggle (NVG) simulation system for F-16 pilot training (shown). Luke is USAF's primary F-16 flight training center. F-16 NVG flights have been underway since 1996 but before the NVG software was added to Luke's dome simumlator, pilots had to rely on "lots of [purely] academic training," says Lt. Col. Patrick McKenzie, commander of the 310th Fighter Sqdn. NVGs are considered tricky to use.
DHL is starting construction on an East Coast hub near the Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa. Company and government officials broke ground last week for the $107-million facility, which will have a 40,000-letters-per-hour capacity when it opens in September 2006. The hub will serve 57 stations, said Steve White, senior vice president, hub and gateways, for DHL Americas. The new facility is part of a $1.2-billion network investment program launched in 2004.
David Kranzler has been appointed senior vice president-engineering for Savi Technology Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. He has been general manager of the security, ethernet switching and broadband processor businesses at Broadcom.
If the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) had a job description, it would read: "Find ways to reduce the fatality risk in U.S. commercial air transport by 73% by 2007. Reduce the average world accident rate of 0.073 per one million departures." A White House commission--when setting the goal of reducing the rate of U.S. fatal accidents to 0.010 per 100,000 departures--recommended that the FAA, NASA and Defense Dept. work together to determine how to meet that objective. And the CAST government-industry safety initiative was off and running.
Airservices Australia is using a new warning system in its ATC computer network to provide controllers with a hierarchy of four alarm sounds to flag events based on how critical they are.
The foiled plot to blow up U.S. airliners over the Pacific is now a decade old, but at least one member of Congress doesn't believe it should be forgotten.
Arinc Engineering Services is using Rockwell Collins' Pro-Line 21 to upgrade avionics for 10 U.S. Navy UC-12 King Airs. "The upgrade is aimed at solving critical parts availability and long-term avionics sustainment issues with the current UC-12 avionics architecture," says Steve T. Mensh, chief program manager for the Navy's UC-12 Avionics Upgrade Program for Arinc. L-3 Communications is the prime contractor; Arinc is the purchasing and installation agency.
Well before recent industry troubles, most airlines had sold their catering divisions and started depending on third-party providers. Companies such as LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet dominate this global sector, and a variety of unions represent their employees. While unionization can bring benefits, low costs are rarely among them. Cost pressures on airlines have passed through to these suppliers and heated up labor negotiations.
When UPS entered the airfreight business in the late 1980s it did so with Boeing 757-200s. Over the years it has ordered a lot of Boeing freighters, directly or as conversions of used passenger aircraft, including 767-300s, MD-11s, 727-100s and 747-100s. But it has never bought new 747 freighters. That changed this month with an order for eight 747-400Fs for delivery beginning in June 2007. They will be powered by General Electric CF6-80C2-B1F engines. UPS Vice President Bob Lekites says strong international freight growth prompted the order.
With LAN Airlines as the launch customer for the PW6000, Pratt & Whitney is looking to October to receive certification of the 18,000-24,000-lb. turbofan on the Airbus A318. The Chilean carrier says it will buy 34 PW6000s (including four spares), with options for 22 more--it also committed to the International Aero Engines IAE V2500 to power new Airbus A319s and A320s. The PW6000 deal comes with a typical 10-year maintenance package.
First flight of the Javelin two-seat personal jet prototype developed by Aviation Technology Group (ATG) has been delayed until late September or early October. A persistent nosewheel shimmy during high-speed taxi tests warranted reengineering and building a "new nosegear fitting," ATG officials said.
The U.S. and Australia are partnering on development of active electronically scanned radar technology. Under a $22-million three-year program, the two will share results from work performed by Australia's CEA Technologies. The main focus is on air warfare and ballistic missile defense applications. However, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill notes applications could expand and include the U.S. Littoral Combat Ship or other sea and land projects.
After an estimated 40-65% cost growth, Lockheed Martin has delivered a key component for the Space Based Infrared System (Sbirs) High missile early warning satellite system. A company team at the Mississippi Space and Technology Center shipped the core structure of the first Sbirs High geosynchronous satellite to Lockheed Martin's facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., for final assembly. The core includes an integrated propulsion system that will thrust the satellite into its orbit and handle on-orbit maneuvers.
After all these years--about two and a half, actually--the Transportation Security Administration is considering the possibility that it might be OK, after all, for airline passengers to carry nail files, pocket knives and the like, and that it might not be necessary for so many passengers to remove their shoes as part of the ritual of getting on an airplane.
Aviation security is increasing in importance for governments in South and Southeast Asia as they gradually become theaters for terrorists operations. Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines have been hotspots for terrorist threats and attacks since 9/11.
