The Bell/Agusta BA609 civil tiltrotor achieved full airplane mode for the first time on July 22, reaching a speed of 190 kt. Test pilot Roy Hopkins, who was accompanied by Jim Lindsey, made the transition to airplane mode over central Texas. Hopkins said the transition went well, and the tiltrotor "flew as expected and the vibration level was very low."
QINETIQ IS TO LEAD CONCEPT STUDIES into improved accuracy terminal guidance and seekers as part of the British Defense Ministry's "Guided Weapons Tower of Excellence." MBDA, Selex, Roke Manor Research and Thales are also participants. The three-year program will cover several high-risk enabling studies.
AgustaWestland officials are hoping the pending Swiss parliamentary debate over the country's military helicopter procurement plan will put them back in the running for the program to purchase 20 rotorcraft.
Analysis of radioactive elements in meteorites blasted from Mars to Earth by titanic impacts in the past suggests the planet may have been too cold for liquid water for most of its four-billion-year history. According to a report in the July 22 issue of the journal Science, the ratio of potassium to argon isotopes in two different types of Martian meteorites closely matches other isotopic clocks analyzed in the meteorites, even though warm temperatures would have changed the ratios over time by causing the argon gas to diffuse out.
While I agree with your editorial position that the Registered Traveler (RT) program could not have been more bungled, I disagree with your editorial's recommended direction (AW&ST July 18, p. 59).
International air traffic grew in the first half of the year by 8.8% and freight increased by 3.4%, compared with last year, according to the International Air Transport Assn. The slowdown in cargo traffic (it increased 13.2% in the first half of 2004 over 2003) suggests high fuel prices are "softening international trade," says Director General Giovanni Bisignani. Passenger growth in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and North America was all in double digits. Load factors through June averaged 74%, with North America's at 83.9%.
NASA quietly canceled the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO), set for launch in 2009, by deleting it from the President's budget amendment for Fiscal 2006. The reason is that robotic missions designed to lead to a human trip to Mars, that would have been supported by MTO, have been cut back in priority to focus on manned flight to the Moon, says J. Douglas McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters.
USAF Brig. Gen. Gregory J. Ihde, who has been commander of the 57th Wing of Air Combat Command, Nellis AFB, Nev., has been appointed vice commander at George C. Kenney Headquarters (provisional) and commander of the Pacific Air Operations Center, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. William J. Rew, who has been commander of the 35th Fighter Wing, Pacific Air Forces, Misawa AB, Japan. Succeeding Rew will be Brig. Gen. (select) Salvatore A.
Jim Whitehurst has been promoted to chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines from senior vice president/chief network and planning officer. Other recent promotions are: Joe Kolshak to executive vice president/chief of operations from senior vice president; Lee Macenczak to executive vice president/chief of customer service from senior vice president; and Paul Matsen to executive vice president/chief marketing officer from senior vice president. Edward H. Bastian has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer. He was CFO of Acuity Brands Inc.
From ultralights to ultrajets, the bevy of new aircraft, engines and avionics unleashed at the AirVenture 2005 aerial exhibition leaves no doubt that enthusiasm for the future of general aviation is on a trajectory akin to that of the space shuttle--straight up. The EAA's aerial extravaganza, held here last week, drew more than 10,000 aircraft and 700,000 people from around the world. Above all, the show made it clear that an increasing number of people are interested in general and sport aviation and in learning to fly.
The GAO confirms what Russell Chew, the chief operating officer of the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, has been saying for a while: ATO operating expenses will significantly outpace available funding through Fiscal 2010. This will produce an operating budget deficit of nearly $4 billion. The report adds that the Airport and Airways Trust Fund, which is being used increasingly to pay for operations, will fall to $1.2 billion by the end of Fiscal 2006. The FAA and ATO's cost controls and savings initiatives, however, will offset only 12% of the deficit over five years.
SSgt. Sean D. Belding is one of 12 U.S. Air Force service members who has been named Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2005 by the Arlington, Va.-based Air Force Assn. He is an aircraft structural maintenance journeyman with the 653rd Combat Logistics Support Sqdn. of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), Robins AFB, Ga. The others are: SMSgt. James E. Davis, security forces manager, 1st Security Forces Sqdn. of Air Combat Command (ACC), Langley AFB, Va.; TSgt. Michael E.
A nuclear reactor developed to supply power on planetary surfaces could also help scientists analyze the composition of those surfaces with great precision, under a concept developed by a team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Headed by physicist Sam Floyd, the team proposed using neutrons from a space-rated nuclear reactor to perform Prompt Gamma-ray Activation Analysis (PGAA) at asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects and small moons like Mars' Phobos and Demos.
The last sentence of your article on cell phone use on board aircraft reads: "Some airlines see it as a way to differentiate themselves" (AW&ST July 4, p. 46). Absolutely. Carriers that install cell phone service can count me out! Just imagine a long flight with every bubblehead on board calling everyone in their directories to say: "Guess where I am calling from." No, thanks.
Robert Stangarone has been appointed vice president-communications for the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan. He succeceds Marilyn Richwine, who will be staff vice president for the 2006 Citation Special Olympics Airlift. Stangarone held the same position with Rolls-Royce North America and Fairchild Dornier and was vice president-marketing for Safire Aircraft and Liberty Aerospace. Andrew H. Kasowski has become vice president-product development. He was director of structural integrity.
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TSA's Registered Traveler is a facilitation program--not a security program as its intent is to ease the movement of people through security screening, not improve the screening process. One can do both, however, by reducing the number and size of passengers' carry-on articles. I am amazed this solution continues to escape your attention and that of the airlines and TSA.
Lockheed Martin Corp., which has focused on small, "bolt-on" acquisitions in recent quarters, will consider larger deals in the $2-4-billion range, Chief Financial Officer Christopher E. Kubasik tells analysts. He projects the company will spend $3-4 billion over two years to acquire systems and information technology companies.
News that the lengthy and expensive effort to redesign the space shuttle external tank didn't prevent dangerously large pieces of foam insulation from falling off (see p. 20) may actually benefit NASA's program in the long run. Administrator Michael Griffin wanted to replace the aging space plane as soon as possible even before the pictures came back from the shuttle Discovery's launch. Now the latest demonstration of the shuttle system's fragility lends weight to his arguments, and Capitol Hill has taken notice.
Engineers working on NASA's planned James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have used the actively controlled hexagonal mirror segments at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii as analogs to test software designed to drive the adaptive optics on their deep-space instrument. Using the JWST software to drive the Keck optics, a team from Ball Aerospace and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory demonstrated the rough-focus mode designed to begin setting up the JWST for precise observation of very distant objects from the Earth-Sun L-2 Lagrangian point.
"The key is security. And no one's going to pay any amount of money, $80, $100--or $15--unless you provide some service and that service needs to be that expedited [screening] process . . . . You have to ensure security and the privacy of the information that's provided." -- Larry Zmuda, Unisys Corp.
The U.S. is introducing a new technology into the fight in Iraq that counteracts the effect of improvised explosive devices and bombs by making them ignite prematurely. It could slash the number of successful insurgent attacks, contends a top Marine Corps commander who is returning to combat there.
The Czech government last month approved a plan to privatize Aero Vodochody (the country's largest defense and aircraft maker), in a two-round public tender process. The Czech Consolidation Agency will run the sale of 99.97% of the company. One of the selection criteria is the ability to satisfy Czech military interests to ensure long-term support for the 24 L-159A trainers now fielded. Aero Vodochody also maintains older L-39Ts and works with Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. on the Ae270 turboprop regional aircraft.
