Larry E. Williams (see photo), who has been president/chief operating officer of Ballistic Recovery Systems Inc., South St. Paul, Minn., now is also CEO.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to beef up its squadrons and establish new central basing locations for its tactical and transport aircraft fleets. Many of the changes are geared to realign Reserve component infrastructure and missions in what the service says is the first base closure proposal that includes an objective look at the National Guard and Reserve.
Your article on the Airbus A380 maiden flight made my day (AW&ST May 2, p. 22). In today's politically correct environment where innumerable types of sensitivity training must be endured you have managed to introduce a new one: Command Sensitivity Awareness. The flight was flown by two pilots, ". . . who were alternate pilots in command and shared responsibility for the flight."
Burt Rutan likes NASA's new administrator, terming Mike Griffin "a phenomenally good choice" for the job. But in a series of appearances here last week, the builder of the first non-government vehicle to leave the atmosphere continued his long-running war of words against NASA's post-Apollo approach to space exploration. "I told Michael Griffin that he's using the wrong money," Rutan said at the National Press Club, contrasting the hands-off approach taken by Microsoft founder Paul Allen, who funded Rutan's X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, with that taken by Congress.
The Irish government has released an aviation action plan, including its commitment to sell the majority stake in Aer Lingus while retaining a "significant" stake to protect its interests. The plan also approves the building of a new Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. The facility is to open in 2009.
Europe's core Storm Shadow/Scalp EG cruise missile operators are trying to finalize a common upgrade path for the missile over the next 15 years. France, Italy and the U.K. are discussing their respective upgrade priorities, identifying shared interests and maximizing available funding. An agreed upon spiral development program could be announced during the third quarter of 2005.
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and U.S. astronaut John Phillips, the Expedition 11 crew on the ISS, will start relying on Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation canisters this week, following the hard failure of the station's Russian-built Elektron oxygen generator. There are 84 of the so-called "candles" on board, enough for more than 40 days of operations with the current two-man crew. There is also enough bottled oxygen in the U.S. Quest airlock to last them almost 100 days, and station managers don't expect the Elektron failure to pose a safety threat.
Arianespace affiliate Starsem has concluded a contract to launch the first of Eumetsat's Metop low Earth orbit weather satellites in April 2006. The Starsem Soyuz is scheduled to orbit all three Metop spacecraft under an earlier framework agreement. Separately, Eumetsat's MSG-2 geostationary weather satellite is now expected to be orbited this summer on an Ariane 5 GS, pending additional vibration tests. The launch had initially been set for May, using an Ariane 5 G, which lifted MSG-1 in 2002.
SES Global, one of the few big satellite operators to remain public, has announced a share buy-back and cancellation program to generate more cash flow and provide greater returns for shareholders. The company will attempt to purchase up to 65 million shares and fiduciary deposit receipts--the most it can legally acquire.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched a grassroots initiative involving 500 local chambers and businesses to help forge a common aviation agenda--including top-to-bottom modernization of aviation infrastructure--that the broader business community would support. Referring to traditional turf battles and industry infighting over cost sharing, Chamber President/CEO Thomas J.
The Shannon-stop requirement, by which Ireland allows U.S. airlines to serve Dublin only if they stop in Shannon as well, costs Delta Air Lines more than $5 million per year for a single route and has added more than $100 million to Delta's expenses in the 19 years it has been flying to Ireland, the U.S. carrier says in opposing Aer Lingus' application for renewal of its U.S.-Ireland code-share authority with American Airlines and expansion to include U.K.-Ireland service.
EADS will supply missile-warning equipment for Australian Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters. The 10-million-euro contact for AAR-60 Missile Launch Detection Systems is part of the Australian Echidna program, which is an umbrella electronic warfare enhancement initiative.
Alcatel Space says it has shipped Calipso, a climate satellite to be launched under a joint mission between NASA and French space agency CNES to Vandenberg AFB, Calif., where it is to be launched this summer on a Delta 2 booster.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Oct. 18-20--MRO Europe. Estrel Hotel & Convention Center, Berlin. Nov. 8-10--MRO Asia, Suntec City, Singapore. PARTNERSHIPS Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Seminars: June 6-8, Aug. 8-10 and Oct. 3-5--Terrorism & Threat Assessments in Transportation. Residence Inn, Pentagon City, Washington.
If United Airlines emerges from bankruptcy court, three other U.S. major hub-and-spoke carriers will have no choice but to immediately file for protection under Chapter 11 to effect similar restructurings, according to Julius Maldutis, president of Aviation Dynamics Inc., a New York-based consulting firm. Speaking at the Wings Club in New York last week, Maldutis stated, "There are too many vested interested parties who are using the current bankruptcy statute to retard, if not prevent liquidation," he said.
India has unveiled a model of its highly ambitious hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle. The country's Defense Research and Development Laboratory is carrying out study work into a hypersonic air vehicle possibly using a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet engine. The vehicle fore-body and intake ramp configuration are clearly visible, and reflect airframe-engine design combinations intended for flight in the Mach 5-7 regime. One option would be to launch on a ballistic missile with the test vehicle being deployed at around 20 km. (12.5 miles).
Boeing, during the 51st flight of its X-45A, made the first test of its Block 4 software that allows the unmanned combat aircraft to attack targets and react to changing threats. The new software also moves the project closer to a shift of testing to the larger X-45C, which will be completed in 2006 with flight testing to begin in early 2007.
A record set by Mike Keenum last year is one of the Most Memorable Records of 2004 as named by the Arlington, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn. He set the mark for flying a piston-engine aircraft over a closed circuit of 100 km. (62 mi.) without payload. On Oct. 4 near Chicago, Keenum flew at an average speed of 370 mph., more than 100 mph. faster than the previous record. Pilot Carl Harbuck and co-pilot Douglas McFadden established new records for duration for six subclasses of gas airships, flying 24 hr., 39 min. and 55 sec. starting from Long Beach, Calif., on Sept.
The need to better connect disparate forces is galvanizing interest among European military officials for new space systems. A push is emerging in military satellite communication, but efforts on the surveillance side are more advanced.
Britain, France and Sweden are exploring pooling research and development resources to create a family of air- and ground-launched tactical missiles. Officials from the three countries met May 10 to discuss collectively funding technology demonstrator work under the banner of the European Modular Munition (EMM). Spain, Italy and Germany might also become partners as the program progresses.
World News Roundup 20 America West, US Airways announce proposed merger 20 India unveils model of hypersonic technology demo vehicle 21 EADS/Astrium to build imaging and telecom satellite system for Korea 22 European show reflects generally upbeat mood in aircraft industry 22 Latest deadline for biometric passports in danger World News & Analysis 26 Airbus fights back, redefines A350, eyes 100-plus orders at Paris show
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has opened a new Master Control Facility at Bhopal, in central India. The new station will help the main ISRO ground station at the south Indian city of Hassan oversee the country's growing number of geostationary satellites. The new center will control and monitor two or three of the eight Insat satellites in GEO.
Taking a symbolic step--although a small one--toward eventual service entry with the Royal Air Force, the first BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 aircraft has been been painted in air force livery. The MRA4 has a tentative in-service date toward the end of 2009.
Warfighting for aviators has fundamentally changed. In Iraq and Afghanistan, dropping bombs has given way to gathering intelligence. Moreover, the heartbeat of aerial activity has shifted from the flightline and cockpit to the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) here (serving both Afghanistan and Iraq) where an increasingly focused group of combined-service and multinational specialists work to analyze, fuse and make sense of the data that pours in.
Stanford University experimental physicist Francis Everitt has received a NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. He is principal investigator of the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) experiment, a collaboration among Stanford, NASA and the Lockheed Martin Corp. that is testing predictions of Albert Einstein's 1916 general theory of relativity (his theory of gravitation) by means of four ultra-precise gyroscopes that have been orbiting the Earth in a satellite for slightly more than a year.
