The article "Building Better Black Boxes" describes upgrades to flight recorders to permit better determination of accident causes, to prevent recurrences (AW&ST Mar. 7, p. 42). Prevention of the first accident would obviously be more desirable. This is possible by using a system of reporting and analyzing anomalies in aircraft manufacture, operation and maintenance. Anomalies related to the cause often precede accidents.
With sub-meter panchromatic imaging capability and global hyperspectral coverage, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission should provide revolutionary views of the planet. The mission certainly will be remarkable without needing to resort to hyperbole: The orbiter is not "the largest" ever sent to Mars nor is it "2-3 times larger . . . than any previous Mars orbiter" (AW&ST Apr. 11, p. 13; Jan. 31, p. 48).
NASA's decision to slip launch of the space shuttle return-to-flight mission to no earlier than May 22 will provide engineers more time to complete final, rigorous assessments before the orbiter Discovery's final Flight Readiness Review (FRR). That FRR is now planned for May 10-11. It will be used by NASA and contractor managers to reaffirm the readiness of all program elements to support the new target to return the U.S. space program to manned launch operations.
After hitting the skids early in the decade, Orbital Sciences Corp. has staged an impressive rebound. The company, which has focused on its core launcher and satellite businesses, has generated more than $1 billion in orders during each of the last three years--but its stock isn't keeping pace. Part of the problem appears to be investor misperception.
A NASA, Wyle Laboratories and University of Texas Medical Branch partnership is using a new short-radius centrifuge to conduct physiological studies aimed at mitigating the detrimental effects of weightlessness during long space missions (see p. 62). William B. Scott, Aviation Week & Space Technology's Rocky Mountain bureau chief, prepares for a 17.3-rpm., low-g "spin" on the Wyle-built centrifuge at the UTMB Galveston campus. Wyle Laboratories photo by Peter Rogers.
As a U.S. Air Force pilot, I was taught to respect failures of engines, fuel and flight control. The Mar. 14 issue had articles on two of these (pp. 68 and 73): the cases of the British Airways Boeing 747-400 that was flown most of the way from Los Angeles to England on three of its four engines and the Air Transat Airbus A310 that suffered inflight rudder separation.
When the first manned mission to Mars is launched, its crew could be accompanied by a short-radius centrifuge designed to create artificial gravity. Astronauts would "spin" a few hours a day on the machine to avoid bone and muscle loss, reduced cardiovascular performance and other physiological functions attributable to prolonged weightlessness.
Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has approved Lockheed Martin's F/A-22 stealth fighter for full-rate production. The decision follows initial operational test approval of the fighter's combat effectiveness by both the Air Force and Defense Dept. Initial operational capability of the first F/A-22 is slated for December at Langley AFB, Va. c
An Apr. 14 fatal crash has prompted the Japanese air force to ground all four of its Mitsubishi MU-2 search-and-rescue aircraft and throws into question whether the aging aircraft are needed. Most SAR missions are carried out by Sikorsky/Mitsubishi UH-60J and other helicopters, so the air force's SAR operations will not be affected. The crash, the first of the year for any Japan Defense Agency aircraft, occurred in clear skies with only light wind on a training mission operating out of Niigata airport in northeast Japan. The aircraft struck a mountain at the 4,500-ft.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will build a C-/K u-band satellite for PanAmSat for fixed telecom and direct-to-home broadcasting applications. The 34-transponder, 2.8-metric-ton PAS-11 is to be launched in early 2007 to a mid-Atlantic orbital location.
A key member of Congress wants to eliminate the army of federal airline passenger and baggage screeners he helped create, replacing it with more high tech equipment and "private screening under federal supervision." Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, says two classified government reports on airport screener effectiveness he has been briefed on "show virtually no improvement in overall screener performance" since they were examined two years ago.
State-owned Ecuadorian airline TAME Linea Aerea del Ecuador has confirmed its November 2004 letter of intent to purchase two 76-seat Embraer 170s and one 104-seat Embraer 190. The aircraft are to be delivered in 2005-06. The 42-year-old carrier holds options for four aircraft in the same family.
The Vice Adm. Donald D. Engen college scholarship and award was presented to Namrata Pancholi, a top student at Aviation High School in New York. She is flanked by (left to right) Mary Engen, FlightSafety International's Bruce Whitman, The McGraw-Hill Companies' Harry Sachinis and AW&ST's Kenneth E. Gazzola. Special awards were presented to outstanding cadets (left to right) French Air Force Academy Aspirant Julien Molard, U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet First Class Nicholas Jurewicz, U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman First Class Clifford Mabrey, U.S.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile is ready for follow-on operational testing and evaluation flight testing after garnering recertification from the Air Force Apr. 4. Jassm was grounded after a June 2004 drop from a B-2. The Lockheed Martin cruise missile discontinued communications as it was approaching the target, and it fell short. The program also recently got the nod for full-rate production after suffering a tough year.
The partial failure of the DART space mission is under investigation by a panel of engineers assembled by NASA. The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft ran out of gaseous nitrogen propellant about halfway into a planned 24-hr. mission.
Jens O. Rivera has been appointed airport manager of Los Angeles International Airport. He held the same position at Ontario (Calif.) International Airport.
Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne soared into the history books in 2004, creating the first privately funded, manned space program and winning the Ansari X Prize. When the history of private manned spaceflight is written, SpaceShipOne will be at the beginning of the story. The craft is a rocket glider with performance similar to rocket planes built in the 1950s by NASA and the military, though aimed more at flying up than flying fast. But this time, it was done by entrepreneurs and at a cost a few percent of what the government would spend.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Eurofighter Typhoon partners face a potential double whammy in the export arena. The Typhoon is being unceremoniously dumped from the Singapore short list, to the surprise of British government and industry. Also looming on the horizon is the threat of competition in Saudi Arabia--viewed as a key export candidate.
Hong Kong risks becoming irrelevant as an Asian airline hub if it doesn't sign an open skies agreement with the U.S. when aviation negotiators meet this week in Washington, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta warns in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. The current agreement, three years old, limits rights of U.S. airlines to operate international service beyond Hong Kong--that is, to use Hong Kong as the hub it is and wants to be. So, too, are Hong Kong carriers limited in flying passengers beyond U.S. gateways.
It was the final day of climb for a team of Indian Air Force hikers last May as they traversed Kamet Glacier on an ascent of 25,500-ft. Mt. Kamet in the Garhwal Hills region of the Himalayas. Feeling warm, one hiker made the mistake of removing his outer jacket. As he lost body heat, he began displaying the combined symptoms of hypothermia and hypoxia by behaving erratically. When two teammates tried to restrain him, he ripped the snow goggles off one of them and the snow gloves off another. High winds whisked these essential articles of clothing away.
An Aero Union Corp. P-3B Orion airtanker crashed on Apr. 20 during a firefighting recurrent-training flight, killing three crewmembers. An NTSB "go team," accompanied by board member and former Chairwoman Ellen Engle- man Conners, was dispatched from Washington on Apr. 21 to investigate. Based on data from a GPS-based airtanker tracking system, the crew had just completed a retardant drop at a training area northeast of Chico, Calif. The aircraft was not operating under a U.S.
United Airlines' attempt to ditch its employees' defined-benefit pension plans represent a necessary-but-not-sufficient measure that will leave it far short of what it needs to get out of Chapter 11, the carrier tells its bankruptcy court.
A large contract for simulators and trainers to serve the Eurocopter Tiger combat helicopter will usher in one of Europe's first large-scale common defense training programs. But progress on a similar approach for the NH90 transport/frigate helicopter remains slow.
