William R. (Bob) Laidlaw's half-century-plus aerospace career encompasses roles as combat pilot, researcher, test pilot, engineering executive and founder of two companies. As a high school student in Toronto, he "augmented" his age by a year, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and flew a photo-reconnaissance version of the deHavilland Mosquito during World War II. He later earned master and doctor of science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specializing in aeroelasticity.
The FAA is proposing an airworthiness directive on Airbus A320-series aircraft. The AD would require installation of insulator and cable ties to the electrical cables of the S routes at gaps in the raceway in the wing trailing edge as well as wing tip and wing root areas. The action, prompted by results of Airbus fuel system reviews, is aimed at preventing injection of high-voltage current into low-voltage wiring that passes through fuel tanks.
James Reeves (see photo) has been named vice president-marketing and business development of AOptix Technologies, Campbell, Calif. He was a director of business development at the Northrop Grumman Corp.
The U.S. Air Force reports an 18% overrun on Global Hawk's per-unit cost. The Nunn-McCurdy Law requires the Pentagon to inform Congress of program cost growth of more than 15%. In a report to Congress last week, the Air Force attributes the higher cost for the Northrop Grumman UAV to "increasing aircraft capacity to accommodate requirements for a more sophisticated, integrated imagery and signals intelligence sensor suite." The shift from the RQ-4A bird to the larger RQ-4B led to much longer manufacturing times than anticipated.
Airbus expects to double the number of service providers in its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Network and will be seeking candidates through mid-2006, Wolfgang Kortas, senior director of MRO support management for Airbus North America said at Aviation Week's MRO Conference in Dallas. A catalog of services will be sent to Airbus customers in the coming weeks. The company is concentrating on airframe maintenance, but has chosen network providers who offer other repair services.
It appears as if you have been misled about the photo in the World News Roundup section (AW&ST Apr. 11, p. 15). The C-130 depicted is USMC KC-130T 162786 from VMGR-234, rather than a USAF MC-130 Combat Talon II. Further, the MC-130H Combat Talon II does not have wing-mounted refueling pods; this is a feature of the MC-130P Combat Shadow. (The reader is correct. Several C-130s were used during the 12-sortie test series, and a last-minute substitution of photos led to the error--Ed.)
The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity are continuing in 2005 the remarkable science and engineering operations that earned the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Cornell University rover team and its contractors the 2004 Space Laureate from Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Required Navigation Performance (RNP) operations have been demonstrated at Lhasa, Tibet, by the Civil Aviation Authority of China, Air China, Boeing and Naverus on a 757-200. The new procedures will lower the weather minimums that Air China can use to operate into Lhasa airport, which is situated in mountainous terrain. This should reduce flight turnbacks, delays and cancellations while enhancing safety, Boeing says.
There has been a remarkable amount of fuss surrounding the decision by British Airways captains to continue their 747 flights on three engines. Why should these captains be upbraided for continuing to their destinations on three engines, when every day ETOPS allows hundreds more captains to leave the gate for transoceanic flights with just two engines? Ah yes, there is the specter of the dreaded three-engine landing.
AirTran Airways receives a revenue guarantee from the City of Wichita under an agreement to serve Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Delta Air Lines also serves the Kansas airport but receives no subsidy. The FAA says the agreement between AirTran and the city represents "unjust economic discrimination." Even if this dispute is solved in Wichita--Delta has a similar revenue guarantee from Lansing, Mich.--an issue could be developing over how airports offer incentives to attract airlines.
Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet last week took delivery of its first Boeing 737-800. Configured for 166 passengers, the airplane will operate on longer routes. This year WestJet officials expect to accept 15 new 737s, including five -800s, seven -700s and three -600s. In addition, the carrier has exercised options on three more -700s to be delivered in 2006.
Lufthansa, Europe's second largest airline, plans to get much tougher on tackling supplier costs and adapting low-cost carrier business practices wherever feasible, according to Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
Pentagon officials are preparing for what is expected to be a protracted discussion about the cost of the massive, international F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Rear Adm. Steven Enewold says he thinks the cost will grow by about $900 million due to inflation projections. During a talk on Capitol Hill, Enewold says, "Everyone except the Brits have declined to contribute" to paying for the cost growth. Memoranda of understanding with Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, Denmark and Norway don't require those governments to chip in on cost growth.
The Northrop Grumman/EADS team that was planning to offer the NH90 for USAF's Personnel Recovery Vehicle program has opted not to pursue the contract that could total almost 200 helicopters. EADS says the team made the decision after consulting with Air Force officials about the service's needs for a combat search-and-rescue helicopter. Still in the running are the Lockheed Martin-led US101, Sikorsky S-92 and Bell-Boeing V-22.
Finnair is consolidating its fleet with a plan to phase out 10 MD-80s by the end of 2006. The airline plans to retain six MD-11s for long-haul service and is adding a seventh under lease for increased flights to Asian destinations. As for domestic and European routes, the carrier will rely on 29 Airbus A320s and 12 Embraer 170s, the first of which is scheduled to enter service this autumn. Finnair also extended its lease on a Boeing 757 that is used for tourist flights to southern European locations.
Like one of the tornados that rage across Oklahoma every spring, hard times landed on The Nordam Group with a fury that pushed one of the world's largest privately owned aircraft repair companies to the edge of survival. In short order, an airplane crash, a debilitating illness and a family feud decimated Nordam's senior management team--just as the company was waylaid by the most severe downturn the commercial aviation industry had ever seen.
U.S. and Indian air forces will hold air exercises in November over the recently refurbished Kalaikunda AB in East India. While F-15s were brought in by USAF last February, word is that with the F-16s being offered to India as part of its procurement for 126 combat fighters, 12 F-16s will participate. Two KC-135s for mid-flight refueling are also planned. India will use Su-30MKIs, Mirage 2000Hs, MiG-21 Bisons and MiG-27Ms. India, it is said, wants to participate in the 2006 Red Flag combined air exercises organized by USAF's Nevada-based Air Warfare Center.
Japan Airlines says it is assigning three safety officers at the vice presidential level to oversee an internal pledge to boost safety in the wake of an embarrassing warning about its safety procedures from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has won the full attention of the Air Force. Service officials are snapping to and changing their contracting strategy on the controversial C-130J program--fallout from the senator's statement earlier this month that he would be willing to subpoena Lockheed Martin officials if necessary to get more insight on pricing data for the airlifter. McCain's hackles were raised after the unit cost jumped from $33 million to $67 million.
AIR NAVIGATION SERVICE PROVIDER Croatia Control Ltd. has completed acceptance testing of its new air traffic management system. Thales' Eurocat gives Croatia a state-of-the-art ATM capability for en route, terminal and tower operations. And it should help Croatia comply with Eurocontrol's Single Sky modernization effort, which is about to shift into high gear. Eurocat's features include an interactive man-machine interface that eliminates the traditional paper strips used by controllers.
A year after its launch, Boeing is surging past the 200 orders-and-commitment mark for the 787 with a signed agreement from Korean Air for 10 aircraft and a pending order by Northwest Airlines for 18 of the mid-size, long-range jets.
Sensor Unlimited has introduced Visible-InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide), the world's smallest dual wavelength-range camera that simultaneously images in the visible and short-wave infrared spectrum. The SU320Mvis 1.7RT minicamera is built around the company's proprietary InGaAs focal plane arrays that feature an expanded wavelength range and higher sensitivity than has ever been available, according to the company. The array is built in the minicamera platform which weighs less than 11 oz. without the lens.
Boeing has chosen EMS Techno- logies, a Canadian contractor, to supply the new P-8A Multi-Mission Aircraft with the eNfusion Broadband HSD-400 high-speed data terminal as part of the U.S. Navy's program to replace its aging P-3s. The P-8A is a derivative of the 737 Next-Generation aircraft.
Air France Industries has become a member of Airbus' newly established maintenance, repair and overhaul network. Because of the size of the Air France MRO operation, bringing it into the network took longer than it did for the 11 launch members. The network is supposed to give airlines easier access to MRO services. Airbus vows it will provide non-network MROs full support to work on its aircraft.
Clogged airspace, bad weather and system outages will create massive delays and backups in the U.S. air traffic system this summer and may become routine in the future, according to Rep. John L. Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee. And now for the bad news.
