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.
Snecma affiliates Turbomeca and Microturbo plan to build a 5-million-pound ($9.5-million) manufacturing and maintenance facility at North Segensworth, England, to meet booming demand for small military and civil turbines. The 50,000-sq.-meter facility, which will add 100 new jobs to the existing 140-person U.K. operation, will complement existing maintenance activities at the McAlpine TurboSupport Center.
AirTran Airways Chairman/CEO Joe Leonard says many airlines will not survive in the long term if they do not accept the fact that the industry is undergoing fundamental and permanent changes. Speaking at the MRO show, Leonard said executives who think things will return to the "good old days" once fuel prices recede are mistaken. In addition, he says the Internet has shifted air travel pricing control to the consumer, and the market will be driven by what consumers are willing to pay. c
Stork Aerospace has snagged contracts for the Airbus Military A400M and Boeing's 747 freighter. Under the A400M deal, the Dutch supplier will provide electrical wing wiring for the transport. The effort is expected to run 15-20 years and total about 100 million euros ($130 million). Also last week, Boeing named Stork Fokker AESP to its team developing the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter to transport Boeing 787 parts. Stork Fokker will work on the pressure bulkhead that shields the cockpit area from the cargo area, both in terms of cargo sliding and air pressure.
Mode-S surveillance is arriving in European airspace just in time, according to Eurocontrol, and is already becoming essential for handling air traffic safely and efficiently in the most congested areas.
Space veterans on the crew of astronauts scheduled to return NASA's shuttle fleet to service next month expect their STS-114 mission to be one of the safest ever flown, given the extensive technical and organizational analysis that followed the Columbia accident more than two years ago.
America West President/CEO Douglas Parker is one of the most outspoken advocates of the urgent need for consolidation in the U.S. airline industry. Last week, he had to button his lip about whether his carrier might play a leading role in that process.
Software is becoming an ever more critical component of the avionics technology that Honeywell Aerospace is developing for airlines, business aviation and the military, as sensors shrink in size and displays get more flexible. "Our business today is about 60% software-system oriented," says Roman Jamrogiewicz, vice president of technology and engineering at Honeywell. A similar percentage of the engineering workforce is dedicated to software. "This will grow to 75-80% in the next few years."
JetBlue Airways reported lower profits in first-quarter 2005, for the same reason its larger, "legacy" competitors logged losses--the price of fuel. Operating profits totaled $25.7 million, 21.4% less than in the same period in 2004, as revenues increased 29.5% to $374.2 million. The operating margin, the statistic JetBlue values most, was 6.9%. The carrier looks for double digits, and a year earlier it got them--11.3%.
There may be a future for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Internet hardware in space, according to Cisco Systems officials, who tested one of the company's Internet Protocol routers on a U.K. Disaster Monitoring Constellation satellite last year. Rick Sanford, Cisco's space initiatives director, says no radiation hardening was applied to the Cisco router for its stint in low Earth orbit.
Dale H. Goddeke, director for advanced solutions of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, Falls Church, Va., has received the National Space Club's Dr. Joseph V. Charyk Award for "outstanding personal contribution to the national intelligence space program for 2004." Goddeke recently left the National Reconnaissance Office after 32 years' service.
Air France is using "discriminatory and unreasonable interline practices" to strengthen its SkyTeam alliance at Paris, American Airlines complains in a U.S. Transportation Dept. filing on behalf of the American-British Airways code-share renewal. The French carrier has been restricting since June 2004 the seat inventory from which non-SkyTeam airlines can sell interline segments, American says, and last September it started requiring prorate payments from these airlines based on the highest fares applicable to the class of service.
NATO leaders want to expand the scope of their reforms to political and operational matters, even though they are still wrestling with equipment shortfalls long topping the list of concerns. The concept of "military transformation" should be more far-reaching than technology, they maintain, but that does not mean equipment problems have been resolved. Those issues were spotlighted during a recent meeting of top alliance officials in Brussels.
The Galileo Avionica Mirach 100/5 target drone has become operational in France following a long qualification phase. The system is being bought under a contract between France and prime contractor MBDA. It will be used in French test ranges to support training activities and weapon systems qualification. French armaments agency DGA has specified very low-altitude flight profiles and a customized communication link connecting the targets and the control center's computer. Up to eight targets can be flown simultaneously, and the targets can transport specific payloads.
Chalk up another chapter in Raytheon Co.'s accounting woes. The defense electronics giant has placed Chief Financial Officer Edward S. Pliner on administrative leave and offered to pay a $12-million penalty to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into accounting practices at its aircraft unit. In announcing the suspension, Raytheon said SEC staff had made a preliminary decision to recommend action against Pliner, who has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing.
