Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has chosen Vought Aircraft Industries to build the cabin structure for the UH-60L, M, S and S-70A versions of the Black Hawk medium-lift helicopter. The contract calls for 1,100 shipsets to be built during the next 15 years, with 350 planned through 2009.
Boeing has concluded that the four familiar eyebrow windows above the front windshields of its 737 are past their prime, and last week it rolled out the first 737NG without them. The windows are a holdover from the late 1950s' 707 days when they were considered a backup if pilots lost their navigation system because they made it easier to see stars. Though the eyebrows help increase visibility during turns, they also add glare in the cockpit. Boeing says removing the windows cuts aircraft weight by 20 lb. and eliminates about 300 hr. of periodic inspections per aircraft.
In a major shift of U.S. policy, the Bush administration is ready to open more formal discussions with China on space cooperation, according to outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. The Bush administration now believes that "measured and appropriate levels of space cooperation with China" are viable, O'Keefe told AW&ST. He said U.S. officials would be amenable to discussing with China what types of space cooperation the two sides could explore.
The FAA, National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca) and Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA) all report smooth operations with air traffic between Flight Levels 290 and 410 since the switchover to 1,000-ft. vertical separation on Jan. 20. Domestic Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum proce- dures have been in use since then, reducing flight level spacing from 2,000 ft. Natca representative Steve Entis notes there have been no operational errors or deviations with the new procedures that required aircraft to have improved altimetry. Capt.
Richard D. Nanula has been named to the board of directors of the Chicago-based Boeing Co. He is executive vice president/chief financial officer of Amgen Inc.
A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E crashed near Ar Rutbah in western Iraq during a sandstorm on Jan. 26, killing 31 members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, said the flight was a routine mission in support of the upcoming election.
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None of the work to fix the space shuttle addresses the root cause of the two fatal shuttle accidents--that the shuttle is an incredibly complicated contraption. For example, consider how many parts comprise the heat shield; there are thousands of tiles, brackets and fasteners. Each joint and part is a potential fail point. Other more recent designs have one-piece heat shields. This complexity pervades the shuttle and its operational procedures.
Precision Castparts Corp. plans to acquire Air Industries Corp., a privately held airframe fasteners manufacturer in Garden Grove, Calif., for $194 million in cash. The purchase, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close by Mar. 31.
Central Europe's route structure continues to grow, with additional services between Poland and Britain, and more flights from Estonia to the U.K. The start of February will see Centralwings, the low-cost subsidiary of Polish national carrier LOT, begin its flight operations with services to Gatwick in the south of England. The airline will fly from Warsaw and Krakow to Gatwick, using Boeing 737s leased from LOT. Its route structure will also include flights to Germany--where it signed a cooperative agreement with Germanwings--as well as to Italy and Portugal.
His patience apparently exhausted by a series of Quadrennial Defense Reviews (QDR) that so far have each collapsed into interservice bickering and laundry lists of projects, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had his staff of senior Pentagon civilian leaders launch a preemptive strike on military planning.
I disagree with your editorial characterization of the relative positions in Europe and the U.S. regarding military program collaboration (AW&ST Dec. 13, 2004, p. 86). Your identification of Europe as having a "growing cynicism within industry and government toward greater collaboration with their American counterparts" while identifying "some (U.S.) short-sighted lawmakers (who) continue to embrace protectionist policies" is a one-sided generality.
The U.S. is preparing to return to Mars in August with the launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft's mission is to obtain extremely detailed global imagery, composition and weather data around which to focus the next 15-20 years of Mars robotic lander planning and operations. The goal of the $700-million mission is to create a comprehensive foundation of knowledge for the Mars side of NASA's new exploration vision and to accelerate the search for evidence of life on the red planet.
Singapore Airlines will increase capacity by 5% on existing routes beginning Mar. 27, when the Northern Hemisphere's summer travel season starts. The growth is concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region. Daily frequencies are being added to Hanoi, South Vietnam; Fukuoka, Japan; and Christchurch, New Zealand. Mumbai, India, will see twice-daily flights. Other cities seeing service increases include Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, and Shenzhen, China. In Europe, Athens will see a service increase from twice to three times weekly.
Brian Williams (see photo) has been named vice president/ general manager of Crane Aerospace & Electronics' Burbank, Calif., site. He was product line director for power electronics for Boeing Electron Dynamics Devices, El Segundo, Calif.
Technical issues with launchers and payloads held the number of orbital launch attempts to 54 in 2004, the lowest number since 1961. The space department of the Airclaims consultancy also found that launches to geostationary orbit declined, to 12 payloads on 12 launch vehicles last year from 17 payloads on 13 launches in 2003. The London-based organization noted a steady decline in orbital launches since the end of the Cold War, broken only by an uptick in the late 1990s as the low-Earth orbit communications constellations were launched. Meanwhile, Futron Corp.
Kuwait Airways is evaluating its fleet requirement as part of a large restructuring plan that includes network planning. Its fleet of 17 aircraft--three Airbus A320-200s, three A310-300s, five A300-600s, four A340-300s and two Boeing 777-200ERs--is a mix that "creates severe commonality problems," according to an aviation official. Kuwait may look at an increase of 30-35 aircraft and is said to be considering either Boeing 7E7 or the Airbus equivalent, A350.
Northrop Grumman has completed first-phase flight testing of its new medium-altitude endurance UAV demonstrator. The aircraft is a prototype of the company's Hunter II, which is designed for ground surveillance and longer-range missions in which it can serve as a communication relay node. In the longer term, the UAV is being eyed for a precision-weapons carrying capability.
The FAA swiftly issued an airworthiness directive for all Embraer 170-series aircraft, prompted by reports of "drop outs" or loss of cockpit display units. The Dec. 30, 2004, AD--released without the agency's customary notice/ public commentary period--became effective the same day. Operators by Jan. 3 were to revise the airplane flight manual with operational procedures related to the loss of modular avionics units (MAU) and prohibit flight with an inoperative integrated electronic standby system (IESS).
Embraer has launched two "Advanced Range" versions of the 100- and 110-seat Embraer 190 and 195 on the back of the JetBlue Airways' order for 100 190s. The order was converted from the LR (Long Range) version to the AR (Advanced Range). Reinforcements to the fuselage, wings, pylons and flight control surfaces allow for higher maximum takeoff and landing weights and add about 300 naut. mi. to the ranges, says Embraer. The 190 will fly 2,300 naut. mi. in standard conditions, while the larger 195 achieves up to 2,100.
It is the end of the line for Commander Aircraft Co. Two years after it suspended production of Commander 115 and 115TC single-engine aircraft and filed for bankruptcy protection, the Bethany, Okla., subsidiary of Aviation General Inc., is being liquidated.
United Airlines posted a net loss of $664 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, battered by intense domestic fare competition and a 52% increase in fuel prices from a year earlier. The carrier, which has been operating under bankruptcy protection since December 2002, said its operating loss for the quarter more than tripled from a year earlier, to $493 million. Operating revenue rose 5% to $4 billion. United ended the quarter with an unrestricted cash balance of $1.3 billion, down from $1.5 billion at the end of the third quarter.
Military helicopter supplier Loud Engineering & Manufacturing Inc. is being acquired by Circor International Inc. for $36 million. The 30-year-old Ontario, Calif.-based company, which specialized in landing gear systems and overhaul services, will become part of Circor's Aerospace Products unit based in Corona, Calif.
