Northwest Airlines will be adding eight Airbus A330s to its fleet. Last week, the carrier placed a firm order with Airbus for two -200s that will seat 243 passengers and six -300s that will seat 298 passengers. Pratt & Whitney PW4000-series engines will power both versions.
Despite difficulties, the modernization of Africa's air traffic control capability is moving ahead under a strategic road map drawn up nearly eight years ago by government and industry under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) auspices.
Kudos of a sort to the FAA from the Government Accountability Office, which removed the agency's financial management work from its compilation of 25 "high-risk" activities government-wide. Success to date of the Delphi financial management system and prospects for completing the associated cost accounting system reduce risk enough to remove it from the list, the GAO reports. Some cost accounting data were available soon after Fiscal 2004 ended, although it couldn't be produced on a monthly basis.
The FAA expects to decide the fate of the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) in 2006 or later, but Boeing, the airlines and other suppliers want the system out of its research and development holding pattern sooner rather than later.
Italy is to send its General Atomics Predator unmanned aerial vehicle to Iraq, marking its first operational deployment with the system. The Italian air force will field the Predator UAV from the Tallil air base in southern Iraq, even though it only declared an initial operational capability in December 2004 The Predator is to be used for surveillance and intelligence gathering in support of the 3,000-strong Italian army brigade deployed in the Di Qar province.
Bombardier is revamping its international business jet charter operation, pulling together its Flexjet and Skyjet businesses under the banner of Skyjet International.
Guy M. Hicks (see photos) has become vice president-communications and USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Silas R. Johnson, Jr., director of marketing for Advanced Tanker Programs for EADS North America, Arlington, Va. Hicks was vice president-corporate communications and government relations for the InterDigital Communications Corp. Johnson was vice president-global strike programs for Burdeshaw Associates.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways are stepping up plans for flights to China following signature of a bilateral agreement between the two countries that gives the U.K. "approved destination status." Virgin intends to move to a daily London-Shanghai service from five times weekly at the end of October. Virgin also aims to open a daily service to Beijing. BA intends to start London-Shanghai flights during the third quarter of 2005. It is also to increase frequencies to Beijing.
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.
