South Africa has concluded a declaration of intent to become the first non-European partner in the Airbus A400M airlifter program. The 8-14 aircraft deal must be completed within three months. Proposed purchases by Norway and Malaysia for up to six aircraft each are also in discussion.
Eumetsat says its second next-generation geostationary Earth orbit weather satellite, Meteosat 9 (formerly MSG-2), will be launched on an Ariane booster in June 2005. The organization's first polar spacecraft, Metop-1, will be orbited in April 2006 by a Soyuz launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Astronaut Mike Melvill pilots "The White Night" carrier aircraft in a low-altitude pass to celebrate the Oct. 4 landing of Brian Binnie and SpaceShipOne. Melvill was the pilot of the Sept. 29 SpaceShipOne flight. --Don Ramey Logan, Jr.
Dubai-based Emirates has ordered three A310-300Fs--becoming the launch customer for Airbus freighters with side-by-side loading capability of 96 X 125-in. pallets. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between July 2005 and January 2006.
ATA Airlines chose an asset bid from Southwest Airlines over an offer from AirTran Airways as part of its bankruptcy restructuring. The $117-million deal, subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval at a hearing set for Dec. 21, would bring ATA $80 million in cash at closing--$40 million for rights to lease six of ATA's 14 gates at Chicago Midway Airport and $40 million in additional debtor-in-possession financing for ATA's operations in bankruptcy.
European industry executives believe the proposed Airbus A350 long-range twinjet has already won its first marketing battle by slowing initial sales of Boeing's 7E7. The U.S. manufacturer fell short of its 200-by-year-end goal.
Aviation Week & Space Technology joins the American Society of Aviation Artists for the fifth year in presenting the art in this annual special issue. The works seen here represent the magazine's top choices in the categories of Military, Commercial, General Aviation and Space, as selected from ASAA's 2004 Retrospective Exhibition celebrating the Centennial of Powered Flight at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. An overall best of show award, known as the "Best of the Best," also is presented.
The first preproduction Eclipse 500 lightweight jet is scheduled to make its first flight late this month, to kick off the company's FAA certification program. The jet was rolled out of the Albuquerque, N.M., factory Dec. 11. The airplane will be used to certify airframe systems. Four other flight-test aircraft are scheduled to join the FAA certification program next year.
Planetary formation theories received a boost from new images of remote solar systems that have both a planet and a disk of dusty debris from which planets form. The images were taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (www.spitzer.caltech.edu). Previously, astronomers had images of suns with planets, and suns with disks, but not the two together. The new images of six suns with disks and planets show an intermediate stage of planetary formation that supports the theory that disks accrete into planets..
Canada's transport minister, Jean C. Lapierre, played down the seriousness of a report last week from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority that more than 1,000 pieces of airport security personnel uniforms and security badges had gone missing. Lapierre said the equipment was not stolen but rather lost because the Velcro attaching it to uniforms wasn't strong enough.
Bob Price, US101 Test and Evaluation Director (Lockheed Martin Systems Integration, Owego, N.Y.)
The Viewpoint by Fred Geier--a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, former Sikorsky employee and current Sikorsky consultant--contains some questionable and many wrong statements about the US101 helicopter we are offering as the next Marine One (AW&ST Nov. 29, p. 66).
A long-awaited batch-three contract for Rafale fighters promises to boost French multirole combat capabilities and provide new openings in the elusive export market.
The concern expressed by USMC Lt. Gen. (ret.) Fred McCorkle to provide the best possible helicopter technology to assure the safety of our military personnel and the President is unarguable (AW&ST Nov. 15. p. 90). Certainly, competition among suppliers is a time-proven method of developing improved technology. Another concern I hope will not be overlooked is the continued availability of spare parts on a timely basis over the lifetime of all military aircraft. We must never allow control of such availability to be determined by any foreign government.
The first phase of Exercise Cope Tiger, an annual trilateral air exercise between Singapore, Thailand and the U.S., was carried out earlier this month. The second phase, the Flying Training Exercise, which features about 88 aircraft and 1,200 personnel flying more than 1,250 sorties, will be conducted in Korat, Thailand, from Jan. 24 to Feb. 4, 2005.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Feb. 16-17--World Aerospace Symposium/Toulouse. Pierre Baudis Toulouse Congress Center, Toulouse, France. Apr. 19-20--MRO Military Conference. Also, Apr. 20-21--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition. Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Dallas. May 24-25--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Washington.
AIRBUS AND BOEING ARE OFFERING transponders that can transmit Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast signals. These are now standard on all Airbus aircraft in production, but customers must select an option to activate enhanced surveillance (required in European airspace) and ADS-B. Most airlines are choosing the ADS-B option, and guidelines are available to update in-service aircraft. Starting with the A318/A319/A320/A321 family, Airbus plans to make enhanced surveillance and ADS-B wiring standard but has not decided on a date yet.
REGIONAL JET OPERATORS ARE BECOMING SAVVIER in the use of software tools to conserve fuel as they make tradeoffs between time and fuel burn--the same way major airlines do. David Wu, Rockwell Collins' flight-deck marketing director, says airlines operating RJs now want their pilots to have flight management systems that include vertical navigation (VNAV) capability, which allows them to find the optimum point to begin a descent and provides speed guidance when climbing. The aim is to fly descents with engines at idle when ATC clearances make this possible.
Honeywell Aerospace doesn't plan to move 5,000 aerospace jobs offshore despite stories to that effect last week in the news media, according to an e-mail sent to employees by the unit's president/CEO, Bob Johnson. The Associated Press carried the story after the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers union in Redmond obtained Honeywell Aerospace employment planning documents from a Honeywell employee. WashTech posted the three Powerpoint slides on its web site and sent out a release saying the Honeywell unit plans to move 5,000 jobs offshore over the next five years.
A move to stabilize science spending should enable French space agency CNES to participate in a trio of international missions, and to launch a solar probe. The CNES board last week agreed to supply 30 million euros ($40 million) worth of instruments for BepiColombo, a Mercury probe to be launched in 2012 by the European Space Agency and Japan's JAXA; and NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a rover mission set for 2009.
Fuji Heavy Industries is to build an assembly plant in the Nagoya suburb of Handa to produce the carbon fiber reinforced plastic center wing sections for the 7E7. Construction will begin in 2006 and cost about 10 billion yen ($97 million). All three Japanese 7E7 team members--Fuji, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries--are locating their main 7E7 production facilities in the area.
Europe's Huygens probe is on target for a Dec. 25 separation from the Cassini Saturn orbiter that has carried it like a baby for more than seven years. The probe will spend three weeks coasting to a plunge into Titan's thick atmosphere on the morning of Jan. 14.
The first Airbus A318 powered by Pratt & Whitney PW6124A turbofans made its maiden flight at Hamburg-Finkenwerder on Dec. 9. FAA/EASA certifications are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2005.
Income from rising fuel prices is driving increased airline travel in the Middle East as the region prospers from operating costs that are lower than the industry norm. The result is growth for government-owned airlines, support for continued expansion of airports and an opening for satellite businesses in the $500-million annual catering and duty free industries. Spurred by a 25% increase in intra-regional travel in the first eight months of 2004, the region is seeing a rise in tourism-related investments.
