The long-expected next step in the U.S. Air Force's drawdown takes shape with rollout of the service's Future Total Force Initiative. Basically, the idea is to integrate Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard personnel into active duty units. Savings are expected to come from sharing facilities and equipment, including aircraft, retiring 500-600 F-16s and F-15s, and either abandoning or selling facilities on municipal airports and in high-priced and congested urban areas.
A new simulator idea may transform cockpits to classrooms and help keep a lid on training costs. Bombardier Canadair Challenger test pilot Bruce Watson started developing the In-Cockpit Flight Simulator in 1994, together with hardware specialist Mike Altman, president of Sacramento, Calif.-based Precision Flight Control. Since then, the device has helped train about 600 Challenger pilots. The simulator is recognized as a Flight Training Device, and the FAA and Canada's Transport Dept. have approved its use for instrument training.
While U.S. network and low-cost carriers (LCCs) head south for the winter, battling for market share on routes to the Caribbean and Central America, they might want to take a moment to look to the north where a new low-cost battle is ramping up with their Canadian neighbors.
With "fares at their lowest in a decade, oil at record highs and no pricing power," United's chief financial officer, Jake Brace, last week emphasized the carrier's "urgent need" to continue actively reducing costs across the business. In its monthly filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the carrier reported an October operating loss of $65 million and a net loss of $114 million that includes $14 million in reorganization expenses. Year-over-year, mainline passenger unit revenue was flat, and unit costs increased 9% (1% excluding fuel).
The intermediate pressure compressor of Europrop International's 10,700-shp. TP400-D6 turboprop for the Airbus A400M began test runs on Dec. 1 at MTU Aero Engines facilities.
David Corey has been elected chairman of the Plymouth, Mass.-based Regional Air Cargo Carriers Assn. He is president of AirNow Inc., Bennington, Vt. Jeanne Cook of Columbia, S.C.-based Bankair Inc. and James Thomforde of Wiggins Airways, Manchester, N.H., were elected to the board of directors.
William R. MacIntosh has been appointed executive vice president/chief operating officer of the U.S. Naval Institute Foundation, Annapolis, Md. He was vice president-development and alumni and parent relations at Washington College, Chestertown, Md.
For the first time in 12 years, Korean Air resumed scheduled service to Taiwan last week, offering a daily flight from Seoul Incheon airport to Taipei using 148-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. When the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1992, air service ceased and passenger traffic ebbed, although Korean had operated charter relief flights to Taiwan in 2002 to help earthquake victims. Now that diplomatic ties have been reestablished, Korean Air said it expects both passenger traffic and trade between the two countries to rapidly increase.
India and Russia will sign an agreement to protect intellectual property rights associated with Russian military technology transferred to India. Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the first effort at drafting the agreement will get underway in January. His counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, said Russia is ready to increase its investment in the Brahmos cruise missile in which both countries hold 50% shares. Navy chief Adm. Arun Prakash says India will introduce the Brahmos on its new naval combat ships and retrofit it to the present fleet.
Low-cost carrier Ryanair is to spend $240 million at Ireland's Shannon Airport to set up an operations center. The airline will base four Boeing 737-800s at Shannon beginning in May, with a 14-route network covering six destinations in the U.K. and eight in mainland Europe.
Seismic shaking caused by collisions with space debris accounts for the lack of small craters on the asteroid Eros, imaged by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission from orbit in 2000-01 and later during NEAR's descent to the surface (shown). Researchers at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory report in the journal Science that the regolith covering the 20 X 8-mi. object creeps around when Eros is struck by objects as small as 1 meter across, sliding downhill in the extremely low gravity but also jumping up from the surface to settle elsewhere.
Integration of composite fuselage sections built by Italy's Alenia Aeronautica and Vought for Boeing's 7E7 will be done in a 300,000-sq.-ft. purpose-built factory in North Charleston, S.C.
The FAA is proposing an airworthiness directive for Embraer ERJ 135s and 145s. The AD would require determining torque values of screws that attach seat tracks to the aircraft. The FAA notes that during a hard landing or high deceleration impact, undertorqued screws could lead to seat damage and passenger injury. The FAA is requesting public comment by Dec. 27, http://dms.dot.gov.
The U.S. military regularly dismisses inquiries about pulsed, directed-energy devices such as high-power microwave (HPM) weapons, which are designed to damage enemy electronics. However, SAIC has collected a $49-million contract for a directed-energy technology applications and research (Detar) effort. Basically, the company is being asked to provide techniques to "develop and enhance present capabilities as well as . . . search for new opportunities" in all aspects of high-power microwave systems development.
The German parliament's budget committee has approved the Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 2 purchase, with all four of the partner nations--Britain, Italy, Germany and Spain--now expected to ink a deal, possibly as early as next week.
World News Roundup 22 Pakistan test-fires Hatf-3 Ghaznavi short-range ballistic missile 23 Energia unveils mockup of reusable lifting body spacecraft World News & Analysis 28 Pentagon pace may open door for new U.S. bidder on tanker 30 Funding shift for Japan's BMD would require services to cut programs 32 USAF raising bar for the future com- bat search-and-rescue helicopter 34 U.S. Air Force eyes upgrade to Raytheon anti-radar missile
When U.S. Special Operations Forces rehearse a mission, they face conflicting requirements: They need to have the most realistic simulation database, but it must be available soon after pictures and other data are taken of an attack site.
Simulation technology advances are redirecting the training compass--and operators are eager to reap the benefits while keeping the purse strings drawn tight. Familiar icons will soon fade. In 2005, electric-powered full flight simulator (FFS) will debut and eventually replace the bells and whistles of the tried-and-true hydraulic FFS. High-fidelity simulation is being transferred to less costly, highly efficient tools of e-learning for pilots and maintenance crews. Soon, the "classroom" will be anywhere the student has access to the Web.
Sue Tardanico has been promoted to vice president-communications from executive director of corporate communications for Textron Inc., Providence, R.I. Matthew A. Dapson has been named director of government affairs in Textron's Washington office. He was U.S. Marine Corps legislative liaison to the House and Senate Armed Services committees. William H. Wallace has become director of government affairs for homeland security. He was the FAA's national resource specialist for rotorcraft operations and senior technical adviser on rotorcraft and tiltrotor operations.
Qantas-owned Jetstar Asia of Singapore has become Asia's first low-cost carrier to announce plans to fly to Shanghai and Taipei. The aggressive route plan, which puts it head-to-head with Singapore Airlines (SIA), also includes Manila, the east Java port city of Surabaya in Indonesia and the Thailand resort of Pattaya. Hong Kong and Jakarta round out the seven cities on its schedule. The flights to China, Taiwan and the Philippines were set to begin Dec. 4 using four Airbus A320s. As four more A320s are added to the fleet, the other cities will be added next year.
Ongoing development of computer-based simulation--or e-learning capability as it's been called--aims not only to improve education but to save on pilot and maintenance training costs.
Ryanair's dabbling in the inflight entertainment world is now promising to pay handsome dividends, with the airline aiming to have IFE systems across its fleet by April 2005. Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's CEO, says investment in inflight entertainment (IFE) would be recouped if there was a minimum 3% uptake among passengers over a 12-month period. In the first four weeks of a six-aircraft trial, the average has been 30%, he says.
Arianespace has delayed "by several days" Ariane 5's Flight 165, which is scheduled to put into orbit the French defense ministry's Helios IIA observation spacecraft and four Elint microsatellites.
