Bombardier Inc. saw Moody's Investors Service downgrade some $6-billion worth of the company's debt securities last week and relegate the company to "speculative grade." Bombardier management expressed disappointment and hurriedly issued a public statement noting the downgrade should have no significant impact on its operations. President and CEO Paul M. Tellier pointed out that the company had $4.9 billion of liquidity on hand at the end of October.
Regarding your article "Passing the Baton" (AW&ST Oct. 4, p. 32), the initiative to create an independent Italian Space Agency is understandable and probably necessary, but it does not address the larger issue of aeronautical and aerospace business sector technology needs.
On Nov. 8, the U.S. Transportation Dept. opened a proceeding for Atlantic Express, seeking authority to launch low-cost transatlantic service next summer. One day later, on Nov. 9, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission received a quarterly report from Independence Air parent FLYi Inc., warning that last summer's debut as a stand-alone airline is at risk of bankruptcy within months.
OFFICIALS OF THE GENERAL AVIATION Manufacturers Assn. are optimistic that their industry's recovery will continue unabated into 2005. Ron Swanda, interim president, attributed strong sales this year to the U.S. economy and the extension of accelerated depreciation by Congress. GAMA reports shipments of new piston-powered airplanes in the first nine months of 2004 increased by 70 units to 1,342, from 1,272 during the same period in 2003.
Boeing's global sourcing policy has been confirmed by agreements concluded last week with Latecoere, Messier-Bugatti and Zodiac. The three French companies are scheduled to supply key elements for the 7E7. Toulouse-based Latecoere will produce the new twinjet's passenger doors, Messier-Bugatti the wheels and brakes and Zodiac the onboard water system and emergency escape slides.
When Heathrow's Terminal 5 finally comes online in 2008--barring any further delay--it will add 30% in passenger handling capacity to Europe's busiest airport. But there will be no similar growth in runway capacity. Therefore, despite the 4-billion-pound ($7.4-billion) undertaking, Heathrow will be limited to two runways until at least 2015--the earliest a third can be added. Terminal 5 will consolidate all of British Airways' operations at the airport and ease some pressure on the existing terminals. So its entry into service is eagerly awaited.
A Boeing Delta II launched the latest replacement Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite Nov. 6, putting the GPS IIR-13 spacecraft en route to its 11,000-naut.-mi. orbit at slot 1, plane D of the 29-satellite constellation. When it becomes operational there later this month, it will replace GPS IIA-11, an earlier-generation spacecraft launched in 1991. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., came at 12:39 a.m. EST.
The virtually universal green/yellow/red warning light system is being put to good use by the Patuxent River (Md.) Naval Air Station's Vision Laboratory in a deceptively simple device. The Navair Human Systems Dept. developed a device that gives aviators instant notice in the cockpit when they are on the receiving end of laser radiation potentially hazardous to eyesight.
Northrop Grumman researchers have validated the aerodynamic design of its enlarged X-47B, one of two designs along with Boeing's X-45C that are serving as demonstrators for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems program. A high-fidelity scale model was validated in a series of 750 low-speed wind-tunnel tests.
Air Sahara, India's private domestic carrier, is investing $20 million in its new hub in Hyderabad, which was chosen primarily for its central location and lower fuel prices. The fuel tax in Andhra Pradesh state has been reduced to 5.5% from 30.5% for carriers that fly 140 flights a week, and to 15.5% for those operating 100 flights weekly. The airline also plans to lease three Boeing 737s and three Bombardier regional jets to add to its 24 aircraft that include 737-400/-700/-800s and CRJ200s.
President Bush "remains committed" to his space exploration plans, despite not having uttered a public word about them since his Jan. 14 speech on the topic at NASA headquarters. Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan says the call for exploration with robots and humans beyond Earth orbit, beginning with a return to the Moon, will "be reflected in our upcoming budget." Answering a reporter's question at the end of a Nov. 9 press conference that had already covered Yasser Arafat, Iraq, Social Security and potential nominees to the U.S.
John J. Goglia has been appointed head of aviation operations and safety programs at JDA Aviation Technology Solutions of Washington. He is a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Rockwell Collins' WXR-2100 MultiScan weather radar automatically adjusts weather detection parameters for variations caused by time of day, time of year and geographic position and then uses advanced radar threshold technologies to adjust the radar returns to more accurately display actual storm threats.
JetBlue Airways seeks a U.S. Transportation Dept. exemption for its Embraer 190s from the rule that it must create in-cabin stowage space for at least one folding wheelchair. The requirement applies to transports with 100 seats or more, and JetBlue's 190s will have exactly 100 seats. JetBlue says it is a wheelchair-friendly carrier, but there is no reasonable way to stow a wheelchair in the 190's cabin. It proposes priority stowage in the forward cargo compartment, as is accepted on smaller airplanes.
THE GENERAL AVIATION INDUSTRY had 340 fatal accidents between Oct. 1, 2003, and Sept. 30, 2004, and is "not off to a very good start" for the next fiscal year with 39 fatal crashes in October 2004 alone, according to the Experimental Aircraft Assn. Last month's accidents made for the second-deadliest October in more than six years, EAA safety officials said.
French citizens are evacuating the Ivory Coast after being terrorized by rioting crowds, spurred on by government agitators, who destroyed homes and businesses in retaliation for a French attack on the nation's small, newly acquired and mercenary-piloted air force. The French military destroyed most of the Ivory Coast air force's Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft and a number of Mil Mi-24 attack and Mi-8 transport helicopters that were purchased from Belarus only about six months ago.
A U.S./Japanese testbed for a possible space telescope has returned the first high-energy "hard" X-ray image of a body in space from a balloon flight to 128,000 ft. Normally such X-rays scatter off an instrument mirror or pass right through the detector. The International Focusing Optics Collaboration for micro-Crab Sensitivity instrument uses layered mirrors of carbon and platinum to deflect hard X-rays arriving at very shallow angles into a cadmium-zinc-telluride detector. It is under consideration for spaceflight on NASA's proposed Constellation-X mission.
A first set of 25 satellite-based Village Resource Centers (VRCs) will be set up across India under a new agreement among India's major players in the IT industry and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in Kochi, Kerala, in southwestern India. The arrangement is part of an effort by the Indian Space Research Organization to disseminate education and other services using satellite communications and satellite-based Earth observations to address the needs of rural communities.
ThalesRaytheonSystems has won a $13.1-million contract to build and integrate more than 20 MPQ-64 Sentinel Radar Modernization kits for the U.S. Army. The system is a mobile air defense radar that detects and classifies airborne targets for the Army's short-range air-defense weapons and the surface-launched advanced medium-range air-to-air missile.
Craig Smyth, who has been managing director of U.K.-based Menzies Aviation, also will be business director for Asia, the South Pacific and Africa. In that position, he succeeds Conrad Clifford, who has resigned. Paul Smith has been named director for Asia-South Pacific and Africa, effective Dec. 20. He has held customer and ground services positions in Asia for British Airways.
Despite "fuel-related fare increases," global passenger traffic growth continued in September, according to Airports Council International. Compared to the same month in 2003, overall passenger traffic increased 7% to 181.1 million. The international segment increased 8.9% to 86.7 million, with three regions showing double-digit growth: Latin America/Caribbean (15.9%), Middle East (12.6%) and Africa (11.6%). The 12-month period that ended Sept.
European airline optimism about returning to profitability in 2004 is fading as quickly as the year. Two-digit traffic growth, strong load factors and decent yields are not enough to offset the punishing blows dealt by soaring fuel prices. The inability to achieve a sustainable return on investment is paving the way for an in-depth debate centered on reconsidering the airline industry's business model.
FAA wheels are grinding slowly, too slowly, according to the NTSB, at least when it comes to implementing the board's "Most Wanted" list of safety recommendations. Established by the board in 1990, the list comprises recommendations the NTSB believes will significantly reduce deaths and injuries. In updating the list last week, the NTSB either downgraded or maintained the classification of FAA responses so that they now all read "open-unacceptable" in the five aviation areas:
Optimet's Polyscan technology, implemented with its Conoprobe sensor, can change laser beam direction using polygon-like mounted mirrors at various angles. Each mirror will bend the beam in a different direction so an object's whole contour is covered. This is done without moving the object in relation to the XY plane (object is fixed on XY scanning table). Each mirror position receives a scan of relevant surfaces. Results are assembled through a mathematical processing of the cloud of points.
The National Aeronautic Assn. recognized Scaled Composites test pilot Michael W. Melvill last week for setting a new world record. He piloted SpaceShipOne to an altitude of 328,000 ft. on June 21 and became the first pilot to earn civilian astronaut wings. Arthur W. Greenfield, director of contest and records at NAA, says SpaceShipOne gained 281,310 ft. that day to exceed the altitude increase of 269,252 ft. recorded by the X-15 on July 17, 1962. The NAA also awarded the Yuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal posthumously to the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
