Harry Coffie has become executive vice president of Stewart Industries International, Guthrie, Tex. He was vice president-government programs at the AAR Corp.
Eurocontrol is pushing ahead with its safety initiative to reduce level busts (deviations from ATC-assigned altitudes) by implementing an action plan and distributing a tool kit outlining ways to curtail such errors. The tool kit is available free online (at www.eurocontrol.be/safety). Tzvetomir Blajev, Eurocontrol's coordinator for safety improvement initiatives, says it's hard to quantify how many level busts occur, but the problem is important because a level bust can lead to a midair collision or impact with the ground (controlled flight into terrain).
NASA's Weightless Wonder V, the KC-135A it has used since 1995 to train astronauts and conduct experiments in simulated microgravity, has made its final flight. Better known as the Vomit Comet, for the physiological response of some of its passengers, the aircraft flew some 34,700 parabolic arcs that produce 20-25 sec. of simulated weightlessness, or simulated lunar and Martian gravity for slightly longer periods.
The stunning images taken by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars are making the path clearer for extended rover work as well as the route ahead for a new U.S. Mars exploration "road map" about to be formulated for mission planning out to 2025. "The Mars Exploration Rovers have pushed us much farther than we ever would have thought possible," says Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and head of overall NASA Advanced Planning. Mars and the rovers are now about 250 million mi. from Earth.
Delta Air Lines' pilots will vote this week and next on ratifying a $1-billion-per-year concession agreement that might keep the airline out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The deal, reached tentatively Oct. 27 by negotiators for Delta and its Air Line Pilots Assn. unit, is "an important piece of a very complex puzzle," said CEO Gerald Grinstein. But in order to stay out of Chapter 11, the company still needs to restructure its debt; win concessions from vendors and lessors; and reduce its operating costs further.
Lockheed Martin Corp. reported third-quarter net earnings of $307 million, a 41% increase over the same period in 2003, beating Wall Street's consensus forecast by 6%. Earnings were up 5% when one-time charges taken last year to retire debt and exit the commercial mail-sorting business were excluded. Revenue was up 4% to $8.4 billion, driven by 33% growth in the Information & Technology business. The aeronautics unit posted a 23% gain in operating profit, to $225 million, while revenue rose 3% to $2.7 billion.
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) Nov. 16-17--A&D Programs. Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix. 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.
With the U.S. military starting to prepare its Fiscal 2005 supplemental spending request to go forward next year, the jockeying to be included has started. One potential contender, the Army, may ask to build 13 new AH-64D Apache helicopters to start filling a 25-aircraft attrition hole. The move would also help plug a six-month production gap Boeing currently faces in 2006. International sales have already shrunk the gap from 18 months, and more such deals may be forthcoming. The newly built Apaches would be the first for the U.S.
Launch of NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft was postponed twice last week and won't take place before Nov. 4. Loss of GPS data for the target satellite thwarted the planned Oct. 26 launch, while discovery of loose aluminum foil particles inside the fairing scrubbed a second try two days later. The spacecraft's Pegasus launch vehicle was removed from its L-1011 carrier aircraft for inspection, forcing a delay of at least a week.
Airbus has begun installing Rolls-Royce Trent 900 turbofans on Manufacturer Serial No. 01 (MSN01), the first A380 mega transport, which is scheduled to make its maiden flight in the first quarter of next year. The engines have been delivered to the European manufacturer's final assembly line in Toulouse, France, by Snecma subsidiary Hurel-Hispano, which assembles the propul-sion system.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS' ABILITY TO PREDICT exactly when severe weather will move into an airport or approach path should improve significantly when a new software tool is added to the Integrated Terminal Weather System. ITWS, which is operational at six airports, with seven more pending in 2005, currently predicts 20 min. ahead. With the new software, controllers will be able to look an hour ahead and see storm location and size, accurate to within 10 min. or 10 mi. They will also be able to differentiate three levels of snow or rain, from heavy to light.
The Pentagon's internal plan for reforming intelligence is to "operationalize" the discipline, says Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence and warfighting support. "We're going to spend more time finding our enemy, determining who he's connected to, how he's trained and financed, and how he's supported than we will maneuvering [combat forces] in the battlespace," he says.
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act mandated the Justice Dept. to conduct threat assessments for non-U.S. citizens seeking training on aircraft 12,500 lb. or heavier. The Vision 100--Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act transferred this responsibility to TSA as of Oct. 5. As a prerequisite to flight training, non-U.S. citizens must provide to TSA fingerprints, biographical information and training specifics such as the aircraft of interest.
David Ivey has been appointed president/CEO of the Arlington, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn. He succeeds Donald Koranda. Ivey was president of the International Parking Institute.
The Pentagon is eyeing new directions for its missile defense efforts even as developers try to put finishing touches on the national missile defense system slated to be declared operational soon. The focus in recent months has been on the ground-based mid-course defense (GMD) system, with developers intent on completing hardware and software tests and establishing operating rules. But looking ahead, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering, the new head of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), suggests that broader areas of interest are on the horizon.
The first F/A-22 destined for an operational squadron was rolled out of final production assembly at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., facility. Aircraft No. 4041 will go to the 1st Wing's 27th Fighter Sqdn. at Langley AFB, Va.
Christian Gelzer was kinder to America's private sector that I would have been (AW&ST Oct. 18, p. 8). A rhetorical question (a few related ones, actually) that I pose to people when they wax all dewy-eyed about "free markets" is this:
Leroy Chiao will take a little time from his duties as the newly installed Expedition 10 commander on the International Space Station to vote in the U.S. general election this week, using a Texas law adopted for the Houston-based astronaut corps. Chiao will have a clear choice between the space policies of the two main presidential candidates. President Bush outlined his plan on Jan. 14, when he ordered the U.S. space agency to refocus on human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, starting with the Moon (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 22). Now U.S. Sen. John F.
Four European Space Agency astronauts have completed a demanding training course conducted in Italy by the "Snake Eaters," Italian special operation forces of the army's 9th regiment. The course, called Astronaut Operational Skill Training, was aimed at teaching the astronauts how to cope with high stress, fatigue and emergency situations that can develop during space activities. The 12-day course involved a basic phase in the Folgore parachute brigade training areas near Livorno, Italy, followed by a survival course in the Sardinian mountains.
L-3 Communications Holdings Chairman Frank Lanza levels a blast at lawmakers on Capitol Hill for "rhetoric" about the vulnerability of U.S. aircraft and ports to terrorism. Lanza challenges lawmakers to pony up the money needed to improve homeland security instead of wringing their hands and pinning the blame on President Bush. "There's a lot of baloney going on by politicians who like to cite the problem," he says.
Brazil has reached the fringes of space with a two-stage sounding rocket it hopes to market in Europe, marking the South American nation's comeback from a disastrous explosion at its satellite launch facility last year. The VSB-30 rocket reached an altitude of 100 km. (62 mi.) in its 7-min. flight, according to a spokeswoman for the Brazilian Space Agency.
Cessna Aircraft Co. reported orders for 47 airplanes--41 Citation business jets, and six turboprop-powered Caravan utility aircraft--at the National Business Aviation Assn. convention held last month in Las Vegas. Cessna had sold 22 Citation CJ2+s--an upgraded version of the CJ2 jet--earlier in the year. The CJ2+ and the smaller CJ1+ were introduced at the exhibition.
The U.S. Air Force's B-2A fleet may have suffered its first Class A accident. A B-2 suffered a compressor stall last month in its No. 1 General Electric F118-GE-100. The four-engine bomber landed safely. The costs associated with the event are likely to rise to the Class A-level, more than $1 million.
In October 2002 the Washington-based Air Transport Assn. of America published a report on the state of its members, which account for about 95% of all passenger and cargo traffic carried by U.S. scheduled carriers. It was entitled "U.S. Airlines: The Road to Resuscitation." The report should have been called "The Road to Ruin," because that's exactly the direction in which the U.S. commercial air transportation system was headed in the previous 12 months, and the industry basically has remained on the same course ever since.
