The article "NASA Team Brings Synthetic Vision to Maturity" captured an impressive effort to bring several technologies together (AW&ST Aug. 9, p. 48). The safety technologies demonstrated in Reno will save lives. One unanswered question is: "What is the minimum operational visibility with this kind of system?"
Scientists are increasingly optimistic about what they may get out of the wreckage of the Genesis solar-wind spacecraft. To the surprise of many, two of four target segments for oxygen isotopes in the solar-wind concentrator appeared to be intact after the Genesis return capsule slammed into the Utah desert at nearly 200 mph. That gives the science team great hope for accomplishing the $246-million mission's top objective--measuring the oxygen isotopes to determine which of several competing theories about oxygen's role in the formation of the Solar System is correct.
A Thales-Smiths team was picked to supply the flight management system for the A400M--the fourth award Thales has received for the European airlifter. Thales Chairman/CEO Denis Ranque said this may encourage the team to seek certification as the second-source FMS supplier on the Airbus 380. Honeywell is the primary supplier.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Richard E. (Tex) Brown has been named group senior vice president-Air Force programs for the Anteon International Corp., Fairfax, Va. He was acting assistant Air Force vice chief of staff.
I must take issue with your editorial response to Capt. Thomas P. Heidenberger's letter in which you say: ". . . a layered approach to countering the hijacking of a passenger jet has made this type of incident much less likely to occur or succeed on a U.S. aircraft . . . ." (AW&ST Sept. 6, p. 6).
Independence Air took delivery of its first 132-passenger, single-class Airbus A319, due to enter service in November. That's when the low-fare carrier stretches from high-frequency, short-haul services with its all-regional jet fleet to longer-haul service. On Nov. 3, Independence will offer three-times daily nonstop service to Orlando and Tampa from its Washington Dulles International hub for $64 one way. The airline, which formerly operated as regional carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines, on June 16 began operations as a low-fare carrier.
Capt. John Broadbent (US Airways, Grasonville, Md.)
I've been a subscriber for decades and thought your magazine to be dry and devoid of humor until I read the Viewpoint "How To Avoid Airline Pension Meltdowns" (AW&ST Sept. 6, p. 66). What a hoot! Writers Christopher Mackin and Richard May must do a little stand-up comedy on the weekends. When they suggested I put my US Airways stock into a 401k to save my pension, what a knee-slapper! I'm framing this one.
With India moving from its socialist mindset, even traditional defense production companies such as state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. are opening up. HAL says it wants to partner with private concerns seeking large outsourcing orders.
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The Pentagon should make air-moving target-indication part of its Space-Based Radar (SBR) program, according to an assessment by the Defense Science Board (DSB). The system is designed to track ground targets, provide radar images and deliver digital terrain elevation data. But the DSB, asked to look at SBR in a missile defense role, notes that air target tracking mode could be used to cue interceptors as enemy ballistic missiles are launched, before they break cloud cover. Moreover, the feature should come at low cost and schedule impact, the expert panel argues.
Upgrading of the GPS constellation is set to start in March 2005 with the launch of the first IIR-M model satellite, and officials are planning an increased launch rate for swift deployment in the face of expected failures of aging satellites.
The last two C-141 Starlifter transports in the U.S. Air Force inventory were retired last week from the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB, N.J. The Lockheed-built aircraft entered service in 1965 and accumulated more than 10.6 million flight hours in service with more than 30 squadrons with 10 active duty USAF, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units.
Former astronaut G. David Low has been named vice president of the Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Technical Services Div., Greenbelt, Md. He succeeds Richard Hicks, who will become semi-retired and an adviser on existing contracts and new business opportunities. Low was vice president/deputy general manager of Orbital's Advanced Programs Group.
Northrop Grumman wins the contract for the E-10A's battle management command and control (BMC 2) package, but only after some threatening language to contractors from the Air Force's acquisition chief, Marvin Sambur. The program has turned into a test case of the service's heightened antipathy to disingenuous low-cost bids. Sambur told all three bidders--Lockheed Martin/Raytheon and Boeing also competed--that if their price was much lower than the service's estimate, it would be seen as a risk to the program, not a benefit.
The Transportation Security Administration has been testing of several types of explosives detectors that could be used at passenger checkpoints at airports. The 9/11 commission, in its final report, also noted the need to improve checkpoint security.
Struggling for survival, national flag carrier Alitalia is considering pulling out of its alliance with Air France, and ending its involvement in SkyTeam. Gianfranco Cimoli, the Alitalia chairman and instigator of the review, is understood to be dissatisfied with the alliance's results, traffic, and profit distribution.
Scott Crislip has been appointed president for helicopters of Rolls-Royce North America Inc., Chantilly, Va. He succeeds Stuart Mullan, who has resigned. Crislip has been vice president for Mission Ready Management Solutions.
As the Boeing 7E7 and Airbus A380 are two aircraft that are the first commercial transports to be designed and launched post-Sept. 11, 2001, have the manufacturers and airlines thought about building these aircraft with no cockpit doors to the cabin? Why couldn't these planes be designed with segregated cockpits with their own entry doors? They would negate efforts to use aircraft as flying weapons.
Regarding NASA plans to attach a pro- pulsion module to the Hubble Space Telescope so it can be deorbited at the end of its service life (AW&ST Aug. 16, p. 32), why not use a propulsion unit large enough to transfer the HST to a servicing orbit. The space shuttle then could reach HST for the planned repair mission and abort to the International Space Station in case of shuttle damage? Ideally, the shuttle crew could then install a propulsion unit that will take HST back to its present orbit with enough propellant left to deorbit or return to the servicing orbit.
I loved Thomas B. Martin, Sr.'s "Recipe to Save Airlines" (AW&ST Aug. 23/30, p. 6). The airlines could save money by eliminating cabin decor, meals and inflight entertainment. In fact, why not eliminate seats, pressurization and cabin heating? If you're not tough enough to fly standing up, take the train.
The U.S. Air Force is probing the aerospace industry for its concepts for a new class of armed, long-endurance unmanned aircraft, called Hunter-Killer. But most of the aerospace industry's responses--from Northrop Grumman, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Aurora Flight Sciences and Lockheed Martin--remain shrouded in mystery.
