The U.S. Air Force has put the F/A-22 through electromagnetic interference testing in the Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards AFB, Calif. The trials last month involved powering up the aircraft to determine if any unanticipated emissions would interfere with the fighter's sophisticated communications, navigation and identification subsystem. The evaluations were delayed for some time because F/A-22s were in heavy demand for flight testing and not available for the chamber assessment.
Delta Air Lines and its Air Line Pilots Assn. unit are far apart on what contract concessions management needs from pilots in order to restructure the company out of bankruptcy. Countering an offer from the pilots for $655-705 million per year for four years (AW&ST July 26, p. 43), Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein said July 30 the carrier needs about $1 billion per year, including pension cost cuts, that would make the plan "sustainable" while preserving benefits already accrued. Delta's ALPA chairman, Capt. John Malone, wrote pilots Aug.
The FAA has given operators four more years to comply with maintenance requirements for fuel tank systems on transport aircraft--moving the date to Dec. 16, 2008, from Dec. 6, 2004. The agency's Fuel Tank Safety Rule of Apr. 19, 2001, aimed at eliminating sources of ignition in fuel tanks, required manufacturers to perform a safety assessment of tank design, and to develop any necessary design changes as well as maintenance/inspection requirements.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has added two aircraft to its current order for 12 DHC-9-400s. Four aircraft have been delivered and are being operated by ANA's Nagoya-based regional carrier, Central Japan Airlines. The DHC-9-400s replace the carrier's Boeing 737s and are in service on thin routes, including those between Tokyo and the Shikoku Island cities of Kochi and Matsuyama. Four additional -400s are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2006.
United Airlines is taking its push for the high end of the market to new heights with the proposed premium transcontinental service in reconfigured 110-seat, three-class Boeing 757 aircraft. With this new service, United is surrendering the low-fare segment of the transcontinental market to the new entrants, while creating a differentiated product for the market. The initial reaction in airline-oriented Internet chat rooms has been positive. Billed as "p.s.," it is scheduled to start Oct. 18 between New York's John F.
A.B. Ward (AW&ST Aug. 2, p. 6) may be right that there is no scientific or statistical evidence to support the statement that older pilots take longer to recover from a nap, but the writer presents a classic example of begging the question. Of course "A professional, highly disciplined aviator will have no problem." It's the rest we need to worry about.
The U.S. Air Force is about to declare its AGM-158 Jassm cruise missile operational, although a new set of test problems have cast a shadow over the project.
Project Prometheus, the NASA/Energy Dept. effort to develop nuclear power and propulsion for deep-space exploration, has picked Northrop Grumman Space Technology and Princeton Uni-versity for advanced work on electric propulsion technologies. The Redondo Beach, Calif.-based Northrop Grumman unit won a $3-million contract to develop a nuclear-electric pulsed inductive thruster system able to produce efficiency of 70% or better in sustained operations at 200 kw., with a specific impulse ranging from 3,000-10,000 sec.
The U.S. and Canada reached agreement to increase the scope of the North American Aerospace Defense Command to permit missile-warning functions performed by the combined center to be used for U.S. ballistic missile defense. Without the agreement, the U.S. might have had to establish a parallel organization to perform the missile-warning task. Missile defense remains controversial in Canada, and Canadian Ambassador to Washington Michael Kergin has written U.S.
British Airport Authority executives are counting on mega-transports to help Heathrow handle up to 90-95 million passengers a year using just two main runways. "The Airbus A380 is critical to us--it will change the face of Heathrow and the face of long-haul travel," says Eryl Smith, BAA's business strategy, planning and development director. The 555-seat A380 is scheduled to begin operating to London in the second quarter of 2006 and, in the longer term, is expected to also serve Gatwick and Stansted.
In response to David Connolly's letter regarding long-haul crews (AW&ST July 26, p. 6), I'd like to correct him on the way Northwest Airlines staffs its 747-400s. Mr Connolly is mistaken about "Whoever is in command for takeoff will also be for landing." That is not how it works. I'm a -400 captain for Northwest and our "double" crew staffing has the "takeoff crew" fly the first half of the trip with a crew change that has the second crew do the landing. This is probably the safest method in the industry today.
The British Defense Ministry is planning to have its stock of Raytheon Amraam AIM-120B missiles refurbished, rebuilt, and re-motored as part of its interim air-to-air missile approach until the MBDA Meteor enters service in 2012. The refurbishment program will begin once deliveries of a group of AIM-120C5 missiles gets underway in 2006. The reworked missiles will be known as the AIM-120C-S. The Defense Ministry is concluding negotiations with Raytheon for an initial batch of the AIM-120C5.
The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. is expanding its test of the exit portion of the US-Visit system to 11 more airports. The exit system will require all foreign visitors leaving the U.S. to confirm they have left the country within the time alloted on their visas. It is now being tested in a pilot project at Baltimore Washington International airport and at one seaport.
Alitalia's reshufffled management team, in fear of going bankrupt in the next few weeks, is pressing ground worker unions to accept immediate implementation of drastic recovery measures to avert the company's demise.
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is moving toward the bottom of a small cliff in the 430-ft.-dia. Endurance Crater, while the Spirit rover on the other side of the planet has reached the top of a 30-ft.-hill and is examining a bedrock area there named "Clovis."
The arcane system of "codes" that has defined NASA's organization (and routed the mail at its Washington headquarters) is no more. As of Aug. 1 the agency's new "mission" structure is, in effect, eliminating Code S (space science), Code M (space flight), Code U (biological and physical research) and others. In their place are four mission offices labeled Aeronautics, Science, Exploration Systems and Space Operations (AW&ST June 28, p. 18).
Speculation is starting to build on what a change in administrations might mean for the U.S. aerospace/defense industry, assuming Sen. John Kerry were to win the White House. Global commitments, including peace operations, and various threats probably will keep overall funding for modernization and homeland security from collapsing. Still, some shifts in how monies are deployed almost certainly would be in the cards.
NASA has backed off from its decision to deorbit the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite, at least until the end of the year. Instead of terminating the seven-year-old mission as ordered, TRMM managers are planning a reboost that will keep the satellite in orbit at least until Jan. 1, 2005, while top executives scratch around for money to operate it longer. The decision will keep the satellite going at least through this year's hurricane season, giving forecasters a better picture of storm structure as they calculate tracks and wind strength.
Michael E. O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He testified last week before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Excerpts follow. There is much truth to the 9/11 Commission's finding that a lack of imagination was our biggest failing prior to the terrible attacks of three years ago. We allowed ourselves a certain degree of complacency since past terrorist attacks had not killed huge numbers of people and since past airplane hijackings had typically been conducted to bargain for the release of prisoners.
NASA has extended its contract with United Space Alliance to operate the space shuttle for another two years, at a cost of $3.6 billion. The agency exercised its final option under the 1996 Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC) with USA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Work to be performed will include continuing efforts to get the shuttles flying again and flight operations when they do, as well as vehicle processing, launch and recovery, mission design and planning, and training for astronauts and flight controllers.
Phyllis A. Schneck and Thomas Donohue, Jr., have been appointed to the board of advisers of the Allegent Technology Group, Woodbury, N.Y. Schneck is vice president-strategic development at CipherTrust Inc. and chair of the national board of directors of the Membership Alliance of the FBI's InfraGard Program. Donohue is president/founder of Adelphi Capital of Washington.
Saturn's foggy moon Titan has two distinct layers of haze, highlighted with false purple in this narrow-angle ultraviolet image collected July 3 when the spacecraft was about 491,000 mi. distant. The detached haze layer is about 75 mi. thick. Both layers are produced photochemically when ultraviolet light breaks down methane and nitrogen molecules into products that recombine into the complex organic molecules and show up as haze. While the haze layers have been enhanced, the moon's dense atmosphere is truly this pale orange.
Almost 20% of the holdings in Elbit Systems changed hands late last month, with Elron Electronics Industries selling its 19.6% stake in the Israeli defense electronics maker to Federmann Enterprises for about $197 million. Federmann Group now holds 49.8% of Elbit.
A missing fuel tank purge door resulted in the crew of a British Airways (BA) Boeing 777 declaring an emergency shortly after departure from Heathrow airport on June 10. An Air Accidents Investigation Branch special bulletin reports that immediately after the BA aircraft took off, the crew of another aircraft at the runway holding point called in a trail of 'smoke' from the departing BA 777, coupled with the smell of fuel vapor.
The Chinese manned space program is developing new spacesuit hardware and procedures for the first extravehicular activity (EVA) by a Chinese astronaut. The EVA is now planned after one additional Shenzhou mission, says Qi Faren, the Shenzhou chief designer. The new capability will allow Chinese astronauts to work outside their spacecraft. China's second manned mission on Shenzhou 6 is scheduled for the second half of 2005, and the first EVA is now planned for Shenzhou 7 in 2006 or later, he said.
