Two leaders of an Albany, N.Y., mosque were arrested last week in a sting operation after an undercover agent posing as a terrorist reported the two agreed to help him launder money for the purpose of buying a shoulder-fired missile. The incident prompted comments from the U.S. Senate and the Air Line Pilots Assn. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) want the Homeland Security Dept. to accelerate its efforts to place countermeasures systems on U.S. passenger jets.
Northrop Grumman has encountered further problems in developing the electronics suite for the United Arab Emirates' F-16 Block 60, although company CEO Ronald D. Sugar suggests the program may have turned a corner. The company had to take a $60-million second-quarter charge on the so-called Falcon Edge program, not the first time it suffered financial setbacks because of the challenging project. Sugar says qualification trials resulted in environment test failures. Additionally, there was a lack of quality supplies of integrated microelectronic assemblies.
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ADP Paris airports authority plans to partly reopen Charles de Gaulle's Terminal 2E next week. It was closed on May 23 after a 100-ft.-long section of a concrete roof collapsed, killing four passengers and injuring a dozen additional persons, including security enforcement officers. The accident cut the airport terminals' overall capacity about 15%, generating disruptions such as delayed passenger boarding and flight departure delays.
Eight years after it first started trying, the FAA believes it has navigated the legal pitfalls that have prevented it from getting its hands on overflight fees, charged for air traffic control services to airlines that fly over U.S. airspace without landing or taking off. Two separate fee schemes were challenged by the Air Transport Assn. of Canada and seven foreign airlines, and a federal appeals court upheld each complaint.
George S. Johnston (AW&ST July 26, p. 6) clearly didn't have a clue as to why wings were on the shuttle in the first place. The original NASA mission (ca. 1968) called for an Apollo-like system with near-ballistic entry and recovery. When the Air Force "bought into" the program, they insisted that the orbiter have wings in order to enable a once-around-abort from a polar launch out of Vandenberg AFB, since there is no way that a ballistic orbiter could efficiently carry enough rocket fuel for the 1,100-mi.
Israel Aircraft Industries says sales for the first half of 2004 reached $1 billion, a 14% increase over last year. Net profit grew to $19 million from $9 million, while backlog is up to $5.5 billion from $4.5 billion in mid-2003, IAI announced. Company CEO Moshe Keret voiced particular satisfaction over the results, given the serious budget pressures on Israeli defense spending.
InVision Technologies Inc. voluntarily disclosed to the U.S. Justice Dept. and Securities and Exchange Commission that it is investigating improper payments overseas by its distributors. InVision is a leading maker of explosives detection equipment used in airports, and in other facilities, in the U.S. and abroad. Justice and the SEC may initiate investigations as a result, InVision said, including possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. InVision has kept General Electric informed of the situation as GE agreed on Mar.
A TAP Air Portugal Airbus A319 was seriously damaged after entering a thunderstorm on Aug. 4, shortly after takeoff from Milan Malpensa airport. Ice blocks cracked the cockpit windscreen and damaged the weather radar's radome, prompting an emergency return. No one was injured.
Rockwell Collins, one of several key partners in NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program, has evolved its own approaches to synthetic and enhanced vision systems design. Tailored for integration with existing avionics systems, some elements may soon be incorporated.
A committee investigating the February solid propellant fire at India's Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in South India has found the incident was caused by a "propellant leak between two sliding metallic surfaces." The committee's report states that the leaked propellant was ignited by friction-induced heating during removal of casting fixtures. The mishap killed seven workers and critically injured two (AW&ST Mar. 1, p. 29).
Following a four-year construction period, the New Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport was set to open last week (AW&ST Dec. 9, 2002, p. 50). The new passenger terminal and aircraft maintenance and cargo facilities are located between the airport's 3,800-meter (12,500-ft.) parallel runways, one of which is designed to ICAO 4F standards to handle weight requirements of the Airbus A380. The passenger terminal (see photo) is expected to handle more than 25 million passengers, and its cargo facility, more than 1 million tons of cargo, per year through 2010.
A Russian Proton rocket launched a Spanish communications satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Aug. 4 in a mission organized by International Launch Services. The Amazonas spacecraft, built by EADS Astrium for Hispasat, reached its transfer orbit nine hours, 11 minutes after launch at 6:32 p.m. EDT. It was designed to provide C- and K u-band service across the Atlantic from its final operating position at 61 deg. W. Long., via Hispasat subsidiaries Hiszpamar of Brazil and Hispasat Canarias.
Setting a Chicago O'Hare Airport target of 86 arrivals per hour and faced with airline schedules that exceed that amount more than half the time, the FAA launched talks with carriers Aug. 4 with a threat that what it can't negotiate, it will regulate. The target, which includes a cap of 22 arrivals in any single quarter-hour, would run from 7 a.m. to 8:59 p.m. each day for as much as six months, beginning on Oct. 31, the day current voluntary service cutbacks of 7.5% apiece by United Airlines and American Airlines expire.
The Canadian Army is considering acquisition of Raytheon and Rockwell Collins satellite communications gear under an $83-million foreign military sales contract. The deal would include 19 Smart-T (secure mobile antijam reliable tactical terminals) and 60 Scamp (single-channel anti-jam) systems. The Smart-Ts would be used on Canadian vehicles. Scamp is a man-portable system.
Gordon Stewart is now also chairman of the Atlantic region of Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath, Waltham, Mass. He succeeds Michael E. McGrath, who has retired. Stewart has been CEO.
Well, here we go again: "It's Back--Congress revives vision of commercially operated C-17s" (AW&ST July 5, p. 33). The more things change, the more they remain constant. The C-17 is a smaller aircraft capable of carrying 160,000-170,000-lb. outsize payload. It was designed as both a tactical assault and strategic airlifter with short field capability and is not FAA certified for cargo or passengers.
Taiwan's Eva Air will have an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) system on the 15 Boeing 777s it has on order. The first EFB-carrying 777 will be delivered and installed in mid-2005 by Boeing Commercial Aviation Services Crew Information Services group. The EFB replaces cumbersome paper manuals and other flight documents with software that is easily accessed through computer displays mounted in the flight deck for faster retrieval. It also executes instant performance calculations, to improve efficiency, and includes a taxi-situational awareness tool to enhance safety.
"Train as you fight" has long been a mantra at the Pentagon. But flipping that around to "fight as you train" can be dangerous--just ask Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-Calif.), the first fighter ace of the Vietnam War. In a House hearing on intelligence reform, Cunningham recounts a tale from the Vietnam days. When still a student pilot, "I used to try and pass as close as I could to the instructor, because if I gave him lateral separation, he would turn on me.
Lockheed Martin has begun flight testing its Sniper XR targeting pod on U.S. Navy F/A-18s. The service is evaluating options for future targeting systems beyond the Raytheon Atflir used on F/A-18E/Fs. Canada and Australia also are surveying targeting pod options for their F/A-18s, with a derivative of the Sniper called Pantera. The U.S. Air Force is buying Sniper XRs.
Frederick L. Sheldon has been appointed CEO of Orlando, Fla.-based Adacel's North American operations. He was executive vice president of the Electro Optical Systems Group of DRS Technologies Inc., Parsippany, N.J.
The Messenger Mercury spacecraft is this week 1.5 million mi. into a 5-billion-mi. trek to orbit the scorching planet closest to the Sun. Meanwhile back on Earth, the National Research Council (NRC) is opening an investigation that could also put the heat on NASA headquarters management of the overall Discovery program. The Discovery effort spawned Messenger and various other $300-400-million Discovery flights--most of which have been a success, although some have had cost or development problems.
Boeing will begin flight testing improvements in its 737-800/900 models next year to enhance their short-field performance characteristics. The performance enhancements were launched by Brazil's GOL Linhas Aereaes S.A. as part of its recent order for 15 737-800s. GOL already operates 22 737-700/800s, and sought the improvements so -800s can operate from the shorter runways that its -700s fly to.
How valuable is Southwest's fuel hedging program? The carrier paid $246 million for fuel and oil in the second quarter of 2004, up $52 million (27%) from the same quarter a year earlier. Hedging held these expenses down by $87 million in this year's quarter, $51 million more (142%) than in the 2003 period. Considering that about $2.5 million of this year's fuel cost growth went toward a 4.9% year-over-year increase in capacity, hedging reduced the price-driven second-quarter increase by more than half.
USAF Maj. Gen. Quentin L. Peterson has been named special assistant to the commander of the 18th Air Force, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill. He has been chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation for Turkey within the United States European Command. He will be succeeded by Maj. Gen. Peter U. Sutton, who has been director of learning and force development/deputy chief of staff for personnel at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. Sutton, in turn is being succeeded by his deputy, Brig. Gen. (select) William A. Chambers.
