Etihad Airways is aiming to repeat the success story of neighbor Emirates Airlines and become a major player in international long-haul air travel, despite the absence of a sizable home market. Last month at the Farnborough air show, the new carrier surprised the industry with a $7-billion order for four Airbus A380-800s, four A340-500s, four A340-600s and 12 A330-200s to form the backbone of its fleet (AW&ST July 26, p. 26). Etihad will be among early operators of the A380, behind Singapore Airlines and rival Emirates.
Raytheon says it has demonstrated the ability of its SilentEyes UAV to be launched from a Predator unmanned aircraft during recent tests at Edwards AFB. SilentEyes was dispensed from an ALE-50 towed-decoy launcher. The launch was initiated by Predator controllers. After release, SilentEyes followed programmed waypoints and relayed imagery via the Predator to the ground. Controllers redirected SilentEyes, using the Predator as a relay. The Air Force and Predator prime General Atomics supported the demonstration.
L-3 Communications and Rockwell Collins are competing to upgrade U.S. military cryptographic equipment used on a variety of nuclear mission-related platforms, including the E-4B and E-6B command-and-control aircraft, as well as B-52H bombers. Both will work under $13.5-million contracts on the KG-3X program, which modernizes crypto gear for the Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network and the Fixed Submarine Broadcast System. In June 2005, the Air Force plans to pick one contractor for development and production of KG-3X.
Allan Kramer (see photo) has been named general manager of Raytheon Aircraft Services' (RAS) Van Nuys, Calif., facility. He was regional general manager for Mercury Air Centers. Dennis Murphy has been appointed manager of supply chain/logistics, based at the RAS Customer Support Office, Wichita, Kan. Robert MacKenzie (see photo) has become RAS regional sales manager in San Antonio and Bill Ladigo (see photo) avionics sales manager at the RAS Sales Support Center in Wichita.
Gregory W. Kennedy has been promoted to vice president-Airport Customer Service West for Delta Air Lines from vice president-Atlanta airport for subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He succeeds Paulette Corbin, who has been promoted to senior vice president-inflight service. Succeeding Kennedy is Carmine Testa, who has been Delta's field director for Airport Customer Service (Florida).
Airlines in the Persian Gulf area plan to boost their fleets and networks in the coming years, as governments in the region try to drive economic and tourism development. Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways are spending billions for new aircraft, while the oldest airline in the region, Gulf Air, appears to be on the road to profitability through massive growth next year. Two new airlines have appeared in the Gulf region since late 2003, Etihad (see p. 36) and low-fare carrier Air Arabia.
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.
