NASA is increasingly challenged to get the space shuttle flying again as early as Mar. 6, 2005, because of the sheer volume of work that remains to be done. With nine months to go, the new boom and sensor system NASA is developing for on-orbit inspection of the orbiter wings and belly must be tested and installed on the shuttles Discovery and Atlantis; the recertified rudder speed brakes and modified reinforced carbon-carbon heat-shield panels must be installed, and the modified external tank must be certified and delivered.
Japan's transport ministry has approved an increase in international air fares and cargo rates. Beginning July 1, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways will raise air fares 5%. A sample Tokyo-London round-trip fare in business class will increase to $7,960 from $7,581, while an economy-class ticket will cost $5,211 instead of $4,963. Beginning July 16, both JAL and ANA and the latter's partial subsidiary, Nippon Cargo Airlines, will raise fuel surcharges on international cargo to 22 cents from 16 cents per kilogram.
The Pentagon may have wasted more than $121 million in 1997-2003 on unused airline tickets, according to a GAO audit. In Fiscal 2001-02 the Defense Dept. purchased about 58,000 airline tickets with residual value of more than $21 million, and as of October 2003 they remained unused and not refunded. United tops the Pentagon's list of frequently used airlines, with 16,283 fully/partially used tickets, followed by American with 15,877; Delta, 15,588; US Airways, 6,719; and Northwest, 3,479.
Mojave Airport became the U.S.' first inland commercial spaceport on June 16, when the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation granted it a spaceport license after a two-year process. The airport is in the California desert about 70 mi. north of Los Angeles. On June 21, Scaled Composites will attempt to reach 100 km. altitude with its manned SpaceShipOne rocket glider operating from Mojave under an FAA waiver that requires the airport's participation (AW&ST June 7, p. 36).
The U.S. House has approved $416.9 billion in Pentagon spending for next year, including $100 million for KC-767 tankers, if the Pentagon and Boeing can agree on a contract.
Israel Aircraft Industries is preparing to demonstrate its Bird Eye mini-UAV line to the Netherlands, in cooperation with unidentified partners, industry sources said at the Eurosatory defense exhibit in Paris last week. The low-cost aircraft are designed to provide real-time day/ night imagery for "over-the-hill" reconnaissance/surveillance and homeland security applications up to a distance of 5-10 km. (3-6 mi.), depending on the model. IAI also unveiled a new micro-UAV, called Mosquito, for real-time imagery urban warfare missions.
In "Safety Tool," which appeared in this column May 31, p. 17, US Airways was inadvertently omitted from a list of airlines that had adopted the Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program. US Airways, which received FAA approval for the program in 1995, was one of the first U.S. airlines to implement FOQA. The carrier has since made numerous safety enhancements to its operation using FOQA data.
It has been refreshing to read of the limited success of the Boeing 717, the best of all choices to fulfill the needs of the regional jet market. Your article "Single Aisle Gains" (AW&ST May 24, p. 51) states that Boeing's best 717 customer, AirTrans, has 76 of that aircraft and is flying it in a two-class, 117-seat configuration. In the same issue, Bombardier says it ". . . needs a 100-135-passenger aircraft . . .
The Pentagon's inspector general is criticizing the MH-47G special operations Chinook program for shortfalls in defining interoperability requirements and failing to properly articulate support plans for the command and control system. Both should be updated, the IG argues. The Army Special Operations Command has started work on updating the requirements, the report notes, although there is still disagreement on whether the support plan needs to be fully developed.
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Images returned by the Cassini spacecraft from its flyby of Phoebe, the outermost of Saturn's moons, show a heavily cratered sphere that could be as old as the Solar System's 4.5 billion years. Possibly a comet-like Kuiper Belt object that drifted toward the center of the Solar System and was captured by Saturn, Phoebe in close-up reveals a dark surface covering a much brighter interior that many scientists believe is ice.
EADS has confirmed that a stretch-out in delivery of the first three multirole tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft to Germany will have minimal impact on the full operating capability deadline for the four-aircraft fleet. EADS officials acknowledged that the first aircraft will be handed over in September or October--seven months behind schedule--but noted that final delivery will be in the fourth quarter of 2005, only three months late.
Jay Mandelbaum, program manager for value engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, has won a special Defense Dept. Value Engineering Achievement Award. Winners for the Army are: Wayne Burke, precision fires deputy project manager; Charles Cebula, value engineering program manager, and and Brig. Gen. Michael R. Mazzucchi, program executive officer, both on the tactical team for the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications.
Approach Aviation's aircraft spark plug maintenance kit is all-inclusive, containing everything needed for routine or emergency spark plug maintenance, according to the company. This includes: aircraft spark plug tray, feeler gauge, gap setting tool, socket and lead removal pick, gaskets, a bottle of thread lubricant and anti-seize compound. Retail price for the Aircraft Spark Plug Maintenance Kit is $99.95. It can be purchased directly from Approach Aviation via toll-free phone (877) 564-4457 or through their web site.
MiG Corp. says it is planning to restart flight tests of its fifth-generation fighter-prototype, known as Project 1.44. The program was initiated as far back as 1980, with the prototype eventually being flown twice in 2000. The Russian air force, however, has abandoned the program, adopting a Sukhoi design as the basis for a future fighter.
Northrop Grumman has conducted five landing approaches to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman with a King Air acting as a surrogate X-47B unmanned combat aircraft. The next series of actual flight tests are slated for next spring using an F/A-18. The exercise was designed to test interaction of the company's Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System mission control system--which is designed for automated landings and takeoffs--with the carrier's joint precision approach and landing system.
The tiny tarsier, a mammal best known for a neck that swivels 180 deg. in either direction, serves as the namesake for QinetiQ's Tarsier Radar System. The system, first announced at ATC Maastricht this year, has recently been in trial at major airports in Europe and North America.
Edith Street of Gulfport, Miss., has been named A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year from the Civil Air Patrol and inducted into the CAP's Crown Circle for Aerospace Education Leadership. Street, who teaches at Westminster Academy, was cited for incorporating CAP's aerospace education program into public and private school programs.
USMC Cols. Martin Post and Randolph D. Alles have been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. Post is head of the Aviation Plans, Programs, and Budget Branch and Alles is head of the Aviation Weapons Requirements Branch, both in the Aviation Dept. of Marine Headquarters in Washington.
David N. Siegel, former president/CEO of US Airways, has been appointed chairman/CEO of Zurich-based Gate Gourmet Group Inc. He succeeds Henning Boysen, who has retired as CEO but will become non-executive deputy chairman. George Alvord, who has been president of the company's Division Americas, is scheduled to retire on July 31 and then be chairman.
Rolls-Royce is in discussion with the U.S. Navy to upgrade T-45C trainers with Rolls-Royce/Turbomecca Adour Mk. 951 engines to replace the 6,000-lb.-thrust-class F405-RR-401. The Navy is interested in the 500-lb. higher thrust level that the 951 produces. The engine also would deliver more reliability, so the Navy and Rolls are considering making the switch under the company's F-45C engine sustainment contract.
Independence Air officially launch- ed its low-fare service June 16 from Washington Dulles International Airport to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Newark-Liberty and Raleigh/ Durham. The new carrier, which was regional operation Atlantic Coast Airlines, plans to add 30 destinations this summer and by Sept. 1, operate 300 departures daily from Dulles.
I've been waiting for an in-depth story on this ingenious aviation development, but I think you've missed it. Evergreen Aviation at Pinal Air Park, Ariz., has a Boeing 747 modified to be the most powerful firefighting aerial tanker in history. The 747 has flown and dropped hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and fire retardant in flight. The aircraft works and, fully loaded, is flying at 150,000 lb. under its maximum limit. That's a real accomplishment for increased aircraft safety. However, the federal government is dragging its feet in certifying this unique 747.
