With support from 60 companies, two airports and the State of Oregon, Eugene has developed its third travel bank. Under the program Delta Connection will provide two daily round-trip flights between Eugene and the Delta hub at Salt Lake City, starting May 1. Participating companies have deposited $557,000 in travel accounts with Columbus Bank & Trust Co. In turn, the bank has issued credit cards for debiting the companies' cost of the Eugene-SLC flights against the value of their accounts.
The recent editorial "Let Failing Airlines Fail" (AW&ST Mar. 8, p. 70) was disap- pointing. The cavalier and dismissive way the writer treated United Airlines is indicative of one who does not have a sense of history of the air transport industry. This proud carrier contributed enormously to the aviation community from its inception. Research and development, weather radar, collision avoidance, advanced training techniques, command leadership resources, maintenance and engineering are but a few of United's contributions.
David Hughes' portrait of "Glare" (AW&ST Apr. 5, p. 66) reflects outstanding qualities suggesting this new composite material will bring significant benefits not only to the Airbus A380, but possibly also to Gulfstream and other airframe manufacturers. Concerns come to mind, however:
USAF still hopes to commence F/A-22 initial operational test and evaluation this month, although it's running out of schedule margin. The critical test phase "is projected to begin on or about Apr. 30," according to the Air Force. Still left to be accomplished are completing maintainer and pilot training, and certifying avionics software stability to Congress.
The shape of a potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula is in flux as U.S. and South Korean forces improve their military equipment. Last week's "Strategy in Korea" report addressed how war plans are affected by these developments. Part 2 focuses on changes being made by shifting forces within the country and improving warfighting tools in the areas of missile defense and command-and-control.
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The University of North Dakota plans to expand its summer helicopter training program for U.S. Army cadets attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Now entering its second year of operation, the initiative could become a model for creating future programs for the U.S. military, according to Maj. Gen. Mike Haugen of the North Dakota National Guard. He said the training is aimed at helping to alleviate the Army's shortage of helicopter pilots. Enrollment this summer will increase to 32 students--up from 24 last year.
The redeployment of troops to Iraq has been accomplished without activating the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) thanks to airlines volunteering aircraft for the duty. From Jan. 1 through the first week of April, commercial airlines have ferried 147,000 U.S. troops to hub airports near Iraq. Many of the troops have been flown from those airports into Iraq on tactical airlift C-130s, and some have been transported in convoys. So far 107,000 troops have been returned to the U.S. at the end of a year of service in Iraq.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Paul A. Weaver, Jr., has been appointed to the Global Defense Group Advisory Board of Washington-based AdZone Research Inc. He was director of the Air National Guard.
Druyungate--the controversy surrounding Darleen Druyun, the ousted former Boeing and Air Force acquisition official--is already reverberating through the military-industrial complex. Several recently retired senior general officers are having difficulty finding new jobs in industry as quickly as they might in the past, according to several Pentagon and industry representatives. Companies are being extra cautious to ensure there's no hint of wrongdoing, one Navy official said.
Even in retirement, the Concorde continues to be a big-ticket item. At auction last week at Stoneleigh Park, England (or online, where bidders worldwide logged on), a buyer from Milan paid 115,000 pounds ($205,850) for one of three nose cones on the block. He intends to display it in his home. Other British Concorde items up for sale included cockpit instrumentation, engines and components, galley equipment and seats.
Senior U.S. military leaders in South Korea leave little doubt about what their top modernization priority is: better command and control to maximize the combat effectiveness of their forces. Both U.S. Air Force and Army detachments in South Korea have embarked on an aggressive modernization strategy to network their forces. The undertaking is being done with an eye to ensuring that air and ground elements can cooperate, as well as to enhance interoperability with South Korean forces that would be the immediate warfighting partner in any conflict.
Michele Migliuolo (AW&ST Mar. 29, p. 6) deserves credit for recognizing that employees are seemingly forgotten in terms of their importance to the success of a major carrier such as United Airlines.
Jeffrey Magnus (see photo) has been named general manager at Signature Flight Support's Palm Springs (Calif.) International Airport facility. He was president of Wisconsin-based Magnus Aviation.
The 2003 Laureate Awards sponsored by Aviation Week & Space Technology mixed healthy pride with nostalgia and fresh promise. Some 35 people from around the globe won accolades for their achievements. The magazine's leadership chose the 2003 Laureates and Laurels Legends from a slate of nominees, which is compiled annually by the editors. Names of Laureates and Laurels Legends will be enshrined at the Aviation Week Hall of Fame in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. The Hall of Fame was created six years ago.
The Logbook Organizer has developed a fast, user-friendly maintenance tracking system. Through combined maintenance tracking and maintenance logbooks, new data is entered only once and automatically duplicated when necessary, saving time and improving safety, according to the company. The Organizer can be established for specific personnel access and can provide projections for pending maintenance. It can track any make/model of fixed- or rotor-wing aircraft, including any engine, APU, propeller or component parts.
Love to hear those jet engines roar? Not when you're learning your ABCs. Schools in the vicinity of the New York region's major airports just received a $45-million installment in funding to soundproof classrooms. In 1983, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey initiated the program, which it jointly administers with the FAA under the Airport Improvement Program. The funding is allocated to schools near Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia and Teterboro (N.J.) airports.
Ahh, the harsh realities. Thailand's four-month-old One-To-Go discount carrier says it is "pooling resources" and launching services to three new domestic destinations and increasing services to a fourth in a bid to stay alive. Its survival plan includes giving away 20,000 tickets. Rivals Thai Air Asia and Thai Airways International have put the squeeze on through a combination of deep discounts and rapid route expansion in Southeast Asia's increasingly fractious airline market.
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are going on the offensive to defend their proposed buy-and-lease strategy for 100 KC-767 refuelers as the Pentagon's decision on how to proceed looms. The two partners on the KC-767 deal have opted to confront head-on the Pentagon's Inspector General, challenging many of the findings contained in the IG's detailed review of the tanker acquisition proposal. The IG presented a litany of changes the service and Boeing should make before it proceeds.
Boeing officials are rejecting claims that USAF's tanker operational requirements document was tailored to their KC-767. The proof, they say, is that the KC-767 at first met only 20 of 26 firm performance demands. To meet all of them, the company had to modify the aircraft design, including the use of increased-thrust engines and power generators, an all-digital cockpit, and heavier duty landing gear and flaps.
I retired from the NASA-Ames Research Center in 1995 after 37 years as an aerodynamicist. I spent most of my career on research in the 40 X 80-ft. wind tunnel in addition to helping design and build modifications that included the repowering and addition of the 80 X 120-ft. test section.
No sooner had Boeing announced that General Electric's GenX and Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 had been selected as powerplants for the 7E7 than Japanese engine manufacturers said they had begun negotiations with both companies to become partners. Their participation is likely since both companies have turned to them in the past and Japanese airlines represent a big potential market for the midsize jet. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) is a 10% risk-sharing partner in the GE90 and is looking for a share of the GenX.
Beating a contractual deadline by about six weeks, Pratt & Whitney is testing the first system development and demonstration (SDD) Stovl propulsion system for the F-35.
