Col. Michael Cantor's letter "Comanche Performing Well" (AW&ST Feb. 23, p. 7) quotes Lt. Gen. Richard Cody as saying "it is the best aircraft we've ever built." Cantor, himself, states: "The program is performing well." Considering that my copy of AW&ST arrived a scant 48 hr. after Cody announced the cancellation of the RAH-66 program, you might understand why, as an engineer working on that program, I felt stung. My colleagues were greatly encouraged by our Army customer's comments on our work, our progress and the state of the design.
Austin Barham, Peng Lim, John Samiotis and Patrick Slomski have become equity partners in the London-based aviation law firm of Beaumont and Son. Sarah Catchpole, Alex Ferrari and Sohair Mustafa have been named salaried partners.
With their latest interplanetary mission on its way and the Bush Mars/Moon plan on the table, European space leaders are preparing a full rethink of their approach to solar system exploration. Visibly elated by the error-free launch of the Rosetta cometary probe last week, European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain said planners would take a fresh look at the agency's nascent Aurora exploration program, still in the definition stage, to see how it could mesh with the Bush plan and ESA's overall science objectives.
Despite U.S. Air Force leaders' commitment to invigorating long-range strike, lawmakers continue to express dismay about what they view as shortchanging the current bomber force. In addition to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper's pronouncement that the service will examine a mini-bomber derivative of the F/A-22, called the FB-22, USAF has created several organizations to support its long-range strike planning.
JAXA, the Japanese space agency, has completed a 2-min. burn test of a full-scale improved solid rocket booster motor for the H-IIA that has given it confidence the launch program can resume.
CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Select Intelligence Committee that the CIA continues to uncover "plots that are chilling" against civil aviation targets. "On aircraft plots alone, we have uncovered new plans to recruit pilots and to evade new security measures in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe," he said. "Attacks on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, remain in Al Qaeda's reach, and although these plots are being hatched abroad, they target the U.S. and its allies." Pilot unions called the statement a "heads up" to airlines and pilots. Capt.
The first Airbus A380 mega-transport is scheduled to roll out this December and take its maiden flight in January 2005. The program, Europe's biggest aviation undertaking, is gaining momentum and production is underway (see p. 40). The No. 1 A380's nose section and center fuselage were joined recently at Airbus' St. Nazaire, Britanny, facilities and will be conveyed later this year to the final assembly line in Toulouse (Airbus photo).
Delta Connection has converted 32 options to firm orders for Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft in a deal valued at about $780 million. Deliveries are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2005, with 25 going to Atlantic Southeast Airlines and seven to affiliate SkyWest Airlines. In a separate order, Chautauqua Airlines will receive an additional 13 Embraer ERJ regional aircraft for 2004-05. Comair, the largest Delta carrier, was excluded.
Army aviation supporters are growing concerned that they won't be able to hold onto the $14.6 billion freed up by terminating the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter. There are already signs the money is being viewed as a "cash cow," says Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), who chairs the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces panel. But keeping the money is essential to the Army's new aviation plan, emphasizes Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, the director of the task force that drafted the strategy.
Despite a year's slip in schedule, cost growth of its primary sensor and signals of uncertainty about the program from Defense budgeteers and the aerospace industry, the U.S. Air Force is keeping the E-10 multi-sensor command and control aircraft near the top of its list of transformational technologies.
The Aviation Prop Club is a security device for single- or twin-engine propeller-driven aircraft. Specifically constructed for aviation, the Prop Club is a visible and practical security device, offering simple installation, removal and storage, according to the company. It is constructed of tempered steel and renders the aircraft inoperable. The Prop Club, designed to fit most constant speed propellers, comes with a combination lock, warning flags and weather cover. It is available in small, priced at $165.99, and large, at $175.99.
The GE-P&W Engine Alliance is assembling its first GP7200 for the Airbus A380, and plans to begin engine testing this month at Pratt & Whitney facilities in Connecticut. Eight engines plus a core will be used in the powerplant's test and certification program, which will end in October 2006 when the first GP7200-powered A380-800 is handed over to customer Emirates airline. The Engine Alliance has a firm backlog of more than 300 engines and is currently set to power 67 passenger and freighter versions of the Airbus A380.
For Rolls-Royce, the next six months will be critical for the development of the Trent 900 high-bypass turbofan engine as the program moves toward numerous milestones. Up to now, it has been a case of so far, so good: The development and test phase is broadly on track. There have been few surprises, and engine performance is in line with, or better than, predictions.
The success of the Mars Exploration Rover program is a triumph for about 25 companies--mostly small or medium-sized operations, several involving robotics--that were the heart of development. "You have no idea the number of people involved in this effort, not only at JPL, but at companies all across this country," Peter Theisinger, the outgoing MER project manager, said earlier.
The global appetite for unmanned aircraft is showing no sign of abating. Instead there are growing indicators that countries increasingly are looking for an even greater variety of systems. Most countries having expressed interest or fielded UAVs focused largely on the tactical unmanned aircraft class of relatively low-flying, short endurance systems. But now there is a lengthening list of countries following the lead of states such as Israel, France and the U.S. in embracing higher-altitude and longer-range systems, as well as small vehicles.
Judy Graham-Weaver has become public relations manager for AirTran Airways. She was vice president-marketing and development at Chattanooga (Tenn.) Metropolitan Airport.
The XL PRO feature on the Everest VIT remote visual inspection equipment indicates safe temperature operating environments by providing an integrated temperature sensor and warning system on its VideoProbe borescope. The product, designed for users inspecting high-temperature areas such as aircraft engines and power plants, allows users to prevent heat damage to the probe by indicating safe and unsafe operating environments. In safe operating range, a green thermometer icon is displayed.
As it looks forward to being the first airline to receive the Airbus A380, in March 2006, Singapore Airlines is positioning itself as the early leader for overhauling the 555-seat transport. There won't be any need for that for at least a half-dozen years after its introduction, so it's still early for the region's major maintenance, repair and overhaul centers (MRO) to start making any moves. Besides the 10 orders for Singapore (SIA), Qantas, Korean Airlines and Malaysia Airlines complete the Asia-Pacific A380 list with total firm orders of 23 aircraft.
Ronald L. Swanda has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president-operations and Walter L. Desrosier to vice president from director of engineering and maintenance for the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn.
The economic downturn is not dampening the optimism of Airbus about the future of its A380. The program is such a long-term undertaking that it will be virtually immune to the airline industry's cycles, say company officials.
Your editorial "Beagle 2 Silence: Penury Scores Again" (AW&ST Jan. 5, p. 66) was sadly right about Britain's space funding. My country's public spending on both launchers and crew training is becoming an international scandal--make sure you chaps don't follow suit! Before Craig Steidle's office firms up the new super-heavy lift launcher for Project Constellation (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 28), let's revive the 1960s' Nova whose launch site was just north of today's space shuttle pads.
The unemployment rate for electrical and electronics engineers (EE) in the U.S. averaged a record 6.2% in 2003--a jump of 2% compared with 2002. In addition, the jobless rate for computer scientists and systems analysts reached an all-time high of 5.2% last year, four times higher than in 1998. The Labor Dept.'s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the number of employed electrical and electronics engineers declined by about 37,000 between the second and fourth quarters of 2003.
