X-Prize organizers expect someone to claim the $10-million reward this year by sending a piloted three-seat reusable spacecraft into suborbital space twice in two weeks. Diane Murphy, an EADS North America vice president who sits on the X-Prize board, declined to speculate on who might win the prize, listing Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace and Geoff Sheerin of Canadian Arrow among the contenders. With 11 test flights, including one that broke the sound barrier while ascending (AW&ST Dec. 22, 2003, p.
Reading "Correspondence" about "Bush's Space Plan: Bold Vision or Moondoggle?" (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 6; Jan. 26, p. 58) , and in particular the letter about benefits of a lunar base for getting helium-3 for fusion power, I wonder if there could not be another interesting goal for NASA.
Daniel R. Mulville has been named to the board of advisers of Constellation Services International Inc., Alexandria, Va. He was associate deputy administrator of NASA.
THE BE A PILOT PROGRAM generated 34,056 pilot prospects in 2003--an increase of 1.3% despite the war in Iraq and a weak U.S. economy, said Drew Steketee, president and CEO. Since the program was launched in 1997, more than 200,000 people have registered for an introductory flight, and surveys indicate about 40,000 of these went to a participating flight school and took their first flight in a small airplane. Steketee said 2,114 flight schools in the U.S. and Canada honor the introductory flight certificates, which cost $49.
Italian Army Gen. Rolando Mosca Moschini has been named chief of the European Military Staff in Brussels. He has been chief of the Italian Defense Staff. He will be succeeded by Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, who has been chief of procurement for the Italian Ministry of Defense. Di Paola, in turn, will be succeeded by Army Lt. Gen. Gianni Botondi.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE HAS INTRODUCED the first five Learjet 40 business jets into service. According to Peter Edwards, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, two aircraft were delivered to U.S. customers, two will be operating with Bombardier's Flexjet fractional ownership program and the fifth is flying for an operator in Germany. The Learjet 40 received FAA certification in July 2003, and approval from the European Joint Aviation Authorities in January 2004.
Nicolas de Ledinghen has become vice president of the Navigation and Aeronautical Communications Div. of France-based Alcatel. He succeeds Serge Bertrand, who has been appointed chief operating officer of Galileo Industries.
Darrel B. Fuller (see photo) has been appointed manager of the Thin Film Coatings Dept. of Janos Technology Inc., Townshend, Vt. He was a senior development engineer for Exotic Electro Optics, Murrieta, Calif.
Cortec's VpCI-126 anti-corrosion packaging film is now available in a degradable version. Called VpCI-126 BIO, the film degrades into basic organic elements such as water and carbon dioxide when it comes in contact with organic materials during disposal. The product degrades in less than five years, according to the manufacturer, and meets Mil-B-22019-C and Mil-B-22020-C specifications. The company says the film is 25% stronger in tear and puncture resistance, elongation and tensile strength than competing anti-corrosion packaging films.
Australia is projecting a huge jump in new aerospace-related projects, with the country looking to significantly boost spending on endurance unmanned aircraft over plans devised just a few years ago. In its latest 10-year defense capabilities blueprint, the Australian government is laying out projects that would cost $38 billion, with aerospace as the largest growth area but with significant increases projected for munitions and electronics. Aerospace spending would peak around $2.7 billion by 2012.
Marion C. Blakey is an FAA administrator with a mission in Asia this week: an aviation tour of Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Her goal: partnership-building with key Asian countries that are "vital to raising the global level of safety." Blakey starts her mission as keynote speaker at the International Air Transport Assn.'s conference that kicks off Asian Aerospace, the industry gathering in Singapore (see p. 54). The FAA chief then meets with government and industry officials to learn how the region's aviation systems work--and what needs fixing.
Signs of recovery are nowhere to be seen as the African airline industry faces a punishing crisis. In West Africa alone, barring Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon, all national carriers have collapsed. Competition from large Western companies with 70% of the lucrative international traffic threatens to further weigh down their African counterparts.
A HIGH-RESOLUTION MILLIMETER-WAVE RADAR developed by QinetiQ to detect small objects on runways that pose a foreign object damage (FOD) hazard to jet engines will be tested starting in March at Southampton, England, and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports. The Tarsier radar operates at 77 or 94 GHz. and can spot objects as small as a wheel hub (about 3 in. across), with an accuracy of 3 meters (9.8 ft.) out to a range of 2 km. (1.2 mi.), according to the company. Cost of equipping an airport would be about 450 euros ($576), depending on airport configuration.
The LNB-6300-50-112 low-noise block-down converter has applications in the commercial and military satcom markets. This X-band LNB converts the X-band downlink frequencies of 7.25-7.75 to an output frequency of 950-1450 MHz. Key performance specifications include conversion gain of 50 dB., typical noise figure of 1.3 dB. and flatness of ±0.5 dB. above 40 MHz. Temperature range is -30C to +60C. Local oscillator frequency is 6.30 GHz., local oscillator stability is ±13 KHz., and phase noise is -75 dBc. at 1 KHz. -85 dBc at 10 KHz., and -95 dBc. at 100 KHz.
Michael Mecham (San Francisco), William Dennis (Kuala Lumpur), Neelam Matthews (New Delhi)
The 2004 edition of the biennial Asian Aerospace exhibition will be held at Singapore's Changi Exhibition Center this week on a far more optimistic note than anytime since the 1990s. This is one of the industry's "big five" events and easily Asia's most important. Major manufacturers often use it to introduce some of their niche products and services, but they rarely make major announcements. Instead, Singapore offers Asia's vast supplier and service providers a chance to showcase their talents. European and U.S. exhibitors come to meet them and talk shop.
Switzerland's federal office for civil aviation late last month closed an inspection file involving Hemus Air, a Bulgarian charter airline operating Tu-134s, Tu-154s and Yak-40s. On Feb. 6, the Swiss officials told Hemus Air "at this time neither your company nor one of your aircraft is banned to fly to and from Switzer-land." The comments come in the aftermath of the Jan. 3 Flash Airlines Boeing 737-300 accident in Egypt. During the investigation, the technical integrity of charter airlines has been questioned (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 47).
Hopes for the first direct passenger and cargo flights between Taiwan and China in 54 years have been deflated due to the failure of the two countries to agree to charter services over the Lunar New Year holiday. China agreed to charters by six Taiwanese carriers operating 16 services, but Taipei wouldn't agree to reciprocal rights for Chinese carriers. China also sought point-to-point services, but Taipei insisted that they make stops in Hong Kong.
Leonard Maniscalco has become vice president-finance of the Miami-based Safire Aircraft Co. He was executive director of finance for Noven Pharmaceuticals, also in Miami.
The 5140 circuit breaker is temperature compensated, and addresses the need of higher current capacity in less space and weight for commercial and military aircraft applications. With optional auxiliary contacts, the three-pole breaker weighs less than 150 grams--up to 10% less than competing devices, according to the manufacturer, which adds that weight savings can be significant in an aircraft using dozens of circuit breakers. The 5140 thermal circuit breaker was designed for 400 Hz., three-pole applications from 20-50 amps.
I always took for granted that the Wright brothers were first in powered flight. But after the complete failure to get the replica off the ground last Dec. 17, I started to wonder. Even with the ultimate in technical knowledge not available in 1903, a light engine and so forth, the replica was not able to fly, even with a gravity-assisted run. The lack of sufficient headwind speed--at least 25 kt.--was to blame. But how can an aircraft be considered powered if it can only can become airborne on a "sloped" runway, facing headwinds of at least 25 kt.?
Ron Root has been appointed chairman/CEO of Hupp Aerospace/Defense, New Haven, Ind. He succeeds founder Noel Hupp, who will become vice chairman. Rott had been acting president.
I am continually struck by the philosophical differences in core values between Boeing and Airbus. In an article on the emerging weakness of the U.S. dollar to the euro (AW&ST Jan. 26, p. 30), it was noted that Airbus executives acknowledge that "Airbus is largely recognized as a tangible symbol of European unity and could not contemplate relocating parts of its production facilities in low-cost countries or in the U.S."
I wish people would stop bashing Boeing or its current executives like Sigmund Alexander did in his letter "Heritage of the B-47" (AW&ST Jan. 26, p. 6).
Defense spending in Asia is slowly rebounding, but it is being driven by new political and economic realities that could alter traditional spending habits. Emerging factors impacting military procurement trends range from a growing awareness of the need to better integrate equipment, to concerns about ballistic missiles (see story on p. 72), to China's increasing economic and military force, say industry representatives.
