The British Defense Ministry still needs to take a more skeptical view of developmental risk, irrespective of recent acquisition reform, if it is to avoid being hit with additional support costs. This is a key criticism leveled at the ministry by the British Parliament's financial watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), in its annual review of defense procurement, the "Major Projects Report 2003."
Delta Air Lines increased its mainline jet aircraft utilization to nearly 9 hr. per day by the end of 2003 and intends to reach 9-plus hr. this year, Chief Financial Officer Michele Burns tells securities analysts. Ten hours probably is a stretch, she says, but planned gains represent the equivalent of adding nine aircraft to the fleet. The pace-setters are the 757s in the Song airline-within-an-airline flying point-to-point, and thus unburdened by connecting traffic, they spend an average of 13.5 hr. per day in the air.
Following the publication of the Sikorsky S-92 pilot evaluation in the Sept. 29, 2003, issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology, I received a letter from USAF Maj. Regan Patrick, a HH-60G Pave Hawk pilot in a combat search-and-rescue unit at Nellis AFB, Nev. Patrick chided me, noting that because I am not a rated helicopter pilot, I had omitted some specific performance parameters that would have been of interest to helicopter pilots in better evaluating the S-92. I discussed these points with him, and asked what queries should have been posed during the flight.
Cost overruns on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other projects, as well as continued criticism about inadequate levels of procurement spending, are expected to be major issues during the up-coming military budget debate in the U.S. Congress.
The FAA is ordering a 5% reduction in peak period flights for American and United Airlines at Chicago's O'Hare and is sending a "tiger team" to the Terminal Radar Approach Control there to evaluate training, staffing, procedures, overtime and volume of traffic. The National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. has maintained for some time that O'Hare needs more controllers on staff and that the rising incidence of runway incursions is cause for concern.
Ward D. Rummel, president/trustee of D&W Enterprises, Littleton, Colo., has received the 2003 John W. Lincoln Award during the annual U.S. Air Force Aircraft Structural Integrity Program Conference. Rummel was recognized for many years of work in advancing technology associated with aircraft structural integrity.
JetBlue Airways, which carries more passengers than any other airline at its New York Kennedy International Airport base, has applied to the U.S. Transportation Dept. for 10 slot exemptions at nearby New York LaGuardia. CEO David Neeleman said the low-fare carrier will continue to add flights and destinations at Kennedy but wants to "give our customers another option." The application would support five round trips per day at an airport where yields are high and slots are prized.
Frost & Sullivan estimates about half of the U.S. Homeland Security Dept. spending of $31.9 billion this year will go to homeland security activities and an equal amount will be spent by federal agencies not affiliated with the department. New initiatives under consideration include information technology infrastructure, first responder grants, and chemical or biological defense detection and countermeasures. A long-awaited Homeland Security Dept. procurement system should be in place by 2005.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics has been selected by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems to provide Eldec Regulated Transformer Rectifier Units for the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program.
Anton F. Rodde has become president of the Collaboration Properties Inc. subsidiary of the Avistar Communications Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif. He was president/CEO of Western Data Systems.
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit suffered its first major setback last week when it lost all communications with Earth for half a day, and reappeared with a signal indicating it was in a fault mode. Engineers were particularly anxious because the observed behavior did not quickly fit a simple pattern.
A few years ago, in an ad promoting AW&ST, a Navy admiral gave your publication an "OK-3" for excellence. With the Dec. 29, 2003, issue showcasing 20 American warriors who earned the Medal of Honor, you again have earned an OK-3. Included in those 20 warriors was my personal hero, Leo K. Thorsness, who was also promoted from major to colonel. Thorsness earned his MOH in my all-time favorite jet, the 105, the Thud.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Teradyne's Assembly Test Div. a $67-million multiyear contract for test equipment to support intermediate level maintenance on the B-1B bomber. Teradyne will supply 35 Spectrum 9000-Series Functional Test Systems to the Oklahoma Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB.
The Tarantula Nebula has yielded its secrets to NASA's new infrared observatory, the Spitzer Space Telescope. The nebula in the southern sky's Large Magellanic Cloud is the closest "starburst" site, where stars are formed on a massive scale. By stripping away the nebula's obscuring dust, the Spitzer--formerly known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility--has given astronomers their first clear view of the cluster of massive young stars at the nebula's core. Stars there are as much as 100 times as massive as the Sun, and at least 100,000 times brighter.
European travel leader TUI is poised to complete its transformation from a slow-growing industrial conglomerate to the world's largest travel company. TUI said it would float its Hapag-Lloyd shipping and cruise affiliate later this year and sell off its remaining energy and logistics businesses to focus on further tourism growth.
It has long been my hope that the U.S. will return to the Moon to build a SETI radio-astronomy site on the lunar far side, shielded from Earth's radio noise. The new laser light SETI search could use this location as well.
Vagn Soerensen has been elected president of the Assn. of European Airlines. He is chief executive of Austrian Airlines. Soerensen succeeds Rod Eddington, British Airways' chief executive.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Ryan Leeds at +1 (212) 904-3892/+1 (800) 240-7645 (U.S. and Canada Only) Mar. 8-9--European Transport Leaders Conference. Merrill Lynch Headquarters, London. Mar. 10-14--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 25-26--Defense Budget Conference. Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, Va. Apr. 20-22--MRO USA/MRO Latin America/MRO Military. Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta.
China Southern Airlines has taken delivery of the first of eight Boeing 737-700s as part of an order that included a dozen 737-800s. Those have all been delivered; the -700 deliveries continue through the year.
If the U.S. aerospace industry has its way, there will be fewer lavish international air shows and the ones that survive will be shorter, cost less and have fewer attendees. The gatherings may even dispense with the flying of airplanes. To effect such change, the Aerospace Industries Assn. of America has fired off a letter to officials of four shows telling them U.S. companies cannot continue to support them in the style to which they have grown accustomed. And the AIA has issued a policy statement intended as a shot across the bow of the smaller shows.
The trainer market is fast becoming dependent on shared programs. BAE Systems' Hawk won a notable victory in this market in mid-2003, with an order for the U.K.'s Military Flying Training System (MFTS) competition. While only good for an initial 20 planes (with 24 more options), the order preserves a production line that had been in danger of closing. The order, and the launch of MFTS, also cements the U.K. lead in trainer manufacturing and services.
US Airways said it will consolidate two of its wholly owned regional-airline subsidiaries, Allegheny and Piedmont, in order to bring operation of its 82 de Havilland Dash-8 aircraft under a single management, eliminating duplicate functions. Currently, each airline has an all-Dash-8 fleet of 41 aircraft. US Airways said it prefers to merge Allegheny assets and employees into Piedmont if it can obtain labor agreements on representation and work rules.
Sea Launch orbited Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1, a big K u-band communications satellite for the Brazilian market and inflight Internet services, in its first launch of the year. However, a deployment problem on one of the satellite's solar arrays threatened its long-term service life. The company's Zenit-3SL lifted off from the Sea Launch Odyssey platform at 11:13 p.m. EST on Jan. 11, from the Equator at 154 deg. W. Long. (photo). The vehicle used its Russian Block DM-SL upper stage to deploy its 10,350-lb.
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit made its first moves last week and was set to roll off the lander deck and onto Martian soil for the first time on Jan. 15. Rover health remained excellent, and officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) here believe warmer-than-expected temperatures mean that operations could last much longer than the 90-Martian-day (90 Sol; 92 Earth days) primary mission.
With India's defense ministry looking at hefty spending next year, Defexpo India 2004, to be held in New Delhi on Feb. 4-7, has attracted more than 300 exhibitors from 15 countries. The U.K., with 20 companies participating, will have the largest delegation at what joint director Rajesh Dhingra described as "the biggest exhibition of land and naval weapons in India." Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, DCN International, Dassault, British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce, Denel, and IAI are among the particpants.
