YEAR-END BOOST A flurry of activity in late December provided a cheerful close to an otherwise troubled year for Arianespace. The European company's Ariane 5 was selected to launch XTAR-EUR, an X-band telecom spacecraft aimed at government users in the U.S., Spain and other allied nations, in the second quarter of 2004. The company was also picked to orbit France's Syracuse IIIb military communications satellite, in late 2005, and Eumetsat's third MSG new-generation geostationary weather satellite in the first half of 2009.
The retirement of David North as editor-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology represents the end of an era. His extensive aviation background makes his narrative descriptions come alive and his constructive criticism of our industry credible and poignant (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2003, pp. 3 and 98). His efforts are commendable and much appreciated. Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., will now ascend to the highest rung on the AW&ST editorial ladder, and congratulations are in order. Velocci brings a different perspective due to his business background.
PENSION PRUDENCE The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. will own nearly 2.4 times more US Airways stock than the carrier believes it should, under a Dec. 29 ruling from Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell. The PBGC, which took over the pension plan of US Airways' pilots when the airline terminated it--and in so doing became an unsecured creditor--claimed $2.1 billion in unfunded liabilities. US Airways, with an $894-million estimate, took the disagreement to court. The main conflict was centered on estimates of how much plan assets might earn in coming years.
MARSHAL PLAN The Homeland Security Dept.'s new requirement for air marshals on high-threat flights by foreign airlines into, out of or over the U.S. is deepening security-policy differences between the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., the order is no more than simple logic--if intelligence determines that a specific foreign flight poses a high risk of terrorism, the U.S. notifies the foreign government and that government plants a sky marshal on board. As an alternative, the U.S. doesn't accept the flight.
USAF Col. (ret.) Charlie Simpson, Executive Director (Assn. of Air Force Missileers, Breckenridge, Colo.)
Craig Covault got a lot right in "Higher and Faster," but his comment about the Atlas ICBM that ". . . more than 1,000 would be deployed around the northern U.S. . . ." is a little off base (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2003, p. 36). We had 1,054 ICBMs--Minuteman and Titan II--for a long time (after Atlas was phased out) but only fielded 123 Atlas ICBMs, plus the sites at Vandenberg. And I doubt folks living in Abilene, Tex.; Roswell, N.M.; Altus, Okla.: Salina and Topeka, Kan.; Lincoln and Omaha, Neb.; and Cheyenne, Wyo., consider themselves in the northern U.S.
Despite an already extensive B-2 upgrade plan to introduce enhancements in the coming years, the U.S. Air Force faces more bills or risks that the stealth bombers will incur operational limitations.
Herb Kelleher, founder/executive chairman of Southwest Airlines, has been named a member of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's Homeland Security Advisory Council. Kelleher will be vice chairman of the council's Private Sector Senior Advisory Committee. Ruth David, president/CEO of Anser Inc., has been appointed vice chair of the council's Academe and Policy Research Senior Advisory Committee. USN Vice Adm. (ret.) Robert Spane will be a member of the committee. He is commissioner of the Unified Port of San Diego.
SES NORDIC STAKE SES Global will increase its share in Nordic Satellite AB to 75%, further integrating the Scandinavian operator into the SES network. SES agreed on Dec. 15 to buy half of Swedish Space Corp.'s 50% stake in NSAB for an undisclosed sum, after purchasing an initial interest three years ago (AW&ST July 24, 2000, p. 76). SSC will continue to provide telemetry, tracking and control services for NSAB's two Sirius satellites under a revised technical accord. The move followed a Dec.
EUROCOPTER'S SPANISH PARTNER EADS CASA of Spain has taken a 5% stake in EADS' wholly owned Eurocopter affiliate, transforming the Franco-German firm into a trinational entity. The move, which follows Spain's recent decision to join the Tiger multirole helicopter program, was taken under a capital injection that raised Eurocopter's equity to 581.6 million euros ($697 million). The stake will give CASA rights to a seat on the Eurocopter supervisory board.
In his Nov. 10, 2003, article on the Boeing 7E7 (p. 22), Michael Mecham forecasts that: "No longer will the company have a prime product with more than two engines, since the 747 is fading from Boeing's lineup, especially for passenger services." We believe the 747, both in its latest 747-400ER configuration and in future versions made possible by technology developed for the 7E7, will continue to make long-range air travel comfortable for the passenger and profitable for airlines.
Laddie Irion has been elected chairman of the board of governors of the Alexandria, Va.-based Airport Consultants Council for 2004. He is a vice president of the URS Corp., Tampa, Fla. Other new officers are: vice chairman, Charles R. Chambers, Global Aviation Associates; and secretary/ treasurer, Belinda G. Hargrove, TransSolutions. Other board members are: Paul Bowers, Airport Business magazine; G. Patrick Brown, CH2MHILL; Michael DeVoy, R.W.
Australia's defense ministry has eliminated the EH-101 being bid by AgustaWestland and its team member BAE Systems Australia from the first major element of the Air 9000 helicopter modernization project. This limits the competition to Sikorsky and Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace, representing NH Indus-tries. Under the current phase of the project, Australia's 36 S-70 Black Hawks will be upgraded and helicopters will be added for another troop transport squadron.
The U.S. Navy plans to spend about $11 million through July 2005 to close the AV-8B Harrier production line at Boeing's St. Louis facility. The work will include disposing of toolings, thus closing off chances to easily restart production should the replacement Joint Strike Fighter be derailed.
The consolidation of Europe's aero-engine industry, although delayed by recent unilateral moves, could possibly be underway by the end of the decade, according to Italian executives.
French defense procurement agency DGA has kicked off a program to demonstrate unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) technology, and concluded a preliminary agreement with Sweden to join the project. DGA said a prime contract for a demonstration vehicle would be awarded to Dassault Aviation early this year, and Sweden's Saab would have a "significant" subcontracting role. The agency said other European countries are expected to join the demonstrator project. First flight is expected in 2008.
USN Rear Adm. (selectee) Robert E. Cowley, 3rd, has been named commander of the Navy Exchange Service Command, Norfolk, Va. He has been deputy for acquisition and business management in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in Washington. Rear Adm. (selectee) Robert L. Phillips has been appointed deputy director of the Ashore Readiness Div. in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington. He has been vice commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington.
GPS BOLSTERED The new Lockheed Martin GPS 2R-10 spacecraft launched on a Boeing Delta II booster from Cape Canaveral Dec. 21 is undergoing final checkout in an 11,000-naut.-mi. orbit prior to becoming operational in the overall GPS constellation this month. Total cost of the mission is about $90 million, evenly split between the spacecraft and booster (shown). The navigation satellite, which will be redesignated SVN-47, replaces an older model GPS launched in 1990.
Two years ago, after the financially disastrous fiscal quarter that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the airline industry consensus was that its first chance for a profit recovery among the big U.S. network carriers would come in 2004. Data from the past several months suggest that this might actually work out.
Regarding Stephen J. Cabot's Viewpoint "How Airlines Can Avoid Debilitating Labor Problems" (AW&ST Dec. 8, 2003, p. 66), we see the restructuring of the major airlines because their organized labor is out of control. The answer is to rewrite the labor laws to include binding arbitration.
The NTSB is recommending the FAA require installation of a crash-protected image-recording device on all turbine-powered aircraft--which, if implemented, will likely stir up privacy and cost concerns in an industry where morale, and bank accounts, are low. The board's recommendations, issued on Dec. 22, grew out of its investigations of numerous accidents involving turbine-powered aircraft, notably the Oct. 25, 2002, crash of a Raytheon Beechcraft King Air at Eveleth, Minn., in which U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven other people were killed.
Astar Air Cargo cleared a major hurdle to the viability of its U.S. feed operation for DHL Worldwide Express when an administrative law judge affirmed its U.S. citizenship. Astar's rivals in the express and package carrier business still contend the DHL Airways successor is controlled by Deutsche Post, a foreign entity, and are nowhere near ready to call it quits.
EXPANDED ORDER Korean Air decided to add two 777-200ERs to the seven it said it would order in a memorandum of understanding at last year's Paris air show. The nine new aircraft are valued at $1.5 billion and will bring the Seoul-based carrier's total 777 fleet to 22. They will be powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4090 engines. Deliveries are to begin in 2005 and run through 2007. A Korean Air official characterized the order as a strategic investment toward a long-term plan to simplify and modernize Korean Air's fleet.
Maj. Ulf Bladh "flies" a mission in the Swedish air force's new Dynamic Flight Simulator. Configured as a JAS 39 Gripen fighter cockpit with a three-screen visual display, the Wyle Laboratories-developed system is a combined flight simulator and centrifuge, allowing pilots to replicate the pitch, roll and normal accelerations of actual flight (see p. 46). Swedish Defense Materiel Administration photo by Pia Eriksson.
TSA'S BEST FRIEND The Transportation Security Administration this year plans to expand its National Explosives Detection Canine Team to 354 at 82 major U.S. airports. Since Sept. 11, 2001, their numbers doubled to 300 working regularly at 64 of the nation's busiest airports, including Atlanta, Boston and Chicago. The TSA covers the cost of training the canine and the handler; training includes searching for hidden explosives in the cockpits, cabins and overhead bins of six aircraft types.
New regulations and procedures are needed to ensure safe UAV operations in civilian airspace as commercial applications emerge. In the longer term, European technicians and scientists expect unmanned aerial vehicles to play an important role in a highly automated airline industry.
