Mary Schiavo, Jeff Thompson and Robert Haefele have joined the aviation practice of the law firm of Motley Rice, Mount Pleasant, S.C. Schiavo is a former U.S. Transportation Dept. inspector general and had been with the Los Angeles law firm of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford and Schiavo. Thompson was a partner in the Texas law firm of Williams Bailey, and Haefele was an aviation litigation specialist at the New Jersey law firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer.
Your article "Piece of the Action" (AW&ST Oct. 27, p. 28) described the need for an International Space Station rescue vehicle. It said NASA's estimate of the cost is $11-13 billion.
The missile attack on a DHL cargo airplane in Baghdad is likely to fuel the debate about adding self-protection equipment to airliners. But electronic warfare experts fear serious policy issues still need to be addressed before any move is made to upgrade such aircraft.
DEFOGGER Controllers on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory mission are considering a "bakeout" to clear an instrument that has become fogged by the breakdown of lubricant in the spacecraft. The Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer has lost about 40% of its sensitivity to low-energy X-rays because of a hydrocarbon buildup on a filter that protects its charge-coupled devices from visible and ultraviolet light. At medium and high-energy X-ray levels, the loss is about 10%.
ALSO FOR INITIAL USE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO, Rockwell Collins has received the FAA's first supplemental type certification for a fully Arinc 718A-compatible automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) transmitter. Continental Airlines intends to upgrade 13 of its Boeing 737-800s with ADS-B transmitters in conjunction with the FAA's Safe Flight 21 program. The certification is part of Collins' Gulf of Mexico Advanced Traffic Surveillance (GoMATS) program.
Bruce N. Whitman, executive vice president of FlightSafety International, last week was appointed president of that organization. Founder A.L. Ueltschi will remain chairman. Whitman joined FlightSafety in 1961 as assistant to the president. He was elected executive vice president in 1962, and has held that position until his promotion.
Both of Boeing's sacked execs, Michael M. Sears and Darleen A. Druyun, were greatly respected in the aerospace industrial community and considered ethical people who ensured that everyone who worked for them "played by the rules," said a former senior Lockheed Martin official who regularly dueled with both.
Orbital Recovery Ltd. has concluded a prime contract with Dutch Space, moving forward its plans for a space tug to rescue stranded telecom satellites another notch. Backed by MirCorp investor Walt Anderson, Orbital Recovery originally unveiled the space tug, called the Spacecraft Life Extension System (SLES), as a generic design that could piggyback as a secondary payload on a large commercial rocket or as a primary mission on a light vehicle such as the Russian Dnepr. The first mission was set at the time for 2004 (AW&ST Sept. 16, 2002, p. 64).
In the first agreement between mainland China's carriers and the special administrative region of Hong Kong, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines has signed a code-share agreement with Dragonair for service on the short Guangzhou-Hong Kong route.
Virgin Group will move its entire back office and call center services to India as of January. It will start with outsourcing Virgin Atlantic Airways services and add other group companies later. Bangalore-based ICICI Onesource is handling the initial outsourcing.
After months of negotiation, the European Commission and the European Space Agency have concluded a cooperation agreement that may serve as a model for meteorological agencies and other organizations. The agreement, signed on Nov. 25, will allow ESA and the EC to launch and fund joint projects, participate in each other's programs and create common management agencies. It will also permit them to share experts, equipment and facilities and jointly pursue research, training and other endeavors.
MISSILE MILESTONE The U.S. and Japan have agreed to an offset workshare for developing the engine, nose cone and other components for an anti-ballistic missile interceptor. The offset is one way around the opposition to the Japan Defense Agency's plan to purchase Standard Missile SM-3s with unit prices of more than $17 million each (AW&ST Sept. 1, p. 19). The components are to be assembled in Japan and supplied to U.S. manufacturers. Japan will then import the completed missile.
THE CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES is calling for a drastic overhaul in the U.S. approach to spectrum management. A CSIS commission recommends establishing a senior White House position for spectrum management and a senior-level policy coordinating committee. The White House should then develop a comprehensive strategy for spectrum management with a road map for change, according to CSIS.
Swiss International Air Lines' already desperate straits may become a bit worse with the departure of the airline's commercial director, William Meaney. Meaney, 43, was one of the top directors reporting to CEO Andre Dose, and a key player in Swiss' restructuring plan. Despite having served briefly as CEO of Star Alliance, he had backed the decision to join the rival Oneworld alliance and engineered the overhaul of its European fare system. Swiss lost SF609 million ($457 million) in the first nine months and is facing 200 million francs in additional restructuring costs.
The G-FET II simulator that debuted last month combines a g-force platform, a modular tactical cockpit and high-fidelity virtual tactical environment simulation to provide fighter pilots with realistic, low-risk, cost-efficient training. Its new technology, Authentic Tactical Flight Simulation (ATFS), is the brainchild of Southampton, Pa.-based Environmental Tectonics Corp. ETC designs, develops, installs and maintains aircrew training systems, including simulators and hyperbaric modules, for international and domestic clients.
OUT OF UKRAINE Charter operator Donbass Eastern Ukrainian Airlines is gradually evolving into a scheduled carrier and plans to begin operating to points outside the Commonwealth of Independent States. Officials of the airline have forged a partnership with Austrian Airlines and a sales agreement with the French Air Promotion Group. Donbass, which flies only Yakovlev Yak-42s and Antonov An-24s, will need an aircraft meeting Stage 3 noise rules to operate in Western Europe.
The bill from the KC-767 tanker deal struck between the Pentagon and Congress is sending shockwaves through the U.S. Air Force and may have already killed a nascent effort to buy additional F-15Es or F-16s to avoid looming force structure shortfalls. USAF officials were assessing the feasibility of buying more of the existing fighters, in part because F/A-22 numbers have come down and typical development problems are likely to delay the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to industry officials. More F-15Es were seen as the most likely choice.
CMC ELECTRONICS, THE PRIME avionics contractor for Korea Aerospace Industries KT-1C trainer aircraft, showed off its avionics suite at the recent Korea air show in a ground-based simulator of the front cockpit. The CMC suite includes the 25-deg. field of view SparrowHawk head-up display, three 5 X 7-in. multifunction displays, dual-redundant FV-4000 mission computers and hands-on throttle and stick controls.
SHUTTLE SEARCH Search-and-rescue (SAR) experts continue to refine the techniques they would use in the aftermath of a space shuttle crash that is deemed survivable. A recent 7-hr. exercise at Edwards AFB, Calif.--a backup shuttle landing site--involved NASA and more than 15 other civilian and military agencies, including a number of California law enforcement and rescue units.
As Europe shows signs of climbing out of its airline recession, Boeing is renewing its long-planned effort to breathe life into the 737-900 program with a derivative that's likely to find its first customers among European charter carriers. Called the -900X, the program increases the aircraft's passenger count from 189 in a two-class layout to 204, or even 210 if a new style of flat rear bulkhead is employed.
SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL Some within the Pentagon expect a shakeup of Boeing's Washington staffers responsible for navigating the KC-767 tanker lease through Congress. The deal was first delayed, then slashed from a lease of 100 aircraft to only 20, and now has been put on hold by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
TINY TRACKER EADS Defense & Security Systems has unveiled a hand-launched portable UAV designed for "over-the-hill" battlefield surveillance, identification and target designation missions. Developed in cooperation with SurveyCopter, the 1.4-meter (4.6-ft.)-long twin-engine, twin-boom Tracker weighs 7.5 kg. (16.5 lb.) and can remain in the air for 1 hr. It is intended as part of an integrated UAV system including small rotary-wing models and micro units (AW&ST Nov. 17, p. 34).
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 20 Concorde leaves JFK for last time, but this time by barge 21 First flight for first produc- tion model of Tu-334 twinjet 21 Ground controllers trying to keep Nozomi mission alive WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 26 Boeing works to contain damage from ethical scandal 28 Critics believe Boeing board took steps to appease USAF 29 Boeing sector wins Baldrige National Quality Award 29 KC-767 bill forces delay in other modernization plans
POWERPLUS General Electric and the Indian government are working out details surrounding GE's propulsion offering for India's Light Combat Aircraft. GE is proposing a 20,000-lb.-thrust-class engine that would combine the hot section of the F404-GE-402 now used in the F/A-18C/D Hornet, with the low-pressure section from the RM12 version of the F404, which powers the JAS 39 Gripen. The resulting powerplant, designated F404-GE-IN20, would be controlled using a full-authority digital engine control (Fadec) from GE's F414, the engine used by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
