FIREFIGHTING TANKER CRASH A P-2V-7 Neptune aerial firefighting tanker crashed in the mountains east of San Bernardino, Calif., on Oct. 4, killing its two pilots. The aircraft, under contract to the U.S. Forest Service, had been stationed in Missoula, Mont., most of the summer. Tanker 99 was being ferried from Prescott, Ariz., to the San Bernardino tanker base at the former Norton AFB about 70 mi. east of Los Angeles. An investigation is ongoing, but preliminary reports did not indicate any obvious mechanical problems or structural failures.
JetBlue's board of directors last week approved the low-fare carrier's second 3-for-2 common-stock split in less than a year, reflecting confidence in the company's growth expectations, said airline President David Neeleman. Securities analysts share that positive view.
NET-CENTRIC NATION-BUILDING Defense Dept. net-centric mogul Linten Wells says the military has a weakness in conducting "Phase 4" operations, such as the occupation and stabilization of Iraq. This requires just as much network-centric information-sharing and collaboration as needed for combat operations, he told an Aviation Week conference here. This means the U.S. will have to recognize that the civil side of the civil/military equation has requirements that are just as important as the military side.
DRAGON LADY Odds are Darleen Druyun will leave Boeing even if she survives investigation by the Pentagon's Inspector General. The embattled former Air Force acquisition official has become the focal point for suspicions that Boeing was provided EADS pricing information in the fight to supply 100 leased tankers--a deal still stalled in the Senate. But don't count the notoriously feisty executive out yet.
NEW PIPER AIRCRAFT HAS SOLD 13 AIRPLANES to the State University of New York at Farmingdale and plans to deliver the fleet late this year. According to a Piper official, new aircraft include two Piper Arrows with retractable landing gear, one twin-engine Piper Seminole and 10 Piper Warriors. These will replace the campus' fleet of Diamond DA-20 trainers.
With travel picking up after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) health crisis, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways is planning increased services as the winter flight schedule gets underway in late October. SARS hit Hong Kong travel so severely that Cathay had to cancel 48% of its flights from April and May, parking 22 aircraft in the process. It also issued the first profit warning since its founding after World War II. SARS killed more than 200 persons in Hong Kong.
A replica of the 1902 Wright Glider made 12 flights on Oct. 8 from the Wright Experience facility near Warrenton, Va. The 75% scale model of the 1903 Wright Flyer, without the engine and propellers, is being used to train the pilot ultimately picked by training coordinator Scott Crossfield to fly the powered 1903 Flyer exact replica at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., on Dec. 17. Using a small truck to tow the glider, pilots Terry Queijo, Kevin Kochersberger and Chris Johnson flew during the very early morning training session.
Canada will be the sixth country to introduce the Sagem Sperwer in its UAV fleet. The C$27.5-million ($21-million) buy for one full Sperwer system is intended to support Canadian forces operating in Afghanistan under the U.N. International Security Assistance Forces. Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece and France have also acquired Sperwer hardware.
STIRRING THE (BEAN) POT JetBlue will expand into Boston in January, threatening United's yields in the Denver market and competing with American and Delta's low-fare Song operation on Florida routes. JetBlue said it will price its single daily Denver round trip at $115-244, compared with $369-682 for United, per an Oct. 6 Orbitz search.
Graham Bailey (see photo) has been named Goodrich's vice president-Airbus customer services, based in Toulouse, France. He succeeds Wes Perry, who has retired. Bailey was marketing director for the Controls Div. of Ultra Electronics and had been regional director of the Landing Gear Div. of Goodrich.
Nearly one-third of incremental loss claims filed by 18 airlines seeking Sept. 11 grants from the Transportation Dept. were found to be invalid in audits conducted by the department's inspector general's office.
FRENCH PENDULUM The defense-related portion of Dassault Aviation's revenues in the last few months soared to 61%, up from 35% last year. The French company's military workload has fluctuated widely in the wake of strong export sales and soft economic conditions. Business jet sales are currently weak while the defense division is delivering more export Mirage 2000-9s and air force/navy Rafales. In the first half of the fiscal year, Dassault's revenues dipped slightly to 1.52 billion euros ($1.79 billion) while net profit remained stable at 141 million euros.
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Chinese presentations at the annual International Astronautics Federation Congress underscored the country's outsized space ambitions. Most notable was a new 120-metric-ton thrust liquid oxygen/kerosene (LOX/KO) engine that will equip China's next-generation launch vehicle (AW&ST Oct. 6, p. 46).
Development of a separate European Union planning center in Tervuren, Belgium, that would have allowed the EU to conduct military operations independent of NATO has been dropped in a move intended to improve the chances of adopting a security and defense policy for Europe's new constitution. The center, backed by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, had been bitterly resisted by other nations, led by the U.K., which argued that suitable headquarters facilities already existed at the national level and within NATO to run EU operations separately.
As defense and space spending comes under increasing pressure in Germany, officials from military and space research organizations are having to wrestle with the implications of further cuts. The German air force will find out its share of additional cuts by the end of 2004 as the defense ministry struggles to balance its equipment program with expenditures.
E-MAIL ALOFT Rockwell Collins and Connexion by Boeing have formed a strategic partnership that will extend Connexion's inflight intranet services to super midsize and larger executive jets. Called Collins eXchange, the service will rely on two-way high-speed connectivity and network/satellite asset management from Connexion. Collins is to provide and install antennas and manage the airborne system installation, vendor relations, marketing and sales. Installation is to begin in mid-2004 for service in early 2005.
STIRRING NEWS Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. will partner with Eclipse Aviation Corp. to produce the complete wing assembly for the Eclipse 500. Their agreement includes the license of Eclipse's friction stir welding process for use in the wing assemblies as well as throughout other Fuji products, which include Subaru automobiles. Friction stir welding is highly automated, leading to a faster structural joining process. Fuji also produces the center wing section for Boeing 777s and has contracted with Airbus to manufacture parts for the A380.
Change is on the way for U.S. Army aviation, with the service's new chief of staff having asked for a review of equipment and plans that could fundamentally alter the path the service takes. At the same time, doctrine writers are starting to adjust the warfighting emphasis for the aviation community, reflecting the experiences of recent years.
Airbus has launched the Increased Growth Weight A340-600 in response to operators' demands for higher payload. It's scheduled to enter service by mid-2006 with Emirates as the first customer. This is part of the European manufacturer's goal to acquire more business in the replacement market. According to Airbus sales executives, the A340-600 can be a successor to aging 747-200s.
Michelle Holt has been appointed customer service manager for Western Aircraft Inc., Boise, Idaho. She was marketing and membership services manager for the Idaho Rural Water Assn.
After finding seven bundles of severed cables under an instrument panel on one of its A330s at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Oct. 3, Malaysia Airlines' engineering staff suspected sabotage and grounded the aircraft. The carrier accommodated 300 Perth-bound passengers on another aircraft. The cables were located beneath a panel door under the left seat. They were discovered during routine checks 2 hr. before departure, when lights on several systems came on once the systems were powered up, indicating a malfunction.
The deliberate destruction of the $3-billion U.S./European Galileo planetary probe to prevent it from crashing into one of Jupiter's moons underscores the importance NASA and other space agencies place on protecting planets and moons from biological contamination as a by-product of exploration. With the pace of robotic solar system forays quickening, planetary protection is likely to gain increased visibility.
SHUTTLE STAYS GROUNDED NASA has slipped the space shuttle's return to flight to no earlier than the fall of 2004, with the new planning target for launch between Sept. 12 and Oct. 10. The window was set by a daylight-launch requirement so the external tank can be photographed. It was pushed back from an expected July-August window by the heavy amount of work to be done.
The first Chinese manned space mission is tentatively scheduled for liftoff at 9 a.m. Beijing time Oct. 15 (2 p.m. EDT Oct. 14) from the Jiuquan launch site in the Gobi Desert. While still shrouding the mission in secrecy, the Chinese last week announced plans to provide live television coverage of the launch. The flight's Long March 2F booster and Shenzhou 5 spacecraft, a vehicle standing 170 ft. tall, have been rolled atop a rail mobile transporter from Jiuquan's new Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad for final checkout and fueling.
