DRIVING FORCE The Transportation Security Administration's rigid airport security procedures have forced elite government firefighters to give up flying commercially and hit the road instead. During a heavy forest-fire season--such as the one currently winding down in the northwestern U.S.--a number of smoke-jumper and "helitack" firefighting crews may be deployed anywhere in the nation. The specialized teams are then flown by aircraft or helicopter to isolated areas and left to fight fires unassisted.
Every time I fly, I notice how easy it would be for a small group of terrorists to rush the cockpit while the door was momentarily open, get inside and then lock themselves into this armored fortress.
The competition for an unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft is intensifying with a new concept from the workshops of General Atomics that features two days' endurance at altitudes up to 50,000 ft. The turboprop design has been dubbed the Predator B-ER, for extended range. It adds an 86-ft. wing from the Altair research aircraft and conformal fuel tanks to the original Predator B airframe.
Jack W. Ratliff, president/founder of Astro-Aire Enterprises, Oakland, Calif., has won the FAA's Charles Taylor "Master Mechanic" Award. It is presented to mechanics who have worked in aviation for at least 50 years and is named for the first mechanic of the Wright brothers.
Elise Eberwein has been named vice president-corporate communications for America West Airlines. She was vice president-communications at Frontier Airlines. Eberwein will be succeeded on an interim basis by Ann Block, who also is Frontier's vice president-human resources and inflight services.
Astronaut Barbara Morgan; Marla Perez-Davis of NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland and Andrea Donnellan of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., have received awards from Women in Aerospace. Morgan, who is assigned as a crewmember on STS-118, received the Aerospace Educator Award for pioneering work in integrating space research with classroom education.
DUTCH TREAT Industrial teams from the Netherlands have won contracts valued at $58 million for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter via its system development and demonstration phase, which continues through 2012. Stork Fokker AESP B.V. signed a letter of agreement for $55 million with Northrop Grumman to design, develop and produce landing gear, inflight refueling and other types of flight movable doors. Northrop Grumman also will use cryogenic coolers built by Netherlands-based Thales NL.
The Cantata++ Ver. 3.1 software testing tool for C/C++ professionals in the avionics industry is suited for software designed for use in flight or engine control. One new feature is an enhanced set of Java-based "test wizards" that guide users through testing steps. These include: enabling access to private class members leading to improved testability of the developer's code and improved "wrapper" technology.
Frank Gillern (see photo) has been named vice president of the Rogers Corp.'s Advanced Circuit Materials Div., Chandler, Ariz. He succeeds Robert Daigle, who is now vice president-research and development/chief technology officer for the Rogers, Conn.-based company. Gillern was vice president-operations for Rogers joint venture Durel Corp.
Interest from Star Alliance members Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada and SAS Scandinavian Airlines has prompted Boeing to offer the 717-300X stretch of its 717-200 regional jet. Separately, recent tests show the -200 model is quiet enough to operate at southern California's John Wayne airport without requiring a special takeoff profile. Midwest Airlines started the first 717 operations at that airport on Oct. 1, flying a route to Kansas City, Mo.
Geoff Nye has become Eastern U.S. sales director for new accounts for Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga. He was a sales associate for Bloomer deVere Group Avia Inc.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who started his tenure at the civilian space agency with a push for closer links with the U.S. military and intelligence space programs, used an international conference here to urge more collaboration across national borders on civil space efforts, including the Orbital Space Plane.
A novel technique that enables transistor amplifiers to produce significantly greater power at millimeter-wave frequencies--which has many military and civil applications--has led to the creation of a new company in Southern California, Wavestream Corp.
Scaled Composites is planning changes for its SpaceShipOne rocket glider, following a pitchup incident in flight test that showed the current configuration is not safe for the planned flight to 100 km. altitude.
Michael A. Taverna (Bremen, Germany), Douglas Barrie (London)
The European Space Agency is attempting to dispel the notion its Smart-1 mission--Europe's first ever to the Moon--will be of little scientific significance. Following launch last week on an Ariane 5 atop two large telecom payloads--Eutelsat's e-Bird satellite and India's Insat 3-E--the Smart-1 spacecraft was undergoing initial systems checkout by ESA's Darmstadt, Germany, operations center.
China is on track to loft by 2008 the first model of its next-generation launcher family--probably a heavy-lift version capable of carrying an orbital laboratory--officials said at the International Astronautical Federation Congress here last week, as they fleshed out details of the new line.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Robert Wall (Washington)
China has inked a draft agreement to join Galileo, reinforcing the prestige and economic viability of the European satellite navigation system but also increasing the chances of a political confrontation with Washington, which has cast a leery eye on the project from the outset.
Moving on fast-forward after four months of inactivity following the SARS health crisis, Taiwan's China Airlines is inaugurating more services this year than at any time in its history. Two weeks ago, it added Brisbane, Australia, as its 44th international destination with the start of twice-weekly Airbus A340-300 flights. China Air (CAL) already serves Sydney.
NEELAM MATHEWS, a long-time New Delhi-based freelance journalist for Aviation Week & Space Technology, has joined the staff as a contributing editor. She has been a regular contributor on aviation and travel-related news in South Asia to a number of international print and electronic publications, including hotelbenchmark.com and Business Travel News. Mathews also has been a regular contributor to The Economic Times, India's largest financial daily.
SOARING . . . A new joint National Reconnaissance Office and CIA initiative to find long-endurance, high-altitude UAVs that can substitute for satellites is being echoed in other agencies. The U.S. Navy is still considering an AeroVironment/L-3 Helios UAV for a telecommunications node known as Theaternet. The Air Force also has issued a new request for proposals for a network-centric capability that would use UAVs to fill significant gaps in communications in the Middle East--in particular for Iraq.
AN EDUCATED CONSUMER Like most defense establishments, Australia has been struggling to avoid waste in military procurement. Government representatives, in recent years, have aimed at improving processes and, earlier this month, unveiled further steps to make the military a smarter buyer. Requirements are to be better defined and vetted through a new Capability Group led by a three-star officer or civilian equivalent, whose job it is to ensure that schedules and cost estimates are reliable.
RETURN ASAP Two members of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) who resigned in the face of criticism from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board will continue as members of the task force overseeing how well NASA meets the accident board recommendations.
David Arnold, vice president/chief technical officer of Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pa., is among the new members elected into the College of Fellows of the Dearborn, Mich.-based Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Others are: Dennis S. Bray, executive vice president of Cincinnati Inc.; Thomas Charlton, Jr., a consultant in North Kingstown, R.I.; Fukuo Hashimoto, senior scientist and director of advanced process technology for the Timken Co., Canton, Ohio; Bruce M.
GETTING THE LOWDOWN Southwest Airlines is offering a "low-fare finder" online tool that allows customers to view lowest fares available for a full month. The information is aimed at passengers with flexible travel dates and is displayed at a glance in color-coded calendar form. According to the airline, similar sites of other airlines only display low fares for a few days.
