DaimlerChrysler has initiated plans to sell its MTU aero-engine unit even as the German government steps up maneuvers to ensure that key aerospace and defense assets do not fall under foreign control.
PORK PRESSURE The Columbia Accident Investigation Board took a couple of slaps at congressional pork barrel spending in its 248-page dissection of NASA's space shuttle program. The panel cited earmarks--those mandated spending line items that thicken congressional appropriations bills--and turf-guarding by state delegations with NASA field centers to protect. In describing downward pressure on shuttle spending, it quoted then-Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's estimate that congressional earmarks cost the agency $540 million in Fiscal 2002.
United Airlines and Air China have entered a marketing alliance that, beginning Oct. 31, will enable the carriers to offer 26 nonstop code-share flights weekly between the U.S. and China. Under the agreement, United will be able to add five more China destinations to its current services to Beijing and Shanghai. Air China will be able to extend services to 14 other U.S. cities, including Washington and Atlanta.
POLAR ENVIRONMENT Orbital Sciences Corp. has begun initial design of a new spacecraft to study atmospheric characteristics over the poles. The Astronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) program is set for launch on an OSC Pegasus XL booster off Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in 2006. A team from Hampton University in Virginia and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado awarded OSC an initial $25-million contract for the program in connection with NASA's Small Explorers Office at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Air New Zealand has recorded a pre-tax profit for its fiscal year ending June 30 of NZ$220 million ($126 million), a 57% increase over the previous year, when it was hit hard by losses generated by demise of its Ansett Australia subsidiary. The severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak did knock revenue down 0.7% to NZ$3.6 billion. The airline said strengthening of the New Zealand against the U.S. dollar contributed to profits, as did low domestic fares that encouraged air travel. Passenger loads were up nearly six percentage points to 73%.
The shuttle orbiter crew cabin carrying its seven astronauts separated from the main body of the orbiter during breakup and may have retained pressure integrity for as long as 80 sec. after the last transmission from the crew, according to data in the accident board report. Although the board did not specifically say so, new breakup details allow for perhaps 60-90 sec. of crew awareness that Columbia was going out of control.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board made the following recommendations, and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe pledged that the agency would implement them all. The highlighted portions must be in place before the shuttle can return to flight. THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM Initiate an aggressive program to eliminate all external tank thermal protection system debris shedding at the source, with particular emphasis on the region where the bipod struts attach to the external tank.
Gary Dempsey (see photo) has become senior vice president-aircraft maintenance and original equipment manufacturer development for Jet Aviation, West Palm Beach, Fla.
American Airlines and British Airways will phase-in their hard-won worldwide code-share agreement between Sept. 17 and Oct. 26, the carriers said late last week. More points will be added beginning in January, and eventually American will fly passengers with BA tickets beyond six U.S. gateways to 187 destinations in the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America. In turn, BA will take AA travelers beyond London Heathrow Airport to 110 locations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Concerns about Raytheon Beechcraft 1900 elevator system malfunctioning and maintenance procedures swelled with the Aug. 25 crash of Colgan Air Flight 9446 at Hyannis, Mass.--an accident that disturbingly parallels the Jan. 8 crash of Air Midwest Flight 5481 at Charlotte, N.C.
The first "feather" conversion of Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne rocket plane was achieved during its second gliding flight on Aug. 27 (AW&ST Aug. 18, p. 32). Officials plan to make the first showing of inflight video at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) symposium in Los Angeles Sept. 25-27 (www.setp.org).
NO STOPPING AT STRASBOURG Ryanair will cease flights to French regional airport Strasbourg Sept. 24, as a result of its ongoing dispute with the French courts over alleged subsidies. The airline says it will resume flights on the route "if and when we receive a stay on the judgment [or win the appeal]." Court interest in the issues of subsidies was piqued following a complaint from Air France. The European commission is also considering a similar issue with regard to Ryanair concerning Charleroi airport in Belgium.
Russia's leading fighter designer, Sukhoi, is using the difficult experience of its moribund Su-27M development effort in revisiting a multi-role version of a single-seat Flanker. Sukhoi is now working on the Su27SM upgrade of the Russian air force's basic Su-27 Flanker B, and five upgraded aircraft are due to be delivered by the end of this year. The Su-27SM is a key element in the air force's upgrade program until 2015. The aircraft will eventually be replaced by whatever emerges from Sukhoi's fifth-generation fighter effort.
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) Sept. 16-18--MRO Europe, Cardiff, Wales. October--Network-Centric Conference. Washington. Oct. 28-30--A&D Programs & Productivity Conference & Exhibition. Arlington (Tex.) Convention Center. Nov. 11-13--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition. Bangkok Intercontinental Hotel.
Capt. Erik Engdahl has been elected chairman of the ATA Airlines Master Executive Council of the ALPA. Other officers elected recently are: First Officer Eric Jacobson, as vice chairman; and First Officer Don Wurster, as secretary-treasurer.
MSTAR RISING St. Louis-based Engineered Support Systems Inc. is supplying nine additional AN/PPS-5C MSTAR (Manportable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radars) to the U.S. Air Force, marking the second MSTAR order placed by USAF's Force Protection Directorate at Hanscom AFB, Mass. The radars will be used for rapid deployment as stand-alone wide-area ground surveillance units or as part of integrated security for sensitive areas of the base, according to a company spokesman. MSTARs have served U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans.
E-10A'S BRAIN TRUST? A Northrop Grumman-led team has submitted a proposal to develop the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) subsystem for the U.S. Air Force's E-10A Multisensor Command and Control Aircraft. The team includes the Harris Corp., General Dynamics, Cisco Systems and Oracle Corp., among others. The E-10A will provide the Air Force with next-generation cruise missile defense and airborne ground surveillance and targeting capabilities.
Two Mil Mi-24V Hind helicopters collided over the Chernigovsky airfield on Aug. 26, killing six crew and seriously injuring one. The accident occurred during the Vostok-2003 military exercises in the Russian Far East.
NASA must undertake sweeping internal changes to prevent a third space shuttle accident and to correct a seriously flawed safety oversight culture that has led to the death of 14 astronauts and the loss of the orbiters Columbia and Challenger, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) said in its sobering final report.
NORAD PLUS The establishment of Northern Command isn't enough to protect U.S. territory from attack and more needs to be done, argues a new Defense Science Board assessment. Despite much rhetoric, the Pentagon still hasn't properly addressed the threat of an attack using cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft or other means that could be launched by an adversary from a ship stationed about 500 mi. off the East or West Coast.
The shuttle Columbia's reentry breakup on Feb. 1 came at the end of a decade of turbulence in the U.S. human spaceflight program that played a leading part in creating the conditions that led to the disaster, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board suggested in its report.
YAL-1A Airborne Laser (ABL) has completed preliminary flight testing and is being prepared to accept the high-power laser, beam control and other hardware it needs to shoot down a boosting ballistic missile (see p. 52). The modified Boeing 747-400F freighter is shown over the Sierra Nevada after taking off from Edwards AFB, Calif., which will be the home for the ABL prototype. U.S. Air Force photo by Thomas J. Pitsor.
With the core of the YAL-1A Airborne Laser program still ahead of them, U.S. Air Force personnel see the project as an opportunity to establish a directed energy test competency they lack but will need as the emerging weapons discipline grows in importance.
The need to plan ahead has never been more important to aviation (AW&ST Aug.4, p. 54). The events of Sept. 11, 2001, will comprise a minor wrinkle compared to our future if we do not. Looking at required training time and our education system shortfalls, we are in trouble. This was recently driven home by the NASA managers who forgot or never learned high school physics.
