The company's Structural Anomaly Mapping (SAM) is, in effect, the first CAT-scan for business jets and can be used to uncover cracks and corrosion in metal, and debonding and delamination in composites. SAM can be programmed to inspect a super-midsize to large aircraft in 10-12 hr., moving all around it and examining every part to create a three-dimensional digital image with sensors that include a low-frequency acoustic source and a laser vibrometer. SAM can penetrate as much as 12 in. into the structure.
Boeing is talking to Israeli officials--including former fighter pilot and ambassador to the U.S. David Ivri--about leading Boeing Israel. Ivri, who is also a former director-general of the Defense Ministry, is of a similar stature to those named to lead Boeing's operations in Italy and Australia. Israel is technologically and economically attractive to Boeing, which already is building parts of the Arrow anti-ballistic air defense system. Moreover, Israel is in the market to lease replacements for its aging Boeing 707 tanker.
THINKING BIG John B. Hayhurst, the ever-optimistic president of Boeing Air Traffic Management, hopes the FAA's Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) for a phased integration of ATM upgrades will morph into a more advanced and broader approach in the next two or three years. In Boeing's view, the existing OEP will not produce improvements soon enough. But Hayhurst has yet to reveal just how Boeing would accelerate OEP improvements and speed the transition to a more satellite-based system at the same time.
WHEN IN DOUBT, REORGANIZE Northrop Grumman plans to swap business units around to concentrate similar capabilities better within operating sectors. The Global Information Technology, Civil Systems, and Mission Systems Europe units will move from the Mission Systems sector to the Information Technology sector. Completing the swap, the Defense Mission Systems unit will move the other way, from the InfoTech sector to the Mission Systems sector.
L-3 Communications Corp. has received certification for the eXaminer 3DX 1000 Explosives Detection System, which is designed to check small amounts of explosives in checked bags. The machine combines high-resolution computed tomography with traditional X-ray technology to produce crisp, clear three-dimensional images that can be displayed in a multi-view format. It was developed in partnership with Analogic Corp.
Prof. John C. Knight (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.)
The dependability of the F/A-22 avionics software as described in your article "Code Red Emergency" (AW&ST June 9, p. 35) is deplorable. Clearly, a wide variety of serious technical flaws have been made in the development of this aircraft's software system. Such dreadful software performance is not inevitable. Many techniques exist that permit complex software systems to be built effectively, and many complex avionics systems have been built and deployed.
Despite having already flown combat reconnaissance missions in two conflicts, only this month was Northrop Grumman's first production unmanned RQ-4A Global Hawk rolled out at the company's manufacturing center in Palmdale, Calif. It is the eighth Global Hawk built, and its first flight will come later this month. The initial seven went into service as part of an advanced concept technology demonstration. They have now logged more than 3,000 flight hours, over half of them on operational missions.
JAPAN EYES REGIONAL TRANSPORT Boeing, Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney are assisting Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in a market study for a future regional transport. Under a contract from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, MHI is to build technology demonstrators for a 30-passenger-class aircraft. Although the contract calls only for development, construction and flight testing of a demonstrator, the ministry and MHI hope to move toward production at the end of the contract in March 2008.
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.
ORANGE AIRLINES The U.S. aviation system is effectively in Code Orange these days, while the rest of the world stays Yellow. A new warning that terrorists still target commercial aircraft draws immediate security responses that will add to travel disruptions. As the State Dept. eliminates programs that permit travelers to make stops in the U.S. on their way from one country to another without getting a U.S. visa, airlines scramble to reroute passengers or refund fares.
Neil P. Bloomfield, vice president-tactical systems for Baltimore-based Smiths Detection, has been appointed director at large of the Nuclear Biological Chemical Industry Group Board.
In a recent interview with Aviation Week & Space Technology, Rainer Hertrich, EADS' German-based CEO, called the Eurofighter "the most cost-efficient weapon system today" and predicted that it would be a strong competitor against Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in the export market.
The Experimental Aircraft Assn.'s AirVenture 2003 exhibition proved to be an aeronautical extravaganza replete with dozens of new aircraft designs, spaceplane projects and a grand celebration of the first 100 years of aviation.
Tina Lange has been named media relations specialist for Boeing's Florida operations at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fort Walton Beach and Cecil Field in Jacksonville. She was market development manager for the newspaper Florida Today.
MERGER SPINOFF At its annual meeting this week in Seattle, Airborne Inc. will count shareholder ballots cast in the proposed merger between Airborne and Deutsche Post-owned DHL. If approved, the merger will cause the spinoff of Airborne's air arm, ABX Air, into a publicly traded company. ABX would continue operation as an Airborne-DHL provider with its hub at Wilmington, Ohio, under an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) contract. Most of Airborne's 48 million shares, approximately 88%, are held by institutions.
Walt Rossbach has been named Washington-based regional vice president of HSR Business to Business Inc. of Cincinnati. He was president of Stackig PR and Advertising's Aerospace and Defense Group, McLean, Va.
Alexey Komarov (Moscow), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Dissatisfaction with the pace of modernization at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport is giving crosstown rival Domodedovo an opportunity to become Russia's international passenger and cargo hub. About 6.67 million passengers and 180,000 metric tons of cargo passed through Domodedovo last year, which, with 84,100 flight movements, ranked just behind Sheremetyevo as the leading Russian gateway. Sheremetyevo served 10.8 million passengers and the third busiest airport, St. Petersburg's Pulkovo, 3.16 million.
William L. Ballhaus has been appointed president of the San Diego-based Mission Solutions business of BAE Systems. He was senior vice president-system engineering for Boeing.
By John D. Anderson, Jr. American Institute of Aeronautics 369 pp., Hardcover, $75 This book is aimed chiefly at the layperson desiring to learn more about the technological aspects of the first 100 years of heavier-than-air flight. The author is well qualified to write on the subject: John D. Anderson, Jr., is curator for aerodynamics at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, and serves as professor emeritus in the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland.
During NBC's "Meet the Press" on Aug. 3, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, commenting on new Al-Qaeda threats to conduct a series of homicide hijackings of U.S. airplanes, remarked that airline passengers are much more secure today than they were before Sept. 11, 2001. However, he conceded that "it will be several years until we get the kind of robust system that we need" to protect the flying public.
CULTURAL DIVIDE The "NASA culture question"--just what is it in the first place, and does it need fixing?--will remain controversial well after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) issues its final report late this month. Top shuttle and NASA management assert they have seen only press reports about such concerns. "It would be difficult for me to define to you what the 'NASA culture' is," NASA deputy administrator and former astronaut Fred Gregory said last week at the Kennedy Space Center. The Return to Flight Task Group, headed by former astronauts Thomas P.
Japan's navy has requested initial funding for the first of what will be the largest fighting ships--eight 13,500-metric-ton-class helicopter carriers. Funding to begin building the first ship is being sought in the fiscal 2004 budget. Each is expected to cost $1 billion and carry four Sikorsky/Mitsubishi SH-60K subhunters.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO. HAS CHOSEN Garmin International's G1000 integrated avionics system for its proposed Citation Mustang business jet. The installation would include a 15-in. multifunction display and two 10-in. primary flight displays for the pilot and co-pilot. Other equipment includes WAAS-capable GPS for IFR flights, dual Mode S transponders, dual Attitude and Heading Reference units, dual digital air data computers approved for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums, four-color weather radar and a three-axis digital automatic flight control system.
George O'Leary (see photo) has been appointed president/CEO of Cleveland-based UltraJet. Additional recent appointments were: Scott Newell (see photo) vice president-aircraft management, Jeanne Muzio vice president-sales for the UltraJet Club, Scott Henderson director of training; Gerald Shaw (see photo) director of operations, Dale Morgan director of maintenance and Jeffrey Butts (see photo) director of charter sales.
