NOT READY Lufthansa CEO Jurgen Weber earlier this month expressed confidence Air China would soon join the Star Alliance--but China's national flag carrier disagrees. While it has maintained a bilateral cooperation with Lufthansa, it would not likely participate in a multilateral agreement, particularly a large one, according to an Air China official. She added that Air China's priority is reinstating flights that were cut in the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak.
The flight line of what used to be Williams AFB is crawling with military jets again. The piercing whine of fighter/attack aircraft engines has returned, years after the U.S. Air Force ceased pilot training here.
Swearing to give Boeing "a lot of competition," EADS is rapidly defining a boom refueling system for their A330 aerial tanker design they promise will be ready in time for the second-round competition for lease or purchase of another 100 U.S. Air Force tankers.
The FAA and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) put their heads together on cargo aircraft security regulations passed in 2002 and came to a conclusion unusual in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, security environment--the rules had gone overboard and could be replaced by simpler, cheaper and more effective measures.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Norma E. Brown, the U.S. Air Force's first female wing commander, died July 22. She was 77. A pioneer who opened career doors for other military servicewomen, Brown spent much of her career in USAF's Security Service. She attracted national attention in August 1972, when she was selected to command the 6970th Air Base Group at Ft. Meade, Md.--the first female to command a group-size USAF unit of both men and women. Most of the group's personnel were assigned to the National Security Agency.
John E. (Jack) Steiner died in Seattle's Lake Washington on July 29 of accidental drowning. He was 85. Nicknamed the "father of the 727" for his leadership role as program manager and chief engineer, Steiner also was chief project engineer for the 707 and chief engineer for the 737. A Seattle native, he joined Boeing in 1941 and played a major part in every commercial airplane program from the Stratoliner to the 767. Steiner was general manager of the 707/727/737 Div. and oversaw consolidation during the recession of the early 1970s that kept the line profitable.
When the largest operators of air carrier aircraft conclude that their path to profitability includes flying fewer aircraft to carry fewer people, then politics--not economics--is at work.
USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) Jerry M. (Mike) Drennan (see photo) has been appointed Colorado Springs-based vice president-Colorado operations supporting U.S. Air Force Space Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, N.M., for The Aerospace Corp., effective Aug. 18. He was an Aurora, Colo.-based director of business development for the Raytheon Co.
Rolls-Royce is focusing on a scaled derivative of the Trent 900 as its baseline propulsion offering for Boeing's proposed 7E7 transport, but the new technologies incorporated into the powerplant will depend on when the aircraft enters service and whether they have demonstrated their affordability and cost-effectiveness.
Talk about a chain reaction. Atlantic Coast Airlines' announcement last week that it plans to go from being a regional carrier to a discount operator (see p.20) was a bombshell that had a major impact on several industry players.
AA-CATHAY EXPANSION American Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways intend to add five U.S. points this fall to the code-sharing agreement by which American carries Cathay passengers beyond Cathay's U.S. gateways. The points--Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham and Tampa--would increase such code sharing to 25 U.S. destinations. The increase is permitted at the start of the International Air Transport Assn.'s winter season under an October 2002 memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Hong Kong. American and Cathay told the U.S. Transportation Dept.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board has issued a formal recommendation calling on NASA to modify one of two cameras mounted in the orbiter belly so it can provide near-real-time television images of the external tank during separation. The cameras, mounted in the oxygen and hydrogen umbilical wells, previously used film that could not be viewed until the shuttle returned to the ground. The new setup will provide immediate imagery from one camera to show if any large pieces of foam debris separate from the external tank during launch.
NASA flight director Steve Stich's e-mail message to the Columbia pilots, referring to the foam debris hit, said: ". . . we have seen this same phenomenon on several other flights. . . ." The message reminded me of similar things during launches from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
Dain M. Hancock, president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., has received the Reed Aeronautics Award for 2003 from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Named for Sylvanus A. Reed, an early aeronautical engineer, designer and founding member of the organization that became AIAA, the award is its highest honor for achievements in aeronautical science and engineering. Hancock was cited for leadership in the creation and fielding of the next generation of advanced military aircraft, including the F/A-22, F-35 and advanced F-16 versions.
Continental Airlines dropped plans July 30 for a public sale offering of 5 million shares of stock in ExpressJet, its spun-off regional affiliate, but still intends to sell about $122 million in shares to ExpressJet itself. ExpressJet will pay for the shares with the proceeds from the private placement of convertible notes. Continental will use the money from ExpressJet to fund part of its defined-benefit pension obligations. The sale to ExpressJet is expected to reduce Continental's ownership to 44% or 45% from 53.1%.
Mike Baker (see photo) has been appointed vice president-maintenance and avionics of Pentastar Aviation, Waterford, Mich. He was director of maintenance for DaimlerChrysler Aviation.
CONTEMPLATING Engine makers Rolls-Royce, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, competing to provide powerplants for the proposed Boeing 7E7, can expect to get a clearer reading on their prospects late this year. Boeing, already conducting periodic audits of the engine designs, is expected to take a hard look at the competitors in the fourth quarter, and may choose at that time to go forward with just two of the engine designs. If so, it could clear the way for the loser in the three-way tussle to attempt a partnership with one of the winners.
Using a loitering, air-launched Brilliant Anti-Tank missile as its vehicle, the U.S. Army has validated the ability of Northrop Grumman's new Eagle Eyes dual-mode infrared/ millimeter-wave radar seeker to detect, track and strike a moving multiple rocket launcher. Armed with a high-density flight data recorder instead of a warhead, the specially equipped BAT was released from a surrogate unmanned aerial vehicle flying over the missile range at Eglin AFB, Fla. It was the first of several engineering flight tests planned for Eagle Eyes.
Northrop Grumman has begun flight testing a modified F-5E, designed to manipulate a sonic boom, and to harness technology required for the development of a quiet supersonic bomber.
China is boosting its military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability while fielding increasing numbers of ballistic missile and modern fighters, the Pentagon's latest report on Beijing's military capabilities indicates.
SELECTING Boeing Co. and Science Applications International Corp. have tapped Honeywell to develop an integrated software program that will collect, analyze and transmit battlefield data on vehicles and combat personnel for the Future Combat Systems program being developed by the Army. The contract is valued at more than $150 million with all options realized.
The FAA's not-yet-finalized strategic plan for the next five years and its Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) to increase National Airspace System capacity, different in orientation and origins, have something important in common: Money will determine what they can accomplish. And money is tight. The OEP, a rolling 10-year plan first published in mid-2001 and updated twice since then, is under fire from the Transportation Dept. Inspector General's (IG) Office for unreliable cost and schedule estimates, and omission from the plan of programs it depends on.
THANKS FOR NOT CODE-SHARING The Italian antitrust agency has partially rejected a code-sharing agreement between Alitalia and Volare Group, on the grounds that it infringes on competition on nine domestic routes and at Linate airport, Milan's domestic facility. The ruling, which let stand five other domestic routes and eight international ones, will become moot on Oct. 25, because the two carriers have agreed to let the agreement lapse, pending the collapse of alliance talks earlier this year.
My employer American Airlines is in trouble not, as some letter writers have claimed, because of a broken business model. It is because of the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, and the disastrous economy, compounded by purchases of failing airlines and stock buybacks at the worst times. But now that our management has extorted concessions from my group and the rest of our employees to remedy problems we did not cause, the equations have been altered radically. Once the economy turns around, all the so-called low-cost carriers had better check their sixes.
