The No. 9 CV-22 Osprey has begun its flight test program at Edwards AFB, Calif. The test aircraft had not flown since arriving at the Air Force Flight Test Center on Sept. 18, 2000, because all Ospreys were grounded following a Marine Corps MV-22 crash in December of that year. During a two-year hiatus, the No. 9 CV-22 was modified with electrical and hydraulic system upgrades; electronic warfare and infrared-guided missile countermeasures were installed.
Carl G. Miller, a former executive vice president/chief financial officer of TRW, has been named to the board of directors of the Curtiss-Wright Corp., Roseland, N.J.
The British Defense Ministry is pondering the far-reaching implications of a study into the through-life support of its aircraft fleets. The resulting report is understood to recommend considerable change to the way air systems are maintained during their service lives. The work, known as the End to End review, was to consider logistics requirements across the equipment support and supply chain. The study was chaired by a Royal Air Force air vice marshal.
Clark W. Johnson has been named international president for the next year of the Covina, Calif.-based Society for the Advancement of Material and Processing Engineering. Johnson is a system engineering project manager in the national security program at Boeing Satellite Systems, El Segundo, Calif. He was Sampe's international executive vice president.
Aviation artist Keith Ferris is among three winners of President's Awards from the U.S. Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Assn. The others are: Col. (ret.) C.V. Glines, a writer on USAF issues and personalities; and Chief MSgt. (ret.) Reed Switzer, who was a longtime public affairs official.
Boeing officials say they are on track to certify a Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag with the FAA and the Joint Aviation Authorities by October for delivery to KLM with its first of 10 new 777-200ERs.
British Airways' flagship terminals at Heathrow Airport were plunged into chaos on July 18, a weekend day, when ground staff went on strike, stranding some 80,000 passengers. The situation continued the next day causing havoc with domestic, short- and long-haul operations. It took until July 22 for operations to return to normal, although some passengers originally due to fly over the weekend had to be placed on flights toward the end of the week.
SECOND SOURCE Hawker de Havilland, the Boeing Australia subsidiary, has become the second Australian company to snag a contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's system development and demonstration (SDD) phase. Company engineers will work with Lockheed Martin and others to devise production methods and processes focusing on building the strike fighter's control surfaces and edges. Canberra is spending $150 million on JSF's SDD phase, in part based on the hope local industry will get at least that amount of business.
Propelled by what company executives portrayed as their yield-management gamble for the airline industry's biggest travel months, America West Airlines turned in its first profitable quarter since summer 2000--$79.7 million, compared with a $12.9-million loss a year earlier.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. has been raising alarms about a recent series of runway incidents involving general aviation operations at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, and points to a new business aircraft facility that is causing increased runway crossings. The Chicago Aviation Dept. has added signage, electronic message boards and follow-me trucks and has worked with Signature Flight Support, the owner of the fixed-base operation (FBO), to educate pilots. Some of the actions followed an FAA survey of operations from the FBO.
A planned increase in the 2004 French defense budget survived a belt-tightening exercise designed to prune the country's ballooning deficit. Armed with a July 13 pledge by President Jacques Chirac to stick to a multiyear spending hike approved last year, planners left intact 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) in extra funding for new hardware, but said money for R&D and operations might be trimmed. The move breaks with the practice of previous governments, which often met budget requirements by cutting defense spending.
GE Aircraft Engines has been awarded a $510-million contract by the U.S. Navy covering repair and overhaul of 36 components for F404-400/-402 engine rotor and stator assemblies, plus designated controls and accessories. The engines power F/A-18s. U.S. Air Force F-117s also use F404 engines.
WAIT AND SEE Washington hosts a ministerial "summit" this week to foster international cooperation in climate change research. But the government has a problem working with Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program. Civilian U.S. government scientists involved in remote sensing from space are strictly segregated from their military counterparts, but it isn't clear just who will do what under GMES.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, honored 22 of its members during the 2003 Pioneers of Flight Homecoming on July 19. Seated from left are Paul Tibbets, James Stockdale, Scott Crossfield, Fitzhugh Fulton, Pete Knight, Thomas Jones, Sam Williams, Paul Poberezny, Al Ueltschi, Harry Combs, Bob Hoover, Robin Olds and Bernard Schriever. Standing from left are Joseph Kittinger, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, James Lovell, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Thomas Stafford and Joe Engle.
HIGH-FLYING FIREFIGHTERS Data from NASA Earth-observation satellites are helping U.S. agencies charged with wildfire management keep track of blazes across the nation and route firefighters to where they are most needed. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) instruments on the agency's Terra and Aqua satellites provide information on fire intensity and the altitudes of smoke plumes, while other instruments monitor carbon monoxide from fires and track damage in burned-over areas. The U.S. Dept.
Montie Brewer, who has been executive vice president-commercial of Air Canada, now will also oversee the international and alliances group. In that position, he succeeds Ross MacCormack, who is retiring. Effective Oct. 1, Brad Moore will be promoted to vice president-customer service from senior director of inflight services. He will succeed Doug Port, who will be retiring. Jon Turner, who has been general manager of aircraft programs, will become general manager-maintenance and aircraft programs.
Eilif Serck-Hanssen has been named vice president-finance/treasurer of US Airways. He was managing director/assistant treasurer of Northwest Airlines. Serck-Hanssen succeeds Jeffery A. McDougle, who has been appointed vice president-fleet. McDougle succeeds Daniel M. McDonald, who has become vice president-planning and scheduling. McDonald, in turn, succeeds Andrew P. Nocella, who has been named vice president-pricing and revenue management. Kerry J. Carstairs has switched to being vice president-direct distribution from vice president-customer service centers.
Aviation Week's The Next Century Of Flight An aeronautical engineer by training, Dennis Tito is the founder/CEO of Wilshire Associates. He became the first space tourist, in April 2001. Tito testified at a congressional hearing last week on commercial human spaceflight. Excerpts follow.
Sukhoi's Novosibirsk production site has started work on an upgraded version of its Su-27IB strike fighter derivative of the basic Su-27, according to Russian press reports. The aircraft, the eighth preproduction Su-27IB to be built, will have improved radar and avionics. The seven other aircraft are being used for development trials.
Scott Dolan has been appointed senior vice president/chief operating officer of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc., Purchase, N.Y. He was vice president-operations for subsidiary Polar Air Cargo Inc.
Makino, a producer of metal-cutting machines and services to the die/mold industries, has introduced a high-speed horizontal machining center that the company claims will reduce cycle time of milling and grinding operations by as much as 75%.
Egypt may acquire electronic intelligence hardware from the Pentagon under a proposed $60-million foreign military sale. The deal would include two elint pallets that could be used on C-130H transports. Under a separate contract, Egypt may buy $50-million- worth of AIM-9M air-to-air missiles for its F-16s. The 414 missiles would be in addition to AIM-9L/Ms the country purchased earlier.
With only a few months to go before the start of operational testing, the Pentagon has ordered changes to the F/A-22 program to establish a new test plan and benchmark, to evaluate how the stealth fighter is performing.
A modified NASA space shuttle could deliver a fresh crew to the International Space Station as early as next April, following return to flight of the shuttle fleet next March, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Lockheed Martin has won a $9.4- million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract for design of an unmanned combat armed rotorcraft (UCAR). Lockheed Martin is competing during this phase against Northrop Grumman, which won a similar contract earlier this month. Sikorsky and Boeing were the losers in the competition. The Lockheed Martin team is led by the company's Systems Integration unit, with Bell Helicopter Textron as the main subcontractor. Bell is in charge of air vehicle development.
