German low-fare airline DBA hopes to achieve its financial turnaround within one year in order to be able to establish itself as a major player in the growing European market for low-fare carriers. On July 1, the airline was officially taken over by entrepreneur Hans-Rudolf Woehrl from British Airways for 1 euro. BA supported the move with 70 million in start-up support to cover expected losses in the first year.
Accident investigators have begun examining flight data recorder information from Sudan Airways Flight 39 to determine what caused the Boeing 737 (Reg. ST-AFK) to crash July 8 shortly after takeoff from Port Sudan, killing 105 passengers and 11 crewmembers. Shortly after the scheduled passenger flight departed Port Sudan for the capital city of Khartoum, the pilot alerted the tower of a technical failure, according to the Sudan news agency. The specific nature of the problem was not disclosed.
ANOTHER REVIEW The F/A-22 stealth fighter is slated for at least one more review by senior Pentagon acquisition officials before the start of dedicated operational test and evaluation late this year. Air Force officials last week gave their Pentagon overseers an update on software instability problems and got what they described as a favorable hearing. The fighter has been plagued by software shutdowns, but in recent weeks the Air Force and Lockheed Martin have been able to push the time between the most serious failures above the 20-hr.
Instead of scrapping all the Starships (AW&ST June 30, p. 44), Raytheon Aircraft should give two of them to Burt Rutan to use for test purposes as he sees fit. A couple of others should go to aviation museums or be used as gate guardians. Maybe use a few as shells for simulator bucks, but don't let the Starship end up like the Lear Fan--used only for crash tests.
James Hill has been appointed vice president-development of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla. He was interim vice president-university advancement of Northern Arizona University and executive director of the NAU Foundation.
Jahid Fazal-Karim has become vice president-international sales for Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace. He was regional vice president-sales for the Americas.
Eugene C. Hahn has become vice president-flight operations for Horizon Air. He was vice president-maintenance and engineering and has been succeeded by Celia Sherbeck. She was senior director of maintenance and engineering for Air Canada.
CCA FLEET EXPANSION China Cargo Airlines will double its fleet with MD-11 freighter conversions over the next two years and is evaluating the 747-400F to extend its long-haul freight services. Based at Hongqiao airport in Shanghai, CCA flies three MD-11 freighters and has obtained three more from China Eastern Airlines, which controls 55% of its stock (the rest is owned by Taiwan's China Airlines and China Ocean Shipping Corp.). They are to be converted over the next 18 months.
There is no need to build a third international airport near Paris, according to a French parliamentary working group. The panel cited budget constraints and the inability to find a workable site as key reasons for rejecting the idea.
The current debate over the intention to design and possibly deploy low-yield nuclear weapons against especially hard or threatening targets provides an interesting example of using the right words, but missing the essential points that are worth considering.
China Southern Airlines, even though hard-hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis, said it predicts a net profit of just under 500,000 yuan ($60,240) for the last eight months of 2003. Yields are expected to fall 2% in the May-December period from a year ago.
The Air and Marine Operations Center of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement covers the Americas south to Venezuela and Colombia as part of the agency's efforts to combat smuggling and terrorist actions. Officers determine pilot intent with help from extensive databases, and can coordinate intercepts (see p. 60). Titan Corp. photo by Jim Coit.
USMC Maj. Gen. Robert M. Shea has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and assignment as director of command, control, communications and computer systems for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He has been deputy commander of U.S. Forces Japan.
FISCAL FIZZLE Japanese manufacturers produced aircraft, engines and subassemblies (not including space products) worth $8.4billion in the fiscal year that ended Mar. 31, according to the Society of Japanese Aerospace Cos. That is 4.4% lower than the previous year. Industry has been trying to achieve a 50/50 ratio of military/commercial products, but figures show a high dependence on government contracts. Japanese Defense Agency requirements accounted for $5.1 billion, or 61.3%. The total also represents $6.2 billion in overhaul/repair work.
SCANEAGLE FLIES Boeing and The Insitu Group signed a long-term contract to continue collaborative efforts and begin production on the low-cost, long-endurance ScanEagle autonomous UAV. The potentially 10-year deal follows the 15-month pact of February 2002 to develop a prototype UAV based on Insitu's Seascan miniature robotic aircraft. Three prototypes will be delivered to Boeing. The 4-ft.-long aircraft is the smallest UAV to carry an inertially stabilized gimbaled video camera, allowing it to track stationary and moving targets.
While the U.S. has been accustomed to leading advancements in air traffic control since World War II, on at least one of the keystones of modernization--controller-pilot data link communications--Europe is now poised to take the lead.
Philip J. Klass, a longtime avionics editor for Aviation Week & Space Technology, recently received the Senior Wingman Award from Editor-In-Chief David M. North at a ceremony in Washington. Klass was honored for professionalism and teamwork during his 51 years with the magazine. He joined the magazine as avionics editor in early 1952. Klass is credited with popularizing the word "avionics" to best describe airborne electronics. He later became senior avionics editor and remains a contributing avionics editor.
SAUCE FOR THE GANDER Continental Airlines and Virgin Atlantic asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. July 8 for authority to broaden their code sharing, arguing that their plans are along lines the department approved recently for American Airlines and British Airways (AW&ST June 9, p. 25). Virgin already is Continental's entry into London Heathrow Airport, via code-share service authorized from Los Angeles, Miami, New York Kennedy, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington, but the new application emphasizes service beyond each other's gateways.
DEMO DOWN The High-Speed Flight Demonstration vehicle that suffered wing damage July 1 during a free-fall test in Sweden will not be repaired to complete the test series (AW&ST July 7, p. 16). Built by Fuji Heavy Industries, the 3.3-meter-long (11ft.) non-powered vehicle had completed the main part of its aerodynamic data-gathering mission during a 5-min. free fall from 21 km. (13 mi.). It crashed when two of its three parachutes failed to deploy properly.
DEFENSE SPENDING Senate appropriators approved a $368.6-billion spending bill for the Defense Dept. last week, adding money for seven UH-60 Black Hawks; fully funding C17s, and striking $161 million from the F/A-22 budget request but still providing funds for 22 of the stealth fighters. The committee also stripped $75 million from the $275 million request for space-based radar and $90 million from the $439million request for the Advanced Wideband System.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer has been named CEO and Peter Luethi chief operating officer of Jet Airways of India. Prock-Schauer was chairman of the Alliance Management Board at Star Alliance. Luethi was COO/executive vice president-external relations of the then-Swissair.
RJ SWITCH AT US AIRWAYS US Airways' regional jet order from Bombardier, announced after the carrier came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, will go to Mesa Airlines instead of the carrier's MidAtlantic Airways division. US Airways said Mesa will fly "at least 25, and perhaps as many as 55" 70-seat CRJ700 aircraft in place of the 25 75-seat CRJ705s intended for MidAtlantic. The carrier attributed the switch to a disagreement with its Air Line Pilots Assn. unit on terms to fly the 75-seat aircraft.
The British Defense Ministry's initial report on the war with Iraq underscores the need for the air force to identify and rapidly attack mobile targets, requiring improvements throughout the whole of the decision cycle.
MAKING HASTE SLOWLY Aviation negotiators from the European Commission and the U.S. should look for confidence-building baby steps when they begin talks here in the fall, U.S. government and industry officials say, because Europe's vision of an open transatlantic aviation market won't be realized easily or quickly. Even adapting current bilateral open-skies agreements between the U.S. and 11 European countries--to conform to Europe's court ruling against nationality clauses--will be a headache. The U.S.
