Joseph Sprague has been named Washington-based managing director of government affairs for Alaska Airlines. He was director of sales for the state of Alaska.
SUPPLY-SIDE DOWNER While some industry observers believe the darkest days have passed for U.S. airlines, the same may not be true for their equipment suppliers. The parked aircraft fleet last month increased by a net of 57 passenger jets, to 2,186, or about 13% of the worldwide fleet, according to the most recent Airclaims data. In fact, the fleet has expanded for the last four consecutive months, and J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph B. Nadol, 3rd, expects the number to increase further before leveling off at some point this summer.
INTEGRATED POWERHEAD DEMO Boeing Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power has hot-fired an advanced liquid oxygen turbopump incorporating an oxidizer-rich preburner that is a step toward new rocket engines twice as efficient as those now in use. Conducted at Stennis Space Center, Miss., under the Air Force Research Laboratory Integrated Powerhead Demonstration (IPD) program, the test was the first of nine planned to showcase such state-of-the-art rocket engine technology as hydrostatic bearings and new materials that can handle oxygen-rich environments.
UPTURN FOR ELBIT Elbit Systems reported a revenue increase of 8.8% to $202.2 million for first-quarter 2003, compared with the same quarter last year. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2003 was $56.9 million, as compared with a gross profit of $52.3 million in the first quarter of 2002. Backlog increased to $1.7 billion, with 63% of that work for orders outside Israel. Approximately 80% of the company's backlog as of Mar. 31 is scheduled to be performed in 2003-04.
Vernell Jackson, vice president-supply chain services in the Bellevue, Wash.-based Shared Services Group of Boeing, has been named to the board of directors of the National Minority Supplier Development Council.
SATELLITE SPAT Despite several renamings, program stops and starts and schedule adjustments, the U.S. Congress' General Accounting Office still doesn't think the Pentagon has it right when it comes to developing a system to track ballistic missile warheads in space. The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (the offshoot of the Reagan-era Brilliant Eyes constellation) is being designed to track warheads and cue missile defenses using space-based infrared sensors. The Pentagon expects to spend about $3 billion through 2009 on the system.
Tunnel to Safety Using perspective-flight-guidance concepts, the Boeing Helicopter Div. of Philadelphia, and NASA Ames Research Center here are exploring symbologies for primary flight displays to reduce pilot workload and boost mission performance. The beneficiaries will be low-speed aircraft that make steep departures and approaches in congested air spaces.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] June 10-11--NASA Ames Research Center Symposium. Santa Clara (Calif.) Convention Center. Call +1 (650) 604-1412 or see www.human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/eas June 10-12--NASA Second Century of Flight Conference. Williamsburg (Va.) Marriott. Call +1 (800) 639-2422 or see www.aiaa.org/events/tgir
Fuel Flow A few features had to go, but in the end Boeing's only near-term chance of selling 100 or more 767-200ERs closed the price gap between the Pentagon and the aerospace giant, and cleared the way for a $16-billion lease for airborne refuelers.
Elizabeth Young has been appointed to the board of directors of Seattle-based ASI Entertainment Inc. She has been vice president/general manager of aeronautical communications at SITA.
John D. Schumacher, NASA's assistant administrator for external relations since June 1995, has been named the agency's chief of staff. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of agency headquarters, and will help Administrator Sean O'Keefe and other senior staffers shape agency policy. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate and lawyer, Schumacher oversaw development of the bilateral and multinational agreements that govern International Space Station operations. He succeeds Courtney Stadd, a political appointee who is returning to the private sector in July.
INDRA WILL DEVELOP A NEW FLIGHT DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM for the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre under a contract from Eurocontrol. The system will be created entirely in Spain, using its own technology, according to the company, and is slated to be operational in 2007. Eurocontrol expects it to boost interoperability with older systems and future advances, and looks for safety enhancements from increased medium-term conflict detection and trajectory prediction, mapped in four dimensions onto the airspace structure.
Swiss Outlook Bleak Swiss International Air Lines faces a bleak outlook for the year, as its financial situation continues to deteriorate, potential partners waver and a key ruling could force the carrier to alter pilot seniority lists.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: David M. North [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
A318 WINS JAA CERTIFICATION The Airbus A318 last week received certification by the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) for operations with the International CFM56-5B powerplant. FAA certification of the 100-120-seat single-aisle airliner, the smallest in the Airbus A320 family, is expected this month. Certification with the final version of the alternate powerplant, Pratt & Whitney's PW6000, is anticipated in November 2005, upon completion of the remaining 100 hr. of flight trials.
United Airlines Capt. Walt Bates (Land O' Lakes, Wis.)
John P. Abbey's suggestion to quit recycling cabin air (AW&ST May 5, p. 8) asserts that the recycling system saves money. My data from five years of flying the Boeing 767-300 show the opposite.
There has recently been considerable coverage of the processes and decisions related to replacing the aging KC-135 tanker fleet, and of the problems of insufficient tanker resources to support air operations during the Iraqi war. Similar debates on the number of new tankers that can be provided are occurring in the U.K. over replacing VC10 and TriStar tankers.
CRUSHING BLOW Wright Experience's 1911 Model B Wright Flyer crashed on May 19 while on a test flight. Ken Hyde, the head of the Wright Experience and pilot of the replica, broke a wrist when the aircraft flew into trees. Hyde discovered he did not have enough wing-warp control to overcome a bank angle. The accident occurred at the Warrenton, Va., facility, extensively damaging the Model B. The aircraft was scheduled to attend the Paris air show.
Foam Jars T-Seal The first shuttle external tank foam impact tests against simulated Columbia leading edge panels on May 29 knocked loose a T-seal opening a 22-in.-long gap in the simulated wing leading edge--a stunning test result that begins to provide physical proof that foam shed by the Lockheed Martin tank caused the loss of Columbia and the death of seven astronauts.
Russian Snafu Russian investigators have narrowed the cause of the unplanned ballistic reentry of the new Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft carrying the station's Expedition 6 crew to the "inadequate reaction" of descent control unit avionics to signals from the spacecraft's gyroscope and an angular rate meter. Their initial assessment is that the potential for this problem was accidentally built into the component's electronics when the design was adopted as part of the original Soyuz T upgrade in 1979.
Tristan Lewis has been named national vice president-client services, John McCormick national vice president-managed aircraft sales and John R. Nelson director of business systems, all for Executive Jet Management Inc. of Cincinnati. Ronald Silverman has become Northeast U.S. vice president-client relations, based in Woodbridge, N.J. He was regional vice president-client services for TAG Aviation USA Inc., White Plains, N.Y.
It may have been an icon for aeronautical research, but that didn't pay the bills. So the 80 X 120-ft. wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center has been put on "standby" and could be closed permanently next year if business doesn't improve. There's not much hope for that. The order to cease operations came abruptly on May 16, but it wasn't unexpected.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) John F. Harvell (Merrimack, N.H.)
With respect to your article "Unfriendly Fire" (AW&ST Apr. 7, p. 28), in addition to its capabilities in network-centric warfare, the Joint Tactical Information Display System (JTIDS) provides an inherent identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) capability.
