Well-financed efforts to change the U.S. Railway Labor Act are gaining favor in Washington. Legislation to require "baseball-style arbitration," in which a third party would choose labor's or management's last and best offer, has appealing aspects. Unfortunately, best-offer arbitration would be bad public policy.
WEIGHT WATCHERS Added weight is the scourge of man--and machine. And the FAA last week proposed a regulation aimed at combating its effects on aircraft. The rule announces the establishment of a Weight and Balance Control Program Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that is to comprehensively review and revamp the agency's Advisory Circular 120-27C, which sets forth overall aircraft weight and balance guidelines. The ARC, which is to meet for the first time June 24-25 in Washington, grew out of the Jan. 8 crash of an Air Midwest Beech 1900D at Charlotte, N.C.
Soyuz Booster to Kourou A half century after inaugurating the space era from the steppes of Central Asia, the venerable Soyuz launcher is about to embark on a new career in South America.
Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Sir John Rose told those attending the company's annual general meeting on May 29 that despite continuing uncertainty in the civil market, performance remained on track for a "positive cash flow" for 2003.
Mark Ureda, Karin Flanagan and Larry Harrell have been promoted to vice presidents from directors of business strategy in the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Strategy and Technology organization. Ureda will oversee coordination with the Space Technology and Electronic Systems sectors and Flanagan with the Information Technology and Mission Systems sectors. Harrell will be head of systems and platforms with oversight for coordination with the Newport News Ship Systems and Integrated Systems sectors.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is rolling out its program for screening U.S. Postal Service packages weighing 16 oz. or more at most major U.S. airports. After Sept.11, 2001, this size of parcel was barred from cargo holds of passenger jets and U.S. airlines lost a substantial source of revenue. But a pilot project between TSA and the USPS, using canine teams for explosive detection, has proved successful at 11 airports during the past six months. Now the program will expand to cover most major airports by year-end.
SPRINGTIME ON NEPTUNE Astronomers from the University of Wisconsin and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have detected what appears to be changes in the atmosphere of Neptune that correspond to solar-driven seasons lasting for decades. Using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the planet in 1996, 1998 and 2002, the researchers found the brightness of cloud bands in the southern hemisphere has increased steadily. "This change seems to be a response to seasonal variations in sunlight, like the seasonal changes we see on Earth," stated Wisconsin's Lawrence A.
AT YOUR LEISURE Midwest Airlines last week released details about a low-fare product it intends to launch in August. "Saver Service" targets the leisure traveler, a market segment the airline noted was growing more rapidly than business travel, and is part of Midwest's strategic plan to return to profitability (AW&ST Mar. 10, p.43). Beginning in August, five MD-80s from Midwest's fleet will be used to operate nonstop leisure services from Milwaukee to Denver (Aug. 1), Orlando (Aug. 8), Las Vegas (Aug. 15), Phoenix (Aug.22) and Los Angeles (Sept. 12).
RF PROTECTION Boeing has picked BAE Systems to supply a fiber-optic towed decoy to protect special operations MC-130s and AC-130s against radar-guided surface-to-air missiles. Industry officials hope the move will spark interest in enhanced self-protection gear among users of other large aircraft, such as C-17 transports or B-52H bombers. The Air Mobility Command is mulling a similar upgrade for at least a small number of its C130 transports.
Falcon Heads for Italy The Italian air force will take delivery this month of the first of 34 F-16 aircraft it is leasing to provide an interim air defense platform. Four additional airframes will be used to generate spare parts. Under the Peace Caesar program, the Italian air force will operate the 34 fighters for up to 10 years, using a pay-by-the-hour arrangement. The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin will provide maintenance and training services. The ongoing program covers an initial five-year period with an option for a five-year extension.
EARTH DATA NASA's Earth Science Enterprise has awarded Raytheon Information Systems a five-year contract potentially worth $500 million for data and information support services on the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Based in Upper Marlboro, Md., the Raytheon unit will service the EOSDIS Core System that it developed under a separate contract to handle processing, archiving and data distribution for NASA's Earth-observing satellites.
Fuel Cells Debut AeroVironment has flown a small drone powered by a fuel cell to demonstrate the potential for longer endurance electric flight. Company officials believe it is the first time a hydrogen fuel cell has solely propelled an aircraft. The 6-oz., 15-in.-span "Hornet" micro air vehicle (MAV) in theory could fly for several hours--about twice the endurance of a similar "Wasp" MAV powered by high-performance lithium-ion polymer batteries that the company flew last October for 107 min.
Robert W. Reding has been appointed senior vice president-technical operations for American Airlines. He succeeds Dan Huffman, who has retired as senior vice president-maintenance and engineering. Reding was chief operations officer of American Eagle. He has been succeeded there by R. S. (Stan) Henderson, who will continue as senior vice president-customer service.
A Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter with eight people on board crashed while attempting to land near the Mount Everest base camp for mountain climbers on May 28, killing a Nepalese flight attendant and Sherpa guide, according to the Associated Press. The other six people on board and one on the ground were injured. Hundreds of climbers had gathered at the camp to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's first known ascent of the 29,035-ft. peak, on May 29.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 19 Virgin Atlantic denies any deal is in works with BA WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 22 Researchers push civil, military scramjet flight tests 26 Green lights for Galileo satnav system, A400M 27 Pentagon promises more aircraft, after tanker deal OK 28 U.K. to acquire new satellite intel-analysis system 29 U.S. Navy solidifies de- velopment plans for EA-18G 30 Money, technical hurdles for B-52 electronic attack role
BLUE GRASS GROWING Lexington (Ky.) Blue Grass Airport attributes its 20% traffic growth spurt to a combination of new low-fare, nonstop services and relative convenience in the security clearance of passengers and their baggage. The airport anticipates a record year in 2003 of more than 1 million passengers if the trend of the first four months is maintained. The 20% growth compares to traffic in the first four months of 2002.
Alliant Techsystems will build parts of Israel's Arrow-2 ballistic missile defense system. The company received an initial $17.6-million contract from Boeing to prepare production of filament-wound first- and second-stage rocket motor cases, electrical cabling, first-stage nozzle components and propellant materials, as well as a metallic skirt and interstage parts. Boeing became a second supplier for Arrow components to boost production rates for the interceptor missile.
Regarding the discussion of why the Boeing 767 over the 777 as a tanker, the 767 has a current cargo version. The 777 with the fiberglass floor beams cannot take the loads of the aluminum 767-200F. The KC767 will be a tanker version. As with the KC-135, the services want the KC-767 to haul cargo when not in use as a tanker.
This Is Not Deja Vu Major changes in cockpit technology seem to show up about once every 20 years. And what Honeywell is attempting to do with software in the Primus Epic integrated avionics system mirrors what was achieved two decades ago with the introduction of electronic flight instruments in business jets--which was a significant break with conventional cockpits.
JUST IN CASE NASA and Boeing gave up on the High-Speed Civil Transport program in 1999, but if anyone ever picks up the baton on the development of a commercial supersonic airliner, the FAA will be ready with noise regulations.
LOOKING FOR DAYLIGHT The Army has taken another look at its RAH-66 Comanche procurement plans, but so far can't find an opening to move to boost the production number. The service review came after the Pentagon cut the Comanche production plans nearly in half last year to 650 helicopters. The service is sticking to its position that it needs at least 819 of the reconnaissance helos, while accepting for the time being that production is limited to 650, says one Army official.
Phil Condit, chairman/CEO of Boeing, has received the Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year Award in recognition of his commitment to Spain and leadership in building partnerships with that country's business community, including establishment in 2002 of the Boeing Research and Technology Center in Madrid.
Imbalance of Power? The outcome of Atlantic Coast Airlines' regional contract negotiations with United Airlines, and its move to revise the delivery schedule for 42 RJ aircraft, could signal the final upheaval in the balance of power between legacy carriers and their regional partners.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
Burst of Life Europe's normally slothful procurement process lurched notably into activity last week with two flagship programs gaining key approvals. The demonstration and validation phase of the Galileo satellite navigation system, effectively a Euro-GPS, got the nod from the European Space Agency. Meanwhile, the Airbus A400M airlifter also was formally launched on May 27 with the inking of the development and production contract.
