NASA-developed Video Image Stabilization and Registration (Visar) technology used by accident investigators to clarify images of the Space Shuttle Columbia launch has been selected as NASA's Commercial Invention of the Year. Visar corrects distortion caused by adverse conditions. It stabilizes camera rotation and zoom effects, produces clearer images of moving objects, smooths jagged edges, enhances still images and reduces video noise or "snow." The corrected footage can then be further enhanced through sharpening and deblurring techniques.
The British Defense Ministry is earmarking several hundred million dollars for a next-generation reconnaissance capability to succeed its aging Canberra PR9 aircraft, and potentially its Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence gathering aircraft. The ministry is now working on finding funds to meet this capability within its future equipment procurement program. The emerging requirement is also beginning to bring to the fore the question of "weaponization" of some of the platforms that may be used to provide this capability.
Runway development at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted airports is the preferred expansion option of the British Airports Authority. The BAA submitted its choice to the government May 12. The government is pondering its future air transport strategy.
Designed to eliminate aircraft personnel injuries and equipment damage due to static discharge, the tow bar-mounted grounding assembly (TBMGA) provides a low resistance connection of less than 1 ohm to the pavement under any condition. Used during all phases of aircraft handling and preparation, the system is the industry's first static discharge system with a permanent connection to the ground, according to the manufacturer.
The General Services Administration and NASA have issued subpoenas to Titan Corp. requesting billing records for contractual labor services, according to a Titan filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In response, the price of Titan's common shares dropped about 12% last week.
Robert Wall (Washington), James R. Asker (Washington)
The White House's new policy governing commercial space remote sensing systems is being warmly embraced by an industry which views it as an opening for a long-term business base for their still-embryonic ventures.
Robert Wall (Washington), Michael A. Dornheim (Los Angeles)
Pentagon planners realize they'll never reach the goal of dropping only one bomb per target, but operational forces in Iraq came close, indicates an initial U.S. Air Force analysis of the conflict.
US Airways' success as a reborn, lower cost carrier will depend in large measure on the growth of its regional jet business. But its recent order of 170 RJs is no guarantee that the company's carefully crafted operating strategy will work. The carrier still faces some major challenges--not the least of which is intense competition from low-fare airlines. Their operating costs, adjusted for stage length, is still lower than US Airways'.
A cyclical rebound is underway among many airline stocks, as clearly reflected in Aviation Week Airline 25 (see opposite page). The index has gained more than 8% since the start of the year, outpacing the Standard & Poor's 500 by a significant margin. S&P, like Aviation Week, is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. What are investors responding to?
India is reported to have test-fired its Astra medium-range air-to-air missile at least three times in early May. The active-radar-guided weapon, now in development, is intended for the Light Combat Aircraft, and may also be integrated on the Indian air force's MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-30MKI Flanker aircraft. The test was conducted from a ground-based launcher with assistance of a booster engine at the Chandipur range near the Bay of Bengal. Astra has a range of 25 mi. and has not yet been fired from an aircraft.
American Airlines gave the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants official notification of plans to lay off 3,123 attendants effective July 1, bringing the number of layoffs since October 2001 to about 6,000. In addition, American plans to transfer attendants from bases throughout the airline's system to cover personnel shortages stemming from the layoffs, according to the APFA.
The company has introduced a new line of cockpit engine indicators for commercial and military applications, including the H903K-250F turbine inlet temperature indicator, which was originally developed for the U.S. Navy P-3 Orion. A sixmonth evaluation of four H903K-250F indicators logged over 3,000 indicator hours with "no maintenance discrepancies noted since install," according to the company. This indicator has surpassed 15,000 hr., including more than 50,000 power cycles and 7,500,000 pointer sweeps.
David M. North (Sao Jose Dos Campos), David M. North (Gaviao Peixoto)
The first of Embraer's new 70-120-passenger aircraft, the EMBRAER 170, is due to enter service in the next several months. It introduces the Brazilian manufacturer's next family of transports, designed specifically for the regional and airline market.
MILITARIZED AIRLINERS Elta Systems and Israel Military Industries (IMI) are teaming to develop a military-like electronic warfare self-protection system for commercial airliners. The two partners hope to complete development of the Flight Guard system by year-end. The work is being supervised by Israel's Civil Aviation Authority. Flight Guard marries Elta's radar-based missile warning system with an IMI countermeasures dispenser. Both companies are drawing on work done for the Israeli Air Force.
It's about time at last to launch the replacement for the U.S. Air Force's aging fleet of Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. The Boeing 767 tanker derivative seems to be the best aircraft to fill the requirements. If USAF really needs a backup, why not choose the 777? It would be foolish for U.S. taxpayers' money to buy European-built Airbus A330 tankers. It is a matter of jobs, common sense, security and pride.
Lawmakers are threatening to cut funding for the U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 fighter, largely out of frustration with the lack of progress in its development, particularly with software. In the first round of congressional action on the $400-billion defense spending measure for Fiscal 2004, Senate authorizers stripped two aircraft from the F/A-22 procurement request and approved the purchase of only 20. The committee fully funded the research and development portion of the Air Force's request.
Russian investigators studying Soyuz TMA-1 onboard data tapes believe the spacecraft could have shifted into a 9g ballistic mode during return from the International Space Station because of a combination of the reentry control system and software interactions that played against each other. Investigators also said it took search aircraft 2 hr. to find the ISS Expedition 6 crew because although there was 12 min.
HAULING THE FREIGHT Leasing company Ansett Worldwide has signed an agreement with Precision Conversions LLC of Portland, Ore., to convert two Boeing 757-200 passenger jets into freighters with options to convert additional airframes. Work on the first airplane is scheduled to begin late this year and be completed as a 757-200PCF late in 2004. It would have a maximum takeoff weight of 250,000 lb. Conversion of the second aircraft is scheduled for completion by the end of next year, according to Ansett Worldwide.
CONNECTING AT TORONTO When it opens Terminal 1 this fall, Toronto Pearson International Airport will debut SITA's next-generation airport/airline infotech management system. Called AirportConnect, it builds on SITA's Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system, which airlines worldwide began using in 1984. SITA, the airline industry's biggest infotech service provider, has been migrating airports and carriers to Windows NT for some time.
The World Health Organization removed Toronto from its SARS travel-alert list. The WHO considered the transmission chain broken when no suspected cases had occurred in the city for 20 days, twice the incubation period.
The U.S. House Aviation Subcommittee last week unanimously passed the four-year, $59-billion FAA reauthorization bill that provides funding through Fiscal 2007 for aviation safety, security and infrastructure enhancements. The bill, dubbed "Flight 100" for the centennial of powered flight, will pick up where the current authorization, AIR21 (or the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century) leaves off, when it expires this year.
BE PREPARED Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani believes terrorists will once again try to mount "unanticipated" types of attacks in the U.S. like the unexpected crashing of aircraft into buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. Here for The McGraw-Hill Companies Homeland Security Summit & Exposition, he recalled what a judge told him about preparedness when he was a young trial lawyer--spend 4 hr. preparing for every hour in the courtroom, then if something unexpected comes up at trial, the broad preparation allows you to think on your feet. So on Sept.
After months on hold, efforts to develop a next-generation Global Positioning System are moving smartly ahead, with the U.S. Air Force expected to release a request for proposals next month. Phase A contracts, worth $20-25-million and lasting 21-29 months, are to follow in September. They would help define requirements. First launch of a GPS III satellite is being eyed for Fiscal 2012, and possibly as early as Fiscal 2010.
Hawaiian Airlines CEO John Adams offered to step down and institute sweeping governance changes of the company in order to continue "the last mile of this marathon"--the restructuring of the airline under Chapter 11. Adams, who said he would accept the appointment of an examiner, asked Hawaiian's major aircraft lessor, Boeing Capital Corp., to abandon its request for an appointment of a trustee to oversee the case. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection Mar. 21, was hoping to emerge from Chapter 11 in the fall.
