The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week unanimously approved "Flight 100--Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act," the four-year, $59-million FAA reauthorization bill. H.R. 2115 included an amendment that would decrease the number of additional slots at Washington Reagan National Airport to 20 from 36.
NOW HEAR/SEE THIS The U.S. military wants to enhance its propaganda toolbox with an eye to fielding radio/TV broadcasts through 2013. Additionally, the U.S. Special Operations Command, which runs the Pentagon's psychological ops program, is hoping to target new technologies. The new tools should be able to include Internet features and text messaging, as well as reach cellular telephones. The command plans to run an analysis-of-alternatives next fiscal year. The technologies should allow dissemination of messages up to 750-naut.-mi. range.
China has become the seventh Asian country to reduce landing and air navigation charges at key international airports as a benefit to carriers hit with falling revenues from the SARS virus. This is in response to an appeal by the International Air Transport Assn. and involves a 20% cut for operations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The British Defense Ministry is looking to overhaul how it will field the Eurofighter Typhoon, as well as grappling with number issues and weapons integration demands. Originally, the British Royal Air Force intended to field four squadrons in the air defense role by 2007, with a further squadron in the air-to-surface role, along with an additional two multirole units in 2009.
Daniel Brandenstein, Robert (Hoot) Gibson and Sally Ride are scheduled to be inducted June 21 into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Brandenstein piloted one shuttle mission and commanded three others, including the first flight of Endeavour, and later was chief of the Astronaut Office. Gibson commanded four of the five shuttle missions on which he flew. Included was the first docking of a shuttle with Russia's Mir space station. On the seventh shuttle mission in 1983, Ride became the first American woman to fly in space.
HOUSECLEANING An overbilling scandal has prompted Kawasaki Heavy Industries to move Toshihiko Tahara, a director of KHI's Aerospace Div., to the president's post at Kawasaki subsidiary Nihon Hikoki (Nippi) in place of Yoshimasa Tanaka (AW&ST May 19, p. 42). KHI also created a chairman/CEO position at Nippi to which it has nominated KHI Managing Director Takatsune Sugo. The nine remaining Nippi board members resigned, but have not been replaced.
CHEAP IS DEAR Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries is busy repairing sets of "cheap" screws in the fuel control system of F-3-30 engines that power the Japanese air force's Kawasaki T-4 interim trainers. From May 2002 to February of this year, four T-4s suffered a loss of thrust after takeoff that prompted emergency landings. Metal fragments from aluminum screws in the fuel control system appear to be the cause.
DHL Airways, the express carrier under attack as a pawn of a foreign government, is heading for a transformation--new ownership, new name. DHL Chairman John Dasburg teamed with two colleagues last week in a $58-million plan to complete the 100% acquisition of the express operator by June 30. The buyout was simultaneously an investment in an airline and a strategy against the charge that the carrier has been operating under control of DHL Worldwide Express and the German Post Office, in violation of U.S. laws.
BUSY AT THE CAPE At least 11 major expendable booster missions remain to be flown at Cape Canaveral through the rest of 2004. These include five Boeing Delta II missions and two additional Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flights. The Delta IVs include the first launch of the Heavy version in September that will use three oxygen/hydrogen-powered common booster cores with three Rocketdyne RS-68 engines as the first stage.
CAPITAL IDEA The National Capital Region--a broad area that includes Washington and its suburbs--has quietly been equipped with an integrated air defense system, a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It comprises not only fighters flying combat air patrols (CAPs), but Customs Service H-60 Black Hawk helicopters, surface-to-air missiles and air defense artillery. The frequency of air patrols and location of air defense sites is closely guarded information, but officials are now acknowledging their existence, a change from not long ago.
Grand Canyon Helicopters has taken delivery of the first of two Eurocopter EC130 helicopters for use in sightseeing flights and work for the U.S. Forest Service.
NO PUNITIVE DAMAGES A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco has ruled that families of those killed in the Jan. 31, 2000, crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 off the coast of California cannot collect punitive damages from Boeing. The ruling permits families of the 88 people killed on board the MD-83 to seek compensatory damages as part of a negligence claim. They are barred under an international treaty from seeking punitive damages from Alaska Airlines because the flight originated in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and was bound for Seattle.
JET FEVER Republic Airways Holdings, which owns regional carriers Chautauqua and Republic airlines, has ordered an additional 12 Embraer ERJ 145LR jets. The first four will be delivered in August, but delivery of the other eight will depend on Republic obtaining financing by February 2004. Bryan Bedford, chairman, president/CEO of Republic Holdings, said three of the first four airplanes will be operated by Chautauqua and the others with Republic, which is scheduled to begin operations in October from Louisville, Ky.
The European Union's defense ministers have declared the EU's new 60,000-man rapid reaction force operational. The ministers said the force would be sufficiently equipped to permit the EU to take over NATO's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia early next year, as has been proposed. However, they acknowledged that engagements beyond that level--NATO has 17,000 troops in Bosnia--would require additional airlift, precision weapons and other capabilities. The EU activated its first peacekeeping mission, a 400-man contingent in Macedonia, in March.
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Guy Dubois has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer of Zurich-based Gate Gourmet International, effective July 1. He has been vice president-finance, administration, demand and supply chain for Roche Vitamins in New Jersey.
The U.S. Air Force has completed a $320-million contract with Lockheed Martin to build 10 Block 50 F-16s for Chile. Production is scheduled to begin in 2004 with initial deliveries set for early in 2006. Six of the airplanes will be single-seat F-16Cs and the other four will be two-seat F-16Ds. General Electric F110-GE-129 engines will power the fighters.
Malaysia is to acquire an advanced derivative of the Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter aircraft, a move that will considerably bolster the nation's offensive air capability. In a deal valued at roughly $900 million, Malaysia will take delivery of 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKM two-seat combat aircraft beginning in mid-2006.
Early next year, Mars should be under direct observation by six spacecraft, a situation not seen since 1978 when two Viking orbiters and two Viking landers were active at the planet.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board has identified about a dozen shuttle program safety concerns it will address in its final report, in addition to foam shedding from the Lockheed Martin external tank--believed by many board members to be the direct cause for the loss of Columbia and her crew. As new evidence narrows the location of Columbia's left-wing breach to a lower corner of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) Panel 8 and its adjoining T-seal, the board is broadening its penetration of other shuttle safety issues.
Scaled Composites made the first joined flight of its Tier One man- ned space program last week, with the White Knight mother ship carrying the SpaceShipOne rocket-powered glider to nearly 50,000 ft. The company hopes to reach 100-km. altitude (328,000 ft.) by the end of the year with the air-launched rocket ship that was unveiled last month (AW&ST Apr. 21, p. 64). The May 20 captive-carry flight was "solid as a rock," reached performance predictions, and did not reveal any aerodynamic or other concerns, said Scaled President Burt Rutan.
June 6-8--Quad Cities' 16th Annual Air Show. Davenport (Iowa) Municipal Airport. Call +1 (563) 285-7469 or see www.quadcityairshow.com 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
Correction: The photo that appeared with a Viewpoint by Jon B. Kutler, CEO of Quarterdeck Investment Partners (AW&ST May 19, p. 70) did not depict him but an associate at Quarterdeck. At left is a photo of Kutler.
Mark Grigg has been appointed station manager at Indianapolis International Airport for Southwest Airlines. He was assistant station manager at Nash- ville (Tenn.) International Airport.
