Just because Toulouse is the center for European aerospace doesn't mean the city has an edge on devising a long-term airport policy for resolving the opposing demands of the traveling public and the residents.
END LOOMS FOR MALINDI COMPLEX The long story of Italy's San Marco equatorial space launch complex off the Kenyan coast, 30 km. north of Malindi, seems to be coming to a bitter end. Money is running out after a long confrontation fought in the courts between the Italian space agency (ASI) and the University of Rome, which is the legal owner of the seven converted offshore oil platforms and related facilities on dry land. And no users are in sight.
There were minimal NASA safety staff inputs to Columbia prelaunch and in-orbit external tank debris risk assessments critical to the shuttle's Feb. 1 reentry accident, according to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. An audit of the more serious bipod foam events, like the one implicated in the Columbia accident and a flight three months earlier, indicate such incidents could have occurred many more times in the program than NASA has been able to account for, board members said.
GOING LONG Look for the Air Force to shift its munitions spending, with increasing amounts going to longer-range weapons. About half of its Fiscal 2003 spending on air-to-ground ordnance is going to the GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition that was used heavily in Iraq. But in future budgets, the direct attack weapon, with a 10-12-mi. range, will be less prominent. A large amount of the money that had been going to JDAM will now shift to the small-diameter bomb, the 250-lb.-class GPS-guided weapon that features a wing-kit to reach targets at ranges of more than 40 mi.
FAMILY OF BLIMPS A small group of U.S. Navy officials has long been among the Pentagon's staunchest advocates for the use of lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicles, and now the service is on the verge of launching a demonstration for Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft. The service is mulling the fielding of a variety of such aircraft ranging from 30-100 tons payload that could operate from unprepared facilities and even from water. To realize that vision, the service would start with the design and testing of a relatively small, 500-lb. payload version to learn more about LTA systems.
Russian Soyuz operations like those that sustained eight Soviet-era space stations over three decades have now ridden to the rescue of the International Space Station by launching a new two-man U.S./Russian caretaker crew and planning to return the Expedition 6 trio on board when shuttle operations were halted.
The U.S. Air Force has exercised an option to buy an additional F-22 in Fiscal 2003, raising the buy to 21 fighters. The money for the additional aircraft came from cost savings on the program, the Air Force said. The service hopes to repeat the move in 2004 to bring the buy that year back to 23, after having to trim the budget request to 22 because costs were increasing. However, Rep.
BIG DOGS WON'T BARK The new Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, says he's still deciding whether to go to the Paris air show, despite Washington's ban on generals attending. But, he adds, "I'd certainly check with the [NATO] secretary general and the [U.S.] secretary of Defense." Such approval isn't likely. Meanwhile, Jones is busy trying to persuade Europe's NATO members to turn at least some of their 2.3-million-troop military into a lean, mobile, network-centric expeditionary force.
There are remarkable similarities between the space shuttle Columbia tragedy and the July 2000 Air France Concorde crash in how flight safety risk was assessed by managers charged with judging debris-related incidents. Debris incidents occurred several times in each program before each suffered a catastrophic accident.
Burt Rutan is the most gifted designer/engineer on the planet, a true genius in the top rank of aerospace pioneers. SpaceShipOne enchanted me, not the least because it closely resembles the rockets I drew as a schoolboy reader of pulp science-fiction more than 50 years ago--right down to the multiple round windows and stars all over the exterior (AW&ST Apr. 21, p. 64). After a long career in aviation, I hope I can cap it with a 100-km. ride in SpaceShipOne. Who's handling reservations?
ALABAMA BOUND U.S. Air Force overhaul work at Pemco Aeroplex Inc. in Birmingham, Ala., has given Avexus Inc. entree into commercial MRO work for its Impresa maintenance management software at Pemco World Air Services in Dothan, Ala. Pemco has plans to expand its Boeing 737-300 overhaul and 757 cargo conversion operations in Dothan, where it has 500,000 sq. ft. of hangar space. Impresa will be operated online in Dothan from Birmingham.
Daniel J. Crowley has been appointed president of Lockheed Martin Information Systems, Orlando, Fla., effective May 15. He will succeed John Hallal, who is retiring. Crowley has been vice president-business development and advanced programs for Lockheed Martin Space and Strategic Missiles, Sunnyvale, Calif.
THE ACCIDENT RATE FOR BUSINESS AVIATION in the U.S. last year was 0.116 per 100,000 flight hours, according to Robert Breiling Associates and Business and Commercial Aviation magazine. The fatal accident rate declined to 0.029 per 100,000hr. compared with 0.031 in 2001. Business aircraft were involved in eight accidents, two of which were fatal, killing six people. Scheduled airlines operating under FAR Part 121 had the second lowest rate at 0.195 with a fatal accident rate of zero. Business aircraft flown by professional pilots amassed 6.89 million hr.
A "tangle" in NASA management processes is partly to blame for why NASA canceled initial requests to the Defense Dept. for reconnaissance satellite imagery that could possibly have shown, before reentry, whether the orbiter's left wing was fatally damaged, said Sally K. Ride, a member of the Columbia accident board and first U.S. woman in space. Ride is part of a board team examining the role NASA's management processes played in the accident.
The third annual European Business Aviation Assn. Conference & Exhibition (EBACE) opens this week in Geneva. Organized in collaboration with the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn., the event will highlight continued executive aviation growth in Europe, the stimulus being provided by security and health concerns, and other business aviation issues. At least 33 aircraft will also be on display.
It was appropriate that you debuted Burt Rutan's new endeavor in your Laurels edition. I can only imagine what Kelly Johnson must be thinking. Regarding 328KF, I am reminded of what Sir Arthur C. Clarke once said: "Not only is the future stranger than we ever have imagined, it is stranger than we ever can imagine." Congratulations to Scaled Composites.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
France and Germany are touting a fast-track path to bolster Europe's limited military capability, against the backdrop of continued fractious relations between Washington, Paris and Berlin, and amidst growing aerospace industry concerns over the political rift.
CUSTOM FIT As a paying member of the Joint Strike Fighter team, Norway wants to know whether the multinational fighter will be able to handle some unique ordnance. Oslo has been funding Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace to develop the 160-km. (100-mi.)-range Naval Strike Missile with a planned in-service date around 2005. Now the Norwegian government is asking JSF-prime contractor Lockheed Martin to determine what the technical feasibility is of carrying the missile externally or in the stealth fighter's internal weapons bay.
The rapid defeat of Iraqi Republican Guard forces at a very low cost in terms of coalition casualties provides powerful evidence that warfare is being transformed. The speed of the military victory clearly surprised a number of military "experts" who had been quick to criticize the war plan for using too few heavy land forces. Attempting to understand why they were surprised can provide critical insights into what must be done to keep transformation on track.
Kaye Ebelt of Missoula, Mont., has been named the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year, an award granted under the auspices of the Civil Air Patrol. She also was inducted into the CAP's Crown Circle for Aerospace Education Leadership. Ebelt received the award from Crossfield, the pioneer aviator who was first to fly at twice the speed of sound, during the 36th annual National Congress on Aviation and Space Education Apr. 5 in Cincinnati. Crossfield established the award to recognize and reward outstanding aerospace educators.
Under growing market and government pressure to rationalize its space business, Alcatel is planning to enter talks with European rival Astrium on combining their satellite activities. Alcatel Chairman/CEO Serge Tchuruk last week broke with the telecommunications equipment maker's traditional independent stance, saying it would begin discussions with Astrium in the near future. Astrium parent firm EADS has been making overtures to Alcatel ever since it was formed in an initial round of industry restructuring three years ago, each time to no avail.
Bill Boisture has resigned as chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. board of directors. He pushed GAMA to respond to the globalization of general aviation, including opening its membership to international companies. Rockwell Collins President and CEO Clayton M. Jones will assume the responsibilities of GAMA chairman.
