All Nippon Airways has reported a 17-billion-yen ($142-million) net loss on revenues of 940.5 billion yen for fiscal 2002. The loss led the ANA Group of 133 companies to a 28.2-billion-yen net loss on 1.2 trillion yen in revenues. The group includes Air Nippon, Air Hokkaido, Air Nippon Network and Air Japan, plus ANA Hotels, and is heavily dependent on air travel and tourism.
LONG GRAY PILOTS The University of North Dakota (UND) will provide introductory helicopter flight training for 32 U.S. Military Academy (West Point) cadets this summer. Using two-seat Schweizer 300 rotorcraft, UND will give cadets about 18 hr. of flight time during a four-week period. Cadets selected for the program are between their sophomore and junior years at the academy, and expect to enter the Army's aviation branch after graduation.
The NTSB last week had no sooner identified its 2003 "Most Wanted" aviation safety recommendations than it decided what it really wanted was a 30-day review of its safety programs--including the most wanted list. The list, introduced in 1990 and updated yearly, identifies critical measures that would raise the bar on safety in all transportation sectors--aviation, marine and rail.
Air Malta has selected Hamilton Sundstrands' APS 3200 auxiliary power units to be installed in the carrier's 12 Airbus A320/A319 aircraft, under a contract valued at up to $20 million.
Yet again, there is naive enthusiasm for a hybrid ultra-large airship to transport whole armies from the U.S. to a war zone. I was head of the U.S. Navy's Lighter-Than-Air Project Office during the mid-1970s and early '80s, an office triggered by the "energy crisis" and Congress wanting to revisit LTA heritage in light of modern technology. We dug out all the Navy LTA archives from 1921-62 to relearn. We then funded many industry concept studies for modern technology patrol airships and hybrid heavy lift airships, in partnership with NASA.
BUCKING THE TREND Virgin Atlantic said last week it anticipated making a pre-tax profit for the year ending April 2003. While turnover was down from 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) to 1.4 billion pounds, Virgin expects it will return a pre-tax profit of 10 million pounds, compared with a loss of 92 million for the previous year.
THE MOST SUITABLE TECHNOLOGY for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) in the Asia-Pacific area is the Mode S extended squitter, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization task force on ADS-B. It adapts the mode S transponder--already part of traffic alert and collision avoidance systems installed on civil air transport aircraft--to periodically transmit an aircraft's call sign, GPS position and state vector. The decision brings that region in line with the FAA's thinking, which has long championed the 1,090-MHz.
Greece's first telecommunications satellite, Hellas-Sat, will be launched on board an Atlas V booster on May12. The 30-transponder Ku-band spacecraft, built by Astrium and backed by Greek and Cypriot telecom companies and banks, is intended to meet peak communications requirements generated by the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Jim Albaugh, president/CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, has been appointed to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. The panel provides industry analyses and recommendations to the President and executive branch on policy and enhancements to national security and emergency preparedness telecommunications.
June 16--Top 100 Stars of Aerospace, Paris (during the Paris air show). Sept. 16-18--MRO Europe, Cardiff, Wales. Oct. 14--Value Creation Conference. The McGraw-Hill Companies Headquarters, New York. Oct. 28-30--A&D Programs & Productivity Conference & Exhibition. Arlington (Tex.) Convention Center. Nov. 18-20--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition. Hong Kong Convention Center. Apr. 20-24--MRO Conference & Exhibition. Cobb Galleria Center, Atlanta. Partnerships
The House aviation subcommittee voted in favor of a bill that would include cargo pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officer program. The first class of 44 passenger-airline pilots completed the training recently, and Deputy Transportation Security Administrator Stephen McHale said several thousand pilots could be trained to carry guns in the cockpit by the end of Fiscal 2004, provided Congress fully funds the program at levels requested by the administration.
Robert C. Dragon (see photo) has been appointed sales manager for the Northeast U.S. for Innotech Aviation of Montreal. He was a regional sales representative for the Executive Aircraft Corp.
Prof. Alex Roland, an aviation historian from Duke University, has received the annual Gen. James H. Doolittle Award for Leadership in Aerospace Policy from the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Roland was honored for his work in describing the roles that technology and economies have played in the development of American achievements in aviation.
David Friedman has become vice president-marketing for Seattle-based Connexion by Boeing. He has been an independent consultant and was vice president-marketing for U.S. Cellular.
Mark Van Tine has been appointed chairman/CEO of the Englewood, Colo.-based Jeppesen subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. He succeeds Horst A. Bergmann, who has retired. Van Tine was executive vice president-flight information development, printing and distribution/chief information officer.
Frederick Robinson (see photo) has been appointed chief pilot for Executive Jet Management Inc. of Cincinnati. He was chief pilot at Wayfarer Aviation and had been base manager at TAG Aviation.
A rocket sled propelled a 192-lb. Missile Defense Agency payload to Mach 8.41 (9,465 fps.) at Holloman AFB, N.M., on Apr. 29, setting a world's land speed record.
India completed the second test of its three-stage 1.5-million-lb.-thrust Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket May 8 by placing a 3,600-lb. experimental communictions satellite into orbit.
Getting airline feedback about a new design is standard operating procedure, and Boeing is talking to some 40 carriers about what they want to see in the "super-efficient" 7E7 midsize family of jets it expects to launch next year. The big issue is whether the initial aircraft will emphasize a 7,000-8,000-naut.-mi. range with seating for 200-250 passengers or sacrifice some of that range to carry more passengers for mid-range routes.
Seeing inflight Internet services as a passenger-pleasing success, Lufthansa German Airlines is leaning toward equipping its long-haul fleet with a Connexion by Boeing system. Wolfgang Mayrhuber, who becomes chairman of Lufthansa's executive board in June, lamented recently that what with war, layers of anti-terrorism screening and economic recession, the airline industry has to do something to "make flying fun again."
The U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater project to modernize or replace its ships and aircraft was born well before Sept. 11, 2001. The service has long been operating obsolete ships and airplanes with inadequate sensors (see p. 50). But amazingly, now that the terrorist attacks have added immensely to the Coast Guard's homeland security duties, the 20-year-long rebuilding effort is being allowed to fall behind schedule.
In an 11th-hour about-face, predicated on politics and price, Airbus dropped its preference for Pratt & Whitney Canada and selected the Europrop consortium to develop the A400M airlifter's powerplant. Europrop International (EPI)--a joint venture comprising MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce, Snecma Moteurs and Spain's Industria de Turbo Propulsores (IPT)--will develop the TP400-D6 for the A400M. Nominally rated at 10,600 shp., the engine will be the most powerful turboprop so far developed in Europe or the U.S.
Richard J. Townsend has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer of New York-based Loral Space & Communications. He was senior vice president/CFO.
CHEETAH, CHETAK CURTAILED The Indian Ministry of Defense withdrew a tender for 250 light helicopters to replace its Cheetah and Chetak fleet, citing "lack of funds allocation." That caught industry observers by surprise because it's normal to have such funds secured prior to seeking bids. The competition is between Eurocopter, Bell, Sikorsky and Agusta.
The White House and Congress are supporting the Coast Guard's Deepwater project with words but not yet enough money to finish it in the 20 years envisioned, much less on an accelerated basis. The plan to build three new classes of ships and procure unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters already is slipping toward a 30-year effort based on the first two years of funding. And while there is plenty of talk on Capitol Hill about Deepwater and an interest in accelerating funding, so far no additional money has been earmarked.
