Tom Henderson has become vice president-strategic business development for ASI Entertainment Inc. of Seattle. He was vice president-business development for Thales In-Flight Systems.
FIRST FLIGHT The first preproduction prototype of Cessna Aircraft Co.'s Citation CJ3 made its initial flight Apr. 17 from McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kan. Pilots Dan Morris and Russ Williams flew the twin-engine jet for 1.7 hr., checking stability and control, landing gear operation and engine/airframe systems including dual-channel, full authority digital engine controls for the Williams FJ44-3A engines, and upgraded Collins avionics. Cessna has 160 orders for the CJ3, which is designed for single-pilot operation and has an IFR range of 1,664 naut. mi.
The British Royal Air Force is beginning to consider the implications of its use of precision-guided weaponry in the Iraqi conflict, both with the intent of replacing expended inventory and with regard to future air-to-surface needs. "Operation Telic," as Britain dubbed its involvement, saw the RAF operational debut of several weapons, including the Storm Shadow cruise missile and AGM-65G Maverick, as well as the deployment of a low-collateral-damage bomb.
It became all too clear to the world's airlines last week that the sometimes fatal severe acute respiratory syndrome that surfaced in China late last year also poses a threat to the economic vitality of an already battered and bruised industry. So far, just 4,400 "probable" cases of SARS have been recorded worldwide and about 260 deaths, but the fear of contracting SARS has affected millions of people and prompted the majority of travelers to the most affected areas to cancel or postpone their trips.
The letter in which President Bush was called a "brain-dead draft-dodging coward" is highly excoriating and offensive to all of us that highly respect the man that brought respect back to the office of the presidency (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 6). Bush is the President of the U.S. He should be respected by even you and your staff in not printing these types of inflammatory statements. I appreciate different opinions, even contrary ones that oppose my points of view. It is repugnant to me to see this printed in a periodical that I have respected.
MONEY WORRIES NASA has some missionary work to do on two of the big-ticket items in its Fiscal 2004 budget request, and not just on Capitol Hill. David Radzanowski, who oversees NASA spending in the White House Office of Management and Budget, tells a Women In Aerospace symposium it may be "a couple of years" before OMB gets a handle on the total cost of Project Prometheus, a space nuclear power effort, and a little less than that for the manned Orbital Space Plane. "Where we are now is we don't know the cost," Radzanowski says.
Organized labor has every right to be infuriated with the senior management of AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, for the back room wheeling-and-dealing to make sure the company's top 45 people were financially protected in case of a bankruptcy filing. All this was going on at the same time as the executive suite gang was pressuring thousands of lower-level employees for cuts in wages and benefits that will diminish their quality of life.
BREAKING CAMP Japan's Rocket System Corp. will be disbanded when the H-IIA launch program is transferred from the National Space Development Agency to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2005. RSC was formed in 1990 to market the H-II by 30 Japanese companies involved in the launcher's development, including MHI as the prime contractor. By the mid-1990s, it had received 30 launch reservations, but all were canceled after the H-II suffered repeated failures. Now, with the H-IIA upgrade in place, MHI is negotiating with Hispasat Corp.
To understand why the likes of JetBlue Airways Corp. strike terror in the hearts of Delta Air Lines and other large legacy carriers unfortunate enough to have to compete head-to-head against the New York-based operator, look no further than JetBlue's performance in the quarter ended Mar. 31. "The operating margin says it all," Merrill Lynch analyst Michael J. Linenberg said.
Two squadrons of Pioneer unmanned aircraft operating in Iraq feature a new sensor suite that allowed the system to better support the march of the 1st Marine Div. from Kuwait to Baghdad. The sensor payload provides users with a color daylight television feed and an improved forward-looking infrared picture. The payload enhancement "made a huge difference," said Lt. Col. Robert Rice, commanding officer of VMU-2. Both sensors also have much better magnification levels than the ones that were replaced.
ANTENNA RANGE FOR CHINA Astrium will supply a compact antenna test range to the Chinese Academy of Space Technology that it says will be the largest facility of the type ever to be installed. The 12-million-euro ($13-million) system, to be furnished through EuraSpace--a joint venture of Astrium and the China Aerospace Corp.--will serve geostationary Earth-orbit satellites from 1-100 GHz. It is to enter operation in 2005.
MAINTENANCE PROGNOSTICS Boeing will use Air France, American Airlines and an as-yet unnamed Asian carrier to provide inflight testing of its Airplane Health Maintenance data-monitoring and prognostic service before formally introducing it next year.
Average passenger load factors last year hit the record highs of 2000. But the break-even point moved roughly 10 points higher than airlines can achieve. The forecast for a 2003 fed by fear of terrorism and worldwide health anxiety is for an 8% decline. The bearer of this gloom at Aviation Week's MRO 2003 conference was the Air Transport Assn.'s chief economist, David Swierenga. "There's not a lot you can do to stimulate revenue," he said. "What happens now is that carriers start to cut costs."
May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. 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.
CAE has won a supply order to provide a Boeing 737-800 full-flight simulator including CAE Tropos visual system for the FAA. Also, Lufthansa Flight Training has selected CAE to provide an Airbus A330-300 full-flight simulator. The contracts have a combined value of up to $24.2 million.
Capt. James Woolway (see photo) has become commanding officer of Naval Air Systems Command Depot North Island in San Diego. He succeeds Capt. Peter Laszcz. Woolway was the depot's executive officer.
A growing need for pilots in the U.S. Air Force and Navy has sparked renewed interest in training facilities and methods, with the 3D Flying Training Sqdn. here once again answering that call.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Advocates of heavy bombers are pushing for an objective way to measure the combat effectiveness of B-1s and B-52s as compared to fighters in an Air Expeditionary Force (AEF). Their idea is to prompt a debate on the combat power brought to the battlefield by aircraft. The underpinning of the bomber fans' argument is a comparison of the cost, divided by the number of targets hit each day by the two types of aircraft. "It ought to be something tangible," said one aerospace industry analyst.
The Pentagon is continuing its rapid redeployment of aircraft from the Middle East. The lone Global Hawk unmanned aircraft operating from the United Arab Emirates has received orders to return to the U.S. Still to be determined is whether the aircraft will go to Edwards AFB, Calif., as a test asset or Beale AFB, Calif., its permanent operational home.
IS PARIS CHURNING? Opinions abound on the Pentagon's decision to nix flying demonstrations of aircraft and limit the numbers of top uniformed types attending the Paris Air Show. Senior Air Force officials--most of whom will go to work for the aerospace industry when they retire--caution that it would be stupid to handicap U.S. industry by throttling back participation. The motive for scaling back may not be retaliation for French intransigence on Washington's action in Iraq, however. It may simply be concerns about appearances.
Profits and revenues surged at Lockheed Martin and L-3 Communications during the quarter ended Mar. 31, as they did for many smaller defense contractors. Moreover, strong bookings and growing backlogs suggest the current halcyon period could turn into an extended one for companies whose primary business is selling products and services to the military and government.
An Ontario judge has approved Air Canada's request, supported by some of its labor unions, to take no further action involving collective bargaining agreements until May 9 or, alternatively, until two days after negotiations get underway between Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and their respective unions. The carrier has set a target date of June 30 for completion of labor restructuring plans.
SURVEILLING THE MARKET With defense spending in decline in many parts of the world, the market for airborne surveillance and reconnaissance systems is expected to drop slightly between 2002-08, slipping below the $4.5 billion a year level of last year and then returning to about $4.4 billion by 2008. The U.S. accounts for 47% of this market but despite the importance of these systems in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Pentagon's push toward network-centric warfare, the major U.S. platforms won't be replaced until after 2008.
Belgian officials have reaffirmed that a mini-defense summit scheduled by Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg in Brussels on Apr. 29 is not an attempt to set up a separate military structure within the European Union. "The object is to evaluate where we stand and what we need to do to meet our objectives," said one top official, adding that the four nations have pledged to increase spending on hardware and R&D to 0.45% of GDP by 2012.
