INVESTMENT DIVIDENDS Embraer finds its investment in advanced and high school education programs is paying off in a bumper crop of well-qualified engineers and workers for its aircraft manufacturing efforts. The Brazilian company started a postgraduate program for engineers nearly two years ago and the first class has graduated from the 18-month program. The classes of 200 each are able to obtain M.S. degrees from a number of engineering subjects.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has selected Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. to produce components for eight additional F-2 aircraft in a $160-million order.
The Homeland Security Dept. will study NASA's highly successful coordination of more than 130 federal, state and local agencies in the Columbia accident debris search for lessons on how to carry out similar coordination to respond to terrorist attacks. NASA and federal managers believe the Columbia debris recovery was the single largest organized ground search effort ever carried out, said David W. Whittle, chairman of NASA's Systems Safety Review Panel and head of the NASA Mishap Investigation Team in the Shuttle Program Office.
Only seven months old, U.S. Northern Command is rapidly expanding its links to other federal agencies, conducting realistic exercises to prepare for both terrorism and natural disasters, and has provided military support for a number of real-world events.
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ALSO IN JAPAN NASDA said it will postpone launch of the weather/air traffic control MTSAT-1R satellite from this summer to next January or February on an H-IIA booster. Officials did not report the cause of the delay. The satellite is being built by Space Systems/Loral, which has not shipped the satellite and declined to comment, citing contractual obligations. But while MTSAT-1R is being delayed, a major Japanese commercial program is moving forward. Japan's JSAT Corp. has selected Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems to build the JCSAT-9 communications satellite.
Rolf-Christian Andersen has become vice president-internal auditing of Swiss International Air Lines. He was head of audit for Zurich Financial Services.
U.S. quarantine officers and other officials trained to spot symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) will be meeting aircraft at U.S. airports and working with flight crews to identify any passengers who might be symptomatic so they can be evaluated before leaving the airport. U.S. officials can order anyone with symptoms to a hospital where they will be isolated. They also have the authority to quarantine people who are not exhibiting symptoms but who have been exposed under a recent executive order on SARS signed by President Bush.
THE MEXICAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY has selected Thales Air Traffic Management to supply the Mexico City airport with an advanced-surface movement guidance control system to support controllers by monitoring aircraft and vehicles during low-visibility conditions. The contract includes an airport surface detection equipment (ASDE) radar, which is slated for delivery in the second half of the year.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 India completes second test of GSLV rocket 19 KLM posts increased net loss for fiscal 2002-03 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 22 Myriad reasons prompt U.S. firms to curtail Paris plans 26 Raytheon to supply EW system for Greek F-16s 26 Brinkmanship sees Airbus shift on A400M engine 27 EADS' losses grow, but group is optimistic for '03 28 U.K. presses U.S. to move ahead on defense reforms 28 Rocket sled sets land speed record of Mach 8.41
COMMENTS CALLED FOR A new federal radionavigation plan is in the works and due out this year. Published by the Defense and Transportation Depts. every two years, it states the official government policy and plan for civil and military use of radionavigation systems. The growing number of users and the addition of new technologies, such as ultra-wideband communication, raise a number of concerns in the aerospace community. E-mail comments and inputs for updating the contents of the 2001 plan are invited by July 1 to: [email protected].
We know the space shuttles were sending out warning signals for years while program managers and engineers crossed their fingers and looked the other way. Now that the inevitable has occurred, it appears to have sounded a wake-up call for a couple of other programs with similarly ominous histories. As engines malfunctioned and pieces kept dropping off the Concordes in recent months, the writing on the wall became impossible to ignore, and someone made a very smart decision (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 34). Let's hope the SST makes it safely into retirement.
General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit plans to shut down its Savannah, Ga., manufacturing operations from June 30 through July 27 because of the deep slump in demand for business jets. More than 1,000 management and nonmanagement employees in direct manufacturing departments, plus designated employees in support departments, will be idled for the four weeks. Customer deliveries and service will be unaffected.
Sukhoi selected Snecma Moteurs' SM146 turbofan to power the 60-95-seat Russian Regional Jet series. The twinjet's maiden flight is planned for 2006, with first delivery a year later.
Failure of a second attitude measurement gyroscope on the Hubble Space Telescope last week makes continued science operations a little dicier, since the sole remaining spare on board has an electronics flaw, and a planned servicing mission is on hold while the shuttle fleet is grounded. Controllers weren't surprised when the No. 3 gyro failed Apr. 29, since it had given signs of trouble. But the failure left only three gyros in nominal condition, with one more also out of service and another with an electronics problem.
May 11-15--Society for the Advancement of Material & Process Engineering (Sampe 2003). Long Beach (Calif.) Convention Center. Call +1 (800) 562-7360 or see www.sampe.org May 12-24--George Washington University's Airport Security Operations Aviation Safety & Security Certificate Program. Aviation Institute, Virginia Campus. Call +1 (703) 726-8334, fax +1 (703) 726-8337 or see www.gwu.edu/~aviation
LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS One of the big lessons from the war with Iraq is the need for faster logistics, according to Vice Adm. Joe Dyer, who heads the Naval Air Systems Command. What is required is something faster than the 20-kt. ships of today (or even the envisioned 30-kt. "fast" transports), and with more carrying capacity than airlift aircraft. For that middle ground, he foresees three options: sea planes, a giant lighter-than-air (LTA) craft or a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vehicle.
SPACE SUPPORT U.S. efforts to manage post-war Iraq are getting a helping hand from space. The Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, headed by U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) Jay Garner, is being aided by an Army Space Support Team, which provides expertise on how to best use space systems. Among other efforts, the Army detachment is aiding the reconstruction effort by providing maps generated by space systems.
REGIONAL COLORS OF BENETTON The Benetton Group is committed to building a network of regional Italian airports. It failed in its initial attempt to buy ADR, the company which operates Rome's airports, but took its first successful step in reaching its goal three years ago, when it acquired a 41.3% stake in Sagat, operator of the Turin airport. The next in line is Florence. It has bid for a 29% stake in ADF, the company running the airport.
BACK TO THE PAST NASA is shying away from an Apollo-derived capsule as a quick-and-dirty way to get a U.S. crew rescue vehicle on the International Space Station because it probably wouldn't meet requirements. A small team of Apollo veterans did a quick study of the idea for aerospace technology chief Jeremiah Creedon. They found that while the ballistic capsule that returned Moon crews to Earth would meet "most" of the requirements set for the proposed Orbital Space Plane, its limited cross range on reentry and water landing approach wouldn't meet specs.
The first pre-production prototype Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 business jet crashed Apr. 26 near Del Rio, Tex., killing chief test pilot Carroll R. Beeler and dealing the company a severe blow to its prospects for achieving FAA certification in 2004.
Fasten your seat belts, and keep your eye on Garmin Ltd. for the next several quarters. If its group of businesses can sustain their operating and financial performance of the last six months, Garmin shares, which rose from 18 to 42 during that period, could wind up as one of the hottest investment plays in 2003. Then, again, the stock may have had its day. Analysts aren't sure, because there are both bull and bear cases.
FRENCH CONNECTION French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was covering all fronts in a recent visit to India, pushing for state-owned Indian Airlines to award an $8-billion order for 43 aircraft to Airbus, while offering a number of defense projects to the Indian government. India has shown an interest in technology transfer deals for its Mirage fighters to fill the breach between the phasing out of old MiG-21 fighters and the introduction of the indigenously produced light combat aircraft.
After several years of gestation, plans for all-business-class shuttle services as an alternative to airline travel, full or fractional business jet ownership and membership-type charter services finally appear to be coming together, although the ultimate extent of demand remains unclear.
