COLUMBIA REPLACEMENT Add another voice to the NASA advisers who believe it would make more sense to build a new space shuttle orbiter to replace Columbia than to develop a smaller, less capable Orbital Space Plane (OSP) using essentially the same technology. Richard D.
Alitalia said it will shed up to 6-7% of its flights and cut up to 1,200-1,400 jobs. The cuts will affect mainly domestic and European routes and will start in the second half of the month. Alitalia's current workforce is 22,536 persons.
GARMIN FOR CESSNA Cessna Aircraft Co. has selected Garmin International to supply avionics for its Citation Mustang business jet. The G1000 electronic, fully integrated suite will include two 10-in. primary flight displays and a 15in. multifunction display. Cessna anticipates FAA certification of the Mustang in mid-2006.
The Thermal/ IR Camera Kit expands the capabilities of the company's IR Telescopic Camera Kit by adding a second thermal camera for viewing in darkness. The user can switch between the two camera functions. The camera mounted on the end of a 13.8-ft. carbon fiber telescopic pole can be used for searching buildings, ships, aircraft and vehicles for firearms, explosive devices, contraband and criminal suspects. Also available is a shoulder-strap equipped field monitor; a heads-up display unit that avoids emission of stray light is optional.
(While I see where Mr. Probert is coming from, I do not agree that there is no future in space or aerospace for the world's young people. As a number of the Reflections articles stated, the mere fact of dreaming and enduring persistence made these dreams come true for those individuals. There are more than sufficient challenges facing our industry, but they will be met and overcome because that has been our heritage and it is our future. As one example, I invite Mr.
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Raymond J. Lutz (see photo) has been appointed vice president-business development and strategic planning for Chicago-based DHL Airways. He was senior vice president-marketing and sales for Skyway Freight Systems.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Robert Oaks and Paul Kaminski have received 2002 Distinguished Graduate Awards from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Since retiring from the Air Force, Oaks has been vice president-compliance and safety for US Airways and later president for southern Africa of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Kaminski is CEO of Technovation Inc. He was an early executive of the National Reconnaissance Office and is considered responsible for developing guidance components of the Minuteman missile.
Robert Wall (Forward Operating Base, Iraq), Robert Wall (USS Boxer, Persian Gulf)
Marine Corps CH-53Es are suffering serious sand-induced engine problems in operations in Iraq, repeating an experience the service endured 12 years ago during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines has announced a plan to reduce unit costs by 30%--its third streamlining effort since the beginning of the airline crisis. The plan calls for cutting 4,000 jobs among cockpit and cabin crew and ground handling, engineering, sales and general administration staff. SAS estimates the measures will save up to 8 billion crowns ($935 million) through 2005.
The Ariane program received a bit of good news last week when the 5 G returned to flight after a four-month hiatus, carrying India's Insat-3A and PanAmSat Galaxy XII into orbit, while India ordered two more launches.
WEATHER WATCHER Eumetsat, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, has picked Alcatel to build the fourth Meteosat Second Generation (MSG4) spacecraft. Ground delivery of the 391million-euro ($415-million) weather satellite, a duplicate of the MSG1 launched Aug. 28, 2002, is set for 2007. Alcatel heads a consortium building all MSG spacecraft.
MAKING PROGRESS Two independent airlines in India, Jet Airways and Air Sahara, are steadily increasing their market penetration against state-owned Indian Airlines and Air India. Jet Airways increased its share to 48.7% last year, and the smaller Air Sahara saw its portion nearly double to 8.6%. Nandini Verma, vice president of Jet Airways, said promotion packages, yield management and utilization rates on aircraft have contributed to the carrier's penetration of the market.
FIRST FLIGHT The second of two aircraft in Boeing's 777-300ER test program made its initial flight Apr. 6 at Everett. The airplane was flown by senior test pilot Suzanna Darcy- Hennemann and Joseph MacDonald, senior engineering pilot for the 777 program. The aircraft flew for 2 hr. 24 min. before landing at Boeing Field in Seattle. The airplane will conduct tests of the GE90-115B engines. The first 777-300ER has accumulated more than 100 hr. since taking off for the first time Feb. 24.
The AsiaSat 4 spacecraft, a Boeing 601 model, was scheduled to be launched Apr. 11 from Cape Canaveral on board a Russian-powered Lockheed Martin/International Launch Services Atlas III booster. The total mission cost is $240 million. The satellite is to provide broadcast, broadband media and direct-to-home services to Hong Kong and the overall Asia-Pacific region.
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has paid about $6.6 billion in cash and stock to take a controlling interest in Hughes Electronics, fulfilling his long-time goal of acquiring entree into the U.S. pay-TV market for his Fox Entertainment Group via the Hughes DirecTV unit.
Searchers in central Texas have have moved just west of the main Columbia debris field in the hope critical pieces of the space shuttle's left wing may have fallen there. If so, it could round out the growing body of evidence that the wing disintegrated during reentry because a loose piece of insulating foam cracked a critical heat-shield component during launch.
In a move that has thrown potential bidders off balance, Britain's National Air Traffic Services has shelved competitive procurement of a key element of its next-generation air traffic system, preferring to pursue a collaborative effort with Spain and Germany. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) was in the early stages of competing for a successor to its National Airspace System (NAS), used at both West Drayton and Swanwick centers, as well as for its en route center in Prestwick, Scotland.
LASER LINKS Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems has teamed with Ball Aerospace to develop satellite laser links designed to meet the U.S. government's growing need for high-bandwidth capacity for military communications. The team plans to act as a merchant supplier in marketing technology it believes will boost satellite relay capacity by a factor of 10 or more, enabling the network-centric warfare concept by allowing "near-immediate access to information." Ball plans to apply its expertise in remote sensing, acquisition, and pointing and tracking to the team effort.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 Murdoch buys major interest in Hughes Electronics 18 Reinforced cockpit doors now in about 10,000 aircraft 19 Carlyle-Finmeccanica team tapped to buy FiatAvio WAR IN IRAQ 22 One key to taking Baghdad: 'Finesse air power' 23 Aggressive tactics, shrinking tanker force offer challenges 26 Marine air ops clear opposi- tion for ground force 28 B-1 crew makes another at- tempt on Iraq's leadership
Nothing warms the heart of an airline or OEM maintenance executive more than a technology that works. That's particularly true for technologies that make the hard become easier, the scattershot become organized, and the unproductive become, well, somewhat less so.
PLAY TOGETHER NOW Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld promulgates a Transformation Planning Guidance document that formalizes his approach to revamping warfighting capability in the Defense Dept. The document envisions no "right answer," but lays out a process of innovation with checks and balances and solicits critiques from various offices. But don't think Rummy's turning into a softie. The plan spells out the roles and responsibilities of senior military leaders and the military services in one place for the first time.
WEATHER RADIO XM Satellite Radio will use its S-band mobile service to send up-to-the-minute weather data to aircraft, ships and emergency vehicles in a new subscription service to be launched this summer. Using the same mobile antenna XM uses for pay-radio delivery to cars and trucks across the U.S., and small, low-cost receivers, the new service will deliver graphical weather information like that seen on commercial television stations to a variety of mobile customers. Weather Works Inc.
RST SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HAS TESTED a low-cost phased array antenna with broadband operation, high-power handling capability and low DC power consumption. It could improve airborne tactical military communication by simultaneously providing high data rates to ground, air and satellite receivers, according to the company. Instead of using more expensive solid-state phase shifters, its beam scanning is controlled by electronically perturbing micro-strip lines to introduce a progressive phase shift between adjacent antenna elements. Beam scans of ±26 deg.
