Brussels-based DHL fueled fires over the issue of national ownership and control of U.S. air carriers last week, agreeing to merge with Airborne Express, spin off its ABX Air division and acquire the company's extensive ground delivery network for $1.05 billion. The plan offered by DHL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Post, the German post office, riled giant U.S. competitors FedEx and UPS. The rivals pledged to continue their two-year-long fight to prove that DHL is violating U.S. laws that limit foreign ownership and control of a U.S. airline.
SORTING SHORTS A number of recent aviation accidents have been traced to electrical failures resulting from faulty electrical connectors and shorted wires, according to the Omnicon Group of Hauppauge, N.Y. In an attempt to reduce future failures, the company has developed a software-based tool called "Bent Pin & Shorted/Open Wire Analysis." Company spokesmen say this analysis automatically identifies failure modes, causes and descriptions associated with electrical connectors and harness signals.
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NOW HEAR THIS Here's the latest for the Pentagon to consider in inter-service problems: Navy carrier pilots are complaining of missed targets and aborted missions due to the lack of Air Force refueling aircraft. One Air Force tanker crew didn't get changes in the daily air tasking order and balked at refueling their Navy brethren. Other tankers have been late or their refueling orbits were packed with thunderstorms. "Not a whole lot of flying [from] the boat," said a Navy pilot.
ROSETTA OPTIONS The European Space Agency (ESA) has picked three new scenarios for the Rosetta comet mission. One of them will replace the original plan dropped when its scheduled January launch was postponed indefinitely following an Ariane 5 launch failure late last year (AW&ST Jan. 20, p. 23). Two scenarios would take Rosetta to a new comet, Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in February 2004 or 2005. The third would send it to its original destination, Wirtanen, next January.
The U.S. government has been taking the threat of missiles being fired against commercial passenger jets more seriously since the Al Qaeda attack last year on an Israeli Boeing 757 in Kenya, and that is as it should be. But a snap judgment should not be made on what to do about it.
After more than a decade of upgrading its AV-8B Harriers and several years of serious readiness woes, the U.S. Marine Corps hopes the air war against Iraq will validate the multimillion-dollar spending that's allowing the aircraft to execute complex strike and reconnaissance missions.
Japan has sent armed Coast Guard escorts for Japanese merchant ships--for the first time since World War II--to prevent attacks as they return from the Persian Gulf area. The Japanese navy and government policy makers are considering sending Lockheed-Martin/ Kawasaki P-3C marine patrol aircraft to guard three navy vessels operating in the Indian Ocean--a tanker, an Aegis cruiser and a destroyer. The vessels are providing refueling services for U.S. Navy ships in that ocean.
A Salt Lake City-based company, JP Rocket Engines, has flown an aerospike nozzle on a small commercial rocket, demonstrating a potential 37% increase in energy efficiency over a conventional nozzle. The Dynamic Composites Inc. "Scorpion" rocket ascended to 3,413 ft. AGL during the brief test on Mar. 15, staying within a 10,000-ft. MSL altitude restriction mandated by an FAA clearance.
In the middle of its military campaign against Iraq, the Marine Corps is establishing an innovative helicopter-borne casualty evacuation system for injured U.S. forces and Iraqis. "There has been no doctrine for this in the past" and no time to set up an organizational structure, said a Navy captain serving as the assistant wing surgeon for casualty evacuation at the 3rd Marine Air Wing. Without established procedures, officials involved in the operation are making up many of the rules as they go along.
The Columbia investigation will reach a critical juncture this week as engineers begin to interpret taped data from the Orbiter Experiments Recorder. It's hoped that the OEX will reveal information from hundreds of aerodynamic and thermal-related sensors operating throughout the disastrous reentry Feb. 1.
The aircraft trend at U.S. cargo operators has swung toward the wide-body transport and will continue steadily in that direction for the next decade, according to the FAA Aerospace Forecast for fiscal 2003-14 (top graph). Two-, three- and four-engine wide-body transports will comprise 65% of the cargo fleet by 2014, up from 44% in 2002. These will include Boeing 747s and 767s, MD-11s, DC-10s, and Airbus A300s and A310s destined for conversion.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 New aerospike nozzle shows potential for more efficiency 19 Safety board: Swissair crew had few means to fight fire 19 Engleman begins term as new NTSB chair ATTACK ON IRAQ 22 Early misuse of airpower blamed for delayed battle 24 Unexpected twists in Iraqi tactics lead USMC to adapt 25 Medics pluck newly wounded out of the fray by air 25 U.K. initiates Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile
The U.S. Marine Corps is upgrading its AV-8B Harriers to relay real-time video from its Litening II targeting pod to front-line troops, thereby giving them immediate access to airborne intelligence.
A history of the space shuttle external tank written by a key official just five months ago gives good insight into the lengthy design evolution that continues to this day. A leading course of inquiry by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board is that tank insulation foam struck the orbiter's thermal protection system.
NEW BUSINESS Boeing Satellite Systems recorded its first sale of the year last week with Measat-3. The new bird will be a complement to two still-operating 376 models launched in 1996 for Binariang Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. of Kuala Lumpur, which operates the Malaysia-East Asia Satellite system. Binariang ordered a Boeing 601HP that will be collocated with Measat-1 at 91.5 deg. E. Long. and will expand and backup the existing system. A launcher has not been selected but the launch is set for 2005. Measat-3 will carry 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders.
American Airlines and its 16,300 fleet service workers, which are represented by the Transport Workers Union, reached a tentative agreement Mar. 27. The airline is asking for $1.8 billion in annual savings from employees represented by labor unions. It is in negotiations with the Allied Pilots Assn. and the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants.
GOING FOR BROKE Russia has set an Apr. 26 launch date for the next International Space Station crew, but the station partnership still hasn't been able to figure out how to fund operations without NASA's space shuttles. A partnership meeting on the issue was postponed last week. Time is getting short, because the Soyuz rescue vehicle docked with the ISS is nearing the end of its service life. Russia needs cash pronto to accelerate assembly of the two extra Progress vehicles needed to support even the planned two-man crews in the long run.
Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. (New York), Michael Mecham (San Francisco)
The first week of war in Iraq has hit U.S. carriers so hard that they laid off more than 10,000 employees and began double-digit capacity cuts in what, for many, is a desperate attempt to stay out of bankruptcy--or insolvency. Overall traffic for U.S. carriers fell 10%, but the Air Transport Assn. (ATA) reports that war fears hit transatlantic travel the hardest, dropping it 25%, with transpacific loads off 13%. The future is grimmer: advanced transatlantic bookings are off 40%, transpacific 30%. Domestic advanced bookings are down 20%.
FOCUS ON WAR So far, a single Northrop Grumman Global Hawk is flying missions over Iraq from a base in the United Arab Emirates, but a second is expected to join the effort in about two weeks. The aircraft is flying 18-24-hr. endurance missions, compared with the 4-6-hr. missions flown early in the Afghanistan conflict when there were more aircraft available. The smaller General Atomics Predator reconnaissance and strike UAV has launched a single missile attack so far in the air campaign.
United Airlines and negotiators for its Air Line Pilots Assn. unit reached agreement on pay cuts and productivity increases that will reduce costs by about $1.1 billion per year for six years, the airline said. The deal is subject to ratification by ALPA members and approval by United's board.
Dassault Aviation is scheduled to deliver in the next few days the first extended-range Falcon 2000EX. The upgraded business twinjet, powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308C turbofans, obtained European JAA and FAA certification on Mar. 21.
Harry Halton, a mechanical and electrical engineer and former president of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, has been named an officer of the Order of Canada. When Halton was an executive vice president of Canadair, he was involved with the CL-215 water bomber and Challenger business jet programs.
The two leading international organizations for airlines joined last week in an urgent call on governments to find ways to relieve economic pressures on the air transport industry, which shows symptoms of collapse in the U.S. and severe financial strain around the globe.
The first production HAP combat version of the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter made its maiden flight on Mar. 26 and will be delivered soon to the French army.
