PROVE IT WORKS The White House's Office of Manage- ment and Budget (OMB) has put the brakes on the Transportation Security Administration's new scheme to find the bad guys among airline passengers--the second-generation Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (Capps 2). OMB wants TSA to show that the computer "data mining" project is effective in reducing risk. "I have a huge spotlight on that project," OMB's Mark A. Forman told the House subcommittee on technology and information policy.
REAL-WORLD ETOPS The 177-min. diversion on Mar. 17 by a United Airlines Boeing 777--the longest in the 20-year history of the Extended-Range Twin Operations program--is prompting the FAA to reassess at least one ETOPS requirement. When planning an ETOPS diversion, the cockpit crew projects the aircraft operating in still air at one-engine speed. The FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) several months ago recommended the agency reconsider that requirement to mirror the actual operating conditions.
A320 FOR AIRCALIN AirCalin (Air Caledonie Inter- national) has contracted to purchase an Airbus A320, scheduled for delivery early next year. The carrier, which has two A330-200s in its fleet, intends to operate the new A320 on routes from New Caledonia to Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific islands. AirCalin's A320 will be powered by International Aero Engines V2500-A5s and have a two-class configuration--eight seats in business and 138 in coach class.
PHALANX BLOCK 1B TO USS COLE Raytheon Co. has delivered a Phalanx Block 1B Close-In Weapon System to the USS Cole. Damaged during a terrorist attack in Aden, Yemen, Oct. 12, 2000, the Cole underwent a 14-month repair and returned to her homeport of Norfolk, Va., in April 2002. As part of the U.S. Navy's effort to deploy Phalanx 1B across the fleet, the Cole is upgrading one of her two Phalanx Block 1A mounts with the Block 1B. Phalanx is a rapid-fire, computer-controlled radar and 20-mm.
The Bush administration is asking for $62.6 billion to supplement the Fiscal 2003 defense budget, much of it to pay for the conflict in Iraq, and it wants it fast--hopefully before Congress' mid-April break. What's unnerving to some is that the request anticipated a "short-duration, high-intensity conflict," which now seems less likely. The Pentagon is asking that $60.1 billion be provided as a defense emergency response fund so that the money is easy to transfer from one account to another.
The start of the battle of Baghdad has been delayed for at least a week, due to the early misuse of airpower by the U.S., say active and retired Air Force officials.
CATALOGING AIR FORCE ONE Boeing is disassembling the 707 that flew for 28 years as Air Force One in preparation to ship it to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The aircraft, tail No. 27000, is expected to arrive late this summer and be on display by late 2004. It first saw service with President Richard Nixon and was used on his historic trip to China to meet Mao Zedong in 1972.
Prospects of a commercial aerospace rebound late next year now appear totally unrealistic, with 2006 a safer bet. The airline industry's financial condition can only be described as dire and worsening, due in large part to slumping demand in domestic and international air travel (see p. 29). Moreover, the number of newer aircraft in storage is increasing.
Gina L. Hicks (see photo) has become manager of marketing and customer support for Mercury Air Centers Inc. of Atlanta. She was director of marketing and customer relations for Air Service Hawaii.
Britain has pushed its Storm Shadow land-attack cruise missile into use ahead of its revised in-service date, with the weapon being launched from Tornado GR4 strike aircraft against Iraqi targets. Completion of a comparatively limited number of production rounds was expedited in the run-up to the conflict, and the missile had been deployed into theater by mid-February. As of late last week, at least 16 had been launched. Initial assessments suggest the weapon's operational debut was "successful," a Defense Ministry official said.
LAUNCH SERVICES SALE Canada's Telesat has selected an International Launch Services Proton rocket to launch its Anik F1R satellite in 2005. The deal, Telesat's third with ILS, also includes an option for the launch of an additional satellite. ILS used its new Proton M/Breeze M configuration to launch Telesat's Nimiq 2 satellite at the end of last year (AW&ST Jan. 6, p. 27). Meanwhile, ILS set an Apr. 29 date for its next launch with the new Breeze M upper stage. The April mission will use the older Proton K rocket.
Jeff Smisek, who has been executive vice president-corporate/secretary of Continental Airlines, has been named executive vice president-corporate development and alliances. Jim Compton, who has been senior vice president-pricing and revenue management, has become senior vice president-marketing. Glen Hauenstein, who has been senior vice president-scheduling, will now be senior vice president-network. And, Capt. Deborah McCoy, who has been senior vice president flight operations, also will oversee inflight food services and safety.
SARS SCARE The World Health Organization's Mar. 15 emergency travel advisory about the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) remained in effect last week as scientists zeroed in on identifying what causes the deadly atypical pneumonia, and determining an effective treatment. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Coronavirus family of viruses, which cause common illness such as colds is the leading hypothesis.
Archie Lind has been appointed vice president-aviation for the URS Corp. of Denver. He was director of airport engineering for another Denver firm, where he was director of an airport baggage project for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
NASA's recent termination of the extended mission of Pioneer 10 (AW&ST Mar. 3, p. 19) reminds me of a light-hearted comment by a TRW engineer a few days after its launch: "This spacecraft is guaranteed for two years of interplanetary flight. If any component fails within that warranty period, just return the spacecraft to our shop and we will repair it free of charge."
DESTINY CALLING These days, Richard Branson hears a persistent knocking of low-cost airline opportunity in the reeling U.S. industry. It's no secret the Virgin Atlantic CEO aspires to start a low-cost operation in U.S. skies. He has vowed to do what it takes to get there, including calling for deregulation and eliminating "archaic airline ownership and control rules" that restrict foreign investors to 25% control and 49% equity of U.S. airlines (AW&ST Dec. 2, 2002, p. 78; Nov. 18, 2002, p. 21).
Independent safety experts on NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) have questioned the agency's policy of counting on the space shuttle itself for crew survival, instead of developing an escape system that could pull crewmembers out of a doomed vehicle using technology that already exists.
Should it lose part of its exclusive rights to the Chinese market to Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's Dragonair fears that the healthy profits it usually enjoys will turn into red ink. "The impact of granting the license to Cathay would be financially devastating for us," Dragonair CEO Stanley Hui told the Hong Kong Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA), which is considering Cathay's plan to break Dragonair's monopoly on flight rights to China from Hong Kong.
INQUIRING MINDS How's the FAA doing in its safety oversight of financially distressed carriers? The Transportation Dept.'s inspector general (IG) aims to find out and last week ordered an immediate audit. The premise is that safety risks could increase as distressed carriers nip and tuck operations. The audit aims to evaluate whether action taken by the FAA to monitor those carriers is adequate, and if the agency's two safety monitoring systems are providing inspectors with the tools and information needed to do the job.
Air cargo security is tighter than it was prior to Sept. 11, 2001, but Congress and the Transportation Security Administration are contemplating changes that could add costs in a sector that is already reeling from tough economic times. The stakes are high for a business that operates on razor-thin margins and where speed and assured delivery are its prime assets. Customers who don't need speed already ship by rail or truck, and these services could become more competitive if air cargo slows down.
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ON TO THE P-X Kawasaki has delivered its 212th and last T-4 intermediate trainer to the Japanese air force from the manufacturer's Gifu plant near Nagoya. The program, which began in 1981, has provided 208 production aircraft to the air force's 31st and 32nd Training Wings and to its Blue Impulse aerobatic team. Together with its two Ishigawajima-Harima Heavy Industries F-3 engines, the trainer was almost entirely indigenously developed.
OOPS There appears to be a growing list of onerous issues about Iraq that haven't been acknowledged yet by the Pentagon. Two Marine Corps AH-1 Cobras attack helicopters disabled an M1 tank with cannon and missile fire. Despite the attack, the tank crew walked away with only the driver suffering a slight injury to the face. In addition, Marine pilots have said they are reluctant to use the JSOW standoff glide bomb in Iraq because of worries that high surface winds can cause missiles to miss their targets.
Its patience wearing thin, the European Commission is poised to launch full-scale development of the Galileo satellite navigation system, with or without the European Space Agency, following yet another failure by ESA to okay its part of the joint program.
