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.
Don Roulett has become global marketing manager for aviation tires for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. He succeeds Jim Pickering, who has retired. Roulett was program/business manager for Boeing and Airbus original equipment manufacturer products for Honeywell/Allied Signal Aircraft Landing Systems.
Paul B. MacCready has been chosen to receive the Bower Award for Achievement in Science and Herbert Kelleher, co-founder and chairman of Southwest Airlines, the Bower Award for Business Leadership, from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. MacCready will be cited for innovations in the fields of soaring, meteorology, human- and solar-powered flight, upper atmospheric research and unoccupied and miniature aircraft. Kelleher will be recognized for his business and technological success through inspiring, supporting and celebrating people and their accomplishments.
Albert F. Myers (see photos), who has been corporate vice president/treasurer of the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles, is now corporate vice president-strategy and technology. He has been succeeded by James L. Sanford, who has been vice president-contracts and pricing.
Online booking of aircraft cargo capacity is likely to increase this year as the founding operation, London-based Global Freight Exchange (GF-X), faces competition from two new Internet portals. But whether all three major portals will survive to fragment the marketplace remains a question. "When it comes to automation, cargo airlines are 10 years behind passenger carriers," said Andreas Otto, a Lufthansa Cargo sales and marketing executive. "The only question is whether three portals are too many."
Stanton D. Sloane has become president of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.'s Management & Data Systems, King of Prussia, Pa. He succeeds Marcus C. Hansen, who is retiring. Sloane has been executive vice president.
SUMMER RERUN Remember the FAA's Fiscal 2002 budget shortfall, which threatened air traffic controller layoffs during last summer's vacation season? They were averted when the agency got $27 million in supplemental appropriations. This year the shortfall will be greater and a supplemental less likely given the federal budget deficit, war and homeland security needs, FAA officials believe. This brings back the possibility of rolling layoffs this summer, in which portions of the workforce would be furloughed at different times, slowing down operations and reducing capacity.
POSITIVE IN LEBANON Commercial aviation is rebounding in Lebanon as the nation has embraced open skies and reaped benefits, according to Hamdi Chaouk, the director general of civil aviation. Middle East Airlines (MEA) turned a 5% profit in 2002 in spite of intense competition on key routes. One of those, Beirut-Dubai, is served by 11 airlines, but MEA sustained no loss of passengers during 2001-02. MEA has been restructured after a parting subsidy from the government.
In the next few weeks, the Transportation Dept. Inspector General's office is expected to formally announce an audit of the FAA. The audit is aimed at evaluating whether the agency has sufficient staff to monitor carriers, particularly those in bankruptcy. No matter the results, an FAA official said it is not likely to hire more inspectors to do the job. Rather, it will basically follow procedures of the Air Transportation Oversight System and retarget inspections of a carrier's areas of vulnerability.
Being a regular officer and a fighter pilot, I was chief of the French air force's Office of History during the last 10 years of my active duty. In this position, I had the opportunity to scrutinize aviation history. I could see a number of Frenchmen among the forerunners of human flight. However, in the heavier-than-air race, France was handicapped by what it had done with lighter-than-air concepts since 1783, including the use of military aerostats in war operations. Thus, many people looked to balloons as the solution to flight.
The senior Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, James Oberstar (Minn.), introduced airline relief legislation that would require at least 500,000 barrels per day in Strategic Petroleum Reserve drawdowns, reopen the federal loan guarantee program for fuel-purchase loans, extend government war risk insurance through 2007 and reimburse carriers for financial losses attributed by the Transportation Dept. to passenger traffic decreases caused by the Iraq war.
Allyn R. Kinnamon has been named Savannah, Ga.-based director of sales and marketing and Bob Thornburg manager of field service for Pyka Aerospace of San Antonio. Kinnamon was manager of dealer and Gulfstream accounts for EMS Technologies, Ottawa, Calif. Thornburg held the same position at Cessna Aircraft Co. in San Antonio.
Stewart A. Sutton has become principal engineer of the Knowledge Management Office of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif.. He was senior manager for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Advanced Development Center.
L-3 Communications Corp. recently landed its largest piece of business to date: a $1.5billion indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, with all options exercised, to provide logistics products and services to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) effective Apr. 1. L-3's Joint Operations Group (JOG) will implement the program, known as the Special Operations Forces-Support Activity.
The Columbia Accident Board will investigate whether the orbiter could have been damaged by rainwater before it was moved inside Boeing's Palmdale, Calif., facility for overhaul in 1999--and whether any lurking water damage could have played a role in the Feb. 1 reentry accident.
Gordon Bethune (see photo), chairman/CEO of Continental Airlines, has been named to receive the 2003 Tony Jannus Award in October from the Greater Tampa and St Petersburg Area (Fla.) chambers of commerce. He will be recognized for his contributions to commercial aviation. The award is named after pilot Tony Jannus, who founded the world's first scheduled airline, which began service on Jan. 1, 1914, between Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries will be a team member in the General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Alliance GP7200 engine program for the Airbus A380, sharing responsibility as a blade and shaft supplier for the high-pressure compressor. IHI previously signed to supply low-pressure turbine blades for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 for the same aircraft. Kawasaki Heavy Industries is another Trent 900 supplier, providing low-pressure compressor parts, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will probably join the GP7200 program soon.
The Fiat group's decision to sell its FiatAvio aerospace arm is being delayed as government attempts to engineer a bid involving Italian investors run into rough sledding. Finmeccanica and Snecma, which have been working on a joint offer at government prodding, appear to be deadlocked over respective roles and obligations and the purchase price. Sources indicate Snecma may be close to pulling out. The French engine maker is said to be unhappy with an arrangement that would ensure Fin- meccanica a 50% share, which Snecma could buy back within two years.
