Claude G. Luisada should not be too sad or lose too much sleep over the cancellation of Boeing's Sonic Cruiser (AW&ST Jan. 27, p. 8). I expressed my views almost two years ago, after a spate of promotional activity (AW&ST May 7, 2001, p. 10). Even if this project were to become a trans-sonic cruiser, the real-time advantage on long overwater routes would not be substantial. And the technical problem remains at the transition period of speed at the top end of the subsonic drag-rise curve, before Mach 1.
AIRCRAFT DONATION India's Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain has presented Ariana Afghan Airlines President Hamid Karsai the last of three Airbus A300-B4s that India is donating to the Afghan carrier as part of a $100-million reconstruction aid package. The state-owned Indian carrier refurbished the three aircraft before the transfer. In the third quarter of 2002, Ariana expanded routes from neighboring countries to Arab Gulf States, India, Turkey and Germany. Ariana's current fleet includes three Boeing 727-200s.
Gerald (Jerry) Gentry, a retired U. S. Air Force colonel and a test pilot, died on Mar. 3 near his home in Alexandria, Va., following a heart attack. He was 67.
TRAVEL GIANTS CUT COSTS Europe's travel industry giants continue to reel in the wake of the ongoing economic crisis. Earlier this month, the industry's No. 2 firm, Thomas Cook, said it planned a new 250-million-euro ($275-million) cost-cutting measure this year, on top of a drive to save 547 million euros--including 2,600 job cuts--initiated in October, to bring the company back into the black. The Lufthansa Group affiliate reported a 213-million-euro loss in the second quarter.
AeroVironment founder Paul MacCready--an engineer who is credited with innovations in aviation, alternative energy and the environment--has won this year's Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment. He was cited for creations that have helped conquer the constraints of gravity, propel automobiles without fossil fuels, and advance technological discoveries that preserve natural resources.
Robert Wall (USS Abraham Lincoln In The Persian Gulf)
U.S. strike planners are still learning how best to fit the F/A-18E Super Hornet into their air plans, although the lack of a modern, operationally ready targeting pod will essentially keep the aircraft from participating in attacks on mobile targets.
The prototype Bombardier Global 5000 business jet reached an altitude of 45,000ft. and indicated airspeed of 340kt. during its 4-hr. first flight earlier this month. Bombardier test pilots Craig Tylski and Gary Bruce reported no problems during the mission from company facilities in Downsview, Ontario. "That we were able to take the aircraft to maximum speed on first flight represents an extraordinary feat," Tylski said.
European low-cost and second-tier national carriers are facing key structural decisions over the coming weeks against the backdrop of looming conflict with Iraq and the additional uncertainty this will introduce into an already volatile market.
Washington Outlook (AW&ST Feb. 17, p.21) reported that U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is asking for a genius like the late Richard Feynman to participate in the Gehman board created to investigate the Columbia accident. Feynman, for all of his awards, is remembered more for his demonstration of how cold causes an O-ring to remain deformed. This was the condition that permitted the leakage of combustion gases at a joint in the Challenger solid propellant booster rockets, leading to that 1986 disaster.
Eurocopter has denied a report published in the Mar. 7 editions of The Washington Post claiming that spares for its Gazelle helicopters have been delivered to Iraq by an unidentified intermediary. "Since 1990, the company has complied strictly with the provisions of United Nations Resolution 661 . . . and no spare parts for helicopters have been delivered to Iraq," the company said in a statement.
Robert Wall (USS Abraham Lincoln In The Persian Gulf)
In preparation for war with Iraq, the U.S. Navy in recent weeks has upgraded its operationally deployed F-14D strike fighters to allow them to drop GPS-guided bombs.
Jean-Marc Batta has been named general manager of Look Voyages, a division of Montreal-based Transat. He was general manager of Vacances Air Transat (France). Batta succeeds Cedric Pastour, who will remain president/CEO of Star Airlines. Patrice Caradec, who was assistant general manager of Vacances Air Transat (France), will succeed Batta.
Rolls-Royce planned a first test run of its Trent-900 high-bypass turbofan engine for Mar. 15 or 16. The 70,000-80,000-lb.-thrust Trent 900 is the launch engine for the Airbus A380.
GREAT ROBOTICS RACE ON HORIZON The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is circulating what is known as a "Grand Challenge" among robotic researchers. The challenge is billed as an "unprecedented unmanned vehicle race that defies current technology," but apparently could put $1 million in the pockets of some innovative robotics research team. Scheduled to take place Mar.13, 2004, the race will start "somewhere around Los Angeles and end somewhere around Las Vegas," according to an announcement. The actual course will be revealed only 2 hr.
John Albrecht (see photo) has been named vice president-sales and business development for FlightSafety Boeing Training International of Seattle. He was director of new business ventures for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Both Dassault Aviation and Gulf- stream Aerospace, a unit of General Dynamics Corp., plan to reduce production rates of business jets. Gulf- stream now expects to deliver 77 aircraft in 2003 instead of the previously planned 85. Dassault will scale back production of its Falcon aircraft to four per month by next year.
U.S. military forces operating against Iraq are expected to utilize 75% more military communications satellite capability than their counterparts during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, according to Christine M. Anderson, program director for the Milsatcom Joint Program Office in Los Angeles. Defense Satellite Communications Systems (DSCS) and Milstar ground controllers at Schriever AFB, Colo., have moved spacecraft and reconfigured transponders within the two constellations as necessary to maximize the bandwidth available to forces in the Iraqi theater.
FORECAST CLOUDY International Space Station partners meet again this week to hammer out details on operating the ISS while NASA's space shuttle fleet is down, but geopolitics may cloud the issue. Russian officials say the biggest problem is money--as in, how soon can they get some to beef up their station support, and how much will it be? But Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, warned that disagreement over Iraq could derail closer space cooperation.
In the days of sensitive or easily breakable payloads, we used a small "protective shell" to guard the payload, something that was jettisoned after leaving the atmosphere. Why can't NASA, in an age of super strong but extremely thin and very lightweight (read low-mass) materials, devise a protective shield to cover the belly/underskin/tiles of the orbiter that can be jettisoned after reaching orbit?
The U.S. Air Force has tested its new 10-ton Massive Ordnance Air Blast Weapon to much fanfare, but the service purposefully left the impression that it was a bomb to be dropped only from cargo aircraft for special operations missions.
CUTTING COSTS Eutelsat wants the European Commission to help jump-start the market for two-way satellite terminals in the hope that economies of scale can lead to lower prices. That, in turn, might encourage European manufacturers to enter the market, currently dominated by U.S. and Israeli firms. At today's low production levels, the terminals typically sell for 1,500 euros ($1,650) or more, too high to generate serious interest in two-way satellite broadband applications.
Michael A. Taverna (Colleferro, Italy), Michael A. Taverna (Fucino, Italy)
The Italian space industry is banking on new niche applications in launchers, defense and services to help turn around a downward slide in space sales and compensate for a slowdown in commercial satellites and International Space Station deliveries. Space revenues in Italy have been declining steadily in recent years, from 975 million euros ($1 billion) in 1997 to 876 million euros in 2001, according to figures published by Eurospace.
