An Air Algerie Boeing 737-2T4, Reg. 7T-VEZ, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tamanrasset, Algieria, on Mar. 6 with 98 passengers and six crewmembers on board. An airline statement addressing the crash said there was one surviving passenger of Flight 6289, which was en route via Ghardaia to the capital city, Algiers. According to reports, an airline spokesman said weather was not likely a factor and there was no indication of terrorism.
Airbus' decision on whether to reduce its commercial transports' combined production rate or maintain the current annual pace of 300 aircraft is expected within the next few weeks. The European manufacturer, like its archrival Boeing, is closely monitoring the airline industry's ability to take on next-generation aircraft in these times of tumultuous geopolitical upheaval.
Boeing Satellite Services has agreed to pay a $32-million penalty to settle a five-year-old legal dispute stemming from a launch failure analysis that was provided to China Great Wall Industries without clearance from U.S. arms export officials.
L-3 Communications' Link Simulation and Training division will build a fifth trainer suite for the U.S. Army's Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer--Aviation Reconfigurable Manned Simulator program (Avcatt-A). The suite, housed in two 53-ft. trailers, includes six helicopter simulators that can be reconfigured to represent the AH-64A Apache, AH-64D Apache Longbow, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47D Chinook. Plans call for adding the RAH-66 Comanche to the system in the future.
Deregulation simply allowed free market forces to shape the airline industry. It didn't require carriers to operate at losses while chasing market share and other failed marketing schemes. There's no link between deregulation and the Railway Labor Act or between government employees--who are not allowed to strike but have great benefits and job and wage security--and private employees whose fortunes fall with the economy and mismanagement.
Boeing plans to have a demonstrator aircraft flying in two years that eventually may evolve into a tailless, short takeoff and landing assault transport. Moreover, the company is eying manned and unmanned derivatives of the design that could serve as future-generation gunships carrying miniaturized directed-energy weapons--lasers and high-power microwave devices--instead of cannon.
A chemical formulation similar to that used in a common type of fireworks is being examined by engineers for use in a caulk gun that could be used to repair holes or cracks in the space shuttle reinforced carbon-carbon leading edge and, possibly, areas of black tile on the orbiter's belly.
The Pentagon is in a quandary about sending additional B-1s from the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Tex., to Guam to fill the void of military forces in the Pacific left when aircraft there were moved to the Middle East in anticipation of a conflict with Iraq. Eight B-1s of the 28th Bomb Wing from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., are already at Thumrait AB, Oman. Second thoughts are that the B-1s may be needed to flesh out the force in Oman since it is already flying four sorties a day over Afghanistan.
The Predator, which drew its first blood in Afghanistan, now has special operators looking with anticipation toward the next capabilities to emerge from unmanned aircraft. "I'd like my Dick Tracy watch," said Lt. Gen. Paul V. Hester, commander of U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), when asked what improvements he would like to see following his initial combat experience with UAVs. He was referring to the cartoon policeman's wrist radio that provided instant, highly portable communications.
Thai Airways International is to buy seven Boeing 747-400s (with one option) for an undisclosed price from fellow Star Alliance member United Airlines. The purchase is subject to board approval, which is expected. All of the aircraft are powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4056 engines. Thai officials described a buyer's market too good to pass up.
South Korea appears to be reviving its SAM-X air and missile defense program, but with little serious commitment, industry officials indicate. Funding for SAM-X was delayed when economic problems forced South Korea to curtail its defense budget. The country decided to financially back the fighter replacement program, the F-15K, but slow several other initiatives. But now the government has put money back into the budget for the air and missile defense system. However, the amount is not nearly enough to see a procurement through to the end, industry officials warn.
Internal e-mails among NASA engineers and contractor personnel in the days prior to Columbia's disastrous reentry provide deepening evidence that serious concerns about the left wheel well and the survivability of the left wing were widespread and growing during the final days of the flight. None of the information on serious, but survivable, landing gear issues was shared with mission commander USAF Col. Rick Husband, and it will be up to the accident board to determine if more dire projections were elevated properly within NASA management.
Northrop Grumman's demonstrator unmanned combat aircraft has made its maiden flight at the China Lake, Calif., Naval Air Warfare Center, although the future of the sea service's UCAV program remains in flux. During its initial 12-min. sortie on Feb. 23, the tailless, 27.9-ft. long, 27.8ft. wingspan, diamond-shaped X-47A Pegasus autonomously climbed about 1,200ft., reached a speed of 150 kt. and landed within 20 ft. of a predetermined spot on the runway.
Frontier Airlines' new pricing structure is linked with a larger company drive to eradicate as many complications of doing business with the Denver carrier as possible. All one-way fares are capped at $499, including coast-to-coast flights, and the highest-level business fares are reduced by 44%. Sample fares indicated that some discounts may be even deeper than under the former fare structure, but their availability is not known. Fares may be booked on a one-way basis.
Japan is expected to order another set of four military recon satellites for launch in 2008 as a second-generation update of the four to be put into 400-600-km. (250-375-mi.) high orbits this year. As with the first group, the improved versions are likely to be built by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Launch date for the first two satellites has been scheduled for Mar. 28; the second set will follow in July.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do airlines. Little more than a week after America West announced it will shut down its hub in Columbus, Ohio, by mid-June, AirTran applied to take over the Washington Reagan National Airport slot exemptions Amwest has used for Columbus nonstops. AirTran, which won four DCA exemptions recently for service to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers or West Palm Beach, Fla., (AW&ST Feb. 3, p. 17), would use the three additional slots to serve its hub, Atlanta.
William S. Ayer, who has been president/CEO of Alaska Airlines, has been named to succeed John F. Kelly as chairman/CEO of parent Alaska Air Group. Kelly is scheduled to retire on May 20.
France Tele- com Mobile Satellite Services will integrate Thuraya mobile satphone services into its portfolio of satellite products in a move the company says will allow it to expand the offering throughout its distribution network. Unlike the ill-fated Iridium and Globalstar low-Earth orbit ventures, Thuraya uses a single geostationary Boeing spacecraft that permits the use of compact, low-cost receivers. Thuraya provides sat/cell phone, GPS location finding and 9.6-Kbps. fax/data transmission services to customers in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Europe.
Top USAF generals are also discussing information operations/warfare doctrine and how to fine-tune it. "An awful lot of good work has been done over the last 6-7 years, but there are significant differences in view among those in the Office of the Defense Secretary and the worlds of intelligence, special operations and strategic command," Martin said. "We're in the process of realigning to make sure we're all looking at the problem in the same way." Some Air Force factions are urging caution.
Looking beyond the threat of war in the Middle East and financial woes in its own ranks, the Star Alliance is marking a major expansion in South Korea and China as it strengthens its offerings in a region where airline markets have growth rates that are the envy of Europeans and Americans.
The British Defense Ministry is confronted with either extending the life of its venerable Canberra PR9 strategic reconnaissance aircraft or facing a funding constraint-driven capability gap. While the Defense Ministry last month moved toward resolving a long-standing tactical reconnaissance requirement--through its Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program--the timely replacement of the strategic capability now met by the aged PR9--likely with a UAV--poses significant financial challenges.
Italian space agency ASI has given the green light for full-scale development of Italy's 1.15-billion-euro ($1.24-billion) Cosmo-SkyMed radar surveillance system. ASI plans to sign off on a contract with prime contractor Alenia Spazio this week for the first phase of the system--part of a planned dual-use radar/optical imaging network to be deployed in cooperation with France. This phase will be worth 220 million euros.
War with Iraq almost certainly will cause financial pressures on the U.S. airline industry to go from bad to worse, with sharply higher fuel prices sure to ensue. Exacerbating the situation will be the military's substantially increased use of jet fuel, which is apt to cause traders to bid up the price of oil, ATA economist David Swierenga noted. As it is, there has been a huge run-up in jet fuel prices, he said. Every $1 increase in the price of a barrel of oil adds $450 million to the industry's fuel bill, according to Merrill Lynch analyst Michael J. Linenberg.
Those Earth-like gullies on Mars first spotted by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) three years ago may have been caused by melting snow, according to a new theory advanced by an Arizona State University researcher who drew on the high-resolution MGS images and the newer, wider field images collected by the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Philip Christensen, principal investigator on Odyssey's camera system, postulates that the gullies formed underneath melting snowpack that left them exposed when it had completely evaporated.
