Sino-Swearingen Aircraft Corp. flew a second production prototype SJ30-2 business jet Mar. 6 from its facilities in San Antonio. The twin-engine airplane was flown by Chuck Walls and Carroll Beeler. A third aircraft is scheduled to join the test fleet in the near future. No date has been set for FAA certification, a company official said.
Regarding the efforts to recruit young people into aerospace, I recently read about Boeing's design office in Russia, where designers and engineers work for a fraction of the salaries paid in the U.S. With that kind of trend, who would choose aerospace as a career?
A team led by Contraves of Switzerland is developing a second-generation optical terminal designed for intersatellite data link applications but is also thought to offer spin-off opportunities for combat aircraft interflight links.
Still-growing U.S. low-cost airlines, favorites of investors otherwise turned off by commercial aviation nowadays, are pressing their advantages as larger, network-centered carriers continue in a survival mode, holding their own at best.
Over the years, we as an industry have freely squandered maintenance resources on non-safety items, thus blurring the line between safety and non-safety. Worse yet, maintenance managers wanting to ensure labor peace have allowed institutionalization of many activities that do not necessarily add to safety. So today, you hear the constant clamor that any reduction in the number of mechanics will lead to a decrease in safety. Lost in the noise is the likelihood that a good deal of the mechanics' efforts do not add one iota to safety.
Well over half of the 18,759 new online city-pairs that would be established by proposed American Airlines/British Airways code-sharing between the U.S. and the U.K.--if not half the capacity or traffic--would involve "underserved areas," the carriers told the U.S. Transportation Dept. Providing additional information on their November 2002 alliance application, AA and BA said 2,535 city-pairs would be U.S.-Africa routes and 1,859 would be U.S.-Middle East, all enabled by BA service beyond London. And 6,105 city-pairs would arise from AA service beyond BA's U.S.
European airlines continue in a waiting mode for fleet development and may take significant short-term steps to reduce capacity in the wake of the ongoing economic slowdown and a possible war in Iraq.
France's MBDA and India have signed a memorandum of understanding granting Bharat Dynamics Ltd. in Hyderabad partnership on future projects if India agrees to buy MBDA products such as an Indian air force contract for Mica air-to-air missiles. As part of its sales campaign, a Taiwanese news outlet reported that Taiwan recently fired two Micas simultaneously from a Mirage 2000-5 to test beyond-visual-range combat tactics. Bharat Dynamics had a relationship with Aerospatiale, MBDA's predecessor, concerning technical transfer on the Milan wire-guided anti-tank missile.
The FAA has selected a team led by Lockheed Martin to build ground stations and broadcast services in support of the FAA's proposed GPS-based Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Boeing and Raytheon are the other team members, with Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management assigned as system integrator. WAAS would provide satellite navigation for aircraft conducting non-precision and precision instrument approach procedures at small airports in the U.S.
As we celebrate the centennial of flight, I cannot but help wonder if Orville and Wilbur Wright should have first convened an independent panel at Kitty Hawk to determine if the risk of attempting the first flight was acceptable. Since Dec. 17, 1903, many people have died, risking their lives in the development of flight. We who fly today owe our lives to the risks they took.
Designs for stealthy, long-endurance, reconnaissance aircraft the Air Force has sought for decades are looking a little less fuzzy. The Quartz, Tier 3 and DarkStar UAV programs were all canceled, but now Lockheed Martin officials are taking another look at the need. "We think the government has a clear requirement for persistence and survivability on the battlefield with respect to the collection of [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance]," said Neil Kacena, one of Lockheed Martin's advanced program gurus. "I don't know that it has to be a UAV.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Co. have formed a team to compete for the Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor program. Northrop will lead the team and serve as systems integrator, while Raytheon will serve as the principal subcontractor responsible for developing and integrating the interceptor and a significant portion of weapon system engineering. The program is designed to produce interceptors capable of shooting down enemy ballistic missiles during their boost and ascent phases of flight.
Germany's DLR is concerned that a new destination for ESA's Rosetta comet rendezvous flight could cause the spacecraft's lander mission to be scrapped. The lander supplied by DLR was designed for the comet Wirtanen, and can only be reused if the new target is of similar size and shape. ESA scientists and engineers have been given 12-30 months to find a suitable target to replace Wirtanen, which was abandoned when the Rosetta launch had to be postponed because of uncertainties related to the Ariane 5 booster (AW&ST Jan. 20, p. 23).
The U.S. Transportation Dept. Inspector General's Office has recommended reopening a probe of the foreign ownership structure of DHL Worldwide Express (DHLWE). An initial review of the ownership issue two years ago, spurred by complaints from UPS and FedEx, was dismissed (AW&ST May 21, 2001, p. 65). But the American parcel express carriers asked the department last summer to take another look.
I found Stephen J. Cabot's Viewpoint extremely hypocritical. A board of disinterested arbitrators did not determine Mr. Cabot's compensation and he would no doubt object to being compared to the average, poorly compensated lawyer in a binding-arbitration hearing.
Bombardier Inc. is fast becoming the aerospace industry's poster child for what can go wrong, seemingly, all at once. Management shakeups. Questionable accounting. Weak earnings and cash flow. Depressed market conditions. Declining sales. Massive job cuts. Poor employee morale. Key customers fighting for survival. What else can go awry? Plenty, apparently.
Motorola Inc. agreed to pay $12 million in an out-of-court settlement of five pending claims by Chase Manhattan Bank involving the bankrupt Iridium LLC. Under the agreement, Motorola will not continue to appeal a judgment totaling $371 million it paid last April to Iridium's secured lenders, with Chase as their agent. However, Motorola said it would continue to fight a $4-billion claim by unsecured Iridium creditors growing out of Iridium's August 1999 bankruptcy filing.
U.S. aerospace industry employment has reached its lowest level since 1953, dropping to 689,000 at the end of 2002. Industry officials blamed the alarming statistic on several converging factors, including the crisis in civil aviation and commercial space, company mergers and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Aerospace Industries Assn. has called for an interagency task force to develop a national plan to reverse the slide.
Mar. 18-19--28th Annual Aviation Forecast Conference. FAA and Airports Council International-North America. Washington Convention Center. Call +1 (202) 293-8500 or see www.aci-na.org Mar. 18-19--Aerospace Corp.'s 2003 Radio Frequency Interference Forum. Intelsat headquarters, Washington. Call +1 (310) 336-6805 or see www.aero.org/conferences/rfiforum Mar. 18-21--TSC Corp.'s Aircraft Maintenance & Reliability Seminar. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Tampa, Fla. Call +1 (727) 785-0583 or see www.tsc-corp.com
William Anthony (Tony) Rice has been named to the board of directors of Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc. He is chief executive of U.K.-based Tunstall Holdings Ltd. and had been group managing director of business development and ventures for BAE Systems and CEO of the Airbus Finance Co.
Northrop Grumman has delivered the Beacon Illuminator Laser (BILL) to the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The high-power, solid-state laser, which is a key part of the ABL beam control and fire control system, would measure atmospheric turbulence to increase lethality of the ABL megawatt chemical laser. The BILL beam illuminates a small spot on the target and measures the distortion of reflected light caused by turbulence in the air, thereby allowing a deformable mirror to make corrections to the laser weapon.
I was astonished to read Stephen J. Cabot's Viewpoint proposing to reduce inflationary pressures by cutting the salaries of the people who do the work (AW&ST Feb. 3, p. 62).
Thurston Eric Womble (see photos) has been appointed Arlington, Va.-based vice president-programs for the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles. He was military legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss). Philip A. Odeen, former chairman of TRW Inc., has been appointed to board of directors.
Missile tests by North Korea are prompting the Japanese government to review their post-World War II military policies. Officials are reviewing how to amend the law to allow the military command to react rapidly to a ballistic missile threat. Opponents, however, are concerned about weakening civilian control. Existing law requires approval by the prime minister and the National Security Council before defensive forces can be called into action.
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