Aviation Week & Space Technology

The United Nations and Saudi government have agreed to a French proposal to deploy two high-flying supersonic Mirage IV reconnaissance aircraft to Saudi Arabia to reinforce U.N. weapons inspection teams (AW&ST Feb. 10, p. 18).

The safety of Iran's transport fleet again came into question when a Russian-manufactured Ilyushin Il-76MD crashed in southeastern Iran Feb. 19, killing all of the estimated 302 people on board. Some 284 of the victims were members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The IRGC, whose members are assigned to protect the country's leaders, is part of the country's armed forces.

SN Brussels Airlines, Sabena Belgian World Airlines' successor, expects to achieve profitability by the end of the year, according to company officials. Since its formation in mid-2002, it carried 2.67 million passengers and gradually expanded its route system to 38 European points and 13 African destinations. Average load factor, however, remains below 50% in an indication that capacity exceeds market needs.

Approximately 180 Fokker F70/F100s are projected to change hands in the next few years and are potential candidates for the newly established Total Care Package--a Fokker Services, Rolls-Royce joint venture. The Dutch-built 70-100-seat regional jets are powered by Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans. The first transaction involves 17 F100s that Germania acquired from US Airways. They will undergo extensive maintenance and cabin reconfiguration and return to service this year.

Inside North America, call Edith Roman Associates, Inc. at: (800) 223-2194; Fax (845) 620-9035. Outside North America call The Prospect Shop at: 020 8481 8730; Fax: 020 8783 1940

Crisis and NATO--the words are almost coterminous. If the alliance wasn't thrown into a convulsion at least once a decade, the bodies politic of Washington and the capitals of Western Europe would sulk for lack of a good schism. For President Bush, read Ronald Reagan; for Chancellor Schroeder, insert Helmut Kohl; replace Iraqi missiles with the Pershing II, and wind back the clock to the 1980s. Same old NATO, same old spats.

The U.K.'s Beagle 2 lander is targeted on the Martian Isidis Planitia, a valley floor located at 11.6 deg. N., 90.75 deg. E., European Space Agency officials revealed. The 68-kg. (150-lb.) lander was due to be delivered to Intespace in Toulouse, France, this week for integration testing with ESA's Mars Express probe. The probe and lander are to be shipped to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in early March, for a May-June launch. A six-month exploration campaign is due to begin soon after Beagle 2's planned landing in December.

The dispute between the U.S. and France and Germany over Iraq threatens to spill into other areas. In a sign that long-term relations may have been harmed, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said his panel would hold hearings over whether to realign the U.S. troop presence in Europe, which numbers 100,000 military personnel, with more than 71,000 in Germany.

The FAA is taking a six-month "strategic pause" in its rollout of dozens of capacity-enhancing Area Navigation arrival and departure procedures at major U.S. airports. The action stems from numerous "sobering" problems that occurred during live testing of the measures during the past two years, sources familiar with the program say. The agency has convened about a dozen government and industry experts who are meeting daily to fix roadblocks ranging from antiquated airline equipment to confusion in both the controller cab and cockpit.

Japan's navy is flight testing two prototypes of the SH-60K, a slightly larger and advanced version of the SH-60J helicopter that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is upgrading for anti-submarine warfare uses. The testing is expected to continue through March 2005, by which time MHI will transition out of its license manufacturing of the Sikorsky-series helicopters to concentrate on the P-X development of a replacement for the Lockheed-Martin/Kawasaki P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.

AAR Corp.'s Amsterdam-based Aircraft Component Services and Air Berlin have signed an agreement for component management and repairs on the carrier's fleet of 27 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Boeing and Israel Aircraft Industries have signed an agreement that will see Boeing boost Israel's ability to field the Arrow antiballistic missile system quickly by seeing to it that some 50% of Arrow components are produced in the U.S. Boeing's work will be centered at its Huntsville, Ala., Jetplex facility. The first production Arrow is to roll off the assembly line in late 2004/early 2005.

The space shuttle has given us another disastrous failure. What is NASA to do? Its staff members must swallow their technical pride, and read and reread the article by rocket pioneer Robert Truax in the January 1999 issue of Aerospace America. He argued that the enormously complicated shuttle launch system with its winged orbiter will always be less safe, less reliable and more expensive than a two-stage pressure-fed rocket with parachute recovery. Beal Aerospace has developed an inexpensive and robust system that would work fine.

Central/Southern US: (AR, CO, IA, KS, LA, MO, OK, TN, TX, UT), Central & South America: See Tom Davis above. Western US: (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, WA, WY), Western Canada: (BC, AB) Soulek & Associates; (818) 762-9988; Fax: (818) 762-9972; e-mail: [email protected] Midwest/Northern US: (IN, KY, MI, OH, WV, IL, WI, MN, WY, ND, SD, NE), Central Canada: (MB, SK) Charles Talley; (312) 346-7330; Fax: (312) 346-4462; e-mail: [email protected]

The Pentagon activated Stage 1 of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) on Feb. 8 and immediately put 47 passenger jets in service to airlift soldiers to the Persian Gulf. The authority also covers 31 wide-body cargo aircraft that will not be used for now. The carrier with the most airplanes involved is American Trans Air with 15 Boeing 757s and one L-1011. Ron Priddy, president of the National Air Carrier Assn. (NACA) of charter airlines, said the CRAF agreement guarantees the 22 airlines involved 30 days of pay for 8 hr.

Sheila C. Cheston has become corporate vice president/general counsel of BAE Systems North America, Rockville, Md. She succeeds John Currier, who has retired. Cheston was chair of the aviation and defense practice at Washington law firm Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering.

The high-volume laser wire marker unit ULYS 330 (shown) is used to mark the wires and cables of aerospace and defense companies such as Airbus, Boeing, Eurocopter, Dassault, ATR and Embraer. The unit offers a permanent solution for marking modern fluoropolymer wires and cables, and causes no damage to the mechanical or electrical properties of the wire. This past year, the company launched the MRO 200 machine, which is dedicated to aircraft maintenance and modification centers, as well as low volume harness production.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. reported a decline in 2002 billings for new aircraft to $11.9 billion from $13.9 billion in 2001 as shipments slipped 15.2%. Deliveries totaled 2,539 aircraft. Of these, 2,214 were shipped by U.S. airframe manufacturers. Export deliveries also fell more than 26%. GAMA President Edward Bolen said that although billings decreased from record levels in recent years, utilization of business jets increased last year and there were fewer general aviation accidents.

As one of the finishing touches on its plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection, US Airways has reworked its Airbus orders to reduce single-aisle aircraft purchases and add A330-200s, which it said will complement its A330-300s. Orders for aircraft in the A320 family drop from 37 to 19, while 10 A330-200s replace a single A330-300. CEO David Siegel said the agreement "confirms our commitment to begin taking delivery of new aircraft once we are in a better financial position." Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2007.

A Brussels court plans to seek 2.4 billion euros in damages from the SAirGroup and its shareholders in compensation for the collapse of Sabena Belgian World Airlines. The suit, which could drag on for 3-5 years, might lead to the only recognition of Switzerland's liability for the huge Belgian failure and could help assuage the Belgians' humiliation that followed their flag carrier's demise.

Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va.

Howard Rubel has become a managing director/equity analyst following the aerospace and defense electronics industries for the SoundView Technology Group, Old Greenwich, Conn. He was a research analyst at Goldman Sachs & Co.

The U.S. government needs to sketch a plan to develop and field a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) if it wants to have quick access to space, says the Pentagon's space czar, Peter B. Teets. "We don't have a good technology road map" for a reusable launcher, lamented Teets, who serves as Air Force undersecretary and National Reconnaissance Office director. "I'm anxious to engage the broader community" to map a plan, he added. "I do believe that the nation needs to embark on a course for fully reusable, single-stage-to-orbit kind of launch capability."

Steve Kantor has been named president and Gene Dotson vice president-strategic planning of the SPD Technologies Group of L-3 Communications of New York. Kantor was president of BAE Systems' Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems.

The shuttle orbiter Columbia's left wing was increasingly compromised by the penetration of 2000F reentry plasma starting over the Pacific Ocean 400 mi. off the coast of California, early in the hottest phase of its disastrous reentry Feb. 1, according to new data released by NASA. This information provides more detail on sensor readings and when they occurred relative to the orbiter's ground track during the reentry, which ended in the loss of Columbia and her seven crewmembers over north central Texas.