Aviation Week & Space Technology

EchoStar Communications Corp., which provides direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television products and services through its Dish network to more than 8 million customers across the U.S., may be courting a possible suitor in the form of a media conglomerate.

Please refer to the Correspondence page.

FedEx Express is scheduled to expand its all-cargo ATR 42 fleet to about 100 aircraft. The courier operator's fleet plan, although involving used aircraft only, is expected to give new life to the twin turboprop market, according to Avions de Transport Regional executives.

After running into heavy opposition, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has dropped plans to ask seven local governments to share a third of the cost--about $2.56 billion--of construction of a fourth runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport, which serves domestic passengers and is the busiest airport in Asia. LIT Minister Chikage Ohgi said the ministry expects to proceed on its own but hopes to drive down the project's cost. Insiders doubt she will find much savings.

Pilot bashers may not like it, but it's basic free enterprise that a product or service is worth the amount that changes hands. Otherwise both parties walk away. My employer can cut my pay in half and double my workload anytime he wants. If I balk, he can hire a replacement. This being America, us pilots might choose to stick together and could all end up being replaced. The fact that we haven't been speaks to supply and demand.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is slowly growing his intelligence empire, a move that has raised questions about creating competition or duplication with the CIA. But at least publicly, the spooks say Rumsfeld's schemes don't bother them. "I fear no competition," James L. Pavitt, the CIA's deputy director for operations, told an American Bar Assn. forum. The clandestine ops chief added that there are enough threats the U.S.

Eugene A. Cernan's commentary was appropriate and timely. We do need to get more young people interested in science, engineering, astronomy, etc. One of the problems is providing motivation. Offering a ride into space is one way, but the effort must be much broader. Acquiring an education in science is not easy; it requires dedication and a strong desire to work in this field. I may be old and cynical, but I believe one of the main motivations for youth is money, lots of money. Donald V. Hanson Woodinville, Wash.

The effects of lasers and other forms of directed energy on U.S. satellites will be researched by Metatech Corp. under a seven-year, $49-million contract awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate. The company will support the directorate's Satellite Assessment Center, analyzing and modeling spacecraft to determine how orbital systems might be affected by directed energy attacks.

Hong Kong-based investment firm Hutchison Whampoa (China) Ltd. has completed a buyout of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Services International's stake in Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. Ltd. (Gameco), one of China's largest MRO facilities. When LMASI announced early last year that it wanted out of the joint venture, a few international airlines expressed an interest in its shares, but Hutchison Whampoa exercised its preemptive rights, and now owns Gameco with China Southern Airlines.

The U.S. space program is this week completing one of the most intensive periods of astronaut-tended science it has ever flown, combining sprint-like around-the-clock research by the Columbia's STS-107 crew with more marathon-type investigations by the International Space Station Expedition 6 team. Both crews are performing basic and applied commercial research, applicable to broad aerospace, medical and industrial sectors, as well as more traditional space areas.

The two U.S.-based space launch companies that use the Russian Block DM upper stage will analyze Russian findings on why the stage failed to push the Astra 1K communications satellite to its proper orbit last year before they attempt any more launches with the stage themselves.

In the midst of the airline industry's deep downturn and its attendant effect on aircraft deliveries, overhaul sales continue to be a major contributor to engine manufacturers' vitality, according to Snecma Services' top executives. The French propulsion group's maintenance, overhaul and repair (MRO) unit last year had 630 million euros ($661.5 million) in revenues. In 2002, the group's overall revenues decreased 6% to 6.5 billion euros after being impacted by weakening civil sales.

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]

One of the biggest hurdles to fulfilling the combat potential of network-centric warfare (NCW) may be "people issues," not technology or organization. Unless the Pentagon revises its promotion and rating criteria, there may be little incentive for military officers and senior enlisted personnel to embrace NCW.

Meridiana is the latest Italian airline lured into the low-cost arena in an attempt to defend market shares. But instead of setting up a true low-cost arm, Meridiana prefers to offer very discounted fares through 2003, up to 1.5 million tickets, worth about a quarter of the airline's capacity, on both domestic and international routes. The prices range from a low of 9 euros ($9.65), to 49 euros, for each leg.

Southwest Airlines posted its 30th consecutive year of profitability, earning $241 million including $42.4 in the fourth quarter of 2002. But officials warn that weak revenue conditions may threaten first-quarter earnings.

The NTSB is trying to determine how a routine morning taxi at New York LaGuardia Airport went awry last week, resulting in extensive damage to a Northwest Airlines Airbus A319 and Boeing 757 and minor injuries to six people. On Jan. 20, a maintenance crew set out to reposition the A319 from a hard stand parking area to Northwest's Gate 10 at the Delta terminal, a distance of about a mile.

Herley Industries has received contracts totaling $3.9 million to provide defense electronics for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile program.

Ken Maxwell has been appointed vice president-security for JetBlue Airways. He was assistant special agent-in-charge of the Chicago office of the FBI.

Philip J. Anson, Jr., has been promoted to president from executive vice president of STS Holdings, Jensen Beach, Fla.

Joining the growing tide of commercially available real-time operating systems (RTOSs) for safety-critical embedded software is the latest version 4.0 of LynuxWorks' LynxOS RTOS, due out in the first half of this year. It is intended for both civil and military applications. The new version is designed to be certifiable to the DO-178B Level A standard of flight safety--the level required by the most critical aircraft systems.

Bruce L. Arnheim and Charles P. Wright of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif., have won the Otto Hamberg Best Paper Award for their work on testing. The paper, entitled "Insight Into the Value of System Level Thermal Vacuum Testing," won the award at the 20th Aerospace Testing Seminar. Arnheim is director and Wright a senior engineering specialist in the Cross Program Research Office in the company's Systems Engineering Div. The award commemorates contributions to the space testing community made by the late Hamberg, who worked for the company.

American Airlines and British Airways, seeking Transportation Dept. approval for a transatlantic code-share program without the hot-button privilege of immunity from U.S. antitrust laws (AW&ST Nov. 25, 2002, p. 33), won't get the green light anytime soon. The department told the carriers Jan. 16 that they must provide considerably more information on plans, agreements, policies, marketing, traffic and fares before their application can be considered complete.

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