NTSB investigators are looking at elevator malfunction and the role of maintenance as possible factors in the Jan. 8 crash of an Air Midwest Raytheon/Beechcraft 1900D at Charlotte, N.C., that killed all 19 passengers and two crewmembers on board.
Despite the soft world economy, Embraer still expects to deliver 148 aircraft this year and 155 in 2004, driven by the service entry of the Embraer 170 in mid-2003 and the Embraer 175 a year later. Last year, the Brazilian regional jet manufacturer delivered 131 aircraft, one less than expected, because of customer deferrals. The year-end firm backlog stood at $9 billion, not counting sales to Jet Airways of India and Poland's LOT, which have yet to be finalized. Four of the 10 aircraft ordered by LOT will be leased by Gecas and are already on the books.
During the last 16 years, NASA has embarked on several costly and time-consuming vehicle programs prior to proper preliminary analysis of their viability. The most notable were the National Aero-Space Plane X-30 and Single Stage to Orbit X-33 programs. Major funding for research and development of these badly flawed concepts should not have progressed beyond a careful computer-based study of their feasibility and practicality.
EADS has identified growth of its defense electronics business, Defense and Civil Systems, as a priority in 2003. DCS expansion will come partly from increased defense expenditures, particularly in France and the U.K., where EADS has 11,000 employees, and partly through European acquisitions, said Co-CEO Philippe Camus. After bogging down company results for several years, this unit is expected to be "well in the black this year" and to reach 7% margin, close to the corporate goal of 10%, on sales by 2005.
Lockheed Martin has added Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) to its Mobile User Objective System satellite team, to take advantage of Boeing's hardware capabilities as builder of the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On system that MUOS replaces. Boeing was eliminated from the MUOS competition last year when the U.S. Navy downselected to a Lockheed Martin-General Dynamics team (the former Motorola unit in Scottsdale, Ariz.) to vie against Raytheon and Loral. The Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and BSS workshares have not been revealed.
International Space Station astronauts Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit completed a 6 hr. 30 min. extravehicular activity (EVA) Jan. 15 to release a 75-ft.-long radiator panel and backup ground commands to reposition the station's rail-mounted mobile transporter.
Japan's Air Safety Promotion Council has some reservations about automatic check-in machines for baggage that have cropped up at major airports. Too many passengers are using them to bypass the check-in counter scrutiny that would prevent outsized luggage from being carried into the cabin. Spot inspections in October and November by council members, who represent the country's cabin crews, showed as many as 21 violations on some of Japan Airlines' international flights and more than 100 on Japan Air System's domestic flights.
George H. Jamison, 3rd, has been named vice president-communications of the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He held the same post at the Hughes Electronics Corp.
Robert Atac has been named vice president-military aviation of CMC Electronics Inc. of Montreal. He was CEO of Flight Visions Inc., Sugar Grove, Ill., which was acquired by CMC.
Delta Air Lines Capt. William C. Buergey has been elected chairman of the Skyteam Pilot Alliance. Other new officers are: vice chairman, Air France First Officer Gilles Devic; and secretary, CSA First Officer Martin A. Stastney. Buergey succeeds Korean Air Capt. Man-Youb Choo.
Australia's Virgin Blue's order for 10 737-800s as part of a 10-year expansion program has put some luster back on Boeing's claims for that aircraft as a staple of discount carriers. The order has been counted as "unidentified" in Boeing's sales total. It includes options for 40 additional aircraft and is valued, in total, at $3 billion. Deliveries begin in August.
Regarding the survey conducted by Richard Branson. I am an aerospace engineer and a former pilot, so am familiar with the low risks involved in twin-engine flight and the analysis. Nonetheless, over large bodies of water, I prefer four-engine Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747s to twin-engine alternatives and fly Virgin between Boston and London for that reason.
China is testing a subscale model of a complex computer-controlled robotic manipulator arm system that could be used on a future Chinese space station. The development is another indication of the depth of work being undertaken by the Chinese on manned space developments. With two booms making up its arm, the manipulator has a total of nine joints--including shoulder, elbow and wrist--and 14 pairs of sensors to control the software that directs joint movement.
A European technology program dubbed Aircraft Wing with Advanced Technology Operations (Awiator) is expected to significantly advance studies on airflow control, wake vortices and aeroelasticity.
With the threat from shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles against aircraft growing, Defense Dept. researchers are mulling the possibility of establishing a program to equip fighters and possibly even commercial airliners with a podded laser infrared countermeasures device.
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.
France's SNPE has completed the spinoff of its propulsion and munitions businesses into a wholly owned subsidiary, easing the way for a long-awaited consolidation of Europe's space and missile propulsion sector. Creation of the affiliate, called SME, had been stalled by valuation problems and the long shutdown of SNPE's perchlorate production facility in Toulouse, France, following a nearby explosion there in September 2001. Snecma hived off its solid propulsion activity into a subsidiary, SPS, in February 2002.
To broaden its business base for defense and intelligence work, Boeing will buy Conquest Inc., of Annapolis Junction, Md.--specialists in enterprise architecture, systems engineering and software technology that are useful in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) activities. Acquisition of the unit, which has contracts valued at $250 million for the next three years, is to be completed by the close of the third quarter. Terms were not disclosed.
Michael Cawley, who has been chief financial officer of Ryanair Holdings, has been appointed chief operating officer/ deputy chief executive. He has been succeeded as CFO by Howard Millar, who was director of finance and also will be a deputy chief executive.
BAE Systems and Hispano-Suiza have formed Fadec International--a joint venture to produce full authority digital engine controls for large commercial jet engines. The two companies separately have provided Fadecs for the CFM56, GE CF680 and GE90-series engines.
The suite of HOBO Weather Station smart sensors now includes a 12-bit temperature sensor. It provides ±0.2C total accuracy and resolution of ±0.03C over a range of 0-50C. The sensor is available with cable lengths of two, six and 17 meters. The HOBO Weather Station can be user-configured with a combination of up to 15 channels of sensor inputs, and can log more than 500,000 measurements. Powered for one year on four AA batteries, the station eliminates the need for solar panels and battery packs. Onset Computer Corp., 470 MacArthur Blvd., Bourne, Mass. 02532.
The U.S. aerospace industry is in a slump due to the precipitous drop in civil aircraft sales and commercial space activity, but the military sector is picking up some of the slack as industry leaders and analysts look for civil aviation to recover starting in 2005.
Spirent Systems reports winning the first fleet-wide contract for the use of computer-aided debrief systems (CADS). The $2.3-million contract extends through 2004 and was awarded by the Commander, Naval Air Force for the U.S. Pacific Fleet (CNAP). CADS is a before-and-after computer-aided training/debriefing system based on digital recording and playbacks. Pilots use it before stepping into a flight simulator to review what the session will cover, and run it afterward as a debriefing tool.
New carriers and some members of the establishment are ready to challenge an article of faith among Asian airlines--that there's no yen for low-cost carriers in a region where high-class service and rich inflight amenities are taken for granted. But Singapore Airlines' Chairman Koh Boon Hwee cautioned the faithful in a recent edition of the internal magazine of that airline, whose Singapore Girl epitomizes high-class service.
