Criminalization of data from accident investigations was a key issue raised by attendees of the Global Aviation Information Network's regional conference held in Tokyo recently.. GAIN is an industry-led coalition of airlines, manufacturers, labor, governments and other aviation organizations aimed at promoting and facilitating voluntary collection and sharing of safety information worldwide. The question of criminalization is especially sensitive in Asia due to deep-rooted cultural influences in the region.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. Young (R-Fla.) says he's determined to run 11 Fiscal 2003 appropriations bills--last year's unfinished business--through the House by Jan. 28, the day of President Bush's state of the union address. Young and his likely Senate counterpart, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), intend to replace the current continuing resolution, which expires Jan. 11, with one that lasts until Jan. 31, and then work toward spending bills for all federal agencies except the Pentagon, which got its money last fall.
The DGA French armaments agency has ordered 10 Eurocopter EC725 Cougar helicopters, worth $285 million, equipped with electronic warfare, rescue and antiterrorism systems.
Three years and a world airline economic crisis later, Boeing says its high-speed, two-way Internet service is ready for revenue operations on the world's major air routes. The January debut on a Lufthansa 747-400 will be the culmination of a bumpy ride for the company in terms of the Internet's evolution and its best customers' finances. But Connexion by Boeing is establishing its market, not least because Lufthansa shares its vision of how airborne Internet services will influence the airline industry.
Donald C. Winter (see photo) has been appointed corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, formerly TRW Systems, where he was president/CEO. Wesley G. Bush (see photo) will become corporate vice president and president, effective Feb. 1, of Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Redondo Beach, Calif. He will succeed Timothy W. Hannemann, who will retire. Bush was president/CEO of TRW Aeronautical Systems prior to its October sale to the Goodrich Corp.
As the U.S. Transportation Dept. moved toward deciding whether to allow the Delta-Northwest-Continental code-share alliance to go forward, attach conditions to it, challenge it or review it further, United and US Airways announced availability of their first code-share flights. Beginning Jan. 7, US Airways passengers will have access via United from Chicago to 10 cities in the western U.S. And travelers with United tickets will be able to reach 14 points in the East, Southeast and Caribbean on US Airways through Charlotte, N.C.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE CORP. has officially ended production of the Gulfstream IV business jet in favor of the G300 and G400. The final GIV (airframe serial number 1499) was the 500th airplane built. The G300 has a range of 3,600 naut. mi. while the G400 can fly up to 4,100 naut. mi. Production of the first G400 and G300 is underway at the company's facilities in Savannah, Ga. In related news, Vought Aircraft Industries recently delivered the 200th shipset of wings for the Gulfstream V ultralong-range jet, which has been redesignated as the G550.
Italy's Volare Airlines plans an April startup of a low-cost subsidiary, currently dubbed "Volareweb.com." Ticketing will be available through the Internet or ticket agencies, and initial service is to be offered from Venice and either Milan Malpensa or Bergamo Orio al Serio airports to destinations in France, Spain and Germany with six Airbus A320 aircraft. However, Volare Chairman Gino Zoccai said the company has not ruled out offering low-cost services on domestic routes.
Christopher C. Bernhardt (see photo) has become president/general manager of ITT Industries Avionics Div., Clifton, N.J. He was vice president/director of programs at ITT Industries.
The world is starting to run out of Internet addresses, Clarke says, and this could provide a path to improved security. The need for additional addresses is forcing a move to a new protocol, IPV6 (Internet Protocol Version 6), that will provide enough address space for the foreseeable future and also allow for easier implementation of encryption and authentication. Some countries are already running out of space, and Japan, China and the European Union will switch over in 2005. The Defense Dept. hasn't picked a rollover date yet but will decide early next year.
Pratt & Whitney Canada, a major manufacturer of smaller turboshaft and turbojet engines, is running a 3-5-year Digital Enterprise program. Part of that program is the Digital Engine Initiative, which is to make an engine using a virtual digital environment for the entire design and manufacturing process. The company already uses the Dassault Systemes Catia computer-aided design software, but has ordered the latest Catia V5 version to power the Digital Engine Initiative. There are to be 200 Catia V5 seats by the end of the year and up to 300 more in 2003.
In United Air Lines' bankruptcy filing, the company vows to join forces with employees and other stakeholders to remake itself into an "efficient and vibrant airline" that will emerge from Chapter 11, "able to rise to the competitive challenges" it faces. A great deal more than good intentions will be needed to achieve that ambitious goal. United acknowledged in the same legal brief that it had been determined to avoid bankruptcy.
The FAA's collaborative work with industry on the Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) has increased national airspace capacity by 5%, which is 2 percentage points above plan, according to FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey. Version 5.0 of the OEP is scheduled for release early next year, with the goal of increasing capacity 31% by 2010 when demand is projected to grow 25%. In 2003 new runways will be completed at Denver, Houston, Miami and Orlando.
London last week broke a diplomatic impasse, issuing in effect a thinly veiled invitation to Washington to begin the formal process of requesting British participation in its ballistic missile defense initiative. The British government on Dec. 9 published what it billed as a "public discussion document on missile defense." But it marked a clear shift in the government's own public position--identifying a medium-term ballistic missile threat, and the need for a response.
Not long after Sept. 11, 2001, when the dimensions of the airlines' financial crisis were becoming evident, I wrote an article about the carriers' frenzied attempts to raise the cash they would need to stay afloat. The air smelled of bankruptcy, but no one, not even US Airways, was using the word openly. No one, that is, except America West, which filed a third-quarter report to the Securities and Exchange Commission that raised Chapter 11 as a significant possibility if any of several reasonably probable events occurred.
Prof. Aaron Byerley, director of research for the Aeronautics Dept. at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, has been named 2002 Colorado Professor of the Year by The Carnegie Foundation and The Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Winners are chosen for dedication to undergraduate teaching as determined by excellence in four areas: impact on and involvement with undergrad- uates; scholarly approach to teaching and learning; contributions to undergraduate education in the institution, community, and profession; and support by colleagues.
Gerhard Haerendel has been named to receive the 2002 Theodore von Karman Award for lifetime achievement of the Paris-based International Academy of Astronautics for his role in promoting plasma physics through his management of the Max Planck Institute.
The pilot contract at United Airlines places heavy restrictions on the carrier's operation of regional jets. The bankruptcy briefing paper listed them as: * United may not operate regional jets with no more than 50 seats. * To operate any regional jets, United must maintain a fleet of 451 large transports. To operate more than 65 regional jets, it must maintain a fleet of 595 larger aircraft.
Discovery of a North Korean ship full of hidden Scuds was no accident. A force of U.S. P-3s, Canadian CP-140s, British Nimrods and French Atlantiques routinely patrol the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and north Arabian Sea. Earlier in the year they tracked the Karine A, a ship loaded with illegal arms, from Iran through the Yemeni port of Hudaydah into the Red Sea. It was later captured by Israeli forces. There is extensive intelligence fusing and sharing among nations in the region.
Last summer, two aging firefighting air tankers lost their wings while flying fire retardant-delivery missions, killing five crewmembers. A few weeks later, a helicopter engine turbine failed and another pilot died.
This week marks the official start of the Centennial of Flight, the global celebration of the first manned, powered, controlled, sustained flight of a heavier-than-air craft by the Wright brothers on Dec. 17, 1903, and the century of aerospace accomplishments that followed.
The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) reports the number of aircraft using its airspace has declined nearly 2% and warns there is little sign of recovery. For the first 11 months of this year, 1,850,060 flights were handled compared with 1,884,436 in the same period last year. In addition, the number of overflights has decreased 7.6% this year. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, traffic growth was running about 5% annually, according to NATS. As a result, the Civil Aviation Authority is mulling a request to increase charges. A decision is expected late this month.
