Northrop Grumman shareholders approved the $7.8-billion acquisition of TRW Inc. last week, the final step in the process that makes Northrop Grumman the world's second largest defense contractor. Northrop has agreed with a Justice Dept. consent decree ensuring "fair and open" competition on certain electronic payloads.
The NTSB has found that the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 accident was caused by the carrier's insufficient lubrication of the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer trim jackscrew and Acme nut, which made the nut threads wear extremely rapidly until they failed (see photo p. 49), causing a loss of pitch control when the jackscrew slid out of the nut and let the stabilizer move freely.
To purchase Aviation Week & Space Technology on CD-ROM, call toll-free (U.S. only): (800) 257-9402. From outside the U.S. call: (609) 426-5526; Fax: (212) 904-3748
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: David M. North [email protected] Managing Editor: David Hughes [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editor: Craig Covault [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
The $1.5-billion debtor-in-possession financing agreements intended to get United Airlines through 18 months of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection set high hurdles for--and impose a brisk pace on--the airline's restructuring attempts.
Network-centric warfare is an idea that will probably continue to transform how the U.S. military operates over the next decade or two, but the immediate priority should be applying it to the war on terror at home and abroad.
William B. Scott (Boise, Idaho), William B. Scott (Colorado Springs)
The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have permanently grounded Lockheed C-130A and Consolidated Vultee PB4Y aircraft, eliminating 11 of 40 tankers that make up the U.S. aerial firefighting fleet. Both aircraft types suffered wing losses while delivering fire retardant last summer, killing five crewmembers (AW&ST Aug. 5, p. 49; June 24, p. 56).
United Airlines' bankruptcy is likely to inflict some cash impact on Atlantic Coast Airlines, SkyWest and Air Wisconsin if the three United Express carriers continue the affiliation. For the long term, the desirability of their specialty as providers of traffic feed should protect them from serious damage. Atlantic Coast, the growing regional jet operator based at Washington Dulles International Airport, has the most to lose. It was the only affiliate listed in United's bankruptcy petition. ACA officials calculated net exposure at $6 million.
A plan to unify Europe's fragmented airspace and boost air traffic management efficiency is now poised to become a reality in the next two years. Providing long-awaited political support, the transport ministers of the 15 European Union member states just ratified the Single European Sky program, which is designed to harmonize continental ATM by December 2004. A European Parliament endorsement is expected soon.
The American Airlines Flight 587 hearing results are extraordinary, not the least for the statement by the Airbus test pilot that no warnings against extreme rudder movements were required because "there's no reason to make such movements"--this despite the substantial number of recorded incidents reflecting such actions.
What commercial air transport needs is a little radical thinking--not a lot, just a little. For decades, it seems two types of new civil aircraft have been discussed. Those that actually get developed tend to offer modest, incremental improvements on existing technologies arranged in patterns that are familiar. Then there are those that involve radical departures from the familiar long silver tubes. Typically, these remain "paper airplanes" never getting past a set of interesting drawings and studies.
NASA has signed a launch service agreement with Boeing Launch Services for as many as 19 Delta II vehicles to support NASA and NASA-sponsored missions from 2006-09. If all options are exercised the contract will be worth $1.2 billion.
Airlines will go to Congress in the spring seeking a whopping $8.8 billion in tax and security cost relief, nearly 90% of this year's estimated $9.8 billion in industry pretax losses. Previewing these initiatives at an Aviation Safety Alliance lunch for reporters, Delta CEO Leo Mullin repeated this fall's argument that $4.2 billion-worth of security costs belong in the federal budget, not on the cost side of airlines' income statements.
PanAmSat was expected to join Intelsat in bidding for Paris-based Eutelsat, with the Paris-based satellite operator likely to attract merger deals worth about $3 billion from both U.S.-based companies. The U.S. bids are likely to intensify grumbling from Europe, and particularly France, where fears of a takeover have reached the "strategic threat" level (AW&ST Nov. 25, p. 26).
Europe's SES Astra deorbited its Astra 1K satellite in the South Pacific last week, after deciding a proposed commercial recovery was "not a viable option." Controllers brought the $250-million Alcatel Space satellite into the atmosphere at 9 p.m. EST Dec. 9. Debris fell in an area southeast of New Zealand that had been cleared by authorities, according to SES Astra.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, director of launchers at the European Space Agency, has been named the next director general of ESA by the agency's council of ministers. The 58-year-old rocket engineer and one-time French astronaut candidate will take office for a four-year term after the term of Director General Antonio Rodota expires on June 30, 2003.
Inside North America call American List Counsel at: (609) 580-2775; Fax (609) 580-2803. Outside North America call The Prospect Shop at: 020 8481 8730; Fax: 020 8783 1940
It has been asserted by U.S. analysts that Iraq has a number of long-range missiles and the equipment to produce and store weapons of mass destruction, but the question now for United Nations inspectors and coalition war planners is where to find them. Some of the chemical and biological manufacturing facilities are mobile and are constantly being shifted about on river barges and small groups of semi-tractor trailers to avoid detection. A number of Scud-type missiles are also on wheels.
The latest test of the Pentagon's ground-based midcourse missile defense system failed Dec. 11 when the interceptor fired from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands didn't eject the exoatmospheric kill vehicle that intercepts the target. A similar failure occurred in a June 2000 test and was linked to a software problem with the booster. The Missile Defense Agency is developing two new boosters, which are slated to begin flight testing next year. The test failure ends a string of four intercepts.
The U.S. aerospace industry is experiencing a "creeping crisis" led by plummeting sales of civil aircraft and a "virtually disappearing" civil space sector that is creating long-term structural problems, according to the Aerospace Industries Assn.
Jan. 7-9--American Assn. of Airport Executives' Aviation Issues Conference. Hapuna Beach Prince Resort. Kamuala, Hawaii. Call +1 (703) 824-0504, fax +1 (703) 820-1395 or see www.aaae.com. Feb. 3-4--American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics' Defense Excellence 2003 Conference. Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington. Call +1 (703) 264-7500 or see www.aiaa.org/events/defense2003.
