An airline pilot's training is a perpetual work-in-progress. Six critical areas recently identified by the Air Line Pilots Assn. as "ripe for continued work" will soon get more emphasis in airline programs, and pilots may more frequently exploit new tools, such as virtual flight decks, designed to enhance simulator training while curbing costs.
The National Defense Council of Brazil has chosen EADS CASA to modernize nine P-3 Orion aircraft purchased from the U.S. Navy. Also, Brazil will purchase 12 CASA C-295 military transport aircraft to replace C-115 Buffalos.
The U.S. airlines' war-risk insurance coup in the legislation that created the Homeland Security Dept. raises the possibility that the carriers might slow down in their attempt to put together their Equitime insurance pool. And some Bush administration officials fear that the private-sector insurance marketplace is being distorted for the long term, even if Equitime eventually takes over.
USN Vice Adm. (ret.) Thomas R. Wilson has been named president of the ATK Missile Systems Co. of Minneapolis. He had been director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
)).Accounting shifts for Japan's costly airports continue. The latest report from the Kansai International Airport Corp., which serves the Osaka-Kobe region, is that its accumulated debt now stands at 1.21 trillion yen ($10.1 billion). Late last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it would suspend building a second runway at Kansai because its debt, reported at $9.75 billion, was so high. While its debt grows, airline enthusiasm to use the airport wanes. For the first half of fiscal 2002 ending Sept.
Is the European Court of Justice's recent ruling calling into question all bilateral air service agreements of European Union nations with the U.S. radical? Not radical enough, argues Virgin Atlantic chief Richard Branson in a Viewpoint on the Next Century of Flight on page 78. The Next Century of Flight is a five-year Aviation Week multimedia education initiative to explore the future of aviation and aerospace.
Bill Thomas and Bob Davis are among nine new members inducted into the Experimental Aircraft Assn.-affiliated Halls of Fame, Oshkosh, Wis. They are in the International Aerobatic Club Hall of Fame. Jack Cox and the late Ken Brock were inducted into the EAA Homebuilders' Hall of Fame; while the late Frank C. Sanders has joined those in the EAA Warbirds of America Hall of Fame. Jack Eggspuehler is a new member of the NAFI Flight Instructor Hall of Fame, and John M. Miller has joined the Vintage Aircraft Assn. Hall of Fame.
The problems with the airline industry today are in large part caused by escalating pay for pilots and cabin attendants. Major carriers and unions have been increasing pilot salaries at every opportunity, to pay more than the others. The first airline to raise pay higher than the rest has good union relations and other carriers have to follow. Eventually, the first company is paying less than the rest.
Curtis Gray has been named vice president-human resources for BAE Systems North America, Rockville, Md. He held a similar position at Boeing Phantom Works, Seal Beach, Calif.
The Lockheed Martin/USAF F/A-22 test team successfully launched an unarmed AIM-9M against a supersonic QF-4 drone target, completing the last of four mandatory flight test goals this year. The missile passed within lethal range, scoring a virtual "hit." Completed 2002 test objectives include: * First flight of Raptor 4010, the first Dedicated Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (DIOT&E) aircraft. * First supercruise firing of an AIM-120 Amraam missile and intercept of an aerial target.
To illustrate the new Amste capability, Northrop Grumman had an E-8 Joint-STARS ground surveillance radar aircraft fly low over a radio-controlled tank. The system uses two airborne radars to show precision locations of a moving target (see p. 66). Information on the target's changing position is fed continuously to a bomb in-flight. Photo by Rich Kerstein of BAE Systems.
Hooray for Capt. Steve Borgess' defense of American Airlines, "offering no apology to disgruntled passengers . . . who express little sympathy for the plight of U.S. airlines and even less understanding of the economic forces . . ." (AW&ST Nov. 11, p. 6).
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Raytheon a $16.5-million contract for low-rate initial production of four AN/AQS-22 dipping sonars to be used on the MH-60R helicopter.
The Transportation Dept., making final a requirement that airlines report the causes as well as the number and extent of flight delays, has granted--to a degree--carriers' attempts to avoid being blamed for delays caused by security (AW&ST Mar. 4, p. 15). At the request of the Air Transport Assn., the department added security to the four delay categories it proposed originally--weather, the National Airspace System, late-arriving aircraft and the air carriers themselves. But it warned airlines not to try to pass off their own actions on the security system.
I am a captain at a major airline and was disappointed, but not surprised, to read your Nov. 18 editorial and articles blaming labor for the airline industry's woes.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP Flight testing begins for second X-45A UCAV Needed to validate multi-ship operations for SEAD 20 Eclipse Aviation cancels engine contract with Williams Calls ground stop on Eclipse 500 business jet program 21 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS Star Alliance faces double whammy On a more positive note, possible financial help among carriers shows alliance ties have grown stronger 24 Qantas proposes ANZ stock deal
NASA managers have rejected a destination-driven approach to space exploration once and for all in favor of a new regime that views space exploration as a steady quest driven by science goals. The "stepping-stone" approach is driving the Mars-or-bust crowd nuts, but agency planners insist it is the safest and most efficient way to put humans on the surface of other celestial bodies.
The U.S. Marine Corps is beginning to lay the groundwork to rebuild its first V-22 unit after two years of interrupted flight operations following two fatal accidents in 2000.
Several members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have asked the General Accounting Office to review the Pentagon's decision to buy commercial satellite service. Congress in 2000 passed a measure dubbed Orbit, short for Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act, to ensure competition in satcom services. Now Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and James M.
After much talk in recent months, the Pentagon is now getting ready to launch the competition for its next-generation missile warning equipment. The development is packaged as an upgrade to the Northrop Grumman Directed Infrared Countermeasures (Dircm) and Large-Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (Laircm) system. Dircm is installed on 59 special ops C-130s, while Laircm is being installed on C-17s and is slated to be used on C5s at a later date.
Wolfgang Weinreich, president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale--The World Air Sports Federation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has been awarded the Cross of Merit of Poland, that country's highest distinction for foreign citizens. In presenting the award, Jan Karpinski, president of the Aeroklub Polski, said Weinreich's life has been devoted to aviation. "Everything Mr. Weinreich did in aviation has been aligned with Otto Lilienthal's vision of flight being global, free, peaceful and without any borders," Karpinski said.
