You advanced a theory that as American Airlines Flight 587 climbed into the preceding wake of a Boeing 747, which was 5 mi. ahead of it, Flight 587's vertical stabilizer intersected the bottom of the vortices, first causing a yawing moment in one direction followed quickly by a yaw in the opposite direction as it ascended through the top of the vortices.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, getting serious about network-centric warfare, has ordered Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to assemble by mid-November a plan for establishing an agency to implement battle management command and control (BMC2) interoperability and connectivity. More importantly for Pentagon infighters, the plan also is to cover allocating money directly to combatant commanders to buy joint BMC2 systems. Authority for the allocations will rest with Joint Forces Command, headed by Rumsfeld protege Adm.
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
Poor yields in American Trans Air's growing scheduled service and a steep decline in commercial charter activity caused revenues to sag against a rising tide of expenses, resulting in a $59.6million, third-quarter operating loss for parent ATA Holdings Corp. Total revenues declined 1.3% to $317.2 million, while expenses grew 18.9% to $376.9 million, compared with the third quarter last year. The higher expenses were due to fleet modernization costs and an 11.9% increase in salaries, wages and benefits.
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 heads of the major hub-and-spoke airlines--the high-paid executives whose jobs are supposed to include creating versus destroying capital for shareholders--must be turning green with envy as they watch the market value of JetBlue Airways Corp. climb. In trading last Wednesday, the stock rose 2.97, to close at 40 per share. During the last three weeks, the airline's share price has risen 33%, outpacing the Standard & Poor's 500 by 2-1, Merrill Lynch analyst Michael J. Linenberg said.
NASA is talking a lot these days about "stepping-stones," in considering the human role in spaceflight. The International Space Station was sold as the "next logical step"--but it is not at all evident where that step is supposed to lead. In fact, the program seems to have become bogged down, taking steps to nowhere--stuck in low-Earth orbit more than 30 years after humankind walked on the Moon.
The debate continues regarding roll upset recovery flow. Reader David Connolly (AW&ST Sept. 23, p. 7) suggested and I agree that the flow should be "pitch-power-rudder-roll," rather than Delta Air Lines' "pitch/roll/ thrust check, level" recommendation.
Space shuttle Endeavour astronauts are set for launch Nov. 11, on an International Space Station mission that will combine assembly operations with the station's "roving-robotic" capability more ambitiously than on previous flights while also switching ISS expedition crews. Endeavour will carry the 14-ton, $390-million Boeing P1 port truss and ammonia-cooling system and more than a ton of additional ISS hardware.
Glen Gross and Jay Hamby have become regional directors of operations for the East Coast and Midwest U.S., respectively, for Atlantic Aviation, Plano, Tex. Hamby also will be general manager of Atlantic's fixed-base operation at Chicago Midway Airport.
The North Korean air force has chosen Northrop Grumman Corp.'s AN/ALQ-135 radar jammer to protect its fleet of F-15K aircraft under a contract valued at $160 million. Delivery of the systems is expected to be completed by 2008.
Japan Airlines has disciplined a 55-year-old captain for allowing a female friend to occupy the jump seat during flights from Naha, Okinawa, to Miyako, a nearby island. The pilot was suspended for 60 days and stripped of his captain's status for six months, and the carrier's managing director for flight operations was penalized with a 10% pay cut for two months. In addition, All Nippon Airways recently grounded a pilot for violating a ban on drinking within 12 hr. of a flight.
Breaking with a long-standing tradition that NASA administrators do not directly participate in partisan politics, Sean O'Keefe has taken to the hustings for Republican candidates and participated in a state party fund-raiser. Last week, he turned up in Huntsville to endorse U.S. Rep. Bob Riley in his bid to become governor of Alabama. This week, O'Keefe is scheduled to appear at a political event in Cocoa Beach with Tom Feeney, the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, who is running in the congressional district that includes Cape Canaveral.
NASA may have to requalify the insulation it uses to protect the solid rocket motor cases on its space shuttle fleet from the burning solid fuel inside. ATK Thiokol Propulsion has been buying asbestos insulation from Canada's Jeffrey Asbestos Mine for at least 27 years, and the mine is closing. U.S. space agency officials traveled to Quebec last week to seek a way to continue procuring the Jeffrey material. If they can't find one, a new asbestos source probably would have to be qualified.
The merging Japan Airlines and Japan Air System have split flights at nine domestic airports where they both operate. JAS will operate all flights from Akita, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Kochi. JAL and its JAL Express subsidiary will fly from Naha and Komatsu.
Public Works and Government Services Canada has selected MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., under a $4-million contract, to develop and deliver a Ground Processing Facility for Defense Research and Development Canada-Ottawa.
South Africa's Advanced Technologies and Engineering is developing further upgrades of the Mi-24 Hind to provide interoperablity with NATO forces and improved attack and man-machine interface capabilities. One new upgrade, dubbed the ``agility improvement program,'' is intended to give the Russian-built Mi-24 enough maneuverability to achieve nap-of-the-earth flight, said Serge Vidal, an official with ATE's helicopter division. ``There is more to NATO compatibility than just the IFF and radios.'' To achieve this goal, engineers will focus on reducing weight.
Roger Krone has been named head of the Delaware County, Pa.-based Army Systems unit of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. He was vice president-strategic programs at Boeing headquarters in Chicago.
The U.S. Navy has lost two F/A-18F two-seat Super Hornets in a midair collision, killing all four crewmembers. The aircraft belonging to VFA-41 at NAS Lemoore, Calif., were conducting air-to-air intercept training on opposing teams with the new aircraft prior to deployment with the Nimitz CVW-11 carrier group. The crash occurred over the Pacific Ocean at 9:40 a.m. (PDT) on Oct. 18 about 80 mi. off Monterey, Calif. The aircraft were unarmed, and U.S. Coast Guard searchers reported weather as overcast with 10-mi. visibility at the surface.
Air Canada is poised to implement Canada's first Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program that will automatically collect inflight data in real time for processing and analysis to detect any potentially unsafe trends. Initially the program will monitor the carrier's North American fleet of about 110 A319, A320 and A321 transports. Air Canada officials expect FOQA to help improve operational and training procedures, assess engine and airframe systems performance, and reduce fuel costs by recording more than 2,000 parameters.
Japan Airline Systems has selected Boeing's Technical Services and Modifications to upgrade its 747-200/-300s, so they can operate in the Future Air Navigation Systems environment.
The FAA has issued revised rules requiring general aviation pilots to present their driver's license as an acceptable means of identification. Pilots are required to present the ID to FAA, TSA, NTSB or law enforcement officials upon request. Other acceptable IDs include federal or state ID cards, a U.S. military ID or airport access credentials. The rules stemmed from proposals by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn., which represents more than 350,000 pilots in the U.S.
A General Atomics turboprop-powered Predator-B crashed recently at the company's flight test facility at El Mirage, Calif. The Oct. 16 mishap occurred on landing and was described as minor. Even before the incident, USAF officials were mulling strengthening the aircraft's landing gear. An interim flight safety board has been convened, and the aircraft is expected to resume flight operations soon, officials said.
