The deepening slump in the commercial satellite business is expected to lead to a new round of consolidations among satellite operators, and perhaps manufacturers as well. After growing steadily for the past two decades, the revenues of fixed-satellite service operators--hit by the telecom meltdown--have gone flat, and the number of transponders has begun declining according to data from Euroconsult, a Paris-based space consulting firm.
The FAA has issued the S/H-92 helicopter type inspection authorization, one of the last steps in the regulatory process leading to certification. The TIA will allow FAA pilots to fly and test the aircraft, which should lead to helicopter certification in December. S/H-92 deliveries are planned to begin in the first quarter of 2004.
V-22 program representatives are looking for cost and weight savings as well as other improvements to bolster the case for the tiltrotor as the Pentagon weighs flight test data and other factors to determine whether or not to cancel the program. Additionally, V-22 managers have been briefing a steady stream of top-level visitors on the aircraft's progress to try to address concerns. One of the visitors was Pentagon acquisition chief E.C. (Pete) Aldridge, a staunch critic of the V-22.
The Iraqis tried to destroy a United Nations aircraft during takeoff from a base near Baghdad in 1991 because it carried documents showing Iraqi designs for a nuclear weapon, says a former top U.N. inspector. Iraqis drove a fuel truck across the runway after the twin-engine airlifter was well into its takeoff roll. There were no other aircraft on the field to be refueled and U.N. aircraft always landed in Iraq with enough fuel for a return flight.
Boeing's new contract with the International Assn. of Machinists gives the company improvements in work rules and health care costs, but the United Aerospace Workers at the Boeing Helicopters plant in Philadelphia went on strike, for the first time in 28 years, over a different contract. The IAM was not happy about the new deal and it just squeaked by--on Sept. 12-13 machinists voted 62% to not ratify the new contract and 61% to authorize a strike, slightly short of the two-thirds majority needed to give the bargaining committee the power to strike.
Average fares for domestic travel on major U.S. airlines remained considerably below 2001 levels in August, according to the Air Transport Assn. Fares have been stuck in the -9% range since May, and last month's year-over-year decrease was 9.4%, losing ground from -9.1% in July. First- and business-class fares were off 12.5%, and coach-class fares were down 9%, dipping below $100 for a 1,000-mile trip for the first time in years. By contrast, international fares continued to flirt with year-earlier levels--they were down by 0.2% in August. Fare tabulations exclude taxes.
Michel Lord has been appointed vice president/special adviser to the president/CEO of Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. He was vice president-investor relations and has been succeeded by Rejean Bourque, who was director of corporate finance.
Boeing Autometric has made its DataMaster geographic imagery cataloging and retrieval software work with Windows NT and 2000. DataMaster has been used mainly for classified images since 1992, but on Unix systems, and Windows should bring it to a lower cost market. . . . Moving in the other direction, Thales e-Security makes WebSentry cryptographic hardware for electronic business, and has extended its reach with new versions for the Sun Solaris and Linux operating systems. WebSentry already works with Windows NT and 2000.
A second bid has been submitted for US Airways Group in preparation for a hearing by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Retirement Systems of Alabama public pension fund offered $240 million, topping rival Texas Pacific Group's offer by $40 million. If successful, the fund, which has held debt in the airline for 10 years, would receive a 37.5% when US Airways emerges from bankruptcy. The court is expected to review the offers--and any additional ones made in the intervening time--on Sept. 26 and approve a 60-90-day due diligence period.
Labor unions' fierce opposition to the French government's decision to abandon its controlling stake in Air France, flight crews' salary demands and the proliferation of aggressive low-cost carriers could signal the end of the flag carriers' halcyon days. Paradoxically, mounting concerns surrounding Air France's fate are emerging as the French flag carrier continues to achieve enviable financial results in a depressed world market. In contrast with most mainstream airlines, Air France in the last 12 months maintained its profitability.
Hong Kong's Dragonair is protesting Cathay Pacific's application to serve Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen. Dragonair, which holds all 18 of Hong Kong's flight rights into mainland China, maintains that there is insufficient demand to support an additional carrier. If Hong Kong's Air Traffic Licensing Authority grants Cathay's request, the Hong Kong government and the Civil Aviation Administration of China would still need to act on the application.
Colin Fernie (see photo) has been appointed group vice president-regional and business aircraft for Paris-based Messier-Dowty. He succeeds Allan Harvey, who had been acting group vice president and will remain vice president-business development.
Airbus is planning a partnership program with industry that will give it a prime role in freighter conversions and specialized support services such as maintenance, repair and overhaul, and training. Similar to an initiative established by Boeing a few years ago, the program will seek to monitor quality and performance--under the Airbus label--and offer integrated global service packages to customers.
IBM is using the Linux operating system to inexpensively put together computers in a parallel processing configuration. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has obtained a Linux cluster of 66 IBM eServer xSeries computers that it will use to analyze data from the microwave limb sounder on the Earth-observing Aura spacecraft, set for launch in 2004. And Air New Zealand will replace 150 Compaq servers with a single eServer zSeries mainframe running Linux.
With the need to find moving targets, downed airmen or trapped special operations forces quickly and exactly--a mission called time-critical targeting--Air Force researchers have broken new ground in the layout of crew positions for its Paul Revere demonstrator aircraft. When walking onto Paul Revere from the forward hatch, a visitor first sees four crew positions on the left paralleling the fuselage wall. Immediately aft is the main crew space with three tables set up parallel to each other and perpendicular to the first four positions.
Thomas Howard has become deputy inspector general and Lance Carrington assistant inspector general for investigations for NASA. Howard was deputy assistant inspector general in the U.S. Transportation Dept., while Carrington was a special agent in the NASA Office of the Inspector General.
Boeing hopes to complete the critical flight readiness firing of its first Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle on Pad 37 at Cape Canaveral about Sept. 24, a milestone that would enable first launch of the vehicle by early November with a Eutelsat payload. Delta engineers were late last week repeating a countdown demonstration test with the vehicle loaded with cryogenic oxygen and hydrogen to clear earlier software problems. Boeing last week also delivered to the Cape the first stage of the second Delta IV, now scheduled to launch a U. S.
Boeing faced strikes in two business units late last week. After failing to push the company into further negotiations that would offer job guarantees, nearly 26,000 machinists were to vote Sept. 12-13 in Wichita, Kan.; Seattle; and Portland, Ore., on the same three-year contract Boeing offered in August (AW&ST Sept. 2, p. 21). Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Alan Mulally denied the company ``wanted'' a strike so it would benefit from cash-strapped U.S. carriers deferring orders.
Free Bird Airlines has awarded a five-year contract to Iberia Maintenance & Engineering covering the maintenance and overhaul of Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 turbofans.
Although the U.S. is the largest supplier of weapons to South Korea, with an 80% market share, the winds of change are blowing. U.S. officials are unhappy with a new offset policy the South Korean defense ministry has put in place. It requires a foreign bidder to assure that proposed technologies will be transferred. Not so fast, says Washington. The U.S. government is the sole judge of what U.S. technology can be transferred. So far the tiff doesn't seem to have had much effect.
Aerospace giant EADS is looking to a pan-European air combat technology demonstrator program as a vehicle for consolidation among Europe's remaining combat aircraft manufacturers for any next-generation combat platform. The company, European and U.S. industry analysts believe, is also increasingly keen to bolster its own combat aircraft business, and is ramping up a campaign to bundle the military business of Dassault and its own military aircraft unit. ``It's a sector where we expect restructuring at the European level,'' EADS co-CEO Philippe Camus said recently.
The prospect of adversaries equipping ballistic missiles with more sophisticated countermeasures is leading the Missile Defense Agency to initiate development of a more sophisticated kill vehicle and to establish a focal point for developing targets and countermeasures to be used in testing. The potential vulnerability to spoofing attempts has long been viewed as the Achilles' heel of the Pentagon's ongoing missile defense efforts.
Orbital Recovery Corp., a startup company based in Washington and Los Angeles, is pushing a concept to extend the life of geosynchronous telecommunications satellites that are running out of fuel. The Spacecraft Life Extension System (SLES) flies on its own to an aging satellite and docks, using the host's kick motor nozzle as an attach point. Boom-mounted ion thrusters take over the job of station-keeping for the satellite, drawing power from the SLES solar arrays.
Vulcanair of Italy is poised to begin flight testing a single-engine turboprop aircraft with the intent of carving a niche in the market dominated by the Cessna Caravan. The Naples-based company plans to initiate flight tests of the VF600W Mission before year-end. The first prototype of the VF600W, whose development is partly financed by the Italian Ministry of Industry, was rolled out on July 16. A second aircraft is under construction.
Dunlop Equipment has been selected to supply bleed solenoid and anti-ice valves for the Pratt & Whitney PW307A engine slated to power the Dassault Falcon 7X business jet.
