Beset by consistent losses, running out of cash and turned down a second time for a federal loan guarantee, Vanguard Airlines ceased operations last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and expressed doubt that it will survive. ``It is likely that this is a permanent shutdown,'' CEO Scott Dickson said in a message for the carrier's roughly 1,200 employees.
Alcatel Chairman/CEO Serge Tchuruk has reiterated his intention to hold onto the company's satellite business, despite a corporate-wide loss of 1.4 billion euros ($1.37 billion) in the second quarter and a top-down reorganization at European rival EADS. ``Space is playing a growing role in broadband, in which Alcatel is a world leader, so it remains a strategic activity for us,'' Tchuruk said. However, he didn't discount the possibility of a tie-up with one of the other five players in the satellite sector (AW&ST July 29, p. 23).
The appointment of a blue-ribbon commission by the chief of the U.S. Forest Service presents a rare opportunity to ``re-baseline'' the nation's aerial firefighting program, scrutinizing everything from fire-bombing philosophy to safety-of-flight practices. With six fatalities and three accidents in six weeks, the program definitely warrants a close look (see p. 49). Former Chairman Jim Hall of the National Transportation Safety Board will head the review panel, so safety will almost certainly top his list of priorities--and rightly so.
The U.S. and Britain have in place elements of a plan--that could be executed with or without additional allies--to gut Iraq's key Republican Guard units with air attacks, freeze the production or release of chemical and biological weapons with new microwave weapons and keep the regular army confined to its garrisons, unharmed, through a combination of information and psychological warfare. With the U.S.
Monica J. Burke has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer of the Willis Lease Finance Corp., Sausalito, Calif. She was chief operating officer at the Rosewood Stone Group.
Thomas L. Moser has been named program manager for ``Alternate Access to Station'' Phase 1 for Constellation Services International, Woodland Hills, Calif. He was executive director of the Texas Aerospace Commission and had been deputy associate NASA administrator and program director for the International Space Station.
Two crashes of heavy air tankers due to wing loss, followed by a fatal helicopter accident--all within a six-week period--triggered the formation last week of a blue ribbon commission to assess the U.S. Forest Service's aerial firefighting program. The panel will be headed by Jim Hall, who served as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from 1994-2001, and has been a member of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.
Italy's Finmeccanica was in the final stage of negotiations late last week to acquire Telespazio, the space ground services arm of the Telecom group, and the strategic communications businesses of Marconi Mobile, including avionics activities. Discussions were long delayed by differing views on the companies' valuations. Telespazio is expected to be combined with Finmeccanica Alenia Spazio while parts of Marconi Mobile should reinforce Galileo Avionica.
Eurocontrol and the European Space Agency have signed a five-year cooperation agreement covering the use of space technology in civil aviation. Specific areas of interest include satellite navigation, telecommunications and the environment. ESA and Eurocontrol have agreed to exchange information on their ongoing projects and coordinate research and development efforts, with specifics to be set later. No funds will be exchanged in the arrangement. Instead, each party will fund its own work.
First flight of the longer range 747-400ER was another step in Boeing's efforts to incrementally improve 747 performance and maintain market pressure on Airbus' planned A380 double-deck transport. The 747-400ER made its first takeoff on July 31, kicking off a test program that is expected to reach a rate of 3-5 flight hours per day. In October, Qantas Airways is scheduled to receive the initial 747-400ER passenger aircraft and Air France is set to take delivery of the first -400ERF freighter.
Richard L. Arnold (see photo) has been appointed director of training solutions for Unitech Inc., Centreville, Va. He was training officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center, Petaluma, Calif.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has awarded Boeing's advanced research and development unit, the Phantom Works, a $92.4-million contract to design, develop and test-fly a hypersonic strike missile demonstrator vehicle. Called HyFly, the program is run jointly by Darpa and the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to mature a dual-combustion, ramjet-based hypersonic missile that can be launched from either surface ships or submarines.
The FAA has until October to approve or deny petitions from 10 pilots asking that they be exempted from forced retirement at age 60, a relic of rules the agency delivered in December 1959. While scores of aviators have fought to overturn or get exempted from the ``age-60'' rule in various federal courts for more than 40 years--always unsuccessfully--the fate of these nine men and one woman may be different.
Senators want to know how NASA intends to keep the space shuttle fleet flying until it can be replaced, given a finding by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel that there isn't enough money programmed to do so in the increasingly likely event NASA tries to operate the shuttles until 2020. The Senate report backing NASA's Fiscal 2003 appropriations bill directs the agency to include ``a thorough assessment of flight systems, logistics, infrastructure and workforce readiness costs'' for the shuttle's lifetime in its Fiscal 2004 budget request.
Northrop Grumman will develop key software for the integrated tactical avionics system for the new avionics suite for the Royal Australian Navy's SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters. The company will integrate real-time combat information into a tactical database and fuse data from the helicopter's sensors with information received by data link. The capability includes real-time mission planning, as well as tactical navigation that will build a composite track to fly to waypoints and perform an attack.
Sue Kaplan and Dave Bascomb have become senior manager and manager, respectively, of membership records and services and Benjamin Jones assistant manager of records and programs, all for the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. Daniel W. Burkhart has been appointed director of regional programs.
Malaysia's Ministry of Finance is to set up Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad as a holding company to assume the debt and control of most of the assets of Malaysia Airlines, including 73 aircraft it owns and 14 that it leases. The airline, which has lost money for six straight years and has a debt of $537 million, is to retain direct control of its international passenger and cargo routes.
After postponements and technical delays, the second technology demonstrator (TD-2) for India's long-delayed Light Combat Aircraft has been flown at Bangalore, but the aircraft is unlikely to see service before 2010. The third of seven LCA prototypes is due for flight testing by the end of the year in preparation for an anticipated order of eight aircraft. Once full production begins, the LCA is expected to replace India's aging fleet of some 450 MiG-21s.
Roy S. Estess, director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, announced his retirement effective Aug. 25. Administrator Sean O'Keefe named William W. Parsons, Stennis operations and support director, to be his replacement. Estess joined NASA as a Saturn V second-stage test engineer in 1966, and was appointed center director in 1989.
Hamilton Sundstrand has recruited initial European sub-suppliers for the F135 engine, the powerplant for the JSF fighter. Microtecnica of Italy, a Hamilton affiliate, will provide the anti-icing system, while Smiths Aerospace Electronic Systems of the U.K. will offer prognostic health sensors to monitor inlet and exhaust debris. Elmo of the Netherlands is providing engine harnesses. The three suppliers will extend more than $12 million worth of hardware and services for the development phase of the JSF program.
An influential parliamentary committee last week lambasted the British government over its partial privatization of the country's air traffic control services, warning the move also threatened to erode the U.K.'s influence in Europe as it restructures air traffic services. The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) became a public-private partnership in July 2001. The government pursued the policy in the face of considerable opposition. Almost from the outset NATS has struggled financially.
For a business that has performed as well as Canada's CAE Inc. during the last 12 months--and, more importantly, whose prospects generally appear quite positive--validation from the investment community must seem frustratingly elusive to management. The stock has lost nearly 30% of its value in the last couple of months, and just recently the company was stymied in an attempt to expand its U.S. shareholder base. The U.S. stock market cratered about the time that CAE was poised to offer 27 million of its common shares.
Proposed FAA rules that would force employees ``at any tier'' of the maintenance process to undergo alcohol and drug testing have industry officials up in arms. A group of 15 trade associations and companies, including the Aeronautical Repair Station Assn., the Aerospace Industries Assn., Boeing and the Regional Airline Assn., are warning the FAA that proposed rules increase costs of aviation maintenance ``at a time when the industry can least afford it'' while providing no additional safety benefits.
