An Ariane 5 booster successfully orbited Europe's Envisat environmental satellite as the heavy lift launch vehicle returned to service after a six-month hiatus, with a launch from Kourou, French Guiana. The Astrium-built Aestus upper stage engine appeared to perform flawlessly. This model engine failed in an aborted mission in July. The $2-billion satellite, which carries 10 instruments, is the biggest and most expensive spacecraft ever built in Europe.
Lisa K. Barnes has been named director of quality assurance for Howmet Castings, Darien, Conn. She was manager of quality assurance at Howmet's LaPorte (Ind.) Castings facility. Robert J. Baker has been promoted to general manager from IGT operations/plant manager at Howmet Hampton (Va.) Casting.
European satellite manufacturer Astrium bolstered its chances of providing NATO's next-generation military satellite communications needs last week when it secured a 2-2.5-billion-pound program ($2.8-3.5 billion) for Skynet from the British Defense Ministry. The twin-spacecraft program will supply British armed forces with its UHF and SHF communications requirements. EHF needs are being addressed separately by a memorandum of understanding that is now being negotiated with the defense ministry and the U.S. Defense Dept.
The French air force's four E-3F AWACS will be upgraded in 2004-06 under a $133-million contract with Boeing. The U.S. manufacturer will ship modification kits to Air France Industries, the French flag carrier's maintenance, repair and overhaul arm. The package, dubbed Radar System Improvement Program, mostly produced by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, includes a new radar computer, radar control maintenance panel and multiple software upgrades. The French E-3Fs entered service in 1990.
The Air Force has decided the F-22 doesn't have to be so quiet anymore. It was once assumed that the stealth fighter would operate independently and not need long-distance communications. Staying electronically silent would help frustrate enemy detection. But now, with the success of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's concept of relying heavily on information from satellites, ground stations and other aircraft, Pentagon leaders believe the F-22 needs to contribute to the flood of data moving around future battlefields.
After 36 years of service, the DC-9 was officially retired last month from Air Canada's fleet. The carrier, the first airline outside of the U.S. to adopt the aircraft type, took delivery of its first DC-9 in January 1966. Air Canada operated as many as 50 and ``the workhorse'' of the fleet accumulated more than 3 million flight hours, according to Rob Giguere, Air Canada executive vice president for operations. The DC-9, which replaced Air Canada's Vickers Viscounts, provided many passengers their first experience with jet travel, he added.
Airbus recently published a technical manual for the A380. Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning, a 177-page overview of data needed by airport operators to support the superjumbo--from pavement loading requirements to projected configurations for ramp-service equipment--can be accessed at www.airbus.com. The A380 is not scheduled to enter service until 2006; it is considered unusual to release a tech manual this early in the process.
The vertical stabilizer from the American Airlines A300-600R aircraft involved in a 1997 inflight loss-of-control event will be removed and undergo nondestructive inspection this week--at about the time destructive testing of American Airlines Flight 587's vertical stabilizer is to get underway at NASA Langley.
Flight delays caused by the time it takes passengers to clear security at airports are likely to increase, and neither the airlines nor the FAA should be blamed for them, the Air Transport Assn. told the Transportation Dept. Commenting on a proposed rule that would require major carriers to report the causes of delays, not just the numbers (AW&ST Jan. 7, p.
Virgin Express and SN Brussels Airlines on Feb. 28 terminated negotiations that were tentatively expected to lead to a merger agreement. The carriers' divergent strategies could not be reconciled.
A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 had to be evacuated after landing at London's Stansted Airport on Feb. 27 after one of its engines caught fire. Air Traffic Control staff at the airport told the crew that smoke was coming from an engine as it landed, and fire trucks were called to extinguish the blaze. All 117 passengers and crew evacuated safely with two people suffering smoke inhalation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov are calling for more aggressive Russian military space program development to prevent the former USSR from going ``blind and deaf'' in military intelligence, in the face of geopolitical changes along its borders and growing international military operations by the U.S.
Jeff Nerland has been named president of the DeCrane Aircraft Cabin Management Group, El Segundo, Calif. He also is senior vice president of DeCrane Aircraft Holdings Inc. Nerland was president of the Cabin Management Group's Seating Div. and succeeds Chuck Becker, who has resigned.
Jonathan W. Ladd has become president/CEO of Novatel Inc., Calgary, Alberta. He was president of Magellan's Russian subsidiary, Ashtech A/O. Ladd succeeds David Vaughn, who was acting president and will remain a consultant.
After concentrating on the European and U.S. aviation markets for 36 years, Stockholm-based Volvo Aero Engine Services (VAES) wants to expand into Asia with an engine overhaul facility. But it needs a partner either in Southeast Asia or China, according to Vice President Goran Norden, who heads marketing and technical sales. Since VAES has two customers in China--Air China and China Northern Airlines--that country seems the logical target.
The Federal Communications Commission decision that gives ultrawideband devices broad latitude to transmit, protecting only the GPS band, has temporarily satisfied the interests of those in aviation and prospective entrepreneurs about UWB technology. Although the FCC portrayed the decision as one of consensus among the government agencies, observers who had been following the issue closely said there was no such unanimity as late as the night before.
Richard (Dick) Rutan is one of four pioneers of aviation who are scheduled to be enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, Ohio, on July 20. The others are James B. Stockdale, Hubert Zemke (posthumously) and Frank N. Piasecki.
Using wing design heritage from the MD-11 and sculptured nacelles, Boeing has introduced ``quiet,'' longer range passenger and freighter versions of the extended-range 747-400ER that it put into production last month. The goal is to make the -400 more compatible with European noise restraints while regaining momentum against the Airbus A340-600 in large-aircraft sales.
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and Sweden's Volvo Aero aircraft managing division have signed a $57-million deal to support, maintain and overhaul Pratt &Whitney JT9D-20J powerplants on the airline's four leased DC-10-40Fs. The Western-manufactured aircraft are to replace 16 Ilyushin Il-76s, which--beginning in April--will not be allowed to operate in Europe owing to European Union noise restrictions (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 47). Scheduled service is to begin next month on Europe-Moscow-Japan-Southeast Asia routes.
Navigators on the planned New Horizons mission to Pluto, Charon and the Kuiper Belt have trimmed a year off the 3-billion-mi. cruise to the outermost planet by optimizing their launch window. That would bring the probe to Pluto for a flyby in 2015 rather than 2016, as originally estimated. Mission advocates say arriving a year earlier would give New Horizons more light for its photography of the planet's surface, a better shot at studying the atmosphere should Pluto's movement away from the Sun cause it to freeze, and more fuel for exploration in its target region.
ISRO has also just signed the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters which aims to assure the effective use of Indian remote-sensing data during natural disasters. The European Space Agency and CNES, the French space agency, first initiated the charter in mid-2000. ISRO has also just renewed a long-standing space cooperation agreement with ESA.
The Feb. 18 column reported that L-3 Communications Interstate Electronics Corp. would be the first company to begin production of Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM)-equipped GPS receivers. Rockwell Collins had actually delivered its first SAASM-based GPS receiver for the international Harm missile upgrade program in August 2000 (AW&ST Sept. 4, 2000, p. 88).
The European engine consortium competing to power the A400M transport airplane has determined it needs to propose a new engine core to meet the airlifter's requirements. In addition, the venture is being restructured with a new managing director position. Rolls-Royce, Snecma, MTU and ITP would report to the new manager. The new engine core will use three-shaft technology that Rolls-Royce employs and also draw on other existing technologies.
Airbus has long had trouble in the Japanese market. Its current market share is only 20%, and it has not been able to find a Japanese manufacturing partner for any of its aircraft programs, as Boeing has for the 767 and 777. All that is about to change, Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard said.
