The overriding theme at the National Business Aviation Assn.'s 54th annual convention held here last week was ``getting back to business'' as operators sought solutions to airport/airspace access and flocked to seminars on security, while manufacturers unveiled a bevy of new products.
The U.S. and Russian crews on board the International Space Station unloaded tons of supplies from Endeavour last week while STS-108 shuttle astronauts performed important maintenance on ISS solar array drive motors.
Four Lockheed Martin/U.S. Navy Trident I C4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles were ripple-fired down the Eastern Range on Dec. 9, from the USS Ohio submerged off Cape Canaveral. The battle exercise was the second such ripple-fire test from the Cape in the last six months. During the earlier exercise in June, three advanced Trident II D5s were fired downrange from the USS Louisiana.
On Dec. 10, Brazil's Aerospace Technical Center awarded Embraer a type certificate for the company's Legacy business jet. Approval by the FAA and the European Joint Aviation Authorities is scheduled for early next year, according to Embraer. To date, the Brazilian company has received orders for 48 aircraft with options for another 44, split between executive and shuttle versions. Launch customer Phoenix-based Swift Aviation has placed orders for 25 airplanes and holds options for another 25.
Paul David Miller, who is chairman/ CEO of Alliant Techsystems, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Donaldson Co., which is also in Minneapolis.
Robert L. Horowitz has been named chief operating officer of Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan. He was vice president-operations and quality for Raytheon's Electronic Systems, El Segundo, Calif.
A transponder landing system (TLS) that FedEx Express has been testing in the Philippines is on the verge of FAA certification, leading to an early installation at 10 regional airports around the U.S.
Wall Street analysts and other industry observers are applauding Lockheed Martin Corp.'s recent decision to exit the telecommunications service market, confident the back-to-basics move will improve the company's ability to grow profitably by focusing only on core businesses.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the federal government should lead major initiatives at home and abroad to reduce the threat of nuclear theft and sabotage, particularly the security risks to Russian stockpiles, U.S. authorities and academic experts agree. A new congressional review of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation programs says they still lack a coherent strategy, need better coordination and require greater access to secret Russian facilities. High-level leadership, perhaps in the White House, is considered necessary.
Despite a renewed Navy commitment to unmanned aircraft, Northrop Grumman's helicopter-like Firescout VTUAV is apparently not what the service wants for its future unmanned force. Despite its meeting the service's requirements, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon Clark says planners want longer-range, larger-payload and stealthier unmanned aircraft. Northrop Grumman officials had said rumors of the UAV's fall from Navy favor were simply an internal misunderstanding, and production funding would reappear. That hope appears to be dashed.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS that the FAA has approved all 330 of the company's maintenance technician training courses for renewal of an Inspection Authorization (IA). In addition, the approval is accepted at agency offices worldwide for purposes of renewing an IA.
In lockstep with the White House, legislators have matched the $343.3-billion defense authorization budget President Bush sought for Fiscal 2002, heeding his national security priorities on military transformation, counter-terrorism, homeland security and missile defense.
To understand fully why the U.S. government brought down 4,546 aircraft within 3 hr. on the morning of Sept. 11, all you need to know is this: The second of two hijacked airliners is flown into the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. EDT. Minutes later, the FAA's air traffic control command center in Herndon, Va., tells field facilities to advise it of any aircraft that aren't in communication or are flying unexpected routes. The facilities report 11 such aircraft. Hijackers fly one of them into the Pentagon at 9:41. Ten are left.
Hispasat has ordered a pair of X-band military telecommunications satellites from Space Systems/Loral, primarily for use by Spain and the U.S. The XTAR EUR, a 12-transponder spacecraft, will be operated over the Indian Ocean starting in 2003 by XTAR, a Washington-based venture of Hispasat and Loral Space&Communications (AW&ST July 23, p. 36). SpainSat, with 12 X-band transponders and one Ka-band unit, will be flown at 30 deg. W. Long. from 2004 by Hisdesat, owned by Hispasat and other Spanish firms.
Boeing Delta II ignites at dawn on Dec. 7 at the beginning of a successful mission to deliver the joint NASA/French Jason 1 oceanography satellite and NASA's Timed (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) spacecraft to their polar orbits. The launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., came at 10:07 a.m. EST, placing Jason 1 into an 830-mi. circular orbit and Timed into a circular orbit 388 mi. up, both inclined 74.1 deg. to the equator (AW&ST Dec. 3, p. 34).
The market for new business jets is holding up better than Honeywell Aerospace President Bob Johnson would have expected, given the considerable turbulence that has buffeted the sector since Sept. 11. ``The soft market we're experiencing now isn't very different from what we projected before Sept. 11,'' he said. ``There have been no order cancellations, and we're still supplying subassemblies and other products to airframe manufacturers on an expedited basis. Nobody has told us to slow down. If anything, the message is, `speed up.'''
DREW STEKETEE, PRESIDENT/CEO OF THE ''BE A PILOT'' program, said interest in learning to fly plummeted after the terrorist attacks in September, but has rebounded in the past three months. The initiative, aimed at increasing the number of student pilots in the U.S., reported 31,000 responses to advertising for the first 10 months of this year compared with 35,000 for all of 2000. Prior to Sept. 11, leads were up about 10% over last year, according to Steketee.
Airbus deliveries could take an even more drastic decline in 2003, another aftereffect of the airline industry's severe downturn, according to EADS Co-CEO Rainer Hertrich. ``The crisis' second year could be even more difficult than the first,'' Hertrich warned. EADS is, for the first time, facing a situation where its main profit-making affiliate, Airbus, is facing a market fall.
THE FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION'S (FSF) CORPORATE Advisory Committee is studying whether Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) programs should be adopted by business aviation flight departments. Using quick-access recorders (QAR), these programs collect routine data on each flight which is later analyzed to detect any unsafe trends that could lead to accidents. Major U.S.
NETJETS, THE FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP DIVISION of Executive Jets Inc., has redesigned its Web site: www.netjets.com. New features include more comprehensive information about the company and its services as well as insight into fractional ownership. The site also allows viewers to quickly locate key information by using improved navigation tools and a more intuitive layout, according to Kevin Russell, Executive Jet senior vice president.
Boeing has suffered another major set back in developing a key component of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system. The ground-based interceptor, which is supposed to launch the missile shield's kinetic kill vehicle, failed on Dec. 13 (see photo) in its second launch test from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The failure occurred about 30 sec. after booster ignition. In the previous test, there was a vehicle roll anomaly during operations of the first-stage Alliant Techsystems GEM 40-VN booster.
The Aerospace Industries Assn. believes U.S. industry sales will drop 4.4% in 2002--5.3% in constant dollars--as commercial transport manufacturers and their airline customers reel from depressed demand. But the AIA sees ``robust'' civil aviation growth late next year or early in 2003, so long-term prospects are good, President and CEO John Douglass says in a year-end review. Meanwhile, he adds, it's time to deal with three ``structural issues''--NASA needs more R&D money, the Pentagon needs more procurement money and the State Dept.
