Any President's priceless treasure is his credibility, doubly so in his role as commander-in-chief. President Bush, his Administration in its infancy, is squandering his trustworthiness on the paramount subject of national defense. He is opening a new credibility gap that could dog the rest of his Administration.
Mike Clasper has become deputy chief executive of London-based BAA plc. He was president of the global homecare and new business segments of Procter and Gamble.
Key elements of the U.S. aviation community are split on how well and how soon high-technology systems will help reduce runway incursions at major airports, but they agree that low-tech initiatives are needed as well. The FAA's management of runway safety, under review, also is at issue.
British government transport officials labeled informal talks with U.S. counterparts in London on a new U.K.-U.S. aviation agreement as ``positive and constructive.'' Although no concrete progress was made during the first discussions since last summer, there were signs that the U.K. was willing to drop more difficult demands regarding cabotage and foreign ownership limits in the U.S. London appears anxious to strike a deal before a European Court of Justice ruling, expected in October, on the European Commission's claim to possess the right to negotiate with the U.S.
Raytheon demonstrated an advanced targeting pod (ATP) for fighters at the air show that would be used to identify airborne or ground targets at night and provide an accurate location for aiming a precision weapon, capabilities that have been hard to package in a single system.
The White House is in a peck of trouble on Capitol Hill regarding defense. Predictably, House and Senate members who represent B-1B basing constituencies in Kansas, Georgia and Idaho are protesting the proposed bomber cutback (see p. 33), albeit on strategic rather than economic grounds. Firing off a bipartisan letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, lawmakers asserted that a one-third cut of the B-1 fleet would contravene a basic tenet of U.S. strategy, namely long-range precision strike. The B-1 flies faster and carries more than any other U.S.
V-22 woes are about to claim more victims, with layoffs looming as production of the tiltrotor is slowed to allow prime contractors Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing to fix design problems that have plagued the aircraft. The number of layoffs and when they will occur hasn't been resolved yet. But the goal is to ``lose the minimum number of people,'' says Michael Tkach, Bell Boeing V-22 program director. Boeing has about 1,500 people employed on V-22 work, while Bell has about 2,800 employees associated with the program.
William Mellon has become managing director for media relations of Northwest Airlines. He headed his own corporate communications consulting firm in the Washington area.
The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a $59-billion transportation spending bill for next year that fully funds a $3.3-billion airport grants program, a $2.9-billion FAA capital budget and close to 100% of the FAA's operating expenses. Air traffic management spending would climb to nearly $5.5 billion, close to $50 million more than requested and almost $300 million higher than the current level.
Frontier Airlines pilots ratified an amendment to their contract that will provide salary, overtime pay and per diem increases totaling about $3.8 million per year, or nearly $11,500 per pilot, according to a company estimate. Salary increases ranged from 14.5-35.8%. The five-year contract was signed in May 2000 and amended last month.
GE Engines has entered into a $30-million, five-year agreement to maintain 24 CFM56-3C1 engines that power Regal Airways Inc.'s fleet of Boeing 737-300s.
Eurocopter has sold 10 EC130B4 emergency medical helicopters to a U.S. company, contracted for two more EC135s with a German air rescue operation and signed a research and technology partnership with French and German agencies to bolster European helicopter development.
Hainan Airlines, the largest regional carrier in China, plans to implement international routes and become the No. 4 carrier in the country, after Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. Hainan Airlines officials told the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) that the carrier should not be involved in the state-ordered consolidation of the country's airlines and merged with any other carriers.
China's fourth largest airline alliance, made up of six regional carriers, is scheduled to be established soon in Shanghai. To be known as the China Sky Aviation Enterprise Group Alliance (CSAEGA), the organization will include Shandong Airlines (SHAL), Shanghai Airlines (SAL), Sichuan Airlines (SCAL), Shenzhen Airlines (SZAL), Wuhan Airlines (WAL) and China Postal Airlines (CPA). Combined, the airlines last year carried 8.1 million passengers, representing 35% of the domestic market.
Boeing and Tenzing added muscle to their Internet-in-the-sky initiatives as a newcomer presented a dedicated live TV satellite network. A week after signing up a trio of U.S. airline partners, Boeing concluded an agreement with Lufthansa to install its Ku-band Connexion system on 80 aircraft in the German carrier's Atlantic long-haul fleet. Connexion will allow passengers to access high-speed e-mail, Internet and TV for about $20 per hr.
Radar designers can buy a package of software tools from Artech House (www.artechhouse.com). Radar System Simulation Software has algorithms written in Mathcad 2000 to design filters, pulse compressors, waveforms and other elements, to model radar cross section, and analyze the performance. Plus it should have some Russian techniques--the package is written by Sergei Leonov of Raytheon Systems Canada and Alexander Leonov of the Moscow Institute of Technology.
Arianespace registered a record number of orders at this year's Paris air show, confirming its position at the top of the commercial launch market. However, it could not dispel claims from U.S.-Russian rivals that new heavy-lift booster models are closing the gap.
American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union, which represents mechanics at the carrier, reached a tentative agreement June 24. Mechanics would receive an immediate wage increase of 8-22%, depending on their work classification plus a 3% increase in the second and third years of the contract, which also improves benefits, retirement and work rules, according to American. Union members will vote on the pact within 30 days of receiving details. American and the TWU began negotiations in October 2000.
Japan has issued a request for proposal leading to development and purchase of 80 new 4-engine maritime patrol aircraft to replace its P-3s. The newly designed aircraft are supposed to use an indigenously-developed turbofan, industry officials said. Kawasaki is seen as the front-runner, although Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also is expected to compete. Contract award is scheduled for later this year, although some industry officials are skeptical about funding viability. The U.S.
POLAND'S PZL OKECIE has chosen Illinois-based Flight Visions Inc. to supply and integrate the avionics for an upgrade demonstrator of the PZL-130 TCL OR2 trainer. Pending successful demonstration, the systems will be integrated with 30 new PZL-130s.
Virgin Blue last week legally challenged Qantas' takeover of Impulse Airlines by filing a formal complaint in Sydney Federal court against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which approved the deal. Virgin Blue is claiming the ACCC failed to follow its own guidelines in that it did not consult with Virgin Blue about the takeover, or provide the carrier with reasons for its approval of the deal.
EADS will become Patria Industries' strategic partner and invest 42 million euros ($36.1 million) to acquire a 26.8%-stake in the Finnish company. The agreement will focus on aircraft aerostructures and defense electronics businesses and could be extended to space activities, Patria executives said. The state-controlled company made an $8.3-million net profit on $180 million in revenues last year.
NASA'S HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (HITS) Phase II cockpit display will be on view at the Experimental Aircraft Assn. AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., July 24-30. One goal of the new software is to offer ``a true out-the-window view'' for more intuitive attitude and course guidance, according to AvroTec, which will show HITS II on its AvroTec FMP500 LCD displays in a Lancair Columbia 400. The software was developed by NASA's Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments government/industry consortium as an interim step toward a real Synthetic Vision system.
The U.S. and Israel may be nearing a confrontation over who should get U.S. funding to build a missile-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can locate and destroy mobile ballistic or air-defense missile launchers. Israel's future defense plans include both missile-carrying and reconnaissance versions of unmanned aircraft as key contributors to the country's defense. To that end, Israel Aircraft Industries has been developing longer endurance and larger-payload UAV designs for the role.
