NASA has banished rotorcraft research and development from its latest budget request, igniting a storm of concern and indignation among the agency's soon-to-be former partners and collaborators. Word that the agency had excised the $25.5-million line item from its 2002 budget had been suspected, but it was only communicated to its Army partner in early March. The cut was finally publicly confirmed last week, when the budget was actually released.
Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union have reached a tentative multiyear contract that calls for a 24% increase in base salary, sources within the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. (AMFA) have confirmed. The accord also calls for retroactive compensation for the mechanics, equivalent to 3.5 % of their annual pay backdated to October 1996, the date when the last contract expired. In addition, the AMFA members will get a one-time $3,750 signing bonus.
Airbus may have crashed the Boeing-Qantas party with an order for 12 Airbus A380s and 13 A330/200/300s, but the 747-400 is expected to remain honored guest of the airline's fleet for the next five years. Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said the carrier expects delivery of 25 additional -400s beginning in March 2002 to 2006, and has six of the Increased Gross Weight versions on order.
Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines were the top three carriers in passenger service last year, but quality overall was down over the previous year, a controversial study by two academics claims. The Airline Quality Rating, which analyzes Transportation Dept. data, reported that on-time arrivals dropped in 2000, while denied boardings and reports of lost or mishandled baggage were up over the previous year.
Helicopter pioneer Stanley Hiller, Jr., has received the Pioneers of Vertical Flight Award from Groen Brothers Aviation Inc. of Salt Lake City. Among his many helicopter designs was the XH-44 Hiller-Copter, the world's first helicopter with twin coaxial counter-rotating blades. The award recognizes the dedication and contributions of early aviators and designers who advanced vertical flight.
Bert Zaccaria, a partner in New York-based venture capital firm East River Ventures, has been appointed to the board of directors of Seattle-based Avolo.
Steven X.S. Bauer, an aerospace engineer at the NASA Langley Research Center, has been selected to receive the 2001 Engineer of the Year Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was cited as an expert in aerodynamic design, advanced aerodynamic control effectors and passive porosity technology.
The U.S. Air Force is considering fixing and fielding C-130J capability incrementally rather than waiting until the entire system can pass muster after it failed its operational evaluation. Lockheed Martin's C-130J development suffered a significant setback when Air Force operational test officials last year deemed the aircraft neither operationally effective nor suitable. As a result, U.S. forces already flying the aircraft have been limited in how they can use the transport, including restricting operations to North America.
The Planetary Society's solar sail suborbital test, set for Apr. 26, will be delayed because of an accident during electrical checkout of the spacecraft at Severmosk near the Barents Sea launch site (AW&ST Mar. 5, p. 26). Some of the pyrotechnics were inadvertently fired on Apr. 10 causing the inflatable reentry shield to expand in a confined volume.
FAA's spending targets for Fiscal 2002 emerged relatively unscathed from the Bush Administration's first detailed budget exercise, with all but 0.5% of the agency's $13.35-billion request included in the White House's $2-trillion Fiscal 2002 spending plan. But FAA research programs could suffer next year after taking a 25% cut in the Bush budget. The agency's Research, Engineering and Development (RE&D) sector will receive $61 million less than the $249-million target recommended by the landmark aviation legislation, Air-21.
Patrick Khoury (see photo) has been appointed senior director of U.S. sales for Air Canada. He was general manager of marketing and sales for the Americas for Asiana Airlines.
Northwest Airlines' expansion in China includes new code-sharing services with Air China and the addition of new passenger and cargo services. Northwest added a third weekly Boeing 747-400 frequency between Detroit and Shanghai on Apr. 1 and a third weekly frequency in all-cargo freighter service between the U.S. and Shanghai.
Delta Air Lines' Technical Operations Div. will provide multiyear maintenance services to La Compagnie Nationale Royal Air Maroc, Sun Country Airlines and Miami Air International under letters of intent leading to signed contracts later this year. Delta has begun performing maintenance on Miami Air's Boeing 737-800s and is conducting component inventory for Sun Country's 737-800s, according to Basil Papyoti, director of technical sales and marketing for Delta. Miami Air's contract with Delta would run for seven years.
The Royal Air Force is in the early stages of looking for an air-launched weapon that could attack relocatable targets at 50-150-km. range. The Selectable Precision Effects and Range (Spear) program ``is probably the next major air-launched procurement in the U.K.,'' says Matra BAE Dynamics' Ian Metcalf. Whether it will take one or several weapons to meet the mission hasn't been determined. Spear isn't the only new weapon the Brits are considering.
Russian space chief Yuri Koptev faces a united front when he takes a conference call early this week from the heads of the other space agencies involved in the International Space Station. They will discuss Russia's insistence on flying California millionaire Dennis Tito on a tourist trip to the station. NASA boss Dan Goldin couldn't talk Koptev into making the 60-year-old Tito wait for training in U.S. emergency procedures.
NASA's $14.5-billion budget request for Fiscal 2002 includes ``robust funding'' for a newly focused emphasis on long-term aeronautics research, but at the cost of programs that promise only near-term gain.
U.S. forces in the Pacific require greater airlift, more flying hours, increased precision-guided munitions, advanced information technology and better intelligence, theater commanders say. Their desire for higher numbers of C-17s and C-130s and stronger capabilities in command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) stems partly from intratheater operational needs and partly from the Asia-Pacific's eddying balance of forces.
Pressure is building on Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld to submit a Fiscal 2001 supplemental defense request as the services run low on money for flying hours. The Air Force, for example, is some $500 million short in its flight hour account, largely because of increased repair costs, according to Gen. John W. Hardy, the service's vice chief of staff. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, predicted in a recent television interview that a supplemental request would arrive on Capitol Hill by July 4.
Any Boeing-Airbus order war will be postponed until China gains entry to the World Trade Organization, beefs up airline competition and establishes policy reforms. China's ultimate goal is admission to the WTO, Bao Peide told Aviation Week&Space Technology. He is the vice minister for civil aviation for the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
With the U.S. Navy having shelved plans to extend the service-life of its P-3 maritime patrol aircraft (at least according to the latest version of the Multimission Maritime Aircraft plans), BAE Systems is hoping it can interest the U.S. in the Nimrod it is building for the Royal Air Force. But knowing the odds against a foreign company winning a U.S. major program, BAE Systems doesn't expect to serve as prime contractor. The company is in discussions with some U.S. suppliers as potential teammates.
Michael D. Wascom has been named vice president-communications of the Washington-based Air Transport Assn. He was director of government affairs. Albert C. Pod has been promoted to president/CEO from executive vice president of Executive Jet Management, Woodbridge, N.J.
Crossair, the SAirGroup's regional affiliate, does not foresee being swept away by the tidal wave of red ink flowing from its parent. Moreover, company executives hope to quickly restore profitability after cutting costs and raising load factor.
Colin F. Wheeler has been named assistant vice president air service development for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. He was director of market planning for Trans World Airlines.
Pat Zerbe has become director of strategic communications at Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was director of public relations and has been succeeded by Kirsti Dunn, who was FAA public affairs officer for the Alaskan, Western-Pacific and Northwest Mountain regions.
Chinese officials gained little intelligence from the U.S. Navy EP-3 impounded on Hainan Island. But they were handed a technological gift that offers a shortcut through the political and financial maze that has kept them from receiving similar intelligence-gathering equipment from Israel and, so far, Russia, say U.S. intelligence experts. The impounded U.S. technology could be reverse-engineered, produced locally and sold at cut-rate prices on the international arms market.
