Russell Rice has become director of the CJ/Bravo Sales Div. of the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan. He was an area sales manager within the division.
Eurocopter has begun flight testing an improved Cougar/Super Puma Mk. 2 version that is intended to form the core of France's search-and-rescue helicopter fleet. The first unit of the new standard, designated Mk. 2+, made a 50-min. inaugural flight in late November at Eurocopter's Marignane production and development complex, near Marseilles. The French air force has ordered four Mk. 2+ aircraft for its Combat-SAR
The initial Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche late last month completed its first flight equipped with a new empennage that is aimed at reducing a tail buffet that was uncovered early last year. During the 1.4-hr. flight on Dec. 18, Comanche test pilots Rus Stiles and Reggie Murrell flew the aircraft at speeds up to 165 KTAS while performing 45-deg. banks and controllability checks. The tests were flown at Sikorsky's West Palm Beach, Fla., test facility.
Stringency requirements beyond 8 dB. would cause problems for narrow-body aircraft--workhorses of many airlines' current fleets--and their effects would be felt quickly, according to Bill Glover, director of airline environmental performance strategy at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The 555-seat A380 long-range transport, by far Europe's biggest and most challenging aviation undertaking, is expected to curtail major airlines' operating costs on high-density routes and give more credibility to Airbus Industrie's head-to-head showdown with Boeing in terms of market share, orders and revenues. However, Airbus' archrival dismisses the Europeans' market predictions and asserted profitability as unattainable.
Flush with $65 million in new venture funding, Eclipse Aviation Corp. is moving into ``a high burn rate'' of capital spending in its quest to design, certify and produce an entry-level business jet priced at $837,500. Most of the additional funding recently raised by Eclipse is earmarked for engineering-related activities associated with developing hardware and getting ready for high-volume production.
Braced for criticism from Congress that they are not including C-130Js in the upcoming Fiscal 2002 budget request, Air Force officials are quietly preparing a backdoor way for lawmakers to do so. The plan is to assure key members that more Js will be placed high on the service's ``unfunded priority'' agenda. That is the perennial weapons wish list the military brass send up to the Hill after the President's budget is submitted.
Taiwan's defense ministry is expressing interest in a new, stealthy fighter. While the Taiwanese air force said it would track European and U.S. development programs, the expressed interest in a low-observable, vertical or short take-off and landing aircraft makes the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter a leading candidate. Taiwan said it would want the aircraft to feature standoff precision attack capabilities.
The Boeing 747 program was effectively launched by Pan American World Airways in 1966 with half as many firm orders as the Airbus Industrie A380 now has, but competing airlines soon responded with additional orders. Boeing officials said the 747-100 was launched with a $525-million order for 25 aircraft from Pan American, but competing airlines boosted the total order value to $1.8 billion within five months of the program go-ahead in April 1966. Following that surge, there was a relative dry spell in orders.
Rolls-Royce has completed assembly and testing of the first production EJ200 engine for the Eurofighter. Other members of the Eurojet consortium--Italy's FiatAvio, Germany's MTU and Spain's ITP--have completed work on initial production components of the EJ200. These are scheduled for delivery to the U.K. later this year for installation in the first production aircraft undergoing assembly by BAE Systems. In addition to work on the EJ200 engine, Rolls-Royce has received an airworthiness certificate for the Trent 500 from the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority.
Herbert D. Kelleher (see photo), president/chairman/CEO of Southwest Airlines, has received the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for 2000 from the Washington-based National Aeronautic Assn. in recognition of his contributions that have ``revolutionized commercial air travel throughout the world.''
The U.S. Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Div. has extended until Apr. 2 the period for regulatory review of the proposed merger between United Airlines and US Airways. The extension will allow time for continued discussion with the Justice Dept., the two airlines stated. In connection with the announcement, the airlines extended their merger agreement in accordance with its terms. The proposed merger, criticized roundly for the possible adverse effect on competition, now falls into the lap of the incoming George W. Bush Administration.
The U.S. Navy is testing a shipboard-based GPS system that will give pilots precision, jam-free guidance for automatic carrier landings and will also replace Tacan, allowing carriers to operate more covertly. Navy test pilots made the first automatic landings in July in an F/A-18 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. ``The JPALS system has matched or exceeded the performance of the current Automatic Carrier Landing Systems,'' said Lt. Cdr. Chris McCarthy, a landing signal officer (LSO) and the chief test pilot for JPALS.
China and India are destined to strengthen their military might, while Japan and Russia are likely to see their position in the global power balance slip, the National Intelligence Council projects. India and Pakistan are likely to increase their rival nuclear capabilities. The 51-page document holds out little hope that nonproliferation efforts will succeed in stemming the flow of arms to interested buyers, or that the U.S. and Russia will successfully negotiate far-reaching arms control agreements.
Lufthansa CityLine is the first European airline to receive a full flight Phase III simulator for Bombardier Aerospace's not-yet-certificated 70-seat CRJ700. Once operational, the simulator will provide crew training at the airline's Berlin-Schonefeld training facility, a joint partnership between Lufthansa CityLine, Bombardier and simulator manufacturer CAE.
Kim Wheeler has been named director of marketing and e-commerce for Aircraft Technical Publishers of San Francisco. She was marketing services manager of New Piper Aircraft, Vero Beach, Fla.
Manfred Leimkuhler has been named vice president/assistant general counsel in Germany, Milan Racic vice president/assistant general counsel in the U.S., Peter Platsch vice president-procurement and service contracts, David Nixon vice president-contracts management and Alan Stiley vice president of marketing based in Washington, all for the Fairchild Dornier Corp. Leimkuhler, Platsch and Nixon are based in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and Racic in Herndon, Va. Leimkuhler and Platsch were in the corporate law departments of Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH.
NASA has revived hopes of sending a spacecraft to Pluto just three months after stopping work on the Pluto/Kuiper Express mission, which was being managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For the first time, NASA's Office of Space Science (OSS) is competitively seeking an outer planets (beyond Mars) mission, in the manner of the less expensive Discovery projects. The move signals that JPL's near-monopoly on simpler outer planet exploration may be ending.
What is the link between billions of dollars in transport aircraft purchases and potential retirements, a major policy conflict clouding trade relations between the U.S. and Europe, and--arguably--the ability of commercial aviation to keep growing as projected during the first few decades of the 21st century?
EADS and Finmeccanica have halted discussions on merging their space activities, reflecting a shift in the balance of power between major space contractors within Europe and across the Atlantic.
European transport ministers have delayed a decision on the proposed Galileo satellite navigation system until later in the first quarter of this year. The program was scheduled to be approved at the transport ministers' last meeting at the end of 2000, but European Union member states could not reach an agreement on financing details. Astrium officials warn any further delay would jeopardize plans to have the system fully operational by 2008.
Aeroxchange, the e-marketplace being created by 13 major international carriers, has jumped one major hurdle--how to build a database for its supply chain management, e-procurement catalog and information services Web tools. It has signed an agreement with the Air Transport Assn. to use its SPEC 2000 Procurement Database and other related services. The ATA has 23 U.S. carrier members and five non-U.S. members, which mostly represent North American airlines.
Boeing's MyBoeingFleet.com maintenance, engineering and flight operations online library finished 2000 with additional services, including hosting fleet reliability statistics and product standards on the Web and providing a site for loadable software information. It now features quarterly updates that summarize the history of the worldwide Boeing fleet, including schedule reliability, flight hours, landings, utilization and length-of-flight data.
