The U.S. Army and Boeing's rotorcraft operations here are on track with plans to modernize and extend the life of some 300 of the service's 431 D-model CH-47 Chinooks, a move that will keep the twin-rotor aircraft in the Army's inventory until around 2033.
Rob Tomenendal has become director of completion sales for the Garrett Aviation Services Jet Center in Santa Barbara, Calif. At the Houston facility, Rick Niefield has been appointed sales and support manager and Harry Driscoll and David Staffeldt regional sales managers.
Eclipse Aviation Corp. is expressing increased confidence that it will be able to build an entry-level business jet priced at $837,500, although many industry veterans continue to believe the goal is unattainable. Several factors are behind the company's heightened optimism, including:
Techspace Aero has decided to create two new subsidiaries in North America as part of a corporate-wide thrust within the Snecma group to expand its international presence. Herstal, Belgium-based Techspace Aero is 51% owned by Snecma, 19% by Pratt&Whitney and 30% by the Walloon Regional government. The first affiliate, to be called Techspace Aero Engineering, is intended to improve technical cooperation with Pratt&Whitney, General Electric, Honeywell and other U.S. and Canadian partners. It will be based in Montreal.
An Orbital Sciences Corp. commercial Pegasus booster lofted a U.S./French/Japanese gamma-ray burst detection satellite into space on Oct. 9 following air launch over the South Pacific from OSC's L-1011 carrier aircraft. In an unusual arrangement involving NASA, commercial and defense relay spacecraft, the Pacific-based mission was overseen and coordinated in real time by NASA personnel at Cape Canaveral, half a world away. The flight marked the first remotely managed NASA launch. The L-1011 was staged from Kwajalein Atoll.
The Thuraya 1 satellite is scheduled for launch on Oct. 18 from the Sea Launch system at an equatorial site south of Hawaii. The date has been set by Boeing Satellite Systems, formerly Hughes Space and Communications. Boeing also is a partner in Sea Launch. The 11,500-lb. spacecraft is a derivative of a Boeing 702 model, formerly Hughes 702, with a 40-ft.-wide send-receive antenna reflector for direct communications from geosynchronous orbit to users of handheld telephones.
World airline passenger traffic increased 7% and cargo 9% in June compared with the same month in 1999, according to the Airports Council International's recently released June 2000 report. Based on data collected from 620 airports, Africa had the highest passenger growth at 9%, followed by Asia/Pacific (8%), Europe (8%) and the Middle East (7%). Traffic increased in North America by 6% and in Latin America/Caribbean by 3%. The world's busiest airports were Atlanta Hartsfield (7.5 million), Chicago O'Hare (6.7 million) and Los Angeles (6.1 million).
Judy Weber (see photo) has become director of customer service of Thomson-CSF Sextant In-Flight Systems, Irvine, Calif. She was director of technical and fleet support for customer aviation services for McDonnell Douglas and later Boeing.
Although a high-level U.S. Air Force review team is looking for ways to shorten the F-22 test program to meet imminent deadlines, Air Combat Command has warned it will not accept any reduction in the air superiority fighter's capabilities.
The airline industry's two largest cost areas--fuel and wages--spiked 48% and 14%, respectively, in the third quarter. So it should come as no surprise that operating income for the period almost certainly will show a decline from the same quarter a year ago. Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg is estimating $2.1 billion, down from last year's $2.3 billion, despite the fact that the airline industry is in one of its strongest-ever revenue environments.
Growing wireless services for passengers and employees at airports could interfere with aviation navigation and communications signals, as well as with each other. To bring order, the American Assn. of Airport Executives, Air Transport Assn. and Airports Council International have formed a new group devoted to the expansion and coordination of airport wireless services. The Wireless Airport Assn., scheduled to hold its first meeting in January at San Diego, is to provide recommendations and best practices.
William L. Wingate has been appointed chief financial officer/treasurer of Burdeshaw Associates, Bethesda, Md. Other recent appointments are: U.S. Navy Rear Adm. (ret.) Stephen H. Baker, vice president-naval air warfare programs; U.S. Army Brig. Gen. (ret.) John K. Schmitt, vice president-Army systems integration; Army Col. (ret.) Daniel M. Ferezan, vice president-Army ground systems; USN Capt. (ret.) Spencer E. Robbins, 2nd, director of naval programs; and U.S. Air Force Col. (ret.) Stephen A. Sterne, director of Air Force programs.
Pentagon acquisition and technology guru Jacques Gansler says defense procurement shortfalls will be addressed by the next administration in the Fiscal 2003 budget and will reflect the findings of the quadrennial defense review. The dilemma faced by budgeters is balancing the needs of current readiness against those for future capabilities. Gansler believes logistics, infrastructure and support can be improved enough to shift a minimum of $8 billion per year into procurement. He says it is expected to increase to $70 billion by 2005.
British Airways is stepping up efforts to improve flagging profits by accelerating capacity cuts and dropping unprofitable routes. Starting next summer, the carrier will suspend services to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and consolidate flights to Miami and Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow airport. BA now operates daily flights to the latter two destinations from both Heathrow and Gatwick. Miami and Rio de Janeiro are also in line to be served by smaller Boeing 777s rather than 747s.
Aviation Daily reports that the Gulf Air A320 that crashed on Aug. 23 while trying to land at Bahrain was being flown by the captain. According to the Bahrain transport ministry, the captain initiated a go-around and was cleared to climb to 2,500 ft. but only reached 9-deg. nose up rather than the 15-deg. called for by Gulf Air procedures. The pitch attitude decayed to 5-deg. nose up as airspeed climbed from 134 to 194 kts. At an altitude of 1,100 ft.
To lower the skill level required to run standardized tests, LMS International has devised the Test.Lab program. The goal is to take only one day for a technician or untrained engineer to learn how to run tests and publish reports on the Web. Program templates describe what to do next and can include pictures, video and sound to guide users through an enforced procedure. The first Test.Lab modules for vibro-acoustic signature testing and modeling are already available, and LMS plans further blocks of modules in 6-month intervals. . . .
Ron Pelayo has been named senior vice president of IAC Training Inc. of Los Angeles. He was FAA aviation security manager at Los Angeles International Airport.
The industrial community that supports the global aircraft and space marketplace is awash in change. The transformation of large aerospace companies in the last decade of the 20th century was one of the most profound developments of modern U.S. economic history. In the first decade of the 21st century, that same sort of transformation will extend to small and medium-sized companies.
The Defense Dept. has finished its air- and sea-lift requirements assessment, but the results are being closely guarded. The study is already several months late, but officials nonetheless aren't willing to say what they have concluded. The reason? Too sensitive--politically, that is--according to officials close to the project. With all sorts of military brass putting more air- and sea-lift high on their wish lists, the study couldn't help but find a need for additional transports.
John C. Eagerton, 4th, who is director of the Alabama Transportation Dept.'s Aeronautics Bureau, has been elected chairman of the National Assn. of State Aviation Officials (NASAO). Other officers for the year ending Sept. 30 are: vice chairman, Jack W. Ferns, director of the New Hampshire Aeronautics Div.; secretary, Anthony J. Amato, director of the Delaware Aeronautics Office; and treasurer, John D. (Mike) Rice, director of the New Mexico Aviation Div.
The U.S. Air Force is taking a close look at the health of its KC-135 tanker fleet to determine when it should start replacing the aerial refueling airplane. The review is an adjunct to the Pentagon's mobility requirements study 2005 (MRS '05) that is in its final stages. The Air Mobility Command, which is conducting the economic service life study, essentially is trying to determine at what point the KC-135s will become too expensive to maintain and when a replacement aircraft should be bought.
The Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative is part of the government's effort to simulate nuclear testing. Visualizing the results is very helpful, but visualization software can choke on the large number of points used for accurate modeling. ASCI models now have 10-200 million data cells, but an image from a test model with 11.5 billion cells was recently generated by CEI's EnSight Gold visualization software.
Mark Crumblish has been appointed executive director of business development of Orlando, Fla.-based Milcom. He was manager of new ventures at ITT Industries' Aerospace/Communications Div.
Barely days after taking an equity stake in German domestic carrier Eurowings, Lufthansa German Airlines has signed cooperation agreements with Air China and Air One of Italy that could have broad-reaching effects not only on the carrier but on the Star Alliance, which it leads.
With the presidential election less than a month away, defense experts in and out of government are betting that neither a Bush nor a Gore Administration will manage to push the Pentagon's weapons budget beyond $70-75 billion a year. That would be far short of the sustained $90 billion annually that government estimates, and some outside projections, say will be required if the armed forces proceed into the 21st century as now constituted.
