Aviation Week & Space Technology

Dearth of AW609 accident coverage noted; skepticism regarding interdependency of P-8A systems; hidden costs of Long-Range Strike Bomber; investment more in hypersonic research; uneven competition has felled many airlines, big and small

COMMERCIAL AVIATION Airbus hopes to deliver the first A320neo to launch customer Qatar Airways by year-end following joint European and U.S. type certification of the initial Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-powered variant on Nov. 24. Approval follows a 350-flight, 1,070-hr. test program including 300 hr. in airline-like operations (page 13).

The modified passenger 747-400 will be used to carry the space company’s LauncherOne vehicle to 35,000-40,000-ft. altitude from which it will be air-dropped and launched into orbit.

HNA is the parent of Hainan Airlines and several other carriers in China. It is also the largest private airline group in what many believe will soon be the world’s largest single air transport market. Therefore any HNA acquisitions need to be taken seriously.

Poland may upend tenders for Raytheon’s Patriot, Airbus helo; KRET to upgrade Tupolev Tu-160 bomber avionics; U.S. Navy wraps up Fire Scout assessment, demos targeting comms integrated among multiple aircraft.

The expansion of Tianjin Airlines, Airbus’s commitment to set up an A330 completion center in China, and the country’s bulk orders for the Airbus widebody aircraft are connected. The common element is the Tianjin city government.

Russia’s positioning of a S-400 air defense system creates headache for air planners fighting the Islamic State group.

With the MALE UAV and A330 MRTTs assured, Netherlands has an early reason to celebrate the holidays.

Aerospace suppliers would be wise to tune into the “Delta Effect” and the other factors currently impeding aftermarket growth.

The FireSat system will result in revisit times about every 15 min., which begins to approach the warning an experienced firewatcher in a tower can provide firefighters by scanning forest treetops for smoke.

In November, ESA handed NASA the first tangible evidence of its contribution to the Orion development, a structural test article of the European Service Module (ESM) that in the coming months will undergo rigorous environmental trials.

A look at the space business shows the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Anything that can catch fire will catch fire in the hands-on testing facilities within the FAA’s Fire Safety Branch.

While the Chinese air transportation industry wonders whether the government will merge major carriers, China Eastern’s rivals keep building up at Shanghai.

The airline is finalizing a 10-year blueprint that will include either 787s or A350s, but may defer some other orders.

A typical Boeing 787 user is LAN Airlines of Chile, which experienced early service issues but is now using the twin jet on a wide range of routes and enjoying improved dispatch reliability.

Engineers and scientists are beginning to plan a program of robotic exploration over the next two decades to look for life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Europa, the large icy moon of Jupiter, is first on the list.

Approval of certification plan takes Lockheed Martin a step closer to launching development of a commercial hybrid airship for cargo transport to remote locations.

Indra’s unmanned Tecnam P2006T; open-access FMS; ULA offers cubesat rides; renewable diesel leader backs Boeing; Arevo’s robot prints in true 3-D.

Acquisition reform requires speed, resources, commercial pricing—and a little “plain English.”

Task force set up to make recommendations for registration of small unmanned aircraft sets minimum size at 0.55 lb., potentially bringing toy drones under the FAA’s new rule.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) may add language to appropriations bill that would help ULA use the Atlas V to compete for future launches.

Carriers may be left to their own devices to fight lithium-ion battery fires as ICAO contemplates pseudo-solutions.

Despite the founder’s indictment, Russian ownership and potential Chinese competition, Epic Aircraft’s E1000 single-turboprop advances towards FAR23 certification.

Given the huge number of lithium-ion batteries being shipped by air, some will eventually short-circuit and go into thermal runaway. Industry and regulators are considering some box-level solutions.