Although the FAA has not yet completed rules for how UAVs should be operated in U.S. airspace, it can fine commercial operators for “careless or reckless” flying of unmanned aircraft—even those that cost less than $200. That is the upshot of what being perceived as a “win” for FAA regulators: an NTSB ruling this week on Raphael Pirker’s promotional video for the University of Virginia—shot from a remote-control aircraft.
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) orbiter relayed this surface image from the Curiosity rover before placing itself in a safehold state Nov. 19 that the agency says was triggered by a “timing conflict between commands.” The spacecraft, which initiated full science operations Nov. 16, remained in high-data-rate communications with controllers, who were developing a plan to return it to normal operations.
An article on page 44 of the Nov. 17 issue mischaracterized funds Boeing has dedicated to building a worldwide finance information technology system. Not all of the cost is new spending.
XCOR Aerospace has used its unique piston-pump technology to move two cryogenic propellants in a hot-fire test of the XR-5H25 engine it is developing as a pathfinder for a potential advanced upper-stage powerplant for United Launch Alliance (ULA). It will be in the same class as the RL-10 used on the Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. The Mojave, California, company says it hot-fire-tested the engine’s regeneratively cooled thrust chamber using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen (LH2) pumped with the proprietary technology.
U.S.-based Sikorsky is set to secure a $1 billion tender to deliver 16 Multi-Role Helicopters for the Indian navy after NH Industries, which is linked to alleged scandal-tainted Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, is said to have been eliminated from the contest. “The navy is in urgent operational need of helicopters and we have almost decided to buy the S-70B Seahawk over the NH90, since the government decided to impose a partial ban on group companies of Finmeccanica from all future weapons supply deals,” a senior naval official says.
U.S.-based Bell Helicopter has signed a contract with India’s Dynamatic Technologies to supply helicopter cabin assemblies, a partnership that could generate millions of dollars in business over the next seven years. Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron, will establish Dynamatic as a subcontractor for the assembly of the airframe cabin for its Bell 407 GX helicopters and airframe parts.
Delta Air Lines has selected the Airbus A350 and A330neo over Boeing’s 777 and 787 to replace Boeing 747s and 767s. The U.S. airline ordered 25 A350-900s to replace 747-400s on Pacific routes beginning in 2017, and 25 A330-900neos to succeed 767-300ERs on transatlantic and other routes beginning in 2019.
Three materials-science projects will share $800,000 in grants from the non-profit Center for the Advancement of Science In Space (Casis) to flight-test their concepts on the International Space Station. Casis says Alexei Churilov of Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts, will grow scintillator crystals; St. Petersburg, Florida-based Eclipse Energy Systems Inc.
General Dynamics Canada has awarded Kaman a contract valued at more than $40 million to remanufacture and upgrade four SH-2G Super SeaSprite shipborne helicopters for the Peruvian navy. The deal includes support for a fifth aircraft. GD Canada is prime contractor for the program and will provide the mission systems. The five ex-New Zealand SH-2Gs are being supplied to Peru under a government-to-government deal lead by the Canadian Commercial Corp. New Zealand, meanwhile, is receiving eight upgraded ex-Australian SH-2G(I)s.
Air France KLM Engineering and Maintenance has received European Aviation Safety Agency certification to complete MRO services on GE GEnx engines at its Amsterdam Schipol Airport facility. Final testing will be conducted at the group’s test cell in Paris. The GEnx engine will power Air France-KLM Boeing 787s by the end of 2015. In related news, Latam Airlines awarded AFI KLM E&M a component support flight-hour contract for Boeing 767s, 777s and 787s.
The U.K. Royal Air Force has become the third air arm to operate the Airbus A400M airlifter following the delivery of its first aircraft on Nov. 17. The aircraft was delivered to RAF Brize Norton from Airbus’s final assembly line in Seville, Spain. The U.K. joins France and Turkey, which already are flying the type, and has 22 A400Ms on order.
NTSB board member Mark Rosekind has been selected by the Obama administration to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, succeeding Peter Strickland, who resigned in December 2013. Rosekind’s departure would leave the NTSB down two members since Deborah Hersman left to lead the National Safety Council. Chris Hart, who has been acting chairman since April, also awaits Senate confirmation.
Flying far is more important than flying fast, Japanese fighter technologists have found in studies aimed at defining their country’s next combat aircraft. Researchers are also emphasizing that Japan’s next fighter should share targeting data and carry a big internal load of large, high-performance missiles.
NASA’s go-as-you-can-pay approach to exploration-system development means the heavy-lift Space Launch System in development to carry Orion beyond low Earth orbit and eventually on to Mars is very much a work in progress, starting with the engines.
The removal of the Kiowa Warrior from the Army aviation inventory marks the end of an era of an astounding combat-proven aircraft that was fundamental to mission success in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The inevitable has happened in the U.S. attempt to move the economy off the planet. That it happened twice in a week is driving a needed element of reality into the endeavor.
As part of a major overhaul of its regional operations, Air New Zealand plans to retire its 19-seaters and bring in additional, larger turboprops. The airline’s 17 Beechcraft 1900Ds are to be phased out by August 2016. Air New Zealand has converted options for four more 68-seat ATR 72-600s (see photo), boosting its orders to nine. It already operates four ATR 72-600s and 11 -500s, with 23 50-seat Bombardier Q300s also in its regional turboprop fleet.
A heavy load of dust cast off by the comet Siding Spring 2013 as it hurtled past Mars last month could have damaged the fleet of scientific orbiters circling the planet, had they not tweaked their orbits to be as far away from potential danger as possible. Preliminary results from the Oct. 19 encounter revealed far more dust entering the Martian atmosphere as the planet passed behind the comet than planetary scientists had expected.
Bell Helicopter conducted the maiden flight of its new Model 505 JetRanger X on Nov. 10. The helicopter, FTV1, took to the air at the company’s Mirabel facility outside Montreal. Test pilots Yann Lavalle and Eric Emblin conducted a low-speed controllability assessment of the aircraft before flying two laps of the traffic pattern with a total flight time of 30 min. and reaching 60 kt. The company has already received 240 letters of intent to purchase, and wrote an order for 50 more from Chinese firm Reignwood Investment Ltd. at the Zhuhai Airshow on Nov. 12.
