Virtual reality has become a commonplace engineering tool for major aerospace manufacturers, where three-dimensional visualization systems are routinely used to aid design reviews.
The price of EU carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) under the EU Emissions Trading System hit an all-time low April 17 after the EU Parliament defeated a proposal that would have led to regulatory intervention to curb a supply glut.
Boeing is courting airlines for firm launch orders of its proposed reengined, rewinged 777X derivative, following board of directors' approval on May 1 of the overall design and program plans. The new twinjet is a radical revamp of the 777, more ambitious in scale than even the development of the 747-8, and is designed to open new space in the long-haul, high-capacity market, compete with the Airbus A350-1000 and replace the 747-400.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. The Airbus photo on the cover at the far right shows an A350 moving down the final assembly line in Toulouse. Advances in manufacturing technology are key to industry efforts to drive down costs and push production to the unprecedented rates Airbus is seeking with its next widebody (see page 42). Elsewhere in both editions are reports on China's engine plans (page 24), airborne tankers (page 30) and SpaceShipTwo (page 35). Our MRO Edition includes additional articles.
Composites manufacturing is proliferating through the supply chain, but the technology is far from new. Carbon fiber was introduced into aircraft production in the 1970s, and it will have taken more than 40 years of researching, testing and scaling up to reach the levels of composites manufacturing expected when the Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Lockheed Martin F-35 reach full-rate production.
Cargo carrier National Airlines says Flight NCR102, the Boeing 747-400F that crashed and burned on departure from Bagram AB, Afghanistan, on the morning of April 29 local time, had stopped there only for fuel and that “no additional cargo or personnel” were picked up. The aircraft, N949CA, was en route to Dubai from Camp Bastion in the southern central section of the country, “carrying military vehicles out of Afghanistan” via Bagram, according to the airline.
The European Commission's decision to suspend its Emissions Trading System (ETS) for flights into and out of Europe for a year was published in the EU's Official Journal on April 24. Consequently, the “stop-the-clock” decision is now in force, and aircraft operators do not have to surrender carbon dioxide allowances and project credits to account for their emissions on flights operated out of Europe in 2012.
Last week's Washington Outlook column was finished before Congress moved in less than 24 hr.—start to finish—to undo air traffic controller furloughs demanded by sequestration. Not only did we not see the necessary lawmaking coalescing so quickly, neither did most lawmakers—many of whom had already flown out of town for a one-week vacation from Capitol Hill.
Aviation takes an iterative approach to safety. The logic is that even the most thorough analysis and testing will not uncover all the “unknown unknowns” of a new technology or design.
Rob Higby (see photo) has been appointed vice president-sales and marketing for the airlines and fleets business of StandardAero, Tempe, Ariz. He was vice president-worldwide airline sales for GE Aviation.
NASA will pay Russia $70.7 million a passenger to train and transport another six crewmembers to the International Space Station, under the latest modification to its Soyuz transportation services contract with the Russian space agency. The add-on will run through 2017, when NASA hopes to begin sending U.S.-built commercial crew vehicles to the ISS. But a showdown is brewing between Congress and the White House over how much NASA can spend to spur a commercial U.S. route to the ISS.
With sequestration canceling the rest of the season for both the U.S. Navy/Marines Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds, is it time to consider a single flight-demonstration team. Budget considerations may continue to drive the need for consolidation in many areas between the services including flight training, UAV operations and intelligence-gathering.
Mary Lynn J. Rynkiewicz has been appointed director of communications for the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Association. She was communications and contract manager for the NextGen Institute.
The precedent is now clear: Congress will fix only in piecemeal fashion the innumerable problems created in the U.S. by lawmakers' failure to agree on an alternative to the 2011 Budget Control Act and its indiscriminate cuts, known as sequestration. And even then, it will be driven by political exigencies, not assuring national security or revitalizing the economy.
A failure review oversight board convened by Sea Launch and Energia Logistics Ltd. will conduct the fixes proposed by its contractors probing the Jan. 31 failure of a Sea Launch Zenit 3-SL, and believes the investigators correctly identified the cause of the failure, shortly after liftoff from the Sea Launch Odyssey floating launch pad. The mishap cost Intelsat a communications satellite designed to serve the Americas, North Atlantic region and Europe; and a hosted communications payload.
“Diversifying in South Carolina” (AW&ST April 15, p. 40) reports that Boeing Charirman/CEO James McNerney noted that Germany has high wages and strong unions, “Yet they are more productive.” This is true, but I would like to point out that in Germany labor often has a place on the board of directors, therefore a board's strategic direction and oversight considers more than just profits and management bonuses. Perhaps if Boeing gave labor a place in the boardroom, its Seattle workers would be more productive, too.
Ten days after saying it will cut 747-8 production rates later this year, Boeing has revealed it has lost five freighter orders. International airfreight's two-year slump is largely responsible for the decision to slow building rates from two per month to 1.75. The backlog reflects minus-two net 747 orders for the year and 105 remaining.
Nearly four years into the Obama administration's initiative to reform U.S. export controls, the effort is on the verge of finally notching a significant victory. And yet, it seems almost as far as ever from achieving its ultimate goals.
