While it still is ramping up production on the Eclipse 550, Eclipse Aerospace is hoping to make a case that the U.S. Air Force should buy up to up to 100 of its very light jets (VLJs) to supplant the aging fleet of 178 T-1A Jayhawks (Beechjet 400s) flown for the USAF Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training program. Eclipse Jan. 7 responded to a request for information for a commercial off-the-shelf fleet of VLJs to support the program's training track. Eclipse believes it can fulfill the same requirement with 100 trainer versions of the Eclipse 550.
Astronomers using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia), a highly modified Boeing 747SP that carries a 100-in.-dia. IR telescope, have created a series of multiple exposures revealing a ring of gas and dust created in a burst of energy 4-6 million years ago at the center of the Milky Way.
China has declared its Beidou (formerly Compass) satellite-navigation system fully operational, although the service remains limited to most of the Asia-Pacific region. The operating office says it is “accelerating” construction of the system but repeats the long-standing commitment to achieve global coverage from about 2020; no earlier possibility is mentioned. An initial operational service began a year ago.
USN Vice Adm. (ret.) Jack Dorsett (see photo) has been named vice president of the Integrated Mission Systems business for Herndon, Va.-based Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector. He was vice president-cybersecurity and command, control, communications and computers on the corporation's government relations staff. And, Vice Adm. (ret.) P. Stephen Stanley has become vice president of the company's Falls Church, Va.-based cybersecurity/C4 portfolio, also on its government relations staff.
It is a yardstick often cited, given to market timing and not always related to profits. Nonetheless, Boeing is on track to win the orders “race” in 2012 and the title of “world's biggest aircraft maker.”
Reporting in 2008 on Beijing's studies for a new airport, Aviation Week suggested that the facility would “probably be planned on a gargantuan scale.” We were not wrong. Plans show that the new facility at Daxing, now going ahead, could ultimately handle 130 million passengers a year with seven runways, possibly nine. One of the runways will be reserved for the air force.
What better way to start the new year than with a look at a project that suggests creativity is alive and well in aviation, despite the economic gloom. Advances in electric power are proving to be a motivator for that creativity, enabling configurations in which propulsion is more closely coupled with aerodynamics and control than ever before.
Planning a new regional airport near Nantes, Brittany, at first sight a low-priority issue, has evolved into a political controversy encompassing a wide range of problems that extend far beyond the airline industry. The government of French left-wing Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, which has ratified the plan (as did that of his right-wing predecessor) is running into serious trouble with no compromise in sight.
Even as carriers await the full flowering of the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System and Eurocontrol's Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) effort, a purely intra- and inter-airline arrivals synchronization technology is racking up solid savings for one major carrier.
Doug Meador (see photos) has been named president of BAA Aviation's Dallas Airmotive subsidiary and Mark Taylor managing director of its H+S Aviation subsidiary, Portsmouth, England. Meador was CFO and has been vice president/general manager of operations for Dallas Airmotive's Forest Park maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. Taylor was general manager of H+S and had been head of BBA's component and accessory repair business.
Industrial robots are becoming a common sight on aircraft production lines, laying up composites, drilling holes, inserting fasteners and inspecting structures—automating repetitive tasks that require painstaking precision and drive up the touch-labor costs in aircraft assembly. Now robots are headed for the overhaul center. Lufthansa Technik and Helmut Schmidt University have developed an 8-axis robot that automatically strips the paint from parts using plastic-bead blasting, reducing the time required while improving quality.
Boeing and Aeromexico have completed an order for six 787-9s that was announced in July, continuing the Mexican airline's preference for Boeing aircraft. The carrier also has ordered 60 737 MAXs. In other business, Taiwan's China Airlines has ordered six Boeing 777-300ERs, its first from the twin-engine family. And, the U.S. Navy will take its 13th and 14th C-40A Clipper transports in a $145 million order. The aircraft are derived from the 737-700 and are replacing C-9B Skytrains.
Technologies that allow complex contoured parts to be produced simply and cost-effectively are enabling metallic structures to hold their ground against composites as manufacturers strive to cut cost and weight out of their aircraft. Working with Airbus, France's Dufieux Industrie has developed the milling mirror system to replace hazardous chemical milling of curved aluminum fuselage panels to reduce their weight. One machining center has a high-speed milling head, working in synchronization with its twin with a support head.
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Engine manufacturers will be busy in 2013 as testing accelerates on the latest commercial turbofans and work advances on the next generation of military powerplants. Production will rise, but more significantly on the commercial side than the military. The pace is highest at CFM and Pratt & Whitney as they battle for the single-aisle airliner market with the Leap-1 and PW1000G, respectively. While the 2011 and 2012 order levels are unlikely to be sustained in 2013, it will see vital tests for both engines.
Key gains by NATO allies in the increasingly important military discipline of close air support (CAS) may be at risk, because equipment and budgetary decisions at national levels contradict alliance standards for training forward air controllers (FACs).
EU carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) briefly set a new low in December before rebounding higher through the month. December 2013 EUAs took up the front-year position after December 2012 EUA contracts expired in the forward over-the-counter and exchange-based futures markets on Dec. 3 and 17, respectively. December 2013 EUAs fell to a fresh low of €5.99/metric ton ($7.92/ton) on Dec. 4, on renewed doubts over the European Commission's ability to push through market reforms that would include delaying 900 million EUAs from auctions in 2013-15.
Latin America is one of the brighter spots in the world of aviation, with traffic growth forecast second only to that of the Middle East. But although the region's airlines are furiously adding capacity and turning out healthy profits, lagging infrastructure investment and onerous government regulation could prevent Latin America's airlines from achieving their full potential.
Active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars have transformed military aviation, providing significantly greater multi-mode capability and reliability. Now the technology is moving into the land and sea domains. Thales's APAR active phased-array radar is already operational on frigates with three European navies, and the DDG-1000, the U.S. Navy's first AESA-equipped warship, will launch in 2013 fitted with Raytheon's SPY-3 radar.
The Transportation Security Administration is commissioning a study about whether the X-ray body scanners used to screen passengers at airports emit too much radiation. The study also will evaluate whether the design and maintenance of machines that use X-ray technology could prevent over-exposure to harmful radiation. The safety of X-ray screening machines was called into question in a 2011 report by ProPublica, a non-profit investigative news group, which suggested that up to 100 U.S. airline passengers per year could contract cancer from airport screenings.
