Within days, Air Lease Corp. and Norwegian Air Shuttle finalized deals for 36 and 100 Airbus A320NEOs, respectively. Norwegian's deal propels the A320NEO orderbook to 1,425 units, around 1,000 more than rival Boeing has secured for its 737-8 MAX. Norwegian in January also ordered 22 737NGs. The airline has purchase rights for 50 additional A320NEOs and for 737 MAXs, too. An engine selection for the A320NEOs has not been announced; the MAX is only offered with the CFM Leap-1B. Norwegian expects to start taking delivery of its NEOs in 2016, with the MAXs to follow in 2017.
Boeing is closing in on the 10,000th order for 737s, an unprecedented achievement. The ubiquitous aircraft's success was hardly anticipated when a small Lufthansa order in 1968 overcame Boeing's reluctance to build a short-haul competitor to the DC-9. A year ago, the company seemed ready to say goodbye to the '37 and launch its successor. But Airbus's neatly timed response to airlines' fuel price anxiety was a reengined A320.
Virgin Galactic will attempt the first rocket-powered atmospheric flight tests of the SpaceShipTwo “toward the end of the year”now that the FAA has granted an experimental launch permit to vehicle developer Scaled Composites. The permit covers powered flight tests of the SS2 with an airborne launch from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. Tests will take place from Scaled's Mojave, Calif, facility.
Maps are clearly a vital tool for any military commander, but the days when a two-dimensional, printed representation of an area will suffice have long since passed. Dynamic mapping of the battlespace is not new, but 21st century technologies are revolutionizing the collection, dissemination and analysis of tactical intelligence.
John Glenn is the kind of pilot who makes it home. The world held its breath on Feb. 20, 1962, as he reentered the atmosphere after circling the Earth three times. There was an indication that the heat shield on his Mercury capsule Friendship 7 wasn't attached properly, threatening a tragic end to the first U.S. orbital human spaceflight, but he got home safely.
The recent focus on regional airlines “Success and Survival” (AW&ST May 21, p. 34) overlooks an important point. None of these carriers are really regional. The few that once were have devolved into a mechanism for the larger carriers to operate their hubs and spokes with the least cost and investment, different regulations, and smaller and less-comfortable aircraft.
Do not be surprised if Defense Secretary Leon Panetta secures a $1.4 billion deal to sell India 22 Boeing-made Apache Longbow attack helicopters during his trip there this week, say Center for Strategic & International Studies analysts.
Manufacturers are hanging ever-larger engines under the wings of their airliners in the quest for higher bypass ratio and lower fuel burn, and bigger fans lie ahead. Will there come a time in the pursuit of ever-higher efficiency when the trend must reverse? NASA thinks so, and is pursuing research into distributed propulsion, where many smaller fans are integrated into the airframe so as to not only provide thrust, but to reduce drag and potentially augment lift for short takeoff and perform flight control.
Airphil Express, which carried 122% more passengers in 2011 compared to 2010, recently took delivery of three new Airbus A320s from GE Capital Aviation Services. Airphil Express, based in Manila, Philippines, hopes to double its passenger traffic to 8 million this year.
The specter of sequestration is not yet affecting either U.S. Air Force or Navy planning, nor is it slowing down the services' decision to enter contracts, say top commanders. But it is undermining the defense industry and executives making long- range plans must consider whether to buy long-lead items for projects that could be at risk, military leaders contend. Those early decisions could affect the success and shape of new AirSea Battle plans.
Jose Antonio Filippo has been appointed CFO of Embraer, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, effective June 4. An engineer by training, he has worked for Brazilian and multinational groups.
Ron Anderson-Lehman (see photo) is the new senior vice president and chief information officer at Hawaiian Airlines. He held the same positions at Continental Airlines until its merger with United Airlines.
Rick Richardson (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-business development at Yankee Pacific Aerospace, Rye, N.H., from president of the Cabin Innovations Div. He has been succeeded by Harvey Ticlo, who was vice president-business aircraft sector at Standard Aero.
Geoff Roddick has been appointed vice chairman of the Automated Imaging Association's GigE Vision Technical Committee, Ann Arbor, Mich. He was application engineering manager at Pleora Technologies.
With the Pentagon resetting the cost-base-year for the F-35 to 2012 from 2002, prices will now become somewhat harder to compare to the original estimate. However, the Dutch defense ministry has a report that will help to track the price evolution in the period before the new baseline was established. See the chart on the Ares Defense blog. Marcase says:
After years of frustration in the development of cybertools, cyberpolicy and cybercommand and control, both the White House and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have new initiatives. Plan X is Darpa's concept to improve cyberwarfare weaponry, define operational employment and deflect counterattacks. The program is expected to invest $110 million into research during the next five years to support offensive military operations.
Northrop Grumman has submitted an unsolicited proposal to Canada for three modified Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to provide surveillance of its Arctic territories as the region opens up as polar ice recedes. The Polar Hawk proposal presented to the Ottawa government responds to a long-standing need in Canada for surveillance of the Northwest Passage sea route, says Dane Marolt, Polar Hawk business development director. Northrop Grumman has teamed with Canadian military-aircraft support provider L-3 MAS.
Whether it is highly integrated antennas that reduce drag, certifiable data links for unmanned aircraft or simulation tools for NextGen airspace research, it is not often that a major manufacturer takes the wraps off its internal R&D. But Aviation Week was given a glimpse inside Rockwell Collins' Advanced Technology Center (ATC)—and a look into the avionics company's future—during a visit to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
In my more than 40 years of following space exploration, I find few events as significant as Dragon docking with the International Space Station. SpaceX truly epitomizes everything that the Western world must hope for when facing the daunting challenges of the post-Cold War era, where democratic nations seem unwilling to invest in what it means to stay free. Searching for an equivalent I could think of nothing that could be more comparable than the U.S. production of “Liberty Ships” during WW II.
The ongoing consolidation of fixed-base operations and withdrawal of major oil companies from the “downstream” aviation market is leading fuel distribution companies such as Epic Aviation to transition their operations and look toward international expansion, according to Epic Aviation executives.
