For most air travelers, access to high-speed Internet at 30,000 ft. is neither easy nor cheap. It's not that inflight broadband is unavailable to commercial and business jet passengers—a number of airlines are gradually adding connectivity options to their fleets. But despite the uptick in broadband-enabled tablets and smartphones in recent years, WiFi in the sky has been slow to gain traction in the broader airline community, where it can be sluggish, spotty and expensive.
May 23-24—MRO Regional: Eastern Europe, Baltics and Russia. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 19-21—MRO IT Conference & Showcase. Miami. Oct. 9—MRO IT Europe. Amsterdam. Oct. 9—Aircraft Composite Repair Management. Amsterdam. Oct. 9-11—MRO Europe. Amsterdam. Nov. 6-7—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Nov. 14-15—MRO Asia. Singapore. PARTNERSHIPS June 26-28—JEC Show Asia. Singapore. July 9-15—Farnborough International Airshow.
Perhaps it is best not to apply the proverb “a friend in need is a friend indeed” to the U.K. as it returns to buying the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version of the Joint Strike Fighter.
Etihad Airways has taken another bite out of its original 25-aircraft Airbus A350-1000 order, canceling seven more of the aircraft and leaving its backlog for the long-range, twin-widebody at 12 units. The move represents the only further Airbus cancellations in April, bringing this year's total to 17 aircraft. In April, Airbus booked 14 new orders: 11 A330-300s for Garuda Indonesia, an A330-200 and -300 for Air Lease Corp and an A318 Elite business jet. Deliveries last month reached 183 units, 16 more than at the same time last year.
Robert Murphy has been appointed CEO of Cobham, Wimborne Minster, England, succeeding Andy Stevens, who has retired. Murphy was executive VP-Products Sector for BAE Systems. Honors and elections
The Obama administration and Pentagon said May 10 that a native Texan and Air Force Academy graduate-cum-commandant who started his USAF career flying F-16s and A-10s will be nominated as the next Air Force chief of staff. If confirmed by the Senate and appointed by the president, Gen. Mark A. Welsh, 3rd, will succeed Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, who is expected to retire this summer. Defense Department leaders praised both men but especially Schwartz, who took over the Air Force during a contentious time four years ago.
Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are already investors in European Union carriers. Now Turkish Airlines is considering following suit. Turkish Chairman Hamdi Topcu said last week his company was close to making a bid for LOT Polish Airlines, a partner in the Star Alliance. Details of the possible transaction were not made public, but foreign ownership restrictions would limit an investment to a minority share. Turkish would also not be able to exert effective control of LOT if the Polish carrier is to retain traffic rights outside the European Union.
Nicholas Costen, an engineer at MEI Technologies, has received the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Stellar Award, given by the RNASA Foundation, Greenbelt, Md. Costen was cited for his innovation in the advancement of detector technology involving the micro-shutter array for the James Webb Space Telescope.
The recent commentary “Super Electric” (AW&ST April 2, p. 20) talks about NASA research on superconducting power distribution to electrically driven propellers. That would make the refrigerators “safety-of-flight” items. Redundancy will be needed—three full-capacity refrigerators or even more part-capacity refrigerators to allow for inflight failures. Santa Monica, Calif.
The letter from Aldo Loup (AW&ST April 23/30, p. 10) covered the mental collapse of an on-duty JetBlue pilot and listed operational limitations related to elimination of flight engineers. More recently, Irish airline Ryanair sought a waiver to operate with just one pilot on some commercial flights.
Europe's ExoMars program is on shaky ground. Since the departure of NASA and the arrival of Russia, the cost of the two-pronged Mars mission has been increasing. For the past four years, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been unable to come up with more than €850 million ($1.1 billion) to fund a campaign that was supposed to cost ESA €1 billion, at most. Under the new configuration with Russia, the cost is expected to balloon to €1.2 billion, despite Russia's offer of two Proton rocket launches and help in building a lander.
Congress and the White House are headed for a funding brawl over the expensive robotic spacecraft known as flagship planetary-science missions. Flagship missions are rare, because they cost $2-3 billion, and they may become rarer. In its spending request for fiscal 2013, NASA pulled back from work on a peer-reviewed flagship mission to return samples from the surface of Mars, and left it unclear if there will be any more flagship flights to explore elsewhere in the Solar System.
Discovering what caused a Sukhoi Superjet 100 to crash on a demonstration flight in Indonesia last week could have major implications for the Russian and Indonesian air transport sectors and the Superjet program. A development aircraft (SN95004) crashed May 9 shortly after taking off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport near Jakarta, when it flew into terrain on Mount Salak in the West Java province, apparently killing all 45 people onboard. The crash site was located May 10, but cockpit voice and flight data recorders had not been recovered by press time.
The Australian government will buy 10 Alenia Aermacchi/Lockheed Martin C-27Js to meet its tactical transport needs and replace de Havilland Caribous that were retired in 2009. The first C-27J is due in Australia in 2015, followed in late 2016 by its initial operating capability. The aircraft will be based at RAAF Richmond.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has helped to block airline consolidation in the past, and now he has set his sights on the proposed union of US Airways and American Airlines. Schumer, a leading Democrat in the Senate, met last week with US Airways CEO Douglas Parker. Shortly after, Schumer followed up with a letter to the airline executive expressing his concerns about the merger's potential to disrupt airline service in upstate N.Y. Schumer is also asking whether a merger would derail American's plan to expand its hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Marty Erdossy has become corporate director of customer relations at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, Va., with responsibility for aircraft carrier programs. He was a senior principal engineer for Gryphon Technologies.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Bob Steel has been named to lead strategic business development initiatives focused on government, defense and special missions for Tenax Aerospace, Ridgeland, Miss. He was the commandant of the National War College in Washington.
When Republicans talk about reducing the deficit, they don't mean reducing defense spending. House lawmakers last week passed a bill that would prevent massive budget reductions from taking place at the Pentagon next year by instead cutting funding for food stamps and other social programs. “This plan ensures that we maintain our fiscal discipline and commitment to reducing out-of-control government spending, while making sure our top priority is national security,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said after the bill passed.
If only the court system worked faster. A judge last week dismissed drunken driving charges against former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt after watching video of the incident and concluding Babbitt should not have been pulled over in the first place. And although his legal record and now his reputation are restored, the decision will not allow him to return to his old job. His former deputy, Michael Huerta, has been nominated by the president to replace him and is awaiting Senate confirmation.
Delays in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program may not have produced big sales for interim aircraft, but could provide a boost for electronic warfare suppliers as militaries endeavor to keep existing hardware operationally relevant.
Amy Butler (Langley AFB, Va.), Robert Wall (Langley AFB, Va.)
Collection of intelligence in Afghanistan has not been a trivial problem, with the need to track individuals in mountains and detect small improvised explosive devices, but it pales in comparison to the challenges involved in taking on a well-equipped, highly sophisticated adversary.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Mason Whitney has joined the board of directors of Denver-based Bye Aerospace. He is president of Mason C. Whitney, a homeland security and defense consulting company. Austin Blue, CEO of SciFly, has become a member of Bye's Strategic Advisory Council.
International Airlines Group plans to sell BMI Regional to Sector Aviation Holdings and shed the unit it never wanted to acquire from Lufthansa. IAG acquired the carrier as part of its purchase of the BMI British Midland mainline airline after Lufthansa failed in its efforts to divest the loss-making entity. IAG says it will receive £8 million ($12.8 million) for the carrier. Sector Aviation will take on all BMI Regional assets and liabilities, including 18 Embraer ERJ 135/145s.
