As a former Darpa scientist and one of the world's foremost authorities on materials, Leo Christodoulou is accustomed to thinking out of the proverbial box when it comes to problem-solving. At the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, he applied his research expertise to developing revolutionary, new materials for the U.S. military.
Let's face facts: It has become nearly impossible to monitor Ryanair's economic model or to predict what's going to happen to Europe's lowest-fare airline in the next few years. The key question is how to determine whether the Ireland-based carrier can remain profitable in the face of declining traffic growth. In March, the airline carried 5.5 million passengers, a surprising 4% decrease. And, in the last 12 months, its traffic increased a relatively weak 5%. Clearly, this is no longer the two-digit growth to which the airline is accustomed.
Lockheed Martin has launched a small precision-guided weapon from an AAI RQ-7 Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aircraft under a company-funded R&D program. The 11-lb.-class, laser-guided Shadow Hawk glide weapon scored a direct hit on the target, the company says. The U.S. Army-funded test was conducted at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
Rarely in aerospace do the hopes of a company pivot almost entirely on the successful outcome of a single technology, but this is the gamble Pratt & Whitney faces as it embarks on flight tests of its second geared turbofan model and takes another key step toward revitalizing its civil engine fortunes.
The U.S. faces a dilemma over the possible sale of attack helicopters to Indonesia. Industry executives say Indonesia has issued a letter of request (LOR) to buy Boeing AH-64 Apaches. This LOR comes after the country's deputy defense minister, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, told state-run news agency Antara in February that Indonesia planned to order eight Apache attack helicopters.
When Chinese engineers began full-scale development of the ARJ21 regional jet in 2002, they must have doubted that they would meet the remarkably tight schedule to deliver the first unit in 2006. But it is unlikely that they imagined they would still be developing the aircraft 11 years later.
May 14-16—European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition 2012. Palexpo, Geneva. See www.ebace.aero/2012 May 14-16—International Air Transport Association/International Civil Aviation Organization's Global Runway Symposium. Intercontinental Hotel, Amman, Jordan. See www.iata.org/events May 14-17—Naval Helicopter Association's 2012 Symposium. Marriott Norfolk (Va.) Waterside. Call +1 (619) 435-7139 or see www.navalhelicopterassn.org
Nanotechnology-enabled materials are moving into aerospace. New Hampshire-based Nanocomp Technologies is scaling up production of electrically and thermally conductive yarn, sheet and tape made from long carbon nanotubes (CNT). Spun yarn is being used to replace copper in data cables in aircraft and spacecraft, potentially halving the weight of wiring harnesses. Sheet material was used on NASA's Juno spacecraft, launched in August 2011, to provide electrostatic-discharge protection of attitude-control thruster and main-engine components.
The Pentagon has declared that the United Launch Alliance's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) project has exceeded its original per-unit cost by 58.4%, triggering a review under the Nunn-McCurdy program oversight law. The increase resulted from several factors. The 2004 baseline called for 137 projected launches, though only 91 have been manifested, owing largely to delays in satellite development and procurement efforts. Additionally, the cost of propulsion systems has gone up.
Robert Perlman and Sarah Kirby have been named to the board of directors of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada by the Canadian Ministry of Transport. Perlman is CEO and director of Mediservice in Montreal, and Kirby is assistant dean of student services at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is offering two field-retrofittable options to extend the loiter time of its Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude unmanned aircraft. As the results of an internally funded endurance enhancement study, Option 1 calls for adding two fuel pods to the existing 66-ft.-span wing, increasing endurance to 37 from 27 hr. ; Option 2 sees the wing replaced with an 88-ft.-span unit and adds the two underwing fuel pods, increasing endurance to 42 hr.
Robert Wall (Santiago, Chile), Michael Mecham (Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil)
As Western aerospace and defense (A&D) companies flood into Latin America to establish ties to help them win military business, local firms have to decide what long-term gains they might garner from the arrangements. For Embraer—the region's industrial heavyweight—the goal is clear. It is interested in gaining access to new markets and securing development work that can boost its industrial capacities. This is especially true in Brazil's biggest defense project involving foreign suppliers, the F-X2 fighter program.
The recent mental collapse of a JetBlue pilot inflight underscored a hazard many of us worried about when aircraft manufacturers began to design for a two-person cockpit crew. Airbus with its fly-by-wire initiative and Boeing with the advent of the 737 eliminated the position of flight engineer. But we did not receive the order-of-magnitude increase in safety promised by these quadruple-redundant automatic systems.
A program to develop technology for a solar-electric unmanned aircraft able to stay aloft in the stratosphere for at least five years is being terminated by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). Instead of flying a demonstrator, prime contractor Boeing will use the $13.7 million remaining from the Vulture program to continue development of photovoltaics for solar energy collection and solid fuel cells for energy storage. The company was planning to fly the SolarEagle full-scale flight demonstrator in 2014.
James Sweeney, president of Fargo Jet Center, has been named chairman of the board of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Association. He succeeds Todd Duncan. Marian H. Epps, CFO of Epps Aviation, is the new treasurer. NATA also named Brett A. Greenberg, officer and director of Galaxy Aviation and president of Aura Jets, chairman of the Business Management Committee. Patrick Moylan, director of health, safety, environment and security for Signature Flight Support, was named chairman of the Environmental Committee.
Robert Wall (Santiago, Chile), Michael Mecham (Santiago, Chile)
When Eurocopter inaugurates its new final assembly line in Brazil at its Helibras facility, it will signify how much Western aerospace companies are banking on the Latin market's potential.
Choices at the gas pump in Brazil—100% ethanol or petroleum?—are indicative of the country's status as a biofuels pioneer, so it is little wonder that the biggest names in aviation are coming here to learn more about how biofuels can become a common choice at airports.
In a recent AviationWeek.com article, Graham Lake, director general of the Civil Air Navigation Service Organization, touted integrated air traffic management over the Atlantic Ocean, with the prospect of more efficiency.
Brazil is unusual among top-rated emerging markets because it can support manufacturing, services and natural resource development simultaneously. This is due, in part, to its low external and public debt, low unemployment, an enviable 90% literacy rate, expanding capital markets and declining poverty. And to top it off, the country is self-sufficient in water, food and energy. Brazil recently passed the U.K. to become the world's sixth-largest economy. By 2040, Goldman Sachs expects it to be fourth behind China, the U.S. and India.
