A second year of Operation IceBridge studies of polar ice are beginning with a modified Lockheed P-3 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, flying daily missions out of Thule and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The flights are to continue until mid-May. They began as a stop-gap measure to assure continuous data-collection on the conditions of land and sea ice after NASA lost its Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite in 2009. Among the areas being measured are Greenland's Jakobshavn Glacier and unstudied areas of sea ice such as found in the Beaufort Sea.
Stories about change are a dime a dozen in commercial air transport; change is a constant in an industry where sometimes the only sure bet is that the price of fuel will continue to rise. But stories about transformation are rare, and it is a transformation that led Aviation Week to award Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti this year's Commercial Air Transport Laureate.
In 1989, when Paul Graziani and two friends dreamed up what has become Analytical Graphics Inc., they sat in his living room envisioning a work environment where people could do their best work, creating new and bold things at a speed that would keep them happy and challenged. They would create commercial off-the-shelf analysis software for the security and space sectors, driving down cost while bringing the power of current and dynamic software to a non-consumer market.
Some astronauts who have spent extended periods in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS) have developed abnormalities in their eyes and pituitary gland/brain connectors that are similar to a type of intracranial hypertension that occurs on the ground. The finding may help Earth-bound physicians understand what causes the potentially serious condition, but it already has NASA flight surgeons pondering how they can mitigate it when astronauts travel into deep space.
The space shuttle Discovery passes its sister ship Atlantis (see photo) March 9 as Kennedy Space Center prepares the retired orbiter fleet for transport to their new museum homes. Discovery is scheduled to arrive at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport on April 19. It will replace the Enterprise atmospheric test article now on display inside the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar.
The fight over the Export-Import Bank's operating authority is set to take center stage in the Senate this week, where the chamber's Boeing supporters will take on loyalists to Delta Air Lines. Senators are likely to vote on a bipartisan proposal that would ultimately increase the bank's lending authority by 40%, to $140 billion, and extend its operating authority through 2015. Boeing has a number of pending sales that could be held up if the bank—which guarantees loans to buyers of U.S.-made products—reaches its lending cap, which it is nearing.
The severe budget austerity gripping much of Europe does not augur well for air forces looking to achieve leaps in capability for the next decade. It is somewhat a matter of luck, then, that foreign demand is effectively pushing stingy treasuries to provide funding to field upgrades. The list of European militaries likely to benefit from these export-driven enhancements is long and includes the Swedish, French, British and German air forces.
April 4-7—Third Annual Marrakech Air Show. Menara Marrakech (Morocco) Airport. See www.fr.aeroexpo-morocco.com/accueil_en.html April 8-9—Sofema Aviation Service's Dubai Training. Jet Aviation Facility, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. See www.sassofia.com April 12—Ninth Annual Aerolink Wales 2012. Chepstow (Wales) Race Course. Seewww.aerolinkwales.co.ukApril 13—Society of Experimental Test Pilots' East Coast Symposium. NAS Patuxent River, Md. See www.setp.org/table/east-coast
We live in a time of uncertainty. Economic as well as climactic. Normally that word is used to figuratively mark a major shift in an industry, region or personal life. Here, I literally mean “of the climate.” Arguing about the realities of human-caused climate change is like railroad barons arguing in 1903 about whether the rumors of heavier-than-air flight are true. It is happening. And if we don't adjust, it will hurt businesses, the economy as a whole and people across the world.
Let Aircraft Industries is aiming to receive European Aviation Safety Agency certification in the next six months for its H80-powered Let 410, a twin-turboprop, regional transport. The Czech aircraft maker, which has applied for a type modification change, is required to complete about 100 hr. of flight tests for EASA to certify the changes made to the aircraft. One test aircraft, fitted with the new engines, has completed about half the flights.
Regarding the reported preference of Mars scientists for sample return over new landing technology in “Next Steps” (AW&ST March 5, p. 38), we do need to maintain Mars arrival expertise and geologists alike. It is easier to not fund Mars ascent because there is no cadre of miniature launch vehicle engineers to keep alive. When funds are allocated, there are too few experts for rigorous peer review. Progress is slow because a Mars ascent vehicle is such a huge leap forward from either satellite propulsion or small missiles.
John Hornibrook has been named chief pilot at Alaska Airlines. He was chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association Central Air Safety, Training and Training Board committees.
With NASA's “green airliner concept study” (AW&ST Jan. 16, p. 21), aerodynamics are not the issue. Northrop Grumman's and Boeing's Blended-Wing Body designs are both highly efficient aerodynamically, as is Lockheed Martin's unusual box-wing concept. But they all have major flaws In terms of passenger appeal. Lockheed's design seems most worthy, though the large engine placement under the rear/upper wing may pose some center-of-gravity issues when it comes to situating the main landing gear.
The gathering of aviation and aerospace luminaries in Washington to celebrate the most inspired achievements of individuals and teams across aviation, aerospace and defense worldwide has been the pride and privilege of Aviation Week for decades. On March 7, the tradition continued in resplendent fashion with the 55th annual Laureate Awards at the elegant Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.
One of the early highlights of the evening, as is the tradition of the Aviation Week Laureate Awards, was the presentation of Tomorrow's Leaders—outstanding young men and women who have chosen career paths in the military and are poised to graduate from premier military academies. All the recipients have an interest in aviation or space. BAE Systems sponsors the award—a fine lensatic compass for each of the four cadets.
Field scientists studying global climate change, marine biology, astronomy and other subjects in Antarctica may gain a robust satellite link to colleagues at home if a Russian working group permits salvage of a state-of-the-art communications satellite stranded in a useless orbit last summer. A working group of Russian agencies and companies is expected to decide later this month what to do with Express-AM4, which has been declared a total loss by its insurance underwriter after a Proton launch mishap last Aug. 18.
In 1967, a 19-year-old university student made a daring escape from Fidel Castro's Cuba, reaching the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The chief of naval operations (CNO) happened to be visiting the base, and he took Pedro L. Rustan back to Florida on his plane. Forty-four years to the day after that escape, Pete Rustan retired as director of the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Mission Support Directorate. His government service ended with an enviable list of accomplishments that led to significant advances in aviation and space and helped greatly improve U.S.
It is time for another trip back to the future, according to the only airship company in the U.S. But the competition to fulfill a persistent surveillance role is likely to be just as stiff as it was in the past. This next step is being taken by Airship Ventures, which operates Eureka, a 246-ft.-long Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship, from historic Moffett Field. This an airfield south of San Francisco from which the U.S. Navy briefly sent dirigibles and blimps on patrols of the California coastline in the mid-1930s.
Until recently San Diego International Airport could glumly admit to being the gateway to the largest U.S. market without nonstop service to Asia, and the only major West Coast city never to have had direct flights to Japan. The problem has been the airport's 9,400-ft.-long runway. Though capable of supporting nonstop Boeing 777 direct eastbound service to the U.K., Runway 9/27 is too restrictive for longer-haul westbound operations flying against headwinds across the Pacific.
A half-century-plus after Sputnik, the swirling mass of operational spacecraft and space junk that has grown up around the planet is overwhelming mankind's ability to keep track of it, much less clean it up. Some of the world's biggest commercial satellite operators have teamed up to help each other with their space situational awareness (SSA), spurred by the 2009 collision between an active Iridium low-Earth-orbit (LEO) spacecraft and a defunct Russian military bird.
