Cancer has claimed three notable space pioneers. Roger Boisjoly died Jan. 6 in Nephi, Utah. He was 73. As an engineer at Morton Thiokol, he warned that cold weather could cause the O-rings, which sealed field joints in the space shuttle solid-fuel boosters, to fail. Six months later, the shuttle Challenger, launched over Boisjoly's objections after a below-freezing night, was lost when its O-rings failed.
There are worrying signals that a significant part of the airline industry could implode in the coming months, and despite the doom and gloom predictions from Europe this horror is occurring on the other side of the Atlantic.
NASA's fiscal 2013 budget request will reflect, and be reflected in, space-exploration spending and priorities worldwide. That isn't a good thing. Those who view civil space exploration as both an uplifting human pursuit and an important economic driver are sure to be disappointed by the details of the U.S. budget plan to be released Feb. 13. We know from previous plans that it will be flat and tight, with no major new initiatives and a lot of backfill from previous spending shortfalls.
“Strong Signals” (AW&ST Jan. 16, p. 28) mentions United Launch Alliance's flawless record with the Atlas V and Delta IV. But that is not true. ULA is a combination of two companies—Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In 2004, during the first flight of the Delta IV Heavy, all three Delta IV rocket engines shut down prematurely, placing the U.S. Air Force satellite payload in an unrecoverable orbit. The technical reasons are a matter of record.
The European Commission says Chinese airlines could face stiff penalties even as Brussels waits for formal notification from China that it is barring carriers from complying with the EU's inclusion of aviation in its emissions trading system. China has directed its airlines not to comply with the policy, requiring all airlines to have carbon credits for flights to or from the EU. The EU warns that airlines face a €100 ($131) penalty per metric ton of emitted CO2 for flights for which they do not have carbon credits.
The Oneworld alliance is facing severe headwinds on many fronts: Malev is bankrupt, American Airlines is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Royal Jordanian is instituting serious network cutbacks and Kingfisher Airlines is putting its plans of joining on hold. Now the big hope is that Air Berlin will provide the alliance with the robust European network it needs.
Feb. 22-23—MIU Events/Exhibitions India Group's Indian Business Aviation Expo 2012. Manekshaw Center, New Delhi. See www.miuevents.com/ibae2012 Feb. 23-24—Society of Experimental Test Pilots' Fifth Annual Southeast Symposium. Ramada Plaza Beach Resort, Fort Walton Beach, Fla. See www.setp.org/table/southeast Also, March 23-24—San Diego Chapter (Calif.) Symposium. Catamaran Resort Hotel & Spa. See www.setp.org/table/san-diego Feb. 27-29—Defense Maintenance Sustainment Summit. Hilton Torrey Pines, La Jolla, Calif. See www.wbresearch.com/dms/
Van Horn Aviation plans to unveil a prototype composite tail rotor for the Bell 412/212 at Heli-Expo in Dallas this week. Designed to increase control authority and eliminate inspections required by the current tail rotor, the blades will be evaluated for bird strike resistance in conjunction with Bell Helicopter. Van Horn also plans to resume flight tests of a composite MD 530F main rotor blade after a redesign to address control load and manufacturing issues.
Michael Stofferahn has been appointed VP-North American sales for the Kaydon Bearings Div., Muskegon, Mich. He was VP and general manager of Rexnord Product Services.
Facing estimates of at least a 30% possibility the International Space Station will need to be abandoned prematurely, NASA isn't taking any chances that the commercial cargo and crew vehicles it is funding will worsen those odds by causing a mishap.
Deliveries from Bell Helicopter Canada's facility here crept up last year on the strength of new product offerings, but Bell is no exception to the rotorcraft industry's struggle with a soft commercial market and uncertainties in defense spending. Home to assembly of all of Bell's commercial rotorcraft, Mirabel is being asked to play an increasingly important role for the company as it becomes “more engaged in commercial operations,” says President Barry Kohler.
From diesel-powered helicopters with dramatically lower fuel consumption to composite airframes that can be recycled at the end of their lives, Europe's largest rotorcraft research program is moving from technology studies into hardware design. Part of the €1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) Clean Sky joint technology initiative, the Green Rotorcraft (GRC) program is advancing on a wide front to mature technologies for ground and flight demonstrations in 2014-16 that will enable European manufacturers to introduce cleaner and greener civil rotorcraft in 2020-25.
With 246 C-130Js delivered and another 71 in backlog, Lockheed Martin has just scratched the surface of the market to replace the 1,200 Hercules airlifters operated by 72 countries worldwide.
In comparison to the Joint Strike Fighter, the Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft program seems doomed. The Air Force is expected to announce termination of the program in its Feb. 13 budget request as a sacrifice to the budget-cutting demands of last August's deficit-reducing law. LAAR was intended to field 15 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force to train pilots of partner nations.
NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance project may finally be on the verge of contract signature after receiving another boost, from the alliance's defense ministers. Contract signature to buy five slightly modified Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 40s and the associated ground equipment could still come this month. The goal is to begin testing 42 months after the contract award. Fielding is to start in 2017.
Greg Diognardi has been appointed Falcon 900 technical sales manager at StandardAero Business Aviation, Tempe, Ariz. He was regional sales manager for Landmark Aviation.
European helicopter makers AgustaWestland and Eurocopter are sharpening their competitive edges with a raft of new products, the latest of which is the AW189 twin. Commanded by AgustaWestland Chief Test Pilot Giuseppe Lo Coco, the helicopter flew for the first time in late December from the company's Cascina Costa plant in Italy. Incorporating lessons from the AW139 program, the AW189 is expected to enter service in early 2014. AgustaWestland photo.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is launching a digital application of a pilot's logbook within its Boeing 777 fleet's Electronic Flight Bag, which the airline also helped develop. Called the Electronic Logbook (ELB), the application uses software from Ultramarine Systems, and means the 777 now has an option that is a standard feature on the 787. SIA will use ELB to feed flight crew information into a central repository where it can be combined with maintenance data.
China's Hainan Airlines has selected a series of Rockwell Collins avionics, including its WXR-2100 MultiScan Threat Detection System and GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver, for 47 Airbus A320s, which are currently being delivered.
Philip King (see photo) has been appointed president of San Jose, Calif.-based Vision Systems International, succeeding Drew Brugal. King has held leadership positions at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.
