Now is the time to dream big and have bold visions of the future, even as present realities in aerospace are challenging. We must reflect upon how the dreams of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert Goddard led—less than a century later—to space probes visiting every major body in the Solar System and some plunging on to the stars, and how the visions of Wernher von Braun, Arthur C. Clark and Albert Einstein presaged landings on the Moon, geosynchronous satellites, nuclear power and GPS navigation.
When the first Boeing 787 for revenue service was delivered to All Nippon Airways last month, much of the spotlight focused on the aircraft's revolutionary composite materials, fuel-efficient engines, and health monitoring and reporting systems. But buried deep within the structure is a harbinger to another revolutionary aerospace technology: the role of the photon—the elementary particle of light.
If there is one piece of information that is vital to aircraft safety and efficiency, it is knowing aircraft position with both high accuracy and high integrity. Aircraft navigation has come a long way from the 1970s, when a third crewmember was required in the cockpit. This crewmember's name said it all: “navigator.” The advent of flight management systems (FMS) in the 1980s obviated the need for a navigator, since the FMS was able to automatically calculate aircraft position.
An installment of the 1938 serial “Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars” opened with the narrator announcing the eponymous hero was in his spaceship flying at the “incredible speed of at least 1,200 miles per hour!” At a time when the fastest aircraft had not yet reached 450 mph, the notion of flying at such speeds was almost inconceivable to contemporary audiences.
Charting the course of research and discovery in an astrophysics field as young and dynamic as extrasolar planets is filled with danger, and any speculation will almost certainly turn out to be just that. Nevertheless, the furious pace of current discoveries and the monumental opportunity to search for signs of life on a distant planet are already shaping the course of research and development profoundly within astrophysics, and will continue to do so over the coming decades.
Removing the human from air vehicles already has significantly changed the types of missions that can be undertaken by aircraft. In the future, it is likely that removing the human will have even more dramatic and far-reaching impacts on the design, operation and missions of airborne systems.
Safer, lower-weight and more fuel-efficient aircraft will be realized in the future thanks to advanced materials, sensors and electronics. While composites already are bringing new structural capabilities to aerospace, new nanocomposite materials promise extraordinary optical, electronic and acoustic properties.
How do we get there from here? “There” is a future where aerospace system designs are light, smart, energy-efficient and affordable. “Here” is the present in which deficit-driven budget cutbacks endanger funding for technology development.
How does a small flag carrier based in a remote European capital chart a path toward profitability? For Finnair, the answer is to aim for markets that turn its liabilities into assets, carefully cultivate a “boutique” image among core customers and leave the things it does not do well to partners. For example, it set an expansion course in regional service this year with the acquisition of Finnish Commuter Airlines, but that is being rebranded Flybe Nordic with the U.K.-based regional experts firmly in the control.
Ultimate Air Shuttle's service, connecting Cincinnati with its leading business markets via Dornier 328JET aircraft, resembles a flight on a corporate jet. The upscale one-class service offers free parking, complimentary food, beer and wine, and fares at near-market standard.
Growing numbers of airline industry stakeholders are recognizing that key updates are needed in pilot training to keep basic flying skills from eroding further. And with loss-of-control accidents becoming an ever greater concern, those changes are not happening quickly enough.
With federal deficit-reduction efforts in full swing, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drawing to a close, and a history as the U.S. military's back bench, the National Guard could easily return to postwar oblivion. But in this post-9/11, austerity era, the hybrid military group's supporters have a different, much stronger future in mind, and now they seem on the cusp of achieving it.
That the frequency of Indian combat aircraft crashes is galling would be a bit like calling the Taj Mahal a nice hut. The Indian air force (IAF) is now rebuilding its training regime to finally cure the long-running problems that have attrited men and machines.
Predictions from Capitol Hill of an eventual massive electronic attack on the U.S., its allies and even its foes are dire. They now include claims that Iran's military and Revolutionary Guard forces are practicing for detonation of a nuclear weapon just at the edge of the atmosphere.
Airline cabins are effective indicators of the health of the commercial air transport industry. The fact that carriers such as Qantas, Delta Air Lines and Iberia are sending their fleets for retrofits could be a sign that a recovery is under way, as many modifications are meant to match older aircraft to new models such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787.
The fear of a rising China coupled with the potential for lost jobs in Fort Worth and across the country has Texas lawmakers proposing a law that would turn on its head the way the U.S. sells weapons globally. Texas Republicans Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Kay Granger are trying to force the Obama administration to sell 66 Lockheed Martin F-16C and D aircraft to Taiwan, a move that defense experts call unprecedented.
Januca Berry (see photos), manager of mission assurance for Northrop Grumman's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems in the company's Electronic Systems sector, has received an Emerging Leader Award in the field of quality from the Society of Women Engineers of New York. Nora Lin, systems engineering manager in charge of the company's infrared countermeasures program, received the Fellow Grade Award for service to the advancement of women in the engineering profession.
The Netherlands defense ministry no longer expects to receive its first Boeing CH-47F helicopters this year, with timing of the initial delivery “uncertain.” The schedule update for the €364.6 million ($499.5 million) acquisition was provided to legislators by defense minister Hans Hillen. Flight trials in August revealed the CH-47Fs needed further software adjustments. The Netherlands expects to receive all six helicopters within a six-month period. It also is considering an additional purchase of the heavy-lift rotorcraft.
Nov. 1—Women in Aerospace 26th Annual Awards Ceremony and Banquet. Ritz Carlton Pentagon City, Arlington, Va. See www.womeninaerospace.org Nov. 1-3—National Defense Industrial Association's Aircraft Survivability Symposium 2011. Admiral Kidd Club, San Diego. Call +1 (703) 247-2558 or see www.ndia.org Nov. 2-4—Aircraft Engine World China Summit 2011: “Propulsion for a Green World.” Intercontinental Hotel Pudong, Shanghai. Call +86 (21) 5058-9600 or see www.opplandcorp.com/engine/index.html
Germany's new defense minister, Thomas de Maiziere, has been quietly going about his business, trying to implement the reform program for the country's military. Industry has been waiting to learn how the proposed changes in end-strength will filter into procurement plans. Last year, a list of program cuts was already circulating and now, according to German reports, a new one is making the rounds.
Joseph A. DiLallo (see photo) has been named VP-corporate aviation finance at Key Equipment Finance, Superior, Colo. He was senior VP and manager for JPMorgan's aviation finance division.
Akbar Al Baker has been elected to the executive committee of the Arab Air Carriers Organization of Beirut, for a three-year term. He has been CEO of Qatar Airways since its launch in 1997.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has won a $15 million contract to supply the Italian air force with two additional MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft and three Lynx Block 30 synthetic-aperture radars, part of Italy's plan to build its fleet to six each of Lynx-equipped Predators and Reapers. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has notified Congress of plans to upgrade the French navy's four Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes for $180 million and provide Argentina with a commercial off-the-shelf avionics upgrade for five Lockheed Martin C-130Hs, for $166 million. The U.S.
Plasma aerodynamics is a new branch of science in which electrical discharges are used to modify flow fields, gas properties and chemical reactions. Simulation and laboratory experience has been gained over the last two decades in using electrical discharges to control airflow and combustion. Research is being driven by interest in using plasma aerodynamics to improve the lift-to-drag ratio of air vehicles, provide fast trajectory control, thermal load mitigation, inlet performance control and improve the efficiency of supersonic combustion.
