The fatal crash of a T-37A trainer Sept. 6 at Vance AFB, Okla., was caused by pilot error, the Air Force said. An investigation found that while the plane was in its final turn for a touch-and-go landing, it "appeared to be overshooting the inside runway and the pilot rolled into a 70- to 90-degree bank to correct the overshoot," the AF said. "This steep bank exceeded the recommended 45-degree maximum angle of bank for T-37 aircraft. The bank, combined with low airspeed, resulted in the T-37 apparently stalling and immediately entering a spin."
RUMSFELD'S REVIEW: A Senate confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary-designate Donald H. Rumsfeld is tentatively slated for Jan. 11, sources say. The session before the Senate Armed Services Committee will likely last only one day, since Rumsfeld's nomination has generated little controversy, a Senate source says. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who has called Rumsfeld a "strong choice" (DAILY, Jan. 2), would run the hearing, since Democrats control the Senate until Jan. 20.
STATION TRAINING: Complaints from Space Station Alpha Commander Bill Shepherd about the cumbersome training process he and Russian crewmates Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko had to endure have spurred NASA to propose changes in training for future crews. The Expedition One crew had to wrestle with different terminology and different displays on simulator screens as they shuttled between Houston and the cosmonaut training center in Star City.
DEFENSE POWWOW: Lawmakers planning to discuss defense issues with President-elect George W. Bush in Austin today include such key national security players as Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and John Warner (R-Va.) and Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), John Murtha (D-Pa.), John Spratt (D-S.C.), Bob Stump (R-Ariz.) and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), congressional sources tell The DAILY.
After almost nine years at NASA's helm, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin sees the International Space Station and a climate of risk-taking and innovation as the main legacies he will leave behind.
The new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee told The DAILY Friday that he will spend the next two years trying to "undo the damage" that the military sustained during the Clinton Administration.
The Airborne Laser Program is being thrown a lifeline to the tune of $98 million to prevent a 15-20 month delay that otherwise would knock it off track for a scheduled 2003 lethal demonstration. The U.S. Air Force is requesting congressional approval to reprogram $38 million in fiscal year 2001 funds, and each of the three contractor team members - Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW - has committed to kicking in $20 million of their own with the understanding the service will reimburse them next year.
Installation of the Rolls-Royce Allison lift fan propulsion system in the Lockheed Martin X-35B short takeoff and landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighter on Dec. 29 at Palmdale, Calif., helps clear the way for engineers and technicians to put the aircraft's Pratt&Whitney JSF119-611 engine in place and begin "hover pit" testing next month.
UP IN THE AIR: Lockheed Martin finally got its fifth F-22 Raptor off the ground after several days of attempts last week that were hampered by such things as test radio glitches. Aircraft No. 4005 took off from the company's Marietta, Ga., facility at 12:39 p.m. and flew for about an hour, using the Block 3.0 software delivered by Boeing last November. The aircraft also ran its radar and even tracked targets, according a program spokesman. And things were looking up for No.
JSF PROVES ITS WORTH: The Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator jets being flown by Boeing and Lockheed Martin continue to make strides in their respective flight test programs as Boeing's X-32A further expands its CTOL flight envelope and Lockheed Martin marks more than a dozen flights with its X-35C CV version. Both companies were set to continue flying the birds over the weekend at Edwards AFB, Calif., and report nothing but smooth and successful efforts.
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION CHAIRMAN Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), who succeeded in winning guaranteed funding for most aviation programs last year, announced that he will retire from Congress on Jan. 31.
TRW Inc. is working under a five-year $78.7 million follow-on contract to provide technical support to the U.S. Air Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP). RSLP provides the target launch and space launch vehicle to support various Defense Dept. test programs associated with national and theater missile defense, as well as other major programs.
Boeing Co. said it has selected a Smiths Industries component for its military aircraft avionics modernization initiatives, including the KC-10 Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) program. "We've identified an affordable, flexible system architecture, which includes the Smiths Industries CPU, that gives best value to our customers," said Keith Hertzenberg, vice president of Modernization and Upgrade Programs, part of the Boeing Military Aerospace Support business.
OFFSETTING OFFSETS: The U.S. government is getting more interested in the offset debate, with President Clinton last month establishing a commission to look into the issue. Aerospace and defense company officials, like Lockheed Martin's VP for Corporate Business Development Robert Trice, caution the government against unilateral actions which could hurt competitiveness overseas. Offsets are an expensive component of winning a sale overseas for U.S. aerospace and defense companies - and increasingly troubling for American workers and Congress, who watch jobs move overseas.
UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITY: The General Accounting Office, checking how the Pentagon manages and controls its inventory, has found that unauthorized Army activity codes requisitioned over $2.6 billion in new government property over the past five years. The slips occurred because of inadequate job training or supervision and the "lack of safeguards" in the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center to block unauthorized requisitions.
IAE INTERNATIONAL AERO ENGINES AG said that Stephen N. Heath will be its next president and CEO, effective Feb. 5. Heath joins the consortium - comprised of Pratt&Whitney, Rolls-Royce, the Japanese Aero Engines Corp. and MTU Aero Engines - from Pratt&Whitney, where he is currently vice president, customer service. Mike Terrett, IAE's president since November 1998, is returning to Rolls-Royce to take up an executive position within the Rolls-Royce civil aerospace business.
GOLDIN'S PLANS: NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin has survived the transition from a Republican Administration to a Democratic one, but he says he doesn't know what's in store for him as the Democrats give way to the Republicans. As required by the Clinton White House that held him over at the NASA helm from the first Bush Administration, Goldin has submitted a pro forma resignation.
CHAIRMEN CHOSEN: Several House Appropriations subcommittees that handle aerospace issues are getting new chairmen in the 107th Congress. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) replaces Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) at Commerce-Justice-State, Rogers takes Wolf's old slot at Transportation, and Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) replaces Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.) at Foreign Operations. Continuing as subcommittee chairmen are Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) at National Security, Rep. James Walsh (R-N.Y.) at VA-HUD and Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) at Military Construction. Rep. C.W.
U.S. airlines will find it easier to deliver online aircraft maintenance information now that the FAA has accepted two of Boeing's maintenance software products for use in place of paper or microfilm manuals. Rich Higgins, Boeing VP of maintenance engineering&publications said the FAA's acceptance "is a boost for the air transport industry in making the transition to the digital world." He added that "it saves the airlines a step in the process of making that transition."
AILING AIR DEFENSES: The air defense system for Moscow isn't what it used to be, according to the Russian publication Argumenty I Fakty-Moskva. Budget cutbacks and continued restructuring of the air defense troops responsible for safeguarding the Russian capital have placed a burden on combat readiness, it says. Aircraft units are reported to be short on fuel and pilots. Missile units have taken the S-300 anti-aircraft missile out of service, and have done the same for radars, which makes monitoring Russian airspace that much more difficult.
STATION COMMERCE: One U.S.-Russian logjam over Space Station operations may be addressed soon. Yuri Koptiev, head of the Russian Aerospace Agency, has asked Goldin for a meeting on commercial activities aboard the Space Station. Strains have developed between the two Station partners over Russian plans to sell the third seat on Soyuz capsules ferried up to the Station as crew rescue vehicles (DAILY, Nov. 2, 2000). Russian officials are trying to accommodate conflicting U.S.
NASA space science managers have picked missions to seek extra-solar planets, explore the inner structure of Jupiter and examine two large asteroids close up as candidates for the next low-cost Discovery Program space probe. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory also decided to fund U.S. participation in a French mission to set up a network of interconnected landers on Mars. Overall JPL, which manages the Discovery Program for NASA's Office of Space Science, studied 26 proposals received last August before picking the three finalists.
Precision Castparts Corp. has acquired Drop Dies and Forgings Co. of Cleveland in a $23 million deal that PCC said will boost its position in the growing business of smaller hammer-forged products. Drop Dies and Forgings, which makes products for several industries, including aerospace, estimates sales for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31 at about $28 million.
The Government of Chile plans to buy 10 to 12 new Lockheed Martin Block 50/52 F-16C/D aircraft, while the U.S. Air Force inked a contract to purchase four more Block 50 F-16Cs for $47.5 million. Following a four-year competition between the Boeing F/A-18, Dassault Mirage 2000-5 and the Saab Gripen, Chile chose the F-16 to replace its A-37 Dragonfly, becoming the 21st country to operate the F-16.
