The U.S. regional airline industry, beset by the harsh economic climate and serious questions about safety in the past couple of years, is at a crossroads. Some have chosen to redefine contracts with their mainline partners that allow them to fly larger aircraft under the network airline’s brand name, while others are focusing on feeding any carrier anywhere it is profitable to operate 30-seat turboprops, finding lucrative niches for the more efficient, albeit slower, aircraft. And manufacturers say regionals fill a needed role in the 60-99-seat market.
Taxi tests of the AeroVironment Global Observer hydrogen-powered high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft have been conducted at Edwards AFB, Calif. Next up is a final flight readiness review and initial low-altitude battery-powered flights.
Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air, which has thus far handled most of its heavy maintenance work internally, is considering outsourcing more of this work to FAA-certified, U.S.-based contractors—a move that has concerned union members. According to Jen Boyer, Horizon spokesperson, the carrier is weighing all options and has not yet made a decision. Horizon operates 40 Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 aircraft (with eight more on order) and 18 CRJ700s, and it outsources part of its Q400 airframe maintenance to AAR Corp., according to Aviation Week’s MRO Prospector database.
The U.K. Defense Ministry is reviewing the future of a long-range strike unmanned air project, and has, at the least, delayed awarding a demonstrator program to one of three bidders vying for the work. The ministry had been aiming to select a demonstrator design for its Novel Air Concept program in the first quarter of 2010. The original goal was to have a “flying demonstrator within three years” and an “experimental operational capability by 2015.” This date is now being reconsidered as part of the broader review of the program.
Managers of the James Webb Space Telescope are relying on innovation in a dozen key materials and assemblies—and the magic of red-shifted light—to bring scientists closer to the Big Bang than they have ever been.
Amy Butler (Langley AFB, Va., and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio)
At least one cherished project for the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command appears to be progressing, although at the expense of some next-generation programs. Gen. William Fraser, who assumed leadership of the command in September 2009, is beginning to publicly lay out his vision, and a new bomber is prominent.
A Ball Aerospace engineer prepares the glass illumination ground support optics (background) and beryllium flight spare Secondary Mirror Assembly (foreground) for cryogenic optical and hexapod motion testing at -400F for the James Webb Space Telescope. Prime contractor Northrop Grumman, key suppliers such as Ball and an international team of instrument builders are developing new technologies for the JWST’s 6.5-meter infrared telescope, which will be the world’s largest orbiting observatory (see p. 59).
The Bell Boeing CV-22 and its associated defensive systems have the same major defensive shortcomings as the Boeing CH-47 Chinook: noise, size and massive twin infrared signatures (AW&ST April 26, p. 38). You may not see the target right away but if you can hear it, you can point your weapon system in that direction and eventually it will show up in your field of view. And with modern man-portable air defense systems such as the Russian-built SA-16 and -18, the job is that much easier.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has dismissed a protest over a U.S. Navy Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP) contract. The contract, awarded in January to a team comprising Intelsat, SES, Astrium/Paradigm and Loral Space & Communications/Hisdesat joint venture XTAR, was contested by a rival consortium made up of CapRock, Artel and Segovia. The five-year deal could be worth up to $543 million (AW&ST April 12, p. 52).
A challenge mounted by U.S. airlines and the Air Transport Association of America against the European Union’s inclusion of aviation in its emissions trading system (ETS) will move to the European Court of Justice. The initial December challenge was brought in U.K. courts, but a ruling there last week is allowing the case to transfer to Luxembourg. The airlines argue that the international reach of the ETS rules violates existing agreements. But environmental groups reject that claim. “By trying to wriggle out of the ETS provisions, U.S.
Aerojet has given the smallest thruster selected for NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle another 17,250 sec. of hot-fire testing, continuing its propulsion work on the human-rated spacecraft set for termination by the Obama administration.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Richard A. Cody has been named vice president-Washington operations and Lt. Gen. (ret.) James J. Lovelace as Washington-based corporate vice president-international programs for L-3 Communications of New York. Cody succeeds retired Gen. (ret.) Jimmie V. Adams, who will remain as a consultant.
Dave Vernon (see photo) has been appointed director of airline marketing for Rockwell Collins , Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was director of airline sales for the Americas.
Ducommun AeroStructures (DAS) received a long-term contract to furnish empennage vertical and horizontal fin tip assemblies for the Boeing 777; the initial set of tip assemblies is slated to be delivered in first-quarter 2011. Work will be performed at DAS’s Monrovia, Gardena, and Orange, Calif., sites, as well as at the company’s Guaymas, Mexico, location.
A top Chinese satellite navigation engineer says China will take its Beidou constellation worldwide in the next decade. According to Sun Jiadong, chief designer of the three-satellite Beidou Navigation System, plans call for adding another 35 satellites by 2012 to support a regional system for China and the Asia-Pacific region. By 2020, the system will be able to provide navigation signals—and communications—anywhere on Earth, Sun told the CCTV television network.
NASA is prohibited by Congress from spending Fiscal 2010 money on shutting down its Constellation Program of exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond, but it’s moving ahead with long-range planning for the new approach reflected in the Fiscal 2011 budget request.
The Swedish defense establishment has awarded Saab a 450-million-kronor ($57.2-million), two-year contract to develop an enhanced avionics suite for the Gripen fighter. The funding is aimed at jump-starting work on an avionics package that would not enter service on Gripen for another decade. The package is intended to provide for new displays, as well as a new processing backbone to handle more data and process it more quickly. The effort should also make it easier for new sensors to be integrated onto Gripen, Saab says.
Boeing and Honeywell’s UOP fuel processing subsidiary is taking its aviation biofuels drive to China. PetroChina, part of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., has agreed to begin evaluating in June how a sustainable aviation biofuels industry might be established in China. It is part of a broader biofuel agreement between China’s National Energy Administration and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Peter J. Tobin has become acting CEO of the CIT Group Inc. of New York. He will remain a director and succeeds Jeffrey M. Peek, who has resigned. Tobin is a former chief financial officer of the Chase Manhattan Corp. and the Chemical Banking Corp. Gerald Rosenfeld, Anthony P. Terracciano and Laura S. Unger have been appointed to the board of directors. Christopher H. Shays and Lois M. Van Deusen have resigned from the board. Rosenfeld is deputy chairman of Rothschild North America, and previously was its CEO.
