An MQ-1 Predator flying a mission in Afghanistan lost contact with its ground control station and presumably crashed in a forward operating area May 13, according to a U.S. Air Combat Command accident investigation board report released Sept. 22. The Predator, assigned to the 15th Reconnaissance Sqdn. at Creech AFB, Nev., was not recovered, and no crash site has been located. The aircraft loss is valued at about $3.9 million. The aircraft lost its return link and attempts to re-establish it were unsuccessful.
Lockheed Martin says the A2100 PAN satellite it built for a classified U.S. government mission is performing “as required” following its Sept. 8 launch by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 from Cape Canaveral.
The Brazilian government has given Boeing, Dassault and Saab until Oct. 2 to hand in revised offers in the F-X2 fighter competition. Moreover, the Brazilian legislature has signaled it will hold hearings into the botched source-selection process, which was thrown into turmoil on Sept. 7 when President Lula da Silva said the country would buy 36 Dassault Rafales, only for the defense ministry to say it was not finished with the source-selection process.
Ethiopian Airlines has expanded its powerplant contract with Delta TechOps to become an open-ended agreement to maintain, repair and overhaul the carrier’s Pratt & Whitney PW2040s. Delta TechOps started maintaining Ethiopian’s engines in 2005.
Preliminary results from Europe’s Planck cosmic background observer show data quality to be as good or better than expected. The mission, launched May 14, undertook a preliminary all-sky survey from its position at the second Lagrange Point on Aug. 13 following instrument checkout and adjustment. The initial two-week survey, covering nine 15-deg.-wide strips—one for each frequency—was intended to verify the stability of the instruments and the ability to calibrate them during the long periods needed to meet accuracy requirements. Routine operation began on Aug.
The TBM 850 is a single-engine, turboprop-powered business transport. It replaced the earlier TBM 700 in 2006. The TBM 850 is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D engine rated at 850 shp. It seats four passengers in a club layout, or six in a high-density configuration. The aircraft has a range of about 1,520 naut. mi. A total of 88 were built through 2007. Production of 418 TBM 850s is forecast for 2009-18. EADS Socata is aiming the TBM 850 to compete with very light jets.
European air taxi operator Blink has opened a second operating location and its first on the European continent by inaugurating service at its Geneva hub. Blink began flying last year from London. Peter Leiman, managing director, says “Geneva is the perfect location to begin developing our destination network” because of a lack of similar service and the city’s central European location. Leiman says the company has an edge in Geneva because a majority of charter aircraft seat 6-8 passengers, whereas the average number of passengers for typical trips is only two.
The C919 is planned as a twin-engine narrow-body jetliner seating 130-200 in four versions: standard, short-body, long-body and plateau, the latter for hot-and-high operations. The C919 will compete with the Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737. The standard version, the C919-200, will seat 156 in two classes. The project was launched in 2008. First flight is due in 2014, and certification and entry into service in 2016. None have been ordered. Comac is expected to choose 30,000-lb.-thrust engines from Pratt & Whitney or CFM International.
The government will transfer all of its shares in state-owned aircraft manufacturer MiG to the United Aircraft Corp. for a total of 1.05 rubles, some 35 U.S. cents. The “purchase” of MiG by the UAC is part of UAC’s additional share issue of 66 billion rubles ($2.18 billion) to be carried out during October. According to the share exchange rate approved by the UAC board of directors on Sept. 21, all of MiG will be exchanged for one share in UAC, says a UAC executive.The low valuation is because of the poor financial state of MiG.
It is rare that the absurdities of the U.S. funding priorities are shown to be as stark (AW&ST Aug. 3, pp. 27 and 28). On p. 27, you report in “Flexibiity Is Costly” that the U.S. Air Force is still struggling with how it will get by with only 187 F-22’s, and that there are tasks the F-35 will not be able to fulfill. Meanwhile, on the next page in “Minding the Gap,” we find NASA does not have money to support the International Space Station beyond 2016, and that the gap in human flight after the shuttle stops flying could easily top five years.
You tell us in “Tourist Plan” (AW&ST Sept. 7, p. 62) that the people of New Mexico have voted to tax themselves to fund Spaceport America. You further write that economists in New Mexico estimate that the facility will have a $300-million payroll and 2,300 employees by 2016. This would mean an average salary of $130,000. Is this realistic? Did no one do the math? Furthermore, what motivated the voters of New Mexico, which ranks 42nd in median household income, to decide it was necessary to subsidize millionaire space tourists with their tax dollars?
The C-212, once known as the Aviocar, made its first flight in March 1971. Initial deliveries occurred in May 1974. It is built in Spain by EADS CASA, and is also built under license in Indonesia by Indonesian Aerospace (IAe). Approximately 473 C-212s were built through 2007. The C-212 is an unpressurized, 21-28-passenger regional turboprop. The C-212-200 is powered by two Honeywell TPE331-10R-511C/512C engines rated 900 shp. each. The C-212-300 used two TPE331-10R-513C turboprops, also rated at 900 shp. each.
NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) spacecraft will perform its third and final flyby of Mercury on Sept. 29, getting one last gravity assist to position itself to enter the planet’s orbit in 2011. The spacecraft will pass less than 142 mi. above the surface, taking more than 1,500 pictures and giving scientists their last close look at the planet’s equatorial regions. Determining the composition of Mercury’s surface is a major goal of the orbital phase of the mission, which will last one year.
Launched in July 2008, Bombardier’s CSeries family includes two basic models.The CS100 can carry 110 passengers, while the larger CS300 can seat 130. Each is available in standard and extended-range versions, while the 130-seater is also sold in an extra-thrust version. The CSeries will be powered by the new PW1000G geared turbofan engine from Pratt & Whitney. Service entry for the CS100 is planned for 2013. The 110-seater will compete with the Embraer 190 and 195 and Airbus A318, while the CS300 will compete with the Boeing 737 and A319.
A charged political decision over opting for a British or U.S. communications and electronic-intelligence aircraft appears to be still sitting on government ministers’ desks, weeks after contenders expected to hear which route the U.K. Defense Ministry intends to pursue.
Arie Herweijer (see photo) has become vice president-sales and business development for Metron Aviation , Dulles, Va. He was regional sales and marketing manager for HITT.
Despite differing environmental tailwinds, the U.S. and Europe appear set to begin exploring paths toward a cooperative framework for Earth observation similar to the ones being adopted for other space undertakings.
President Barack Obama still has not charted a course for NASA on human spaceflight, but Norman Augustine, the head of the panel that reviewed NASA’s Constellation program for a return to the Moon, tells House and Senate panels the “program of record” is not viable at current funding levels. For $3 billion more a year, there are several options that would get humans out of low Earth orbit (AW&ST Sept. 7, p. 26). While the Constellation goals can be pursued at that higher funding level, Augustine says doing so would produce “three or four” gaps in U.S.
Fatigue is universally recognized as a major threat to aviation operations and affects people working as pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and air traffic controllers, among other related occupations. This week’s special report on fatigue (see p. 42) examines the combined efforts of industry, regulators and scientists to minimize the dangers of fatigue. Cover design by the AW&ST Art Dept.
The British Defense Ministry will likely decide by the end of this month how to plug its military airlift gap; additional strategic and tactical aircraft seem the likely choices. The ministry’s Investment Appraisal Board is scheduled to consider shortly options on bolstering the capability shortfall. These include an additional Boeing C-17, as well as further Lockheed Martin C-130s, both new-build and second-hand aircraft. The options are believed to cover the acquisition of refurbished C-130Es from Saudi Arabia.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, says the process the Pentagon uses to evaluate complex weapons programs is itself too complicated and needs more input from military officers. “The Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) is much too complex and needs to be revised,” he says.
Erickson Air-Crane is developing new flight controls for the S-64F Aircrane heavy-lift helicopter that promise pilots greater safety margins and stability as they maneuver payloads of up to 25,000 lb. with little margin for error.
Damage to the fan on an F135 engine during ground testing at Pratt & Whitney is not expected to further delay flight testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Program officials say they can meet planned training and initial operational capability dates, provided all 12 development test aircraft are delivered within the next 12 months.
Sept. 29—Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle’s “Trends in Aviation.” Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. See http://seattletradealliance.com Sept. 29-30—ASD-Network/Defense IQ’s Close Air Support 2009. Bloomsbury Hotel, London. Call +31 (20) 486-1286, fax +31 (20) 486-0216 or see www.asd-network.com Sept. 29-30—SAE 2009 Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Symposium. National Transportation Safety Board Training Center, Ashburn, Va. Call +1 (724) 776-4841, fax +1 (724) 776-0790 or see www.sae.org/events/training/symposia/adsb
Wesley G. Bush will become CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp. at the start of 2010, ascending to a position for which he has long been groomed. Chairman and CEO Ronald D. Sugar, a 29-year veteran who has led the 120,000-employee defense contractor since 2003, will step down on Dec. 31 and retire six months later. The 48-year-old Bush joined TRW—which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002—as a systems engineer in 1987. He was president of the Space Technology Sector from 2003-05, chief financial officer from 2005-06 and most recently president and chief operating officer.
