USAF Lt. Gen. Gary North, the combined air operations center commander in the Middle East, says he wants to get the F-22 there for an exercise “soon.” This was attempted last year, but dashed over concerns the stealthy, twin-engine fighter’s presence in the region would cause tensions. Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said this week he made a proposal to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on whether to continue producing the Lockheed Martin jet. Schwartz declined to disclose his advice, but a decision is expected by March.
British Airways and Iberia have narrowed their differences on a range of merger issues, although one hurdle about financial governance remains.BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh says the issue is how TopCo, which would be set up to oversee the Iberia and BA operations—which will retain their air operator certificates and brand identities—will exercise financial control throughout the business. Walsh says there’s no disagreement the umbrella entity will have financial control over the two operating companies, but translating that into a formal agreement is proving difficult.
Eric P. Hinson (see photo) has been named executive vice president of New York-based FlightSafety International . He was president/CEO of Piaggio America.
Regardless of whether the Pentagon opts to buy a single refueling tanker or split the purchase between Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS North America, USAF expects a heavy bill to keep its KC-135s flying. Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Arthur Lichte said last week the KC-135s would require new skins beginning in 2018. The modification would extend the aircraft’s life to 2040, making the oldest KC-135 about 80 at retirement.
The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite that will launch with the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter has been compared to a Lego project made of pieces collected from here and there, but it won’t be a toy when it bombards the Moon looking for evidence of water and hydrogen about three months from its launch. In a one-two punch, Lcross will photograph the impact of its own Centaur upper stage burrowing a hole likely to be 30 yd. wide and 15 ft. deep in the bottom of a crater near one of the Moon’s poles.
Canadian research and development company Marinvent has introduced the Dynamic Non-Linear Display (DNLD), which aims to overcome problems with conventional airspeed and altitude tapes on electronic flight instruments. Conventional tapes sacrifice display range for display resolution, so the altimeter scale loses its ground reference, and critical airspeed limits only appear as they are about to be exceeded, the Montreal-based company says.
Robert P. Whearty (see photo) has become Washington-based senior vice president of Marsh ’s U.S. space practice. He was director of satellite sales and business development for Thales North America.
The European Defense Agency steering board has agreed to include Europe’s Multinational Space-based Imaging System (Musis) initiative as an agency project. The move will permit EDA nations to participate in harmonizing requirements for the system, such as ground segment architecture, and to seek synergies with civil systems such as Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security network. Work on the space segment of the system, which is backed by Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain, is underway.
It is ironic that simple, low-cost spacecraft built on a fast pace with minimum testing require the most sophisticated management of mission risk. When Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems joined with NASA Ames Research Center in the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross) mission, the company found itself refining its management processes to ensure the program’s success. Now, it is likely that what it learned will ripple back into its more sophisticated, higher-priced missions.
China’s first orbital station will be the national space program’s testbed for automatic docking, one of four technological hurdles that must be cleared before launching a big space station a decade from now. The small, short-life space station, already identified as Tiangong 1, will be launched as soon as next year. Its mass has grown from the 8 metric tons (17,600 lb.) previously stated and is now given as 8.5 tons, still within the capability of several members of the Long March 2 and 3 family of rockets.
Sikorsky will start flying the prototype S-76D medium helicopter with composite main rotor blades within days, marking the resumption of full flight tests that are to include three aircraft by early June. The blades form a key element of the upgraded design that will also include a new tail rotor, more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210S engines, a Thales-developed integrated avionics cockpit, active vibration control and an advanced health and usage monitoring system (HUMS).
Six months on from the insolvency of Grob Aerospace, Bombardier has transferred all work on the Learjet 85 from its erstwhile airframe partner to new locations while keeping the new midsize business jet on track for entry into service in 2013.
After several consecutive years of rapid growth, Russian airlines are facing falling traffic and revenues and the specter of multiple failures, as the effects of the global economic downturn on the economy and credit institutions begin to be felt. Though no carriers have collapsed yet, some are close to bankruptcy and casting about for a financial lifeline from the government.
Russia plans to start testing a new manned space vehicle in 2015, after kicking off its development in 2010. Alexi Krasnov, head of human spaceflight at Russian space agency Roskosmos, says a competition for development of the vehicle will be completed this year, with initial operational capability by 2018. The government has agreed to fund the effort, Krasnov said in Moscow Mar. 5, according to the Interfax-AVN news agency.
EADS Astrium affiliate Spot Image has opened a subsidiary in Brazil, joining others in Australia, China, Japan, Singapore and the U.S. Spot is working with Infoterra, another Astrium affiliate, to develop services for the Brazilian farming sector.
Giovanni Bisignani has been director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Assn. since 2002, and is expected to head the organization through 2011. Bisignani recently met with Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-in-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., and Senior Air Transport Editor Adrian Schofield to talk about the dire condition of the airline industry, the urgent need for liberalization, and the steps being taken on safety and environmental issues.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore.)
Reader Capt. Judkins points out correctly the aft center-of-gravity shift caused by the shearing away of the left engine when US Airways Flt. 1549 ditched in the Hudson (AW&ST Feb. 23, p. 8). What has not been mentioned in the coverage is the fact that the pylon attaching the engine to the wing performed exactly as intended by allowing the engine to separate without destroying the wing.
Mark another casualty of the struggling airline industry. Career specialist AIR Inc. closed its doors last month after 20 years of operation. In a farewell notice to members, President Kit Darby said the state of the airline industry and the economy combined to render the business “unsustainable.” The Atlanta-based company is transferring its current memberships to FltOps.com— a web-based pilot career information provider that also specializes in job fairs.
Work is being fast-tracked on compact warheads for non-lethal, non-explosive, air-launched or air-carried weapons that destroy electronics, as next-generation electronic attack begins to take shape. New projects offer alternative and parallel approaches to electronic attack capabilities that have, so far, focused on the proposed combination of Next-Generation Jammer and the Active Electronically Scanned Array radar that is to be carried by upgraded versions of the EA‑18G Growler, F/A-18F Super Hornet, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
It’s a risky move to load down your balance sheet with new debt in these tumultuous economic times. Senior managers at Woodward Governor Co. are finding that out the hard way. Shares in the Colorado-based supplier of aircraft fuel systems plummeted by 33% on Mar. 2 after it announced a deal to buy Textron Inc.’s actuation systems unit, HR Textron, for $365 million.
Dutch investigators are focusing on the link between a radio altimeter malfunction and the autopilot-throttle system as the possible cause of the Feb. 25 crash of a Turkish Airlines 737-800 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
NASA has completed work on a 92-acre launch complex at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M., for the abort flight tests of its Orion crew exploration vehicle. The first test series at the new LC-32 East Launch Complex was expected by late summer, but is awaiting the availability of the vehicle, which may push it to later in the year.
Chinese engineers are evaluating data from a controlled impact of the Moon by the Chang’e-1 orbiter Mar. 1 to help their planning for a soft landing there in 2012. Chinese news agency Xinhua reports the 2,350-kg. (5,180-lb.) orbiter crashed just south of the lunar equator at 52.36 deg. E. Long., 16 months after its launch on a Long March 3A rocket. The probe’s mission lasted four months longer than its announced nominal duration, and ended when controllers at the Qingdao and Kashi centers slowed its speed to allow it to fall out of orbit, according to Xinhua.
