The traveling public doesn’t like propeller-driven aircraft. Passengers, including frequent fliers, are convinced that only vintage commercial transports are still equipped with propellers, a symbol of the past. They don’t understand the true meaning of “turboprop engines” (nor are they expected to) and usually add, if asked the question, that they prefer a smooth ride on board a so-called advanced technology twinjet.
When he takes the reins of the 400,000-member Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. on Jan. 1, Craig Fuller says he plans to stay the course outgoing President Phil Boyer set by opposing user fees, preserving airports and access to the national aviation system, and increasing the pilot population. “I want to make sure the best days of general aviation are ahead of us,” Fuller says. That will take some doing since the Frederick, Md.-based organization is beset by general economic turmoil, a declining pilot population and the escalating cost of flying.
Required Navigation Performance started out in 1996 as a way for carriers to access mountainous airports safely. Now Southwest Airlines is about to use RNP to cut fuel burn and emissions while flying into all 65 airports it serves in the U.S. To exploit these procedures, aircraft must use GPS and onboard monitoring equipment to transit a narrowly defined airspace corridor.
The Allegheny County (Pa.) Airport Authority is passing along $3.4 million in budget cuts to airlines flying out of Pittsburgh International Airport. Carriers will see landing fees decrease 4.4% while terminal and ramp charges will fall 5.5% and 4.5%, respectively. “The money we use to operate the airport is airline money, and we’re aware of that,” says Bradley Penrod, executive director and CEO.
NASA and General Dynamics continue working toward a 2011 launch for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission in the hope it will avoid a break in the 36-year-old data set produced by the U.S. Earth-observing series. But other nations’ spacecraft also can fill the bill. At left is a Landsat 5 image of the Grey Glacier in Chilean Patagonia, collected by the spacecraft’s Thematic Mapper on Jan. 14, 1986. On the right is the same scene on Mar. 29, 2008, collected with the Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping on Japan’s Advanced Land-Observing Satellite (ALOS).
China Eastern Airlines has followed China Southern in getting a 3-billion-yuan ($438-million) recapitalization from the government. CAAC will also waive 4 billion yuan in airline fees and taxes.
A three-way tussle is emerging for South Africa’s Saab Gripen reconnaissance pod requirement. One bidder has also made a significantly revised offer in the run-up to a decision. Initial contenders for the air force requirement were Rafael’s Reccelite, Saab’s Modular Reconnaissance Pod System II and Thales (Vinten) with the Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod.
Raytheon is changing its design for an AIM-120 derivative weapon that is expected to intercept ballistic missiles in their boost phase. The Network-Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) is a derivative of the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile. Raytheon officials originally hoped to couple the solid-rocket-fueled first stage of the Amraam with a liquid-propelled second stage. “It has big promise . . . but it wasn’t quite as mature as we wanted it to be,” says Michael Booen, Raytheon’s vice president of advanced missile defense systems.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), elaborating on its policy to slow airline capacity growth, is telling carriers to retire old aircraft and has extended its ban on startups by two years to 2012. CAAC will not direct airlines to delay deliveries but is urging them to do so, to cancel aircraft due to arrive next year and to return leased aircraft.
BAE Systems Harrier GR9/9A aircraft are now being flown in Afghanistan fitted with Raytheon Paveway IV dual-mode precision-guided bombs. The weapon has been formally accepted into service, though more than a year later than intended. Integration of the GPS/laser-guided weapon is also being expedited on the Royal Air Force’s Tornado GR4s, which will replace the Harriers deployed at Kandahar early in 2009. Problems during weapon testing in the U.S., mainly with the fuze, resulted in the need for rectification and additional testing.
Indonesian carrier Kartika Airlines has signed an agreement to buy 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100 transports and holds options for another 15 or more. The deal makes the airline the first Southeast Asian customer for the program. List price for the order is $448 million. Sukhoi officials plan to complete certification in Russia next year, and Aeroflot is scheduled to receive its first airplane before 2010. Kartika is on track to take delivery in 2011, and plans to operate the aircraft on domestic and international routes. Sukhoi says it has firm orders for 98 airplanes.
Liftoff of France’s Helios 2B infrared/optical imaging spacecraft, expected in the spring, has been deferred until the fall due to problems with the Ariane 5G’s Vulcain I main stage engine, according to French defense ministry officials. Safran executives say the Vulcain I problem—microcracks detected in the walls of the combustion chamber, built by Astrium—has been repaired, the chamber requalified, and engine assembly is now underway.
Think blue suede shoes and red velvet; “The King’s” aerial chariot is for sale. Elvis Presley’s 1962 JetStar, which apparently has spent decades since the singer’s death in 1977 baking in the New Mexico desert, is being put up for bid at Kruse International’s 35th Annual Las Vegas Collector Car Auction Dec. 19-20. Although absent its four Pratt & Whitney JT12 engines, the aircraft is largely unchanged from the Presley days, and notable for its red velvet upholstery, gold-plated fixtures and period instrumentation.
The debate over the need for stealth aircraft is getting a boost from confirmation that Iran has inked a sales agreement to buy the advanced SA-20 air defense missile while Syria is buying the SA-22 (see p. 22). At the same time, Anthony Cordesman and Abdullah Toukan at the Center for Strategic and International Studies have produced an analysis of Israeli and Syrian air and surface-to-air missile strength. Israeli technology finessed Syrian air defenses to bomb a nuclear site recently, but the balance could change, the analysts say.
The credit crisis is having a dire effect on airports in the U.S., which have seen the bond markets they rely upon to raise money for long-term capital improvement projects frozen since the summer. Despite maintaining high ratings from debt rating agencies, airports are deferring bond issuances or are being forced into less optimal, but more creative, debt instruments to raise cash.
Inadequate attention to air-to-ground data links and airspace fragmentation could stymie efforts to streamline the flow of international air traffic, just as projects to unify European and North American airspaces are starting to gel.
In a sign that business aviation is pursuing a leadership role in the FAA’s NextGen air traffic system upgrade, NetJets is implementing a broad agreement with the agency to participate in flight demonstrations. Business jet manufacturers, including such leaders as Gulfstream and Dassault Aviation, are often on the forefront of the latest avionics developments. Now NetJets says it will outfit some of its aircraft with the avionics required for specific test objectives and then share the data with the FAA.
The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) has approved a proposal to make Ben Gurion International Airport more environmentally friendly. Airport management has spent more than $100 million on noise abatement and monitoring, controlling bird strikes and treating waste water, and plans to spend $1 billion on runway, taxiway and terminal infrastructure in the next five years. The proposal targets greenhouse gas emissions, water and noise pollution, recycling and energy conservation.
David A. Fulghum (Washington ), Douglas Barrie (London)
Irrespective of Kremlin denials, Iran is buying the Russian-built SA-20 strategic-range air defense system, say senior U.S. government officials. Deployment of the system—a threat previously thought to be only a bargaining tool—would mark a capability leap in the Middle East and considerably improve Iran’s ability to defend its nuclear facilities. Western officials are concerned that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
The Eumetsat Council has failed to agree on funding for the follow-on U.S.-European Jason-3 ocean altimetry meeting, pushing a decision on the €255-million spacecraft well into 2009 and threatening continuity with Jason-2, launched in June. Eumetsat said it would convene early next year to discuss how it can contribute €46 million in baseline funding plus a portion of a €46-million budget shortfall the agency is being asked to share with the European Commission and European Space Agency for the mission.
Michael Chertoff, outgoing secretary of the Homeland Security Dept., has some advice for his incoming successor, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, involving general aviation, among other things. “Every time you put a security measure in place, you’re goring somebody’s ox,” he told a Dec. 3 gathering hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.
Three Chinese citizens are charged by U.S. authorities with falsifying export documents for shipments from a Boston electronics company to China. Zhen Zhou Wu, also known as Alex Wu, general manager and founder of Chitron Electronics Inc., was arrested Dec. 8 with two employees—Yufeng Wei and Bo Li. Wu, who also is charged with falsifying tax returns, was detained in Chicago. Li was in custody pending a judge’s decision, and Wei was released under electronic monitoring. Officials say Chitron avoided U.S.
Icelandair is selling 14% of its holding in Travel Service to the Unimek Group and Roman Vik, which previously held 20% in the Czech airline. Icelandair purchased the 80% stake from Unimek Group and Roman Vik last year and made Travel Service part of the Icelandair Group in the second quarter. The Czech business “has grown rapidly, its results have been very strong and its worth in our books has grown from the time of purchase,” says Icelandair.
Speaking at the same event last week, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) had harsh words about Pentagon acquisition strategy. A House Armed Services member and retired vice admiral, Sestak has been mentioned as possible Navy secretary in the Obama administration. During 2006-08, Sestak says, the Pentagon’s various development programs had more than 30 breaches of the Nunn-McCurdy cost triggers, but there’s been little attempt at reform.
John P. Duggan (see photos) has been promoted to assistant general manager of the Chantilly, Va.-based Systems Engineering and Ground Div. of The Aerospace Corp. from principal director supporting systems engineering and integration efforts for national security space programs. Bruce Chudoba, Stephanie B. Danahy and Robert C. Elliott have been appointed principal directors. Thomas H. Kibalo has been named a principal engineer in the Ground Acquisition Directorate in the Columbia, Md., office. He was promoted from systems director of the Mission Applications Dept. David B.
