The upcoming Fiscal 2009 budget will emphasize sizing the U.S. Navy's future aviation force, according to the new chief of Naval Air Systems Command. This could allow the service to begin recovering from deep cuts to aircraft programs included in the Fiscal 2008 budget now under consideration by Congress. The Navy chose in this year's budget proposal to stabilize its shipbuilding program, which drove the reduction of planned airframe purchases to 188 from 199 in Fiscal 2008. Out-year spending plans predict even further cuts through Fiscal 2011.
USAF Col. (ret.) Eileen Collins, former NASA space shuttle commander, has been named to receive the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award from the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation. She will be cited for using her achievements to help promote "greater interest in the space program and encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math."
Schweizer Aircraft Corp. has delivered its 6,000th aircraft--a Model 300CBi helicopter--to a commercial customer. Of the aircraft produced since the company began 70 years ago, more than 1,000 have been rotorcraft. The balance includes sailplanes, special mission, fixed-wing (manned and unmanned) and agricultural aircraft. Schweizer became a subsidiary of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in 2004. It now sells three commercial helicopters--the 300CTM, 300 CBi and the turbine-powered 333TM.
In July, the FAA is expected to award one of three vendors--ITT, Raytheon or Lockheed Martin--the contract to build ground infrastructure and provide broadcast services for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. The FAA Joint Resources Council on Feb. 21 approved funding for this second phase of ADS-B implementation, from 2009 to 2014, and named the trio of qualified vendors. The FAA considers ADS-B the foundation of the Next-Generation Air Transportation System, which will transition from ground-based radars to the satellite-based system.
Airline insurance premiums have continued to fall and will likely remain low for the foreseeable months, according to risk management service provider AON. For 2006, the airline insurance market dropped below $2 billion for the first time since 2000. The last quarter accelerated the decline. The hull and liability insurance market was on track to fall 7% compared to 2005 through September, but came in 17% lower as increased insurance capacity and industry safety performance drove premium prices down.
The Iceland-based FL Group investment company has boosted its stake in American Airlines parent AMR to 8.63%. The group said in December it had bought shares totaling almost 6%. The company last year disposed of its holdings in Icelandair, EasyJet and Sterling. At the end of last year, the group had about 21.5% of its roughly $4 billion investments in aviation.
The U.S. Air Force expects to finish two upgrades to its Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint Stars) this month to improve operations with ground troops in Iraq. The first improvements will allow E-8C operators to communicate with others on a secret network while in flight via e-mail and through classified chat rooms, according to Col. Michael Graham, Joint Stars program manager at Hanscom AFB, Mass.
Melissa Johnson (see photo) has been promoted to vice president-information technology/chief information officer from director of information technology for Comair.
Air France and KLM plan a 5.6% growth in their long-haul network, including a 10.1% boost in capacity to the North American market. The latter is largely due to an introduction of Paris-Seattle service on June 11--which will use an Airbus A330-200 on initial service, even though Air France is one of the best Boeing 777 customers. Other long-haul growth areas are to Latin America, with 11.4%, and Asia, with 7.3%. In addition to boosting the long-haul network this summer, medium-haul routes also should see a 4.3% capacity increase.
Elbit Systems is leading a team to run--under a fee-for-service arrangement--Israeli air force training on a Beech King Air B200. The 10-year contract is valued at more than $15 million, Elbit says. The Israeli air force uses the "Tzofit" B200 in various applications, including intelligence gathering. Training will take place at a commercial air field, rather than a military facility, and Israel's Arkia and Canada's Mechtronix will serve as subcontractors. The team is responsible for simulators and other training services, as well as maintenance of the aircraft.
A new anti-radiation missile, expressly designed to attack low-power radar emitters, was tested successfully by Raytheon researchers late this month. A series of free-flight tests involved engaging an anti-aircraft radar in the new tactical arena of attacks against transmitters with more subtle emissions. The missile is dubbed HDAM and adds inertial navigation and global positioning guidance to the long-serving high-speed anti-radiation missile. In the final flight test, HDAM looked only for low-power emitters at very close range to the target.
Boeing test flight officials say they have for the first time deployed the air refueling boom on the first Japan Air Self-Defense Force KC-767 tanker. The Feb. 17 flight to test the fly-by-wire boom included several horizontal and vertical positions to demonstrate functionality. The fifth-generation boom has been integrated with a remote aerial refueling operator system.
Bombardier's plan to develop a 100-seat stretched version of its CRJ900 regional jet is receiving a cool reception from financial analysts, who believe it will do little to bolster profits and might signal the end of the company's struggle to launch an entirely new RJ airframe known as the C-Series.
A Bell 412 operated by the Miami-Dade County Fire and Rescue Dept. practices a water drop near Miami. The department uses the aircraft for emergency medical services, fire suppression and hoist rescue missions. The international commercial helicopter industry is robust and forecast to achieve steady growth in the years ahead as operators replace aging fleets, and the need for public and paramilitary operations increases (see p. 52). Bell Helicopter Textron photo by Sheldon Cohen.
Moves in France and Italy to reinforce and expand military satellite communication networks and prepare a new generation of space-based reconnaissance networks could generate momentum for a comprehensive European space program.
ABX Air reported strong fourth-quarter results and $90 million in annual net earnings, nearly tripling earnings over the previous year. Quarterly earnings increased to $68.9 million from $9 million in 2005, driven by improved performance against service-related goals under its commercial agreements with DHL.
I've been reading your coverage of the tragic Gol Airlines 737-800/Legacy 600 midair crash on Sept. 29 and the subsequent sad events. One of the issues that is not being discussed in this and other midair collisions is the exact nature of GPS tracking. Until my retirement last summer, I flew a range of transoceanic airplanes from the DC-8 and the 747 Classic to the MD-11.
You can now register ONLINE for AVIATION WEEK Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Apr. 17-18--MRO Military, Atlanta. Apr. 18-19--MRO Conference, Atlanta. Oct. 17-18--MRO Asia, Shanghai. PARTNERSHIPS Mar. 21-- Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Space Age, Unesco, Paris. Apr. 9-12--National Space Symposium, Colorado Springs. Apr. 30-May 2--RFID Journal Live, Orlando, Fla.
Ulf G. Goranson, retired executive chief engineer of the Structures Laboratories and Technology Standards organization at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has received the 2006 John W. Lincoln Award from the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Goranson was cited for his work to advance the technology associated with aircraft structural integrity. The award is named for the late John W.
When the Air Transport Assn. damned the FAA's user-fee proposals with faint praise, calling them no more than "a good step forward," and when general aviation interests argued that user fees aren't needed in the first place, they touched a nerve at FAA headquarters. "If you think that the first step is all this represents--that we have time to burn, that our current system works just fine--watch what happens when the taxes expire and the [aviation] trust fund dwindles," Administrator Marion Blakey warns in a speech to the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Investigators probing the Jan. 30 explosion of a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL booster are focusing on a possible malfunction in the engine's liquid oxygen (LOX) system. The vehicle's LOX/kerosene RD-170 engine, built by Russia's Energomash, burns oxygen-rich, and the blockage of an oxygen line or pressurization failure in the oxygen system is being evaluated as a potential cause of the accident. Also being studied is the timing of the malfunction in relation to the capabilities of the Zenit's fault protection software.
One big and very rare bonus investigators have in their search for the cause of the Gol Airlines 737-800/Legacy 600 collision is a brand-new and intact Legacy jet airplane with its fresh-out-of-the-box avionics available for analysis. Most people will acknowledge air traffic control shortcomings as a significant factor in this event. But TCAS is supposed to be there to fill the safety breach in just such situations.
Russia is boosting its strategic nuclear missile forces and says it may revisit plans for medium- and short-range missiles--a reflection of its opposition of U.S. efforts to extend missile defenses further into Europe. Poland and the Czech Republic are nearing a decision on whether to host a radar and interceptors that the U.S. considers important to the expansion of the coverage of its ground-based, mid-course defense (GMD) system to better handle threats from the Middle East, specifically Iran. It appears likely that this request will be granted.
