Dennis Tito's plan to send a crew of two around Mars is getting a big assist from NASA via a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with its Ames Research Center (see page 24). While Tito will repay NASA for its work, the agency's inspector general and a powerful member of Congress are examining SAAs—which are less restrictive than standard federal business arrangements—to see if they are being abused. That is one of the charges in a whistle-blower report on alleged malfeasance at Ames (AW&ST Feb. 18, p. 19). Rep.
Charles Lindbergh's 1927 flight from New York to Paris to win the $25,000 Orteig Prize inspired the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private suborbital spaceflight, which was won for SpaceShipOne in 2004 by a Scaled Composites team led by designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen. In turn, they are serving as inspiration for a growing number of incentive challenges run by government and industry to cast a wider net for ideas in a bid to spur innovation and solve problems in aerospace and defense.
U.S. defense budgets are declining, but Parker Hannifin, a leading supplier of hydraulics, fluid systems and flight controls, still sees lots of opportunity in aerospace. With major positions on platforms such as the Airbus A350, Bombardier CSeries, Comac C919 and Embraer Legacy 450/500, the company projects annual aerospace sales will rise two-thirds by mid-2016, to $3.5 billion. Roger Sherrard, president of Parker's aerospace unit, and Thomas L. Williams, executive vice president and operating officer, spoke with AW&ST Editor-in-Chief Joseph C.
Honeywell is fine-tuning a civil helicopter-specific combined vision system based on a recent flight-test campaign that evaluated fused synthetic vision and enhanced vision technologies for the primary flight displays of higher-end models. Though the company had planned to begin offering a helicopter synthetic vision system (SVS) by 2010, complexities in presenting real and database-generated terrain, obstacles and various safety features to a helicopter pilot have slowed the process. Work continues, but no new date has been issued.
The ongoing, expanding F-35 fiasco reminds us that then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates forgot the old admonition about “a bird in hand” when he canceled the F-22 Raptor, likely to remain the gold standard for a generation or more. What's more, key U.S. allies Japan, Australia, Canada, Britain and Israel were eager to take another 100 if Congress had allowed F-22 exports—at an incremental cost likely lower than that of the far less capable F-35.
Australia and Saudi Arabia have formally inducted their new Airbus A330 multirole tanker transport aircraft into service. Australia announced that it had achieved initial operating capability for the aircraft on Feb. 26. The Royal Saudi Air Force formally introduced the type into service a day later.
David S. McKay, a NASA planetary geologist who studied the soil and rock samples Apollo astronauts returned from the Moon and argued that a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica contained fossil evidence of extraterrestrial life, died in Houston Feb. 20 of heart disease. He was 76. McKay joined NASA in 1965. He trained Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to help them return useful samples from the Moon's surface, and stood by in Mission Control during the first Moonwalk on July 20, 1969, as a resource.
International Airlines Group (IAG) has posted a €997 million ($1.31 billion) net loss for 2012, mainly because of charges related to the Iberia crisis, and warns more restructuring costs may be upcoming if deeper cuts to the business are needed. “We have to downsize Iberia and make it competitive,” says IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh. IAG's Spanish subsidiary posted a €351 million operating loss on sales of €4.84 billion last year.
Renuka Ayer (see photo) has been named VP-finance of Corona, Calif.-based Circor Aerospace Products Group, covering the North American, Asian, European and North African regions. She was chief financial officer for Orange County Container Co.
Asia's premium airline market is set for a shake-up. AirAsia's group CEO Tony Fernandes is moving ahead with his plan to establish an ultra-premium carrier, Caterham Jet, which will operate Bombardier CRJ200s in a 16-seat VIP configuration from Singapore to destinations across Southeast Asia.
Keith D. Wichman has been named VP and general manager-Global Airline Solutions for Stamford, Conn.-based Passur Aerospace. He was director of air traffic management and airline efficiency services at General Electric and chief engineer of GE's Flight Management Systems.
Quinn Hamon (see photos) has been promoted to director of safety from chief pilot of Kansas City, Mo.-based Executive AirShare. Ryan Isaacs was promoted to assistant chief pilot from captain.
Fly-by-wire system provider Parker Aerospace says it has made project management improvements in the wake of a one-year delay for the Embraer Legacy 500 program, but maintains that the schedule slip was caused by factors beyond its control.
Bidding jointly to build the U.S. Army's Joint Multi Role (JMR) technology demonstrator, Boeing and Sikorsky have selected the latter's X2 coaxial-rotor high-speed helicopter configuration as the basis of its proposal, to be submitted by March 6. The companies have teamed to pursue JMR and the planned follow-on Future Vertical Lift Medium program to field replacements for the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, beginning in 2035, and later the Boeing AH-64 Apache.
If the Defense Department and other government agencies would eliminate the requirement for union labor on construction, road and bridge building, aircraft MRO and anything related thereto, billions—even trillions—of dollars could be saved in the next 10 years. Union labor is very expensive, so let all companies bid competitively unhampered by union considerations. Claremont, Calif.
Machinists at Hytek Finishes in Kent, Wash., a specialty coating maker that supplies Boeing's 787 and other factories, were voting late last week on a revised contract after threatening to strike over an earlier offer. Negotiators for the International Association of Machinists in Aerospace Local 751, the same union that represents Boeing's machinists recommended passage. On Feb. 25, the 140 IAM machinists rejected Hytek's original offer and authorized a strike. Speea To Vote Again
Correction: The story in the Feb. 25 issue (page 25) about Piaggio Aero P.1HH Hammerhead UAV stated the wrong payload. The Hammerhead is designed for 16 hr. endurance with a payload of 500 lb. (225 kg) at maximum fuel capacity. Within the structural envelope, the platform is also able to accommodate, by reducing the fuel load, a payload (mission sensors/equipment) up to 2,000 lb.
Alitalia posted dramatically weaker results for 2012. As a consequence, CEO Andrea Ragnetti resigned after only one year on the job. The airline's total liquidity, including unused credit lines, was down to just €75 million at the end of December; it was €326 million a year earlier. The carrier posted a €119 million operating loss (€6 million in 2011) and the net loss widened to €289 million from €69 million.
Fly-by-wire has become the norm for the larger and more expensive commercial and business aircraft and helicopters, but airframers continue to say the cost-benefit analysis for the lower end of the market has not been favorable to introduce this safety-enhancing and weight-reducing technology.
