NanoRacks plans to launch its new external commercial research platform to the International Space Station in 2014, for deployment through the Kibo airlock to the Japanese module's exposed facility. The NanoRacks platform completed an interim design review in September, and is headed for a critical design review in April. That will set the stage for delivery to the station. The external platform will hold 10 standard NanoRacks research enclosures.
Remi Volpe (see photo) has joined Minneapolis-based Honeywell Sensing and Control as VP-general manager for the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. He was the area's marketing director for buildings and CentraLine business leader for Honeywell's Environmental & Combustion Controls business.
Rockwell Collins and China Electronics Technology Avionics Co. have agreed to establish Avic Leihua Rockwell Collins Avionics Co. to develop and manufacture communications and navigation systems for Comac's C919 regional jet.
Pilots of business jets, commercial airliners and all manner of general aviation aircraft will fly more safely and experience far fewer collision alerts after 2020 with a family of new airborne collision-avoidance systems (ACAS) the FAA is developing. Dubbed ACAS X, the technology is the FAA's prime choice as a drop-in replacement for today's required traffic-alert and collision-avoidance systems (TCAS) and will be the foundation for new products in the light and unmanned aircraft sectors.
Airbus and Rolls-Royce are keenly aware that Qatar Airways and Emirates, two of the most outspoken and demanding airline customers for the A350, are watching flight-tests of the Trent XWB engine like hawks—particularly as the engine endures the heat and dust of recent flight trials in the Middle East.
In “Green Machine” (AW&ST Oct. 8, p. 40), it seems Boeing is late to the adaptive trailing edges (ATE) party, as is Airbus. ATEs were introduced in the early 1970s by German high-performance glider manufacturers Alexander Schleicher and Schempp-Hirth. Negative flap setting allowed the pilot—at high penetration speeds—to lose less altitude because negative settings raised the nose of the airplane, thus also losing less altitude. Sandpoint, Idaho
When it comes to hyperventilation about the looming “fiscal cliff,” the airlines have been relatively quiet. Over the summer, the AIA brought together executives from airports and business aviation, aviation safety advocates and former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to outline the potential damage that sequestration would wreak on the FAA.
USN Vice Adm. (ret.) John Morgan has been named chairman and CEO of Washington-based Nobles Worldwide. Morgan commanded the USS Enterprise carrier battle group, among his assignments during a 30-year naval career.
Congressional Editor Jen DiMascio examines Mitt Romney's off-again, on-again position on the F-22 Raptor, noting it's not the first time during the presidential race that a defense message has been reversed. In July, President Barack Obama contradicted his own fiscal 2013 budget request regarding base closings. See “Up In The Air” on the Ares defense blog, and add to the discussion. Talos 4 says:
Finnair had a problem that cost it about €100 ($130) per minute and it needed a solution. The culprit was the dual engine bleed air system on its Airbus A330s. The airline suffered two incidents because the system failed—each malfunction resulted in loss of aircraft pressurization and resultant emergency descents.
The ARJ21 program was always supposed be a learning experience. If people learn when things go wrong, then Comac must be learning a lot, and it is giving itself more time for its lessons.
The future of Airbus is riding to a large extent on the success of its new A350 widebody, designed to compete head-to-head with Boeing's hugely popular 787 and 777. And while final assembly is underway at last, the European airframer still faces major challenges before the first jet is delivered in 2014—and even before first flight next year.
Brandon Fried, executive director of the Washington-based Airforwarders Association, has been named to the U.S. Commerce Department's Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness.
In “UAV Accountability,” reader Terry Welander advocates the untenable position of banning UAVs from the national air space because of a postulated hazard (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 10). A ban would do nothing to prevent criminal/terrorist attacks because those people do not pay attention to such strictures. Prevention comes only through the application of proactive measures that provide real, physical countermeasures to defeat threats. Huntsville, Ala.
An unidentified, classified air vehicle is the primary platform for a compact high-resolution ground-surveillance radar developed by Lockheed Martin and unveiled last week at the Association of the U.S. Army show here. It is intended to provide accurate target and intelligence imagery in bad weather. The radar has been dubbed Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System (Asars) 3. Asars-1 and -2 were developed for the Lockheed SR-71 and U-2R, respectively, in the 1980s, when both were strategic reconnaissance systems operating under tight classification.
In the latest attempt to replace its aging Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawks, the U.S. Air Force has released the request for proposals for its Combat Rescue Helicopter, providing insight into changes made in a bid to make the program affordable and avoid a repeat of the CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue debacle. The requirement is for 112 aircraft for up to $6.8 billion.
Workers prepare HA-420 HondaJets at Honda Aircraft's 500,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing and R&D facility in Greensboro, N.C. The four-passenger light jet and its GE Honda HF120 engines are undergoing certification testing, part of the trend by foreign business jet manufacturers to produce in the U.S. Honda Aircraft photo.
Mark Rathert, general manager for ground operations for SES, is one of four new members appointed to the board of the New York-based World Teleport Association. The others are: Francis Rolland, CEO of GlobeCast U.K.; Kurt Riegelman, senior VP-global sales of Intelsat; and Jose Sanchez Ruiz, director of service operations at Eutelsat.
Eleven years of war have built unmanned-aircraft manufacturing into a lucrative business. Operational demands have also created a market for companies to operate the aircraft and provide full-motion video as a service. As war winds down and budgets follow, interest in UAVs is expanding beyond the military into other government and civilian missions. The industry is anticipating a shift from manufacturing to operating aircraft, but some companies are finding that fee-for-service is a business model with pitfalls.
The Army's top man in Europe says U.S. forces will have fewer tanks and more cyberweapons as they prepare for post-Afghanistan operations. Visiting Washington, Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said that U.S. Army Europe has created a deployable anti-cyberforce from the 5th Signal Command and the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany. Explaining the decommissioning of two armored brigades, “We're not lined up against the Warsaw Pact,” he says. “We're fighting a lot of stuff, but it ain't the Cold War.”
NASA plans a Nov. 1 spacewalk to address a long-standing cooling system leak outside the International Space Station that has gradually increased since June. Earlier concerns about an external electrical short on Sept. 3, which compromised one of the station's eight power channels and prompted the preparations for a possible second near-term spacewalk, have eased with troubleshooting this week.
Emilio Romano, president of Telemundo Media and former CEO of Mexicana, has been named to the independent panel of judges for the Federico Bloch Award, presented by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association.
The Oct. 15 Washington Outlook item “Satellite Showdown” (page 25) misidentified Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), who is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
After weeks of dissidence, Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace reported progress on Oct. 24 in their four-year contract talks. “Today's negotiations were marked by a new spirit of collaborative problem solving,” said Speea. Union President Tom McCarty said he was “pleased to hear that the Boeing pension is so well-funded the company does not need to make any contributions in the next year,” after the company's third-quarter earnings report.
