A U.S. Navy F-35C flies near NAS Patuxent River, Md., where the design is being fine-tuned in a flight-test program designed to prepare the aircraft for flight training. Ultimately, the stealth aircraft will move onto large-deck aircraft carriers, including the new Ford-class design, along with F/A-18F precision-strike, EA-18G electronic-attack, E-2D early-warning and unmanned-strike aircraft. Naval Aviation coverage begins on p. 46. Lockheed Martin photo.
Rudy Toering (see photo) has become VP-business development at FlightPath International, Alliston, Ontario. He was an executive at CAE in the Pilot and Maintenance Training Standards Div.
The Antonov An-148 regional jet has never been the kind of industrial darling of the government as the Sukhoi Superjet 100, and it has faced many challenges in development. Ironically, now that the program is reaching operational highs, its prospects are at their bleakest. A weak order backlog is drawing into question the Ukrainian-Russian program, developed by Antonov's Kiev-based design bureau and built under license by Russia's VASO plant. But VASO officials are not ready to throw in the towel yet.
Along with expanded missions and larger force structures, U.S. Pacific Command has a new chief, Adm. Samuel Locklear, 3rd, who most recently oversaw NATO-led operations in Libya and commanded the U.S. Navy in Europe and Africa. Locklear's new problem set will not be smaller, but it may be significantly different. He will face two daunting issues: China and cyber. Sometimes they will be the same problem and sometimes not.
That rearming after last year's NATO-led air war in Libya would bring some short-term financial benefits to weapons makers has been clear. Now, they are looking to build on those successes to generate additional business.
“Droning On” (AW&ST March 19/26, p. 37) highlighted the increasing remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) demand for satellite bandwidth and indicated that video is the predominant bandwidth consumer. The ground segment, another video-dominant user of satellite bandwidth, vies with RPAs for the same resources. Further, the use of small-aperture satellite terminals mandates the need for high-performance satellites.
After validating assumptions on the manufacturing cost and efficiency of laminar flow, Boeing says it is proceeding with a baseline design that will apply the technology to the horizontal and vertical stabilizers of the 787-9, but not the wing. “We did it where it is most practical,” says Chief Project Engineer Mike Sinnett, who accompanied ZA003, the third 787-8 flight-test airplane, to its presentation at Chile's Fidae air show here in late March.
Delta may be suing the Export-Import Bank for helping foreign competitors to buy Boeing aircraft, but a new deal will add to the Atlanta-based carrier's bottom line, the bank's president says. Just about a month before the bank is expected to hit its lending cap, it has announced an $84.8 million loan guarantee to the Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol for engine maintenance services in Atlanta by Delta TechOps.
Sharon Pflieger (see photo) has been appointed director of organizational effectiveness for Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. She was manager of organizational development.
Bell has received a U.S. Army contract for non-recurring engineering on a “new-metal” cabin for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, with the first new-production cabin to be delivered late in 2014. Although the new cabin is planned only for wartime-replacement aircraft converted from OH-58As, restarting airframe production is a key element in Bell's strategy to meet the Army's Armed Aerial Scout requirement to replace the OH-58D.
Denis Coleman (see photo) has joined TruTag Technologies of Honolulu as senior scientific adviser. An inventor and entrepreneur, Coleman co-founded Symantec and helped start 13 other companies.
As technologies mature and delivery dates for many new products near, the cabin interiors and inflight entertainment (IFE) supply chain must deliver on many its promises—and soon. A host of new services particularly in the IFE world are being installed on aircraft worldwide and, with broadband Internet and communication applications becoming widely available, the key question is whether passengers will use the new services to the extent expected.
Congressional Editor Jen DiMascio's piece in the Aerospace Daily & Defense Report about the influx of counterfeit parts from China, and the U.S. government's attempt to put an end to this, elicited a heavy response, parts of which include: 123xyz wondering:
Boeing will roll out the second 787-8 destined for Air India from its new South Carolina assembly plant this month, marking another step in that state's expansion as one of the American South's rising stars in aviation manufacturing.
Boeing Defense and Space deliveries in the first quarter were marked by the rising number of CH-47 Chinook completions, with 10 new-build helicopters handed over in the first quarter compared to seven, this time last year and two in 2010. The slowdown in C-17 deliveries saw just two aircraft handed over versus three for the previous quarters, while this year also marks the first delivery of a P-8A Poseidon in a first quarter.
Prof. Robert C. Owen (Daytona Beach, Fla. ), Aeronautical Science Dept. (Daytona Beach, Fla. ), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, Fla. )
The reader who found the demise of the C-27 in the U.S. Air Force fleet “simply outrageous” misses the point (AW&ST March 15, p. 8). USAF moved away from the aircraft because it offered no unique capabilities to the existing fleet, and strategic and budgetary changes made buying a private-theater airlift fleet for the Army an unaffordable luxury. Numerous assessments of the Lockheed Martin/Aeritalia C-27, including a 2007 Rand Corp. study that I coauthored, questioned the need for a small-theater airlifter of such bread-and-butter operational characteristics.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee has released the first data retrieved from the so-called black boxes of the UTair ATR 72-200 turboprop that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tyumen’s Roschino airport on April 2 killing 31 of the 43 people onboard.
The first United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV in the Medium-plus 5.2 configuration lifts off surfside at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 7:12 p.m. EDT April 3 with a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload. The launch clears the way for three more intelligence satellite launches by the end of the summer for the the joint Defense Department/Intelligence Community agency.
Steve Squyres knows a thing or two about exploration, and he has a great soapbox for passing on his experience where it might do some good. A Cornell University astronomy professor, Squyres is principal investigator on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. He is also chairman of the NASA Advisory Council—a distinguished group of outside experts who do their best to guide NASA's political leadership in its decisionmaking.
Airbus has started the final assembly process of the A350 in Toulouse, kicking off a two-year period in which the aircraft maker hopes to validate the new twin-widebody in ground and flight demonstrations before it begins customer deliveries in 2014. The first aircraft assembled will serve as the static ground-test article. The second A350-900 (MSN1) will be the next aircraft down the line and the first flight aircraft. Assembly is to start in the summer and first flight is to occur in 2013.
The EU has added Venezuelan airline Conviasa to its aviation safety blacklist, owing to “to numerous safety concerns arising from accidents and the results of ramp checks at EU airports.” Two other Venezuelan airlines, Estelar and Aerotuy, are being closely watched. In Indonesia, six new carriers were automatically added to the list. Similarly in the Philippines, seven carriers were added.
The Australian government is moving forward with plans to upgrade its Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet with EA-18G Growler electronic attack equipment. The military already has taken delivery of 12 of its 24 Super Hornets on order wired for the electronic attack (EA) system and now is laying the groundwork to equipping aircraft for the EA-18G role. The final decision will not come until later this year, says Defense Minister Stephen Smith. Australian officials say the U.S. Navy experience with the EA-18G in Libya underscored their interest in the EA capability.
The U.S. faces a critical engineering shortage. U.S. high school students' science and math scores are off the international pace. Competitiveness is at risk. That's the conventional wisdom, now elevated to accepted truth. But a group of academics now argues that these assumptions are flat wrong.
Rupa Haria, head of the civil aviation team's online efforts, displays the Aircraft Order graphic on her Things With Wings blog and links to the recent “Bubble Trouble?” article, which covers the debate over whether Boeing/Airbus are producing too many jets. Amiga500 notes:
