Greater emphasis on using full-motion flight simulators to train crews to work together in handling real-world emergencies is the centerpiece of a revamped FAA rulemaking proposal that folds in congressional mandates stemming from the February 2009 Colgan Air crash.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) aims to keep tabs on the cost of any changes that Boeing makes to its USAF KC-46A aerial refueling tanker as it proceeds with development. “We want to be the eyes looking over their shoulder, since we got screwed on that deal,” says Rogers, in whose state EADS would have assembled its aircraft had it not lost the contract to Boeing.
May 23-26—American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 21st Annual Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar. Trinity College, Dublin. Also, June 2—Executive Symposium: “Aerospace Today and Tomorrow.” Kingsmill Resort and Spa, Williamsburg, Va. And, June 27-30—41st Annual Fluid Dynamics/20th Annual Computational Fluid Dynamics/29th Annual Applied Aerodynamics/42nd Plasmadynamics and Lasers/42nd Annual Thermophysics/6th Annual Theoretical Fluid Mechanics Conferences. Sheraton Waikiki and the Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu.
The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft has certainly tested the patience of the Indian air force and the Indian defense establishment, but the coming weeks may finally yield important breakthroughs to fielding the indigenously developed aircraft. Next month, Tejas is due to undergo a second phase of night trials and, if the systems perform as advertised, it will be cleared for night attack, a crucial requirement to achieve full operational clearance (FOC) as a day/night, all-weather platform by December 2012.
The timing looked perfect in 2002, when Australia decided it would buy the Lockheed Martin F-35. The stealth fighter would be operational with the U.S. Air Force by 2011, before it began taking over the roles of Australia's F-111 strike bombers and F/A-18A/B Hornet fighters.
Finally, the departure this month of Brian Delauter, the Transportation Security Administration's general manager for general aviation, is raising questions about the fate of some key initiatives, such as the rewrite of the proposed Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) and expansion of gateways at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. LASP will impose a new set of security requirements to private operators of large business jets.
Gary Halbert (see photo) has become a partner of Washington-based Holland & Knight. He is the former general counsel of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Tim Riddell has been promoted to chief pilot from line pilot at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. He is joined on the company's Airborne Product Support team by new pilots Duey Kautzmann, Jonathan Headley and Durban Morrow.
The U.S. government may take aviation for granted, especially when it comes to investing in it. But most major airlines are now in contract negotiations with many of their labor unions. Let one of those unions call a strike, and see how fast a Presidential Emergency Board is created to enjoin the workers from walking out. Politicians will then declare that aviation is a “vital” part of the economy. Rye, N.H.
No industry presents a more open and inviting target for hacking than aerospace, which includes companies of all sizes that are responsible for many of the world's greatest and most imaginative accomplishments in science and engineering. They have the ability to push the frontiers of human capabilities and commercial endeavors through their leadership and vision. However, they lack an understanding of the hacker's mentality.
Europrop International (EPI) has received the civil type certificate for its TP400-D6 turboprop from the European Aviation Safety Agency. The military qualification of the engine is due toward year-end, although much of the engine team's focus for this year will be on helping Airbus Military achieve civil certification of the A400M, says EPI President Simon Henley. EASA notes that this is the largest turboprop is has ever certified. The certification program involved about 12,000 running hours. EASA notes that 8,000 hr.
General aviation in Europe will become more ubiquitous and aircraft will become easier to operate. At least that is the picture being painted by several European Union research programs now under way. But many hurdles loom, including the continent's crowded airspace, a political environment often hostile to aviation, and a feeling that environmental concerns require airline and airport growth to be curtailed. In the research realm, however, these issues largely remain on the sidelines.
Military technology is making one of its periodic course reversals as a result of much-touted unmanned aircraft that are proving to be more demanding of manpower, money, bandwidth and over-the-horizon communications than predicted.
The U.K. is again working on readying WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters for ship-based operations after several years during which the mission lay dormant with the system heavily involved in land-based operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three WAH-64s are deployed on the HMS Ocean amphibious assault ship and are participating in Exercise Cougar 11, to prepare the way for the Royal Navy replacing its new Response Force Task Group in the summer. This will provide the ability to respond on short notice to pop-up crises.
Avic and partners have test flown a pilotless version of the Brantly B-2B helicopter, promoting it as having military and civilian uses including surveillance and search-and-rescue missions. With the V750, the helicopter has a gross weight of 757 kg (1,670 lb.), payload of 80 kg and a range of 500 km (310 mi.), say the Chinese companies, Weifang Tianxiang Aerospace Industry, Qingdao Haili Helicopters and Avic's trading company, CATIC. The piloted Brantly B-2B got its type certificate from the FAA in 1959.
As a commercial freight pilot who works the same hours as controllers, I can only imagine what's in store for the industry when the FAA's “new” crew duty/rest rules are released this year. I can only hope they have not decided to implement the controllers duty/rest requirements, along with staffing of only one operator for a shift. Sounds like “it's OK to talk about problems at the FAA, it's not OK to talk about the FAA's problems.” Terminate Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for sleeping on the job, not the controllers.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
Photography of U.S. military technology left behind in the May 1 raid against Osama bin Laden shows that previously unseen stealth-like enhancements to rotorcraft played a critical role in the mission to take down the Al Qaeda leader.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch a test version of its Taurus II rocket from Wallops Island, Va., in early- to mid-October as a risk-reduction step on the way to full-up commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station. With congressional approval of a funding resolution for the remainder of fiscal 2011, NASA has added the $100 million flight to Orbital's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) work, underscoring the importance to the U.S. space agency of commercial cargo deliveries once the space shuttle stops flying.
Barring some surprise unlikely for a Washington insider who has faced Senate confirmation more than once before, Leon Panetta will become the 23rd U.S. secretary of defense. On a good day, the job is nearly impossible, says Johns Hopkins University scholar Charles A. Stevenson. Only half of those serving as SecDef last more than 18 months, he points out in his authoritative book about the post. Eight have been fired or allowed to resign. One committed suicide shortly after leaving.
Dori Robau Alvarez (see photo) has been appointed senior representative of corporate communications for American Airlines' Mexico, Caribbean and Latin America division. She was media relations manager for Macy's Southeast region and had been a television news anchor for the Miami Herald Media Co.
Helicopter orders from the Russian military are up and commitments for new types are on the horizon, marking a stark turnaround from the days when military orders were unable to sustain Russia's domestic manufacturing industry.
When two airlines agreed in March to drop a lawsuit that prevented Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from issuing $1 billion in bonds for a new runway, it cleared an obstruction for one of the world's largest airport construction programs. The O'Hare program, now estimated at $6.6 billion, also surmounted a hurdle in January when officials won a long-standing legal battle with a church regarding a cemetery that needed to be relocated so that a runway could be completed.
The European Aviation Safety Agency is calling on operators of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft to address problems with the cargo loading system and cracking fuselage nuts. A May 5 airworthiness directive (AD) addresses a previously identified problem with tie-down points of YZ latches on the cargo loading systems, which do not withstand maximum loading requirements and thereby potentially allow unrestrained cargo to damage the lower deck cargo holds. EASA says the rectifying action, called for in 2006, has not been properly installed across the fleet.
Rick Stephens' Viewpoint on the problems of educating children for the work world was spot on (AW&ST April 4, p. 84). Yes, there is indeed much more to an educated person than the ability to regurgitate rote memory learning on a test, or to simply memorize keypad inputs to achieve a passing result on some sort of computer “scenario.”
The Russian air force is one step closer to fielding the latest upgrade to the Su-27 Flanker now that Sukhoi has begun flight tests of the first production Su-35S. The 1.5-hr. maiden flight took place on May 3 at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur assembly site in Russia's Far East. After completing factory trials, the aircraft will be delivered to the air force.
