FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0367.PDF
HEADLINES SPACEFLIGHT FAA issues suborbital licence Scaled Composites has been issued with the US Federal Aviation Administration's first licence to perform manned sub orbital rocket flights, writes Graham Warwick. The first in a series of lest flights by the com pany's SpaceShipOne was believed to be imminent as Flight International went to press. The FAAs Office of Commercial Space Transport ation issued the licence on 1 April, approving "a sequence of sub-orbital flight spanning a one- year period". An FAA licence is required for US contenders in the international X Prize competition to launch a manned, reusable pri vate space vehicle. As the first US contender to be licensed, and with backing from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites has consolidated its lead over the 26 other teams in the X Prize race. Competition officials expect the $10 million prize for launching a vehicle able to carry three peo ple to 100km (62 miles), returning to Earth and repeating the flight within two weeks, to be claimed later this year. Mojave, California-based Scaled resumed SpaceShipOne flight testing on 15 March after a grounding to repair damage caused by a heavy landing fol lowing the 17 December flight, in which the rocket-powered vehi cle became the first privately developed manned aircraft to exceed Mach 1. SpaceShipOne approached M1.2 and reached 68,000ft (20,700m) after release from the White Knight launch air craft on the 17 December flight. The 15 March flight, the vehi cle's 12th, was an unpowered glide test for pilot proficiency, reaction-control system checks, and handling and performance evaluation with airframe thermal protection installed. The vehicle was released at 48,500ft, per formed as expected and landed successfully while demonstrat ing maximum crosswind capability, says Scaled. DEFENCE PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA Northrop Grumman gets radical in NATO proposal Radar array mounted above fuselage believed to be one option for surveillance contract The Northrop Grumman-led Trans atlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) team competing for NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) requirement is believed to have offered options for a radical above- fuselage mounting for its radar array as well as a traditional under-fuse- lage radar configuration. The above-fuselage option would provide the basis for the longer- term development of a replacement for NATO's fleet of Boeing E-3 air borne warning and control system aircraft with a common family of Airbus A321 derivatives. TIPS is offering an A321 with the Transatlantic Collaborative AGS Radar (TCAR) system. TCAR is a de rivative of the European SOSTAR-X demonstrator and the US Multi- Platform Radar Technology In sertion Programme. The latter is intended to support air-to-air and air-to-ground surveillance radars. Flight International understands, however, that the TIPS above-fuse lage option excludes the concept of the same aircraft simultaneously performing both missions. The above fuselage option is understood to involve mounting twin sideways-looking radar arrays on four pylons above the rear fuse lage of the A321. When viewed from the front of the aircraft, the array would have a diamond- shaped appearance. The top of the array would be elevated to around the same height as the aircraft tail, and be angled slightly downwards towards the nose of the aircraft. The A321 would cruise with a higher angle of attack to compen sate for the increased weight, as will the Boeing 737 MESA-equipped air borne early warning and control aircraft that is now being developed for Australia and Turkey. NATO evaluators completed their analysis of the TIPS and the rival Raytheon-led Co-operative Transatlantic AGS Solution propos als in mid-March. A senior level evaluation committee's meeting at the start of April is due to confirm the evaluation outcome. A NATO AGS steering committee meeting is scheduled to review the recommendation on 22-23 April, with the Council of NATO Armaments Directors expected to confirm a source selection on 6-7 May. A final green light for the pro ject is expected to be given by the NATO summit in Istanbul in June. AIR TRANSPORT DAVID LEARMOUNT/ LONDON IATA predicts surge in API demand Airlines will have to provide advance passenger information (API) on their services to 25 or more countries within the next few years, predicts the International Air Transport Association. Many international airlines have begun devising their own software systems to meet this predicted demand, although it remains unclear how much information will be politically agreed for exchange. Finnair is buying a turnkey soft ware solution from Icelandic-based Calidris for handling API, saying it does not have the in-house resources for developing its own system. Airlines serving Australia, Canada, China and the USA already have to supply some pas senger data, and the USA is negoti ating to expand the scope of infor mation it can demand. The US API rationale is security, whereas Spain is pressing for European Union states to be required to demand API for immi gration control (Flight International, 6-12 April). Denmark and the UK have already approved laws allow ing them to demand API, but they have so far held back from imple menting them. "Too many airlines do not realise the extent of the problem involved in collecting API," says Calidris chief executive Arna Hardardottir, who warns of massively increased check-in times if the carriers leave the information gathering until passengers arrive at the airport. Finnair passenger facilitation manager Nina Kamsani says: "Our objective is to minimise the effect these new requirements will have on our customers." The Calidris system checks book ings to find out if API is needed on the route and, if so, what details, then it extracts any necessary data that can be found in the booking system. Finally, it generates a per sonal email with a code on it to passengers requesting any informa tion needed to complete the API. If the booking was not made online, the request is sent to the call centre or travel agent that processed the transaction. 4 13-19 APRIL 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
