LAN to expand its international routes in 2010
October 13, 2009
According to the airline’s International Sales Manager, Raimundo Martinez, the airline is planning to expand its long haul international routes in 2010. It plans to add a third destination in Europe in addition to its current service to Madrid and Frankfurt. As well as new destination in the United States and will increase capacity to its existing destinations of Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
Synergy Group to acquire control of TACA
October 13, 2009
As a result of months of negotiations, Efromovich, who already controls Avianca and Ocean Air, has announced the establishment of a holding company which will control the Central American group, TACA. Synergy will have the majority of the stock in the holding company which will be based outside the region, with both Avianca and TACA owning a minority stake. In a press conference in El Salvador, Roberto Kriete of TACA and German Efromovich, announced that the result will be the largest airline group in the region, with the largest fleet of 129 NG aircraft generating revenues estimated at $300 billion next year. The holding company will control both airlines making it one of the largest in the region with a common fleet of A320 and A330 aircraft. It will also have the right to exercise options on 37 NG A320s/A330s. The two brands will be maintained while the holding company will control all three airlines. According to the press release, the CEOs of both Avianca and TACA will be CEO and Chairman of the holding company. The new holding company will also launch an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange at some time in the future. The combined airlines will now compete with LAN, TAM and GOL/Varig serving all of Latin America, the US and Europe.
ATR Press Release “Air Vanuatu takes deliery of new ATR 72-500”
October 13, 2009
Air Vanuatu today accepted delivery of the new ATR 72-500, from the order announced last year at the Singapore Air Show and valued at US $ 20.5 million. The aircraft, configured with 68 seats and powered by PW 127M engines, will enable the airline to increase its domestic fleet passenger capacity and to respond to the traffic growth on regional routes.
Thanks to the unique ETOPS 120-minutes (Extended Range Twin-engine Operations) capability of the ATR -500 series aircraft, Air Vanuatu will be able to enhance its regional operations to the neighboring countries of New Caledonia and Fiji. The airline has operated an ATR 42-300 since 2004, mainly on domestic routes linking the capital Port Vila to the islands of Santo and Tanna, as well as on regular flights to Nouméa, New Caledonia.
Commenting on this first delivery, Joseph Laloyer, Air Vanuatu acting Chief Executive Officer, stated: “With the introduction of our new ATR 72-500 we will be able to provide much-needed extra capacity on our trunk domestic routes and to enhance our network in the South West Pacific, while offering new levels of comfort to our passengers”. He added: “We are proud of adding the new generation ATR 72-500 into our fleet, because it features the most advantageous performance and operating costs, and because it will provide us a key support in our aim of reducing the environmental impact of our operations”. He concluded: “The unique 120-minutes ETOPS capability of the ATR -500s will enable us to reduce the length of our flights, thus saving time and money, while preserving our pristine environment”.
Stéphane Mayer, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, declared: “We are delighted to deliver today this new ATR aircraft to Air Vanuatu, the national airline of the Republic of Vanuatu. This delivery symbolizes the success of our excellent relationship built on mutual trust and understanding. With the arrival of this new aircraft, Air Vanuatu is joining the club of the ATR ‘-500 series’ operators in the South Pacific, which are now operating a combined fleet of 7 ATR 42-500s and 21 ATR 72-500s. These 28 ATR ‘-500s’ flying in the South Pacific provide good opportunities for increasing the cooperation in aircraft operations and maintenance activities across the region”. He concluded: “Our aircraft, because of their ability to operate to small airfields and short runways, are optimally adapted to the interisland networks”.
NEW FIREFIGHTING INNOVATION ENHANCES ERICKSON AIR-CRANE HELITANKER PERFORMANCE
October 8, 2009
CALGARY, CA, October 7, 2009 – Absolute Fire Solutions (AFS) is pleased to announce that Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated of Portland, Oregon has chosen the new FASTTrack system by AFS to record fill and drop performance data on its S-64 Aircrane Helitanker fleet. The new technology offers near real-time web-viewable data recording and transmission capability for the quantity of water, foam mix, or retardant delivered to specific locations during firefighting operations. Once data has been recorded, FASTTrack has the ability to transmit information over SATCOM and AFF systems for near real-time data viewing.
Erickson Air-Crane President and CEO Udo Rieder commented that “We are excited about integrating FASTTrack into our Helitanker fleet. Through the collection of this data, we will further enhance our operations and it will help us provide even more value to our customer base. Erickson Air-Crane’s history as an innovator in aerial firefighting operations continues with our commitment to providing fire agencies worldwide with this powerful new resource management tool.”
The result of a three-year development project by AFS, FASTTrack technology is now available to operators worldwide for use with the company’s innovative FAST Buckets, as well as both Erickson Air-Crane and Simplex Manufacturing attached tanks.
Steve Matthews, CEO of AFS, comments, “We are proud to work closely with Erickson Air-Crane to implement the new FASTTrack technology. Forestry and fire management agencies have been moving toward gathering additional data and performing more complex analyses of operational expenditures. The worldwide firefighting experience of Erickson Air-Crane offers AFS a great opportunity to refine our technology as we introduce FASTTrack to these agencies.”
AFS of Calgary, Canada, manufactures the FAST bucket, the world’s first firefighting bucket integrating cockpit volume control in every size. In its third year of operation, AFS has clients in 16 countries operating the full range of FAST buckets and accessories, including FASTFill, FASTFoam and now FASTTrack. The introduction of FASTTrack continues AFS’s aggressive innovation in aerial fire suppression equipment. For more information about Absolute Fire Solutions, visit www.absolutefire.ca.
SkyBOOKS unveils the anticipated Aircraft Inventory Module!
October 8, 2009
SkyBOOKS, Inc., a Textron, Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, and an affiliate of Bell Helicopter, has developed an integrated inventory tracking module to expand the scope of their aviation tracking capabilities.
The user-managed inventory program allows users to easily add, track, edit and expend cores, bench stock, and consumables in their inventory. The inventory module interfaces directly with the SkyBOOKS system, which also manages maintenance, warranty, flight operations, expenses, pilot currency, and document archiving.
“We are in constant communications with our customers and continue to develop upgrades and new modules for our software that will bring more functionality to them,” said SkyBOOKS’ Chief Operating Officer John Willis. “Our new inventory tracking module is a great example of this.”The inventory module was designed to accommodate flight operators who manage local inventory pools. The system allows the director of maintenance to easily manage multiple inventory facilities in remote locations and all documentation associated with either the part or vendor. Users have the ability to quickly and easily define locations for components, consumables, and tools to fit multiple operations. This customization will define a component’s position across unlimited locations within a given facility.
For example: Jacksonville Facility, Warehouse #4, Isle #2, Rack #4, Shelf #3, Position #2, Bin #6.
Included in the inventory module is the ability to link alternate and superseding part number information. SkyBOOKS can load your current inventory information via API integration. SkyBOOKS has preload 170,000 Bell Helicopter part numbers with description and cost.
SkyBOOKS color coded stop lights will turn from green to yellow when a tool’s calibration is coming due or a shelf life expiration date is approaching. Stop lights will turn red when the minimum or maximum level drops below the user defined amount, the warranty expires, a tool’s calibration is over due or a shelf life has expired.
You don’t need to invest time and money into developing and maintaining an accurate inventory. SkyBOOKS has already created it! Start enjoying the benefits, contact sales@SkyBOOKS.com.
ATAK TEAM ANNOUNCE T129 MAIDEN FLIGHT
October 8, 2009
Vergiate, September 28th, 2009 – The ATAK Team, comprising Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI), Aselsan and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce the successful maiden flight of the first T129 prototype.
The T129 P1 prototype helicopter’s maiden flight was successfully completed by AgustaWestland and TAI test pilots during an official ceremony held at AgustaWestland facilities in Vergiate, Italy.
The ATAK Programme was initiated with the aim to meet the 50 firm and 41 optional Attack/Tactical Reconnaissance Helicopter requirement of the Turkish Land Forces Command (TLF) by the integration of high-tech avionic equipment, hardware and software which will be developed locally.The programme, in which the Turkish aviation industry is fully involved in the design, development and production phases, is running on time and on budget.
General Manager of TAI, Muharrem Dortkasli said: “It is a great privilege to be here today to witness the first flight of the T129, which will become the most advanced helicopter in its category, so satisfying the requirements of the Land Forces as well as making it very appealing to the international market. An international market in which the Turkish industry will play a primary role. It has been a long journey for us to come to this point. We are proud of the success the ATAK Team has generated, a success which I am sure will be followed by many others.”
Giuseppe Orsi commented “It gives us great pleasure to celebrate today the first flight of the most modern combat helicopter in the world. This event sets a major milestone in our longstanding partnership with Turkish industry and provides clear evidence of how effective this collaboration has been in jointly developing a state-of-the-art all customer-focused solution designed and brought to life in an extraordinary timely manner. Today the Turkish aviation industry enters a new era at the forefront of rotorcraft technology. We are committed to further expanding such a successful cooperation in the future.”
Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing and integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey. TAI’s modern aircraft facilities are furnished with high technology machinery and equipment that provide extensive manufacturing capabilities. TAI has a total of 3000 highly motivated employees, 1200 of whom are engineers.
ALENIA AERMACCHI FLIES ITS 7,000TH AIRCRAFT
October 8, 2009
The 7,000th aircraft built by Alenia Aermacchi, a Finmeccanica company, made its maiden flight yesterday.
The milestone was reached by an MB-339CM during a test flight in preparation for delivery to the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
«The first flight of a newly built aircraft is always of professional interest to a test pilot. In this case, knowing the place that the other 6,999 Aermacchi aircraft hold in aviation history also made it emotionally significant», said Alenia Aermacchi Test Pilot Matteo Maurizio.
The 7,000th Alenia Aermacchi aircraft is the sixth from the Malaysian contract signed in late 2006 and belongs to the “MB” jet trainer family built by Aermacchi to the designs of Ermanno Bazzocchi and sold in 20 countries worldwide. Completion of the deliveries to Malaysia will make the MB family cross the symbolic 1,000 aircraft threshold.
«The MB family has been build in greater numbers than any other European jet trainer, teaching tens of thousands of pilots around the world to fly and bringing further prestige to a name already synonymous with excellence», comments Alenia Aermacchi CEO Carmelo Cosentino. «It is a success we aim to repeat with the new M-346 Master, the only new generation jet trainer in production in Europe and one which is attracting growing interest from the world’s most prestigious air forces.»
Alenia Aermacchi, the world leader in training aircraft, is also the world’s oldest builder of aircraft in continuous existence. The company was incorporated in Varese on 1st May 1913 as Nieuport-Macchi and still echoes the original name carried by the fighters of Italy’s leading fighter aces, by record-breaking racing seaplanes and by the MB.339 of the Italian Air Force “Frecce Tricolori” acrobatic team.
Raytheon Introduces Improved Mobile Device for Fast Intelligence Sharing
October 8, 2009
Device leverages the Google(TM) Android mobile platform for warfighter use
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 /PRNewswire/ — Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) is debuting at the 2009 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition a breakthrough mobile device for faster intelligence sharing.
The Raytheon Android Tactical System (RATS) delivers multimedia content faster and in less time to warfighters. Using RATS will provide them with a common mobile device that now can be used on the battlefield.
“RATS provides our U.S. military forces with a last mile of connectivity for delivering images and full motion video to our warfighters,” said Mark Bigham, vice president of Raytheon’s Defense and Civil Mission Solutions. “Utilizing existing technologies provides developers the ability to focus on requirements that our warfighters need now.”
The RATS device disseminates vital intelligence data via the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Intelligence Backbone (DIB) architecture system. Information is instantly viewed on the DIB and searchable to mobile device users and other users. Raytheon has demonstrated how the device provides the warfighter the ability to make decisions in seconds and minutes, rather than hours.
Raytheon is developing applications or “wigets” for intelligence collection and analysis to be used on the Google Android, such as license plate reading, streaming video camera feeds and biometric collection (facial recognition, for example). These applications will enhance warfighers’ safety by providing tactical alerts based on the intelligence collected.
Bigham added, “We are providing an innovative technology that is available in the commercial market and applying it to warfighter needs.”
Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems is a leading provider of intelligence and information solutions, specializing in ground processing, unmanned ground systems, cybersecurity operations, homeland security and other markets to resolve the most complex problems for customers worldwide. IIS had 2008 revenues of $3.1 billion and employs more than 9,000 engineering and technical professionals worldwide.
Nation’s Newest USAF Weather Satellite Ready for Launch
October 8, 2009
VANDENBERG AFB, Calif., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ — The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-18 Block 5D-3 spacecraft, built under contract for the U.S. Air Force by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), is undergoing final preparation for a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. on October 18, 2009.
“After several years of building, integrating, upgrading and testing DMSP F-18, our third Block 5D-3 spacecraft, we’re eagerly anticipating this launch so that this satellite can carry out its vital mission of supporting our warfighters,” said Sue Stretch, Lockheed Martin DMSP program director. “Our partnership with the Air Force dates to the very beginning of the DMSP program with a common goal of ensuring that commanders have access to environmental data critical to the preparation and execution of military operations.”
The Block 5D-3 series accommodates larger sensor payloads than earlier generations. They also feature a larger capability power subsystem; a more powerful on-board computer with increased memory — allowing greater spacecraft autonomy — and increased battery capacity that extends the mean mission duration. Starting with F-17, the attitude control subsystem has also been enhanced with the integration of a second inertial measurement unit using ring laser, versus mechanical, gyros to provide greater precision pointing flexibility.
DMSP is used for strategic and tactical weather prediction to aid the U.S. military in planning operations at sea, on land and in the air. Equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite that can image visible and infrared cloud cover and measure precipitation, surface temperature, and soil moisture, the satellite collects specialized global meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-geophysical information in all weather conditions. The DMSP constellation comprises two spacecraft in near-polar orbits, C3 (command, control and communications), user terminals and weather centers. The most recent launch of a DMSP spacecraft took place on November 4, 2006 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. DMSP F-18 will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
In addition to DMSP F-18 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, two satellites remain to be launched and are maintained at Space Systems’ operations in Sunnyvale, Calif. for storage, functional testing, and upgrading. The spacecraft are shipped to Vandenberg for launch when requested by the Air Force. Since 1965, 36 Lockheed Martin DMSP satellites have been launched successfully by the U.S. Air Force. Now in its fourth decade of service, the DMSP has proven itself to be a valuable tool in scheduling and protecting military operations on land, at sea and in the air. The Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. manages the DMSP program.
NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn
October 8, 2009
PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn — by far the largest of the giant planet’s many rings.
The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles). One of Saturn’s farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material.
Saturn’s newest halo is thick, too — its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring.
“This is one supersized ring,” said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. “If you could see the ring, it would span the width of two full moons’ worth of sky, one on either side of Saturn.” Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of Maryland, College Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, are authors of a paper about the discovery to be published online tomorrow by the journal Nature.
The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer’s infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band’s cool dust. The telescope, launched in 2003, is currently 107 million kilometers (66 million miles) from Earth in orbit around the sun.
The discovery may help solve an age-old riddle of one of Saturn’s moons. Iapetus has a strange appearance — one side is bright and the other is really dark, in a pattern that resembles the yin-yang symbol. The astronomer Giovanni Cassini first spotted the moon in 1671, and years later figured out it has a dark side, now named Cassini Regio in his honor. A stunning picture of Iapetus taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08384 .
Saturn’s newest addition could explain how Cassini Regio came to be. The ring is circling in the same direction as Phoebe, while Iapetus, the other rings and most of Saturn’s moons are all going the opposite way. According to the scientists, some of the dark and dusty material from the outer ring moves inward toward Iapetus, slamming the icy moon like bugs on a windshield.
“Astronomers have long suspected that there is a connection between Saturn’s outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus,” said Hamilton. “This new ring provides convincing evidence of that relationship.”
Verbiscer and her colleagues used Spitzer’s longer-wavelength infrared camera, called the multiband imaging photometer, to scan through a patch of sky far from Saturn and a bit inside Phoebe’s orbit. The astronomers had a hunch that Phoebe might be circling around in a belt of dust kicked up from its minor collisions with comets — a process similar to that around stars with dusty disks of planetary debris. Sure enough, when the scientists took a first look at their Spitzer data, a band of dust jumped out.
The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn’t reflect much visible light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak.
“The particles are so far apart that if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn’t even know it,” said Verbiscer.
Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice cream is blazing with infrared light. “By focusing on the glow of the ring’s cool dust, Spitzer made it easy to find,” said Verbiscer.
These observations were made before Spitzer ran out of coolant in May and began its “warm” mission.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation, Boulder, Colo., and the University of Arizona, Tucson. Its principal investigator is George Rieke of the University of Arizona.
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