Aviation News MARCH 2002 page 8

MARCH 13

AIN Online - American Eagle faces FAA fines for hazmat violations - American Eagle executives planned to meet with FAA officials last month to discuss the Dallas-based airline’s alleged violations of hazardous-materials regulations. The FAA alleges that on one occasion in 2000 American Eagle transported an oxygen generator as cargo aboard a passenger flight. It also claims that Eagle improperly offered oxygen generators to Federal Express for shipment by air on seven separate occasions. The agency has proposed assessing a $900,000 fine against the airline.
    In each instance, American Eagle tried to ship the hazardous materials without packaging, marking, classifying, describing or documenting the shipment in accordance with regulations, according to the FAA. The FAA said the airline also failed to train employees to properly package and handle hazardous materials, and did not make available at all times the required emergency response information.
    “In the past year, American Eagle has throroughly reviewed and strengthened its training, inventory control and shipping procedures to prevent such incidents from happening again,” the airline said in a statement.
    Investigators determined that oxygen generators sparked the cargo-hold fire that led to the 1996 crash of a ValuJet DC-9 in the Florida Everglades. American Eagle had until February 28 to respond formally to the allegations. –G.P.

AIN Online - Space weather affects aviation too - by Paul Lowe - While the term space weather may at first invoke visions of Capt. Kirk and his starship Enterprise encountering ion storms, it is in reality something which affects radio communications, satellite transmissions and signals intelligence. And because HF radio is particularly susceptible, it often forces airlines and any other aircraft operating on polar routes to switch to different tracks, and sometimes make unscheduled fuel stops.
    At a recent half-day conference on “Space Weather and Aircraft Communications” at the Air Transport Association (ATA) in Washington, Joe Kunches, chief of space weather operations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Environment Center (SEC) in Boulder, Colo., explained that space weather refers to changes in the space environment near Earth.
    Through its Space Weather Now Web site, the SEC maintains real-time reporting on geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms and radio blackouts. The SEC has developed numbered scales to inform the general public of the current and future space weather conditions and their possible effects on people and systems.
    All three can affect HF radio propagation. Depending on severity, geomagnetic storms can knock out HF in many areas for one or two days, satellite navigation may be degraded for days and low-frequency radio can be out for hours. It can also affect power systems and spacecraft operations.
    Solar radiation storms can cause high radiation exposure to passengers and crew in jets at high latitudes, with dosages equal to approximately 100 chest X-rays possible.
    Extreme radio blackout can cause complete HF radio blackout on the entire sunlit side of Earth lasting for a numbers of hours, resulting in no HF radio contact with mariners and en route aviators in this sector. Low-frequency navigation signals used by maritime and general aviation systems (loran-C) experience outages on the sunlit side of Earth for many hours, causing loss in positioning. Further, there can be increased satellite navigation errors in positioning for several hours on the sunlit side of Earth, which may spread into the night side.
    Jeff Zimmerman, a forecast techniques meteorologist with Northwest Airlines, said that the recent session in Washington had been planned for November, but the events of September 11 caused it to be delayed. He said airlines are using polar routes “a lot less” than before the attacks.
    The sun goes through cycles of high and low activity that repeat about every 11 years, and 2001 was considered the peak of the current cycle. Although the next solar maximum won’t occur for about another 11 years, Zimmerman reminded the group that “it is still an issue for us.”
    NOAA, through its SEC, and the Air Force jointly operate the Space Weather Operations (SWO) branch. It is the national and world warning center for disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in space, and provides forecasts and warnings of solar and geomagnetic activity to users in government, industry and the private sector.
    According to NOAA, the SWO continuously monitors, analyzes and forecasts the environment between the sun and Earth. The SEC receives solar and geophysical data in real time from a large number of ground-based observatories and satellite sensors around the world. SWO forecasters use these data to predict solar and geomagnetic activity and issue worldwide alerts of extreme events.
    Three U.S. airlines are using the four polar routes because they reduce flying time by up to two hours, which in turn provides for increases in payload and/or reserve fuel capability, said Gene Cameron, manager of international dispatch and flight operations for United Airlines.
    As longer-legged airliners become available, they will open the possibility of new services to Asia.
    But airlines must be aware of solar activity, and they cannot plan a polar operation if a level-4 solar radiation storm (classified as “severe” on a five-tier scale) is active or expected. A storm of that level elevates radiation exposure to passengers and crew at high latitudes; further, there is blackout of HF radio communications through the polar regions and for several days there is an increased likelihood of navigation errors.
    Cameron said that a level-3 solar storm (strong) will allow polar operations at Flight Level 280 or 310. Passengers and crew may receive low-level radiation exposure there (approximately equal to one X-ray). HF radio is degraded through the polar regions and navigation position errors are likely.
    Jay Bjornstad, international chief dispatcher for Northwest Airlines, said that flight planning for a Detroit-Beijing trip that departs at 2030Z begins at 1200Z and is complete by 1700Z. Available routes are either polar or Russian Far East routes, but the use of polar routes requires “considerable coordination” with Russian and Chinese ATC authorities.
    Dispatchers must plan to avoid turbulence/hazardous weather, provide the best fuel burn/shortest en route time, keep the fuel above the freeze point and comply with ATC rules and Notams, all the while ensuring continuous communications with ATC and dispatch.
    Bjornstad said that space weather Web sites are checked, and if problems are detected before departure, the Russian Far East Route is selected. If a problem occurs before reaching the polar area, the flight is rerouted, which likely results in an unplanned fuel stop that adds hours to the trip. If the problem occurs after the aircraft has entered the area, the flight continues.
    Arinc, which provides HF messaging from ground stations, said that increased solar activity causes its operators communications problems. Since there is a language difficulty inherent in international communications, any noise or signal degradation exacerbates the problem.

AIN Online - Crossair puts new face on old values - by Eryl Crump - Crossair, Europe’s largest regional airline, spreads its wings next month when it formally takes over Swissair routes following the national carrier’s bankruptcy last year. The airline, to be known as Swiss, will fly to 123 destinations in 60 countries with a fleet of 128 aircraft. But André Dosé, the airline’s president and CEO, insisted that the regional roots of Crossair would form the foundation of Switzerland’s new national carrier.
    “It may have a different wrapping, but Swiss will have the soul and base of Crossair,” said Dosé.
    Under current plans, the airline will be the first to introduce the Embraer 170 into service, and the niche markets that made Crossair so well respected will remain a vital part of the network.
    Of the 30 Embraer 170s on firm order, the first is scheduled to arrive this year and a further 14 next year. The first of 30 Embraer 190s will be delivered in 2004, marking the beginning of the replacement of the Avro RJ fleet. The airline also expects another seven 50-seat ERJ-145s to be delivered this year, completing its initial order for 25 aircraft. Their delivery will see the withdrawal of the remaining Saab 340s and the beginning of the disposal of the Saab 2000 fleet.
    Dosé insisted that the new airline would serve the major intercontinental trunk routes and those it considered niche markets with equal commitment. “London City is a niche market in which we have been successful and I see no reason to discontinue those routes. Similarly, services from Lugano, Bern and Sion will also continue,” he said. “We know there is little prospect of making money from all of those services, but they are important to the passengers. Our commitment to these niche markets is illustrated by our insistence that the new Embraer aircraft must be able to operate into these challenging airports.”
    Point-to-Point Focus - Dosé said the airline would place more emphasis on point-to-point traffic rather than transfer traffic, which typically provides poor yields. As a result Zurich, which was Swissair’s main hub, will become the new airline’s intercontinental base, and Crossair’s Euro Airport will remain its regional hub.
    The airline expects to carry 9.8 million passengers this year, and despite budgeting for a SFr1.1 billion ($644 million) loss this year, it aims to break even next year.
    Joining an airline alliance remains a possibility, but Dosé would give no indication as to the favorite. It appears Swiss will join British Airways, American Airlines and six other airlines in the One World alliance, although neither Skyteam nor Star Alliance has been ruled out.
    Swissair, once a proud national symbol, ran out of cash and fell into bankruptcy last October after piling up heavy debt from a failed expansion plan. Crossair, a profitable airline serving only European destinations, said it would consider taking over the Swissair intercontinental routes only if it received financial support from government and industry. Within four months, Dosé said, investors raised SFr2.7 billion ($1.6 billion).
    The airline’s primary concern rests with replacing the 13 MD-11s currently in service on intercontinental routes. Dosé said the airline would likely decide between the Boeing 777-200ER and the Airbus A340-300 before the end of the year.
    Swiss will be owned by a holding company called Swiss Air Lines– a name that traces its roots to the halcyon days of Swiss aviation between 1935 and 1955.
    The airline has begun painting its airplanes in the new color scheme. The first, an Airbus A320, debuted at Basel during the announcement. Plans call for all aircraft to be repainted by the end of the year, with some displaying the bold Swiss painted in one of the country’s four official languages–German, French, Italian and Romansch.

AIN Online - GPS jamming still a major concern - by John Sheridan - The DOT Volpe Center’s September 10 report on the vulnerability of GPS to jamming and other interference, in addition to the events of the following day, have greatly heightened national concerns about the security of the satellite system and the degree of dependence that should be placed on it as the backbone of our future ATC system. These concerns were reflected in several of the presentations and much of the discussion at the annual technical meeting of the U.S. Institute of Navigation (ION) in San Diego in January.
    Since September 11, military and civil government officials, including the FAA, have been conducting internal, but classified, assessments of the extent to which short- or long- term non-availability of GPS would affect their operations. ION attendees had hoped that a DOT presentation scheduled for the meeting would shed some light on these assessments, but Heywood Shirer, DOT radionavigation program manager, was only able to tell them that while an action plan for civil GPS users had been prepared in December, it had still not been signed off in late January by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.
    This was disturbing to those who had attended an October DOT Outreach meeting on the subject, at which a public review meeting was promised for early this year, only to have it canceled without explanation. While Shirer’s discretion was understandable, one senior FAA official told AIN that “sole-means GPS is no longer in our vocabulary.”
    Some civil organizations have also been vocal in demanding a review of the government’s GPS policy. One of these, the newly formed Heritage Foundation, whose members include a cross section of top-level industrialists, and former high- ranking politicians and military officers, issued in December a detailed manifesto–from its own homeland security task force–that called upon President Bush to enact seven specific priorities to ensure protection of the nation’s infrastructure.
    While the group’s top priority was to require the reorganization of affected federal agencies, its second priority was to “designate the GPS frequencies and network as a critical national infrastructure.” In reviewing the system’s vulnerability and the threats it faces, the foundation called upon the President to assign lead agency status to the Department of Defense, and require the agency then to “accelerate modification of current-production satellites to include more robust signals,” and to launch satellites at an increased rate “to augment the fragile constellation currently in operation.”
    The DOD may have been listening. At the ION meeting DOD spokesmen described the new GPS modernization program, which next year will begin to launch satellites with greater signal power, making them harder to jam. But the modernized satellites will have significantly reduced orbital lives, according to John Clark of The Aerospace Corp.
    As for the “fragile constellation,” DOD Lt. Col. John Anton noted that of the 28 GPS satellites currently in orbit, 18 are beyond their expected design life, with 12 being “one component away from nav mission failure,” and 10 being “one component away from bus failure.” However, while allowing that GPS is “an aging constellation,” Anton assured attendees that such “single thread” operation from satellites that were originally launched with triple-redundant electronics is not really as dire as it seems. The component failure-mode process is well understood, he said, and with four spare satellites in orbit (24 are optimum for civil use, while 21 is the military’s minimum), close monitoring at the USAF’s GPS Master Control Center forestalls surprise failures.
    More civil-user-community involvement was the thrust of another DOD presentation at ION, but while civil participation could be detected here and there within the acronym-rich military organization charts presented, attendees could not avoid reading a key statement in bold type that “the DOD’s processes can accommodate civil involvement.” After the presentation, several commented that they would have been more comforted to have seen “will” rather than “can” in the statement.
    GPS III is slowly making its way toward the heavens, with its first launch now forecast for 2009–a four-year slippage from earlier estimates. With higher power, superior anti-jamming capabilities, more satellites in different (but still undefined) orbits, and the ability to direct even higher-power beams at enemy targets, GPS III promises to be the military’s 800-lb gorilla in future conflicts.
    While the higher power will help civil users, its more important feature will be its transmission of a second civil frequency, called L5, that will virtually eliminate ionospheric interference and produce consistently high accuracy. More precisely, L5 is actually the third civil GPS frequency, since a second frequency, L2, will be initially available from earlier satellites by 2005. But L2 will be outside the band “protected” for civil aviation, and its use will therefore not be approved by the FAA. It is also important to note that the replacement of earlier satellites by L5 satellites, to provide advanced worldwide capabilities throughout the complete constellation, will take many years. As a result, avionics manufacturers are far from announcing civil unit production plans.
    Finally, the future of the FAA’s wide-area augmentation system was often debated during the meeting’s coffee breaks. Since its original raison d’etre of providing nationwide Cat I approach guidance appears to be drifting farther away in time, mainly due to delays in providing a satisfactorily placed GEO satellite to cover the central U.S., many observers believe its days may be numbered as potentially less costly alternatives, such as improved satellites and even loran, are starting to attract attention.

AIN Online - Pilots and line techs held on INS charges - by Gregory Polek - Federal agents last month arrested six Venezuelan pilots and two ramp workers accused of using false immigration papers to obtain employment in the U.S. Two of the pilots, Pedro Agusti and Luis Garmendia, flew for American Airlines regional subsidiary American Eagle. Another pilot, Pedro Bottome, flew as a Citation X captain for Executive Jet Aviation. One of the ramp workers, Luis Gonzales, worked as a line serviceman for Signature Flight Support at Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) International Airport.
    All of the suspects except Garmendia live in Florida’s Broward County. INS agents apprehended Garmendia, a resident of Grapevine, Texas, after he completed a scheduled flight into Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on February 9. Two others were taken into custody after landing at Miami International Airport.
    According to the INS, the men paid as much as $25,000 to obtain the false documentation as part of a scheme that involved as many as 30 people. They paid to have their passports stamped with an I-551 “ADIT” stamp, which allows residence and employment in the U.S. for one year or until the applicant receives his or her green card. The stamp also allowed the men to get their pilots’ and drivers’ licenses.
    Federal prosecutors charged all eight individuals with immigration-related offenses, including lying to Social Security Administration agents and document fraud. They subsequently dropped the most serious charges against Garmendia, who could have faced 10 years in prison if convicted of possessing false documents and making false statements to INS officials. American Eagle has placed Garmendia and Agusti on unpaid leave pending the outcome of their hearings in immigration court. According to the Federal Magistrate’s office in Miami, Agusti approached the INS in June with information about the scheme, sparking the investigation. As of February 19 Agusti had posted bail and secured his release. Prosecutors had until February 21 to issue an indictment.
    An American Eagle spokesman refused to discuss details about its two pilots, saying only that the airline has cooperated fully with authorities. Doug Crowther, v-p of operations at Signature Flight Support at its Orlando headquarters, confirmed that Gonzales worked for the company at Fort Lauderdale International for three months and did nothing to raise any suspicions about his immigration status. “We did our background checks and he passed the airport screening to work here,” said Crowther. “He had what we assumed to be a valid driver’s license, what appeared to be a valid passport, visa and work permit, but of course we’ve since found otherwise.” Crowther said the company no longer considers Gonzales an employee. “The day he was arrested, he no longer qualified to work at the airport or for us.”
    Columbus, Ohio-based Executive Jet has suspended Bottome, an EJA employee for two years, without pay pending the outcome of the investigation. Executive Jet COO Steve Brechter told AIN that Bottome “was a good pilot” and, as in the case of Gonzales, cleared all INS and company background checks. Since the arrest the company and the INS has begun a thorough rescreening of all its employees, both in Columbus and Miami.

The Boston Globe - Jet passengers say man tried to open exit in flight - By Jason Trenkle, Globe Correspondent - Months after a foiled attempt by an alleged shoe bomber to ignite explosives on an airliner, passengers onboard an American Airlines flight Sunday restrained a disruptive passenger they thought was attempting to open an emergency exit while flying 3,000 feet above ground.
    Passengers on American Airlines Flight 680 from Miami to Boston described a man in his mid-60s acting strangely minutes after takeoff from Miami.
    ''He got out of his seat five or 10 minutes into the flight, and he came in front of the divider panel and, leaning on it, he stared around,'' said passenger William Kramer of Bellingham. ''He just looked strange standing there in the middle.''
    Kramer, who was sitting one seat away from the exit, said he, his wife, and other passengers watched in horror as the man ''turned around and grabbed for the handle of the door.''
    ''Everyone panicked and screamed, `Get him!,''' said passenger Deb Arons of Randolph. ''Every guy in the back got up and they grabbed him and put him in his seat.''
    Kramer said the flight attendants did not respond until after passengers had restrained the man in his seat.
    ''Fifty or 60 people in the back of the plane were either yelling, crying, or standing up to this guy,'' Kramer said.
    American Airlines spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon said a flight attendant's report stated that, ''Upon landing, the individual fell towards the emergency door'' after losing his balance. She said the attendants did not think he had tried to open it.
    Because of the cabin pressure, it is highly unlikely that an emergency door could be opened while a jet is in flight.
    Massachusetts State Police and the Massport Emergency Medical Team said they received reports of an intoxicated person on the flight. The man was taken into custody for questioning when the plane landed, officials said. There was no mention of the emergency door in Massport's report.
    Phil Orlandella, director of media relations at Logan, said no charges have been filed.
    ''The person they talked to wanted no medical assistance and didn't appear at all intoxicated,'' Orlandella said. ''We received no reports of a major problem on the flight. ''
    Still, Kramer praised the others for successfully subduing the man.
    ''I don't think anything really could have happened with those passengers there,'' he said. - Jason Trenkle can be reached at mailto:%20jtrenkle@globe.com This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 3/13/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

AviationNow.com - Civil Aircraft Orders Fall To Six-Year Low In 2001; Warplane Demand Hits Record - By Stephen Trimble/AviationNow.com - Combined orders for commercial aircraft, parts and avionics dropped to a six-year low in 2001, while demand for their military equivalents rose to the highest levels in at least a decade, a new industry survey says.
    Overall, orders for the world's civil and military aeronautics declined to $152 billion last year, down from a record mark of $184 billion in 2000, says the Aerospace Industries Association year-end statistical review, "Aerospace Facts And Figures."
    Commercial orders fell to $90.6 million - the lowest total since 1996 -- under the weight of a year-long industry slump compounded by the effects of terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September.
    Demand for civilian aircraft and parts slipped to $82.8 billion, down nearly $35.5 billion compared to a year ago. Avionics orders fell from $9.3 billion in 2000 to $7.8 billion in 2001.
    Military orders, meanwhile, increased nearly $2.5 billion year-over-year to $61.3 billion. Manufacturers saw a spike of activity in October - the start of both the U.S. Defense Dept.'s fiscal year and a worldwide defense build-up following the Sept. 11 attacks - as orders soared to $15.5 billion, or an $11 billion jump over orders in September.
    Despite the overall decline in orders, the industry's total shipments rose in 2001 to $158 billion, a nearly $8 billion increase over the previous year.
    Competition between Boeing and Airbus entered a new phase. Airbus reported 375 announced orders to Boeing's 334, the first time the European manufacturer trumped its U.S. rival's yearly order book.
    Airbus orders got a boost last year by the unveiling of the A380 superjumbo jet, which netted 85 bids for the developmental plane.
    But Boeing can point to a wide advantage in aircraft shipments in 2001. The Chicago-base manufacturer delivered 526 aircraft to Airbus' 325. Boeing's venerable 737 topped all single aircraft orders and deliveries last year with 187 and 296 respectively.

National Post - Air Canada turns to Jazz after launch of Tango - Peter Fitzpatrick - Financial Post - Air Canada is hoping to hit the right note with customers by renaming its regional carrier Jazz.
    The name has been trademarked for an airline by a St. John's law firm, and the company overseeing the carrier's rebranding project, Target Marketing & Communications Inc. of St. John's, has registered the Internet domain name flyjazz.ca.
    "We'll have to wait until launch day. I can't confirm anything for you today," said Nathalie Megann, a spokeswoman for Air Canada Regional.
    The new name is to be unveiled on March 26, when Air Canada Regional, the corporate entity consisting of Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air BC and Canadian Regional, is relaunched. Combined, the airlines, with about $1.1-billion in revenue, represent about 10% of Air Canada's business.
    The carrier was originally supposed to be rebranded last year as Tango. However, the Tango name was used instead for Air Canada's new low-fare brand.
    The decision on the name could be finished this week during a regular Air Canada board meeting.
    In selecting Jazz, Air Canada appears to be trying to convey a cool image of fun that may not be appropriate for the security-conscious, post-Sept. 11 world, suggested Naseem Javed, president of branding company ABC Namebank International Inc. and author of Naming for Power.
    "The way business travel, corporate travel and consumer travel is over the next five, 10 years, it's on a very strange curve and that curve is no longer taking you to the dance floors, it's much rather taking you through security barriers and inspection halls," he said.

CNN - Mineta sets end of April for Reagan Airport to open fully - Also expected to swear in first federal security directors - From Beth Lewandowski - WASHINGTON (CNN) -- United States Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced Wednesday that Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will be allowed to resume full normal operations by the end of April.
    The airport was closed for nearly a month after the September 11 attacks because of concerns about its proximity to the Pentagon and other Washington landmarks.
    It has slowly been resuming operations since then, in a plan approved by the White House and the Department of Transportation.
    Mineta made his announcement at a news conference at the airport.
    The transport secretary also granted airlines a 60-day extension of government-provided war risk insurance, which would cover airline liability in the case of terrorist hijacking or acts of war. Airlines were unable to get the insurance after the terrorist attacks.
    In addition, Mineta swore in the first group of federal security directors. They are to be the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) top personnel at the nation's largest airports and are to spearhead the operation to replace private screening companies with government employees.
    Industry sources told CNN that initially, such directors are expected to be positioned at Reagan National, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and the airports in Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, California; Denver, Colorado; Chicago; Atlanta, Georgia; and Mobile, Alabama.

MARCH 14

AVflash - AMPHIB OWNERS FROTHING OVER PATENT FEES... As many as 900 Lake amphibian owners could be on the hook for millions in royalties for violating what might be the first-ever patent on an Airworthiness Directive (AD) mandated repair.  Last December, Lake Aircraft was awarded the *patent* for a kit to reinforce Lake wing spars in compliance with the AD.  Now, owners who took advantage of another -- lower-priced, but FAA-approved -- kit could face licensing fees of as much as $5,800.  While Lake contends that it warned owners of its intent via a letter sent to each of them, many did not see this coming. "There's been an uproar of outrage over this thing," said Marc Rodstein,
president of the Lake Amphibian Flyers Club, and "legal maneuvering" will likely follow. ..."COME AGAIN?" NO, JUST PAY AGAIN... Lake owners who took advantage of the AD-compliant, lower-cost kit prior to the granting of the patent (and there are a lot of them) may be forced to pay again ... but they won't be paying Lake.  Lake President Armand Rivard sold the rights to Enpat Inc., a Melbourne, Fla., patent-enforcement firm, earlier this year.  Rivard was stuck with his development costs and materials after the FAA required him to stock enough parts to repair all 1,100 Lakes in service.  Then the FAA turned virtually all his business away by approving a lower-priced kit produced by Airtech.  Rivard told AVweb, "I just couldn't face the idea of suing my customers."  Unfortunately, in recovering some cash by selling the rights, Rivard has apparently guaranteed that someone else will be suing his customers in his place. ...WHETHER YOU LAKE IT OR NOT? According to Enpat, Lake owners with the Airtech mod have two legal
choices: pay the money (up to $5,800 for Renegade owners) or stop using the infringing kit (read: ground their airplanes).  Airtech owner James Mewett and hundreds of Lake owners like patent lawyer Jim Salter don't like those options and may challenge the patent in court.  Rivard's concern is that "reverse engineering" is common in the aircraft repair business, but that could change if other manufacturers start patenting their AD fixes -- which means this little episode eventually might be costing you ...

AVflash - TRENDS: OUT WITH PILOTS, IN WITH PIBOTS Later this week, representatives from NASA, the U.S. Navy, New Mexico State University and the industry will descend upon Las Cruces, N.M., to show that remotely controlled aircraft can operate safely in the National Airspace System.  The team will fly up to three aircraft on collision courses to test onboard sensor technology designed to detect and avoid potential threats.  The Proteus aircraft, built by Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif., will take part, fitted with a Skywatch HP traffic advisory system, a radio-based device that detects other aircraft.  Proteus will also carry an Engineering 2000 infrared sensor, and an Amphitech radar "non-cooperative" sensor -- devices that don't require signals or transmissions from any other source -- to detect the presence and course of other aircraft.

AVflash - GENERAL AVIATION TRAFFIC DROPS Not everyone is flocking back to the sky in droves.  According to the FAA's annual Commercial Aviation Forecast, released by the FAA on Tuesday, the agency expects that general aviation traffic will continue to decline in the short term as the industry copes with recession and the aftermath of 9/11.  The longer term is much more optimistic for general aviation ... at least with regard to business-jet traffic, which is expected to increase an average of 3.5 percent annually.  The forecast is less optimistic for personal flying, which is forecast to grow less than 1 percent in the long term to accompany a continuing drop in new student pilot starts.

AVflash - AA 587 UPDATE: The NTSB has released another update on its investigation into American Airlines Flight 587 that crashed in Belle Harbor, N.Y., killing all 260 aboard and five persons on the ground.  Investigators are focusing on composite samples that have been pulled from the aircraft's vertical stabilizer and rudder, and five of six lugs that serve as attachment points between the vertical stabilizer and the fuselage will undergo scans for internal flaws.

AVflash - FAA ISSUES NO-BRAINER: The FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) to urge owners and operators of various Raytheon Beech propeller aircraft to review preflight inspection procedures and "Before Takeoff" procedures so that they can avoid killing themselves.  According to the FAA, "numerous" incidents and fatal accidents have resulted from the failure of pilots to remove the flight control gust lock prior to attempted takeoff.  The FAA notes in the SAIB that "proper adherence to the required preflight inspection and preflight checks specified in the AFM would have prevented all of these accidents."

AVflash - HELICOPTER MISHAPS TAKE HEAVY TOLL: Two separate helicopter crashes off the coast of Georgia claimed two lives.  In one accident, a helicopter carrying two people working for the Marine Corps crashed into the ocean Friday 35 miles east of Brunswick, Ga.  In another accident Saturday morning, a Marine Corps HA-46 Delta helicopter with five rescue workers on board crashed 30 miles east of Brunswick.  A Coast Guard cutter rescued four of the five people; the fifth person is still missing. Tuesday morning, a Navy SH-60B Seahawk helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean Sea during a training flight -- three missing.

AVflash - UNITED MOVES FORWARD CAUTIOUSLY: United Airlines announced that it will add 77 daily flights from Chicago beginning June 7 and will recall an unspecified number of furloughed employees to service the expanded schedule.  Earlier, United had announced it would recall 1,200 flight attendants, but would continue to lay off pilots.  United is courting the business traveler with the expanded flight schedule and an aggressive national advertising campaign already underway.


The BBC says Boeing is considering a bid on Fairchild Dornier.

A Continental B-767 out of Brussels for New York was intercepted by the RAF.
 

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