Sikorsky works on Black Hawk quality
Manufacturing Sikorsky is correcting manufacturing quality problems on the UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter after the US Department of Defense issued a 22 November request for immediate corrective action request giving it 30 days to act. Sikorsky has outsourced manufacture of subassemblies to focus on final assembly as production of new US Army UH-60Ms and Black Hawk export sales increase. The company declines to comment, but the problems are thought to involve work outsourced to Florida-based L-3 Crestview Aerospace.
UK industry issues Saudi challenge to SFO
Exports UK government sources remain confident of concluding the planned sale to Saudi Arabia of 72 Eurofighter Typhoons, and last week denied media reports claiming that Riyadh had imposed a 10-day deadline to save the deal. Voicing industry concern over the UK Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) more than two-year-old investigation into alleged false accounting related to previous Al Yamamah arms deals between the countries, Alan Sharman, director general of the UK's Defence Manufacturers Association, says the SFO should "decide quickly whether there is a case to answer".
Delta revamps 777 order
Switch Delta Air Lines and Boeing have agreed to switch the US major's three 777-200ER orders to 777-200LRs, along with a new order for 10 737-700s and the assumption of existing aircraft purchase agreements. The airline has also agreed to sell, upon delivery, 38 737-800s - 15 to Aviation Capital Group and 23 to Babcock & Brown Aviation Finance.
Horizon Air Q400 overruns in Seattle
Investigation US regional Horizon Air is investigating an overrun of a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 (N411QX) at Seattle Tacoma International airport on 2 December. The incident occurred during a landing in fog after a flight from Boise, Idaho. The Q400 overran "a few feet" while taxiing forward, remaining on concrete. "The pilot landed on centreline, at the right speed and in the touchdown zone," says Horizon. The Federal Aviation Administration preliminary report notes that the aircraft landed on runway 16C.
Raytheon to build anti-terror tool
Software Raytheon has won a $1.9 million contract to build a software tool that will help the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) better deploy its anti-terror assets, in particular federal air marshals. Called the Advanced Route Evaluation System, this is being designed to evaluate all US domestic airline flights on any given day, assigning each flight with a relative risk factor so the DHS can "prioritise its resources".
Manchester runway near-collision report
Report The crew of an Excel Airways Boeing 737-800 (G-XLAG) with 197 people on board took off from runway 06L at Manchester in the UK while vehicles were working toward the end of the runway surface, says the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch report on the 16 July 2003 incident. Despite being told the runway was operating at reduced length, the crew did not notice, or use the information to calculate take-off performance. At the start of the take-off run, the vehicles were on the far side of a rise and could not be seen by the pilots, but when they came into view, the pilots could no longer stop in the distance, so took off over the trucks, missing them by 56ft (17m).
Airbus goes for Parker inerting
Fuel Parker Aerospace will provide fuel-tank inerting systems for most of Airbus's product line from 2009. The $500 million contract comes in anticipation of impending rules on inerting. Parker's system uses air separation modules to inject nitrogen-rich air into the centre fuel tank, reducing the flammability of fuel vapour in the tank. Airbus will use the system on new A320 family aircraft, A330/A340s and the A400M military transport.
Source: Flight International
