Monthly Archives: October 2008
AIA to Congress: NextGen investment is a ‘no-brainer’
The Aerospace Industry Association’s Dan Elwell testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure this week (press release, full text PDF), and called on Congress to fund NextGen investments through tax incentives as well as the Airport Improvement Program. … Continue reading
Explainer: Clean air turbulence
A great column in Forbes magazine about what clean air turbulence is, why it happens, why it’s hard to avoid, and how meteorologists might soon be able to do a better job of predicting it. No specific mention of NextGen, … Continue reading
Filed under explainer
CSC buys maker of ATC simulator software
Integration giant Computer Sciences Corp. has acquired Maryland-based Xavius Technology in order to raise its game in the field of air traffic control simulation (press release). Xavius, which released its first simulator in the late nineties as a standalone software … Continue reading
Filed under commerce
How will the presidential election affect air travel?
A fine column from Joe Brancatelli, former editor of Frequent Flyer magazine and current contributor to Conde Nast Portfolio, on how our next president might shape the airline industry. Brancatelli mentions NextGen, but also examines topics ranging from reform at … Continue reading
Filed under voices
FAA’s Leverenz touts Alaska Airlines approach ‘saves’
FAA Acting Deputy Administrator Ruth Leverenz spoke to the International Aviation Womens’ Association on Friday, and portrayed NextGen as the next frontier in a long line of historical breakthroughs. (Transcript here.) Also, she specifically highlighted Alaska Airilnes’ participation in an … Continue reading
Filed under voices
EXCLUSIVE: Embry-Riddle’s Christina Frederick talks to Fly NextGen about politics, next month’s big test, and why she’s nervous about a ‘huge FAA shakeup’
On November 18th, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will host a demo of some key systems around ERAM (En Route Automation Modernization) and TMA (Traffic Management Advisor) at its NextGen test bed facility in Daytona Beach. It’s a high-profile moment for the … Continue reading
NASA to fund radical thinking on the future of commercial flight
The aeronautics research arm of NASA has awarded $12.4 million in grants to six teams, who will develop advanced concepts for commercial aircraft that could enter service around 2035 (press release). The teams, which include industry giants like Northrop-Grumman, Boeing, … Continue reading
Filed under future plans, news
Presidential candidates’ views on FAA succession are vague, similar
The Aicraft Owners and PIlots Association (AOPA) asked the campaigns for both presidential candidates identical questions of interest to the GA community (link here). The last question was phrased as follows: “What specific qualifications will you look for when nominating … Continue reading
Taxiing SkyWest jet collides with truck at O’Hare; 3 injured
Three people were injured at Chicago’s O’Hare airport early Saturday when a city maintenance truck collided with a United Express CL-600 regional jet, operated by SkyWest Airlines. The plane was being piloted by two maintenance workers on a closed runway when … Continue reading
Filed under news
FAA’s Victoria Cox: ‘We ain’t seen nothing yet’
FAA Senior Vice President for NextGen Victoria Cox has an editorial in the Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star newspaper. The technology of NextGen is not our greatest challenge. Marshalling the support–including financial resources–necessary to build and implement NextGen is. Virtually everyone … Continue reading
Filed under voices
FAA adds 3 new carriers to cockpit safety trial
The FAA has announced it will partner with three additional airlines for its upcoming cockpit safety initative, which focuses on Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and Aural Alerting technology. (FAA fact sheet). The newly added carriers are Atlas Air, CommutAir and … Continue reading
Filed under news
Domestic passenger traffic drops 3.5% in July
The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics released its most current monthly data on passenger traffic today, and the picture is fairly grim. Total July traffic (year-over-year) declined 2.9%, but that number is a bit misleading because the international portion was … Continue reading
Filed under news
Sensis nabs $131 million contract to install runway lights
It’s been a good month so far for Sensis. The East Syracuse (NY)-based tech integrator just landed an FAA contract to install runway status lights at 22 U.S. airports (press releases here and here). The initial job is priced at … Continue reading
Filed under commerce
Earnings report: Q3 fuel costs hit airlines hard
Three of the nation’s largest air carriers reported stiff underlying quarterly losses on Thursday, with American Airlines parent AMR reaching profitability only through the sale of financial firm American Beacon Advisors. (Stories here and here.) AMR said its third-quarter net … Continue reading
FAA to establish foothold in India
While it’s not exactly NextGen, the Times of India had an interesting item about the FAA’s efforts to establish closer ties with the aviation community in India. At this week’s India Aviation conference and expo in Hyderabad, acting Administrator Robert … Continue reading
Filed under news
Explainer: ACARS and its future
Among the many legacy networks that NextGen initiatives will presumably replace, the Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) stands out as especially anachronistic in a wifi- and WWAN-enabled world. This system, which uses 100- to 200- character “telex-style” messages … Continue reading
Filed under explainer
Gloomy outlook for defense biz; contractors looking to IT, training, logistics
Monday’s Washington Post provides some good context around the economic conditions faced by large government contractors. The article’s subhead — “After Eight Boom Years for Spending on Military Equipment, Contractors Expect a Slowdown” — points to looming uncertainty in the … Continue reading
Flight rerouting called ‘reckless’
The re-routing of four flights over North Carolina and Georgia is being investigated due to union allegations that an FAA manager ordered the move in violation of federal rules. The incident, which occurred at Jacksonville Center late last week, was … Continue reading
Filed under news
FAA’s troubled flight-plan system: an IT perspective
The corporate IT magazine ‘Baseline’ has a sprawling, somewhat uneven, but nonetheless fascinating article related to the spectacular August 26th system failure of the National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN) site in Atlanta. One interesting tidbit: the existing mainframe hardware … Continue reading
Filed under news
One step at a time: Phase 2 of TFMS upgrade completed
It’s a baby step, but a step nonetheless. In this press release from Computer Sciences Corp., the tech giant reports it has completed an upgrade of the FAA’s Traffic Flow Management System. CSC says the system “integrates real-time weather and … Continue reading
Filed under commerce
