News Articles March 30, 2010

• March 30, 2010
  
  

  Posted on Mar. 30, 2010

  Quick summary of today’s news articles (Full text of articles follows):

  • Boeing Co. said the results of a key airworthiness test for its long-delayed 787 are “positive,” but it will be weeks before the aircraft maker can say whether it’s a success.
  • Oklahoman editorial concerning the state budget for fiscal year 2011 and questions whether the state is in a buget crisis or catastrophe.
  • Oklahoma ended up in the bottom 10 in the unprecedented Race to the Top competition designed to push school reforms, according to results released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education.
  • Network World column in which the writer wonders if the highly successful but disparate unmanned aircraft strategy deployed by the military is outstripping the Department of Defense’s ability to handle its growth?
  • Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse Aerospace Inc. has unveiled a new refurbishment and completion program for the EA500 under the trademark
  • “Total Eclipse,” CEO Mason Holland tells Aviation Week.

  OK AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

  Key Boeing 787 test ‘positive’
  By Associated Press
  3/30/2010

  NEW YORK – Boeing Co. said the results of a key airworthiness test for its
  long-delayed 787 are “positive,” but it will be weeks before the aircraft
  maker can say whether it’s a success.

  The aircraft maker said Sunday the test involved flexing the jet’s wings
  while applying loads to the frame to replicate 150 percent of the most
  extreme forces the airplane could experience.

  The wings were pushed up about 25 feet during the ground test performed at
  Boeing’s Everett, Wash., factory.

  The test took more than two hours, and thousands of pieces of data were
  collected to measure wing performance.

  Boeing, based in Chicago, says the data will be reviewed over the next
  several weeks.

  Boeing has been testing the plane and its systems for more than three
  months, after production delays and problems with carbon-fiber composite
  materials used in the plane put it nearly three years behind schedule. The
  first test plane made an unplanned landing last month after an engine lost
  thrust.

  Japan’s All Nippon Airways is scheduled for the first delivery of the 787
  later this year. Boeing says airlines around the world have ordered 851 of
  the aircraft.

  Components are being manufactured in Tulsa by Spirit AeroSystems Inc. and
  NORDAM Group.

  STATE BUDGET

  Define line: State budget picture darkens by the day
  THE OKLAHOMAN EDITORIAL
  The Oklahoman
  3/30/2010

  How quickly can a crisis become a catastrophe? Apparently, about as fast as
  a budget crunch becomes a budget crisis.

  To those who write definitions goes the power to modify meanings. To those
  who write budgets – or analyze them – goes the privilege of defining down
  or defining up the nature of a fiscal shortfall.

  Gov. Brad Henry started the year wearing rose-colored glasses, admitting
  the gravity of the budget crisis but offering mitigating ideas such as
  “revenue enhancements.” We haven’t heard much from him since on that topic,
  but his spokesman says this is because negotiations are carried out away
  from the public eye, among a small group of players.

  State Rep. Ken Miller, chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget
  Committee, sees a budget hole for fiscal 2011 “in the $500 million range.“
  That’s a crisis. Oklahoma Policy Institute analyst David Blatt sees a
  shortfall of $850 million. That’s a catastrophe.

  Henry, Miller and Blatt know the state is running out of options for
  balancing a budget without meaningful “revenue enhancements.” Tax increases
  aren’t being discussed (it’s an election year), only adjustments to tax
  credits.

  Blatt has said the effort to minimize cuts to education and public safety
  is putting severe pressure on other state services. Mental health is one of
  them, he said.

  The Rainy Day Fund is not sufficiently full to meet this crisis,
  catastrophe or whatever it is that we’re in. The people may ultimately be
  asked to decide if they think state government needs more revenue.

  STEM EDUCATION

  State flops in Race to Top
  By JIM MYERS, Washington Bureau
  Tulsa World
  3/30/2010

  WASHINGTON – Oklahoma ended up in the bottom 10 in the unprecedented Race
  to the Top competition designed to push school reforms, according to
  results released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education.

  Former Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor, who helped spearhead Oklahoma’s
  application as a special adviser to Gov. Brad Henry, expressed
  disappointment at the state’s low ranking but remained confident a bolder
  plan could be put together for the next round.

  Reviewers of the state’s application repeatedly noted it was unclear or
  left out specific information on how certain reforms would be achieved.

  Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, were declared winners of the
  highly competitive contest, winning $100 million and $500 million
  respectively.

  “Both states have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their
  schools,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

  “They have written new laws to support their policies, and they have
  demonstrated the courage, capacity and commitment to turn their ideas into
  practices that can improve outcomes for students.“

  While Duncan repeatedly steered reporters away from looking for a single
  factor in Delaware and Tennessee’s victories, he clearly was impressed that
  their plans “touched” 100 percent of their students.

  Duncan said both went well beyond pilot programs and small-scale programs.

  Taylor said Oklahoma already had identified some of the areas that ended up
  in the reviewers’ comments.

  “We have gotten great guidance,” she said.

  One area that Taylor said still presents a challenge is getting the support
  of more of the state’s school districts, whose numbers are greater in
  Oklahoma than in other states.
  All of the districts in Oklahoma need to understand that transformational
  change is the goal, she said, and everyone needs to be a part of it.

  “We believed we had critical mass of participation,” Taylor said, adding,
  however, that reviewers saw more uncertainty.

  Another problem area involved the low number of lowest-achieving schools
  identified as needing help in turning around.

  Oklahoma pulled in 294.6 points out of a possible 500, putting it at the
  No. 34 spot out of 41 applications.

  By comparison, both Delaware and Tennessee scored above 400.

  Race-to-the-Top grants are funded through the federal American Recovery and
  Reinvestment Act of 2009 and rewards states that come up with innovative
  reforms to “accelerate” student achievement gains.

  Duncan also announced rules for Phase 2 of the competition, singling one
  change to cap the amount of money states could seek.

  Oklahoma will be allowed to compete for between $60 million and $175
  million.

  Duncan urged all states to enter, and, in response to a question, offered
  assurances that states that did well in the first round would not have a
  leg up for the second round.

  “With $3.4 billion still available, we’re providing plenty of opportunity
  for all other states to develop plans and aggressively pursue reform,” he
  said.

  Those plans are due June 1.

  Unlike the first round that produced only two winners, Duncan said, the
  second round should produce more, possibly as many as 15 or so.

  Top 10 states, scores
  1 Delaware, 454.6
  2 Tennessee, 444.2
  3 Georgia, 433.6
  4 Florida, 431.4
  5 Illinois, 423.8
  6 South Carolina, 423.2
  7 Pennsylvania, 420
  8 Rhode Island, 419
  9 Kentucky, 418.8
  10 Ohio, 418.6

  Bottom 10 states, scores
  41 South Dakota, 135.8
  40 Arizona, 240.2
  39 Nebraska, 247.4
  38 New Hampshire, 271.2
  37 Alabama, 291.2
  36 West Virginia, 292.4
  35 Oregon, 292.6
  34 Oklahoma, 294.6
  33 Missouri, 301.4
  32 Wyoming, 318.6

  41 states entered competition

  Source: U.S. Department of Education

  UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

  Is US unmanned aircraft biz too booming for its own good?
  By Michael Cooney
  Network World
  3/29/2010

  Has the highly successful but disparate unmanned aircraft strategy deployed
  by the military outstripped the Department of Defense’s ability to handle
  its growth?

  The Air Force, Army and Navy have requested approximately $6.1 billion in
  fiscal year 2010 for new systems and expanded capabilities. The pentagon’s
  fiscal year 2010 budget request wants to increase the Air Force’s Predator
  and Reaper unmanned aircraft programs to 50 combat air patrols by fiscal
  year 2011-an increase of nearly 300% since fiscal year 2007. In 2000, DOD
  had fewer than 50 unmanned aircraft in its inventory; as of October 2009,
  this number had grown to more than 6,800.

  The program’s success however is causing some big cracks in the system.
  According to a report issued this week by congressional watchdogs at the
  Government Accountability Office. The military is facing a number of
  challenges, including training, accessing national air space and improving
  aircraft communications systems it must overcome if unmanned aircraft are
  to take their place as a central piece of the military’s future, the GAO
  stated.

  First, the report notes that as more unmanned aircraft hit the skies, the
  pentagon will require access to more airspace for training; for example,
  the DoD estimated that based on planned unmanned aircraft inventories in
  fiscal year 2013, the military services will require more than 1 million
  flight hours to train personnel within the United States, the GAO stated.

  Because unmanned aircraft don’t meet several federal requirements for
  routine access to the national airspace system, most types of the aircraft
  may not perform routine flight activities, such as taking off and landing
  outside DoD-managed airspace. The main problems is that most unmanned
  aircraft don’t suitable alternative technology on board the aircraft to
  detect, sense, and avoid collision with other aircraft, the GAO stated.

  Pilot supply is also major issue. The Air Force, the GAO states, has
  identified limitations in the approaches it has used to supply pilots to
  support the expanded Predator and Reaper programs. Since the beginning of
  these programs, the Air Force has temporarily reassigned experienced pilots
  to operate unmanned aircraft, and more recently, it began assigning pilots
  to operate unmanned aircraft immediately after they completed undergraduate
  pilot training. Air Force officials stated that this initiative is intended
  to provide an additional 100 pilots per year on a temporary basis to
  support the expanding unmanned programs. Officials told the GAO that it
  would be difficult to continue these practices in the long term without
  affecting the readiness of other Air Force weapon systems, since the pilots
  who are performing unmanned operations on temporary assignments are also
  needed to operate other manned aircraft and perform other duties.

  A few of the other issues from the GAO report included:

  - The Air Force has neither determined the total number of facilities
  required to support its rapidly expanding Predator and Reaper programs nor
  finalized the criteria it will use to renovate existing facilities because
  decisions regarding the size of squadrons and the locations where these
  squadrons will be based had not been finalized.

  - The Army has begun to field the unmanned aircraft and has determined that
  the Army installations where the system will be stationed require
  facilities uniquely configured to support training and operations. These
  facilities include a runway, a maintenance hangar, and a unit operations
  facility. However, the Army has not fully determined where it will base
  each of these systems and it has not completed assessments at each location
  to evaluate existing facilities that could potentially be used to meet the
  requirements and to determine the number of new facilities that the Army
  needs to construct.

  - The operation of the many unmanned aircraft relies on additional
  equipment, networks and satellites some of which are located outside of the
  country where the unmanned operations occur. Because of the satellite
  relay’s critical importance in supporting ongoing contingency operations,
  the Air Force is taking steps to establish a redundant satellite relay site
  to support unmanned missions in the event of disruptions at the current
  location. For example, officials told the GAO that the Air Force is
  acquiring new communications equipment with increased capacity for the
  current site, which will allow equipment currently in use to be available
  for other locations. In addition, the Air Force is seeking funds to conduct
  surveys to identify potential locations to establish a redundant satellite
  relay site. However, officials stated that these efforts are not scheduled
  to be completed until fiscal year 2012, at the earliest, leaving the system
  open to being disrupted.

  - Air Force unmanned personnel and Army ground units have limited
  opportunities to train together in a joint environment, and they have not
  maximized the use of available assets during training. Current unmanned
  simulators also have limited capabilities to enhance training, the GAO
  stated. The pentagon has started to address training challenges, but it
  has not developed a strategy to prioritize and synchronize these efforts.

  VERY LIGHT JETS

  Eclipse Launches Completion Program
  By George Larson
  Aviation Week
  3/29/2010

  Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse Aerospace Inc. (EAI) has unveiled a new
  refurbishment and completion program for the EA500 under the trademark
  “Total Eclipse,” CEO Mason Holland tells Aviation Week.

  “We acquired all the DayJet aircraft from United Technologies’ finance arm,
  and those will also be completed under the Total Eclipse program and
  offered to new owners,” said Holland. “There is demand for the aircraft,
  and this program provides virtually new aircraft to buyers.“

  Coupled with the program is a plan to offer trade-in credits of from $1
  million to $1.7 million depending on condition, so that a current owner can
  swap a used airplane for a refurbished one. The trade-in will then enter
  refurbishment and go up for sale.

  As the company moves to resume production, Holland emphasizes that his
  approach will be conservative, a tacit comparison with past management,
  which, in his view, promised too much and priced the aircraft before
  costing it. Customers under Total Eclipse can fly away in a 100% complete
  EA500, including avionics and flight in known icing (FIKI), for the
  original price of $2.15 million.

  Holland says the investment to get to this point has been significant. Most
  aircraft were 80 to 85 percent complete, he says, and EAI has focused on
  completing the design and certification of the original aircraft and its
  promised systems, to include FIKI and GPS-coupled autopilot. He balances
  talk of the company’s investment with signs of growing market demand,
  particularly among charter operators.

  “They are telling us they need more airplanes,” says Holland. European
  operators are drawn to the fact that the EA500 carbon emissions are so low
  it is exempt from carbon laws. He says that of the 260 EA500 aircraft out
  there, only 10% were on the market compared with twice that for many other
  makes and models.

  Holland says he and co-founder Mike Press held meetings with prospective
  owners, stopping at 27 FBOs across the United States, an initiative that
  led to the launch of Total Eclipse. “We heard lots of complains about the
  [former] company,” he says. “But nobody complained about the airplane. Not
  one.“

  The refurbished aircraft leave the Chicago Eclipse service facility with
  approval for flight to FL410, a 20,000-cycle life, radar, moving maps and
  Jepp eCharts. Every airplane will carry a factory warranty and early buyers
  will receive a guaranteed buy-back in which EAI agrees to take back the
  aircraft for a guaranteed dollar amount to be applied toward a production
  slot when production resumes—not “if” but “when.“