briefs

Well, he may not have come up with green ketchup, but Paul B. MacCready’s accomplishments flavoring aviation with energy conservation have earned him the $250,000 Heinz Award. MacCready designed the Gossamer Albatross, the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel. The award honors the memory of Sen. John Heinz, heir to the food company […]

The FAA is writing new regulations to accommodate the development of enhanced vision systems and to distinguish them from synthetic vision systems that will not be permitted. Both systems help pilots land in weather that is below current minimums, by allowing them to see the airport as if it were above minimums. Enhanced vision uses […]

They’ve made it work on the ground and now Aerojet is working toward a flying version of its HyFly hypersonic ramjet missile engine. The company recently completed tests of a beefed up “heavy-weight” variant of the engine at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee. The engine was tested in simulated conditions at various altitudes and […]

After hovering below the profit line in 2001, Bell Helicopter Textron has recovered to a small profit and is looking for big things from its biggest gamble ever — the V-22 Osprey. After some deadly failures earlier in the program, Bell CEO Peter Murphey is upbeat about the Osprey and other military programs. “I feel […]

Don’t look for an airborne laser light show over Iraq if and when the war begins. U.S. forces will have to rely on plain old high-tech missiles to shoot down any missiles the enemy lofts their way, because the laser-packing Boeing 747 now under development won’t be ready in time. Mark Danner, program manager of […]

Airline stock may not be worth the paper it’s printed on but there’ll be a lot riding on some cardboard, paperboard and linerboard creations April 5. Ten college engineering teams will try to fly hang-glider frames with flying surfaces made of paper from an 80-foot dune near Kitty Hawk. It will be the final phase […]

U.S. airliners would be equipped with missile-jamming gear — at a cost of up to $10 billion — under a bill introduced in Congress last Wednesday. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sponsored the bill, which would pay between $1 million and $1.5 million to add the electronic […]

Ralph Charles, one of the country’s oldest pilots, died Feb. 2 at age 103, in Somerset, Ohio. In his youth he worked with the Wright brothers as a welder. He later ran his own airport, and in the 1930s he flew Stinsons and Ford Tri-Motors for TWA and other airlines. During World War II, Charles […]

The FAA has made final an Airworthiness Directive (AD) for certain models of Hartzell Propellers installed on Pitts aircraft, stipulating that their certified service life is limited to 2,000 hours, and has extended the comment period. on its final rule regarding Aging Airplane Safety. The rule applies to multiengine aircraft older than 14 years used […]

Airports, large and small, are always fighting for federal money, and three in Maryland seem to be fighting for their livelihood. Greater Cumberland Regional Airport, Hagerstown and Salisbury/Ocean City will lose up to $100 million in federal grants if the regional air service linking them to Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) ceases to exist. Airport officials […]