Faithful readers,
Thanks for reading Air Capital Insider. I will be out of the office until Monday, August 10. I will resume blog entries when I return.
In the meantime, safe travels!
Tailwinds,
Molly
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Boeing unveils P-8A Poseidon for the U.S. Navy
July 31, 200911:33 a.m.
Boeing and the U.S. Navy unveiled the Navy’s newest maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, at a ceremony in Renton, Wash.
The P-8A is a derivative of the Next Generation 737-800.
Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita builds the plane’s fuselage.
The P-8A is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that’s capable of broad area, maritime operations.
The plane replaces the Navy’s P-3C Orion.
Formal flight testing will begin later this year. The Navy plans to buy 117 P-8As. Initial operational capability is plan
Talks continue between Spirit AeroSystems and its engineering union
July 31, 200911:20 a.m.
On Thursday, Spirit AeroSystems‘ engineering union presented the company with a counterproposal after members overwhelmingly rejected the company’s contract last week.
Talks between the company and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace continue today. SPEEA represents more than 700 Spirit engineers.
Spirit’s negotiators listened to the union on Thursday and said they would review the counterproposal and respond at discussions today, the union said.
Members rejected Spirit’s proposal last week by 91 percent because of issues concerning overtime pay, benefits, compensation and job security, the union said.
Hersman sworn in as NTSB chairwoman
July 28, 20092:52 p.m.
Deborah Hersman was sworn in this afternoon as chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board. President Barack Obama nominated her for a two-year term June 18. The Senate confirmed the nomination on Friday.
She also will serve a five-year term as a Board member.
Hersman replaces the outgoing chairman Mark Rosenker. Rosenker has been head of the agency, either as chairman or acting chairman, since March 2005. The affable Rosenker was in Wichita in April and spoke at the Wichita Aero Club luncheon.
Hersman has been a member of the Safety Board since 2004.
She’s been on the scene at 16 major transportation accidents.
Risks increase that Boeing will post cost overruns on 787 Dreamliner
July 28, 200911:53 a.m.
Something to watch for on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program is whether Boeing will have to post forward losses on the program.
If Boeing were to declare a forward loss, it would mean that its costs for the 787 for a set number of aircraft would exceed the revenue for those aircraft. Boeing then would record a charge for the difference and record zero profits for those planes, said Barclays Capital analyst Joe Campbell in a new report.
Boeing’s $100 billion 787 Dreamliner orders make up 40 percent of the company’s order backlog. It’s also about 25 percent of the Boeing’s revenue forecasts, the report said.
Once the company overcomes the new jetliner’s troubles and 120 of them are produced a year, “we believe the 787 has the potential to be the most profitable aircraft Boeing has ever had,” Campbell wrote.
But mounting costs from five program delays increase the risk that Boeing will conclude its necessary to declare a forward loss on the 787, the report said.
FAA orders four Beechcraft King Air C90s
July 28, 200911:20 a.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration has placed an order with Hawker Beechcraft for four King Air C90GTi turboprops to support its Flight Standards Flight Program.
The contract includes an option for two addition planes. Deliveries will take place over the next two years, the company said.
Three K-State flight students fly to Oshkosh
July 28, 200911:14 a.m.
WICHITA — AirVenture in Oshkosh is underway, and three students at Kansas State University’s Salina campus have made the trip.
The three are in K-State’s professional pilot program. Bryan Valliere is from Wichita and a sophomore who hopes to be a Navy pilot.
Carol Cooper, from Hutchinson, is a wife and mother. Her goal is to be a corporate pilot. And Kate Fraser, from McPherson, is a senior and a flight instructor.
Not in Oshkosh, but a great weekend to fly
July 27, 200911:31 a.m.
I may not be at AirVenture, the world’s largest gathering of pilots and airplanes, this week. But it was a fun weekend of flying.
It began with Randy Groom, with Groom Consulting, who graciously invited me to ride along with him in his awesome yellow Husky and fly over to the historic Beaumont Hotel, a fly-in hotel, for a quick breakfast.
After landing at the grass airstrip, we taxied down the street and parked across from the hotel.
Inside, Linda Pechin, the hotel’s general manager, served up coffee and hot chocolate and joked and chatted with us while we ate.
We then climbed back in the two-place airplane and headed back to town, full and happy. Now, THAT’s my kind of breakfast.
Belite Aircraft shears axle while taxiing in Flint Hills pasture
July 24, 200911:26 a.m.
WICHITA — 
James Wiebe made a precautionary landing in his Belite ultralight aircraft in a pasture in the Flint Hills on Wednesday.
The landing was safe and smooth, he reports. But after refueling, the axle of the aircraft broke off while taxiing. The propeller was destroyed, but the airframe was unhurt.
“I think there was a hole (in the ground), and I also think we under-designed the main axle,” Wiebe told me in an e-mail. “In looking at it, there was a clear, single point of failure — the axle. We designed it out of hollow material to save weight.”
Wiebe said he already has a new solid, and much stronger axle cut and ready for installation. The aircraft is being trucked to the EAA’s annual AirVenture fly-in where the Wiebes will have the plane on display. It won’t fly again until after the show.
Check out details of his adventure in the Flint Hills on James’ blog.
The Cessna 150 turns 50; celebrates with fly-in to Oshkosh
July 24, 200910:52 a.m.
The plane that taught thousands to fly, the Cessna 150, turns 50 this year. Today, owners are celebrating with a mass fly-in to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture, held in Oshkosh, Wisc.
The show doesn’t officially open until Monday.
Cessna will display a different vintage Cessna 150 every day at its booth during the show. The company produced the plane from 1959 and 1977. More than 23,000 were built.
