Reporters on a demonstration flight flying from Atlantic City, N.J. and Philadelphia could monitor dozens of airplanes in their vicinity in real time, while pilots in the cockpit had to call air traffic control to get the information, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Federal Aviation Administration arranged the flight to show off the potential of satellite-based ADS-B technology — the nation’s air traffic control system of the future, called NextGen.
Boeing has deferred delivery of 787 sections from suppliers as it makes a temporary schedule adjustment as a few of its suppliers experience parts shortages.
The company has asked those suppliers to take some additional time to complete the work at their facilities. The changes won’t affect commitments to customers, officials said.
Boeing has asked suppliers to hold back sections for the 23rd and 24th aircraft to be assembled to avoid any catch-up work, Bloomberg said.
Spirit AeroSystems, which provides the nose sections for the aircraft, received the notifications, spokeswoman Debbie Gann said. She declined further comment. The company’s first-quarter results will be released Thursday, and company officials will hold a conference call with analysts.
“There’s no work stopping anywhere,” Boeng spokeswoman Yvonne Leach told Bloomberg. “It’s just that we are rebalancing the deliveries into final assembly.”
Boeing‘s popular 737 jetliner is made up of 367,000 parts. The company uses hundreds of vendors who provide everything from seats, engines and, in the case of Wichita’s Spirit AeroSystems, the entire fuselage.
MSNBC took a look at the 737 and its suppliers in a report out today.
Bombardier Aerospace delivered its first Wichita-built Learjet 60XR to a customer in Mexico, the company said Monday.
The company did not name the customer.
“The milestone delivery for the Learjet 60XR confirms this aircraft’s expanding international presence,” Bombardier regional vice president for sales in Latin America Fabio Rebello, said in a statement.
After not using his private jet much on Apple business during the second half of 2008, Steve Jobs is flying again, according to Apple weblog TUAW.
For the last half of 2008, Jobs was reimbursed only $4,000 in flight expenses for his Gulfstream V business jet. That compares to $580,000 in the first half of 2008.The blog cites figures from Apple’s SEC filings.
From January to March this year, Jobs was reimbursed $127,000 in Gulstream expenses.
Cessna Aircraft and the impact the recession has had on the Wichita planemaker was featured in a recent story on CNN. As Wichitans know, Cessna laid off half its work force as order cancellations piled up.
Brazil-based Embraer has begun producing the first part for its Legacy 500 midsize business jet, an important program milestone, the company said. The part will be part of the forward fuselage for a prototype aircraft.
The plane is on schedule for flight testing to begin in the second half of 2011, the company said.
The prototype will also be used in its Legacy 450 midlight jet program. The main structure of the planes will be built from aluminum alloy, but a substantial amount of their content will be made of composite materials.
In the production process, there will be a “considerable increase” in the use of robots, the company said. And for the first time in a production aircraft, the company will use friction stir welding.
Embraer, based in Sao Jose dos Campos, announced the programs in September 2007 at the National Business Aviation Association annual convention in Atlanta.
Boeing hasn’t said how many jobs winning an aerial refueling tanker would mean for Wichita. But Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said this morning that a “tanker win for Kansas would be huge.”
McNerney made the statement during a conference call with analysts and reporters regarding the company’s first quarter results.
“We will depend on that work force to do a lot of the modification and final integration of the airplane,” McNerney said.
Airbus’ parent, EADS, said Tuesday that it plans to bid against Boeing for a contract to supply aerial refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force.
Employees at Hawker Beechcraft learned recently that the company is not planning mandatory furloughs this year, as it did in 2009 in response to the downturn in the market.
“Given our 2010 work plans, the company intends to maintain a normal operational schedule,” said a memo from Rich Jiwanlal, Hawker Beechcraft vice president of human resources.
The company is, however, encouraging workers to use their vacation around traditional holidays, such as the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Still, Hawker Beechcraft “continues to face real challenges given the current state of the industry,” Jiwanlal said in the memo. “If business conditions change requiring the above approach to be revisited, we will notify you promptly.”
