Sky Talk

Ground breaking marks beginning of Bell revitalization project

Bell Helicopter held a ceremonial ground breaking Monday as the kickoff to the company's plans to build a new 200,000 square-foot headquarters office building.

The new building located at the northeast corner of the Bell complex is the centerpiece of a major effort by the company to revitalize its quarters and its products over the next several years.

Bell Chief Executive John Garrison said the project “is a significant step forward in making our revitalization successful.”

A side effect, said both Garrison and public officials, should be an economic stimulus for the nearby area.

"It’s our hope the investments we’re making at Bell Helicopter will help revitalize northeast Tarrant County,” Garrison said.

“With the exception of the uncertainty over the defense budget in Washington,” Garrison said while looking directly at Rep. Kay Granger, “Bell Helicopter is looking to a great future.”

Granger, in her remarks, said there was a difference between government spending and investment. Spending on Bell defense products like the Marines V-22 Osprey and H-1 Cobra and Huey helicopters, and the Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, are investments and “are essential to national security.”

“We will not cut our national security,” Granger said.

- Bob Cox

American to add seat locking device on 49 Boeing 767s

After last week's loose seats issue on 48 of its Boeing 757s, American Airlines inspected the rest of its fleet and announced Friday it will be adding a secondary locking device to 49 Boeing 767s in its fleet.

"After inspecting our entire aircraft fleet, we have determined that 49 of our 767s have the same primary locking device that was found on 48 of our 757s. There have been no in-flight incidents impacting customers with the seat-locking mechanisms on these 767s. This added layer of safety involves the same aviation-strength locking device that we installed on some of our 757s," the carrier said in a message sent to American managers on Friday.

The company said the Federal Aviation Administration approved the maintenance plan and expects to finish installation work probably by October 21. There will be no flights cancelled as part of the maintenance work.

-Andrea Ahles

Bell CEO Garrison says budget sequestration "equals devastation"

Count Bell Helicopter Chief Executive John Garrison among those sounding the alarm about the likely consequences for the aerospace and defense industry and its employees if Congress doesn't act by early January to block automatic spending cuts from taking place.

Budget sequestration "in my opinion equals devastation," Garrison said Tuesday at the Aviation and Aerospace Industry Manufacturing Summit being held in Fort Worth.

Sequestration is the legislative term for the process that wil require the federal government to slash $1 trillion or so -- about $100 billion a year -- from projected spending over the next decade.

If Congress can't come to an agreement on new budget and deficit reduction bills.the automatic $100 billion a year in spending cuts are due to go into effect in January. The cuts by law must be distributed equally between defense and non-defense budget items, except entitlements which are exempt.

"it's a horrible way to set policy," Garrison said."It's going to affect engineering. It's going to affect manufacturing. And it's going to have downstream effects" on the companies that supply Bell and other defense contractors.

Defense contractors and industry groups have ringing alarms bells for months about the impact they say sequestration will have on businesses, jobs and the economy.

The initial impact on Bel would likely be small, Garrison said, because the company has contracts and funding on V-22 aircraft and military helicopters through 2015.

"I'd like to believe the federal government isn't going to break contracts and this will be worked out going forward, Garrison said, but it's still a poor way to run the government.

Bell has been given virtually no guidance on how sequestration would be implemented. "The guidance we've been given is what Secretary Panetta said, that sequestration is not something that's going to happen," Garrison said after his speech.

In the meantime, Bell is working with the hope and as if the political issues will be resolved. "We're continuing to sign contracts" with DoD and the military, Garrison said. "We're continuing to negotiate as Bell-Boeing on the V-22 multi-year contract."

-Bob Cox

 

Competitors vie with Lockheed Martin for F-16 avionics upgrade contracts

The lack of and high scost of F-35s coming off the Lockheed Martin assembly line is leading nations to upgrade their fleets of F-16s with modern avionics and radar systems.

The Star-Telegram reports today that while Lockeed has nailed down a $1.85 billion F-16 upgrade contract from Taiwan and has a commitment from the U.S. Air Force, other companies are trying to snatch that upgrade business with competitive offers. One, BAE Systems, was chosen by South Korea to install an avionics upgrade package on 130 aircraft.

- Bob Cox

Biz av rapid reaction to Obama -- don't touch our tax breaks

It didn't take long. Within minutes of the end of the presidential debate last night, the business jet lobby was readying a response to President Obama comments that millionaires should be willing to pay more taxes on their winged limos.

We caught up this morning with Dan Hubbard, spokesman for the National Business Aviation Association and here's some of what he had to say:

"It's clear that President Obama either doesn't understand or doesn't want to understand the importance of business aviation to citizens, communities and companies all across the country.

"The manufacture and use of small airplanes for business supports more than a million jobs (1.2 million) and generates more than $150 billion each year in economic activity and helps companies of all sizes compete, especially in this very challenging economic environment.

"It's clear that President Obama chose to single out an important American industry with some mischaracterizations in his debate remarks last night."

Hubbard said earlier in his presidency Obama signed onto legislation extending the accelerated depreciation tax provisions for business aircraft, noting that his experts had said it would help maintain and create jobs and boost the economy.

- Bob Cox

 

 

American to perform additional work on 757s to keep seats from coming loose

American Airlines announced Thursday afternoon that it will perform additional work on its Boeing 757 aircraft to keep seats from coming loose mid-flight.

Company spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said mechanics will be working on the "seat lock plunger mechanism" and that the work should be completed by Saturday, October 6.

There will be some cancellations and flight delays as the work is performed on the 48 affected aircraft, Huguely said.

"Mechanics have begun taking steps necessary to ensure that no seat can become dislodged from its track," Huguely said.

The problem with loose seats first came to light on Saturday when American flight 685 from Boston to Miami had to make an emergency landing at New York's JFK airport after a row of three seats came loose mid-flight. Another aircraft had a similar problem on Monday, prompting the inspections.

Keep reading for the full statement from American.

-Andrea Ahles

Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/10/american-says-it-completed-inspections-of-48-boeing-757s-for-loose-seats-all-planes-back-in-service.html#storylink=cpy

American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Huguely

“Working with the FAA, American Airlines is taking additional steps to prevent seats from becoming dislodged on some of our Boeing 757 aircraft. After further analysis by our engineering team, the company is taking additional preventative steps to enhance the locking mechanism features used to secure the seats to the aircraft floor.

“American has instructed mechanics to pay particular attention to the seat lock plunger mechanism that secures the seat to the aircraft floor. Mechanics have begun taking steps necessary to ensure that no seat can become dislodged from its track. The work is expected to be completed after the 48 affected aircraft land at their next destination.”

“Some select flights may be delayed or canceled in order to complete this work. We expect this work will be completed by Saturday, Oct 6. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this may cause with their travel plans. The safety of our customers and people as well as the reliability of our fleet, is always of utmost priority to American.

“We have confidence in our highly skilled maintenance and engineering teams as well our contract maintenance providers who have worked on all of the 757 aircraft involved.

“We continue to work closely with the FAA to resolve this matter.”

 

Air Force didn't welcome CV-22 crash investigator's persistence

Without further comment here's an interesting piece at Wired's Danger Room on the reaction an Air Force general received from his superiors for pushing his investigation into the April 2010 crash of a CV-22 in Afghanistan that killed four people.

What (Donald) Harvel discovered about the controversial hybrid aircraft drew him into a battle of wills with his superiors at Air Force Special Operations Command. Harvel, then a brigadier general, uncovered evidence of mechanical problems — and resulting safety woes — in the V-22 Osprey, which takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. These are issues the Pentagon has been eager to downplay. So when Harvel refused to alter his findings to match the Defense Department’s expectations, he knew that was the final chapter of his decades-long military service. Harvel’s long-planned retirement was held up for more than two years, effectively silencing him during a troubling chapter in the Osprey’s often-troubled history.

“I turned [my report] in and I knew that my career was done,” Harvel says.

Harvel’s retirement paperwork finally cleared a few weeks ago. Now, the former Texas Air National Guard C-130 pilot is free to publicly share his opinion about the Osprey: that it’s “just not quite there yet.” The two crashes and another incident this year are proof of that.

“We need to invest money to fix this thing or change the way we’re operating it,” Harvel says. But the Pentagon has other priorities, he adds. “One of the things that is most noticeable to me is the military trying to get the [Air Force] CV- and [Marine] MV-22 to the forefront to get as much positive publicity as possible.”

- Bob Cox

 

 

 

 

 

Blog: The sad, "downward spiral of American Airlines"

A strong blog post this morning at Leeham, the site of longtime airline industry observer Scott Hamilton, on the dismal state of affairs at American Airlines.

We’ve been watching with dismay the downward spiral of American Airlines.

This once-great carrier is hardly recognizable any more. It is perplexing to us how a management team that got its training under Robert Crandall and helped create such a great carrier could have gone so wrong.

It's a well written, point-by-point critique of American's strategic errors under Crandall's successors. And it closes with a vote of no confidence in CEO Tom Horton's leadership.

Horton is firm that American won’t merge while in Chapter 11 and it’s pretty clear he doesn’t want to merge at all.

We have no confidence in Horton at the helm, nor in American’s management. If American is to survive, they have to go.

- Bob Cox

 

 

 

 

 

GOP senators to Obama: No dollars to pay for defense firms sequestration WARN Act costs

As we reported yesterday, Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors have said they will not issue notices to employees warning of possible layoffs due to the possibility of across the board budget cuts in January.

The about face came after the Obama administration, which really doesn't want layoff notices going out days before the election, assured the companies that if budget cuts do hit programs and they do have to lay off workers they could bill the government for costs they incurred due to WARN Act violations.

Now Politico.com (paid site) reports the Republican pols prompt response.

MCCAIN AND GRAHAM: NOT ONE PENNY FOR CONTRACTOR LAYOFFS: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tells POLITICO he'd oppose paying even a cent of defense vendors' legal or employee costs if they were forced to lay off workers next year under a potential sequester. Contractors "fail to issue [layoff] notices at their own peril," the influential SASC member said. Meanwhile Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is expected to announce this morning that he's told DoD he would block the transfer of funds to reimburse vendors' costs in a layoff or legal situation, and wants 30 days' notice from DoD before it actually got to the point of attempting payment.

Graham was peeved: "I hope they get sued and there will be absolutely no way Congress will reimburse any contractor one penny if they find themselves in litigation. By not issuing the notices, they're on their own," he added. The OMB has said that the administration would cover the costs involved if sequester forces them to close plants and lay off employees and they are exposed to WARN Act liability.

Meanwhile, EADS, parent company of American Eurocopter in Grand Prairie, follows the lead of Lockheed and others and says it won't issues WARN Act notices:

EADS BACKS OFF LAYOFF WARNINGS: EADS North America joined Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems on Tuesday, telling POLITICO it too no longer plans to issue the WARN Act notices it once mused about sending employees in anticipation of sequestration. "We have no intention at this point of issuing notices this year," EADS spokesman Guy Hicks said. "If sequestration occurs and it becomes clear that our operations would be impacted as a result, then we would go ahead and issue WARN Act notices."

- Bob Cox

 

 

AvWeek: U.S. needs to look at options besides troubled F-35

A powerful editorial in the current issue of Aviation Week calls for the Department of Defense and the military services to take a hard look at other options besides the F-35 for keeping the U.S. and allied nation's armed forces equipped with top line fighter jets.

Given the fiscal and other damage resulting from years of rising costs and delays, AVWeek -- usually not one to rock the aviation industry and defense boats too hard -- says it's time for a new plan to replace the old plan of buying 2,000 plus F-35s at soaring prices, when they're finally tested, proven and available.

Before going farther down this cracked and broken path, the Pentagon needs to take a hard look at the consequences. On schedule and affordability, the JSF program is already a failure. In terms of capabilities and the long-term benefits of commonality, the jury is still out. And even if the F-35 delivers on everything it promised, the world has changed since 2001.

One problem is the lack of competition. Including the F-22, Lockheed will have been the sole U.S. producer of all-new fighters for 50 years by the time a “sixth-generation” aircraft comes along —no earlier than 2030 — with significant consequences for the industrial base.

... One bold plan might be for President Barack Obama or Republican rival Mitt Romney to commit the Pentagon to competing the purchase of its next 300 fighters. It would shake things up, although it is questionable the Pentagon could stage a meaningful competition between the F-35 with its estimated costs and promised abilities and the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 with known costs and available capabilities. And the value of new tails must be balanced against the impact of reducing F-35 procurement, potentially causing partners to defect, production rates to drop and costs to soar.

There must be a hedge against further problems. The U.S. should keep producing F/A-18s for the Navy, upgrading F-16s for the Air Force and promoting the F-15 and F-16 internationally so a fallback option remains open. Then, the Defense Department must revisit how to evolve tactical aviation through the 2020s and sustain the industrial base to keep competition alive for the next fighter.

We'll ask Lockheed Martin and Department of Defense to comment on this editorial.

- Bob Cox