Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 6) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Aviation Week Journalists Win Seven Awards Editorial team members from AVIATION WEEK publications won seven of 16 prizes awarded at the World Leadership Forum’s 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards Dinner & Presentation Ceremony on Sunday night. These annual awards are considered the top aviation journalism honors of the year. Organized by the World Leadership Forum on behalf of the Royal Aeronautical Society and l’Aero-Club de France they are presented during the Farnborough Air Show one year, and during the Paris Air Show the next. The 2008 awards were presented at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. •The Rockwell Collins Award for the Best Avionics Submission and the Gulfstream Award for the Aerospace Journalist of the Year to David Hughes Thales Alenia Space Contracts for Amos-4 Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), through its Systems Missiles and Space Group, MBT Space Division, to supply RF communication assemblies for the Amos-4 communication satellite. IAI, prime contractor of the Amos-4, is building the satellite for Israeli satellite operator Spacecom Ltd. Scheduled for launch in 2012, Amos-4 will also expand the operator’s range of Ku- and Ka-band capacity to provide high-quality communications and broadcasting transmission services both in Israel and internationally. Sikorsky Equips First U.S. Army UH-60M Unit On June 11, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. delivered the 30th UH-60M Black Hawk to the U.S. Army for the 4-101 Assault Battalion, making it the First Unit Equipped (FUE) with the helicopter. The UH-60M’s enhancements include a new fully digitized cockpit with four multifunction displays, a four-axis fully coupled flight director, digital map, dual embedded global positioning/inertial navigation system, and an integrated vehicle health management system (IVHMS). The helo also features wide-chord composite rotor blades and a more powerful engine. The UH-60M will replace older Black Hawks currently in the U.S. Army’s fleet. Sikorsky is at Hall 4, Stand F14. L-3 Wescam Expands Down Under In collaboration with Cobham Aviation Australia, L-3 Wescam (Hall 4, Stand A15) has announced its intention of creating a service center at Cairns, Queensland, for civil and defense customers throughout the Pacific region. With this partnership, Cobham becomes an authorized service center for Wescam’s MX series of electro-optical and infrared imaging turrets. This is the seventh offshore center that Wescam has established, with others located in Cheltenham and Telford (UK), Kamakura (Japan), Santa Rosa (California, U.S.), Rome (Italy) and Madrid (Spain). for “Have Radar, Will Travel,” Aviation Week & Space Technology . •The Award for Best Breaking News Submission to Adrian Schofield for “Unlocking China’s Skies,” Aviation Week & Space Technology. •The Award for Best Business Aircraft Submission to David Huntzinger for “On Duty Indefinitely,” Business & Commercial Aviation. •The Singapore Technologies Engineering Award for the Best Maintenance Submission to Jerome Chandler for “Inspections Now and in the Future,” Overhaul & Maintenance. •The Award for Best Propulsion Submission to David Esler for “Alternative Fuels for Jet Engines,” Business & Commercial Aviation. •The Award for Best Safety Submission to John Wiley for “Lightning: Ungrounded Fears, and Real Menace,” Business & Commercial Aviation. Eurocopter Marks 500th Delivery in Canada With the delivery of its AS355 NP aircraft to Phoenix Heli-Flight, Eurocopter Canada introduced its 500th helicopter into the Canadian marketplace. The AS355 NP is the latest variant on Eurocopter’s family of AS355 N Ecureuil twin-engine helicopters. The new version integrates proven technology from the single engine version of the aircraft—the AS350—to improve performance and reduce operating costs. The new version uses the Arrius 1A1 engines, increasing one engine inoperative power and providing s 20% increase in payload, increased time between overhauls, and lowering operating and maintenance costs. Airbus Selects Honeywell for LED Nav Lights Airbus Industries (Pavilion OE22) has signed an $80 million contract with Honeywell’s Platform Components division to deliver plug-and-play LED position lights for single-aisle Airbus jetliners. The upgrade will be a welcome improvement as LEDs have typical 20,000-hour service lives compared to 500 hours for incandescent bulbs. LEDs will be installed as standard equipment in Airbus 320-series aircraft starting in 2009 and they will be available as a retrofit option for earlier aircraft. LEDs are commonly installed as standard equipment on new-generation business aircraft, such as the Dassault Falcon 7X, but they haven’t yet been used extensively on commercial airliners. Brussels Airlines in RJ Leaseback Deal BAE Systems Regional Aircraft has agreed to buy and lease back three Avro RJs operated by Brussels Airlines. This follows a May 2005 transaction that saw BAE Systems agree to buy and lease back 23 of Brussels’ 26 RJ85/100s over five years. The new transaction covers the remaining three RJ100s, which fell under a separate financing structure. This year, BAE Systems extended the leases of Avro RJs in service with a number of carriers, including Malmo Aviation, Blue1, BA CityFlyer and CityJet. AVIATION WEEK and Show News writers Adrian Schofield (l) and Dave Hughes. 6 July 15, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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