F-35 ; flere dårlige nyheter

Igjen, er det ingen grense for hvor mye dette flyet skal koste oss?

Lockheed F-35 Overruns Top $1 Billion, Government Auditor Finds

By Tony Capaccio - Mar 20, 2012 8:00 PM GMT+0100

Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s first 63 F-35 fighter jets are exceeding their combined target cost by $1 billion, showing the Pentagon’s costliest program lacks a reliable design and efficient manufacturing, according to U.S. congressional auditors.
The Pentagon is absorbing $672 million and Lockheed Martin the remaining $328 million in added costs for the aircraft in the first four production contracts, the Government Accountability Office said in prepared testimony today for a House Armed Services Committee hearing on tactical aviation. The committee is conducting the first oversight hearing on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for the fiscal 2013 budget.

Attachment: GAO Report

“The long-stated intent that the Joint Strike Fighter would deliver an affordable, highly common fifth-generation aircraft that could be acquired in large numbers could be in question,” Michael Sullivan, the GAO’s director of acquisition management, said in the statement.

Hvorfor finner man ikke FDR/CVR?

Spørsmålet kom fra en slektning og er høyest relevant. Boksen har en pinger som sender et signal når den er under vann, men ikke på land. Flyet har Emergency Locator Transmitter som spretter av flyet idet det treffer noe hardt. Den kan havne langt unna CVR/FDR, og kanskje under mange meter med snø, jord, is eller hva det må være. Etter AF447 i 2009 ble det igangsatt arbeide for å få såkalt continous streaming of data via satellitt. Det lar vente på seg, men "den sorte boksen" må få et lokaliseringssystem innebygget. Bildet er fra en Jetstream som havarerte i 2004.

Tidligere GIL forsøker å selge F-18 Super Hornet

Sakset fra AN i dag:

Dette flyet vil ikke Norge ha

* Langt billigere enn F-35.

* Mye større rekkevidde.

* Støyer ikke mer enn F16.

Rune Grønlie

Publisert 21.03.2012 kl 10:00 Oppdatert 21.03.2012 kl 10:01

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Forsvarsdepartementet sitter på et tilbud om kjøp av en skvadron med F-18 Super Hornet fra flyfabrikanten Boeing.

– Et bedre valg i nordområdene, mener tidligere generalinspektør (GIL) Per-Oskar Jacobsen.

Jacobsen var øverste sjef for Luftforsvaret i perioden 1997–2000. Nå driver han selskapet Jepcon Consulting som blant annet driver konsulentvirksomhet for Boeing.

I forrige uke besøkte han bodøordfører Ole Hjartøy og de tillitsvalgte ved Bodø hovedflystasjon.

– Jeg fikk hakeslipp da jeg hørte at Bodø hovedflystasjon skal legges ned. Jeg ser det på som helt urealistisk, sier han.

Ikke vurdert

Foreløpig ser ikke Forsvarsdepartementet tilbudet fra Boeing som aktuelt, men bekrefter at de mottok det 16. februar. Ifølge Jacobsen er F-18 Super Hornet langt rimeligere enn F-35. Og - ifølge ham - på støynivå med F-16.

Det betyr at en skvadron kan operere fra Bodø uten at man må flytte rullebanen eller gå inn med andre investeringer.

Han påpeker at innfasingen av F-35 i Forsvaret allerede er utsatt og at det er usikkerheter rundt pris og leveringstidspunkt av flyet.

– Man kan utsette innfasingen av F-35, slik at dette flyet kan bli ferdigtestet og til man vet hva det vil koste, sier han. Fot oav F-18 Growler. Boeing

Sikorsky S-92A selger godt

Sikorsky Civil Helicopter Production To Surge in 2012
Sikorsky president Jeff Pino presented his company’s 2011 results and 2012 outlook last week, and the outlook suggests that strong deliveries of the S-92 medium twin will boost civil activity this year. Pino is expecting S-92 handovers to leap by 42 percent and overall civil activity by approximately 30 percent, while overall total sales (military and civil) will fall by 5 percent. This year’s plans call for delivery of about 260 aircraft. No deliveries of the new S-76D are being scheduled for the first half of this year, but 24 copies of the medium twin are expected to be handed over to customers in the latter half. Sikorsky delivered 274 helicopters last year–up 5 percent over 2010–and revenues reached $7.4 billion, an increase of 10 percent.

Helikoptertypen er en av kandidatene som nytt redningshelikopter etter Sea King. Iallefall ut denne uken. Det er som kjent stilt spørsmål til Faremo om hun nå går utenom vanlig praksis og bestiller NH90.

USA: Flyge- og arbeidstidsbegrensninger 3 år etter Colgan

Experts: Airline safety standards still inconsistent

 

3 years after fatal crash, FAA has failed to meet new congressionally mandated requirements

One consistent level of safety across the entire airline industry - from regional jets to large mainline carriers to air cargo operations - has not been achieved three years after the warning sign delivered when tired and poorly skilled pilots crashed their commuter plane in New York, experts told a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration has made progress toward meeting congressionally mandated requirements to extend rest time for pilots before duty and establish new procedures to minimize safety risks, Calvin Scovel III, inspector general at theU.S. Department of Transportation, testified before the Senate Aviation Subcommittee in Washington.

But the FAA has not met deadlines for raising pilot training standards, increasing minimum pilot qualifications, implementing pilot mentoring programs to raise the proficiency of less-experienced pilots and improving the leadership skills of airline captains, Scovel said.

Congress required the FAA to issue a final rule to increase airline pilot qualifications by August, but FAA officials say they cannot meet the mandate until August 2013. The new rule would require first officers, who are also called co-pilots, to hold an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, which requires 1,500 hours of pilot flight time. Somewhat lower requirements may be allowed for ex-military pilots and graduates of aviation degree programs, the FAA said.

Currently, airline captains must have the ATP certificate, but first officers only need a commercial pilot's license and as little as 250 hours to be hired by some commuter airlines.

USAs utenriksdepartement støtter nytt søk etter Earhart

U.S. to support search for Amelia Earhart's plane

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

Updated 9h 33m ago

Aviator Amelia Earhart poses with her Lockheed Electra. The U.S. is expected to help in a privately funded effort to search for Earhart's plane that disappeared in 1937 in the South Pacific.

CAPTION

Smithsonian Institution via Gannett

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton threw her support behind The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery's new search for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra plane.
Earhart was an inspiration to Americans as the nation struggled to emerge from the Great Depression of the 1930s, Clinton said.
"Amelia Earhart may have been a unlikely heroine for a nation down on its luck, but she embodies the spirit of an America coming of age and increasingly confident, ready to lead in a quite uncertain and dangerous world," Clinton said.
A 10-day search is planned for July.

UAV - USA har planen klar for implementering i deres nye luftromstruktur

NextGen UAS Research, Development and Demonstration Roadmap Published

Posted on March 20, 2012 by The Editor

The US Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) has released the NextGen Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research, Development and Demonstration Roadmap (UAS RD&D Roadmap) Version 1.0.
This report represents a significant effort on the part of the JPDO and its six partner agencies to establish a Roadmap of the research and development (R&D) necessary to enable routine operations of UAS in the NextGen National Airspace System (NAS). Collectively, the JPDO and each partner agency contributed executive and technical leadership as well as funding for this effort.
The full report can be downloaded here.