04 NOV 2008 _______________________________________ *FAA Selects Avionics Manufacturers For NextGen *Southeast Asian countries need 5,000 pilots by 2013 *Va.-based aircraft missing in South America *Jet fighter crashes in S. Korea during training *Alaska, JetBlue and US Airways to lead ADS-B trials *************************************** FAA Selects Avionics Manufacturers For NextGen Honeywell, ACSS Will Install Test Equipment In Airliners They're the companies chosen to provide the nuts and bolts of NextGen. Acting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Robert Sturgell announced Monday the agency signed a $9 million agreement with Honeywell and Aviation Communications & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) to accelerate the testing and installation of NextGen technology. Teams led by the two companies will help the FAA test and develop technology that will be used on an airport's airfield to detect and alert pilots of potential safety issues. "Safety in the air starts with safety on the ground," said Sturgell. "This technology is a real jump for aviation. Getting it into the cockpit as fast as possible is the smart thing to do." The FAA encourages industry to install avionics equipment early and receive benefits from ADS-B sooner rather than later. ADS-B stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast. It is the NextGen satellite-based technology that broadcasts traffic and flight information to pilots and air traffic controllers. Two Honeywell test planes and pilots from JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines will be used to provide operational input from concept development through flight evaluation and demonstration. Honeywell will conduct the work at Seattle Tacoma International and Snohomish County Paine Field airports. Under the agreement, Honeywell will receive approximately $3 million from the FAA. The FAA will provide approximately $6 million to ACSS, which will work with US Airways to develop standards, flight demonstrations and prototypes. Twenty Airbus A330 aircraft will be equipped with cockpit displays, transponders, antennas, wiring kits and Class 2 Electronic Flight Bags. Demonstrations will be conducted at Philadelphia International Airport. FMI: www.faa.gov, www.honeywell.com, www.acssonboard.com/ aero-news.net *************** Southeast Asian countries need 5,000 pilots by 2013 The Southeast Asian countries need 5,000 new pilots for the next five years to fulfill the demands from airline companies in the region, an Indonesian official was quoted as saying by the Indonesian Business Daily on Monday. "It shows a growing demand of around 1,000 new pilots every year, which is based on the numbers of airplanes ordered by these companies," said Yurlis Hasibuan, director for airplanes operation under the Indonesian Transport Ministry. 300 new pilots graduate from the local flying school currently every year, while commercial and non commercial airlines need 400 new pilots. Therefore, the ministry plans to open the market and introduce in a Malaysia-based school to train more pilots. Source:Xinhua **************** Va.-based aircraft missing in South America BRIDGEWATER -- A Virginia-based aviation company says one of its aircraft with three people aboard is missing in South America. A spokesman for Dynamic Aviation Group Inc. in Bridgewater said the search resumed Monday for the twin turboprop aircraft. The aircraft was reported missing Saturday in Guyana after it did not return from an aerial geophysical survey. Dynamic spokesman Rick Roof identified the flight crew as Wes Barker and Chris Paris, Dynamic Aviation employees from Harrisonburg. An employee of a Canadian company was also on board. The aircraft was searching for uranium deposits in the rain forest. Dynamic Aviation has sent one of its aircraft to Guyana to join the search. http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-11-03-0201 .html *************** Jet fighter crashes in SKorea during training SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A South Korean fighter jet crashed in a rural area north of Seoul during a training flight Tuesday, the air force said. The sole pilot ejected from the F-5E jet before it went down in a rice paddy in Pocheon, 29 miles (46 kilometers) north of Seoul, at about 10:25 a.m. (0125 GMT), an air force officer said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency had earlier reported that the jet was manned by two pilots. The crash caused no civilian damage, the officer said on condition of anonymity citing office policy. The cause of the crash was unclear, he said. The plane had taken off earlier from an air base in Wonju, about 81 miles (130 kilometers) east of Seoul, he said. http://www.pr-inside.com/jet-fighter-crashes-in-skorea-during-r895415.htm ************** Alaska, JetBlue and US Airways to lead ADS-B trials Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways will team with Honeywell while US Airways plans to partner with ACSS to gain early operational knowledge of automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) for terminal operations. Speaking at the Air Traffic Control Association's annual conference in Washington DC, FAA acting administrator Bobby Sturgell this morning said the FAA will provide $3 million to Honeywell to work with JetBlue and Alaska to gain operational and human factors knowledge with ADS-B using Honeywell aircraft and mainline pilots for operations at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport and Paine Field in Washington state. FAA has also awarded a contract to ADS-B innovator ACSS to equip 20 US Airways Airbus A330s with the company's SafeRoute merging and spacing tool for testing ADS-B enabled terminal operations at the Philadelphia International Airport. UPS, which has been equipping its aircraft with SafeRoute to optimize operations at its Louisville, Kentucky hub, will also participate in the Philadelphia trials, Sturgell says. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************