September 3, 2001

September 3, 2001

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COVER STORY

Australian Training Yields Top-Notch Fighter Pilots

By WILLIAM B. SCOTT

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

A330 Fuel System: How It Works and Pilot Choices

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

A330 Overwater Flameout Raises ETOPS Issues

By FRANCES FIORINO

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9091
COVER STORY

Australian Training Yields Top-Notch Fighter Pilots

High standards, intense training and a steady diet of practice are the secrets to RAAF fighter pilots' success in the air

By WILLIAM B. SCOTT

3637
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

A330 Fuel System: How It Works and Pilot Choices

LOS ANGELES Fuel starvation of the second engine on Air Transat Flight 236 about 13 min. after failure of the first engine is puzzling because it implies the “good” tank had been emptied of fuel as well as the “bad” tank—something that should not have happened if the left and right tanks had remained isolated.

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

3435
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

A330 Overwater Flameout Raises ETOPS Issues

With engines windmilling on the A330, the pilot managed to guide the aircraft to a runway 85 naut. mi. away

By FRANCES FIORINO

9495
COVER STORY

Fighter Pilot ‘Formula Remains Elusive

RAAF BASE WILLIAMTOWN, AUSTRALIA Until a foolproof way is found to predict who will be a good fighter pilot, the Royal Australian Air Force’s ability to train more F/A-18 crews may be limited. Currently, about 40% of pilot candidates are eliminated or drop out of F/A-18 training, consuming RAAF resources and contributing to a now-chronic shortage of qualified line pilots.

By WILLIAM B SCOTT

9697
COVER STORY

Combat Instructors Course Refines Fighter Tactics

RAAF BASE WILLIAMTOWN, AUSTRALIA Students in the current Fighter Combat Instructors course, which began here last month, will learn not only the fine points of employing Australian F/A-18s in both air-to-air and air-to-ground roles, but will develop new tactics that take advantage of the latest Hornet upgrades.

By WILLIAM B. SCOTT

4041
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

Koizumi Consolidates Japan's Space Agencies

TOKYO Japan’s Ministry of Education and Science has ordered the nation’s three space-related bodies to merge into a single organization as part of the wide-ranging reforms instituted by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The decision involves bringing together the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), which heads the largest of Japan’s space efforts, with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Aerospace Laboratory.

By EIICHIRO SEKIGAWA

7273
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

Navy/Northrop Grumman UAV Attracts International Interest

WASHINGTON U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman officials are finding growing interest abroad in their RQ-8A Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing (Vtol) unmanned aircraft, although the bulk of its development still lies ahead. Discussions at this early point are limited largely to whether to enter into data-exchange agreements, but those could set the stage for future international orders.

By ROBERT WALL

6869
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

NASA Scraps Aid For New Launchers

WASHINGTON NASA has dropped an effort to help startup space launch services win private financing by offering payloads for the first flights of untried launch vehicles. The agency cited a weak commercial market for launching small payloads to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and unresponsive proposals from the two bidders who replied.

By FRANK MORRING

4041
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

TSB Raises Bar On Flammability Standards

By FRANCES FIORINO

7273
WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

Russians Dispute Indian MiG Crash Accusations

NEW DELHI Reacting strongly to Indian reports that blame “poor quality MiG aircraft for the high accident rates of the Indian air force,” Russian officials have counterclaimed that MiG fighters wouldn’t crash so often if the Indians stopped buying “low-quality” spares.

By PUSHPINDAR SINGH

August 272001 September 102001