AVIATION
AVIATION NEWS
AVIATION WEEK PODCASTS OF NOTE
The Aviation Week website has several items relating to the present events in the Iran Crisis, including: “What’s Under the Ever-More Expensive Golden Dome,” “A Stress Test for Aging Aircraft,” and “The Impact of the Iran War on Airlines.” I will focus here on two other items: the podcast entitled “High-Energy Laser Weapons Reach New Heights“ and an article entitled, “Debrief: China’s New Laser Focus to Take Down Satellite Networks.”
Lasers: Laser weapons/defenses have long been under study, especially so since the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative began in 2018. Recent advances, now being deployed in the Iran Crisis, are providing operational tactical testing. Present capabilities are useful against balloons and small drones, but research into scaling-up laser technology will soon allow targeting of faster targets, such as cruise and ballistic missiles. A 300kW laser system is presently in operation, and a 500kW system is under development by Lockheed Martin and should be ready soon. Meanwhile, a 1MW laser system is in the works. All of these systems are intended for defense against arial attacks. The AW podcast also stresses China’s interest in laser technology for aerial defense, and notes that powerful laser systems may also find use in the mitigation of orbital debris.
Anti-satellite: Of course, if ground-based or space-based laser systems can shoot down debris, they can shoot down other satellites. Space debris is already a major problem, and could be used by a weaker adversary to disable an opponent’s space-based assets via a “denial of service” attack where a number of dirty bombs are exploded in LEO to cause a Kessler Syndrome. A nation with considerable LEO military assets of their own would not do that, but high-powered space-based laser system(s) could make a more surgical attack possible. Quoting from the Debrief piece in AW:
“Over the past decade, U.S. military space planners and commercial space companies have largely reached consensus on the “resiliency” of building networks comprised of numerous small satellites, rather than a handful of high-value satellites.
“If a potential adversary must now target hundreds of relatively inexpensive platforms with a high-cost anti-satellite weapon launched from the ground or an aircraft, that attack now becomes more inefficient and costly, the argument goes. That thesis has driven government and commercial operators around the globe to invest in new networks in low Earth orbit (LEO) for mission areas including data connectivity, missile warning and tracking, geospatial intelligence and alternate positioning, navigation and timing.
“Now, China is looking to use directed energy to target multiple satellites simultaneously. In February, the South China Morning Post reported that scientists at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian, Shaanxi province, have developed a high-power microwave weapon called the TPG1000Cs—a compact device capable of delivering 20 gigawatts of power for one full minute from the back of a truck or while mounted on an aircraft.
“Such a device could send pulses out to space to hit multiple systems at once, causing glitches or loss of control, U.S. military leaders have said. Suddenly, the cost curve to target space assets looks more feasible.”
TRAGEDY AT LA GUARDIA
By now you have all seen the story and perhaps the video of the collision between a landing Air Canada jet and a large fire truck. The investigation is now underway, but initial results have been released. The fire truck was responding to a call for assistance from a United Airlines flight at the gate. It had just undergone two aborted take-offs and fumes were detected in the cabin and cockpit, understandably causing concerns of fire. The truck had clearance from the tower to cross the runway to get to the UA plane, but it did not carry a transponder that would have shown up on the tower ground radar, and the “close proximity” of vehicles moving near the crossing point was also a problem. From the NTSB statement as given at https://avweb.com/aviation-news/ntsb-laguardia-surface-alert-system : “The (NTSB) released preliminary timing from the cockpit voice recorder during the final three minutes of the flight. … The tower cleared the airplane to land on Runway 4 and later cleared Truck 1 to cross Runway 4 at Taxiway Delta 20 seconds before the end of the recording. Nine seconds before the recording ended, the tower instructed Truck 1 to stop. A sound consistent with the airplane’s landing gear touched down was recorded at 8 seconds, followed by a second instruction to Truck 1 to stop at four seconds.” The investigation is of course in the preliminary phase; the mangled aircraft is being cleared from the runway as I type (3/26). Both pilots died in the collision and ~40 were injured. At this time most of the injured are out of the hospital, with four remaining with more serious injuries.
AVIATION FYI
Three Podcasts from Aviation Week
Space Force Readying Launch of AFRL Cislunar SSA Satellite
The Air Force Research Laboratory is leading a pathfinder program with Space Systems Command (SSC) called Oracle-M, for a satellite to provide persistent situational awareness in cislunar space and demonstrate new tracking and navigation capabilities. Since successfully completing a hot fire test in March 2025 at Edwards AFB, California, the team has passed all of its preparatory steps and is now awaiting launch vehicle readiness.” “The Oracle-M mission, previously known as Defense Deep Space Sentinel, has a number of deliverables to help inform future deep space operations. AFRL is looking to showcase tracking and trajectory estimation for monitoring cislunar objects, cloud-based ground operations, and navigation and communications using commercial ground systems.” “Both the U.S. and its competitors in space are increasingly focused on cislunar activities, both for civil missions such as the Artemis series to return U.S. astronauts to the Moon, as well as for national security activities. The Trump administration highlighted the area as a location for military space operations in a December 2025 executive order on space superiority.
“We want to make sure that we’re not surprised at cislunar space, and that some other actor doesn’t begin to use it for military advantage,” U.S. Space Command Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting told reporters at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air Warfare Symposium.
For the full story, see: https://aviationweek.com/space/satellites/space-force-readying-launch-afrl-cislunar-ssa-satellite.
Aviation and Tariffs, Round Two
“Editors are joined by consultant Kevin Michaels to break down President Trump’s latest tariffs and where the pain will be felt in the aerospace supply chain.” For the Aviation Week podcast on YouTube, see: https://aviationweek.com/podcasts/check-6/podcast-aviation-trumps-tariffs-round-two
Aviation Week Podcast: Fuel UP for AFA Warfare Symposium
“Editors preview AFA Warfare Symposium, setting the scene for key topics that will be on the agenda in Colorado. They touch on new leadership and shifting priorities, modernization efforts, and key programs like on-orbit refueling and tanker development. For the Aviation Week podcast on YouTube, see: https://aviationweek.com/podcasts/check-6/podcast-fuel-afa-warfare-symposiumLet’s Recover a WWII TBD-1 Torpedo Bomber! The TBD-1 Devastator was the U.S. Navy’s first all-metal, low-wing, carrier-based torpedo bomber. The Devastator went into service in 1937, but it was completely outdated by the time of Pearl Harbor. In spite of its flaws, it was used during the opening months of the Pacific campaign, including operations in the Marshall Islands and major carrier battles in 1942. It had to fly low, slow, and straight to launch its torpedo. Only 129 were ever built. The Devastators they were soon replaced by a more capable aircraft, the TBM Avenger, the aircraft flown by George H.W. Bush later in the War. But not before the ill-fated Torpedo Squadron 8 was annihilated at Midway in June, 1942.
American naval forces were reeling after Pearl Harbor, but the aircraft carriers weren’t in port that day, and were able to conduct raids on Japanese holdings in the mid-Pacific. On February 1, 1942, the carriers Yorktown and Enterprise struck targets in the Marshall Islands. Seventeen SBD Dauntless dive bombers and 12 Devastators (carrying bombs instead of torpedoes since they were after targets on land) from the Yorktown went to Jaluit Atoll. Their attack was thwarted by bad weather, and two of the Devastators became disoriented in the clouds to the point they lacked the fuel necessary for a return to their ship. They elected to ditch in the large Jaluit lagoon. All six crewmen from the two aircraft were captured, and would survive the War and, but only after some very rough treatment there and back in Japan.
The two Jaluit Devastators are still there and one of them is the focus of a new recovery effort, the Devastator Project, made by a “coalition of maritime archaeology, aviation preservation and naval history organizations.” The aircraft selected for recovery was Bureau Number 1515, piloted by “Ensign Herbert R. Hein, Jr., (with) navigator/bombardier Aviation Ordnanceman, Third Class (AOM3c) Joseph D. Strahl, and radioman/gunner Seaman First Class (S1c) Marshal E. “Windy” Windham.” The other, Bureau Number 0298, was manned by “pilot Lt. Harlan T. “Dub” Johnson, navigator Aviation Chief Machinist’s Mate (ACMM) Charles E. Fosha, and radioman/gunner Radioman First Class (RM1c) James W. Dalzell.”
[ASIDE: It’s a good thing the two crews eventually made it back home OK. My boss at my first job in Colorado Springs, a fine gentleman and decent golfer, was the son of Charles E. Fosha.]
The wrecks of several other Devastators are known, but none to date have been recovered and restored enough to be put on display anywhere, making this dud of an airplane a rare and important artifact! I wish the Devastator Project team the best of luck in their endeavor!
For more info, see: https://avweb.com/aviation-news/tbd-1-recovery-effort-world-war-ii-navy and https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbirds-news/us-navy-announces-mission-to-recover-a-douglas-tbd-devastator.html.
AVIATION LINKS AND OTHER INFORMATION
Air Traffic Management: The one-year anniversary of the worst U.S. commercial air accident in the last 25 years was on January 29. American Flight 5342, on final approach into Washington National Airport (DCA), collided with a Blackhawk helicopter conducting a night training exercise. All 64 people on the Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft and the three on the Blackhawk were killed. News at the time, plus the recently-aired special on the Discovery Channel, “DC Air Disaster: Final Minutes Revealed,” indicate that there were a number of factors involved, as is the usual case with commercial aircraft crashes. Visibility was good that night, but it was dark, and the DCA air space is notoriously crowded.
Near-collisions are common at DCA, and the layout of the helicopter route passes directly below the approach for Runway 33. The separation protocols in the region are also insufficient, according to the NTSB report released recently. The helicopter was flying at almost 300’, 100’ higher than the maximum altitude for the route, and it is likely that the pilot undergoing training was wearing night vision goggles, which would have restricted their vision. The helo was an older model Blackhawk, with dial controls its dashboard instead of easier-to-read versions in later models. Only one flight controller was on duty in the control tower that night; they did not do anything wrong but the tower radar and other equipment is notoriously antiquated. The Air Traffic Management equipment nationwide is also in tough shape. Much of it dates from the 1950s and 60s, and some in the DCA tower could not be turned off, because it was feared that once off, the equipment would fail to re-start.
The present head of the FAA is Bryan Bedford, the former CEO of Republic Airways, spoke at the Changi Aviation Summit meeting in Singapore on February 2. “One of Bedford’s first and top priorities on joining FAA is helping lead an initiative launched by U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Sean Duffy earlier last year to modernize and reset the national ATM system. It is a massive undertaking involving replacing antiquated and analogue equipment with digital and high-tech tools and creating a system that can manage petabytes of data and make the whole system more safe, sequential and efficient.”
Patrol Route 4, which allowed military helicopters to pass only 100’ below commercial airliners on descent to Runway 33, is now closed. The FAA faces a huge task in renovating the system with modern equipment, which would have prevented the accident. Hopefully, no further deaths will occur because of equipment not up to the increasingly-crowded airspaces around the country.
Find out more about Bedford’s remarks here: https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/safety-ops-regulation/faas-bedford-atm-modernization-must-do.
The Senate Commerce Committee is planning to hold a hearing on February 12 with NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy to review the NTSB findings on the crash, including the ROTOR Act, passed by the Senate, that would mandate the use of the latest equipment more broadly (both aircraft in the January 2025 crash were so equipped, but the Blackhawk’s was not turned on). For more on the planned hearing, see: https://avweb.com/flight-safety/accidents-ntsb/senate-committee-to-hold-dca-hearing-ntsb.
The XB-70 Valkyrie Revisited: The Valkyrie supersonic aircraft was amazing piece of engineering. Its story, and tragic ending has been touched upon in two past Items of the Week, covering its development and first flight test (here) and the crash of one of the two ever built (here). Alas, it proved to be a technological dead-end. I’ve recently come across some additional information that may be of interest to you. It’s from the archives of the Air Force Material Command, a research facility at Wright-Patterson AFB, a piece called, “A Look Back… NAA B-70 Valkyrie Variants: A Future That Never Was,” edited by Tony R. Landis, a writer/archivist at the HQ AFMC History Office. See it here: https://media.defense.gov/2020/Nov/23/2002540204/-1/-1/1/B-70%20VARIANTS.PDF. Planners were thinking about using the Valkyrie as a reusable high-speed high-altitude launch vehicle for all sorts of lifting bodies, rockets, even manned orbital craft like the Dyna-Soar and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (the subject of a future Item of the Week)!
Related Article: Podcast: Hypersonic Hopes – The Legacy of the X-30 “Orient Express” President Reagan’s 1986 State of the Union Address contained his vision for a Mach 25 (not a typo) airliner, the X-30 National Aero-Space Plane (NASP). Just as the Valkyrie was hoped/hyped as supersonic launch platform for direct LEO spacecraft, so, too, was the X-30. “DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, really talked them into this idea of this Copper Canyon project. This was a way of sort of delivering this hypersonic single stage to orbit type capability to the Air Force. They wouldn't have to worry about rockets and the shuttle. They could do it their own way. And so this Copper Canyon project really was the sort of the genesis of what became, dressed up as a civil project in some ways, the Orient Express.”
Let’s just say that the Oriental Express concept was a tad optimistic, but this was a very interesting discussion, especially since it comes on the 20th anniversary last month of the Mach 9.6 flight of NASA’s X-43. For the full Check 6 podcast, see: https://aviationweek.com/podcasts/check-6/check-6-revisits-hypersonic-hopes-legacy-x-30-orient-express.
What’s It Like to Fly to Telluride? Telluride, Colorado, located in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, is a spectacular setting, home to celebrities famous, skiers, and festival goers. There are more private jets flying into its small airport, at over 9000’, than just about anywhere. AVWeb just posted a video of what landing there is like, in a propeller-driven plane. Imagine what it would look like flying a jet! Check it out at: https://www.avweb.com/multimedia/featured-video-flying-into-telluride-a-stunning-high-stakes-approach.
And if you think that’s wild, try jeeping into Telluride over the (in)famous Black Bear Pass (if you are not too late; it recently was closed due to damage by a rockfall). For example, see: https://www.cntraveler.com/video/watch/the-road-less-traveled-traversing-black-bear-pass.
Oh, and watch out for falling cars!
Other Information Sources:
Aviation Week: https://aviationweek.com
Commercial Aviation Info, Photos, and News: https://www.airliners.net/aviation-news
AVweb: https://www.avweb.com
General Aviation News: https://generalaviationnews.com
NASA Aeronautic Research: https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/resources
NASA Next Gen STEM: Aeronaut-X: https://www.nasa.gov/stem/nextgenstem/aeronaut-x/index.html
NASA Aeronautics at Home: https://www.nasa.gov/aero-at-home
Aeronautics E-books: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/aeronautics_ebooks_archive_1.html