One of US Air Forces In Europe’s C-130 transport aircraft is flying again after a six-month hiatus. Maintainers discovered a peculiar crack in the aircraft, which calls Ramstein AB, Germany, home. Air Force and Lockheed Martin engineers spent several months analyzing the crack to ensure that it did not pose a flight danger. After countless simulations, the engineers came back and said the aircraft was “100-percent safe to fly.” With that news, maintainers at Ramstein put the C-130 through a 10-day, category-four isochronal inspection, the most in-depth examination done at the base. They refurbished the aircraft’s four engines and went over every structural detail. Thereupon all of the engines and flight systems were tested for several days to ensure the plane was in perfect working order before it was cleared for flight. (Ramstein report by SSgt. Kerry Solan)
RTX, parent of Raytheon, Collins and Pratt & Whitney, is getting out of the space prime business and focusing on its "strengths" as a maker of space sensors, buses, and components, company COO Chris Calio said during an earnings call.