The job of avoiding thunderstorms is getting easier in airline cockpits thanks to a new type of radar that automatically optimizes weather returns and then eliminates ground returns so that only convective cells ahead are displayed.
Eckhard Breuer has been appointed business aircraft sales director for Germany and Austria and Christophe Degoumois for Russia and Eastern Europe for Bombardier Aerospace. Breuer was head of sales and marketing at CAE Elektronik GmbH. He succeeds Peter Otto, who has retired.
They aren't flying yet, but members of the science and engineering team working on the U.S.-German Sofia airborne infrared observatory have made their first notations. Sofia, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy under development by NASA and Germany's DLR space agency, is a converted Boeing 747SP that will carry a 2.5-meter (98.4-in.) infrared telescope for operations at 40,000 ft. (AW&ST Oct. 23, 2000, p. 90). Shown below in the aircraft's aft observation cavity, the telescope is under the red cover.
The first lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle for use by an individual is far along in the design process by Cyber Aerospace Corp. The company plans to produce two standardized units to accommodate small- and large-dimensioned payloads of up to 30 lb.
The nation's top aerospace companies are lining up for major competitions over who will integrate the command and control systems for the increasingly important markets of electronic surveillance and attack.
Barry Blanding has been named vice president-operations of SimAuthor Inc., Boulder, Colo. He has been head of simulator engineering and manufacturing for several companies.
Five foreign militaries and the U.S. Marine Corps are coming into the U.S. Coast Guard-led Eagle Eye UAV project, raising the prospect they will buy the unmanned Bell Helicopter Textron tiltrotor. Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. have shipboard applications in mind in most cases, says Coast Guard Cdr. Melissa Bulkley, air lead in the service's Deepwater program.
If there is another 9/11-style hijacking, there probably will be pressure to fit airliners with devices to foil a takeover of controls, according to Gen. Ed Eberhart, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command.
for Boeing 737-700s will go to AeroMexico, eight as purchases and two as leases, the airframer says. Deliveries will start in December 2005. The carrier will receive the last of an earlier order for 15 737s in November. Similarly, Panamanian carrier Copa will buy two 737-700s for delivery in 2006 and will take one -700 and one -800 from leasing companies next year. It already flies 20 737-700/800s.
One of the instruments on board the Cassini probe has given the best picture yet of the temperature fluctuations across Saturn's famous rings as measured from the unlit side. This false-color image combines a Cassini view of the rings with temperature data collected by the spacecraft's composite infrared spectrometer. Temperatures range from the warmest regions in red, at 110K, to the coldest in blue at 70K. The green rings measured about 90K. Opaque regions are cooler because they block more light, while the warmest regions are transparent.
THE AGENCY FOR THE SAFETY OF AERIAL NAVIGATION in Africa and Madagascar (Asecna) has awarded Thales a 20-million-euro ($24-million) turnkey contract to supply and install four air traffic management systems, each with a monopulse Mode S secondary surveillance radar. Asecna controls airspace 1.5 times the size of Europe, and represents 16 member countries--14 western and central African nations, as well as Madagascar and France. Receiving the ATM systems will be Dakar, Senegal; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Brazzaville, Congo Republic; and Niamey, Niger.
The Star Alliance is expanding its Central European connections with the inclusion of Adria Airways, Slovenia's national airline, and Croatia Airlines. The two are being sponsored as regional affiliates by Star founding member Lufthansa German Airlines. Earlier this year, SAS Scandinavian Airlines sponsored Finland's Blue1 as Star's first regional affiliate. Sponsors represent regional affiliates in the alliance. Passengers flying on the regionals have Star lounge access, frequent-flier benefits and through check-in services.
THE INTEGRATED STANDBY FLIGHT INSTRUMENTS for the new Boeing 7E7 will be provided by Thales. An LCD will show pitch and roll attitude, heading, airspeed and altitude, and landing approach deviations in a format similar to the primary flight displays. Boeing had previously selected Thales to supply the 7E7's electrical power conversion system.
San Diego-based Titan Corp. has received a contract to provide support services under the U.S. Air Force Electronic System Center's Information Technology Services Program. The value for the work through 2006 could reach $26 million with all options exercised.
Charles White has been promoted to manager of the Long Beach (Calif.) Learning Center of FlightSafety International from assistant manager of the St. Louis center. Chuck Milhiser has been promoted to assistant manager from director of training at the Tucson (Ariz.) center, and Julie Goodridge to assistant manager at the West Palm Beach (Fla.) center from product marketing manager at the Wilmington (Del.) center.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved almost $60 million in financing support for Brazil-based Lider Taxi Aero to buy 10 Sikorsky S-76C helicopters and spare parts. The helicopters would be used for passenger and cargo transport.
Only two teams remain in the bidding for a contract to deploy and operate the Galileo navigation satellite system, following the withdrawal of a Eutelsat-led consortium just prior to the bid submittal deadline on Sept. 1. Eutelsat, which had been allied with Hispasat, Logica, Fiat and Aena, said it was unable to meet the stringent bid requirements, which among other things called for an investment of some 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion).
Boeing and Lockheed Martin will square off over the next 15 months to determine which company will develop and supply the radio for the bulk of the U.S. military's aircraft fleet. The Pentagon just awarded Boeing a $54.6-million contract and Lockheed Martin $51.3 million for the airborne, maritime and fixed station (AMF) component of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)--a much larger Defense Dept. effort to field a new generation of software-programmable radios. Northrop Grumman was the losing bidder.
Tony Charaf has been named senior vice president of Delta TechOps, effective Oct. 1. He was senior vice president of Delta Air Logistics and succeeds Ray Valeika, who is scheduled to retire. Neil Stronach, who was director of aircraft base maintenance, has been named vice president of Delta's Operations Planning, Control and Reliability Div. He succeeds Bill Wangerien, who has retired.
Oceanit Laboratories has been awarded a $49.6-million contract to provide research, design, prototyping, system deployments and upgrades for the Extended High-Accuracy Network Orbital Determination System for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, N.M.
PanAmSat has awarded Ariane-space a contract to launch its Galaxy XVII spacecraft on an Ariane 5 booster in early 2006. Arianespace also agreed to switch Galaxy XIV, initially scheduled for Ariane 5, to the Starsem/Soyuz, so it could be orbited by year-end. The launch firm also landed a pair of orders from DirecTV (see p. 28).
Scientists who had hoped to learn about the evolution of the Solar System from the two-salt-grains' worth of solar samples housed in NASA's Genesis probe will have to content themselves with what they can glean from the spacecraft's shattered remains in the weeks and months ahead.
Patricia Powell (see photos) has been appointed director of business transformation and best practices for the Lockheed Martin Corp. at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. She was director of safety product assurance and has been succeeded by Richard Harris. He was manager of program development.
Boeing is moving toward reaching major Italian air force KC-767A tanker milestones early next year, but meeting key offset requirements is in jeopardy as long as the U.S. Air Force's counterpart tanker program remains stalled.
