Bruce D. Nordwall (Washington and Maastricht, Netherlands)
Small airports in mountainous terrain with no radar coverage may follow the lead of Innsbruck, Austria, which plans to use "multilateration" this fall to allow air traffic controllers to track aircraft in the vicinity of the airport. Multilateration is a technique employing ground-based sensors to triangulate aircraft position by comparing the time of arrival of pulses from the aircraft's transponder. In the U.S., it's also known as multistatic dependent surveillance.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is taking delivery of two flight-test observation platforms, the High-Altitude Observatory (HALO I and HALO II). L-3 Communications' Aeromet unit has modified the two Gulfstream IIBs and is working with the agency on a third aircraft, a DC-10 called the Wide-body Airborne Sensor Platform (WASP). The government was leasing the aircraft, but has opted to buy them and have them contractor-operated--a move thought to show more business savvy.
Marc Pircher has been named senior vice president/chief technical officer of Paris-based Alcatel Space. He was director of launchers and the Evry Center of French space agency CNES. Pircher succeeds Michel Courtois, who has joined the European Space Agency.
Nancy H. Greer has been named vice president-finance/chief financial officer for Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, Garland, Tex. She was senior vice president/CFO of Alcatel North America, Plano, Tex.
Sept. 14-16--MRO Europe. Bella Center, Copenhagen. Oct. 12-14--MRO/Asia. Shanghai Convention Center. Nov. 16-17--A&D Programs. Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix. PARTNERSHIPS June 22-24--CMAC 2004, Warsaw. July 19-25--Farnborough (England) Air Show. www.farnborough.com Nov. 1-7--Air Show China, Zhuhai. www.airshow.com.cn July 19-22--Farnborough (England) Air Show. Oct. 12-14--National Business Aviation Assn. Convention, Las Vegas. Nov. 1-3--Air Show China, Zhuhai.
Volga-Dnepr Group is planning to sell shares to an outside investor later this year and to go to the London stock exchange next year in an effort to secure additional capital for future expansion. Chairman/CEO Alexey Isaikin said the initial stock sale, to an unnamed foreign investment fund, is expected to bring in $30 million, but he declined to reveal the amount to be raised from the initial public offering.
Maybe rising fuel prices aren't at the root of all evil for airlines today. Incrementally higher fares should more than make up for jet fuel in the $1-plus range, says Edmund Greenslet, security analyst and publisher of The Airline Monitor.
Aura, the third in NASA's Earth Observing Satellite series, is lowered into the thermal vacuum chamber at Northrop Grumman Space Park in Redondo Beach, Calif. As a satellite, Aura is a copy of Aqua. As an Earth observatory, Aura's international science team has created the most complete set of instruments yet for studying the recovery of the ozone layer, monitoring air pollution and investigating atmospheric change on a global basis (see p. 46). Northrop Grumman Space Technology
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Robert D. Reilly, Jr., has become the Navy's deputy for command, control, communications and computers integration and policy/deputy communications and information officer. He has been commander of Cruiser Destroyer Group Two, Norfolk, Va.
An advanced high-resolution infrared detector being marketed by France's Sofradir shows how pressure to curb the cost of gear for homeland security, military and government applications is driving the search for new basic technologies. The detector, known as Scorpio and operating in the midwave (3-5-micron) frequency band, features patented hybridized mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) technology. With its 15-micron pitch and 640 X 512-pixel array, Scorpio will quadruple the resolution offered by existing 30-micron, 320 X 256 technology, the company says.
EasyJet is undertaking a top-to-bottom review of its route system and could terminate unprofitable services between several city-pairs. However, the British carrier's ambitious long-term growth plan has not been affected by new entrants' competition and high fuel prices, company executives say.
Kevin J. McSweeney (see photo) has been named president of the Command Systems Div. of the Telephonics Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y. He was director for maritime safety, security and surveillance for the Lockheed Martin Corp.
Masamoto Tasaki, president of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, has been named chairman of the Society of Japanese Aerospace Cos., succeeding Takashi Nishioka, president of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Now, a British low-fare carrier scheduled to start operations soon, filed for bankruptcy before the inauguration of its first route in the absence of sufficient funding. In the last weeks, five British and Irish startups ceased operations.
Ailing Alitalia has regained full control of its Atitech maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) arm by buying back a 1% stake owned by state holding company Sviluppo Italia. This operation, carried out at end of February but not announced, is part of a survival plan for the carrier that calls for disposing of all nonflight-related noncore activities, including MRO. Atitech is likely to be ceded to another state-controlled company, such as Fintecna or Finmeccanica, or sold back to Sviluppo Italia.
A total of 288 Delta Air Lines pilots--201 of them wide-body transport drivers--applied for retirement as of their contract's June 1 deadline to announce their intentions. All but 22 of the 288 are early retiree prospects. Applicants ranged from those who were one month away from the federally mandated age of 60 to some who were taking retirement six years earlier than the law requires, said Chris Renkel, a communications officer with the Delta Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Assn.
ATK Thiokol Propulsion fired a full-scale Reusable Solid Rocket Motor at its Promontory, Utah, facility June 10, testing modifications in the propellant grain and nozzle that could enhance space shuttle safety on ascent. Overall, there were 76 objectives in the test of a flight support motor, which will be refurbished for future testing.
Avio has completed the first inert casting operation for the P80 main stage of the Vega light booster. The work was done at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, ESA said. The P80, which is 10.5 meters tall, 3 meters in diameter and weighs 88 metric tons, is the only one of Vega's three solid propulsion stages that is cast in situ. The launcher is due to begin operations from Kourou in 2007.
Regarding Greg Zsidisin's letter (AW&ST May 3, p. 10) on the use of space shuttle systems for the new Moon/Mars program, has anyone considered use of the International Space Station? You already have a large structure in orbit with crew accommodation, laboratories, observatories, etc., along with an unclear mission and little public interest. With modifications and additions, it could in principle be converted into International Mars Transfer Ship (IMTS). The main additions would be suitable engines, tanks, and more or alternative power supplies.
Gabon has formed an investigation team to determine why a Hawker Siddeley HS-748 twin-turboprop operated by Gabon Express crashed near Libreville airport on June 9. The death toll includes a crewmember and 18 passengers, among 35 on board.
NASA will begin naming "a few hundred" engineers soon who will constitute the Independent Technical Authority (ITA) recommended by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board to "provide an effective check and balance" on space programs for safety.
Stanton D. Sloane has become executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Integrated Systems & Solutions, Bethesda, Md. He succeeds Albert E. Smith, who plans to retire Feb. 1. Sloane has been deputy of IS&S.
The long-running proposal for a third Chicago-area airport won a boost last week when the FAA and Illinois Transportation Dept. agreed on passenger forecasts for the facility at Peotone. The forecast projects nearly 1 million passengers a year using the airport by 2015. Now that there has been agreement on numbers, the FAA may proceed on an environmental assessment while the state can create a detailed airport plan. The two agencies settled on low, medium and high forecasts for the years 2011 and 2015.
