Federico Bloch, a widely respected Latin American airline executive before his recent resignation, died of gunshot wounds early Apr. 26 after he was apparently kidnapped near San Salvador, El Salvador. A witness said three men had forced 50-year-old Bloch into an automobile. His body was found on a road 13 km. (8 mi.) outside San Salvador. A 25-year airline veteran and a licensed pilot, Bloch resigned Apr. 16 as president and CEO of San Salvador-based TACA International Airlines, citing family reasons.
A gate-running incident at Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory (LANL) is reviving concerns about China's persistent campaign to acquire U.S. nuclear weapons information.
The Joint Program Development Office could complete the first draft of a plan to transform the U.S. air transportation system as early as this summer for review by government leaders before the report goes to Congress in December.
James L. (Larry) Crawford has been named director of safety and mission assurance at the Kennedy Space Center. He was deputy director for safety at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center at the Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
Loral Space & Communications and Energia of Russia will jointly offer small satellites in a bid to establish a foothold in a promising sector of the sluggish communications satellite market.
SES Global has initiated a secondary offering of fiduciary depository receipts (FDRs) and if successful, will begin trading FDRs on the Euronext Paris stock exchange in an effort to broaden its liquidity and make its stock more attractive to international investors. The offering, which will only be open to institutional investors holding at least 1% of company stock, will involve approximately 67 million A-class shares, plus an option for up to 5 million more. If fully subscribed, it would raise the free float to around 33%, compared with 23% now.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has doubled the F-16's capacity to carry smart weapons by installing a new BRU-57 vertical ejection rack that allows the fighter to mount four 1,000-lb.-class weapons. The U.S. Air Force recently certified use of CBU-103-107-series Wind Corrected Muni-tions Dispensers using the BRU-57 on Block 40, 42, 50 and 52 aircraft. Approval to carry the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is scheduled for late this year, according to the company.
About 500 U.S. Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, NASA and contractor personnel completed a major simulation in the Atlantic off Kennedy Space Center last month to sharpen coordination for the rescue of any space shuttle crew forced to bail out during a launch or landing emergency. Of particular concern are some Return-To-Launch-Site abort cases where the shuttle could not reach the Kennedy runway, forcing the crew to bail out offshore. The Defense Dept. Manned Space Flight Support Office at Patrick AFB, Fla., coordinated the exercise, as it has for previous simulations.
Lawmakers are about to begin marking up the Pentagon's Fiscal 2005 budget request and several missile defense projects are seen as targets, according to industry representatives and sources in Congress. Among them is the ground-based, mid-course project, particularly funding to boost the number of interceptors. Lawmakers may block those efforts until flight tests validate the performance of the system.
Julius Maldutis' Viewpoint was right on target. The only element that would have made it more complete was a mention of the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s role.
The next flight test for the Pentagon's missile defense umbrella has slid to July, leaving little schedule margin as developers move to declare an early version of the system operationally ready. The U.S. military expects to declare initial defensive operations for the missile shield by the end of September, when five ground-based interceptors and required sensor and battle management equipment are to be ready for use. Critics question the efficacy of that system, citing a dearth of flight tests--the last one occurred in December 2002 and it failed.
Airlines are fighting a newly discovered attempt to increase their government security fees by $435 million this year, and they want Congress to move slowly if at all toward equipping commercial transports with defenses against shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. May says the ATA has been tipped to an obscure "budget errata" process by which the Office of Management and Budget intends to more than double the security fee airlines pay.
NASA Aircraft Operation Div. pilot Richard N. Clark (right) helps Editor Emeritus David M. North strap into the rear seat of a T-38N at the Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field facility. Clark is one of 22 pilots operating from the center to provide flight training and support to the astronaut corps. Aircraft captains and maintenance support at the field are provided under contract by Dyncorp. North flew three approaches to decision height during the 1.3-hr. flight (see p. 64).
NASA planners working on the proposed Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO)--a nuclear-powered craft--are seriously considering landing a small science payload on the frozen surface of Europa.
Space Systems/Loral this month plans to file a reorganization plan that could allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July or August. Parent Loral Space & Communications filed for protection last July, largely because of debt related to the failed Globalstar telecommunications venture. Space Systems/Loral would emerge from Chapter 11 even before Loral Space & Communications, which is expected to follow later in the year. Separately, Space Systems/Loral says in-orbit checkout of the MBSAT it launched Mar.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's investigation of three fatal wing-loss accidents in 1994 and 2002 is prompting new questions about the safety of large airtankers in the aerial firefighting role.
Fit trials of the MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile have been carried out on the Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter, in a process eventually leading to an initial firing during 2005. The trial was intended to examine mechanical interfaces between the missile, aircraft and multi-missile launcher pylon. Meteor is a six-nation European program, led by the U.K., to develop a successor to such missiles as the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. Sweden's defense materiel agency, the FMV, is providing the Gripen as a test-platform for the program.
US Airways, still running in the red, is turning to yet another long-term solution to an increasingly near-term problem, exemplified by what many in aviation see as its ultimate confrontation--the launch of Philadelphia service May 9 by low-fare rival Southwest Airlines.
All Nippon Airways has begun what Boeing expects will be a cascade of Asian airlines with a record launch order of 50 7E7 mid-sized jets. The $6-billion order was so large that it surprised even some ANA insiders, who thought 25-30 airplanes more likely. "The size and speed of this order validates our view of the market," Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, commented.
US Airways' first response to Southwest Airlines' invasion of its turf in Philadelphia is more like a jab than a right-cross meant to cause any damage (see p. 44). "GoFares" introduced on Apr. 29 by US Airways are targeted specifically at 13 Southwest routes from Philadelphia, including four cities in Florida, plus Southwest's powerhouse markets in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Average spot fuel prices at five U.S. ports reached $1.0712 per gallon for the week ending Apr. 22, prompting American Airlines Cargo and North- west's NWA Cargo last week to hike fuel surcharges from 15 to 20 cents/kg., effective in mid-May. AA Cargo added an 8-cent/lb. surcharge for U.S. domestic shipments effective May 12.
Glenn Hess has become president of Pemco Aeroplex, Birmingham, Ala. He was president/chief operating officer of Bell Helicopter Textron and had been vice president/general manager of the Boeing Maintenance and Modification Unit.
Clark W. Johnson (see photo), international president of the Covina, Calif.-based Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering, has won the Pioneer of the Year Award from the National Society of Black Engineers.
