Duryel Thomas has become Chicago-based Midwest U.S. manager for Seattle-based Lynden Air Freight Inc. Hewas business development director for Con-Way Air.
Hamilton Sundstrand will supply its eight-blade NP2000 propeller system for the U.S. Navy's fleets of E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning and C-2A Greyhound transport aircraft. The $44.5-million contract calls for 188 propellers with an option to purchase an additional 54.
The article "Can $$$ Buy Time?" (AW&ST May 26, p. 56) reminded me of a sign posted in my mechanic's shop. It reads: "There are three characteristics of the work done here: Quick, Quality and Cheap. The customer can only get two. If you want the work done cheap and quick, it will not be of quality. If you want quality work done on the cheap, it will not be done quickly. If you want quick work with quality, it will not be cheap." NASA is correct to spend the dollars to ensure quality in the Mars Exploration Rovers.
These fasteners are manufactured from the recently developed MP98T superalloy, which exhibits a combination of strength and corrosion resistance, according to the company. The fasteners offer a minimum tensile strength of 180 ksi. Typical fracture toughness values on MP98T specimens tested per ASTM E1820 are very advantageous, says the company, making them suitable for critical aerospace engine and airframe applications. The alloy also resists embrittlement in high-pressure hydrogen environments such as rocket motors using liquid hydrogen for fuel.
PULLING OUT FROM UNDER? The U.S.' six largest hub-and-spoke airlines will show substantial improvement in revenues in the second half of this year, and in 2004 will exhibit "remarkable evidence that the industry is beginning to pull itself out of the financial morass," Edmund S. Greenslet, editor of The Airline Monitor, predicted last week at Standard & Poor's third annual aviation seminar in New York. "The [U.S.] airline industry turnaround has begun," he asserted.
In July, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and an international team of companies will demonstrate the world's first airborne Automatic Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) designed to automatically execute an escape maneuver in the final seconds to avoid impact.
The article about the imminent mothballing of the NASA Ames Research Center wind tunnel complex brought back many fond memories of being a volunteer at Ames. I had the opportunity to show the 80 X 120-ft. and 40 X 80-ft. tunnels to schoolchildren, teachers and other tour participants in the early '90s. The one experience that stood out was the day three U.S. senators gave speeches inside the 80 X 120, touting their commitment to aeronautical research.
European airline industry leaders are mulling further consolidation moves brought on by the continuing economic downturn that is jeopardizing the future of many flag carriers. Severe acute respiratory syndrome, the Iraq war and sluggish economies have spoiled hopes for an early recovery. SAS Scandinavian Airlines Chief Executive Jorgen Lindegaard and Lufthansa German Airlines' Juergen Weber believe traffic will start bouncing back over the summer. However, such improvements would come too late to ensure the weaker carriers' survival.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Rome), Michael A. Taverna (Fucino, Italy)
When Boeing was unable to build pressurized nodes for the International Space Station (ISS) to specification, NASA turned to Italy's Alenia Spazio for the critical hardware. Where Boeing workers at a NASA-owned facility had tried without complete success to weld critical hatch elements, Alenia machined them from single pieces of aluminum for assembly at the same factory in Turin that produced the pioneering Spacelab module.
Boeing has named more than 20 international systems suppliers to a technology and design development team for the 7E7 long-range jet that it expects to begin offering to customers next year for deliveries in 2008. Vice President Walt Gillette, who leads the 200-250-seat twinjet's engineering and manufacturing development, called for the suppliers to help Boeing create systems approaches that are "open and elegant."
In 1999, in anticipation of the 2003 centennial of manned, controlled, sustained heavier-than-air flight, Aviation Week embarked on a wide-ranging initiative to identify and honor the most interesting, intriguing and influential men and women whose contributions have resulted in today's global aerospace industry. That initiative is the Top 100 Stars of Aerospace.
Alcatel Space has contracted to build a dual-use telecom satellite, Koreasat 5, for South Korea. The 148-million-euro ($173-million) award, which follows Alcatel's selection in December, includes the ground control system, launch and early operations phase. The 36-transponder Ku/C/SHF-band spacecraft will be operated by KT Corp. and the Korean Agency for Defense Development.
The seeds of the fate of the U.K. aerospace sector may begin to be sown over the coming 12 months, the fallout from a strategic road map drawn up by industry and government. Senior government and industry officials unveiled the report of the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team (AIGT) here on June 12. The officials proffered both opportunities for the sector and grim warnings if action is not taken to prepare it to meet the coming needs of the market over the next 20 years.
USN Rear Adm. Thomas J. Kilcline, Jr., has been named commander of Carrier Group Two, Norfolk, Va. He has been director of the Aviation Plans and Requirements Branch in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.
The RTools software toolkit is a software suite for research engineers and scientists that is designed to acquire, radiometrically calibrate, process, analyze and archive data from advanced, digital infrared imaging systems. With the company's high-end focal plane array camera, RTools is optimized for imaging applications that require very accurate radiometric quantities of static or dynamic phenomenon.
Jay Haberland has been appointed vice president-business controls for the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He will continue as vice president-finance/chief financial officer of the subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft Co.
Perhaps Philippe Cauchi should realize the kind of mentality he portrayed is what upsets a lot of people (AW&ST May 19, p. 6). Why should USAF buy Boeing tankers, if they are not the best answer to the requirement and the most cost-effective? European governments are always being pressured by the U.S. to purchase American over European equipment. Perhaps it is time that U.S. procurement policy is changed to emphasize purchase of the best equipment in terms of capability and cost, and to scrap the incredible tax subsidies that U.S. manufacturers enjoy.
Dassault Aviation has delivered the first five Mirage 2000-9s to Abu Dhabi as the most recent move in modernization of the United Arab Emirates Air Force.
The Model 116B03 dynamic pressure sensor operates in environments up to 400C, and is designed for detecting pressure fluctuations in harsh environments such as exhaust systems, compressors and turbines. Pressure monitoring leads to increased efficiencies and reduced maintenance, according to the company. The charge mode unit may also be used with the company's in-line charge converters, which convert charge model piezoelectric sensor signals into low-impedance voltage signals for operation with ICP signal conditioners.
Engineers from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's RSC Energia are working on a "win-win-win" concept that would use a European Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) as the basis for a pressurized International Space Station facility where Russian scientists could conduct research.
No individual or organization deserves the blame for the space shuttle Columbia accident, but your Washington Outlook item "Slamming Shuttle Safety" (AW&ST May 19, p. 23) places most of the blame where it belongs.
Four hundred million dollars is being earmarked by the British Defense Ministry to set up and run a battle lab to develop and support its Network-Enabled Capability over the next decade. Under the banner of the "Niteworks" program, the ministry and industry will use the lab as a means to explore and build up elements of a network-enabled concept of operations.
Lockheed Martin has received a patent for a near-zero-erosion, net-molded ceramic rocket nozzle throat for solid rocket motors. The new ceramic material promises to improve solid rocket motor price and performance compared with state-of-the-art 4D carbon-carbon material.
Kjeld Binger, who is chairman of Mexico City-based Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, also will be interim president/CEO, following the resignation of Frantz Guns. Binger also has been CEO of Copenhagen Airport Development International.
Michael A. (Tony) McVeigh, Boeing Senior Technical Fellow (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Robert Wall reports on Bell's efforts on applications of active flow control (AFC) to tiltrotor download reduction (AW&ST May 26, p. 30). There is no mention of Boeing, so I want to set the record straight.
