Goodrich Corp. has entered into an agreement with Thai Airways International to overhaul landing gear on its Boeing 747 aircraft. The three-year contract is valued up to $6 million. Work will be performed at Goodrich's Miami overhaul center.
NASA's first Mars Exploration Rover is en route to the red planet on a mission as important to rejuvenating the space program in the wake of Columbia as it is to initiating the first "overland exploration of Mars" in search of watery hideaways for life. "Never since the Apollo program have we launched such an intensive effort to investigate another heavenly body," said David Lavery, MER program director at NASA Headquarters.
Wayne Herndon has been appointed vice president-corporate real estate for US Airways. He has been an aviation consultant, and was managing director of properties and facilities at Delta Air Lines and managing director for corporate real estate at Continental Airlines.
The SpliceRite ultrasonic wire welder produces consistent, solid-state metallurgical bonds in wire harnesses and other types of wire bundles. The microprocessor-controlled splicing system, which can store and perform up to 250 weld protocols, welds without melting wires or producing arcs, sparks or fumes. The equipment can weld multiple strands in a single pulse. Setup operators can input weld parameters to control weld by time, energy in joules, or final weld height. If the weld doesn't fall within preset limits, an alarm is sounded.
Keeping with tradition, Eurofighter nations were leaving it late to decide whether, after all, the four partner air forces would formally receive their first production aircraft at the end of this month.
Robert F. Wood (see photo) has become Bethpage, N.Y.-based director of business and strategy development for airborne early warning programs by Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems Sector. Wood was technical director and senior program manager for the Anteon Corp.
The U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security approved $60 million for research, development and testing of self-protection systems to guard passenger jets against attack from man-portable missiles. This Fiscal 2004 funding would be needed for the Homeland Security Dept. to pursue such devices as it outlined in a report to Congress in May. Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems have infrared countermeasures systems that are candidates for the role, as do Israeli companies.
"T" FOR TRANSPORTATION New NTSB Chair Ellen G. Engleman discloses her safety plan of action. "For one thing, note it's the National Transportation--not Aviation Safety Board," Engleman said, adding that her team aims first to build awareness of the board's role: improving safety in all modes of transportation, while never allowing the bar to be lowered on aviation. Second, it aims to fulfill the board's role: "Looking not for fault, but truth.
After years of operating 1960s-vintage communications gear, the Marine Corps plans a two-step process to overhaul its airborne command and control technology. During the Iraq war the Marines operated three KC-130s, configured as Direct Air Support Center-Airborne--DASC(A)--systems, to manage helicopter operations and their support of ground forces. But the equipment is old and hadn't been upgraded much, making it very maintenance-intensive, noted a senior Marine Corps official who has operated the system.
This digital video recorder will record up to 6.5 hr. of inspection video at broadcast resolution, or more than 33 hr. at full compression. The DV Sidekick palm-size recorder digitizes and compresses video, storing it as dense motion JPEG files. An integral RS232 port permits remote control and file management via a PC running optional software. Because of its time-lapse recording capabilities, the system is suited for event monitoring, covert surveillance or unattended monitoring. Using a hard drive, the unit has memory capacity of 40-120GB.
Jane Allen has been named senior vice president-onboard services for United Airlines, effective June 19. She was head of flight service at American Airlines. Dipak C. Jain has been appointed to the board of directors of United parent UAL Corp. He is dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Sandy and Morton Goldman professor of entrepreneurial studies.
I think I have identified the problem with the whole return to the Moon versus Mars debate. The American public knows more about Mars, and we've been to the Moon. That's crazy. NASA is confused in thinking the public will take a "been there, done that" attitude. This is only true because we haven't sent any interesting probes to the Moon recently. We talk about future Mars sample return missions when we can do more much closer to home. We already know what resources the Moon possesses.
SLOT SHUFFLE US Airways won temporary rights June 9 to two unused slot exemptions at Washington Reagan Airport (DCA), enough for one daily round trip, that the Transportation Dept. awarded in January to Corporate Airlines. Like Corporate, US Airways is authorized to serve three points in North Carolina--Wilmington, Fayetteville and/or Jacksonville. The carrier will lose the exemptions once Corporate reclaims them, or on Oct. 25, when Corporate would have lost them anyway because of dormancy.
Rafael's new Britening protection system against infrared missiles has two main building blocks: a missile warning system to give notice of the direction of the threat and a countermeasures turret with a pointer-tracker and an infrared source to shine--in a mix of frequencies--into the seeker of the incoming missile to produce false targets, said Patrick Bar-Avi, director of the company's directional IR countermeasures effort.
Ducommun Aerostructures has negotiated follow-on agreements with Boeing valued at up to $99 million, for production of C-17 structural components and assemblies. The contract covers 60 shipsets.
The PServer R9 is a self-contained rugged server built with dual 2.8GHz. Intel Xeon processors, up to 12GB. double data rate PC3200 SDRAM, and four drive bays for 7,200 or 10,000 RPM hard drives and DVD players. Each system can be custom configured for application such as on board military aircraft, naval vessels and military deployment. The unit's four isolated drive bays can support single or multiple hard drives and a variety of optical drives. Each system includes a flat-panel display, detachable keyboard with touch-pad, and amplified speakers.
GLIDER GLITCH The U.S. Air Force Academy (AFA) is asking the USAF Operational Test and Evaluation Center to conduct additional high-density-altitude flight testing of its new TG-10 and TG-14 gliders, reflecting concerns about incomplete in-house evaluations held before the school's sailplane fleet was upgraded last summer. Until those tests and a review of squadron flight operations are completed, the AFA's sailplane program is on hold. The detailed review of 94th Flying Training Sqdn.
Announcing a firm $3-billion order for 100 Embraer 190 aircraft, New York-based JetBlue Airways launched an aggressive market expansion, leaving a few aircraft manufacturers slipping off the competitive edge. The buy by the steadfast-and-true Airbus customer does not signal a change in the low-cost carrier's philosophy or a change in the target customer, insists CEO David Neeleman. "We are plane-constrained, but we know that there are a lot of markets that couldn't have participated in the 'JetBlue effect.' Now they can."
Of the aerospace/defense industry's most promising business opportunities for the next 3-5 years, federal government information technology (IT) services may be the proverbial mother lode--which helps explain why General Dynamics Corp. is so intent on purchasing Veridian Corp.
The company has expanded its line of PCBN (polycrystalline cubic boron nitride) grades and inserts for high-precision hard turning and milling applications in both PCBN-tipped and PVD- (physical vapor deposition) coated solid PCBN styles. The PVD-coated solid PCBN inserts can be used for the machining of pearlitic gray cast iron and roughing and finishing of hardened steels and irons. Benefits of the new coating include enhanced wear detection, detriment-effect-free surfaces and improved tool life performance in certain applications.
EADS will develop an upgraded fire control computer for the MARS/MLRS rocket system for German, French and Italian armed forces. The $48.5- million program will be led by EADS' systems and defense electronics business unit.
It's sad to see our nation's wind tunnels no longer being used to advance the science of flight (AW&ST May 26, p. 40). At one time, the Experimental Aircraft Assn. (EAA) fostered the advance of aviation through the homebuilt movement. Much progress took place in general aviation aircraft as a result. Look at Burt Rutan's round-the-world Voyager and his EZEs; the certified outgrowth of Cirrus, Lancair and the like; the incredible numbers of vans and RVs; and the amazing 385- mph. pressurized turboprop Lancair IVP.
Smiths Aerospace is counting on rapidly expanding detection sales, a strong position in existing and future military aircraft programs, and a growing presence in the commercial aircraft sector to remain buoyant in the down market.
