Alaska Airlines and Boeing have accepted legal responsibility for the Jan. 31, 2000, crash of Alaska Flight 261 that killed all 88 people on board. The move is expected to ease settlement of the remaining 16 lawsuits filed by victims' families. The NTSB determined that insufficient lubrication of the MD-83's horizontal stabilizer trim jackscrew and Acme nut caused loss of pitch control and subsequent crash into the Pacific Ocean (AW&ST Dec.16, 2002, p. 48, and Jan. 15, 2001, p.444).
CRAF PHASES OUT The USAF Air Mobility Command will deactivate the Civil Reserve Air Fleet on June 18, but use of civil widebodies to support the airlift of troops and cargo to and from the Middle East will continue with airlines being hired to provide service on a voluntary basis. Between Oct. 1 and May 31 the Defense Dept. spent about $2 billion on civil air transportation including the originally planned contracts plus use of 47 widebodies activated in Stage 1 of the CRAF. Nearly half of the expenditure was for cargo airlift which was not activated for Iraqi Freedom.
AIRCRAFT-PROTECTION MUSIC With the debate about equipping airliners with electronic self-protection heating up in the U.S., Israel's Elbit systems is offering a laser-based directed infrared (IR) countermeasures system to defeat infrared-guided surface-to-air missiles. Called Music, the Multi-Spectral Infrared Countermeasures system consists of a narrow-beam jamming laser, an omni-directional missile warning system (MWS) and an IR missile tracking subsystem. A notional system installation would involve a single jam head on the underside of the fuselage.
Flying in a V Two factors--labor costs and the high price of introducing support equipment for new technology--are prompting cash-strapped airlines to reconsider how much maintenance, repair and overhaul work they want to keep in their own shops.
MARS AIRPLANE Aurora Flight Sciences plans to flight test a full-scale prototype of an unmanned aerial vehicle this year that could overfly the Martian surface later in the decade if it is selected as one of NASA's 2007 Mars Scout missions. The space agency's Langley Research Center awarded the Manassas, Va.-based UAV supplier a contract for the prototype after it flew a half-scale version in drop tests last year.
Aerojet has been awarded an $8.6- million contract by Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles to supply the first Hall thruster propulsion subsystem for the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite program. An Aerojet development, the Hall thruster is an electric propulsion system that Aerojet reports provides roughly six times the fuel efficiency of conventional chemical propulsion systems.
June 15-22--45th Paris Air Show. Salon International de L'Aeronautique et de l'Espace. Le Bourget Airport. Call +33 (15) 323-3333 or see www.paris-air-show.com June 16-19--Society of Automotive Engineers' Digital Human Modeling for Design & Engineering Conference & Exhibition. Wyndham Montreal. Call +1 (724) 772-8530, fax +1 (724) 776-3049 or see www.sae.org June 18-19--Sixth Global Aviation Information Network World. Alitalia headquarters, Rome. Call +1 (301) 951-1701, fax +1 (301) 907-0036 or see www.GAINweb.org
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 19 EC cleared to negotiate open skies pact with Washington WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 22 IATA tells airline execs: Look to 'bold changes' 22 French flag carrier becomes Europe's biggest airline 24 Star Alliance admits US Air- ways, pursues RJ purchase 25 American, British Airways win final OK for code share 26 Some landing fees suspended until SARS scare subsides 26 Scope clause tension may cloud Air Canada pilots' pact
Greg Gilchrist has been promoted to senior vice president-sales and account management from vice president-strategic accounts at Dallas-based Sabre Airline Solutions.
SOLAR SUPPLEMENT AeroVironment Inc. plans a two-day flight of its solar-powered Helios Prototype this summer, using fuel cell technology adapted from the automotive industry to keep the flying wing aloft at night. Developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (Erast) project, Helios set an altitude record for winged aircraft not powered by rockets of 96,863 ft. in August 2001. For that mission, which maintained stable horizontal flight above 96,000 ft.
ADIEU, CONCORDE Air France retired Concorde FBTSD (below) following completion of the supersonic jet's last New York JFK-Paris Charles de Gaulle service on May31, with 68 passengers and 11 crewmembers. But as Air France Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta said, the Concorde will never really stop flying because it will always have a place in people's imaginations. Air France's final supersonic flight over the North Atlantic, scheduled for June 12, will bring a Concorde to Washington Dulles International Airport.
Gen. Richard B. Myers' recent analysis of the Iraq war shows how disconnected the Pentagon is from reality. As Americans, we should realize we defeated a demoralized nation with an economy 1/400 the size of ours. We were at war with Iraq for 12 years, not four weeks as the general might believe. Iraqi generalship was poor; with only a modicum of effort, they could have caused real problems.
John Lydiard has been appointed vice president-Mission Electronics, Mike Heffron vice president-Electronic Warfare/Information Warfare (EW/IW), Don Donovan vice president-Electronic Warfare/Electronic Protection (EW/EP) and Tom Arsenault vice president-engineering, all for BAESystems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems (IEWS), Nashua, N.H. Arsenault was director of engineering for the EW/EP line and succeeds Heffron.
ARTEMIS OPS FUNDING The European Space Agency will offer to share the cost of operating the Artemis telecom technology satellite in order to ensure that the spacecraft, which arrived on station at the end of January after an 18-month rescue, can begin operation. Under normal procedures the agency funds development of scientific spacecraft, and its members fund the payload in accordance with their initial mission contribution.
As the Columbia Accident Investigation Board settles down in Washington to write its report, members of Congress need to start giving careful thought to how they will tackle some issues the report undoubtedly will raise. Headed by retired Adm. Harold Gehman, the panel has distinguished itself by its diligence, expertise and--above all-- its objectivity. Congress would do well to exercise these same qualities when it debates the U.S. future in space in light of the accident board's findings.
James E. Schuster, executive vice president of the Raytheon Co. and chairman/CEO of the Raytheon Aircraft Co., has been elected vice chairman of the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. He succeeds Clayton M. Jones, president/CEO of Rockwell Collins, who became GAMA chairman on May 1. Schuster will continue as chairman of GAMA's Security Issues Committee.
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Continental Airlines opened seven gates on the west concourse of its new 23-gate Terminal E at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport. The main building, east concourse and remaining 16 gates are expected to be fully operational by year-end. The gates are designed to accommodate aircraft from 50-seat regional jets to Boeing 777s. A three-story, 25,000-sq.-ft. Presidents Club lounge will be in the center of the 600,000-sq.-ft. terminal.
Danny Biran, who has been chairman of the Elisra Group, Bene-Berak, Israel, also will be CEO. He also is president of Koor Industries Ltd. and chairman of Tadiran Electronic Systems Ltd. and Tadiran Spectralink Ltd.
Code Red Emergency With the threat of continued software problems derailing U.S. Air Force plans for the F/A-22 stealth fighter, prime contractor Lockheed Martin has devised a way to gradually overcome long-standing glitches that have led to repeated crashes of onboard computers.
David Joseph has been named vice president-sales for Qualtech Systems Inc., Wethersfield, Conn. He was North American vice president-sales for ClickSoftware Inc.
MORE SATLYNX CLIENTS SES Global and Gilat have signed up two corporate clients for their Satlynx two-way broadband venture, created last year to serve business and residential customers not reached by high-speed cable or digital subscriber lines (AW&ST Apr. 15, 2002, p. 50). The new clients are Deutsche Telekom affiliate T-Systems, one of Europe's premier information and communications technology (ICT) providers, and Getronics affiliate Infotechnique, which links France, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Sir Arthur Marshall, retired chairman and now honorary life president of Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge, England, has received the Air League's Founders' Medal to recognize his leadership in the British aerospace industry since learning to fly in 1929. The last recipient was then-Rolls-Royce Chairman Sir Ralph Robins in 1998.
Air France Takes the lead Air France executives believe that they hold the trump cards--a carefully balanced route system, savvy marketing strategy and Paris CDG's ample runway capacity--to ensure that the carrier keeps its newly won position.
