This new version of the portable multi-mode BondMaster 1000, the BondMaster 1000+, has a single Li-Ion battery and weighs under 4 lb. Used by the military services, the tester offers pitch-catch (swept, impulse, RF), resonance and MIA modes in a single instrument. It is available with three customer-interchangeable displays: "Hi-Brite" electroluminescent; monochrome transreflective backlit liquid crystal display and a new color liquid crystal display. The unit also has VGA output for use with head-up displays, monitors and projectors.
Space Systems/Loral said it is resuming work on WildBlue-1, a dedicated broadband satellite project that was resurrected late last year by a new round of investment, notably from Intelsat. Resumption of work on the satellite, which will carry 41 overlapping Ka-band spot beams and eight tracking antennas on an SS/L 1300 space bus, followed renewal of a launch agreement with Arianespace earlier this year (AW&ST Feb. 24, p. 31). Denver-based WildBlue Communications plans to launch the spacecraft in early 2005.
Don C. Wells has been promoted to CEO from president of Magnolia Plastics Inc., Chamblee, Ga. He will be succeeded by his son, Richard Wells, who has been sales manager. John Morris has been promoted from sales repesentative to succeed Richard Wells.
As part of a productivity shift to off-load work down the supply chain, the Fabrication Div. of Boeing Commer- cial Airplanes says it will shed 4,000 jobs over the next 21 months and "consolidate its footprint" in the Seattle area by disposing of more than 1 million sq. ft. of production facilities. In e-mails to the 8,500 workers of the Auburn, Wash.-based Fabrication Div., Vice President Liz Otis cited a need to improve efficiency. The job drop is expected to be completed by the end of 2004.
The 20th century belongs to those of us in aviation. Starting from virtually ground zero, we generated the knowledge of the far reaches of the atmosphere to make aeronautics an instrument of great service to mankind. This thesis is not about history but about biography, a portrait of those whose heart and indomitable spirit wrote new chapters of history for the engineering that is the foundation of our civilization.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: David M. North [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
United Airlines' Boeing 777 carrying 255 passengers flew over the mid-Pacific Ocean against strong headwinds for 192 min. under single-engine power Mar. 17 to land without incident at Kona on the western coast of the big island of Hawaii. Boeing confirmed that it was the longest single-engine diversion during Extended Twin Operations (ETOPS) since the advent of transoceanic twin-engine flights 20 years ago by a Trans World Airlines Boeing 767-200.
Kent Green has become station manager for Southwest Airlines at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. He held the same position at Kansas City International Airport.
United Technologies Corp.'s Hamilton Sundstrand joins a growing list of aerospace companies that are aggressively pursuing business opportunities in the field of homeland security and defense. The UTC subsidiary has formed two new units, Homeland Security Systems and Land Systems. Both are in the process of adapting space-related technologies to the detection of chemical and biological agents. The units expect to work closely with large prime contractors such as Boeing Co. and Raytheon Co.
Brussels-based Virgin Express is mulling an 11th-hour proposal to acquire Air Lib, revive its low-fare domestic route system and evaluate the merits of its long-haul destinations in France's overseas territories. The carrier is poised to fold, now that the French trade court rejected the airline's plea to postpone bankruptcy to allow time to find new investors. A French maritime group reportedly would join Virgin Express in submitting an offering and devising a new business plan for the airline.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week overturned a lower-court ruling that would have allowed the government to collect $2.3 billion in damages and more than $1 billion in interest the Navy claims is owed by General Dynamics Corp. and Boeing Co. stemming from the cancellation of the A-12 stealth aircraft in 1991. The court indicated that it lacked a complete record to finally decide the case.
My activity as an aerospace designer spans exactly half the period in question. Fifty years ago, as a nine-year-old, I began picking up pieces of wrecked model airplanes and scrap materials, forming them into new shapes with the intent of satisfying my curiosity about their airworthiness. That age is the most formative time in our lives, when we make those inner decisions about what is important, what is fun. This is the age when we acquire the burning desire to learn the skills that will shape our future capabilities and careers.
I was a little over 60 years ago that a human-built article entered outer space for the first time. It occurred over Peenemunde, a small village on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea, where the German army had established a research and development center for rockets. In two previous attempts, the ballistic missile we called the A4 had failed. Walter Thiel was responsible for the development of the A4 propulsion system, and I was working for him.
Joy Covey has been appointed to the board of directors of the JetBlue Airways Corp. She was vice president-finance and administration/chief financial officer of Amazon.com.
Peter Christman, Jr., has been named vice president/general manager of another UTC subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney Power Systems, East Hartford, Conn. He was general manager of the unit's Large Engine Business. Christman succeeds Ellen Smith, who has left the company.
Despite persistent footdragging on the A400M airlifter and the impending collapse of the German-Italian maritime patrol aircraft replacement program, Europe's embryonic effort to launch an advanced trainer project continues to move ahead. The undertaking, dubbed the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training (Eurotraining) program, was finally put into motion after several years of discussion in late 2002, when 12 nations launched a one-year feasibility study under the leadership of Aermacchi, recently acquired by Finmeccanica (AW&ST Dec. 9, 2002, p. 37).
Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. June 16--Top 100 Stars of Aerospace, Paris (during the Paris air show). Sept. 16-18--MRO Europe, Cardiff, Wales. Oct. 14--Value Creation Conference The McGraw-Hill Companies Headquarters, New York.
Japan's Space Activities Commission (SAC), which sets national space policy, has approved development of a second-stage rocket engine fueled by liquid natural gas. The National Space Development Agency (NASDA) will produce the engine for the GX launch vehicle proposed by Galaxy Express Corp., a joint Japan-U.S. partnership. The SAC's action is the final hurdle for the GX, which backers call a "cheap, simple and secure" replacement for the J-1 vehicle. Program design/ development work is to begin immediately. Late last year the U.S.
The privately owned National Reserve Bank purchased a 26% stake in Russian flag carrier Aeroflot for a reported $135 million, making it the second-largest shareholder in the Russian flag carrier, after the government. The bank also owns 37% of Ilyushin Finance Co., a major aircraft leasing firm, and is seeking to buy the government's stakes in aircraft producers VASO and Aviastar, in exchange for a state commitment to finance new aircraft production.
European space industry leaders are up in arms over alleged suggestions from the European Space Agency that industry assume a hefty portion of the price tag for getting the new Ariane EC-A launch vehicle into service. The Ariane 5 has been grounded since the EC-A failed on its maiden flight in December, while engineers evaluate a recovery plan. The likely cost of the plan has risen in recent weeks as customers have asked for a second qualification flight (AW&ST Mar. 10, p. 21; Feb. 10, p. 46).
When I was five years old, in the then-sleepy little town of La Jolla, Calif., I was watching transfixed a small yellow monoplane executing aerobatics at about 3,000 ft. above. Of course, in those days in that environment, there would be small argument from any government authorities. Indeed it was considered "a bit of a show to the locals" and duly appreciated. Certainly appreciated in my five-year-old heart and eyes. It was love at first flight for I immediately envisioned myself in that little craft.
Mar. 31--18th Bristol (England) International UAV Conference. Bristol University and Cranfield College of Aeronautics. Call +44 (117) 928-9764 or see www.uvonline.co.uk Mar. 31-Apr. 1--Technology Training Corp.'s Future Unmanned Vehicles Conference. Holiday Inn Rosslyn, Arlington, Va. Call +1 (310) 563-1223 or see www.technologytraining.com Apr. 2-8--Sun 'N' Fun EAA Fly-in. Lakeland (Fla.) Linder Regional Airport. Call +1 (863) 644-2431 or see www.sun-n-fun.org
Chon-Yin Tsai, an engineering fellow in the Design Engineering Dept. of Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles, Sunnyvale, Calif., has received an Asian-American Engineer of the Year Award for 2003. She was cited for pioneering work in development and application of computational fluid dynamics techniques to Fleet Ballistic Missile Underwater Missile Launch hydrodynamics issues.
What was expected to be a U.S.-led conflict against Iraq distinguished by immediate overwhelming force, unusual tactics, lightning strikes and paralyzing "effects-based operations" began with a relatively small and admittedly limited effort to kill Saddam Hussein.
