The fate of Fairchild Dornier is expected to be decided this week. A creditor committee is scheduled to meet on Nov. 5 to evaluate proposals submitted by investors. The committee is poised to make non-binding recommendations to Eberhard Braun, the bankrupt aircraft manufacturer's administrator, who will make the final decision. Creditors' interests will be key in the selection process, Braun told Aviation Week & Space Technology before entering into negotiations with candidates.
Bombardier has completed an extensive aerodynamic validation flight test program for the Airborne Stand-Off Radar (Astor) program for the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The milestone is expected to provide critical data for the final design of the specially configured Bombardier Global Express aircraft.
Buddy H. Guess has become product support manager for Whittaker Controls Inc., North Hollywood, Calif. He was vice president/general manager of U.S. Technical of Atlanta and had been acting director of engineering for Delta Air Lines.
Britain will be forced to temporarily mothball 40 out of its 67 WAH-64 attack helicopters because training delays mean insufficient aircrew will be ready to operate the type. Mid-2004 will see at its peak 40 WAH-64s in storage following delivery. This is primarily because problems in development of the full mission simulator resulted in the start of the main pilot conversion program being delayed from September 2001 to September 2003.
Thomas Johnson has been named vice president and Robert Kranc technical director for intelligence programs in the Washington area office of the Miltec Corp., Huntsville, Ala.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) George K. Muellner, who is now president of the Boeing Phantom Works, was one of five former test pilots inducted recently into the Lancaster (Calif.) Walk of Honor. The others were: the late Lt. Col. (ret.) Tommie D. (Doug) Benefield, Lt. Col. (ret.) Robert L. Riedenauer, and Lockheed test pilots Robert J. Gilliland and Alfred P. (Paul) Metz. Muellner was the first manager of the Joint Strike Fighter program and was an instructor and test pilot for fighter, trainer and classified aircraft.
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The Chinese air force's latest intended addition to its inventory--and ostensibly the country's first indigenous fourth-generation combat aircraft--might just finally put in some form of appearance at the Zhuhai air show.
Laser weapons with long, easy-to-cool, fiber-optic amplifiers may arm next-generation fighters, said Raytheon officials. Better than chemical or perhaps even than emerging solid-state lasers, fiber-optic lasers may solve some of the sticky heat and power generation problems that plague energy weapons development. Fiber-optic lines could be routed to positions on the skin all over the aircraft.
The U.S. has demonstrated a system for infiltrating enemy air defense systems to spoof them, plant false targets and even take control of their equipment.
Dassault Aviation has decided to reduce the combined production rate for Falcon business jets next year, in response to a weaker demand. "Today, we have a healthy 159-aircraft backlog. We will maintain the current delivery pace up to mid-2003, then cut production to five aircraft monthly, down from six or seven," Chairman/ CEO Charles Edelstenne said. Since Jan. 1, the French manufacturer concluded orders for more than 75 Falcons.
Maria Dominquez has been named director of inflight services and Jim Sullivan director of flight training for Frontier Airlines. Dominquez was customer service manager for American Airlines at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Sullivan has been a captain and check airman for Boeing 737s.
Key airline members of the Star Alliance are seriously considering development of a common Information Technology platform for the 14 Star members (soon to be 17). Horst Findeisen, the alliance's vice president of commercial operations, said a single IT platform would need to be a cost-effective replacement for individual carrier IT systems that currently require linkages to communicate with each other and multiple vendors.
Excerpts from Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript (All times EST) For ATC Transmissions, only radio communications to and from the accident aircraft were transcribed. HOT-1 Pilot-in-command (PIC) hot microphone voice or sound source HOT-2 Second-in-command (SIC) hot microphone voice or sound source RDO Radio transmission from accident aircraft (RDO-1, PIC; RDO2: SIC) CAM Cockpit area microphone voice or sound source DEP Radio transmission from New York Departure Control
Hans-Joachim Gante has been appointed director-general of the BDLI German aerospace industries association. He succeeds Hans Eberhard Birke, who has joined DB German railways.
Dec. 3-5--Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul Asia Conference & Exhibition. Singapore. Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale Fla. May 12-14--Aerospace Defense &Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York.
Mirroring its twin-track approach to acquiring combat aircraft, China is running quasi-national guided-weapon developments in parallel with acquisitions predominantly from Russia. The Chinese air force (PLAAF) is attempting to revamp its air-to-air, tactical and strategic air-to-surface systems with a number of ongoing development projects, while also introducing a range of guided-weapon systems acquired from Russia.
Britain, France and Italy have submitted a joint bid to meet NATO's Satcom Post-2000 program, which is scheduled to replace the organization's existing NATO IV milsatcom system by the end of 2004. The tri-national tender included the U.K. Defense Procurement Agency, France's DGA and Teledife of Italy.
The U.S. Air Force has sent B-2 deployable shelters to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The shelters are used to ease B2 low-observable maintenance when the bombers are operating away from their home at Whiteman AFB, Mo. The Pentagon has asked the U.K. for permission to deploy B-2s to Diego Garcia, in case of an attack on Iraq, to reduce sortie duration. Another shelter is going to Fairford Air Base in the U.K.
Lockheed Martin Corp. reported strong third-quarter results last week, with earnings 66 cents per diluted share, slightly exceeding Wall Street's consensus estimate. The company reported a loss of 22 cents a share for the same period last year. A 15.1% increase in Aeronautics sales was a major contributor to the $6.54 billion in total sales for the quarter.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has set an endurance record with its Wasp micro air vehicle (see photo). The 13-in.-wingspan, 6-oz. UAV flew for 107 min., three times longer than the previous record for a micro UAV, a Darpa official said. Wasp features a multifunctional material that allows the battery to serve as the aircraft's wing. Darpa plans to build additional vehicles with multifunctional materials and in which structural components take on multiple roles.
