The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is urging flight crews to be alert for incorrect indications of localizer and glideslope signals that could lead to controlled flight into terrain.
James A. Thomas, 3rd, one of six new airport federal security directors, has been named FSD at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose (Calif.) International Airport. He was CEO of the Nuclear Arms Control Div. of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and had been base commander of Cannon AFB, N.M. Force Base in Ohio. The other new FSDs are: Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Marlene M. Hunter, who was special agent in charge of the San Juan Div. of the FBI.; Rio Grande Valley International Airport, Harlingen, Tex., George R.
The European Court of First Instance has struck down yet another European Commission merger decision, further fueling speculation that an EC ruling last year blocking an alliance between General Electric and Honeywell may be reversed. The court pronouncement, related to a merger between a pair of packaging companies, Tetra-Laval and Sidel, was the second in as many weeks and the third since midyear to find fault with the EC's merger review procedures (AW&ST Oct. 28, p. 23; June 17, p. 26).
In a homeland defense simulation here that pitted a fictional National Security Council against an uncertain terrorist threat, the "national leaders" decided to ground general aviation and air cargo carriers as a precaution. However, it wasn't even possible for the NSC to know at the end of the exercise that its actions had headed off attacks, or if the threats had been a hoax.
Capt. Joe Bentley's letter and the responses bring up the point that there is a single point of failure possible in airport security within the U.S. This was demonstrated recently by the passenger who flew with a loaded pistol, only to be caught at a checkpoint for a connecting flight.
The 3i European venture capital group and SR Technics management jointly concluded an agreement with the bankrupt SAirGroup to buy out SR Technics for 425 million euros. SR Technics, which has 2,900 employees, has 750 million euros in annual revenues.
Jeremy Wertheimer, president/CEO of ITA Software, Cambridge, Mass., has been named by Mass High Tech magazine as one of the high-tech 2002 All-Stars. The program profiles New Englanders who have made impacts in their technical fields. Wertheimer was named winner in the Internet technology category.
Rolls-Royce has signed a long-term aftermarket support agreement with Virgin Atlantic Airways covering the Trent 500 engines for the airline's Airbus A340-600 aircraft. The $325- million contract covers 10 aircraft through 2016.
Air Canada will retrofit its fleet of Airbus A319/A320/A321s and equip its new A340-500s with Amsafe Aviation's Inflatable Restraint System Version 1.5. Installations will be performed on up to 18 aircraft by late 2003.
Computer Sciences Corp. has won a $280-million contract from the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency to provide technical support on the ground-based leg of a planned shield against ballistic missiles.
Perhaps the biggest contradiction in "Shareholder Value: Contradictions Galore!" was the absence of a simple definition (AW&ST Oct. 14, p. 34). Shareholder value is maximized when net present value of a company's activities is maximized. While the ability to predict NPV is difficult, primary drivers are cash flows, time and interest rates. Strategy, investment and execution offer control over the first two.
Jones is also cool to Rumsfeld's plan to cut four-star service chiefs' command stints to two years from four. "It's worth considering," he said. "The chairman [of the JCS] and vice chairman both serve two-year tours." But he said the service chief jobs are "very difficult, very complex. You do need more prolonged stays to really make any change. The possibility of doing anything of great substance in two years is not much."
Troubled regional aircraft manufacturer Fairchild Dornier has received a last-minute reprieve, giving it one final chance to strike a deal to save its mothballed 728.
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.
Finn K. Neilsen has been named president/CEO of Summit Aviation Inc., Middletown, Del. He was director of the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Office of Nuclear and National Security Information and Office of Contingency Planning.
GE Aircraft Engines last week emerged as the victor in a four-way fight to supply the power plant for China's ARJ21 regional jet program. This leaves the choice of prime contractor for the glass cockpit as the remaining outstanding decision.
Airshow China 2002, which was held Nov. 4-7 in Zhuhai, attracted exhibitors from 28 countries. The low-key show was memorable as much for what was not displayed, such as China's J-10 fighter, as it was for what was shown. Irrespective, what continues to be apparent is China's ambition to develop its military, commercial and space sectors, and the potential markets for collaborative development in these arenas.
Oliver Evans has been named executive vice president of Swiss WorldCargo, effective Dec. 1. He has been vice president-global sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for BAX Global.
Spot Image has signed Raytheon Australia to distribute Spot products and services to government, commercial and academic markets in Australia, passing the halfway mark in its bid to establish a global network of marketing and distribution alliances (AW&ST Jan. 28, p. 33). The agreement, which follows a deal with Resource21 in September for U.S. civilian government and academic markets, includes installation of receiving and processing equipment for the new Spot 5 spacecraft.
The European Space Agency has given final approval to a mission to Venus, following a decision by Italian space agency ASI to fund a Virtis high-resolution spectrometer. Virtis will be a replica of the instrument developed for the Rosetta comet probe at a cost of 25 million euros ($25 million). Italy will also provide a planetary Fourier spectrometer and a neutral atom sensor for Venus Express, which is to be launched in the second half of 2005.
NASA has spiked a $15,000 monograph on the Moon-landing hoax theory, which holds that Apollo astronauts were actually in Arizona, or something. Originally intended as a serious study of that theory's origins, it "became a distraction" after news reports described it as a government-funded effort to debunk a wigged-out myth. "It was never our intent to produce a book to convince the conspiracy theorists that the moon landings were not a hoax," an official said. The freelancer hired to produce the study got away with a $5,000 down payment anyway.
Frank Richey has been appointed president/academic dean of the National Transportation Safety Board Academy in Washington. He was a professor of applied aviation sciences and department chairman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) President Stuart Matthews is calling for the airline industry worldwide to consider "implementing flight data telemetry systems and equipping flight decks with video cameras" while simultaneously improving the capabilities of cockpit voice recorders and digital flight data recorders.
Coast Guard taps Bell Eagle Eye UAV For wide-area surveillance and homeland security missions 18 National Airlines ceases operations Vanquished by bankruptcy, rejection of loan guarantee application 21 Chinese J-10 fighter absent from Zhuhai air show But country maintains ambition to develop aviation and space sectors 21 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS European court sets stage for airline metamorphosis
