Top NASA managers are developing plans to rewire the agency with advanced, high-security computer systems in the hope that greater centralization will improve management efficiency and make it easier to control the disparate field centers. THE PLANS ARE IN KEEPING with Administrator Sean O'Keefe's ``One NASA'' concept, which seeks to subordinate what NASA previously termed its 10 nationwide ``centers of excellence'' to headquarters' direction.
Glenn Woythaler has been promoted to vice president-Atlantic region for Northwest Airlines from vice president-crew and performance analysis for its Systems Operations Center. He succeeds Dick Johnson, who is retiring. T. Jeffrey Putnam has been appointed vice president-system operations control and flight operations administration.
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Two engines from different eras sit side by side (below) in the exhibit area of the Experimental Aircraft Assn.'s AirVenture Oshkosh (Wis.) gathering late last month. The 1910 Wright Vertical 4 engine No. 20 at near 35 hp. and operated by The Wright Experience is dwarfed by the NASA space shuttle main engine (SSME). The 12.5-million-hp. SSME was developed in the late 1970s.
Klaus Riedel has become president of Meads (Medium Extended Air Defense System) International, which is located in Rome, Munich and Orlando, Fla. He succeeds Joel Strickland, who is expected to retire. Riedel, in turn, has been succeeded as executive vice president by David Seckinger, who was program director for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control for the U.S. Air Force Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser program.
The FAA has selected Thales ATM to supply up to 375 low-power distance measuring equipment (DME) over the next five years, under an $18-million contract. The new 415 Single Equipment DME was specifically designed for installation with instrument landing systems (ILS) as replacements for existing systems, and for new installations. It is exceptionally stable, and has higher capacity and lower maintenance, according to Thales. In March 2000, the company received a contract to supply more than 100 Mk. 20A ILS systems to the FAA.
When four of the world's best known airplane, missile and spacecraft builders announced they were launching a common Web site in March 2000, Wall Street analysts wanted to hear how the Internet would make them money. The answer was to make it by saving it, to use the speedy, ubiquitous Internet for ``frictionless commerce'' to lower procurement costs by ridding the supply chain of time-consuming, labor-intensive paper-based transactions.
The FAA has issued an emergency airworthiness directive for all U.S. owners of Sikorsky Model S-76A, B and C helicopters to review maintenance records and immediately remove rotor blades that have a record of having been damaged by lightning. The action follows the crash of an S-76 in the U.K. on July 16 that killed 11 after the main rotor blade failed due to damage from a lightning strike.
Tall passengers are no more entitled to seats with more legroom than obese passengers are entitled to occupy adjacent seats for the price of one, the Transportation Dept. said, denying a February 2001 petition from the Tall Club of Silicon Valley. In a case that originated in a California state court, the Tall Club asked the department to require airlines to set aside economy-class bulkhead and exit-row seats for passengers taller than 6 ft. 2 in., or with long legs.
Goodrich has won an $8.9-million supply order from the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to supply integrated mechanical diagnostics health and usage management systems for UH-60L helicopters.
A hand-shake agreement between Boeing and the U.S. Air Force on how to structure the lease of 100 Boeing 767-200 tankers was imminent late last week following intense negotiations between representatives from both parties. Hoping to overcome a logjam over the terms of the lease, Air Force and Boeing negotiators were basically locked-up last week to resolve the differences. The two sides earlier had reached agreement on the price of leasing the aircraft, but disagreement remained over ancillary issues such as termination liability and insurance costs.
Frederick F. Dalley has been appointed to the board of directors of the Glendale International Corp., Oakville, Ontario, parent of U.K.-based Fernau Avionics. He is managing director of Arrow Hedge Partners Inc.
An attack on Iraq is expected to see the first use of high-power microwave weapons that produce a split-second spike of energy powerful enough to damage electronic components and scramble computer memories. They are designed, at least initially, for use from cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft. Adding a directed-energy weapon to an unmanned combat vehicle ``is the ideal mode,'' said a British aerospace official. Britain also is well advanced in the technology.
Messier-Dowty has unveiled a new 3,000-sq.-ft. landing gear test center in Gloucestershire, England. The facility represents an investment of more than $10 million. The largest test rig weighs about 250 tons and is more than 30 ft. high. Its 320-sq.-ft. template can exert a force of 1,000 tons to simulate loads much greater than any a landing gear would normally experience.
With or without the Bush administration's approval, the public debate about whether war with Iraq can be justified is underway. Last week, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee opened two days of hearings about the existence of evidence that Iraq is continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction including chemical, biological and nuclear devices and the ballistic missiles to deliver them to nearby countries. The fear expressed by the committee and its witnesses is twofold. Unchecked, U.S.
Airbus is expected to win an order for 16 A330-300s (12 firm with 4 options) from China Airlines to replace its aging fleet of 12 A300-600Rs. Delivery is to start late this year and run through 2005. The A330 would be a ``good fit'' with the carrier's A340 fleet, officials familiar with the deal report.
The first launch of the Lockheed Martin Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle has been rescheduled for Aug. 21. Liftoff of the Russian-powered 191-ft. vehicle from major new facilities at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 41 is planned for 6:05 p.m. EDT at the opening of an 89-min. launch window. The flight was delayed from its original Aug. 12 target by the payload customer Eutelsat, to clear up internal Eutelsat bureaucratic or technical issues on the readiness of its 6,600-lb. Alcatel Hot Bird 6 payload.
Firefighting aircraft operate under about the worst structural conditions possible. Wings are under strong bending because the heavy load of fire retardant is concentrated in the fuselage. In more normal transport operations there would be bending relief from the fuel load spread along the wing tanks, but firefighters usually carry relatively small amounts of fuel, resulting in less relief. Most transport designers restrict this condition with a maximum zero fuel weight limit in the flight manual.
USMC Lt. Gen. (ret.) Thomas H. Miller has been named to receive the Virginia-based National Aeronautic Assn.'s Cliff Henderson Award for Achievement. Miller will be cited for his efforts to promote the development of helicopters and vertical-takeoff, fixed-wing aircraft.
A 40-count indictment against the owner of a U.S. Navy contractor has thrown into limbo the future of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (Aargm), a cornerstone of the service's future suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) plans.
Walter Shaub has been named science adviser to the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He was editor of Environmental Science & Technology, which is published by the American Chemical Society.
Isaac Yeffet, former director of global security for El Al Israel Airlines, has become a consultant to HiEnergy Technologies Inc., Irvine, Calif., to assist in efforts to obtain U.S. Transportation Security Administration certification.
Advances in lightweight mirror technology developed for NASA's Next-Generation Space Telescope may give engineers two different ways to build the proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), increasing the odds that a space telescope can be built with enough capability to detect Earthlike planets around distant stars and analyze them spectroscopically for signs of life. NASA has decided to pursue both the infrared nulling interferometer approach favored by the European Space Agency, its likely partner in the expensive endeavor, and a visible light coronagraph.
